Tractor

Yeah rich bastards suck. I'm doing well, but I can't stop working yet. When I have some kids there gonna work to get anything from me even if I do just sit on my ass and count my money. Now If/when I'm rich I'd rather earn the stuff I get, but it will be by building it. yeah I'll still be a dumb hillbilly out in my garage building something that looks really ugly, but I'll enjoy it because I built it. Evan

Great man. I always hear about Quicken Loans, but this is the first I've actually heard from a customer of there's. a rate in the 7-8% range is still great compared to what you'd be paying 10 years ago or even what you could be paying if things change much. Some that would have made it really nice is if you have a transferable rate. In my case I could sell my house to someone else and they will get the same interest rate I have now even if the market changes so that will be a very attractive selling point down the road. Evan

I'm in the process of learning to weld now. I'm doing it on my own because thats how I learn best. I went way cheap on the welder by building one into my trail rig. Now I can do repairs on the trail if necessary. All I gotta do it learn to weld correctly. Theres good advice in this thread, I think I'll check out some of those books too since all my information so far comes from reading welding forums (yeah there are welding forums I just found that out.) The welder I'm using is a modified 70AMP GM alternator running off my rigs 350 engine. Of course its a stick welder and so far I've managed to learn how to strike and arc and keep it going good. I got good enough that I was able to put 4 large D rings on the rig and I can't rip them off. I also welded some 2000 LB jacks to the rear of my car hauler to assist in loading/unloading vehicles. I still weld a very ugly mess, but so far it seems strong which is more of what I'm looking for anyway. Also the welder will weld body panels all the way up to being able to cut 3/4" steel when I rev the engine to 2K RPM's. Another neat thing is since its an alternator it has a 100% duty cycle. If anyone that knows what there doing with a stick welder wants to come over and show me some stuff that would be cool. I'd like to see a pro use it anyway. Evan

Been through that sort of deal. Just sell the shit and forget it. Deny it ever exsisted and your all set. Evan

http://www.columbusracing.com/forums/misc.php?do=getsmilies# Funny Evan

haha I saw that on TV years ago when the company was first having it put together. Evan

Damn sucks that you hit it with a nice car. You should have kept the deer and mounted it in your garage. Evan

Now look what yal did. Gas is over $3 a gallon. Thanks alot Evan

Not sure how true it is, but I've always heard that backpressure is accounted for in the stock programming and actually helps the cars performance. especially a nearly stock low HP engine. It would really help with the lower end of the rpm range. Of course I'm sure it opens up the HP in the top end, but thats not where your car spends most of its time anyway and that goes back to the stock programming comment. I know thats how it works on my 05 taco. So far there isn't really any exhaust system that improves it enough to make it worth doing. Evan

hehe good luck. I always hate taking drum brakes apart. I've never replaced them on anything I've owned because normally I get them apart and the damned things ain't even worn so I put it back together and forget it. If you do get it apart becareful to note how all the springs and hooks attach. Maybe even take a few pictures because that shit ain't fun if you don't do it every day. Evan

Thats why I don't come out to meets anymore. There's really no point if we get chased out for doing nothing every night. If yal wanna hang somewhere you better find private property thats secluded enough that you almost can't see the next guys land. Then you'll be fine until something like a killing happens. Evan

the IRS will accept payments. Not sure how thats set up, but I'm sure it says on the 1040 tax form near the bottom or in the instruction book. I do know that the interest they charge is around 30%. Evan

Get a can of "wire dryer" from an autoparts store and spray it all over the ignition stuff. It will evaporate all the water on the wires and stuff and it should not have that problem in the future. You may need to treat it a few times a year if its bad enough. I use this stuff on trail rides when someone totally soaks there distributor cap and there usually running 1 minute after I spray it on. Evan

Yeah that sucked though the mud holes I got stuck in were up to my hood pins. Rons fullsize blazer tried one that we have always wanted to make it through, but he pulled in slow and sank immediately to the top of his 37" boggers. BTW I never got any mud in my radiator though:-) Evan

