Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

imidazol97

Are there online forums like autotrader that are good places to advertise a speciality performance car where the buyer is more likely to be someone willing to pay more for a performance car. A friend is thinking he's going to end up selling the kid's 98 Mustang with Cobra motor that was a replacement and has been rebuilt recently. Lots of specialty suspension modifications in the Thousands of dollars..

It's had a new motor, a new transmission (manual) and other things done to it in the last few years. I believe it's in the 80-90K miles range. They had it up for sale by a performance car shop where they had bought it, but the guy claimed the only interest was at a low price.

oldfarmer50

snakeweasel said:

oldfarmer50 said:

snakeweasel said:

Yesterday I was driving along a almost empty stretch of road two lanes in each direction, the only other car was a dark colored Challenger. I was going slightly over the speed limit (maybe 4 or 5 over) when I passed the Challenger. As soon as I passed the Challenger the driver merged into my lane and paced me for a few hundred feet before dropping back to his original speed. My guess he was an unmarked police car and I wasn't going fast enough to warrant being pulled over.

Which car were you driving? Maybe he was envious of your cool ride?

It was in the ragtop so I don't think he was. 

You were both driving Chryslers so maybe he figured you for a kindred spirit.

oldfarmer50

imidazol97 said:

Are there online forums like autotrader that are good places to advertise a speciality performance car where the buyer is more likely to be someone willing to pay more for a performance car. A friend is thinking he's going to end up selling the kid's 98 Mustang with Cobra motor that was a replacement and has been rebuilt recently. Lots of specialty suspension modifications in the Thousands of dollars..

It's had a new motor, a new transmission (manual) and other things done to it in the last few years. I believe it's in the 80-90K miles range. They had it up for sale by a performance car shop where they had bought it, but the guy claimed the only interest was at a low price.

I'd look For a site dedicated to performance mods where the engine swaps and modifications would’t scare people off. I saved all the OEM parts off my Mustang in case a potential buyer doesn’t appreciate the modest work I’ve done.

Here’s one:

https://www.hotrodhotline.com

explorerx4

Mustang are exported, so not all over them are sold here is NA.
I believe they have a minimum profit margin and the vehicles below that are the ones being discontinued.

berri

I think more and more unmarked cop cars are no longer strippers with hubcaps. I actually saw a black unmarked Ford F-150 4wd complete with the big knobby tires pull a speeder over the other day. I've seen other unmarked cop cars with full wheel covers and the like.

Not surprised about rising suicide rate here. PTSD from all our military adventures. Guys in their 40's and 50's getting laid off before they are fully vested in any retirement benefits and because a younger person is generally cheaper. General attitude in the US that as you age you become a person of less worth. Combine all that with the rapid technology shifts impacting the economy and we are bound to get a lot of fallout unfortunately.

imidazol97

I've been slowly installing a new garage door opener. My old one had given trouble. Then it started working again, but last week just went "fheft" in the middle of going down.

New opener had different length so I had to move the ceiling angle iron and change the direction of the connectors that hang the opener. All with no help from anyone else to hold things while I marked or measured. My wife has had the flu for several days. (I told her to get a flu shot. She didn't.)

I've been sore from climbing up and down the step ladder and from opening and closing the garage door by reaching down to concrete floor level to get my fingers under it. I'll be glad for this to be over. I know some here have worse back pain so I won't complain. But this "getting old" stuff is for the birds.

berri

Man, garage door stuff can be pretty dangerous, I know people that are very mechanical, but won't touch garage doors.

sb55

Suicide and opioid overdoses have hit my wife's family. Her nephew od'd in 2009 at age 26 and her father committed suicide in 2013 at age 79. That sucks:(
I have a bi-polar brother and he has talked suicide while in the "down" phase. Just this past late summer he checked himself into a psych ward. He was a child/young man sports star who never had to do anything for himself. Now at 62, and after his 3rd divorce he's kind of helpless. He can't even turn on a computer or balance a check book and is kind of out of money. We live on opposite sides of the country, and I haven't seen him in about 5 years. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot in common.

graphicguy

Only one way to go......UP!

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/12/genesis-the-brand-that-barely-exists-in-sales-slow-ascent/

explorerx4

I almost died installing a garage door opener for my mom.
Nothing to do with the opener, but it didn't notice the extension cord I was connecting my drill into had a cut.
Luckily the cord was plugged into a ceiling outlet and by random chance, I pulled it out while jumping around trying to pull apart the drill plug from the extension cord.

ab348

imidazol97 said:

I've been slowly installing a new garage door opener. My old one had given trouble. Then it started working again, but last week just went "fheft" in the middle of going down.

