Car Thread

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Now we need some crisp sunny fall days because I need more of them to test the car rather than more soggy "spanner-days" at this point.

Don't think you'll be getting those if the weather forecast is correct - supposed to get the month's rain all in the next 3 days....

Did you happen to notice almost all of the cars are behind yellow caution tape? Then you get to the row with the Delorean. It and the 2 cars next to it are behind a white chalky like line

My first inclination is think that the bodies are behind the white chalk, but I think that there's actually white chalk under the yellow tape....

[sarge]

More like the next five; no sun til Monday earliest.

I have no idea Robert-dot's point about the lines...

I'm missing what?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

More like the next five; no sun til Monday earliest.

Quite probably so - I've got grants and manuscripts to review, and an endless array of projects in the shop, and one last chair to re-cane -- let it rain!

I have no idea Robert-dot's point about the lines...

I'm missing what?

I would only worry about white chalk lines were they used to define a body shape.......on my front lawn.

[healey36]

Finally started raining here a bit after 05:00PM. This place is so dry when the dogs run across the yard they raise a cloud of dust. I'll take whatever rain we can get.

Sarge, a bit of rain might expose any residual issues in the blue-bomber's electrics...look at it as an opportunity. I still haven't figured out the dim glow of my brake warning light on the dash...it tests correct, just doesn't completely go out.

Dave did a bang-up job on Zed's top...no leaks when I hose it down. Now I just need to raise and lower it five-hundred times and see if the seam holds up

Healey

[healey36]

More like the next five; no sun til Monday earliest.

Quite probably so - I've got grants and manuscripts to review, and an endless array of projects in the shop, and one last chair to re-cane -- let it rain!

I was just looking at a nice old ladder-back side chair at one of the thrift shops downtown, wondering who do I know that recanes seats

Healey

[MurphOnMillerAve]

More like the next five; no sun til Monday earliest.

Quite probably so - I've got grants and manuscripts to review, and an endless array of projects in the shop, and one last chair to re-cane -- let it rain!

I was just looking at a nice old ladder-back side chair at one of the thrift shops downtown, wondering who do I know that recanes seats

Healey

Does anybody still buy antiques? My wife and I were just wondering about that the other day.

[robert.]

Murph i make a living in the antique business. It's a hard living know. Sarge it was rumored Deloreans came to the usa. packed with cocaine. A joke kind of loses it's luster if you need to explain it. I have worked in the old delorean farmhouse in summit nj.( not for delorean)

[Rufus T. Firefly]

More like the next five; no sun til Monday earliest.

Quite probably so - I've got grants and manuscripts to review, and an endless array of projects in the shop, and one last chair to re-cane -- let it rain!

I was just looking at a nice old ladder-back side chair at one of the thrift shops downtown, wondering who do I know that recanes seats

Healey

That might be a rush bottom chair -- I've never learned how to do those. Press in cane seats are all that I'll take on and the cost of the cane with shipping is borderline nutz these days.

I could have bought 15-20 nice chairs at auction Sat. if I wanted to get back into the antique business......and after restoring and doing new seats in most, maybe done alright, but I have enough to do right now. Ok, I did buy one mission style oak chair to restore.......and a stand..........and a pair of nice clamps (never have enough clamps!).....

[Mitch]

That 1.4L turbo engine in the Fiat/Mazda must be the exact same engine available in the Dodge Dart. Also the same two transmissions, a standard 6 speed, (I'm not sure but I think it's Getrag), and the dual-disc dry clutch abomination, that is an automatically shifted 6 speed manual transmission, the valve body for which costs in the neighborhood of 5 grand. We've had that 1.4 since 2012. I've put turbos on two of them, and probably a total of 6 turbos done in the shop since inception, and 1 of the dual-disc valve bodies. I will say that the little ba$tards really run. In the Dart, the 1.4L is supposed to hit 40 MPG, but you must use Premium fuel to do it. With regular gas it's about a 32 MPG car.

[rogruth]

My guess is the use of tape in marking the Delorean and a few other spots was because they ran out of tape.

[Tony-h]

Mitch, I am in the market to replace the Marklin XZX tires on my Midget. The 1979 tires have only 36K on them but are well cracked.

One recommendation is Firestone, BUT, our family's experience with that brand is pathetic. My dad threw away his 500's and I lost 7 727 radials due to tread separation and sidewall blowouts. The Ford debacle only reinforces my distrust. Are the new ones any better? My other choice is Vredesteins, made in India? for a Dutch company. 145/70 or 80 13 inchers are scarce. Any info from the bull sessions at work?

