Cars of DT

[guidemetothelight]

As mentioned in the "a few stickers for my car" thread:

I´ll start with mine, a 1989 VW T3 with the 2.1 litre flat 4 engine.

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Excited to see if the cars of DT are as vintage as the boards we all love.

[Polecat]

NIce. There was a past thread here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17711&start=30

Here's my 1966, registered as a 1965, but almost nothing is original. Later 5 liter V8, 3 speed manual trans, front disc brakes. Driven daily, I don't own anything newer.

[Chyros]

Excited to see if the cars of DT are as vintage as the boards we all love.

Absolutely. My cars were a Mercedes 180E and an Audio 80 B3, both from 1986.

[thefarside]

My cars aren’t very old, but I have a 2013 Mustang GT and a 2019 Ford F-150 Raptor. I hope to own them long enough for them to become vintage

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[browncow]

I've basically bought the cheapest volvo 240 wagon that was auctioned online at that time, Which the previous owner converted into "rat style". Done the worst way possible though, he went with an angle grinder over the entire car to remove paint. The result is that every panel on that car is now like a golf ball. However i'm trying to make the best of it and someday i will finish painting it in turqoise and white roof combo. Other than that the car had a leaky head when i bought it, turned out the head was slightly corroded on the edge of one water channel, i have welded up the cavity and ground it up, been running great for two years Slowly but surely fixing the bodywork right now but when i'm done with that i have some engine upgrades in mind...

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Replaced the clutch fan with an electric one, made this aluminium shroud to mount it.

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Plans for the future include this intake manifold i welded for two of the stock Zenith/Stromberg CD175 carburetors instead of one.

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That's to not restrict this little Eaton blower from a mercedes w202 too much.

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This summer i've managed to basically rebuild the rear end from fresh sheet metal

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A friend gave me a stylish philips stereo, but it didn't fit anywhere so i made this panel out of steel to replace a sort of tray that was on the dash. Can you guess what that lonely switch is there for?

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[browncow]

NIce. There was a past thread here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17711&start=30

Here's my 1966, registered as a 1965, but almost nothing is original. Later 5 liter V8, 3 speed manual trans, front disc brakes. Driven daily, I don't own anything newer.

Absolutely beautiful car, i'd love to see more pics. Gorgeous!

[browncow]

As mentioned in the "a few stickers for my car" thread:

I´ll start with mine, a 1989 VW T3 with the 2.1 litre flat 4 engine.

bus.jpg

Excited to see if the cars of DT are as vintage as the boards we all love.

Ahh the flat volkswagen 4. My friend is currently restoring a type 181 VW with the flat 4, but a smaller capacity one. Great little engines, easy to service. The material they are made of though... Friend had a cracked block, and tried to find somebody who would weld magnesium. He found ONE guy on the other side of the country. I promised him to give a shot at it, IF he will buy a proper fire extinguisher for putting out magnesium fires, which turned out hard to find, but eventually he managed to get one so i gave it a shot.

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If you know how to tig weld aluminium, it's not that much different. It feels very simmilar actually. You just need magnesium filler rod which is quite expensive.

[jsheradin]

That's to not restrict this little Eaton blower from a mercedes w202 too much.

Superchargers never get enough love! I'd be very interested to see what your manifold ends up looking like.

[jsheradin]

This is a car I've been building with a few friends on and off over the past couple years. It's for a $2000 challenge series that consists of autocross, drag racing, and a car show with judges. This burgundy boat started life as an '86 Pontiac Fiero GT manual with a 2.8L GM 60deg V6. The chassis was robbed of an engine at some point so we sourced a 3.4L out of a Camaro, gave it a dingle ball rebuild, intake manifold off of a Jeep, Holley carb, HEI, and about a dozen wires to get it going. Just about everything that didn't make the car go or stop was hacked off getting it down to about 2300lbs. It worked pretty well but definitely had room for improvement.

