The Ohio Random Thread... aka We Should Probably Be Working

Getting closer... need to start documenting a whole lot of stuffs...

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DetroitSpeed is the company I want to get my parts from. They make awesome parts to convert older muscle car into great pro-touring cars.
http://www.detroitspeed.com/applications.html

I'd love to do a mini tub from them, but when you tally everything up, it winds up being quite an expensive venture! Probably $2,000+ just for everything you need to do a mini tub, then you have to spend another $2000-$3000 in wheels and tires to fill up all that space! haha
 
Our 2004 got 16-18 in the city and 23-25 on the highway. How many miles are on it?!

The T&C is 700 miles from reaching 100,000 miles on it. But when we bought it the dealership claimed it had just gotten a full tune up and brakes. But the brakes squeeled* a month after we got it now they make a grinding noise but took to 3 shops and they said brakes are good. Right now the transmission feels like its slipping but the dealership claims there's nothing wrong it. We haven't even had it a year yet. But a lot of crap wrong with it and I don't know what to do with it. We both love the van but not sure if I can justify the money. Oh and the TPMS keeps telling us our tires are low and then high within 2 mins of each other, and it doesn't switch the digital thing that tells you the fuel mileage and such. An the last thing I can think of is the last 2 weeks are steering wheel slightly shakes at city speeds. An help would be great, and even though I made good money and had 2 kids I am not getting enough back on taxes to fix all this stuff. Any help, and smart help not dumb ones would be appreciated.
 
That sounds like an awful lot of odd luck with that van. I don't recall any major issues with our 96 caravan or the 04 T&C. Now the Journey, that... Is another story. The brakes still aren't right.

Maybe the tranny fluid needs changed? Dunno I don't do autos :/

Vibration? I would normally say maybe some snow or ice stuck inside the wheel but I usually don't notice that till around 45mph sooo... I'm not sure.

I'm not really sure about all the other stuff. Sorry :(

I've always kinda wanted one of those vans to modify. I know that sounds crazy but I want to make one a slammed convertible V8 RWD awesomevan.
 
That sounds like an awful lot of odd luck with that van. I don't recall any major issues with our 96 caravan or the 04 T&C. Now the Journey, that... Is another story. The brakes still aren't right.

Maybe the tranny fluid needs changed? Dunno I don't do autos :/

Vibration? I would normally say maybe some snow or ice stuck inside the wheel but I usually don't notice that till around 45mph sooo... I'm not sure.

I'm not really sure about all the other stuff. Sorry :(

I've always kinda wanted one of those vans to modify. I know that sounds crazy but I want to make one a slammed convertible V8 RWD awesomevan.

That would be sweet. I wouldn't mind taking this POS and slam it, turbocharge the motor and tune it, fix up the tranny and then rims, tint, system, body kit. But that's my 2 cents on this van matter.
 
I'd love to do a mini tub from them, but when you tally everything up, it winds up being quite an expensive venture! Probably $2,000+ just for everything you need to do a mini tub, then you have to spend another $2000-$3000 in wheels and tires to fill up all that space! haha

Yah, I made a wishlist cart on their site just for suspenesion and it came out to being close to 11k :) I need to get a better job first. I'm going mainly for looks with that car though. You need 500+ whp to get those boats rolling.
 
Oh, c'mon now....you Mazda drivers know more than anyone that you don't need a ton of HP to be successful at the courses! A good suspension/tire/driver setup is usually > high HP cars. hahaha

The paint on my dad's '68 is of really good driver quality, so I won't have to focus on appearance so much in the beginning. I'm going to tackle the breaks, suspension, wheels/tires, and put a TKO500 manual in.....though, I'm not sure of that order. It'd be fun with a 5sp, but the suspension, breaks, and wheels suck so much on that car, I'm not sure how long I can go without attending to them. LOL

Maybe I can get away with doing it all at once though. I think they're selling it to me for $12,000, but it's worth over $20,000. Maybe I can get a loan for $20,000 and just totally overhaul the drivetrain...
 
It help when the curb weight is 3,500+lbs and from the factor my car only has 220hp at the motor with a 403 6.6L It might have 175 at the wheels as it set now.
 
I was looking at weight reduction last night. Seems pretty easy to get the Chevelle down to about 2800-2900 lbs (with a smallblock). All of the Carbon Fiber stuff for those cars is big $$, but fiberglass is pretty cheap and all the bolt on panels are available (Fenders, hood, doors, trunk, front and rear bumpers, etc). My car right now is north of 400 hp, but the motor is a boat anchor.
I've decided to go with cheaper upper and lower control arms, but get the longer spindle that gives better geometry and also uses a C5 Corvette hub with a sealed bearing. Then add 14" front rotors. For the rear, I want to just put a Ford 9" back there since the 12 bolt rear is so heavy and the 10 bolt is too weak. There are plenty of tubular upper and lower arms for the rear. The biggest problem is finding proper shocks. Most of the coilovers are spec'ed for drag racing and the others are all valved for street use even if they say they are for performance. AST does custom stuff if you supply them with a shock so I might do that.

Shooting for something like this when done (different year body of course):
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My friend was looking into lightening his mustang and I told him his panels would be so much easier to make than my fenders because they are so flat and don't have light annoying small creases. Could easily lose 150+ in panels just on a fox body.
 
Bill, have you researched the pro's/con's of a built carb'ed motor vs. a stock/bolt on LS transplant?

I'm still undecided. Fuel injection would be nice and modern, but it seems keeping with the original powerplant would be way easier and possibly cheaper depending on how far you took it. Pull it out, have a engine shop build it up, put it back in....done. hahaha
 
This is pretty close to my vision for the '68, but in yellow (car's already yellow), billet grill doesn't do anything for me, and maybe not so slammed. It doesn't really look functional this low, or if it was functional, pretty sure they have $5,000 in the suspension to get the ride tolerable. lol Those are my wheels of choice though, and I already have the lower front lip.

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Im hoping one day when my friend gets bores with his truck he'll sell it to me.
Late 80's S10 with a carbuerated 350, its not practical at all...but its fun as hell to drive!
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Bill, have you researched the pro's/con's of a built carb'ed motor vs. a stock/bolt on LS transplant?

I'm still undecided. Fuel injection would be nice and modern, but it seems keeping with the original powerplant would be way easier and possibly cheaper depending on how far you took it. Pull it out, have a engine shop build it up, put it back in....done. hahaha

The new motors are just so much lighter because they have aluminum blocks. That and the injection allows for easy tuning. Both can make big power with the right parts. The big block would be ideal for a power to weight reclass for time trials because NASA only looks at the hp number and not the torque. Most small block crate motors and LS motors are around 400-500 lb-ft of torque while the big blocks are around 600-700 lb-ft. A big block with aluminum heads weighs about 120 lbs more than an LS1 (520 to 400).
 
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I'm going to tackle the breaks, suspension, wheels/tires, and put a TKO500 manual in.....though, I'm not sure of that order. It'd be fun with a 5sp, but the suspension, breaks, and wheels suck so much on that car, I'm not sure how long I can go without attending to them. LOL

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