Never thought of that, lol.
99
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You mean all this time I’ve been replacing pads when I was supposed to just lube up the brakes!
Never taught me that in tech ed classes…
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Haven’t posted in here, but i’m a definite auto junkie. Was raised up in a car family that restored cars for fun didn’t mater the brand or where they came from, still vehicles to have fun with, even if there was a lot of heckling and bugging.
Considering a trip to Bonneville with the father in the next year or so. Currently i have nothing on the go, just due to where i live and the cost of owning a place with garage. But i have a few projects tucked away for when the time comes.
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Congratulations!
Now there are two official members of the OG BMW owners club!
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It only has like 100k on it, slight hail damage and an oil leak but only have 4400 in it so far. I’ll have her lookin like new in no time. Solid car, my first BMW ever. Not boosted but I don’t care much about that In a family car.
Drives like new though, all wheel drive, sunroof, power everything, heated seats, etc lol
Edit:
Pretty sure the oil leak is just the valve cover. I’ve got the N52 3.0SI straight six. It has a sunroof and fancy leather so I’m pretty sure I have the “M” or possibly even the Sport package.
Second edit: Didn’t think to mention it, but my father and I are business partners, we decided in light of the other van always needing some work for some reason or another, that we needed a backup. Bought a Second Sprinter today as well. 2006 158" wheelbase (LONG). It’s only got 200k on it, which my current work van has just hit 621k. Gonna have to convert the rear to my prefered loadout (E-track welded in, wood panels, carpet on the wall, build a new ramp for loading, and insulation) But i’m pretty happy about having a backup van now.
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Something I haven’t seen in a car in decades: a dimmer switch! 
What’d I win? 
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Bragging rights and a bit o respect lol. They don’t make em like they used to!
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Here’s a classic for you:
Since rarity is one determiner of a classic car. This is a 2004 Focus SVT. 14,001 made between 2002 and 2004. By now at least half of them have been wrecked or loved off the road. I haven’t seen another Focus SVT since maybe 2014. You can be honest: you never heard of an SVT Focus, but you may have seen the ass end of an unnaturally fast Focus a few times. If you have, you met an SVT. It just didn’t stick around long enough to introduce itself.
170 HP from the factory in a naturally aspirated 2.0L. The engine is so clean burning, it doesn’t employ an EGR system.
5 speed manual trans only
Cosworth tuned header
Ricaro all leather seating (not a speed feature, but really rockin’ seats nonetheless)
2.25" diameter exhaust (huge for a 2.0 liter)
Variable intake timing
Intake manifold switches from long runners (for torque) to short runners (horsepower) when the RPM is appropriate
4 wheel disc brakes
Many features not related to power output.
I added:
- a 65mm throttle body
- K&N air filter
- removed the silencer tube in the air box
- high power coil
- 10mm ignition cables
- replaced the cat with an 2.5" off road pipe
- Clutch Master stage 2 clutch with a 9 lb. aluminum flywheel
- poly urethane motor mounts
- Posi-traction
- upgraded the brakes
- front and rear shock tower braces
- Koni adjustable shocks front and rear
- brand new springs on all wheels
- complete Dominant Engineering fully adjustable suspension
I’m probably forgetting something.
This was my daily driver when all the modifications were made. Since I bought my 2011 Fiesta, the Focus SVT is a weekend warrior.
In the late '90s and early '00s I had a '95 5.0L Mustang Cobra. The previous favorite car to that one was my '69 Mach1 Mustang. I bought that one in '72.
I’ve also had about a dozen motorcycles in my life as well. The last 2 were impressive in their time, an '80 Suzuki GS110E (looked like a road bike but was as fast as my next bike) and an '83 Yamaha FJ1100. It wasn’t any faster than the Suzuki, but it was made to corner like a racer.
That was just a rundown on all my favorites.
Cheers
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You’ve. Got. To. Be. Kidding.
You are one lucky, lucky dog.
I did not expect that at all…
Please tell me you compete in club trials or scca or something.
That car would be such a blast to drive.
Definitely in my top 20 list.
Thank you for sharing with us @Cobra50!!
Stay hazed
Jake
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The love of my life a canary yellow 1968 Lincoln continental mark III burned to the ground 7 years ago from an electrical fire.
I saved and scrimped those 7 years for her replacement
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@Cobra50 Contemplated the motor of the SVT for one of my project cars “Lotus Europa” as i can get a bell housing adapter for it if need, that or i was gonna do a honda k20-k24 transverse swap, or throw a toyota 4age in it, which are fun engines, weak link in my stock reanult transaxle, so kinda the reason im leaning the honda route using the stock tranny.
But thats if i don’t sell the car first, as i prefer old compact cars and small wagons.
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@Blowingupjake: Nah, I just love to drive and I live in the sticks so there are plenty of opportunities to put my “Warlock” through its paces. It is the most fun I’ve had since my '95 Cobra, which was also tricked out with a Griggs Racing suspension, slotted, drilled and cryoed rotors all the way around with ceramic pads and braided stainless and teflon brake lines replacing the factory rubber and fabric ones, alum heads with chevy sized swirl ground valves matched to the new Edelbrock high torque manifold and a Crane roller cam, lifter, and spring kit.
