zeitgeist57

LATE AUGUST After online shopping, I settled on Menard's for concrete. By far the best price for bags: 60lb bag for $2.22. "All-Star"...guess who makes it? Quickrete. Same stuff as the expensive bags. I needed to mix it myself because my work/family schedule wouldn't really permit me to take a whole bag of wet, pre-mixed concrete as I was doing this myself; I wanted to flexibility of doing it when I could. Plus, my post holes ended up being somewhat deeper/wider than anticipated so I really wasn't sure how much I would need in one order. In addition, Cleetus would bottom out at 20 bags. With rain in the forecast, I did 4 runs to Menard's for concrete bags...usually around 14 bags each time, bouncing on bumpstops the whole way home. I had one day where it was raining with bags in the back of Cleetus; you have to move quickly to avoid them turning to worthless cinderblocks! Cement mixer. NOM NOM NOM. Only really able to mix one bag of 60lbs concrete mix at a time, so I'd mix a bag, dump wet concrete in my wheelbarrow, and do another. Each wheelbarrow load would be 120lbs concrete/water mix, poured into each post hole until filled. I used 70 bags of concrete mix. 4,200lbs of concrete. LABOR DAY WEEKEND First cross beam up! So...each one of the cross-braces are 2 9'6" C-channel steel beams, with one slid inside the other. I pulled them apart until overall length was 18', then used 24 1" Tek-screws in the middle of each joint to fix the final beam length. Each beam uses 8 Tek-screws on each side to affix it to the columns. YES, they are very heavy. You can see the brace I made from some leftover 2x4"s to support one side of the beam while I used a stepladder to get the other side up, supported on my shoulders while I used a hammer-drill to drill in tek-screws. The orange ratchet straps were used to bring the tops of the poles in enough to screw in the 18' beam. 36" in concrete and 8' tall, I had no more than 1-1.5" of deflection. WELL WITHIN CLAY'S TOLERANCES. Three! Three beams in!! AH! AH! AH! AH! [/thecount] Down goes the B-ball hoop. It'll be in the way of parking Cleetus next to carport, and the backboard gets in the way of the roof anyway. Roof panels: corrugated steel, 36" wide by 10'6" long. overlap each other, using butyl rubber strip to seal gaps. Affixed to cross braces from above with moar Tek-screws. This first line is 2 panels end-to-end. Will be 12 total panels (2 panels long, 6 panels wide) to make up the roof. Moar panels. Last night was a beautiful night. Made me appreciate working outside, and thinking about how nice we have it while Hurricane Irma is barrelling towards Florida.

Are some of you dudes still flexing muscle over that group? I'd like to participate with my son, bringing out my BMW...however, I have an Indian Guides campout Fri/Sat night outside of Cinci and I won't be back until Sun noon. Will that be too late to get out a run or two depending on the crowds/weather? PSA: Kids and social events - they don't help your love for cars.

He's got an R63 Mercedes that will thump your precious unicorn.

The rear daylight window in the white sedan also throws off the visual. Come to think of it, it's funny that the sedan has the rear side glass and the hatch doesn't....was the other way around most of my life. I'm still studying Park Avenue Ultra's. If my Cavalier gets destroyed in FL b'cuz Hurricane Irma, I may have to pick one up.

I really, REALLY just want to copy/paste this again as the final post in this thread, and close it. Well said, Deej.

Rear door is not different; same in both sedan and hatchback. Only body and roofline are different. Keeps costs down. Also, I would NOT get a Hyundai Genesis V8(at least the 1st gen)...too many electrical problems with them after 100k miles.

Wow...those Park Avenue's look amazing for less than $3k.

I was hanging out with a guy Saturday evening that just picked up a 2014 90D for $42k, with 70k miles. The thing truly looks and rolls like it's brand new. I'm a huge fan of Tesla. That being said, I travel to NE and Eastern OH weekly for business meetings, and I do believe - especially for winter - that long-distance DD's in Ohio should be cheaper, reliable, comfortable, especially if any part of the commute is back-roads. Can't tell you how rough country routes beat the crap out of my cars, especially my lowered BMW. If you want a cheap car that will always look sensibly higher-end (because no one really thinks you're the shit driving in a Focus TITANIUM), I've seen Cadillac STS V6's get below $10k with reasonable miles. The fuel economy is not going to be as good as something 4cyl. V6 ->https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/705107790/overview/ V8 -> https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/709593380/overview/ ...or, step up to the supercharged Northstar. https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/707913190/overview/ If it's mostly city/highway driving, then something newer that'll last 10+ years with basic maintenance will do well. We're car guys on this board - getting a massively-depreciated car with 100k-120k miles and then maintaining them past 200k should be a goal, and a point of pride.

Good job, Grant! Now, get it tuned and rock it out.

Dudes...just saw the PetrolBox plug on HOONIGAN :thumbup:

Lol. Cheeky kunt.

Don't worry everyone...I'm OK. THANKS FOR THE CONCERNS I ended up grabbing the old Duraspark EEC from the garage, re-wired from MSD back into the factory Ford Duraspark wiring setup and it fired right up. :thumbup:

<3 Sassy.

As I stand in the parking lot, my 82 ford just stop making spark. I tested the pickup on the MSD box, and no spark. Hoping somebody's got a 6A box that they no longer use. Let me know. Thanks!

Rick, let me know about judging. At this point, I don't have anything scheduled for Oct 7th.

I just want to say that, as a not-big-into-sports guy (no ESPN or sports radio), this thread helps me stay up on what's going on during the college football season. Thank you, gentlemen...and carry on.

I've got 6 holes that were around 20"x 36" (cylinder) for my carport project. I've got a lot of fill left over. Most of it is clay, with a good amount of rocks. I have a friend out in Etna that can take it, but happy to have it go to somebody on CR that's closer to Columbus.

That. Is. Fucking. Awesome. Video. Thanks, Jono!!

I need to double-check with my wife...this caliber bullet works in a Sig Sauer P238, correct?

lol. Hey, look at the C3 Corvette market in the last 10 years...there is apparently a future market for getting C4's now for belly-button lint and holding onto them for a decade or so. At least they won't [visibly] rust out!

So...I deleted Truecaller because it only worked 1/4 of the time. I put too much faith in a free app - including sharing my contact info - and got exactly what I deserved. If Truecaller gets hacked, it wasn't me who put your numbers on their system, people...it was someone else.

What is the shortblock? They make 2V 4.6's that handle twin turbo-levels of abuse???

Don't think I didn't notice those jewels. :barf: That thing would look sweet lowered a bit with some fatty RWL tires (Cooper Cobras or Radial GTs) and a rollpan in the back. Most of the work is already done from an appearance standpoint. If the interior is servicable - no major tears in the bench, all panels are present and carpet looks good - I could see it being a $2000-2500 tee-ruk but definitely no more than that, especially if you need new tires and you want to swap in a different motor.

And another thing.... Finnegan (of HotRod and Roadkill fame) complained on their Ramp Truck of the "terrible" tube grille for these Squarebodies. Yeah...it's a dated design but I still think it looks good for that bodystyle, and for the price it's cheaper than a plastic knock-off grille from LMC...

Yeah...that truck actually looks a lot better in pic...the aluminum wheels look sharp. Are the tires in good shape? Would be curious if that paint could hold a polish (paging Tim). Looks like a lot of weathering dripping down the side. I'll up my offer to $2500 if the tires are solid...but that's IT.