datsunlover

Yup. Every time we get a big winter storm up here, there are thousands of accidents reported, and people off into ditches/ect. 90% are AWD vehicles and 4x4 pickups. My first car (and Z) was an 81 280zx and I drove it through TWO winters (one was a very long and awefull winter I might add) with no trouble at all. Stuck it once in a parking lot on top of a 2' drift, but aside from that I was fine. I had an 85 200sx (the old rwd hatchback style) which was AWESOME in the snow, and I also drove a 2wd nissan pickup through about 3 winters.. weight in the box and snow tires took me all over the place, and NEVER got stuck. Mind you I've been spoiled now, having owned a 4 wheel drive 'something' the last 3 winters (first a nissan king cab, and my now deceased 1 tonne dually) and after driving the Z in the rain yesterday, I'm amazed I drove a rwd ANYWHERE in the WINTER!!

I'm sure McMastercarr would have something for the swivel.. spherical bearings/pillow blocks of some sort, or a 'lazy suzan' type of mechanism.. and I'm sure you could simply find a 'seat' style you like, weld/fab a plate to attach, and build a 4 leg'd bottom for it, 40" hight.

Man.. you call that RUSTY? Up here that would be considered a MINT condition Datsun! Seriously.. If I can find some pics of mine when I got it, I'll post them here to show what a REAL rusty Z looks like!

yeah, thats kilometers I'm talking in. Interesting thing.. I found another truck today, almost identical but a little cheeper! The one I drove yesterday had a few little issues, a dent in the rear of the box, the ac didn't work, and under hood was rusty and dirty. I didnt think much of it till today.. This one is again, an 04 chev, 4x4 reg cab/8' box, but it has about 90km. More miles, but it is extreemly clean under hood, has nice original paint w/no dents/scratches, the ac WORKS and all it's 'missing' is the cd player. I have a nice Pioneer mp3 anyway.. It rides and drives nicer than the first one I looked at, and apears to have been taken care of better. So, although the price was on the window EXATLY the same as the other one, I told the salesman about the other truck, and basicaly I live 30mins away from here or there.. so what are you willing to do for me? I got this guy down to $16600, emisions tested/certified,with a 1 year powertrain warenty to boot!

Word. Frigin hilaroius!

Well, I've been in a few older chevs with the 4.3 'vortec' motor and a 5 gear, and they seam to be fairly tough, but I'm sure with a load on it would get a little slugish. I must say though, after driving this rental 07' GMC for the last week, I have no problems with the 'small' 4.8L motors. I put a big load of lumber/sheeting in it two days ago, and it didn't seam to bother it much, aside from the rear leafs saging (it's only a 2wd 1/2 tone) and still pulled well. Seams to me they've been using them for the last few years, so it's not like it's an 'untested' motor.. And they have MUCH better fuel economy than I'm used to! I'm gona look at an 04' Chev tomorrow; reg cab/long box, 4.8L 4x4 with 70k on it.. full load, mag's, nice looking truck... they want $17,900 cert/e-tested, which is a little high IMO but if I could talk them down to somewhere around 16k or so, I could handle it payment wise. (Now I'm able to put a down payment on it of around $7000, which would mean roughly a $260/month payment) I have to give this nice new truck back to the rental place monday, so I kinda have to figure something out this weekend or next week at the latest.. the Z needs some attention, and I don't really wana daily drive it too much right now..

Oh don't worry, I HAVE thoguht about it! But it's not my truck anymore (signed over to the insurance company) so the ol 454 is going by-by I'm still not sure what to do with the freshly rebuilt 355 in my shop.. either put it in my near mint 85 RX7 (which is set up for it already, but currently under a tarp in the back yard) or sell the old mazda to some rotary guy and V8 the Z this winter.. Ok, back on topic.. yah, I like the GM's, but I'm really leaning towards a new ford if I'm gona be making payments for 5 years.. otherwise, I might as well buy another 10 year old GM 4x4, cash deal (no financing) and drive it till it drops, or another Chrysler runs a stop sign in front of me! Thing that bugs me, is the fords don't offer a V6/5 gear in 4x4 pickup (only a 4.6 or 5.4 V8 and the auto).. but I've seen lots of GM's with the vortec 4.3/5 speed in a 4x4 truck.. Oh, and any make of diesel is out for me, unless its a GREAT deal, cause I know little about diesels but I know they can be pricy to fix. Although, I've had enough of the old throttle body injection and it's horrible milage so I guess I need a GM newer than 96.. not sure how the ford's are on fuel economy..

