For those of you who have known me for a while this won’t come as a surprise. I suffer from Automotive ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder), and it is just getting worse!
oyNatalie and I are in car shopping mode, we’re looking to downsize from our 2008 F250 FX4, while we love the truck, it is just far too big for our lives in California. We recently sold our horse trailer that we had been trying to sell for a while now. Now that the trailer is gone, we are ready to part with the truck.
So we’re looking at what to get. Natalie would like a 4 door wagon, with room for a stroller (or the dogs) in the back, the baby in the back seat, and us up front. We’re thinking that we would like to find a used BMW 5 series to fill that role, though figuring out what year/mileage is something we haven’t decided yet.
One thought we are having is that perhaps it might be a good idea to trade the Z in on a 4 door car for myself as well. I test drove a 2011 Mitsubishi Evolution today, oh boy, daddy like!
I wouldn’t buy a new Evo, they are far too costly, but I would considering getting a used one and then perhaps an older (2000-2003) 5-series for Natalie. I went to check out a couple of used 2008 Evo’s at a dealer down in San Jose today but immediately noticed that they were both modified, which totally turns me off. I don’t want to get into a modified car again, I’d rather buy something that is completely stock and if I want to modifiy it do it myself.
So we’ll see where this bout with my latest batch of AADHD takes us.
Don’t believe me that I have a problem? Here’s a list of the cars I and Natalie have owned over the past 5 years.
2003 Nissan 350z
2004 Ford F350
1988 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe
1973 Datsun 240z
1978 Datsun 280z 2+2
2005 Chevy Tahoe
2004 Chevy Corvette Z06
2005 GMC Yukon
2008 Ford F250
1995 Audi A6
2004 Nissan 350z
When is too much?
What am I referring to? Tires in my garage. Long ago everyone on Solo2.org did a count of tires and wheels in their arsenal.
I think I might win if we did that again, here's a current count of tires/wheels that are in my garage, and does not include tires mounted to any of our 4 vehicles or two trailers.
4 street tires off the 240Z
4 Hoosier tires for the Corvette (good race tires)
4 new street tires for the Corvette
2 new Hoosier tires for the Corvette
8 combination of used race Wheels (3) and tires (8) for the Corvette
1 spare trailer tire
1 inflatable spare for the datsun
That's 24 sitting in my garage right now, pictures for proof.
So I spent most of the day today in the garage. I'll blog about it more on www.project240z.com later this evening. Photos and video coming!
I spent some time this evening cleaning up the passenger floorboard. I have a LOT of welding to do there! I'm going to do some more practicing tomorrow.
To view tonight's video click the link...
I was digging through some old photos tonight looking for photos of Jeff Krekeler, when I ran across this photo I took back in June of 2004.
When I get bored, lazy, or tired of working on the Project240z, I only have to look at that photo and realize what I'm striving for. That car is beautiful, and I hope my car can one day look that...
So this morning I got up and finished up what I could get done on the project car, a 1978 280Z 2+2, courtesy of our very own Lynn Wilson, Thanks Lynn!!!
I had planned to remove the diff from the car this morning, along with the door lock from the passenger door, ignition switches and such as well. I got the switches and locks, but had a hell of a time trying to get the diff out. I got everything disconnected except the axles, without any luck getting the axles removed I gave up, hastily slapped some bolts/nuts back on the diff to hold it in place and I took some wire to tie up the driveshaft to keep it from hanging down to the floor.
After clearing off the parts I knew I wanted I had to run down to SoloPerformance to drop off the Engine Hoist that I've had for, oh almost the past year. Dave needed it for a week or so, and all I've been doing with it is using it as a nice engine hanger lately. After that quick trip I grabbed Natalie, hopped in the Tahoe and headed up North. Went to the Elterman's to pickup his trailer so I could haul cars to Egypt and back.
From there we headed back home, loaded up the parts car and took off to Speedway (junk yard) in Illinois. They were pretty lax about things, which was nice, I rolled the car off the trailer and headed over to the super secret storage facility. From there we filled up the flat spare tire and rolled it out of the shop and onto the trailer for the trip back home.
Both towing trips were uneventful, which was nice, though each car did shift around on the trailer a bit. The Tahoe towed fine, which is great! Though, I still want to see about getting a gooseneck trailer at somepoint to tow with the F350. On the way home from the super secret storage facility I decided to stop and double check the straps, just to make sure I wasn't going to lose my baby. I stopped out in front of this great sign ;)
After getting home, Natalie and I unloaded the 240 from the trailer, though, not before I took the time to sweap the 5lbs of rust that the parts car had deposited on the floor of the garage.
After rolling her into the garage and test fitting a few of the interior pieces we headed back up north to drop James' trailer off. They weren't home, lucky for them. Had he been home he might have had a heart attack watching me back the trailer in, I ended up parking it about 6 inches from the front of the STi, that darn slopped trailer, makes it hard to judge distances. Lucky for me I stopped when I did, otherwise I would have felt like a complete ass for borrowing a trailer and then hitting the owners car when returning it.
More on the Project240z car later this...
What's the latest on the Project 240Z? Not much! With the wedding and Holidays I haven't touched the car much since the last work I did on the parts car in October, I did get the 240Z out of the driveway, moved it to a secluded shop over in Illinois for some winter storage. I'm glad I did, otherwise it would have had a nice coating of ice and snow with the recent weather here in St. Louis.
It's currently in a warm dry building under cover as well. Once I get the parts car disassembled I'll bring the 240Z home again to work on. I hope to spend some time over the weekend and holiday next week parting out the parts car so I can bring the 240 home in January. Before I can do too much more on hte parts car I need to make some room in the garage. So if anyone knows anyone who's looking for a 73 240Z motor let me know!
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