Teh Official "Dude Where's My Forum?" Thread, Brought to you by the minds of Box, and her fiancée, Lorelei Options

[njccmd2002]

Today I plan on making today a great day!

who are you

[Box]

With enough money anything is a race car!

That's true, but the bare essentials have to be there for the classes it raced in. Unlike some forms of racing the race car can have nothing to do with the production model aside from name and looks. Though I suppose anything but the absolute worst of cars can be fixed with enough money and development.

[Box]

Charged the battery in the Firebird because it was at 10 volts or so, surprisingly it unlocked via remote and the interior lights came on. Then proceeded to shake my head at the layer of dust that's accumulated onto it. Sigh... Just need to get over it and sell it... I guess it's because of a combination of it being how I always wanted one which is hard to find and the fact there's nothing else within the price range I rather have, at least stock or even lightly modified anyway. I'm 80% inclined towards another Miata since(at least with a NB2) I wouldn't absolutely die and hate the stock power levels, that and overall it has the easiest and cheapest route to being something I'd be 100% happy with. Anything else within budget needs too much since it's no faster(or barely faster) than a Miata but without the light weight, small size, and handling. Of course being stuck in RWD manual elitist mode doesn't help, but that's what I like and want so meh...

[Box]

I was in my mom's Challenger last night and I was reminded how much I hate automatics, and it has the ZF 8-speed that's supposed to be one of the best torque converter automatics out there in regards to shift speed and intelligence. So there's no way in Hell I'd be ok with the four/five speed automatics of the 90's and early 00's. I stand by my rather having 100-150 horsepower with a manual over 300+ horsepower with an automatic. Hell I'd rather have FWD with a manual than RWD with an automatic, I'd even go as far as preferring an 100-150 hp FWD car with a manual over a 300+ hp RWD car with an automatic. That is how much I LOATHE ENTIRELY automatics. If it weren't for German car nonsense I'd actually consider the Audi TT or VW Golf with the VR6 and DSG, since they're the only "automatics" in my price range I'd be ok with as they actually shift fast enough and intelligently enough(at least in manual mode).

I've thought about paying my brother $100 or so to sell the Firebird so then I don't have to deal with people and would minimize the emotional stress of selling it. Since apparently I can't bring myself to sell it even though I know I should.

[richee3]

Maturity level: over 9,000.

[navseal345]

How long were you waiting for that moment?

[Bitter]

He let it idle around the mall parking lot in D for HOURS to get that average up.

Maturity is keeping the Celica under 5000 RPM for an entire day of driving, I think that happened once when I was sick. I can sometimes manage to not bounce it off the rev limiter in a day though. Not very often.

[richee3]

How long were you waiting for that moment?

About 80,084 miles. Just an estimate though.

[Box]

18 mpg, that's terrible. I could drive the Firebird like Bitter, or my brother, and get better than that.

[navseal345]

That old 4.0l is not very efficient. Same w/ the 5.7l in the Tundra. And the new 3.6l in the Tacoma you have to be high up in the rpm band to get power out of it.

Pretty sure if you're not in Denver area it would get better (them Denver drivers suck big ding dong).

[richee3]

A Firebird isn’t a 4,700 lb brick wall either. 18 is decent out of something this size and flat. Buuuuuuut my ‘06 with the 2UZ got 17, so....Toyota put a lot of effort into maximizing fuel economy out of these, for minimal gains as far as I can tell compared to the 4th gens. But we all know I don’t need to get started on 4th vs 5th gen 4Runners again.

Devin, would you believe the gas mileage gets worse as we drop in elevation? I can only assume it’s because more air = more fuel but it definitely does better up here than it did in Indiana. Our average gas mileage also seems to be better than other 5th gens if Facebook is to be believed. I constantly see posts with people’s average mpg around 14-15, seemingly irregardless of lift/tires/RTT/other mods. Seems like people with mods always start the MPG posts, then stock 4Runner owners will chime in reporting the same abysmal mileage. These things need a diesel option.

[Box]

It's a 3,300-3,400 pound slice of curvy sexiness. I just find it hard to believe, if not disparaging, that it gets the same if not worse than a Tahoe or Jeep that has a V8 and is much heavier and equally as bricky.

[navseal345]

I was referring to the crap drivers in Denver that you need to he on the pedal to maneuver around them.

[narly_charley]

Maturity is keeping the Celica under 5000 RPM for an entire day of driving, I think that happened once when I was sick. I can sometimes manage to not bounce it off the rev limiter in a day though. Not very often.

I got 39.5 in my 2002 GT-S once. I couldn't get it any higher than that. Don't think I ever took it over 2,500 RPM.

[SwissFerdi]

He let it idle around the mall parking lot in D for HOURS to get that average up.

Got to work the D to get to bewbs.

Finished rebuilding the drums a couple days ago, fun times. Probably will never use that knowledge again. Also replaced the OG alternator.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Apr 26, 2018 - 12:49 PM

[Box]

Drums, they belong in bands not on cars.

[Box]

Nice to see a manufacturer finally pushing manuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzyKM1RS1Xg Of course to anyone that knows how to the video is super elementary and somewhat goofy, but still nice to see the effort to keep them around. If more manufacturers were to take the same initiative manuals might actually last as long as the internal combustion engine.

[Bitter]

Of course those Honda manual transmissions are like the easiest to drive, no weird quirks. Super smooth nice engagement even with a bunch of miles. I was test driving an accord or civic years ago and just plain ole forgot the clutch for a couple shifts and honestly not a single balk from the trans was made. It just shifted. Now you might say 'oh you got lucky or timed the shift just right'. Nah. I ****ing forgot to hit the clutch and the trans just did not care, it shifted perfectly smooth.

[Box]

I hear from numerous sources that Honda has the best manuals in that regard. Not sure if the newer ones still do, but I know older ones used gear oil similar to Synchromesh. So with really good synchronizers and a thin oil with good friction modifier content that'd explain it.

[SwissFerdi]

They always felt a little loose to me, Stook excepted. Vague pick-up point in the clutch too.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Apr 26, 2018 - 10:18 PM