balthazar

ocn- from your posts on this general matter, it seems to me about the only thing you have to lose is the months & months you'll spend moodily munching pizza, not making any sort of move at all. Time's a-wastin', as they say. I frequent a local pizza joint because the Chicken Marsala pie always whispers 'sweet nothings' to my stomach. Tho the owner's daughter came in once, and if she's not a frickin' model right now, she's just being lazy.

>>"Off topic, but I grew up in Ewing (resident from 1974 <o years old> to 1999 <24 years old>) and went to school with a ton of kids that had parent's employed at the GM plant. "<< My father worked across the street at the Jet Propulsion Lab for about 30 years before transfering to MD until retirement. My family lived in Ewing until '75, then moved out to Hopewell Twsp. When did the GM Ewing plant last assemble vehicles- anybody kno offhand?

Here's hoping the temporarily-dehabilitating misfortune of dialing across a Christopher Cross song never happens to you again.

Well, wasn't that a hum-dinger of a hand-wringer.

I really don't see size class as being terribly pertinent. Sure- if we were talking about a 210" sedan that could be unyieldy in a garage or thru narrow streets/tight parking; that's one thing. But at this diminuative size level, separating every 13" in overall length into yet another 'class' is merely marketing to limit competitors. In other words, unlike the 210" sedan, are there actually true 'livability' size constraints on 176" vs. 157" ?? Who looks at something as small as an HHR and says 'that won't work for me- too large.' I just can't fathom it. So to blindly trudge along with manufacturer and/or governmental-dictated 'classes' and not look beyond those, only limits the consumer's choice. Call it 'close-minded' and not be far off. Or hopefully, does no one shop for a vehicle this way ?

I fail to see how a polarized opinion on a subjective matter such as styling can legitimately be derided as 'close-mindedness', an over-used term. I cannot recall anyone here ever being similarly labeled for drooling over -say- a ferrari's styling. Blanket admiration is no virtue, as far as I can see. >>"GM just never got around to making anything like this"<< What- the cube is 19 inches shorter, at a miniscule 157" ?? Who NEEDS a 157" vehicle maximum ? IMO- that's immaterial. In the realm of a low-cost, economic, stylistically-unique, cargo-centric lil' hauler, GM does indeed 'make something like the cube'. Only there, it's not accompanied by dry heaving sounds.

From the diesel consumer base, oiled filters have been repeatedly & thoroughly tested for numerous criteria of performance. Diesels are all about air & fuel quantity & quality- moreso than gas engines. There, the results were that while the oiled filters did offer an airflow advantage when first installed, within the suggested oil lifespan of the filter, the airflow dropped well below that of paper elements. The consensus was paper filter offer better overall performance (air flow, dirt filtration, performance & mileage), with a far better price as an added bonus.

Here's one of the very few 'right time; right place' stories RE this project : A guy on the B-59 board (yes; there's one of those) was looking for a good radiator for his car. He's in Moscow. I stepped right up with this offer- I'll get mine re-cored for you, you pay for the recore, the shipping to Russia, and half of the cost of my replacement custom aluminum radiator. He agreed- I had the orig recored, made a detailed drawing and had a one-off custom one built. $600 unit only cost me $300 for a 2- (1") tube aluminum rad. This sort of thing just does not happen often enough. - - - - - Had a problem earlier- when mocking up the motor- the guy who set that up for me placed the engine block sans heads. When I went to put the pass-side head on- it hit the firewall, missing it's dowel pins by about a half inch. Suck City. Moving the engine mounts & the trans crossmember mounts seemed like the long way around, so I decided to notch the firewall. Clearance here is tight- I'm keeping the factory under-dash heater box. So I traced the contour of the head & valve cover, added a little margin, and cut into it: Traced the hole on stiff paper, added an inch or so along one side, transfered it to steel, cut it, sliced it, contoured it, & welded it in. Heater box still fits inside, happily : In other news- I have been working in the basement- setting up a clean, semi-pleasant 'workshop' in order to get anything accomplished in steady below freezing temps as this winter has been dealing this area. I wanted to get the centerlink assembly down there and get my replacement pieces I waited the better part of a year on, going before the end of Jan. That should become a reality tomm, Jan 31st. Will have some pics of the quizzically-complex assembly soon. BTW- the factory shop manual drawing for this is incorrect, plus manual- & power-steering cars have different pieces involved. Fun.