Yah, thats canadian money. I agree it's a pretty good settlement, especialy since I personaly only have about $5000 invested in the thing! (I got a pretty good deal on it when I bought the truck) But IMO, what I have into it is not neccesarily what it's actually worth, and to be honest I was going to put it up for sale (before the crash) and ask $6500 obo.. Probly would have taken $5500 or so...

Well, it's probly gona be her lawyer against the other ladys lawyer.. I don't get the feeling they will do anything worthwhile for us, and in the end, will just be more crap.. but I'm gona try anyway... We'll see. All this happened tday while I was at work, (and I actually had to take a long lunch to get evrything taken care of) and work is CRAZY this week, so I didn't even ask about the girlfriend's situation. She still has to go for her next appointment anyway, so I don't know much at this point.. Oh, but she decided to try and 'work out' today, and of course she's really sore now.. I kinda freaked out at her a bit, as it's probly more harmfull than good right now. Keeping in shape is good, but sometimes you need to CHILL and take it easy!

Hmm... well, that 02 f250 was sold, (dam!) but I did go for a test drive on saturday in an 07 F150 4x4.. Base model w/air, reg cab (which is HUGE in the new f150s!) with the little 'suicide' doors behind the main doors, 8' box, and it's already wired for towing (4 pin). Drove nice, 4x4 is an electronic dashboard switch (ugh...) and the window cranks are in a stupid spot beside the seat, but otherwise not a bad 'truck' imo. The 4.6 V8 doesn't seam as powerfull as the GMC, but I have a Z for 'fun' driving so brute power isn't my main objective here. I really just need a daily driver truck that I can get decent milage with, but still 'work' a bit.. Oh, and this one has been marked down to $24000 +tx which makes it slightly cheaper than the base GM, and the cab is roomier.. Any thoughts on these?

So I FINALY get a call today from the insurance people. Seams that they were having a little problem figuring out a value on my truck. From the first (dipshit) adjustor, they ended up with $2000. Yup. Even THEY thought that was a little low! So, after the second adjustor filed his report, and some more reaserch (apparently there arn't many trucks like mine around anymore, making it hard to figure a market value out) they offered me $4200. Now, that was better than 2K but frankly, not really enough to buy anything worthwhile IMO (I have to replace a 1 tone dually for crying out loud!) So after I got a little upset, and they put me on hold for 5 minits, they came back with an offer just over $6200... I decided to take it. Lets face it, this is a 16 year old truck, with 350+km's and a bunch of other problems to boot, and it's a little more than I actually have invested in it, so I removed my plates and signed off on it. They will drag the hulk away tomorrow, and I have the rental truck untill next monday. The cheque should be arriving at my brokers tomorrow by lunch time, so with any luck it will clear at my bank by friday and I'll probly be buying 'something else' this weekend. I know this whole thing has been a HUGE stress out, but I'm trying to look at it as a learning expiriance as well.. If this kind of thing ever happens again, I know what to expect now, and will DEFINATLY be better prepared.. Make sure all the info is correct, know what questins to ask, ect. BTW, Thanks guys, for all the advice and support on this.

