Fiero Motorcycle Trike – You’re Lovin It.

Imagine for just one moment that you owned a Fiero.  Life is pretty great right?  Okay, now imagine that you also have a totally sweet motorcycle.  This imaginary setting couldn’t possibly get any better at this point. Am I right?  No! I’m wrong!  The FIERO CYCLE has just stepped into your dream sequence and he brought the 3 wheeled party with him! Wrong has never felt so right.  You know… I’m Lovin It!

 

Special Thanks to Jason E. for the picture.

Craigslist Never Disappoints With Mitsubishi Firebirds.

Much like the crazy Fire Truck we saw the other day on eBay, today we have a Craigslist find that will make you wonder what was in your cereal this morning.  Let me preface this by saying, I have a HUGE respect for anybody that takes on a major project like this, and actually follows through to witness its completion. Whether it is space-ship-esque or not, you have to give the guy credit for getting these parts to actually mate up to each other.  That being said, your eyes are in for a candy treat this morning, in the form of a 3rd Gen F-Body.

It’s yellow.  It’s packing some serious punch with a V6 and “chop head and roller rocker arm“.  It’s got 20 speakers, a 7 inch tv in the dash, and a 16 inch monitor in the roof.  It’s got even more yellow.  It’s got a Mitsubishi front bumper and headlights from a 92-94 DSM.  What else could you want?

http://cnj.craigslist.org/cto/2404977395.html

1966 Ford MustaBird Now For Sale

There is no shortage of oddities on Craigslist these days.  Sometimes you find the deal of the century and other times you find a ThunderStang, or is it a MustaBird?  Either way, the owner says:

What we have here is a 1966 Mustang.. sort of. The body and doors have been shortened by about 20″, and made to resemble an early T-Bird. The car was originally ‘modified’ 20+ years ago, then was ‘rebuilt’ after that. It now sits with NO ENGINE nor TRANS! The shortened drive shaft is still there. Needs total restoration. Was a 2-time World of Wheels winner in a previous life. I found it with thoughts of restoring it. I’ve decided to sell it instead. Hood is fiberglass. You will be buying a shell.

For 12 Benjamins, I can’t say that this is a bad deal. I mean where else are you going to find a BirdStang for less? I’ll tell you, you won’t. Somebody needs to snatch this thing up, drop a 429 in it and love life. Will that person be you?

Here is the Craigslist Listing

Special Thanks to Joe L. for spotting this little gem… and I do mean little.

28’s On Your Wrangler: “Carolina Boi” Edition.

Back in my high school days, installing 20 inch wheels on your truck was a serious endeavor.  We were notching A-arms, trimming wheel wells, rolling fenders, and absolutely ruining our 3-point turning abilities.  These days, 20’s come stock on a bunch of trucks and Jeep Wranglers on eBay are rollin’ on 28’s boi.  I must admit, a Jeep on 28’s seems about as logical as adding bead-locked Super Swampers on a Trans Am, but hey, to each their own.  The first person to post up a Ghost Riding video link gets a free Upvote from me!  8 more pics after the Jump! > Read More

All Wheel Drive Civic Hatchback with a 4G63 Turbo Swap

Yes, this is real life. Right now on Craigslist, there is a guy trying to sell his 1994 Honda Civic Hatchback for $7500.  Why so much? Well, because it has an all wheel drive swap and a 4G63 turbo engine (from a Mitsubishi Eclipse).  I got a screenshot quickly just in case it disappeared into history without being documented.

Here is the Listing on Craigslist. Catch it while you still can!

Read More

Stinky Twinkie: "Driving Mad Miles Since 2008"

Christmas shopping this weekend at the mall was the exact opposite of fun.  It was a day filled with screaming children, overly agitated people, and “sales” that you know aren’t really a sale at all.  I grasped at anything that could make the day more bearable.  I thought about how delicious warm pretzels are, I polished my sneakers on the way up and down the escalator (on the side bristles), and even watched teenagers throw change off the 2nd floor on to the people below (AKA, me). Fortunately,  there was something amazing waiting outside in the parking lot, an attention grabbing black hole of a vehicle.  The very first moment that I saw it, I knew it was special.  As I meandered to the back of the parking lot dodging all of the cars that were deliberately trying to run me over, I was finally able to read the side of it.  “Stinky Twinkie” – “Driving Mad Miles Since 2008”. Heck yes, instant mood improvement.

It was parked just a couple spots down from me in the mall parking lot, and nobody around me seemed to even acknowledge its presence.  With so many mad miles, how could it be possibly be ignored??  I have no idea.  Was it a figment of my imagination? Read More

I Decided to Upgrade the Brakes on My Truck.

