Project Cars--You Get to Vote on "Hold 'em or Fold 'em"

fintail

Yeah, that Supra has an air of neglect to it. The flattened seats really rub me the wrong way.

I've always seen those early Montes as kind of undervalued too. I remember a Monte-crazy friend of mind was once looking for a 70, and he found a very nice SS 454 for something like 13K. Seems a bargain compared to a Chevelle. He didn't buy it though, opting for his high school dream car of an 85 SS...you know, the kind of car where you shut the door and it rattles for 30 seconds.

fintail

I don't know if this is good or not

british_rover

Hmhh Don't know looks nice if it passes the Shifty Porsche TestTM then it is probably ok.

Mr_Shiftright

Seems like a decent price if it's not a rust bucket. I don't know about the "original miles" though. That's a pretty daring claim.

I'm not so fond of the early 911s--912s. I like the longer wheelbase '69s on up. They ride better and handle better and they have that nice rear fender flare that makes them more attractive.

The biggest problem with the 912 is that if the motor's no good, that engine is worth more than the entire car. Weird but true.

So what we do on this puppy is put 'er up on the rack and check for rust, and then we do a cylinder leakdown test to see if Mr. Engine is happy or not. Anything else we can deal with.

Bad engine on a 912? You got a parts car, or at least only pay a parts car/wrecking yard price for it.

A wrecker would sell you a good engine for maybe $2,500--$3,000. And then there's labor, new clutch, etc.

kapbot

I'm no expert here, but I am sure that in the small block area, the Buick is both smaller & lighter than the Chevy. Also it's a slightly newer design. If that's true with the big blocks, then it might be a better fit. I don't think the headers or intake would cost a whole lot more than the Chevy equal, especially if the Buick motor was "handy".
Either way, not a terribly difficult swap.
Just a thought.

gsemike

Buick big blocks are torquey engines that don't rev. No doubt that they can perform but the idea of dropping one into a Camaro just seems wrong. It was probably done because a 455 Buick engine is much easier to come by then a big block Chevy. There are hundreds of 455 powered Electras and LeSabres to donate the engine. Comparitively very few of the big Chevies ended up with big blocks.

So if he did it for economic reasons, fair enough but to ask 18 grand for the car now seems steep.

lilengineerboy

I just got back from spending the afternoon changing cams, timing gears, pulleys and computer on a mid-90s Nissan Sentra with an SR-20DE. That thing is a hoot. It already had a short shift kit, lightened flywheel and a hopped up clutch, and now it has a slightly lopey idle from the cams. The G20 computer got rid of the speed limiter and has a higher rev limiter and seemed to be coping with the cams.
It said not to go over 4000 rpm for the first 200 miles until the cams seat and everything gets used to rolling together, but from about 2300-4000 feels like a ramp and my guess is it keeps going up to about 7200.
The bottom end has about 140k on it so we will see how long the fun and games last but then there is always the JDM Primira motor swap...

lilengineerboy

MBZ Diesels going for the High Mileage club

bumpy

SR20 fun :shades: Too bad it's in a B14. Which cams did you put in?

lilengineerboy

I concur about the B14, I have great memories of the B13 NX2k at HPDEs around California (running out of gas in mid-turn 9 at Willow Springs, looking out from the passenger seat at the Diamond Stars stuck in the mud after "Magic Mountain" at Button Willow...).
I believe the cams were S4s(?) and the car barely idles right now. The ignition timing is way off (put in the distributor and turned it until it looked right), and the computer was swapped for the G20. Honestly I can't believe it started at all. Supposedly, they are going to set the timing at lunch today.

fintail

350K...that's decent durability

fintail

Hmmm maybe I should put this in the fintail

With another transmission, of course.

michaellno

My neighbor across the street bought a new Nissan Xterra a couple of weeks ago. He's been driving a late 80's Chevy S-10 since he moved in (he also bought himself some sort of crotch rocket a couple of years ago, but that's not germaine to this posting).

Anyway, I asked him about the Chevy and why he didn't trade it in. He told me that it's got 353K on it (it's an '88, BTW, with the 2.8L V6) and that he's not had the head off of it. Not worth anything to anybody, so he's keeping it for 'work truck' duties.

gsemike

I guess anything is possible

Mr_Shiftright

I never believe high mileage claims without proof. They are like fish stories....lemme see the bones....

gsemike

You're right. People get off on inflating mileage claims for some reason. I had a friend who insisted that he got 100k out of the Goodyear Eagles on his IROC. For everybody else, they last 30k but he got 100k.

gsemike

150,000 mile Fiero

british_rover

You should buy it for your C43 as a spare...

boomchek

Or I should shoehorn it in my C240. :P
Better yet, put it in my parents 300D that they fried.

fintail

Ha! Now that's an idea. Put it in a W123. Leave the original badging on it. Now there's a sleeper. Of course, the transmission would be cooked pretty quickly.