Well, that sucks man.. but I'll tell you a story, and maybe it will help.. About 10 years ago, my boss was working in a machine shop (I work for him in HIS shop now btw.) and discovered that a bunch of guys in the CNC department were sort of ripping off the company (and customers to boot) by syaing a job took 8 hours to do (this job was a regular/reocurring thing, and was worth quite a bit of $$$) BUT it really only took about 4 hours. These guys would basicaly punch in, work 4 hours, and spend the next 4 sleeping, goofing off, LEAVING the shop to go do whatever, ect, cet. My boss discovered what was going on, and blew the whistle on them. Well, guess who DIDN'T work there anymore? Funy how that works, but it happenes. Ironicly, that shop STILL got that job for years afterward, and no one else got fired or 'had to quit'. BUT... fast forward to today, my boss has his own shop, a brand new 4000+ sqft building on a 108 acre farm property (he and his family live in the totaly reno'd 4 bdrm 'farm house' on the property), and enough local buiseness that he has to be CAREFULL how much work we take on, bacause we don't have enough manpower to handle all the jobs that we 'could' get! This could be your opportunity to just 'go and do it' and get your own buiseness off and running. If you didn't do anything wrong, you know that and don't worry about what's happened. Just move forward now. You might be suprised where you end up!

Thats the way to do it. Start with a 'blank canvas' and take the doner apart YOURSELF so you know where evrything came from/goes too. Nothing worse than trying to finish someone else's project, when you didn't have anytnig to do with it in the begining. The other option is a 'painless' wiring kit, and wire evrything how you want, where you want... using whatever dash you have to work with, and aftermarket guages/lights.

Enough of this!! We are on a quest for the Grail! Have you seen it?

Well, a little 'seeping' from the front axle wouldn't be too bad.. the dually pretty much DRIPS it, although it keeps the underbody oiled I guess... ? As far as the 4.8, I feel it's got enough power for what I need, and I'm liking the fuel mileage.. I figure if I had more power, I'd use it, and that just costs more $$$. Oh, and the used 02' is out, as the dealer wholesaled it today, and apperently got upwards of $35K for it! Guess it was out of my price range anyway! I like the nissans, but I really want a full size truck/box, and the Titans (awesome as they are) are just to pricy for me right now. Oh, and another problem now, I called the Visa people, and although it's not ever mentioned in the bill, over half the 'points' I had, have now expired.. as of march first! Doh... Now.. I'm not really a Ford guy, but another 'maybe' is the local Ford dealer's 'old' plow truck. A 2002 F250 reg cab 4x4, 5.4L V8, WITH a nice 8' Western plow.. From what my friend said (a tech there) they'd probly let me have it for around $16-18k.. and some sort of warenty. If it was really rough, my friend would tell me, but he's actualy done services on it, and tells me it's pretty decent.. and I could always find quick cash to be made with a plow around here.. (or just sell the plow setup for a few grand!) And service/parts for a Ford would be fairly cheep for me, as I actually know about half dozen people at this dealer, (techs, salesmen, service advisors, ect) and I can get a bit of a discount.

If you've read my 'smash bang crash' thread, you'll know my current truck has been smashed, and probly going to be wrote off. (If it gets fixed, I'm selling it anyway, I'm tired of it and don't need such a heavy duty vehicle anyway) For the past two days now, I've been driving a rental truck which I must say, I'm pretty impressed with! It's an 07' GMC reg cab, 8' box 2wd. (good thing it's not winter anymore, this thing would be sideways all the time!) I don't know what you guys think, but I really like the look of the new 07's... The 4.8 seams to be a decent motor; It revs willingly to 5500, pulls hard and sounds good to boot! The 1st - 2nd shift still feels like a GM (a bit of a shudder/clunk) but overall, I'm pleased with it. Rides nice for a truck, stock CD player/stereo sounds great, and the fuel millage is WAY better than my 91 454 dually! duh... I've priced one out and I'm looking at around $26500 for a base w/4wd, remote entry and a/c. I can use these 'points' I've been saving up on my GM visa card, (amounts to $2000) combined with the bare minimum I should get from the old truck, and I figure I'll be paying on about $20k. Oh, and they have a 5 year / 160K waranty as well! Now, I have a line on a used truck too, but I'm not sure if I'd want to trade 'brand new' and peace of mind for 5 years to save a few bucks... it's a 2002 GMC 2500, 4x4 diesel. 4 door, short box, oversize tires. Close to 100k on it, although it looks in very good shape, aftermarket dual exhast (about 3" pipe from the looks of it! ) and a 'superchips' sticker on it... hmmm.. Problem is, although the price is decent, (around 20K, so with money down, I'm financing around $14K)... it's at a FORD dealer, so no warenty and it's an 'as is' deal. I know NOTHING about diesels, but I know heavy duty GM's are pricey on parts... although, they seam to hold their value. I'm not deciding yet, but what would you guys do?

