Gasoline Alley

Dark Soul said:
An incandescent light bulb has a filament glowing inside a bulb containing some sort of gas to keep the filament from oxidizing or burning. Typically they are fairly simple and run on the line voltage.

These bulbs have no filament. The light is generated by the current jumping between the electrodes. An electronic ballast generates a high voltage to jump the gap and then varies the voltage to keep it stable. Since there is no filament the service life is much longer, and because the light source is plasma the intensity is so much higher. Thus the name, high intensity discharge, or HID.

Xenon bulbs can be incandescent (filament in xenon gas) or HID.
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I am very familiar with HID lamps. Used to use them all the time in Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy before it made obsolete by inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy. The down side of HID lamps is that they do contain small quantities of mercury and thus are regulated for disposal as "Universal Waste". With the exception of Xenon HID lamps which do not use mercury.
 
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RB 60 said:
You go to any shows? Have you won any awards with the 'Bird?
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Mostly cruise-ins for me. I did one s,all show, about 40 cars, and one 2nd place in the only category. First place was a Camaro that had been featured in magazines and spent the last 30 years in a museum until the current owner bought it. A big check trumps sweat every day, unfortunately.
 
Dark Soul said:
Mostly cruise-ins for me. I did one s,all show, about 40 cars, and one 2nd place in the only category. First place was a Camaro that had been featured in magazines and spent the last 30 years in a museum until the current owner bought it. A big check trumps sweat every day, unfortunately.
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I took two people's choice, two best Ford, a second and a third so far this year at shows. The cruise ins are fun too, and it doesn't cost anything to go. I've met some really cool people with some very nice cars over the last few years, and there's 5 or 6 of us who travel together to shows, we get a lot of attention on our way to shows. There's one tonight, I'm keeping an eye on the weather map, I don't want to get caught in the rain...again (last time I got caught in the rain we were an hour away and it poured all the way home, my friend and I got drenched till we got home!).
 
RB 60 said:
I took two people's choice, two best Ford, a second and a third so far this year at shows. The cruise ins are fun too, and it doesn't cost anything to go. I've met some really cool people with some very nice cars over the last few years, and there's 5 or 6 of us who travel together to shows, we get a lot of attention on our way to shows. There's one tonight, I'm keeping an eye on the weather map, I don't want to get caught in the rain...again (last time I got caught in the rain we were an hour away and it poured all the way home, my friend and I got drenched till we got home!).
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Luckily I have a roof on my classic. ;)

I'm missing a lot of local cruise-ins this summer because two weeks ago I transferred the car up to my place in the mountains. I have enjoyed it there though. Last week my wife and I took two of our lady friends on a joy ride and ended up at a local brewery. I have a few dozen "car songs" on a USB drive that we were listening to. They made me play the Beach Boys "Fun fun fun..." at least twice.
 
Dark Soul said:
Luckily I have a roof on my classic. ;)

I'm missing a lot of local cruise-ins this summer because two weeks ago I transferred the car up to my place in the mountains. I have enjoyed it there though. Last week my wife and I took two of our lady friends on a joy ride and ended up at a local brewery. I have a few dozen "car songs" on a USB drive that we were listening to. They made me play the Beach Boys "Fun fun fun..." at least twice.
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I don't have a roof, radio or a back seat, hell, I don't even have a glove box. I do have air conditioning, but it only blows outside temp. Sometimes it even blows my hat off :mad:
 
RB 60 said:
I don't have a roof, radio or a back seat, hell, I don't even have a glove box. I do have air conditioning, but it only blows outside temp. Sometimes it even blows my hat off :mad:
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Yours is an entirely different type of vehicle. Mine's an old luxury car, big and heavy. It was made on the same assembly line as the Lincoln Continental. Still though, not smooth and quiet enough for my Princess except for short jaunts. Over dinner tonight I asked her if she wanted me to drive it to New York in September where we will be spending a few days with the car's previous owner and she didn't hesitate to reject the idea. "Why ride in an old TBird when I could ride in a new Porsche?"