New opener had different length so I had to move the ceiling angle iron and change the direction of the connectors that hang the opener. All with no help from anyone else to hold things while I marked or measured. My wife has had the flu for several days. (I told her to get a flu shot. She didn't.)

I've been sore from climbing up and down the step ladder and from opening and closing the garage door by reaching down to concrete floor level to get my fingers under it. I'll be glad for this to be over. I know some here have worse back pain so I won't complain. But this "getting old" stuff is for the birds.

I replaced my garage door opener a couple of years ago when my ancient one gave up the ghost. It is a very fiddly and sometime frustrating process, especially doing it solo, but I managed to get it done in a day (than than a full one). Fortunately I didn't have to make changes where it hung.

Drivingfool

I take opioids so I can function and go to work but still have bad days where they don't seem to work as effectively. Had a couple of bad episodes when I moved my daughter a couple weeks ago but she handled it well and got me what I needed to get comfortable. I just need to be in bed and left alone when I reach that pain level and after a day or two, things get back to normal. Think I scared her a bit which I was sorry for but now she's seen me at my worst and knows what to do to make me more comfortable.
Am I tired of all the meds and the constant chronic pain? Sure am but what's the alternative? I have decided that this will be my last year working, and hope to stop by mid year. The wife ain't happy about it but I need to do what I need to do. Some mornings it's so tough to just get out of bed and into a shower, the thought of working till 6 that night is just too much. So on those days, I end up staying home until I feel better. Only way I see to handle it. Luckily, my boss is very understanding and gives me the flexibility I need so I try to not do it too often. Once the alarm goes off, I slowly get up and go through my morning routine and most days, I'm just fine.
But yes, am looking forward to stopping completely. My son always asks what I plan to do and the best I can give him is, I just want to relax. Get up when I want, eat when I want, do what I want. Feel that I don't to always have to be doing something. But yes, am counting the days and one day, I'll get up and just say, I've had enough!

The Sandman/Driving Fool

[Deleted User]

Today I had a chance to test the battery consumption in the Tesla with an 88-mile trip, most of which was 75 mph. There were some short construction areas at 65 mph, and then a little suburban driving off the freeway amounting to around 8 miles total, so roughly 80 miles of freeway driving. The first half was spent at 25 degrees and the second half around 49 degrees. There was no wind and the roads were mostly flat with just minor grade changes. We ran the heater in the colder temperatures but not the warmer return trip, and there were two people with minimal cargo.

Whereas diesel vehicles loving putting along the freeway at high speeds, not so with electric. Worst case for electric range is high freeway speeds combined with cold weather. The faster and colder the worse the range.

The car is EPA rated at 310 miles. After the trip the Model 3 display showed an average of 212 watts consumed per mile. Doing the math, then, the car could travel 4.72 miles per kilowatt, and it has an 80 kwh battery with 75 usable kwh. If we were to charge to 100% and completely deplete the battery in these conditions, then we could theoretically travel 353.8 miles.

That's pretty impressive given the less-than-ideal conditions of our drive and makes me pretty happy about spending a little extra on the long range model.

Tesla recommends keeping the battery between 10% and 90% for optimal health and long life. You can easily use 0% to 100%, but it's not recommended on a daily basis. Using that formula, then, 60 kwh would be usable on a daily basis and result in 283 miles usable range. Still pretty good.

I'm sure the range will drop as the temps continue to drop in Colorado, but I'm excited to see what happens in spring and fall when temps are in the ideal range and a heater isn't required (AC consumes less range than a heater in an electric car). I foresee a road trip or two in 2019, you know, to be thorough in my testing and all, and not at all because I love driving it.

Sorry to bore you. I was just geeking out a bit and wanted to share for those interested.

suydam

Sandman, one alternative is medical marijuana. Either the oils or the tinctures. I know folks who have terrible chronic pain and it has made a world of difference. You can do that now in Florida, right?

stickguy

sandy, seems odd to me why your wife would be that worked up about you working longer, since it is a part time, basically minimum wage job, and you are already out on pension and about to have SS also.

My sister committed Suicide early last year (about age 60). Not expected at the time, but not really a shock either. But man, what a mess, and does a number on the kids left behind. But, she had done them a number all their lives.

stickguy

Oh, and a big Happy Birthday to our favorite Colorado moderator! Hope it was a good one.

Mr_Shiftright

Not an easy car to sell, because modifications are as personal as jewelry. You'd need to find someone who wants exactly the same things added. The rebuilt motor doesn't really add anything, because all cars are supposed to have motors that work. Piled on to all of that, it's a fairly common car and the miles are on the high end for a Mustang. He's probably on the right track, though, to put it with a consignor---preferably a dealer who can make his money not on the sale price, but on the financing.