A 6 in a Pontiac never seems right to me... or at least living up to it's potential, but then again; the 7 Pontiacs I've owned have all been 6-liter plus Pontiac V-8s.

>>"Interesting. I really don't see what you're seeing at the A pillar. The 2nd gen Prius pays homage to many Honda design elements, and this new Insight pulls a lot from past Honda's. VW did do that style front grille before the Clarity, so it makes sense to get a VW vibe from the front. Not sure about your comment on the upholstery, why exactly is it commercial airline upholstery? Did you expect leather?"<< RE: 'fractured' : I think it's the window sill line. The front termination is over the front wheelwell, and the downward angle there departs from the flow of the hood/A-pillar line, and to my eye it creates tension there. RE: design cues- the problem here is that the prius is not ubitquitous, and anything else that appears years later as a dedicated hybrid is only going to be compared to the prius- so whether or not the prius uses a few honda elements or not, IMO the perception is going to be that the insight is copying the prius, rather than ultimately 'copying' honda. RE: upholstery - it's the pattern.

Sorry- I find this next insight to be borderline hideous. The obvious silhouette homage to the prius with perhaps a bit more ungainlyness (almost looks like it's fractured vertically at the A-pillar)... and I'm getting a strong VW vibe in the grille. Interior looks both cheap & awkward, and it's not the commercial airline upholstery that's doing that, either. Blech.

My brother owns a '68 'bird coupe with a PowerGlide; his does 9.9s in the quarter. Oh; yeah- with a 400. Cammers are sweet motors, stock 4bbl cars put out 230 HP, IIRC. I do believe there's a bit of a logjam WRT aftermarket cams. Not aware of any inherant problems with this powertrain, tho.

Someone enlighten me as to the circumstances around the demise of the first insight- # of years made, why cancelled. How does this insight fit in with the fit & civic ? And it may differ from the prius in some aspects, but it's a loose tracing overall. It'd be distressing if I cared about the image of honda...

>>"What displacement and what are your plans for them? "<< '56 DeSoto 330 and a '57 DeSoto 341. Both apart. Plans are to flip them. Researching values...

Agreed, and so is the sliding size scale than ignores all previous vehicles in order to grab a coveted size declaration. It's not like a "large" '08 Impala never pulls up next to a '96 Impala at the light.

Creepy : Never Forget Me, Never Forget Me - Akira Yamaoka

T. H. E. most repulsive production... thing on 4 wheels. Words fail.

>>"First, what car did the band use for the album cover?"<< 2004 saab. :P :wink:

Ironic; I just unloaded 2 Hemi engines into my shop this morning. No blowers, tho. Alison made a 4-spd auto ?

Almost indetectable changes to an ubitquitously uninteresting vehicle. Pig nostrils are really inching forward relative to the headlights. Going for a bit more 'snout-esque' look in profile, I see. And the interior still features a black steering wheel that matches nothing else in the car, looking every bit like a replacement wheel from another color-scheme car. Classy. There cannot really be people excited over this...

What happened to the supposed 90-100 billion in cash toyo reportedly had ??? Is the loss in the last few years really 70 billion instead of a "mere" 20 billion ?? On a 2-yr string of continual recalls, this is absolutely fascinating....

Promise - Akira Yamaoka

Ha- local hyundai dealer is running a radio ad where, if you buy a left-over '08 santa fey, you get a brand new '09 accent FREE. 50% off < 100% off.

DCH Saturn is right up the road from me. Been in there a few times kicking tires- nice store. Frankly, without knowing that DCH was a multi-state concern, I'm surprised the next-door toyo store stays open, it's a small lot and I seldom see much traffic in there (I pass it about 4 days a week). I've only passed by Laffin a few ties, but it's obvious vintage always warmed me. Sorry to hear it closed.

No, no, no, no! This isn't happening- we've all been assured repeatedly that the supposed amount of toyota's cash was 100% indicative of just how RIGHT they've been about.... EVERYTHING. Now- overmorgaged & over-expanded, they have nearly the same cash on hand as Ford ????