Oh well at least I got her to admit that she likes my new car in spite of me blowing my budget on it.
 
I bought this on a whim 5 years ago for $2200 with the intention for a quick flip. It started right up, low miles but the clutch was messed up. Once I got into it I found out the front spring towers were rusted out so it was a big job to replace those: getting it rigged up on a frame machine, taking out the engine for access, drilling out the spot welds then welding new fabricated brackets in (at $700 for the pair).

While the engine was out I took the opportunity to break it into its major parts, clean it, check for wear and clearances then install all new gaskets and seals (the engine kit was only $50.) Hear of "numbers matching"?. This is numbers exact. The serial number of the engine is the same as the VIN on the car.

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Dark Soul said:
Yours is an entirely different type of vehicle. Mine's an old luxury car, big and heavy. It was made on the same assembly line as the Lincoln Continental. Still though, not smooth and quiet enough for my Princess except for short jaunts. Over dinner tonight I asked her if she wanted me to drive it to New York in September where we will be spending a few days with the car's previous owner and she didn't hesitate to reject the idea. "Why ride in an old TBird when I could ride in a new Porsche?"

Oh well at least I got her to admit that she likes my new car in spite of me blowing my budget on it.
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Yeah, it surely is. My GF doesn't like it because she has too much trouble getting out of it. She had a back operation, a right knee operation and a bone taken out of her right foot and says she's just not coordinated enough to comfortably get out, plus then there's the hot sidepipes. She wasn't too impressed when I spent that much money on a car, I told her I didn't buy it for her (probably not the wisest thing!), but seeing how much fun I have driving it and going to car shows, she's not too pissed at me anymore. Funny thing is, I had a very nice '87 Lincoln LSC before I bought the Cobra, major difference in comfort there!
Although it's very dependable and extremely well built, much more than an hour or two driving it gets a bit uncomfortable because the foot box is so small, the sidepipes are loud and hurt the ears after about a half hour and the seat is like sitting on a piece of plywood (it actually is a piece of plywood with about a 1/2 inch of foam wrapped in leather). I did tons of research before I "pulled the trigger" and bought it so I knew what I was getting...an obnoxious small car with far more HP than it should have, but it looks cool as hell and gets a shitload of attention. Believe it or not, my friend's Porsche GT3-RS is just as difficult to get in and out of as my Cobra, but it does have a roof and AC.
Bottom line is many women don't appreciate an old car like us old car guys do. Like they say, the difference between men and boys is the price of our toys :cool:
 
RB 60 said:
Yeah, it surely is. My GF doesn't like it because she has too much trouble getting out of it. She had a back operation, a right knee operation and a bone taken out of her right foot and says she's just not coordinated enough to comfortably get out, plus then there's the hot sidepipes. She wasn't too impressed when I spent that much money on a car, I told her I didn't buy it for her (probably not the wisest thing!), but seeing how much fun I have driving it and going to car shows, she's not too pissed at me anymore. Funny thing is, I had a very nice '87 Lincoln LSC before I bought the Cobra, major difference in comfort there!
Although it's very dependable and extremely well built, much more than an hour or two driving it gets a bit uncomfortable because the foot box is so small, the sidepipes are loud and hurt the ears after about a half hour and the seat is like sitting on a piece of plywood (it actually is a piece of plywood with about a 1/2 inch of foam wrapped in leather). I did tons of research before I "pulled the trigger" and bought it so I knew what I was getting...an obnoxious small car with far more HP than it should have, but it looks cool as hell and gets a shitload of attention. Believe it or not, my friend's Porsche GT3-RS is just as difficult to get in and out of as my Cobra, but it does have a roof and AC.
Bottom line is many women don't appreciate an old car like us old car guys do. Like they say, the difference between men and boys is the price of our toys :cool:
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The whole reason that I shy away from kit cars is because of the interiors. Most of them have a piece of plywood covered in vinyl for the dash. Then there's the windows and roof seals- those are all very difficult to get right.
 
