@AkioOhtori

You, sir, are a legend.

Doubters officially silenced.

If you want the notoriety, I'd love to see this whole saga, from pre-purchase to frenzied repairs to epic journey, written up in @The-Autopian for many more to see. @Miss-Mercedes @David-Tracy

@Highlander huh, those were not the reviews I was expecting

@Throwaway said in Hey PNW Oppos! Want a cheap Fiero or Volvo 850?:

@AkioOhtori $2600 for that 850 seems pretty optimistic!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!

!!!!

😅😅

Indeed but this is the world we live in. He'd for sure consider some pretty agregous offers

@AkioOhtori now to drive the Piazza to Alaska

@AkioOhtori just think of the memories in years to come.

@AkioOhtori Psssst, time traveling Akio from two weeks ago! The Volvo's big problem is the sparks and plug leads! You're welcome!

@tsmith512 Welcome! 🙂

Make sure you do an introduction post to let us all know the details about you and your rides! 😄

Does this Volvo idle OK? If not I would say busted rings due to premonition due to too lean.....

@AkioOhtori Rotten eggs is the classic "bad cat" smell.

@AkioOhtori said in Road Trip day two is over and all is well:

Fuel pump seems to have sorted 95%

Congratulations on the successful diagnosis.

@beefchips Oh, this is a conventional wisdom of bringing a car back to reliability.

The first accomplishment is being able to drive it 5 miles without something being wrong. That means, can you drive it at all without it being broken. In the case of the Impulse, he passed that phase when he cured the glowing exhaust manifold problem.

The second accomplishment is being able to drive it 50 miles without something being wrong. For the Impulse, once he cured the exhaust manifold, he took it on longer trips and noted the cutting out under load which hopefully will be cured with a new fuel pump.

Now he is trying to get 500 miles without discovering a new problem. Maybe he will make it, maybe he won't. Today its a fuel pump, tomorrow it might be an ignition ignitor, next week it might be a differential seal. That's the challenge of bringing back to reliability a 35 year old car.....

@theturbomrt FFS, I was just explaining the Terry Tate ads to my kids just the other day. They barely understand ads, so it’s an uphill battle.

I think it started when my wife drank the last of the coffee and I instintively said "YOU KILL THE JOE, YOU MAKE SOME MO'!" 🙂

@AkioOhtori The Volvo is unexpected. Manual wagons are quite a unicorn.

@AkioOhtori said in Ready or not... (Dusty Piazza Updates):

The car has automatic knock control, so (assuming that works) I'm not terribly worried about knocking?

I do consider bad gas as a significant possibility. especially considering that this is a Japan market and turbocharged engine.

I am not sure that preignition at high speed is necessarily the same sound as knocking and pinging. My concern is that since this is happening at high load, pre-ignition my not be audible. But if combustion is so disorganized as to collapse into surging, something is major wrong.

I do not rule out an ignitor but they tend to either work or not work. Since this is happening at specific conditions, it tends to rule out ignitors in my mind.

What I would do is use the easy tools to try to figure it out. Better gas has been done. If it continues after a new tank is filled, try retarding timing and see if that helps. If it continues after that, try reducing boost. Use the tools and see if you can make it go away.

Whatever you do, don't let it stumble at high load for any length of time as unstable surging combusion will melt pistons. So says the man who has melted some....
bc494ea5-4608-4189-a327-30d390b64fe5-image.png
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@AkioOhtori Meanwhile over here I, a lunatic, am reading along on the edge of my seat thinking "man I wish I had a good project like this"

@AkioOhtori fuck it really is always a ground.

@davesaddiction said in So... what is next for the Dusty Piazza?:

THAT Fiero?

Haha I also briefly had that thought, but then remembered he had his car before that one came on the market and it sold while he was out of town so... bit of a stretch

@VincentMalamute

Yup… and spun off the enterprise stuff as “Hewlett-Packard Enterprise”

@RacinBob Got it: https://opposite-lock.com/topic/75043/i-fixed-it-dusty-piazza-update

@AkioOhtori In any event, I'm sure Valve will have Portal 3 out the door any day now...