2021:

Spoiler:

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The car was in desperate need of suspension work. Being an 86 the geometry was just hopeless. In 1988 GM completely changed the design for the better. We got a rusted out 88 cradle for free and used it to make a jig. From there we connected up all the points that mattered using box section and some tubing. This was combined with yet more weight loss, coilovers on all 4 corners, and a rear swaybar from a Mercury Grand Marquis to give a surprisingly well balanced car.

2022:

Spoiler:

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We did great in the competition but still had the iron block iron head boat anchor of an engine. According to a single person on a forum somewhere, a 2006 Chevy Cobalt SS drivetrain will fit in a Fiero. After a surprisingly short search I ended up meeting some guy in a field and became the proud owner of an absolute pile of junk. The Cobalt SS drivetrain is a modern, all aluminum, factory supercharged, 2.0L Ecotec LSJ mated to a Saab F35 trans with a 4.05 final and a factory limited slip. Prior to being wrecked and left to rot, someone dumped a couple paychecks into this thing. It has a party pulley, stainless headers, a wideband, bigger fuel injectors, ECU unlock, and some intercooler work.

After using a saws-all to literally carve the engine out of the mangled frame we saved every bit of electronics and wiring that the rats hadn't gotten to. To my relief, Mr. Forum Man didn't lie and these are somehow a drop in motor for the Fiero. Cobalt axles are the exact correct length and spline to fit perfectly in Fiero hubs. I spent far too many hours culling and re-looming the harness into the bare essentials needed to run the car. The timing chain did the usual Ecotec stuff so we dropped in fresh guides and all that. We whipped up some engine mounts, plumbing, flipped the shift linkages, and she was good to go. Turns out this little motor is making about 18lbs of boost which is enough to blow the tires off in second gear.

Now having lightness, good suspension, and finally some power to back it up, we handily won our tire class and brought home a stack of trophies. We actually did so well that we would have won the wider tire class if we had entered that too.
2023:

Spoiler:

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At this point the car is just about done, probably going to shop around for another hooptie to make fast.

[Polecat]

NIce. There was a past thread here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17711&start=30

Here's my 1966, registered as a 1965, but almost nothing is original. Later 5 liter V8, 3 speed manual trans, front disc brakes. Driven daily, I don't own anything newer.

Absolutely beautiful car, i'd love to see more pics. Gorgeous!

Thank you, here's the one I posted before. Anything in particular you'd like to see? It was built to drive (22 years now), so not a lot of effort went into cosmetics.

[browncow]

NIce. There was a past thread here:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17711&start=30

Here's my 1966, registered as a 1965, but almost nothing is original. Later 5 liter V8, 3 speed manual trans, front disc brakes. Driven daily, I don't own anything newer.

Absolutely beautiful car, i'd love to see more pics. Gorgeous!

Thank you, here's the one I posted before. Anything in particular you'd like to see? It was built to drive (22 years now), so not a lot of effort went into cosmetics.

Looks really really clean. I'd love to see some of the interior and of the engine. Being polish i don't think i've saw a van with a V8 ever in my life

[browncow]

That's to not restrict this little Eaton blower from a mercedes w202 too much.

Superchargers never get enough love! I'd be very interested to see what your manifold ends up looking like.

Thank you! it's made from straight pieces of aluminium pipe that i cut in this way. the interior ended up smooth:

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Very cool story with that fiero you posted, i had fun reading it Very nice work on the rear subframe and all, you've got results to speak of! awesome to see!

[Polecat]

Looks really really clean. I'd love to see some of the interior and of the engine. Being polish i don't think i've saw a van with a V8 ever in my life

It's clean but well used, sorry in advance for the zero effort photos and $2.99 camera. I started to clean up the mess, but I had to stop because there was another mess underneath. The inside closely resembles my desk. These never came with a V8, so I had to cheat on that. Modified crossmember and linkages, Chevy radiator and engine cowling, GM HEI ignition, Bosch coil, Autolite 4 barrel carb. Seats are Corvette, gauges are Stewart Warner. Engine is a Ford 302 (5 liter). Transmission is Ford full synchro 3 speed on the column. Axle is Ford 9 inch, 3.00 ratio. 1 ton springs (stock), front and rear. Front brakes are Mustang discs. Koni shocks. Runs and drives like a dream, we just took it on a 600 mile trip last week.

