Geeto67

Columbus has a heroin problem? Is it the 90's all over again? Do we have a grunge music problem too? who knew?

IF you are going to consider a jaguar xj6 swap ideally you want a pre-1988 car. 1987 and earlier XJ6s are the last of the "old line" jaguars with a majority of the things still being mechanical. Because we are talking about a car that goes back to the 60's there is a pretty good aftermarket support for restoration parts for these cars. If you want to do a v8 swap with a carb these are your cars. The 1988 and up cars were clean sheet design and share no parts with the earlier cars. They also have notorious reliability issues (fixed with the v8 swap). Unlike the earlier cars which have a really healthy parts supply and aftermarket, these cars have almost nothing available - in some cases not even service items. You can do it, and jaguar specialties has everything to do it, but ideally you want the nicest car you can possibly find for the swap - no $100 junkpiles as you won't be able to get parts to fix it. 1998-03 and up cars are basically jag doing what everybody else was doing all along and put a v8 in the cars. You can swap in a chevy if you want, but these are fine cars stock they way they are. because they are still a "late model" car you can still get some things from the dealer. There are kits out there but they are all based on 1997 and up LS chevy swaps, so putting an old carb mill in there is out. However, because these were v8 cars from the factory you don't need any special accessory drives, you can reuse the stock radiator and fans (older swaps require rads and fans), and everything fits in right out of the donor car. jaguar specialties has everything if you want to fall down this rabbit hole: http://www.jaguarspecialties.com/ FWIW, the 1970's XJ6C and XJ12C coupes are still somewhat cheap and probably the best looking post 1960's jaguar four seater (2+2s don't count). They are rare but there was even a project one on ohio CL last year so not that rare (about 10,400 produced). I'm just going to set this down here, It's almost too nice to cut up. Almost.: http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/4805367187.html

Looks like the all chrome 7 series I sometimes see in Hillard/Dublin.

Actually you don't need proof that they knew it was wrecked, just need a written statement where they assert it hasn't been wrecked as a statement of fact and NOT a statement of opinion.

What's the frame damage? They "should" have known if it was wrecked, but they might not have anyway because they were lazy. Without the statement in writing it is just your word against theirs. Sucks, maybe don't deal with that dealer ever again?

this thread ended pretty much how I expected it to...

They moved the car "upmarket", stick shift unlikely. ATS-v is the new CTS-v in a move to make sure caddy's customers get lost in the showroom.

I can respect sticking with the SBC. It certainly keeps the cost down. My father is a Chevy guy and I'm a Pontiac guy so I get it. The Opel GT is a tiny car. I've seen plenty of them with 350 swaps over the years But it was a car I felt cramped in when I drove it. If I wanted a car like that I would take a 350 swapped 240/260z any day over the Opel. What year is the GT6? If it is pre 1972 I can help you with the title, since I still have my NY license. Or you can Vermont title it. If you can look for an MG GTB. They will take a Chevy and I know a few people over 6' that own them. Plus hardtop, which is always preferable to leaky Brit roadsters.

Trailer is all steel except the center deck section which is plywood. I pulled the weight from the SnowBear website for the model trailer which has it listed as about 516lbs. I was planning on hauling a motorcycle back in the bed with it at xmas time (1976 cb750F @ 500lbs). I recently installed a 2 row aluminum Silla radiator, the kind most people use for Chevy 350 swaps as I plan to swap in a chevy 350 when the old 4.0L gives up the ghost. Currently my problem isn't overheating it is getting the car up to heat - everytime the thermostat opens the temp drops back down to 135 (thermostat is 195 degree and jeep's normal operating temp is 215). The road to NY is one long gradual climb up the mountain in Penn and then back down (peak is usually at the half way point). When I hauled Racebikes for Team Obsolete we usually left at night to avoid overheating on the upwards climb but we were usually hauling 5 or 6 bikes in an enclosed trailer with either a Dodge Dakota extended cab or a 1983 Dodge Ram Airport van. I think I may rent a pickup for the trip to NY and back and then just use the trailer and Jeep for in town. At least until I can get the brakes upgraded.