Raining cats and dogs here now. Going to be a wet week, finally!

[Mitch]

Firestone seems considerably better that it was in the late '70s and '80s, but you have to go with the higher end tires. How about Michelin or Pirelli? I don't deal with those little tiny cars, so really can't suggest anything.

[sarge]

Tony:

Thin 13s are getting to be specialty tires. You can open up your options by adding 155-80R13 to your list of sizes.

My MkIV came with 165s no less, worn and dryrotted. With the tired springs up front they touched the inner wings when turned hard over and whilst leaning into (full down-travel on) the driver's side. I dropped back to 155, which really are closer to stock height and width for a MkIV Midget than 145. They cleared just nicely even with the dead spring-rates up front, which I suspect will be on your list as well; parked Spridgets are notorious for it. After replacing the springs, even better clearance here.

In 155s I had three choices at the local tire store, all Far Eastern in brand name like most everything today. Mine are Kumho Solus by recommendation; the stickiest of the lot, yet the cheapest of the three by perhaps only a couple bucks a tyre, and the fewest problems the local guy has had to deal with of the three. I haven't run them far enough to have my own opinion, but they are so-far a helluva lot better than what was on it.

So 155 gives more choices and is actually closer for a MkIV Midget (which yours is, BTW) to spec (helps with the speedo accuracy if you care) than 145. If you want to go with 145, Vred's actually have a decent reputation. They are a specialty/competition/motorbike tire company, and their stuff is handled by Coker (who I'm sure you are familiar with as the source for classic tires for your Model A &c) in the USA.

Watch the balancing BTW. These wheels are not precisely centred to the hub hole like modern ones, so you need to ask the tyre apes if they have the fixtures to balance them by the lug pattern (lug-centric) rather than hub-centric. And don't let them hammer the dam things on. Torque to 60-65 ft/lbs; apes with impact wrenches will stretch or destroy the lugs.

[sarge]

Murph i make a living in the antique business. It's a hard living know. Sarge it was rumored Deloreans came to the usa. packed with cocaine. A joke kind of loses it's luster if you need to explain it. I have worked in the old delorean farmhouse in summit nj.( not for delorean)

A joke is like a vanity plate; a waste if it is obscure enough that it needs be explained.

We always have loved antiquing, and used to find the antique malls a great way to spend a winter's afternoon together. We have found the pricing to not reflect reality in recent years, though, and the amount of overpriced rummage, old broken junk, twigs-and-barnwood "crafts" and "primitives" has drowned out the "real stuff". The "antique malls" of today aren't very descerning about what standards a "dealer" meets to display there, any more.

The effort put in by a "dealer" today is merely to chuck a bunch of crap from some little old lady's estate or the end-of-yard-sale leavings into the space with no culling of the junk (even the modern stuff!) and no effort expended to present. Let it sit for a while and let the punters sort it rather than make any effort themselves.

That'd be OK if the pricing reflected the notion I'm doing the work, not the self-styled dealer, but that ain't the way it works anymore. Flippers think they are somehow entitled to a pretty massive profit for no value added; don't clean it up, don't even sort the books, just pile it up off the truck.

We are constantly amused (as frequent shoppers we see this) at the favourite topic of conversation between flippers, how they found this dingus for X and how much they made on it (loudly with customers present? Really?) or when someone goes through and doubles the tag-prices and puts a sign up for "50% off entire booth".

I have no problem with someone earning an honest profit with knowledge, integrity, a little effort in repair and cleaning of an item within the strictures of an "antique", and a little effort to seperate the wheat from the chaff, but in that game I won't pay a premium merely because something passed through a flipper's hands with no value added; no entitlement for breathing in that game. Instead, I'll go compete with them at the buyer's end and get mine at yard sales and auctions on the cheap end of the chain right along with'm.

I sympathise; I'd bet a true antique dealer does find it a hard living competing with the flippers that have invaded the field...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I'd bet a true antique dealer does find it a hard living competing with the flippers that have invaded the field...

I'd agree with the exception and surprise to me of this past weekend at the auction I attended. Prices were generally very low - it was like a few decades had not elapsed. If I had had a truck, I would have stayed to the bitter end of the day and would have filled the truck with furniture to restore and crates of smalls to re-sell.

But then, I'm not in that business now.........