Speaking of your C240, there's been a W203 on Seattle craigslist with AMG Monoblocks like on the C43. It looks pretty sharp with them

I don't need a spare engine...these units are known to be very solid with almost no instances of failure.

explorerx4

my gatorbacks have 32k on then but are 15 years old. they just don't wear anymore.

xwesx

Hahah. How about this? My spare tire for the '69 C20 is still the original spare... 37 years old and counting! The bugger still works and does not leak air at all... I think. The problem is that is so hard that I think it could be at atmospheric pressure and still look fully inflated! I have had to use it a couple times, but I dread ever having to put it on the rear axle while hauling home a load of 4000# in the bed! That blowout would send shrapnel all the way to Canada! :surprise:

gsemike

Tires are now coming with expiration dates because they degrade over time but can look fine. I think that the upper end is around 7 years for an unused tire. Putting a 30+ year old tire on anything is not a good idea.

andre1969

I'd always wondered how many years a tire can usually go before dry rot and/or other deterioration sets in.

My '67 Catalina is way overdue for some new tires. I will have had it 13 years in April of 2007, and I never replaced the tires, and God only knows how old they were when I bought the car!

I replaced the tires on my '57 DeSoto way back in 1993. They don't have more than a couple thousand miles on them, at most, but I guess it'll be time to replace them soon.

The tires on my '79 New Yorker will be 9 years old in February. I originally put them on my '89 Gran Fury, but back in 2002 or so I put those wheels on my New Yorker. They probably have about 40,000 miles on them and the tread is pretty worn down.

I guess that's one pitfall of cars that aren't driven regularly. The tires can get up there in age before you know it!

My '85 Silverado's tires are less than a year old, but for all I know the spare tire could be the original. Same for the DeSoto and Catalina!

wevk

Back in 1993 we bought a old U-Haul "luggage trailer" from the 50s. While in San Diege one of the tires went flat. The tire dealer that replaced them said that the old ones were date stamped 1956!

WVK

lemko

BULL! Especially if they're Z-rated tires. I was lucky to get 33K out of the first set on my Seville STS. I'm approaching my second set soon.

lemko

Shoot, I had the original spare in my 1968 Buick Special Deluxe from the time I bought it in 1981 'til my brother scrapped it in 1992.

jlflemmons

Big problem with travel trailers. My '97 model has the original tires, and there is still probably 90% of the tread there. But I wouldn't pull it far without a new set of tires. Seen too many of those things come apart and tear a travel trailer to pieces in the process. That, and 7000# of trailer tends to cause excitment when tires blow.

:surprise:

lilengineerboy

Big problem with travel trailers. My '97 model has the original tires, and there is still probably 90% of the tread there. But I wouldn't pull it far without a new set of tires. Seen too many of those things come apart and tear a travel trailer to pieces in the process. That, and 7000# of trailer tends to cause excitment when tires blow.

Utility/boat trailers often come with used car tires. This is bad for a couple of reasons, 1 they are old, 2 radial tires have squishy sidewalls that can increase sway and oscillations. Newer, properly inflated trailer specific tires with more rigid sidewalls make it a lot easier to tow.

jlflemmons

Travel trailers do use radial tires, but they are specifically made for trailers. The sidewalls are stiffer, and the load range can be WAY higher. Our trailer uses load range E.

andre1969

I remember hearing that a 215/75/R14 was a common size for a trailer tire. That's the size that's on my '67 Catalina. And I do remember occasionally looking online, at Tirerack and other places, and often the only tire they'd have in that size WAS a trailer tire!

What would happen if you put a trailer tire on a car? Would it make it too bouncy and rough-riding?

jlflemmons

Rough riding. My trailer uses 225/75/15.

andre1969

I think I just found my holy grail of 1979-81 New Yorkers. Two tone green and the elusive 360-4bbl! Basically a copcar with a leather interior! :shades:

The seller says he'll consider a swap for a low-mileage Plymouth Acclaim only. That's an odd fetish! :confuse:

Mr_Shiftright

If any of you are interested, this might be fun:

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british_rover

Ohh I have already done this. Going to have go find all of my old videos.

Any limit to how many we can submit?