Dark Soul said:
The whole reason that I shy away from kit cars is because of the interiors. Most of them have a piece of plywood covered in vinyl for the dash. Then there's the windows and roof seals- those are all very difficult to get right.
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Mine wasn't a kit, it was built at the factory. Most Cobra's (at least the quality ones) use the same seats. The dash is also covered in leather and is not plywood, but not a "soft" leather like the Backdraft Racing Cobra. Unique builds an extremely high quality car, and it's said their body is closest to the original body specs. Mine has no windows or soft top, many of the ERA's and Superformance (2 of the more popular and expensive) cars have the soft tops, but most never use them. They say they're a hassle and they leak. Unique also offers them, but I'm not paying $2600 for one. Mine was very well built, the engine bored and built by Southern Automotive using a '62 1/2 406 (bored to 427) NASCAR block with side bolted mains, a close ratio Toploader and a XK-6 Jag rear. It's a blast to drive!
 
RB 60 said:
Mine wasn't a kit, it was built at the factory. Most Cobra's (at least the quality ones) use the same seats. The dash is also covered in leather and is not plywood, but not a "soft" leather like the Backdraft Racing Cobra. Unique builds an extremely high quality car, and it's said their body is closest to the original body specs. Mine has no windows or soft top, many of the ERA's and Superformance (2 of the more popular and expensive) cars have the soft tops, but most never use them. They say they're a hassle and they leak. Unique also offers them, but I'm not paying $2600 for one. Mine was very well built, the engine bored and built by Southern Automotive using a '62 1/2 406 (bored to 427) NASCAR block with side bolted mains, a close ratio Toploader and a XK-6 Jag rear. It's a blast to drive!
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Here's my XJ6 with fresh paint.

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In my teens when I thought it was cool to go fast in a straight line. I had a 57 Chevy 327 dual AFB carbs on a ram induction manifold with a 254 degree 355 lift 3/4 race cam. I could do a 1/4 mile in 12 seconds. that is slow by todays standards but fast in the 60's.
 
Grumpy said:
In my teens when I thought it was cool to go fast in a straight line. I had a 57 Chevy 327 dual AFB carbs on a ram induction manifold with a 254 degree 355 lift 3/4 race cam. I could do a 1/4 mile in 12 seconds. that is slow by todays standards but fast in the 60's.
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That 327 was a great engine. My cousin has a '69 Nova with it coupled to a 4-speed. As far as I remember it was bone-stock- none of us had any money to make modifications. That car had balls.
 
Dark Soul said:
That 327 was a great engine. My cousin has a '69 Nova with it coupled to a 4-speed. As far as I remember it was bone-stock- none of us had any money to make modifications. That car had balls.
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My 57 came with a 283 but the previous owner replaced it with a 327. I worked odd jobs to earn the money to hop it up. I had pictures of me getting the left front tire up but I could never do a true wheelie. Alas in all the moves all my old drag racing pictures are gone.

Big Daddy Don Garlits speed shop set up my carb linkage so I could go 2, 4, 6, or all eight barrels. Really helped on the street mileage.
 
Yesterday I changed out the spark plugs on my wife's 2011 328xi. I was dreading it because the back of the I6 seems to be buried under the dash. Take off the big panel at the rear of the engine bay though and it was a breeze. Muck easier than my '12 Jeep with the Pentastar. For that I had to split the intake manifold.
 
Dark Soul said:
Yesterday I changed out the spark plugs on my wife's 2011 328xi. I was dreading it because the back of the I6 seems to be buried under the dash. Take off the big panel at the rear of the engine bay though and it was a breeze. Muck easier than my '12 Jeep with the Pentastar. For that I had to split the intake manifold.
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I have gotten to old and stiff to be crawling around on an engine so I get my nephew to dot that kind of stuff for me.
 
Grumpy said:
Hell your Gremlin was a glorified riding lawn mower lol.
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Cheap to keep running,had a big Straight 6.The worse was drum brakes on all 4 wheels,didn't stop worth a shit!
I had it 15 years,put on brakes,a couple
exhaust,a carb,I bought for $20 installed,one belt
 
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