YJ jeeps are leaf springs front and rear. I've used air lift spring helpers in the past on other trucks, but I don't think they are available for the older jeeps. The 95 has an extra leaf in the rear and my leafs were replaced about 5 years ago. Brakes are stock disc front drum rear with no ABS. pretty standard stuff and they are just ok for the car unladen so I may think about upgrading as the trailer has no brakes. Was thinking about doing the rear disc conversion but that is just for ease of service. NV3550 trans is the 5 speed manual they started putting in the Rubicons in 1999 and in the standard TJ wranglers in 2000. gear ratios are: Gear Ratios 1st 4.01 Gear Ratios 2nd 2.33 Gear Ratios 3rd 1.39 Gear Ratios 4th 1.00 Gear Ratios 5th 0.78 Gear Ratios Reverse 3.57 5th gear really struggles to pull the car sometimes with the 3.55 gears up steep grades at highway speeds so a trailer might have me dropping down to 3rd. by comparison the stock AX15 tranny (which is no longer in the car) had: Gear ratios for the AX15 are: 3.83, 2.33, 1.44, 1.00, 0.79 So I have a taller gear for starting off but third is slightly shorter as is 5th.

Is this on your audi and is it lowered? with audi's (or at least my wifes which is lowered) you run to the end of the adjustment pretty quick if the car is lowered and you have to get adjustment plates to really get a good alignment. If it is stock ride height, then I don't know - maybe a bad alignment. It's no wonder that tire failed though, you are past the wear bars on it on the outside and beginning to have a tread separation, see that small patch where the chords are sticking out? That's a tread separation. you are lucky it went flat before you had a full on seperation.

So my father is evicting my old motorcycle trailer from his house in NY. I used to use the family beater 2 door tahoe to pull it when I lived in NY, but now I don't have access to that truck anymore and I am going to have to bring the trailer to ohio. Although I have owned my YJ wrangler for 19 years I have never had a trailer hitch on it so I never used it to tow. Manual says the tow rating is 2000lbs. Trailer is a flat deck utility trailer (Like the kind Home deopt used to sell) identical to this one: http://list.thestoke.ca/photos/115685/original.jpg and is setup to tow two small motorcycles, or one ATV/snowmobile. I figure the trailer weighs about 500lbs. Most of the bikes I tow are about 500lbs (SOHC cb750s, 8V Suzuki GS, nortons, etc...). Jeep is a 1995 YJ wrangler with 4.0L inline six, 3.55 gears, 30x9.5 tires, and a NV3550 tranny out of a 2000 Rubicon. 134,000 miles. I spoke to the guys at trail quest and they are convinced that I am going to blow the rear up in short order if I use my wrangler to tow anything, but I think that is kind of bull since the trailer with one bike on it should be well within the weight rating. So questions: Anybody have a recomendation on a trailer hitch/rear bumper? I have been told the rear bumper hitches have only a 150lb tongue rating but I have seen some of them out there that are really overbuilt. If a bumper/hitch combo is a bad idea any recommendations on a frame mounted hitch? Anybody familiar with towing with a wrangler? am I really pulling the pin on the grenade if I do this or will the jeep handle it just fine? How does a jeep handle with a trailer behind it? I have been told (by internet "experts") that the jeep is too short a wheelbase to really be a good two rig for anything and that the trailer will push me all around the road. Any other helpful thoughts?

fWIW the gubmint is selling these branded as off road only without titles. They are adamant that the not be driven on the street.

jalopnik is reporting that the average sale price is in the $30K range. So $10K? pfft. I wonder how many of them are private military museums and collections?

I'm not an Oberlin student nor a creepy old dude that likes to attend college rallies so he go all "creepy uncle" on girls barely in their 20s, so no.:dumb:

Yeah apparently in FLA you can defend yourself from a fight you started and kill someone and it's ok because it is "self defense" because you were losing. I agree - totally pussy position.

You got something against Hyphenated last names?

I don't know how I feel about buying a vehicle where there is the potential to find human fluids, excised body parts, and maybe shell casings or unfired rounds of an unknown origin when I clean under the seats.

Those other countries may not have Ford F250s. Actually I think the "professional grade" work truck is kind of a North American phenomenon, and although I have seen them at construction sites in Europe and Asia there are very few of them and they are 4 times as expensive. Even in Canada or Mexico a new $40-50K work truck is less common and more expensive in the used market. I mean we bitch about $10K F150s with 200k miles but the same truck could be $15K in Mexico or Canada and $20K in Europe. Parts are not an issue as the parts are made overseas anyway and are cheap to obtain even if it is not a FoMoCo part. I am not surprised in the slightest that there is a texas plumber's truck being used somewhere else in the world. I am not even surprised that it ended up in a country in the middle of a revolution with a gun in the back. I am surprised there isn't a imgur, or vine, or facebook page detailing ex-american work trucks in strange locations.