Nice trucks, good power.. a little hard on fuel, but hey.. It's a truck! I'm loking at newer trucks right now too, as my 91 Dually was crunched and is probly gona be a write off. My problem with a Dodge is the dealer in my town has terrible service (I know a few people with dodge vehicles, and it's the same story all the time) and is over priced.

Indeed.. I'm not done squeeking yet though! Yesterday REAL profesional showed up to appraise my truck. He explained how it would probly go, and was very polite/understanding. He told me he'd wait to send his report untill I faxed all the bills I could come up with, to PROVE I have invested close to $2000 in this truck, less then 8 months ago! Evrythings a mess right now, I have to get mroe organized.. my 'office' desk has a computer and a bunch of music gear on it, I have drywall and other materials in the dining room, the kitchen still isn't done, the garage is a disasterous mix of building stuff, personal things from the truck, a Datsun and other car parts, ect...Neesless to say, I didn't have anything on hand to show him that second.. Anyway, I faxed them this morning, and made a call to confirm a half hour later. I actually got to talk to HIM and he got the bills, and put it in the report. ALSO; He discovered that someone else had already appriased this vehicle.. I explained the whole affair, and he actually thought the other guy was 'a bit off' on several things in his report, and he'd make sure this was done PROPERLY this time. Should get a call tomorrow from the ins. and hopefully and offer to write off, or fix.. we'll see.

"They said I was DAFT to build a castle in the swap.. well, I built it anyway!... It sank in to the swamp.. BUT... I built another one!! That one burned down, fell over, and sank into the swamp.. BUT! I built another one! And THAT one stands to this day!!!" I love python... just silly... like that Camelot place...

Well, I made an angry call today and wouldn't you know it, after leaving a voice mail AND calling back and telling a real person I wasn't happy, (and someone should realy call me back or my LAWYER would be making the next call!) , I got a call back around 2pm. So they finaly got their arse in gear, and figured out I'm NOT at fault, and have allowed me a rental. I punched out on break, and promptly went and rented a 2007 GMC truck. It's only a 2wd reg. cab, but it'll do for now. I also had some not nice things to say about the joke of an appraiser they sent here, and they're getting someone else to come and do a PROPER appraisal. Should get a call tomorrow. As for my broker, I've been running their name into the dirt whenever I talk to ANYONE about this whole mess, and it's a small town; dirt flies around pretty quick. Once this mess is all settled, I'm going down there and causing a stink. I'll probly piss off a few people, and (hopefully) make any other clients in the office think twice about going through them for insurance. I've also told them my girl friend is STILL in a bit of pain, and has another appointment with her doctor to figure out the extent of injury, and what/how much phisiotherapy is going to be required. She's going to get a signed letter from her doctor stating exactly how injured she is, and what it's going to take to fix her up... Oh, and dont forget the time she's going to be taking off work for this whole mess. (doctors appointments, phisio sesions) Obviously, they're going to want to drag their feet on this too, as it could get expensive but I'm through playing the 'nice guy' with them. I'm prepared to get quite nasty if need be, In the end however, I/we may have to sue the lady that caused the accident ourselves.. so be it. Either way I'm not letting this thing go, and I'm makign DAMN sure the next insurance company I use will cover me better if this kind of thing happens.

Now, this might be going out on a limb... um.. if someone went to the trouble of diging a hole int he backyard big enough to swallow a CAR.. well, maybe there was some reason for that.. I'm thinking stolen, involved in a crime (getaway vehicle maybe..?!?) or something NOT good.. you might be opening up a can of worms on yourself here man. Once the paper trail gets going, (which you're going to start, by asking questions and talking to the DMV) they might find something bad.. In that case, at best, you could simply loose the car.. at worse, you get dragged into whatever mess that car was in that got it buried in the first place!! Just my $.02 here...