What's he asking. This is probably, at best, an $8,000 car (or less).

stickguy

when I bought our first house (many years ago) a friend helped put up 2 door openers (he was very handy). Was not horrible, and we had to do it from scratch, on a new build. A few years later, on our next house, I had to replace an existing one. Got the job done, but it was a decided lack of fun.

since then, I have called the pros when I need one done. No risk to my safety, and for the $100 or whatever it costs, a screaming bargain!

stickguy

hey QB, since I am considering using Carvana, did you just pay off the loan yourself, and get money back from them? I was looking at the site and seems that I have to upload a copy of the payoff sheet but I expected them to take care of all the finances and paperwork.

driver100

explorerx4 said:

Mustang are exported, so not all over them are sold here is NA.
I believe they have a minimum profit margin and the vehicles below that are the ones being discontinued.

Agree, Mustang outsells Camaro in world wide sales....people like them in Europe. It does make a profit, but small....Trucks make 90% of Fords profits.

xwesx

tyguy said:

I'm sure the range will drop as the temps continue to drop in Colorado, but I'm excited to see what happens in spring and fall when temps are in the ideal range and a heater isn't required (AC consumes less range than a heater in an electric car). I foresee a road trip or two in 2019, you know, to be thorough in my testing and all, and not at all because I love driving it.

Sorry to bore you. I was just geeking out a bit and wanted to share for those interested.

A good friend of mine has a Ford C-Max (PHEV). He likes to run it on electric only, and can do so for his commute if he takes a few things into consideration. Rule #1? No heat! He garages it, so it is warm when he starts out (in the mornings anyway), and he tries to stick to only having the defrost mode on for keeping the windshield clear.

His family, surprisingly, are not big fans of riding in "dad's car" during the winter months!

qbrozen

stickguy said:

hey QB, since I am considering using Carvana, did you just pay off the loan yourself, and get money back from them? I was looking at the site and seems that I have to upload a copy of the payoff sheet but I expected them to take care of all the finances and paperwork.

They are going to take care of it. I am giving them a certified check for the negative equity.

stickguy

ah, that makes sense. I have positive equity, so would just turn it over. My real goal is to get the dealer to match (or come pretty close) to the Carvana quote, to save on the sales tax. if not, will just tell them to send the trunk and pick it up.

cdnpinhead

I've had pretty good luck installing garage door openers single-handed. Where I've found it more prudent to involve a professional is when the springs break and/or the cable winders go wonky.

oldfarmer50

Mr_Shiftright said:

Not an easy car to sell, because modifications are as personal as jewelry. You'd need to find someone who wants exactly the same things added. The rebuilt motor doesn't really add anything, because all cars are supposed to have motors that work. Piled on to all of that, it's a fairly common car and the miles are on the high end for a Mustang. He's probably on the right track, though, to put it with a consignor---preferably a dealer who can make his money not on the sale price, but on the financing.

What's he asking. This is probably, at best, an $8,000 car (or less).

If I were shopping it I’d like to know where the engine was sourced from. Was it an engine from a Cobra or from a MarkVIII. IIRC the 4 valve from the Lincoln was less powerful.

snakeweasel

cdnpinhead said:

I've had pretty good luck installing garage door openers single-handed. Where I've found it more prudent to involve a professional is when the springs break and/or the cable winders go wonky.

I have had the same experience, I find it easy to install an opener but will leave things like springs to the pros.

Michaell

stickguy said:

Oh, and a big Happy Birthday to our favorite Colorado moderator! Hope it was a good one.

Thanks! Nothing's too special today, but did finally introduce mrs Michaell to @breld (and mrs) and @jpp5862 over dinner.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

ah, that makes sense. I have positive equity, so would just turn it over. My real goal is to get the dealer to match (or come pretty close) to the Carvana quote, to save on the sales tax. if not, will just tell them to send the trunk and pick it up.

I was going to attempt that but it just kept muddying things for me. Besides, carvana is so high it would have been a battle to get a dealer to even offer enough to break even with the tax credit.

stickguy

that is the one piece I have not even attempted. My car is worth enough though that they could come in at $500 less and I would still be well ahead of the game.

I plan to negotiate without dealing with the trade. Once I get a deal on the table that I am happy enough to take as is, I will ask for a trade value and pull up the Carvana quote, then negotiate that to see where we get. as long as they are not lower by the amount saving in sales tax it makes sense to just take care of it all together. If not, I just start sending them paperwork and schedule that truck to come over!

driver100

Stick, I got lost there somewhere, but I gather you are considering selling your car to Carvana if you can get more from them than you would from the dealer when you consider the sales tax savings. How close would the dealer have to be....would you sell to Carvana if the difference was $50, $100, $200.....?

