Old past rides

[Adondo]

Somewhere, I could've sworn there was a thread called "past rides" or something to that effect. Maybe it's on "the other" Jeep forum, as I can't find it here.

Anyway, I was going through old photos and found a few to post. I was (and still am) hunting for pictures of "The Green Toad" which was my '56 high hood mud racing jeep. That has an LT1 Corvette motor, and was all roll cage. The windshield was steel mesh - no glass.

This was about 20 years ago, and is me sitting on my "80 80" Harley. (1980, 80 cubic inch shovel head)


Something like three decades ago next to my turbocharged Toyota Landcruiser FJ-40.


After some serious mudding. The driveway actually got built up about 4" with all the mud washing.


The Toyota's engine. Lord knows what HP it had, but I could do (no kidding) 70 MPH in sand dunes. It mostly ran on 100 octane aviation fuel. (It was easy to get then, especially when dad had a Piper Tri-Pacer at the airport) It was my first turbo setup, built from an old Stearman radial engine's pulled unit. The boost was controlled by an Impco control valve. (Which suck, a wastegate is MUCH better)


Notice the chromed pipe between the turbo's compressor outlet and Impco valve. That is a chromed brass drain pipe for a men's room urinal. (I bought it new!) When my buddies found out what that pipe was made for, it was known forever onwards as a "Toileta Landcruiser." The air cleaner stuck out through the hood in the corner, which looked odd.

[Adondo]

Turbo setup #2 in my 1989 Dodge Power Wagon. It was an old surplus US Forest Service 4x4.

The engine was a 318, and MPG was an: "it depends." Drive it real easy, it could push 30 MPG. Drive it hard while towing a camp trailer, it might get 4.5 MPG. Of course, that was while doing 65 MPH up Cabbage Hill past trucks going 15 MPH. I packed a "strip kit" for the little two barrel Carter Carb so I could switch out jets as needed for power or economy. (BTW, the carb size is totally moot when a turbo is involved because it's forced air) The carb hung out over the end of the valve cover, and had a coolant loop to prevent icing etc. It was an act of God to get it running at anything below 50 degrees until fully warmed up, so it was a fair weather truck. Top end speed was WELL into three digits.


The 400 CID, cammed up, single plane manifolded powerhouse in my 1965 GMC Suburban. I grafted a 1956 Studebaker overdrive onto the tranny, and this old aerodynamics-of-a-brick rig would CRUISE at 115 MPH all day.


What the engine above powered:




My custom made split-shifting setup. 6 speeds forward, and 1 reverse. Top end was maybe 135 MPH. You couldn't hear yourself think at those speeds with the wind roar.


The dashboard.

[Sal-XK]

Ok I moved it let's see those rides. Those are pretty sweet by the way adondo

[Adondo]

The spotlight on the light bar was remote controlled. I mounted a helium neon laser on top. (You can see its box in the above photos) This was before laser pointers were common. I could really mess with people's minds by moving the bright orangish-red dot up alongside someone's driver's window.

I took this photo on a foggy night. I set a 2nd HeNe laser on the roof to get another beam.


The main reason I sold this ol' girl was because she is two-wheel drive. It made a good camping rig, but it had limits for heading into the deep woods. If it was a 4x4, it would be in the driveway right now.

[Adondo]

I gotta tell this story.

We were heading to a cave called "Dynamited Cave" north of Trout Lake WA. We're full of people and camping gear, and going down mostly untraveled highway 14 next to the Columbia River. We're cruising along at probably 110 MPH when two guys in a Porsche passed us. They were both staring at us, mouths agape and with ping-pong ball eyes. We were meeting a bunch of cavers there on a holiday weekend. It's a vertical cave that requires climbing gear.

A couple of hours later, we get to the cave, and I'll be damned if that same red Porsche is parked there.

Turns out, they were buddies of another caver friend of mine. They were cruising along in the low 100's and passing cars like they were standing still. (As were we) They were staring at us so hard when they went past because as you can imagine, (see the above photo of the back end of the 'Burb) they weren't exactly coming up very fast on what looks like a 1950's school bus. They could see us way up ahead, zipping around the occasional car, and it didn't compute that something like that could possibly be going so fast.

On edit: Oh yeah. Turbo #3 was on a friend's Suzuki Samurai. Maybe not the wisest choice as they aren't the most stable rig on the road. :O

#4 was a buddy's Chevy dually, but that was a Paxton blower instead of a turbo. (Those are NEAT, and someday, I'll hack one onto my Commander. )

#5 was a roots blower on a 426 Hemi in a 1940's Ford flat bed truck. (The old flat nose cab) That was pure show, but was FUN to drive. And a roots blower makes boost pressure RIGHT NOW when needed.

[Sal-XK]

I'll start with the last one I sold.

2008 CBR1000RR This thing was a rocket computer limited at 187MPH () you had to know how to ride to handle this thing it was insane. I broke my back and just couldn't handle more then 20 minuets on it any more so I sold it there not built for comfort LOL

Deals gap!

[NeilSmith]

Ive had a bunch of different cars through the years but most aren't worth mentioning. This is probably my favorite old one. A '73 Camaro. I completely redid the body. New fenders, inner fenders, doors, outer quarters, one inner wheel house, hood, trunk floor pan, and front airdam and rear spoiler. As for the interior, new seat covers, carpet, dash pad, rear package shelf, headliner. The only work I didnt do myself was the welding of the quarters. Im a painter and although I did some mig welding in school I don't have the experiance that I need so I got a co-worker to help me out. I painted it Viper Red with white SS stripes on hood and trunk. I had a basic 350 in it and converted it over to a 4 speed. I ran Kelly Chargers on 15" Rallys with the beauty rings and the short center caps, 235/60 up front and 245/60 in back. I didnt have a garage to keep it in and eventually sold it for what I had in it.

[hoaxci5]

1988 Plymouth Sundance Hatchback, no pics..

1995 Dodge Avenger ES, no pics..

1995 Kawasaki ZX-6E


1991 Dodge Dakota 318v8


2001 Ford Explorer Sport Trac


2001 Suzuki SV650s (kind of current but I haven't ridden it since my kids where born so it's been on stands for 3 years..)


And the toy pocket bike, which will run about 35mph

[Sal-XK]

1997 Mustang GT pic taken in 2008

[Lt_JWS]

first was a 1971 ford Torino GT, built 351C, C6, ford 9" 3.55 (can see alittle of it in the second pic behind mustang)

not my pic but its as close as i could find.... didn't have purdy wheels though.... alittle darker blue

next was this.... 99 GT, auto, leather, flowmaster 40's, off-road H-Pipe with high flow converters, Diablosport tuner, miss it on nice days....


traded the mustang in on this 08 WK QT1... missed the V8 and wanted a commander in the first place