Well, I'm calling them tomorrow and raising some hell, thats for sure! I got a line on some legal rep. if I need it, although I hope it doesn't have to come to that... I'll threaten it anyway. Oh, and talked to my body man friend too. He also thinks this appraiser is full of it. I told him that the guy's saying $1500 or so, and my friend laughed for 5 minits. So, It is totaly MY chioce where it will be fixed (thats IF they deam it worth repair).. guess I will take it down to the dealer my friend works at! Actually, one of their guys will come here to have a look at it for me, and give me an estimate. And they're going to go high. I'm also going to get another estimate from a body shop in town which is notorious for charging quite a bit. (They do nice work though, lots of clasics and hot rods, high dollar stuff) Either way, if they fix it, or tell me it's write off, I'll fight it out for decent $$$ and as soon as I'm paid out, I'm cancelling them and putting stop payments on the automatic withdrawl from my bank. I already have another company lined up for my house and whatever daily driver I have/get next. (the one my Z's insured with) And on to week two....

Heh.. funny, but sad at the same time.. I've had to talk to guy's like that in factorys and shops who are 'engineers' that don't really know much, and just throw words around.. Management guys are even worse, as they have NO clue at all, but just talk fast and never give you a very clear idea of what has to be done. Me: "So you want this machine done like the last one, but this machine has diffrent movement/dimentions/ect..." Management guy: "Well, if you could just do this here sort of like this (strange hand motions) and if we can stay with the same methods of distance but also keeping in mind the diffrence here, and as per ussual on that section with more acces on this side. Ok? " Me: I hate it when stuff goes all catywhompass on me and gets discomboobulated.. thet you have to replace the frangulator and hope the ding dang dong holds up....

I've seen a few others similar to that.. an old Volvo P1800s on 38's, sitting on a bronco frame, and a volkwagen rabbit gti on a suziki tracker frame/running gear.

Well wouldn't you know it, I called today THREE times and got bounced around from voice mail to voice mail.. Finaly got to talk to a REAL person on the third try, and this one told they would get a claim's rep to call me back (she was basicaly a receptionist..) but it never happened. I have a bone to pick with them about the joke of an appraiser they sent up here, but mainly wanted to tell them about my girlfriends medical issues and see what they would do about that.. My girl went to her doctor today, and she's going to have to go to physiotherapy, probly for 6-8 weeks. That is NOT going to be cheep, and she shouldn't have to pay for it as far as I'm conserned. Problem is, due to a very rare genetic abnormality, her collar bone is not the same as the average person.. actualy, it's almost non-existent in her case, so she can actually can touch her shoulders together! (yah, a little weird, but not normaly a problem...) So the average person wearing a seat belt would not have been hurt at all by a crash at 45 kph, but in her case the force caused her shoulders to be shoved together quite violently, causing some pulling of the muscles in her back and neck area. If she had been prepared for such an impact, she would have probly been able to hold her self together, but this lady pulled out in front of me right at the last second with no warning and I simply reacted by slaming the brakes.. I was death griping the wheel and knew the hit was comming... but it was a rather sudden decelleration and then a pretty good hit, which she didn't have time to brace for. Anyway, I can see this beeing a cheep 'out' for the insurance company, as they will say "Oh well, that's a pre-existing condition and we're not responsible for it" so this 'minor' car crash could turn into a legal battle in the end anyway. Problem with that is I don't have the cash flow to pay a lawyer to fight it out for weeks and months in court with an insurance company.. This whole thing has got me pretty depressed and angry... By law, we have to carry insurance on our vehicles, and pay a LOT of monney for it... but it doesn't seam to do any GOOD... it just makes some people a lot of money. I'm phisicaly ok, but the stress of the whole ordeal is getting to me, and my girlfriend is STILL having dificulty turning her head side to side...oh yes, and two weekends in a row now, I'm without a truck to drive. Yes, accidents happen, but trying to get compensation for these problems is very trying...