In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
It's ok, really. I rant, it's what I do. I ask your indulgence and if it is too much, feel free to stay or go as YOU will! I certainly understand, I'm accustomed to folks ripping me personally, your kindness and caring is most certainly noticed. Thank You.
In reply to Byrneon27 :
I'll do my best but the welds I did so far broke my camera they were so ugly. A gull stopped by and pooped beside my welds to show me how it's done.(a professional courtesy?) Would a hand drawing suffice?(Providing the paper doesn't burst into flames due to my complete lack of artistic skills.)
In reply to Recon1342 :
So.... I'll count you as a convert, with out without your permission. Oh, happy day!
Tell me more about Mangustas, Panteras and Lamborghini Miuras.
My favorite cars.
Today my heart is so full! I feel a community around me, surrounding me, some(one maybe?) love(s) me!(or at least I'm deluded enough to imagine such) Some hate me like day hates night, some actively ignoring me and others constructing effigy's of me to burn and torture hoping for a happy tomorrow where they actually get to physically abuse me personally. I imagine someone out there has been pushed the final inch to finance that new backhoe, the better to dig my shallow grave. The community is a wonderous thing.
This community, I am SO feeling the love, Thank You. And please know I feel the same about all of you too.
In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :
You'll have to go all the way back to Mr. D's first creation, the Valleungua. It is very basic and shows where he was going, and on virtually no budget. I think the Mangusta was the prettiest and the Pantera most built. I was fortunate to work at a place that was importing/exporting all sorts of cars.
I never got to Drive the Alfa Romeo Montreal, though I worked on it some, an extremely handsome car. I Drove a Bizarrini 5300GT, that was a Chevy small block and Muncie 4 speed, Italian built in the 60's. Iso Griffo was also a 60's Chevy powered car. I picked one very rusty example near St. Paul, MN in 1985, drove it back to Atlanta, GA. The gas tank fell out in Illinois and I bought a marine gas tank, plumbed it up and drove it on home. People who know my history are astounded to discover I have only driven 2 or three Porsche 911's. Weird, eh?
How to tell about the many cars I've experienced? So many handled so wonderfully, but many rode like a wagon with collapsed springs. Many I only got the chance to move them around, but was not allowed to turn a wheel in anger.
So many were very memorable, just by how much of a PITA they were to work on. The DeTomaso Mangusta was an exception, it had a center hinged engine cover that opened up easily and provided excellent access to the engine and drive line. I'm sure I banged my head on the rear hinged "clam shell" engine cover on the Bora. The same was true on Jag E types, they never seemed to open up far enough to not bump your head into.
I've driven several Jag E Types and each one, it seems, was effortless; maybe I was just the right size and shape? They felt like they were made for me. But now I'm old and fat so maybe not anymore? Even Jag sedans I found hard not to love. Though many 50's-80's Jags had switches and electrical sub systems like wipers that worked randomly due to incorrect parts and improper reassembly along with being sourced from Lucas electrics. Lack of precise product/production and repair information plagued so many repairs!
But every mid engined car I've driven gave me response that felt great and handled very comfortably. The Pantera was sometimes a bit of a bear to work on! Though it has a hatch lid the sides are very high and the opening is at the rear of the engine. BUT it does have a very thoughtful, bolt on, 2'X2' hatch thru the firewall, between the seats.(I think all the mid engine/Ford powered DeTomaso cars did) It allowed access to the front of the engine for accessory service, hoses and belts. But getting at the carb usually was nearly impossible during tuning. With the cover off and the engine running the distributor was accessible but the belts threatened to grab loose clothing. A little scary.
Most of these cars had very basic electrical systems and A/C was usually added on as an after thought, not many were built with A/C. So A/C systems were all over the map, some were well thought out and others were a set of astounding kludge's and seemed almost randomly thrown together. They were often hideous contraptions that overloaded electrical systems, that were pirated from much simpler cars.
Though GA is NOT in "the salt belt", Italian cars from that era seemed to rust with glorious abandon.
In reply to NOHOME :
Hey dude! First of all I want to compliment you on your iron clad reading constitution! Your utilization of the obvious malaprop, "prose", to try to curry my favor and gussy up your comment shows you to be a singular talent! Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir!
I dunno? Another dead end, I'm not amazed. Call me if anything happens here. I'll be on the DF Goblin Forum under "other builds". Until we meet again, may the road rise up to meet your suspension, may the wind be always at your back.
Did a flounder in a canoe just find the chat GTP button?
In reply to a_florida_man :
Ok AFM, you've sparked my interest. Sorry, I am old and dense: Flounder in a canoe? Chat GTP button?
I was hoping this crowd would take my theory "Relocate the drivetrain of an existing FWD car(one that doesn't make you puke too much) to the rear "meme", making cheap, mid engine cars using existing envelopes"; And Run With it!
Some complained, no pix!,
the shell will remain stock. Others complained, no welding!, I'm working on that! But part of my effort was to find ways to do this with as little welding as possible to make this build more noob friendly. I started with 4 Cobalts and 1 HHR, my buy in was $2500. I could scrap my half way out of this investment.
I picked the Cobalt for availability/volume and electric P/S. I've used nothing but a tape measure, plumb bob, angle finder, string, angle grinder, sawzall, engine hoist, jack stands and floor jacks. Oh and a tow rope and trailer. All on a generally level cement floor.
I've used some bits and science from the DF Goblin Kit car.
Signal: No Joy
Cliff Notes version? : I'm taking the front engine drivetrain out of one Cobalt and installing it in the rear of another Cobalt to make it rear wheel drive as God intended. I'm doing this with limited tools and no camera.
