This morning I was thinking about things that this blog is missing. One thing that jumped out at me was a “X of the day”, meaning something that people could check daily and thoroughly enjoy. I knew it needed to be something great, but it also needed to be something pretty quick to whip together in addition to the daily blogs. Thus, the “Random Picture Of The Day” was born!
Picture Borrowed from:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm246/frankenstein1948/Chevado.jpg
Over the weekend I acquired a mighty fine engine stand with a G54B engine attached to it. For those of you not familiar with this Mitsubishi engine, it was the 2.6L that came in a variety of vehicle in the 1980’s. Many people loved these single overhead cam 16 valve engines, but unfortunately….this one was loveless. This one was roasted, toasted, and probably 2 rotations away from spitting connecting rods through the block at a very young age. Before the engine was even broken in at just 46K miles, the engine lost oil pressure for some unknown reason, and promptly ate itself from the inside out. The engine was then pulled out, set on an engine stand, and parked in the corner of a garage for the last few years. Did I mention that it was sitting on a nice engine stand? Well, that is the reason that this engine entered my life. The price was free, and “POOF!” it landed in the garage as if from nowhere.
For my own entertainment, I tore the engine apart to see the catastrophic damage. Here is a list of destruction:
– Timing chains tensioners ripped off the block, and chopped into many many small pieces. All hidden behind the timing cover.
– The crankshaft sprocket for the timing chain was missing every single tooth.
– The inside of the timing cover appear to be shot with a shotgun.
– The bearings for the balance shafts were blue, yellow, and black. The balance shafts themselves were blue around the bearings.
– The connecting rods were all loose on the crankshaft. The bearings fell out in multiple pieces.
– Then there was bird seed, so much bird seed. Once the engine became a fixture in my friends garage, it appears that a mouse or chipmonk moved into the upper radiator house. It was full, like 100% packed full. Inside we found enough bird seed to probably feed all the birds in the Amazon for a month. I don’t know where it all came from, but it was epic.
So what now? Well, I am glad you asked. I am going to clean up the long block and use it as a base for a table. The engine stand was what I really wanted, and it wants an LS1 attached to it really badly.
…..updates on the coffee table will follow in the future 1A Auto Blogs…..
They say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I know that this statement is true because this truck’s license plate told me so. Seriously though, this truck is amazing. I saw it at a local show and instantly had dreams of driving through the jungle, fighting off a tiger, multiple ligers, maybe giant arachnids, and a dinosaur. It is an absolute beast of a machine that would probably go around ripping tags off mattresses if you ticked it off. I’m not sure what its intended use is, but it appears to be limitless in its abilities. If Jurassic park ever becomes a reality, you better believe I will be the first one making friends with this “beauty”, and guaranteeing my survival of the dinopocolipse.
Yesterday I spotted an outstanding picture that I wanted to share because it has so many things going for it (Yes, I know it is photoshopped).
Here is why I really like this picture:
– It actually looks like a race between a hotrod and a little girl in a soap box derby style car.
– The illusion (?) of speed is certainly present.
– Determination. Lots of it.
– It appears that she is ready to rip through gears with her chromed-out shifter.
– Captain America helmet.
– Pin striping is a timeless form of art that I cannot get enough of.
– Wire wheels with skinny tires, on chopped & channeled hotrods are always a huge win.
Found on:
Over the weekend I saw a real jerk-of-a-stick spear through a nice tire. I then said to myself, I bet this is not that uncommon. Show me your destroyed tires caused by unlikely situations! Show me your abused, beaten, and neglected tires! Bring me the worst of the worst, and the best of the best! If you post up a link that fits the bill, I’ll get it up here for the world to see!
Bonus Flat Tire Info: It is widely accepted that one of the most common cause of flat tires, is under-inflated tires. Seems dumb right?“Ok, so my tire was flat and caused my tire to be flat? What? Am I being punk’d?”….Well, yes. People never check their tire pressures (or oil, antifreeze, brakes, etc, etc, don’t get me started!). Over time, the wheels corrode, valve stems deteriorate, temperatures change, and planets align causing tires to lose a teeeeeny tiny little bit of air pressure every once in a great while. Time passes and pretty soon, you are getting awful gas mileage and wearing out the sidewalls of your tires because they are not meant to be driven on. Duh. the sidewalls then blow out in grand fashion, leaving you surprised on the side of the road. “What?! I can’t believe this happened!?!? I remember checking the pressure in 1994, and it was perfect!!!? What happened??”
It’s simple math really. You take one totally awesome California raised Plymouth GTX, subtract all cares about what other people think, and end up with a bold custom license plate. Oddly enough, this car was spotted last night at a Massachusetts cruise night. Let’s throw some more math into the post for fun’s sake.
According to Google, it is about 3000 miles from California to Massachusetts, and high octane gas is around $2.97 per gallon these days. We’ll assume that this car uses high octane for today’s equation. 3000 miles divided by 8 mpg = 375 gallons of gas. 375 gallons x $2.97 per gallon = $1113.75 . Worth the drive? Heck yea, every penny.
Love It? Hate it? I’ll let readers decide 😉