[fohat]

Whoa!
That is a big upgrade from the one I drove, even though it looks almost identical on the surface.
Those "aftermarket" air conditioners were a big thing in the late-1950s-early-1960s.

[jsheradin]

Runs and drives like a dream

Glad that's the case! That engine does not look fun to change plugs on.

AC vent location is perfect too - you can just blow it right up your shorts to cool the essentials.

[Polecat]

Glad that's the case! That engine does not look fun to change plugs on.

AC vent location is perfect too - you can just blow it right up your shorts to cool the essentials.

Not at all, the Chevy cowling leaves about 6 inches on each side, easy access from above or below. Even my gorilla paws fit down in there. 15 minute job, and only that long because there are 8 of them.

The floor unit is just a swamp cooler. Works great here in CA, add a gallon of water every few hours and no MPG loss, but by the time you get to east Texas it doesn't do anything because the humidity passes 100 percent.

[Muirium]

…the Chevy cowling leaves…

This leapt out at me in the forum spy. I misread it as Cherry cowling leaves, and instantly had that feeling I used to get in 2013 that MX mods were as strange and inscrutable as the legendary Alps vortex. Only, y’know, without the final satisfaction of Alps as your reward.

But no, the other Chevy. Fair enough.

[guidemetothelight]

First of all guys, let me say I had a blast reading this while sipping my morning coffee @work !
Big thank you to everyone who replied, posted / shared.

Nice. There was a past thread here:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17711&start=30

Thanks ! I figured that something like that already exists but I just couldnt find the thread.

Here's my 1966, registered as a 1965, but almost nothing is original. Later 5 liter V8, 3 speed manual trans, front disc brakes. Driven daily, I don't own anything newer.

What a beautiful car.
Stylish, yet (somewhat) practical as a daily.

but I have a 2013 Mustang GT

Literally my dream car when I was 13.
Changed pretty fast though, now its probably something like a 84` 911 Turbo in metallic blue.

Slowly but surely fixing the bodywork right now but when i'm done with that i have some engine upgrades in mind...

240´s look great in every condition. Something about those boxy euro cars, just ticks all the right boxes for me
What are you planning ? I´ve seen some truly wild swaps into volvos.

Ahh the flat volkswagen 4.....Great little engines, easy to service.
If you know how to tig weld aluminium, it's not that much different. It feels very simmilar actually. You just need magnesium filler rod which is quite expensive.

Yeah, I love the flat 4. Compact, reliable ( that engine will outlive its chassis by a long shot, thank you german rust ) and best of all: great sound ! If I wouldnt drive it daily (and it was legal here) I would love to straight pipe that thing with nice 2 in 1 headers
But so far, my machining and fabrication skills only cover plastic and wood , I dont have the knowledge nor space / machinery for metal I need to move to a rural area asap.

Now having lightness, good suspension, and finally some power to back it up, we handily won our tire class and brought home a stack of trophies. We actually did so well that we would have won the wider tire class if we had entered that too.

Incredible what can be done in the US with the parts & regulations over there ! Would love to be able to do (and drive) stuff like that over here. But German TÜV would like to have a word with you

[guidemetothelight]

Absolutely. My cars were a Mercedes 180E and an Audio 80 B3, both from 1986.

What car did you prefer ? I personally like the looks of the mercedes more but in my mind at least the audi handles / drives better

[guidemetothelight]

..."MX mods were as strange and inscrutable as the legendary Alps vortex. Only, y’know, without the final satisfaction of Alps as your reward. "

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[browncow]

Slowly but surely fixing the bodywork right now but when i'm done with that i have some engine upgrades in mind...