They are probably just waiting for the Half-Life 2 Episode 3 team to get done so they can bring those people on for the last push.

@AkioOhtori good luck! you need it 🙂

@AkioOhtori said in Some smoke, less gun (Dusty Piazza Update):

Anyone have experience with centrifugal/mechanical advance and checking it?

Which way does the distributor spin? As the weights pull out, it will rotate the plate the opposite direction such that the pickup triggers sooner relative to the position of the shaft.

@theturbomrt said in Cranky Piazza (possible smoking gun?!):

@theturbomrt e6b3d122-d376-4104-890f-85a1149919f7-image.png

@AkioOhtori exactly this. It might look a little different, but that's pretty standard. You can use a small magnet to find a rubber section of you can't see one.

I think a advanced exhaust cam might cause it. If the exhaust valve opens early the flame goes to the exhaust rather than to doing work, it would cause hot manifold

How long until we hear "I should have just bought the Biturbo"?

@AkioOhtori pip is our residents parts guy. but with holden ceasing to exist it might be a tough gig.

i don't think i've ever seen a holden piazza, so i wouldn't hold your breath on general availability of those parts. camiras were common enough though they're mostly gone now, would expect plenty of parts to be lying around in scrappers.

have you tried ebay.com.au? some scrap yard places sell on ebay, you might be able to convince one to ship international if you offered to figure out the dollars and shipping.

@Italia said in Dusty Piazza Wrenching - Day 1 Summary:

4° seems incredibly minor to get a red glowing manifold.

I agree 4 degrees plus or minus shouldn't be a major problem. Also, if anything I think advanced timing would cause preignition, not rich exhaust.

Hot rich exhaust I would think would be due to either due to retarded timing result in incomplete combustion and burning in the exhaust system. Or due to a very rich mixture.

@AkioOhtori The glowing manifold would totally freak me out. I'm not sure I could drive it at all knowing that was a possibility.

@AkioOhtori Sounds like it's coming along well, but as others have mentioned, that cherry red manifold isn't the result of an air leak, and from what you've mentioned about it running out of steam before high RPM, the exhaust is probably blocked (cats?).

Edit: reading through the other responses, this seems to have already been covered

@pip-bip said in Just about dropped a load from relief:

@AkioOhtori new plugs and fuel filter, fresh tank of fuel, then high speed on the highway.

"Get your motor running, head out on the highway!"

@AkioOhtori Dump some seafoam in the oil and run it before you change it, if something is gummed up.

DM sent.

@AkioOhtori crv?

@AkioOhtori said in The real hero of the cheap car challenge:

discarded because they thought it was at the end of its life

Never throw away a perfectly good Land Rover.

@dogisbadob That's not really how it works. Even if the car is fixed to 100% factory, the title will still say "salvage" or "rebuilt" on it in almost every state. The CR-Z in question was worth fixing, and appears to have been fixed.

"If it was worth fixing, they would have fixed it" Uh, no. Many insurers won't authorize repairs with anything but new, OEM parts, as opposed to aftermarket or used parts. High end parts for niche cars (like a CR-Z!) are going to be expensive enough to total the car.

@Manwich alt text
(There is no xB on my list but I do like them! The one someone suggested was from a dealer know to do very sketchy things like fill engines with stop leak and not disclose salvage titles, so it was a "don't even bother")

@AkioOhtori oh geez, the impulse is just lovely. Assume it is manual and know it is rear wheel drive. Perfect size for a road trip, if you don't want it I may have to have a look.

@AkioOhtori oh holy shit, that really snuck up on you.

Uh

Panic time?

Or get a Vespa scooter

@AkioOhtori

Ah, bummer. Was hoping it was great.

@glemon said in Help me find a cheap car challenge car Oppo!:

@Mordax Unless the add is about ten years old that price seems so low as to be scammy to me. Haven't seen a driveable air-cooled 911 under 10k for many years.

What he said.