USA today claims it was this group: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/12/17/plumbing-truck-syria/20523873/ Then again USA today is about as credible as a news source as a highlights magazine (and yet still somehow more credible than Fox news).

Lots of people. Or more specifically, lots of people/companies who make money exporting vehicles which are common here to places in the world where they may be less common. A militant army has to eat, they have to have supplies, and yes they have to have vehicles, and they all have their clandestine networks to obtain those things. Sometimes those networks buy used cars and trucks from importers in their country who buy them from dealers who buy them at dealer auctions in the US, sometimes they set up a pipeline here and export themselves. If I were an agent at the FBI reading this I would already be tracing the history of the truck through it's sales and export paperwork to chase down a lead to a pipeline that may supply foreign enemies.

I didn't realize this but the classic roadster sebring Healey kit is still in production, though it may be dodgy to deal with them: http://www.classicroadsters.ca/html/sebring_mx.html It's about $16K for the full boat kit but still cheaper than a real AH. you can read about them here: http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/vacation-cc-classic-roadsters-sebring-mx/

I think you meant to say early 70's and earlier, later means more modern and you keep citing the 3000GT which is a late 50's car. I think the first thing you need to think about is whether you want a sports car or a GT car. A sports car is just that 2 seats, no frills, all balls. A GT car is a 2+2 touring car. The height of the kit car/hybrid thing was the 50's to the 60's, with a lot of unique european-like designs like devlins, fiberfab jamacians, kurtus-krafts, etc... built specifically for racing. Back in NY as a kid one of my parent's neighbors restored formula 1 cars for a living and had a devlin he drove as a play car. One thing I can tell you about the past as a big guy - if you are over 6' or heavier than 170 lbs you won't fit in any of these real deal 1950's-60's cars - if you can even find one. However that shouldn't stop you from looking because old kit cars tend to be near worthless when you do find them and since most are fiberglass they are easy to modify for more room. if you haven't dug around this site yet: http://www.forgottenfiberglass.com/ it may give you some ideas to poke your head in. Here is what limited knowledge of I have of kit cars: due to the bug popularity most 60's original designs have a bug platform and then a bespoke chassis platform. The Fiberfab jamacian is like this there is one body that fits on a bug, and then a completely different setup that uses an austin healey 3000GT chassis, C1 corvette chassis, or home made ladder frame chassis. So know what you are getting into: always ask is it a VW floor pan. The biggest problem with 60's kit cars also is headroom. Leg room is an issue too but usually solved by seats on the floor and smaller wheels, but headroom is something they usually sacrificed at the cost of good looks. You can add a gurney bubble to most of these cars and solve everything but the getting in and out issue. Older 50's cars were really popular to replicate in the 80's-90's so there are actually a few kits out there that would make a good platform. There used to be a jaguar XK120 kit that used it's own chassis, jag rear-end, and ford small block v-8. I saw one for sale last year in ok shape and it sold for around $5K running. You see them on ebay from time to time as well as healy 3000GT kits and 1953 corvette kits. The jaguar and healy kits are the most common, and actually the AH kits have their own following. Most use 1970s-80's jaguar xj6 rear ends since it's the same from the 50-90's but if you want to fall down that rabbit hole get one with outboard brakes - makes service so much easier. So I know someone already mentioned the XKE swap, but have you considered a Jaguar XJS V12? It's really common but for good reason: Jag v12s use Chevy transmissions (TH400s in 1977-1990s and then 4LE80s in the 90's) and a cast iron big block with alloy heads weighs significantly less than the boat anchor v-12. The car can easily accommodate bigger drivers since it is a GT car and not a true sports car, not something that can be said for the XKE - I'm 6'5 and although I can fit in a series 3 v-12 XKE (just barely) I have a really hard time with the earlier cars if the wheel hasn't been changed out. Of the new kits out there - well there aren't a lot that aren't cobras. However, for some reason the Jaguar C-type seems to still be in production by a few places, mostly in england but shell valley here in the states makes one: http://www.shellvalley.