It was not too difficult to accomplish the mods to the Cobra as I was working as a high engine builder at the time and got a professional discount on everything and full access to the machine shop at our garage. The SVT Focus on the other hand was all full price on everything and just the machine time I could sneak at work (the company I worked for didn’t allow machinist to use the equipment for personal projects because “it is an insurance nightmare”). The up side is I haven’t had any bills since around 2005 at the time, so there was not much in the line of financial difficulties to do it. I wanted a toy for my retirement. Now I am retired and my toy(s) are really fun! I’m including my 2 gaming computers I built since retiring in that statement.
Hey, thank you for the topic. I don’t get to talk about Warlock much. My 30 year old kid doesn’t understand why I want a car that “looks like a shoe” even if it is fast and corners like a beast. I am not working with the guys that also had really nice cars. I usually just have to get my fun and keep it to myself. 
@Mr.Sparkle:
Is that a REAL Lotus Europa? I’m jealous! When I was 22, I worked at a Mercedes, BMW, and import sports car dealer as a washer and porter for a bit over a year. I got top drive some truly awesome cars! A Dino and a GTO Ferrari, Alpha Spyders, lots of Mercedes and Bimmers. My favorite was a Lotus Europa! Sitting in that little sick of dynamite was like being slipped into a latex body suit. The fit was absolutely perfect for me! I found every excuse in the book to drive one of those and that still only amounted to about a 1/2 dozen rides. While I am a Ford fan, particularly anything SVT or SVO, I’d love to own one of those little beauties, troublesome motors and all.
An SVT motor would be a good choice as would be the 5 speed gear box. The bad thing I remember about them was the touchy motors. Only a F.I. Alpha Romero was more difficult to maintain.
@Morgwar: You talking about the bike or the truck? I know lots of guys the think a pickup truck is the only vehicle of any value on the road.
Cheers all.
C50
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Yep, 1969 Lotus Europa S2 type 54 and an early model before they added the turn light bubbles on the nose but it has the older smaller renault 16 engine with a 4 speed, not the later 1565cc one or the ford twin cam with the 5 speed. Actually it’s a Lotus Europe for the history i have of it as my europa was exported to germany first where “europa” was already a trademark at the time so they couldn’t use the name thus the europe, then it got shipped this way by the serviceman “army or airforce” who owned it at the time.
It will be a rebuild though, wasn’t bad when i got it and had it running and looking decent, but it sat for a decade and a door seal failed so soaked the interior to the point i had moss growing on the seats, so its needs a do over anyways, plus the foot pedal box area being so small my one foot hits the steering column so i need to tweak things to make it fit a bit better
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The foot pedal area is small. You can’t have bigger than average feet and still drive that car. The few times I drive one, I took my shoes off. My buddy Paul whom worked there also couldn’t even drive it barefoot with his size 13 wides. Two of the times I got to drive one he gave me the keys that were handed to him.
Sounds like you have quite the project cut out for you. You will post pics when its done, yes?
Cheers
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Lol the chopper… Like my Lincoln its long low and overpowered.
I love trucks, but street rods and classics will always turn my head
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I feel that way about sports cars and sport bikes (and, of course, sleek, fast women).
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Yeah long ways off though, have a couple other cars as well, plus you never know what will pop up.
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The X3 got all new brakes and rotors today, new wear sensors as well. I always heard BMW was a pain in the ass to work on, but everything went really smoothly. Took me about 2hrs to do all 4 wheels.
Went with Brembo parts 
Just need to get the fancy calipers now
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Today I worked on the new work van.
For those of you who aren’t familiar, I drive two vehicles for work, a 2005 Dodge Sprinter, and a 2006 Dodge Sprinter.
The 2005 has already had all the “fixes” and tweaks we like our vehicles to have, but being that the 2006 is a newly acquired asset, it was time to get it up to snuff.
First order of business was the front brakes and rotors. Replaced everything but the calipers, as they are already good dual piston setups. Front brake wobble and pulling when stopping? Gone.
Now, i’m gonna rant a bit. Whoever designed the transmission used in the Sprinters need SHOT. They forgot one critical thing… In the torque converter control circuit, they forgot to provide adequate pressure relief, causing what most refer to as “Rumble Strip Noise” I was changing the fluid anyway because we have NO service records on the new vehicle, so ya gotta start somewhere right? I dropped the pan, pulled the filter, The fluid was BLACK and smelled real bad for transmission fluid. Wasn’t a burnt smell, but it was terrible either way. Removed one of the plates covering the TCC solenoid and drilled a hole (#55 drill bit, amazingly small) before putting everything back together with new fluid. Took a drive and all symptoms were gone. Also, no more surging under cruise control. I’m speculating that the fluid when hot was too thin to maintain proper pressure on the bands. Pretty sure I just saved myself 2500$
Tomorrow I get to weld extensions on an acquaintances pneumatic lawn mower lift. The guy that built it didn’t follow design specs and it ended up being a full 18" too narrow. Should be a lucrative bunch of side money for me lol.
That’s all in the vehicle world for me tonight, after today, i’m ready for my bowl.
-Jelly-
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