Hehe yeah I usually end up with the trucks nose in a mud hole. Its a bonus of being trail leader (depth tester.) I still haven't bothered removing the water from my powersteering system. No engine damage though so I don't get to upgrade that yet and all that hard bouncing trying to smooth down that hill climb caused me to fracture a frame rail in a spot that my dad welded once already. Sunday I re-welded it real nice and ugly. Maybe with 1/2" thick welds it will hold a little better this time. Ah and I also straightened my bumber and re-welded it as well. Evan

Unless someone can prove its illegal I've heard both ways on it from what I'd call reliable sources so who the hell knows. Evan

There are alot of trails in ohio. Its just that unless you join a club you won't find any reference to them on the internet because people tend to show up that don't understand the importance of obeying most common sence rules when riding on the trails. 99% of the trails my club runs are township roads that are legally open for motorized traffic. They get shut down by jerks that either DUI or litter or something else of this type and cause problems for everyone. Ohio is also working on a very large offroad park in the near future, but can't say much more about that at this time. Evan

Damn it. I saw this a day late or I'd have took my little toy out to get warmed up for the season. BTW if anyone wants to go on a trail ride you can check out ohio4x4.com. We're having a novice day next saturday. It will be easier than most of our club only rides, but dents and scratches are likely to happen. And no I don't have a passenger seat. The wife is actually off work so she can make it to this one. Evan

Yeah they've change the truck selection quite alot. I'm always keeping an eye on that part of the lot. They usually have mid 80's fullsize stuff, but not really anything newer than 91 or so and its usually a van. In the compact size they have about everything. Usually only 2 or so nissans or toyotas that aren't already picked to the bones. Evan

And thats the truth. Evan

I"ve never understood that whole half price sale thing. They've always had there prices that low and I've been going there for years during all seasons, but who cares since there way cheaper on everything then any other junkyard around. My offroad toy breaks parts at least monthly so I have definately been there enough. Of course maybe with the new ownership or what ever they will actually be having sales sometimes, but as far as I know its just a cute little sign that gets people talking just like we're doing now. Evan

Good advise controller. a hobby that envolves managing money is alot of fun and helps keep your goals in sight. Evan

I guess I'll add my profound insight to this discussion. If macs are so great then why is it that 99% of all businesses that I deal with as an officer equipment tech have PC's. Shouldn't everyone have the "much better" mac? Why is it that I have certs in both PC and mac's, but I've never really seen customers with macs? About the only places I see with macs are schools and newspapers. I guess I'll anwser my own question. Because macs cost to much, don't have nearly enough software, and their company sucks because they were unable to remain competitive against the PC platform. Now the only users of macs are the diehards and thats about it. Just end this and get a PC so we in the IT field don't have to waste time catering to a weak 3rd party. RANT MODE /off hehe you can tell I had a fun day at work. Evan

ID theft? Okay now I'll be serious. I know exactly how you feel. If you want to keep from spending all your money just open a savings account and transfer X amount of your paycheck to savings each week and don't touch it. Maybe even just put it in a seperate bank or even an online bank so that its not on the same check card. I know these days your checking and savings accounts are almost the same thing to the banks and from your check cards point of view so you'd be doing well to not have it touchable unless you actually fill out a withdrawal paper at a teller window. This way you'll someday go OMG I've got a shit load in my savings account and you'll either buy something cool ie a house, or you'll become a tight wad and save more. Evan

Wow thats some really messed up compression numbers. Are sure you measured it right because according to those readings you need alot of help. Did the pressures lower pretty fast right after you finished cranking it because that would let you know if you have any serious pressure leaks as well. Of course I'm not really big on compression tests as there resaults mostly just give the armchair mechanics something more to speculate about on forums. You can't really know until you remove the head, but you might wanna check other stuff before going that route unless you just want to for the hell of it. I was working on a Fierro a few weeks ago that a friend bought. The guy said it didn't run and he didn't know what was wrong because he did a tune up and it didn't help its missing problem. I reluctantly did a compression test and turned up nothing, but the damned thing ran like crap. finally we started back at square one and questioned everything. It turned out that the #2 and 3 plug wires had been backwards the whole time. So now the car runs great. Evan Evan