Hi,
I recently decided that I hated the stock brakes on my 1989 Dodge Ram 50.  (It also has a 4G63 turbo engine, custom blah blah…..etc. )  Anyway, a friend of mine gave me four super low mileage calipers and rotors for a early 2000’s Dodge Viper, so I knew what I had to do.
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/viperbrakes4.jpg[/img]
I started by buying a Dodge Viper master cylinder, and making an adapter to go from Viper master to Ram 50 booster…..
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/brakeadapterblock.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/brakeadapter3.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/brakeadapter2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/brakeadapter.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/brakeadapter1.jpg[/img]
I then realized that the 13″ front Viper rotors were just not going to work out because their depth was too deep, and hit the spindle.  Soooooo I did some researching and end up with cross drilled and slotted Cadillac CTS-V 14″ rotors.  They fit much better.
Now that I had the “right” rotors, it was time to make some Viper front caliper > Dodge Ram 50 spindle brackets.
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/brakecaliperadapters.jpg[/img]
Test fitted on the truck
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/viperctsvbrakes.jpg[/img]
My 17″ wheels no longer fit, so I got some 18″ x 8 Escalade wheels, bored out the centers and did more test fitting.
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/viperbrakes6.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/viperbrakes7.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/viperbrakes8.jpg[/img]
At some point, I made the rear caliper brackets & brake lines.  I apparently didn’t take pictures of that.  I used the 13″ Viper rear rotors (I used to have like 10″ drums), and Viper calipers.  I even hooked up my e-brake so it works properly.
Once together, I decided that black wheels are way more rad than silver, so black wheel paint was added (don’t mind how dirty the wheels/truck are).
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/wheelsontruck3.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/wheelsontruck4.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/wheelsontruck5.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.hotrodcoffeeshop.com/images/89d50/wheelsontruck6.jpg[/img]
Ta-da. Now I can stop fast enough that my tongue sticks out.
-Jeremy

At The 1AAuto Car Show!

I recently decided that I hated the stock brakes on my 1989 Dodge Ram 50.  In the 4 + years that I have owned the truck, they have never been quite right.  Rather than putting time, effort, and money into the stock brakes, I decided to do a little bit of an upgrade.  A good friend of mine gave me four super low mileage calipers and rotors from a early 2000’s Dodge Viper, so I really had no choice with what to do with them.  One way or another, I was going to get them onto my truck.

I began the swap by purchasing a 2008 Dodge Viper master cylinder and designed a way to mate it to my truck’s brake booster.  Then I had my brother in law build the adapter with his absolutely amazing machining skills.  While he was working hard, I provided the moral support, entertaining banter, a delicious meal, and beverages.   After a few hours and some serious mathematics, the adapter was complete.

I then started working on the front brake setup, and it was not looking good.  The front Viper rotors were going to hit the tie rod ends.  There was no way that the Viper rotors were going to work. So, the research ensued.  I measured the night away and decided what the perfect size rotor would be.  It turns out that 14″ Cadillac CTS-V rotors were what I need. Overkill much? A short time passed and I was the proud owner of cross drilled and slotted CTS-V rotors.  They were massive, so massive that I began questioning my own sanity.  Ah well, too late. I began fitting them on the truck and all was looking well.  I just needed to bore out the center of the rotor and redrill the mounting holes.  Back up to my brother in laws I went….  Food, drink, entertaining banter, and machining happened. Viola!  The rotors were now a bolt on affair.

Next up was caliper brackets.  There were a bit on the tricky side to make, luckily I was good in geometry class, and I had a brother in law that wasn’t sick of me yet.  You know how it goes, food, banter, drink, caliper brackets = done.

The rear brakes were a little tricky because I needed to hook the emergency brake cables into the Viper calipers.  Amazingly, with a little drilling and reworking of caliper brackets, it all fell into place.  It was as if this was all meant to be.  With more braking, I knew I needed more rubber on the road, so I also upgraded my wheels and tires to 18″ Cadillac Escalade wheels with 255/45/18 inch Z rated tires.

Naturally, the obvious question comes next…. Do they actually work? You bet they do.  I can now stop fast enough to make my tongue stick out.  I’m not sure if I can stop as well as a Viper (maybe better? gasp!), but this big brake upgrade has vastly exceeded all of my expectations.  The feel of the pedal is at least 4000x better, and the added weight on each corner actually makes the truck feel more stable.  I can’t explain it, it just is what it is.  Accept it.