Category: Pictures

Old Rusty Tow Trucks Are Frightening

Jeremy Nutt 3 Comments

At the recent monthly swap meet I spotted a derelict looking, rusty wrecker. It instantly reminded me of the steampunk zombie apocalypse survival vehicle that we had talked about a couple of weeks ago, and it easily sucked me in for a closer look.  From every angle this thing was an absolute monster.  It had enough leaf springs to haul the heaviest of loads, enough steel to thwart off that nastiest zombies, a single headlight for creeping around, and perfect patina to keep things ugly.  If I didn’t have so many projects, I would have loved to have taken on a new toy like this.  No, I wouldn’t clean off any of the rust. I would just get the truck mechanically sound, and ride crusty.  Literally.  Who doesn’t need a classic wrecker in their driveway?   “You want to take the wrecker today?”  “You’re darn right I do.”

The Greatest Hood Ever: Rambler SCRambler

Jeremy Nutt 4 Comments

Is it the 14.3 second quarter mile times that make this car so outrageously awesome?  Could it be the 390 V8?  Maybe it’s the 4-speed transmission and the limited slip differential?  Glass packs?  Nope,  all wrong-o!  Every one of those guesses are 100 percent, dead wrong.  It’s the hood.  Yes, the whole hood and nothing but the hood is what makes this car so outrageously awesome.  Back in the late 1960’s, when other manufacturers were doing simple scoops and decals, AMC came out and changed the game.  The designers at AMC were probably all like “Let’s put a giant bird catcher on this thing! Yeah! Then, let’s make sure people know why we did it!  I’m talking decals, engine sizes, arrows and hood pins! We need to lock down the hood game, and bring it to the masses!”  And so they did… AMC clamped it, double stamped it, locked it, and then nailed it down so well, that it made everybody else on the drag strip look ridiculous. Nicely done SC/Rambler, nicely done. You’re a true champion and everybody knows it.

When The Noise Gets Worse, Your Bearings Are Gone.

Jeremy Nutt 4 Comments

Sometimes your engine starts making a noise, and the only way to make it go away is by turning the stereo up louder.  Time passes and the noise under the hood has progressed into a dull roar.  With a simple clockwise spin of the knob, the stereo volume increases by an equal amount.  This seesaw of events continues until your tweeters are nothing but static and you feel like you are trapped inside the woofer.  The racket from your engine bay is completely unbearable, and jerking the wheel seems like the best option.  Knowing that bad news awaits under your hood, you reluctantly pull over and take a peek.  In the spot where your tensioner bearings once lived is an empty pit of nothingness.  Sadly, the bearings are long since scattered along the roadside, never to be seen again. Your miles are officially numbered.  I’m not a gypsy, but I’d say a Belt Tensioner is in your future.

Real life? You bet it is.

Throw Back: 1972 Roadrunner 340 Manual Edition.

Jeremy Nutt 7 Comments

1972 Plymouth Roadrunner

 

The other day I spotted this 1972 Roadrunner for sale, and today I had the opportunity to examine it up close.  What I encountered was a 2 minute emotional rollercoaster.  From 100 feet away, this car screamed “Buy me! I’m everything you’ve ever wanted“.  From 10 feet away it snickered “LoL, April Fooollzz“. Then when I peeked into the interior, my brain was thrown into a dense fog.  Read More

My Turbo Tried Eating My Mass Airflow Sensor!

Jeremy Nutt 3 Comments
This was once a rectangle.

When your turbo is forcing 25 psi through your engine at 6000 rpm, there is a fair amount of air being drawn through your Mass Airflow Sensor.  If the honeycomb breaks free, it will eventually find itself lodged against the insides of the sensor, causing your vehicle to run quite poorly.  I haven’t checked yet, but I don’t believe any pieces made it past the sensor and into the turbo’s compressor wheel. Fingers crossed….

LS6 Carnage: When It All Goes Terribly Wrong.

Jeremy Nutt 3 Comments

Yesterday, over on LS1Tech.com, “Fastdriver1992” posted up some pictures of his engine… err… what was left of it at least. When it was in one piece, it was a beautiful, all aluminum LS6.  Today it is a pile of aluminum which once resembled a 5.7L Corvette / Cadillac CTS-V engine.  These engines are light, make gobs of horsepower, are fuel injected, and are nice to look at.  Did I mention they make gobs of power?  Oh yes, I believe I did…

Fastdriver1992’s LS6 is typically being used to rocket his 1975 Corvette down the 1320 at 119mph in 11 seconds flat.  It was making roughly 450 horsepower at the top end of the track, around 6000 rpm when all hell broke loose.  After some detective work, the theory is that his engine broke a valve, which danced around the combustion chamber, bent the connecting rod, ate the piston, and exploded the block.  5 seconds later, ouch.

You can see the Full Thread Here.