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

Stick, I got lost there somewhere, but I gather you are considering selling your car to Carvana if you can get more from them than you would from the dealer when you consider the sales tax savings. How close would the dealer have to be....would you sell to Carvana if the difference was $50, $100, $200.....?

Yeah, I missed something too. Which car...and more importantly, what’s replacing it?

driver100

I noticed one thing I have to accept but something I am not crazy about with the turbo 4 cyl in the C250. The engine is great from a standing start, I can beat 75% of the cars next to me from a light (if I wanted to) and it has great pick up if I am going 40 or 50 mph and want to get up to 70 or 80mph. Where it really falls down, and I guess this is when it has serious turbo lag is if I turn a fairly sharp corner, and then stomp the gas to get up to speed on the new road, and it takes awhile to catch and take off....there is a second or two of dead time when I am not accelerating.

I tried to find out about it and it sounds like...if I have this right.....is turbos only kick in at high revs, which would be from a stop, or while going fast anyway. Where they aren't efficient is when the revs are too low for it to do what it is supposed to do. Thus the twin scroll turbos, which can cover at those times.

I can live with it, but it would be nice to be able to have that power all the time, even when coming out of a turn.

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

Stick, I got lost there somewhere, but I gather you are considering selling your car to Carvana if you can get more from them than you would from the dealer when you consider the sales tax savings. How close would the dealer have to be....would you sell to Carvana if the difference was $50, $100, $200.....?

Yeah, I missed something too. Which car...and more importantly, what’s replacing it?

Glad it isn't just me....I thought the memory was going

abacomike

suydam said:

Sandman, one alternative is medical marijuana. Either the oils or the tinctures. I know folks who have terrible chronic pain and it has made a world of difference. You can do that now in Florida, right?

Sandman being on opioids has to be careful because his employment has to do with driving.  Considering medical marijuana might be even more cautionary.  

I live through pain every day but I refuse to take any pain killers because I drive every day.  Like Sandman, I take a bunch of prescriptive medications (blood pressure, statins, diuretics, insulin, blood thinners) to name a few.  Each medication you take affects your entire body in some way.

I feel Sandman’s frustration.  You get to a point where you have to consider what is really best in the long run.  I wish him the best, but medical marijuana and/or continued use of opioids may be necessary but considering his employment is driving can be problematic.

imidazol97

oldfarmer50 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

Not an easy car to sell, because modifications are as personal as jewelry. You'd need to find someone who wants exactly the same things added. The rebuilt motor doesn't really add anything, because all cars are supposed to have motors that work. Piled on to all of that, it's a fairly common car and the miles are on the high end for a Mustang. He's probably on the right track, though, to put it with a consignor---preferably a dealer who can make his money not on the sale price, but on the financing.

What's he asking. This is probably, at best, an $8,000 car (or less).

If I were shopping it I’d like to know where the engine was sourced from. Was it an engine from a Cobra or from a MarkVIII. IIRC the 4 valve from the Lincoln was less powerful.

IIRC the story on this yellow 98 Mustang, the replacement Cobra engine was a Ford crate engine. It has been heavily performance modified. The rebuild was done by a specialty house and took about 8 weeks including the shipping. There were lots of suspension modifications. The car was owned by one of the people at the local Mustang specialty performace store. Then the kid bought it from a later owner. He had to have this Mustang because he runs in a group of kids with performance cars, mostly Mustangs.

That was after he wrecked the two-year old '15 Mustang he had gotten. Duh. I pointed out that letting him get another souped up car was the wrong thing, as carefully as I could without wrecking friendship with his father.

A group of Kids souping up Mustangs, street racing, etc.. What could go wrong, right?

Finally the kid is on his way to a $500 junker for wheels

ab348

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

Stick, I got lost there somewhere, but I gather you are considering selling your car to Carvana if you can get more from them than you would from the dealer when you consider the sales tax savings. How close would the dealer have to be....would you sell to Carvana if the difference was $50, $100, $200.....?

Yeah, I missed something too. Which car...and more importantly, what’s replacing it?

I gave up trying to follow all the twists and turns with both stick and qb a while ago. More complicated than the first Mission: Impossible movie.

28firefighter

I was down in Highland Beach this weekend on a very quick turn trip (redeye Friday night, arrived Saturday midday into West Palm Beach, left 7am today) to celebrate a surprise birthday for my grandmother. 

