If anyone even cares anymore...

[MiCrOz]

Just picked up a Talon TSi


And I've lifted my Jeep

[Dick]

fgt

[JeweyK]

Is there anywhere to use those tires in New Jersey? I thought the whole state was highways and smelly factories.

[laocoon]

You should come out here and see the amount of "street mudders" I sell to people and their drug money...


Just noticed this, jewey.... you need to change your location... I'm not sure how many people want to reside in hannah montana anymore. Maybe visit, but definitely not live there...

[Sandman]

Mudding, like dipping tobacco and incest, is something that lots of folks around these parts thoroughly enjoy but doesn't appeal to me.

I'd like to take this opportunity to post about some cars that I miss dearly.


This was my 87 Camaro LT. They only made 794 of these but I didn't know that until after I got rid of it. It was all factory other than the Flowmaster exhaust, and it was constantly having problems so it made me learn stuff about cars. I got tired of putting time and money into it and gave it to my mom, who let someone have it for $500. But other than the problems it was a nice ride. I thought it was fast at the time...


...until I got this. My 86 Grand National with a distinct custom paint job. Perfect body and interior. It had more show mods than go but low 12s is still pretty quick. People wanted to talk about it everywhere I went and would speed through traffic to catch up to me and get a look at it. A cop caught me speeding, followed me to work and asked if I was selling it. This car shut down the local ricer hangout. Kids just felt too embarrassed to show up after I spent a night there in the 86. I would lurk car forums and find people posting pictures of my car asking what it is. Also it attracted some female attention. Sadly, I took it to a friend of a friend to install some bushings and other suspension stuff and I told him not to drive it because it didn't have the rear sway bar on. So of course he called up a buddy and they took it out. The torque without the rear sway bar snapped the boxed lower control arms, the car smashed into a large rock in someone's yard and ended up wrapped around a power pole. It was a very sad day. Random people were stopping and hugging me when I was sitting there waiting for the tow truck.


I replaced it with this 87 Buick Regal WE4. They only made 1547 WE4s. It was just like a Grand National except it had some lighter parts so it was a tiny bit faster in theory. The body was straight but it needed new paint and the interior redone and that was not high on my priorities list. I let it stay ugly. This one didn't attract much attention other than cops'. The first thing I did was put about $2k into the suspension. The picture above was taken before I lowered it. Then I added a better fuel pump and 50 lb/hr injectors before adding go-fast parts. The tranny would chirp the tires on the 1-2 shift with my foot completely off the accelerator, and if my passenger was mid-sentence it would shut them up every time. To help maintain the sleeper status, I put a quiet exhaust on it with a dump pipe and electric cutout, so I could open the dump at a stop light. I could not convince anyone it had a V6 with the open exhaust spilling out the lobey hydraulic cam sound. I also went with a huge stock location intercooler instead of a front mount and had a shroud to shovel air up to it from a cutout in the front air dam. The water cooled ball bearing turbo sounded like a jet taking off and would spool so fast the car would turn sideways on the nasty downshift GNs are known for. So my next step was a posi rear end. But it had blow by, weird electrical issues and the tranny needing a rebuild for the 3rd or 4th time, so I got tired of that **** and practically gave it away. The parts in the trunk were worth more than what I sold it for. :(


09 Silverado. I did not like filling this up. That and the fact that I don't need a truck are why I got rid of it. But damn I got a lot of ass in this thing, once while on the clock in the parking lot at my job. Lots of good memories... The window tint was illegal as hell but I bought it off a county deputy's son and kept his sheriff sticker on the back and I never got bothered.


And this is what I drive now. 11 Kia Optima SX. It's an awesome beater. I average about 27 mpg and it uses 87 octane, although when I use 93 the computer adjusts the fuel timing and I get a little more power. It could make more power if it didn't have the intercooler heat soak issue but I don't feel like putting any money into it. It has plenty of acceleration for getting around the slowpokes on my way to work and back. And the pizza wheels make it easy to spot when I forget where I parked. I had to replace the slippery Korean tires with Michelins but other than that I'm not changing anything beyond maintenance parts.

[MiCrOz]

Is there anywhere to use those tires in New Jersey? I thought the whole state was highways and smelly factories.

That's North Jersey, South Jersey is all pine barrens. Although I've since moved to Long Island, so it mostly only sees the beaches these days

[Sandman]

Hello, I traded my Optima in for another Kia last year:



It has some mods and goes vroom. The Stinger GT is a very cool car. Wasn't crazy about the looks at first (fake hood vents and other dumb trim pieces) but I very much enjoy driving it. I kind of wish I had gotten AWD instead of RWD because it tends to slide around like a Mustang looking for a crowd to plow into.

Also I got another Optima as a beater:



This one is a '13 Optima SX built in the Georgia factory, and mechanically it's a piece of shit compared to my old '11 Korean built SX.

[Gore]

I'm honestly impressed with the products KIA has been pushing out lately - they're definitely not the garbage brand they once were.