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=results/category_id=6/mode=cat/cat6.htm they have already modded the foot wells to accommodate larger drivers, and the car is enough of an uncommon design that you really won't see yourself coming or going, and unfortunately most people won't know what it is when you bring it to a show. Still it is english, you can use a jag rear in it for the euro road feel, and the engine bay will def accommodate a SBC. Of course there is also the bill thomas cheetah, not really a euro car but an american car built in the early 1960's to smack around the europeans in road racing (before the cobra). They are still in production but unfortunately space is a real premium in these cars and it might be better to build a roadster than a coupe: http://www.billthomascheetah.com/in_production.php Finally there is the cobra. Now everyone knows the big 427 and most of the kits cater to that. However the cobra's real reputation was made on the original small block slab sided cars and the 289 FIA cars. A 289 FIA car looks like a 427 - it's got the big flares and most people will just see that and the roll bar and assume it's a big block car despite the different nose and tail. However the slabsided street cars are really just tidy english roadsters. Superperformance and ERA both make Slabside kits, and I believe you can fit the ERA slabside body to a factory five chassis (there is a thread on the factory five forums about this) and FF may be coming out with their own slabside. the most overlooked thing about cobra kit cars is that the original cobras used independent rear ends, but most of the repops just use a ford or GM solid axle. Again a jaguar rear (which can be had for junkyard cheap) is your friend here. Here is the thread of the guy who built the FF slabside so you can see what is involved: http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?5227-First-Factory-Five-Slabside I can tell you I fit in a FF cobra but just barely. My knee hits the top of the dash on the left side with the clutch pedal all the way out, but if i take my shoes off it isn't an issue. I'm 6'5" with a 34" inseam. So final oddballs I have seen over the years... my painter in NY was a jaguar nutball but he had a triumph stag with a small block chevy in it that he drove daily. Stags aren't exactly common but they aren't expensive and they are 2+2 cars which means there is room for taller people if you need to make it. While not a pretty car, it is what I call british ugly, which means it is still kinda handsome and charming in a way only the british can be. Unfortunately it is a 70's triumph which means the build quality is on par with a 1980's eastern bloc toaster. It came with the most unreliable v8 the british ever made so most often you see clean bodies with blown engines - or at least you used to. I am a big fan of the Jaguar XJ6 and XJ12 C coupes built in the late 70's. They are rare cars but the nicest one is usually still under $20K and half of them have chevy v-8s swapped in already. they make excellent grand touring cars. If you can stand 4 doors the regular 70's xj6 is a beautiful car in it's own right but something tells me you want 2 doors. There was an opel mantra or kadet on ohio craigslist for a while (last time I saw it was last month), I don't think it sold but it already had a ford small block in it. not really great cars so there is no real great advantage to using them other than they look european. Kind of rare but ford did sell the 70's capri here. Legendary rally racing cars in europe, they were just standard cheap compact cars here and rust ate most of them. Still there is an aftermarket for them overseas and I saw a couple of cheap ones on ebay in california this year. This is not to be confused with the fox based mercurt capri, or the two seat 90's roadster either. Jensen interceptor projects are still cheap because rust is a huge issue with those cars. I saw one in a junkyard in 2013 with a lincoln contential sitting on top of it and my buddy had to talk me out of it because the car was so rotted it had no floors at all. Final question though: are you married to the idea of a SBC? There are other way better powerplants out there that get almost no love and would be awesome for repowering something european. The for v-8s two that spring to mind are the buick nailhead, and the pontiac 389/400. I personally have a pontiac OHC sprint inline 6 out of my old 1967 lemans that I have always wanted to put into a c3 corvette chassis and build a pontiac banshee replica, but I am weird in that I like inline six powered sports and GT cars.

No, not being trolled. I was a huge german car fanboy for years but I wouldn't touch a newer one with a 10 ft pole and I do some of my own work. For some reason the germans went from making cars that rivaled anvils in terms of reliability to bleeding edge tech that breaks once an hour. Even my wife's audi makes fixing a taillight a multi hundred dollar proposition because it is no longer a mechanical solenoid and standard two stage bulb but a single filament bulb where the computer varies the current to get different brightness out of the bulb. Unless you are in sales or some other customer facing business and need the prestige of a luxury brand, just my personal feeling these days that it's better to buy a cheap, reliable, dependable, boring car, and put the money you save into really crazy toys. But that is just works for me and I don't know you in real life and can't speak to what would work for you.

If you wouldn't get good mileage with a hybrid, you aren't going to get close to good mileage with a BMW or merc. But fine, people hate hybrids, so how about a Honda civic or Kia forte koup? With what you save you could then buy a nice Ducati and get your jollies on nice weekends. You can have cheap maintenance, good resale, good mileage, or luxury Pick three.