240´s look great in every condition. Something about those boxy euro cars, just ticks all the right boxes for me
What are you planning ? I´ve seen some truly wild swaps into volvos.
all love.

Finishing patching up the rust, painting it like i said two tone turquoise/white roof, and building the new engine with that supercharger from the benz. This b23A engine is one of the reasons why i love this car so i don't plan on swapping anything different in, just upgrading this one. Preferably with the head from a boat version, the 531 head which has completely different intake channels, if i manage to source one, enlarge the combustion chambers to lower compression ratio for forced induction, finish the dual carb intakes i'm fabricating, and because it will be a blow-through setup, i can use an intercooler, so i'm going for a air/water exchanger from a modern TFSI vw engines, they have compact air/water heat exchangers that mount into the intake manifold. i want to keep everything as compact as possible because i like the ample space in the engine bay. And i'm not a fan of super long boost piping.
The exhaust is so far a stock header and a sidepipe with three (!) absorbtion style mufflers, but it's still quite loud. Probably will have a go at building a stainless header for it when im done with everything else.

[browncow]

Looks really really clean. I'd love to see some of the interior and of the engine. Being polish i don't think i've saw a van with a V8 ever in my life

It's clean but well used, sorry in advance for the zero effort photos and $2.99 camera. I started to clean up the mess, but I had to stop because there was another mess underneath. The inside closely resembles my desk. These never came with a V8, so I had to cheat on that. Modified crossmember and linkages, Chevy radiator and engine cowling, GM HEI ignition, Bosch coil, Autolite 4 barrel carb. Seats are Corvette, gauges are Stewart Warner. Engine is a Ford 302 (5 liter). Transmission is Ford full synchro 3 speed on the column. Axle is Ford 9 inch, 3.00 ratio. 1 ton springs (stock), front and rear. Front brakes are Mustang discs. Koni shocks. Runs and drives like a dream, we just took it on a 600 mile trip last week.

That's a great van. Thanks for sharing all the pictures and info, it's pretty interesting to me as i think closest thing to this in poland i've ever seen is a STAR truck They also had that kind of engine placement. Other than that, simmilarities end. This van must go quite well with that engine setup and i can just imagine how good it sounds.

[Chyros]

Absolutely. My cars were a Mercedes 180E and an Audio 80 B3, both from 1986.

What car did you prefer ? I personally like the looks of the mercedes more but in my mind at least the audi handles / drives better

The Merc was a lot better, to be honest. I actually liked the look of the Audi better, but it didn't even have injection, and using a choke isn't much fun. The Merc was WAY more reliable. Loved both of them, though. Old cars are way more interesting than modern ones, and have infinitely more character.

When I first got it, the Merc had a weird issue where it would start hot or cold, but not semi-warm. So if you parked, got some groceries, then got back in, it wouldn't start anymore, but it was fine if you were only 1 minutes, or several hours. As it turned out, the motor oil had turned into a semi-solid, pitch-black sludge. The mechanic estimated that it had never been changed before, and was amazed it even ran at all. Obviously it had other issues as well, but it was pretty good.

The Audi I boiled every drop of cooling fluid out of twice, and once I practically exploded the engine. The choke thing was the worst though, it was like doing alchemy every time you wanted to start it.

[guidemetothelight]

Old cars are way more interesting than modern ones, and have infinitely more character.
.......
When I first got it, the Merc had a weird issue where it would start hot or cold, but not semi-warm. So if you parked, got some groceries, then got back in, it wouldn't start anymore, but it was fine if you were only 1 minutes, or several hours.

Couldn´t agree more ! Old cars have way more personality. Today every car looks the same for efficiency and safety´s sake.
Also couldn´t agree more on those weird, sometimes occuring issues that pop up. My van has the tendency to give me the oil pressure warning when I lift the throttle after driving a bit on the autobahn. When I go from 120 to around 90 the issue starts coming up. Almost only in the summer, but I have enough oil in the tank, use the correct one and my oil pump and lines are new.
Might have to rip out the piezo since I cant ignore the beeping anymore