In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :
kinda hard to get into this with no pics and long winded, rambling responses.
Thanks. That is a nice C.N. version, except that I am also trying to do this with as little welding and speciality effort as possible. Your statement, "As God Intended" made me tear up a little, tears of joy. Thanks again.
In reply to AhBNormal :
If you put as much energy into welding and photography as you do rants, we might have more material to discuss. Until then, enjoy the ranting!
In reply to bobzilla :
Dear Bobzilla,
Thanks for reading, as to the charges of "windy and rambling" I throw myself on your mercy, guilty as charged.
I wish my life situation was normal, it's not.
I'll try to dress up my next posts. Though there is not much to see just now as the body remains OEM and there is a big hole in the rear floor just yet. (Pix in separate post to follow.) This is a very slow project for me. (I beg your indulgence, I am only in my shop 2 months out of the year.) I am currently on the road, be home in April, modifying the wiring parts stuff to reach the engine/ECM parts stuff in it's new home. (I took the entire wiring system with me on the road and work on lengthening parts of it as my free time allows.) The rest of the car's original wiring stays.(I have deleted radio, XM and On Star. A/C stuff stays but will be the last thing fixed.) It has got to be a car again before I modify it for speed.
Thanks again for exposing yourself to my mania.
In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :
Taking that as a thumbs up. Also please note: I am trying to do this project with a bare minimum of welding needed. Thanks for your reading/ interest!
In reply to Noddaz :
It is nice to see that folks here understand me. I am pleased. Thank you.
Do you have at least one picture of what you speak?????.......everything I own is RWD....so
There are two pictures of AhBNormal's project out on dfkitcar.com (look up GOB-BALT in "other builds").
There is also thousands (maybe millions) of words spread over 5 pages of posts. AhBNormal is an interesting character living an interesting life.
Bird's eye view of the wiring harness:
In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :
Purp!, Thanks for looking me up! So if'n ya read some of the saga you'll kinda understand why I go into exteaneous detail. I have built a camera car for a movie shoot, a Subi powered parade float base, I actually once worked on and drove a 1950's Allard/Cadillac V8 powered English race car and crewed on a couple of vintage race cars. It seems I'm the drivetrain/ frame/interior/wiring/instruments guy and never was called upon to weld, so actually I don't "know" how. I've always got someone around who does weld. I know the theory just don't do it. A little like body work & paint, I know "how" but I don't do it.
AhBNormal said:In reply to a_florida_man :
Ok AFM, you've sparked my interest. Sorry, I am old and dense: Flounder in a canoe? Chat GTP button?
I was hoping this crowd would take my theory "Relocate the drivetrain of an existing FWD car(one that doesn't make you puke too much) to the rear "meme", making cheap, mid engine cars using existing envelopes"; And Run With it!
Some complained, no pix!,
I picked the Cobalt for availability/volume and electric P/S. I've used nothing but a tape measure, plumb bob, angle finder, string, angle grinder, engine hoist, jack stands and floor jacks. Oh and a tow rope and trailer. All on a generally level cement floor.
I've used some bits and science from the DF Goblin Kit car.
Signal: No Joy
ABN
First and foremost, welcome.
Canoe and flounder are old GRM forum code words for spammer and troll, respectively.
They were tags that you could drop in a post, so that the admins would find them when they scanned for keywords, to know which posts to follow and which users to monitor.
Your posts are not truly of those types, but they do mimic such common posting patterns in that they have a strange flavor to some of us, and I'll explain why momentarily.
Chat GPT is a natural language response interface to an AI algorithm that returns very complex computer generated AI based responses to queries and dialog. Sort of like siri on steroids.
Basically it was a very dry way to say that you posts were atypical and verbose.
Generally speaking folks here tend to share and discuss what they are doing in terms of projects. They don't spend as much time discussing what they have done in the past, on average. Although it is of course fine to do so, it just attracts attention and frustrates the gear head junkies that want to get straight to the project (and its issues) at hand.
That is where the weird flex comment came in. It again refers to that which is unusual and off target, but not exactly inappropriate. It is to extoll facts and information that while they put you in a good light, still don't get to the heart of the matter.
All in all, we are a VERY accepting and enabling group, we just generally want to know more about your project.
No particular skills or experience are required, we are just looking for creativity and ingenuity first and foremost.
There are no bad ideas. It is all in the pursuit of your preferred flavor of the automotive hobby, we just follow and cheer along.
In reply to a_florida_man :
Well, this "alpo-rythm" thing sure has my number, verbosity is my method, the malaprop is my ghost signature. I'm tryin' ta start a revoluti0n here so I was figuring if I can't dazzle them with linguistic gymkahana I could baffle them with my amazing bovine waste products.
I see miles of half used up cars, all FWD and some might would be fun IF they were RWD. That's the revolution in a nutshell. I've done body drops but they seem to always suffer from driver mal-placment of one form or another(I'm a bit of a perfectionist). After driving another Lamborghini, Miura a few years ago it reminded me that mid engine cars CAN have the driveline transverse mounted!
****EDITED***
Enter that waste stream of FWD cars, some with much promise in Form(looks). Move those drive line's around and cause fun cars on the cheap! (Maybe I am Foundering in a Cannoli?)
My motto is: I did not come here for affirmation but to maybe entertain and exchange information. Ergo Sum: I'm doin' this with or without y'all. ALL POV's, even detractors, ARE WELCOMED!(I know this will make some detractors unhappy
) and IMHO have validity! Each contains a kernel of truth. If sorted with careful discernment, each comment has something to add to the whole; even if it is intended to be disrespectful! I've a thick hide and skull to match. I've made a life of failing where others have succeeded and oddly visa-versa? Party on Wayne!
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