Mr_Shiftright

Don't see why there should be a limit. Doesn't say anything in the rules.

british_rover

Excellent...

qbrozen

1. asking price is excessive ... but an interesting car. 1990 corrado

2. "ONLY" $2900!!

3. Oh, I like this method ... spit on the lens before taking the pics.

4. Fun beater. Price is high, though.

5. Huh... This might actually be worth the money.

6. Looks pretty nice.

qbrozen

I had to look this one up.

Wikipedia pic: looks like the stablemate to the Chevette.

Too bad its not this one.

boomchek

Yeah those monoblocks look pretty good. I''ll be shopping for some rims in the spring time. Plus my car is charcoal/black so the silver rims would look decent on it. :shades:

Mr_Shiftright

Do people in New Jersey generally go off-roading with their '68 Chrylser Newports?

Corrado: fun car but ohhhhh bad reputation....

VW 412: worthless piece of junk but you could use the engine in a Porsche 914 or Porsche 912E! So there's some value there.

andre1969

I think I have a few of those packed away with my old N-gauge model train stuff. I didn't know what they were back then, but those pics make me think of them.

qbrozen

Do people in New Jersey generally go off-roading with their '68 Chrylser Newports?

You mean you don't???

Heck, that's nothing. Remind me to tell you about the time my brother went offroading with his Dodge Dart and bent the frame so that the trunk covered the bottom quarter of the rear window. Oh ... I guess that's the whole story.

lilengineerboy

VW 412: worthless piece of junk but you could use the engine in a Porsche 914 or Porsche 912E! So there's some value there.
I am concerned because that was my first thought when I saw the 412.

We got the timing light and my buddy with the SR20DE has over 100 miles on the cams now so I think tomorrow, weather permitting we are going to do some echem evaluation at lunch.

stickguy

I took my driver's test on my Grandmothers 412 wagon (let's see, this was 1978, and I think the car was a later model, probably about a '73). Evil car, absolutely hideous to drive. I never did figure out how they made the steering so heavy in a car with the engine in the rear.

I think catching on fire (as they often did) might have been an improvement.

Hmm, I just remembered that it had the seatbelt interlock buzzer, which I think was only required for 1 year, so that will pin it down. For you youngsters, the DOT decided to require that an alarm sounded whenever the seatbelt was not fastened. Not just for a few seconds, but as long as the car was running.

FOr some reason, Granny didn't use them, so she kept them buckled behind the front seat!

toomanyfumes

That was probably '73. My folks had a '73 Gremlin that had the seat belt buzzer. They did the same thing-buckled it behind the seat. Nobody wore seat belts back then.

gsemike

"There is a slight problem with the brake line….I never had it checked out because it was drivable enough for my family but I wouldn‘t recommend anyone unfamiliar with the car"

I love that. He's really putting his family first. And who has the back seat reupholstered and leaves the front seat alone.

I think the 73 gran fury may have the most inflated price. It looks decent but isn't a muscle car and has no following. Who wants it?

andre1969

I like the '68 Newport "off road" special the best. Presuming, of course, that there isn't a plethora of hidden nasty surprises!

I kinda like that '73 Fury coupe, but there's just something about the color. I can't quite decide if it's that particular shade of red or if there's just TOO MUCH red! Maybe it needs some contrast, like a black vinyl roof, or more chrome? Or perhaps if the red was a metallic hue? I have two big red vehicles, my '57 DeSoto and my '85 Silverado, but they're both two-toned with white roofs and lower accenting, so that helps diffuse all that red, I guess.

gsemike

It's definately too red and those cheapo wheels look horrible. If it was more metalic, with a black vinyl top and a decent factory rally wheel it would look 100 times better and maybe be worth 4 grand.

It's an unloved car with an unloved engine and a paint job that will turn off most people. Anything is possible, but 6500 sounds crazy to me.

andre1969

It's an unloved car with an unloved engine and a paint job that will turn off most people.

I wonder if Chrysler offered the Fury with several variants of the 400 this year? I tried looking online for some info, but only found a 1972 Fury brochure. That year the 400 was only offered with a 2-bbl on the Fury. I know Chrysler was still offering some pretty hot versions of the 400 but maybe just in stuff like the midsized Charger and the Satellite Sebring?

Does anybody know how much hp a 1973 400-2bbl was rated at?

Oh yeah, the wheels have to go, too. And it looks way better without the fender skirts than with, although either way it's kind of a fat looking car.

**edit: I did some more digging around, and it looks like the 400-2bbl put out 175 hp in 1973. Whoopee There was a high output 4-bbl version that put out 260, but it might not have been offered in the Fury.