I am not familiar with @abacomike’s hood that much, but given that I drove past Mercedes of Del Ray, I’m guessing I was pretty close!

My whole family flew in, so I rented a large SUV from Budget. Got a Toyota Seqouia that was absolutely trashed inside and out. No other options and the worst customer service I’ve encountered at a rental agency, so had to take it. But woof.  

berri

Miami and West Palm Beach are not my favorite airports for employee attitudes either.

imidazol97

Garage door opener replacement.

Some here had said Chamberlain a while back when openers came up. I skipped the Genie replacement for the B970 Chamberlain with a battery to work during any power outages, which are few for us.

The car remotes were programmed already. The outside keypad can be programmed from the house switch box by the entry door. As I read, other remotes can be programmed from there! Or they can be programmed with a button that is on the motor unit next to one of the lightbulbs where there is a keypad for setting up travel distances.

Technology has really improved. The sensor beams have one mounting option that they clip onto the metal rails for the garage door wheels. No drilling holes into wood behind or beside the door! There's a sensor on the house door keypad so if I go in the garage the opener lights come on! The door can do automatic door down--either after being up a certain time or at a certain time every day. In case you forget to put the door down?

It connects to the internet. It probably can talk to @abacomike's car. I don't think I'll set it up for internet access through my wifi. I am not clear if the app requires a fee to access the opener or not.

snakeweasel

Let's all thank imidazol for making sure the the forums post count stays high.

graphicguy

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

Oh, and a big Happy Birthday to our favorite Colorado moderator! Hope it was a good one.

Thanks! Nothing's too special today, but did finally introduce mrs Michaell to @breld (and mrs) and @jpp5862 over dinner.

HBD, Michaell!

suydam

abacomike said:

suydam said:

Sandman, one alternative is medical marijuana. Either the oils or the tinctures. I know folks who have terrible chronic pain and it has made a world of difference. You can do that now in Florida, right?

Sandman being on opioids has to be careful because his employment has to do with driving.  Considering medical marijuana might be even more cautionary.  

I live through pain every day but I refuse to take any pain killers because I drive every day.  Like Sandman, I take a bunch of prescriptive medications (blood pressure, statins, diuretics, insulin, blood thinners) to name a few.  Each medication you take affects your entire body in some way.

I feel Sandman’s frustration.  You get to a point where you have to consider what is really best in the long run.  I wish him the best, but medical marijuana and/or continued use of opioids may be necessary but considering his employment is driving can be problematic.

The medical cbd oils and such don’t get you high, so there is no driving impairment. Opioids, however, are another story.

imidazol97

snakeweasel said:

Let's all thank imidazol for making sure the the forums post count stays high.

I just got banned for spamming. Can you believe that! Me! Spamming?
I hit the post button and no reaction. Waiting for edmunds...
Repeat. etc. Then I get banned for 300 seconds because I had posted 4 times within 60 seconds.
Perfectly sensible.

I had to wait it out to shrink the 3 extras! Sorry about that.

driver100

snakeweasel said:

Let's all thank imidazol for making sure the the forums post count stays high.

He is a simple man of few words.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

snakeweasel said:

Let's all thank imidazol for making sure the the forums post count stays high.

I just got banned for spamming. Can you believe that! Me! Spamming?
I hit the post button and no reaction. Waiting for edmunds...
Repeat. etc. Then I get banned for 300 seconds because I had posted 4 times within 60 seconds.
Perfectly sensible.

I had to wait it out to shrink the 3 extras! Sorry about that.

I think it is what snake said. I have 22560 and you have 22602 and you are trying to stay ahead of me. :@

explorerx4

@driver100,
Probably the transmission causing the delay.

xwesx

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
Probably the transmission causing the delay.

I was going to say the same thing. On turns like that, it is the transmission being in the wrong gear that is causing the delay. I don't care what people say, auto trannies have yet to match the effectiveness of a manual.

Kirstie_H

kyfdx hit 100k posts today - stop by and congratulate him when you get the chance. https://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/53576/general/x/congratulations-and-thank-you-for-100-000-posts-kyfdx/p1?new=1

Mr_Shiftright

snakeweasel said:

Let's all thank imidazol for making sure the the forums post count stays high.

I think the Spam Bot got him, but he's okay. He's coming around and should be good as new. He's been through his 5 minute concussion protocol.

In the meantime, I'll delete the empty posts.

driver100

explorerx4 said:

@driver100,
Probably the transmission causing the delay.

I will see what they say next time I take it in. If it is the transmission explorer, that is the only time that it doesn't work perfectly.