I mean yes. I'd totally buy a 911 but there is no way that is real, or if it is they've already got about 20 people lined up

@Mordax said in An honest beige box:

@AkioOhtori said in An honest beige box:

(and for those interested in helping me with my quest, I plan on releasing a list of requirements some time next week to help with the search)

We'll give you extra credit if you get this list out early. I mean, if you had a bird actually rambo one of your house windows or something, that would be a good excuse, but... what are the odds of that happening?

Yeah that'd be crazy! 😭

Err I'm going to be working nights and out of town all next week, so any leads provided in the interim can't be acted on until at week from today. Figuring I'll drop the search request on Thursday afternoon so I can make an attempt to start looking at cars on Friday when I get back.

@AkioOhtori Sounds like a nightmare, glad it got figured out. AirBnB, Uber etc. really took off during the time I was in my 20s living in San Francisco...I really really dislike how those companies are run (they're growing up and getting better, but still the bad taste won't go away), the sketchy games they played to get their footing, the politics etc.

With that being said...I've always been torn on their offering too. Clearly great value for money from a consumer standpoint, but what it does to existing industries, neighborhoods, affordability, etc...I really really want cities to pull up their pants and regulate the shit out of them. So many illegal listings, which in turn result in neighbors giving you the stink eye, needing to play silly games like pretending you're the owner's cousin...fuck that shit. It's not reasonable to put that, and the act of scouting the legality of a booking you made, on a customer. Both the platforms and cities need to be way stricter about throwing the book at illegal listings based on whatever rules are determined to be right for a community.

When single and pre-kid we used these platforms a fair bit, it saved us money and got to stay in some pretty cool places. But also a few sketchy experiences as mentioned above. Now with a kid we've either done these rentals in very tourist friendly places (e.g. non-urban listings like cabins, beach houses, etc.) or just suck it up and pony up the money for a hotel room that meets our needs. I'm not down to play any of those games or be in the middle of some weird situation when we're just trying to enjoy a family vacation with a little kid in tow.

@ranwhenparked said in oh no i've been karen'd:

@AkioOhtori said in oh no i've been karen'd:

lose that data at least they will be held accoun- oh wait....
Anyway still better than sending it to som

Oh, I agree, that would weird me out, too. I wonder if, in her head, she thinks she's being more "professional", because that's what the Holiday Inn does or something

Unsurprisingly we looked into it a bit and I kinda see why they're doing it? Apparently AirBnB essentially leaves hosts out to dry on verifying renter identification. Allegedly renters can change their names at will on the platform (unconfirmed) and do not need to provide any photo ID (confirmed) though then can. The net effect being allegedly if you get a bad renter that trashes the place it can be very hard to hold them responsible... though in my mind I would think AirBnB would cover the damages but now that I've said that I'm sure they don't. On the flip side we found that hosts can require ID confirmation through AirBnB as a condition of rental (unconfirmed) so if that is true not sure why they wouldn't just go that way? I'm guessing because in that case you'd only be verifying the ID of the person who made the booking, not all the guests too.... which shouldn't matter because the person booking is the one responsible!

So... yeah my only thought is it is either a misguided attempt to "security" or racism. Given the name and location I'd be inclined to think the latter.

@AkioOhtori A carb upgrade and a header and you could've gone 70 the whole way without issue!

@ITA97 I can't tell if you're trying to talk me into or of out this...

@RacinBob said in Make or break day for my cheap car candidate:

@drVanTraveler Yep, now that you mention it, Early VW Rabbits had a similar setup too.

Same shims too, I borrowed a shim kit from a VW shop when I did the top end on the Urq.

@RacinBob said in I looked at a car today:

Having a nearly 50 year old italian car, I would look very carefully at the fuel hoses, especially those near heat. My Alfa's hoses (and brake hoses) were to the point of if you bent them 180 degrees they would crack. I suspect that's why old Italian cars (and others) burn up so often.

Especially as yours has relatively high fuel pressure....

I also suggest whatever fuel the car is running (ethanol vs pure gas) you don't change. I went from ethanol to pure gas and my fuel pump started leaking within weeks. O rings don't like change.

These are all good points and I will look into it. The turbo oil return hoses look... crunchy.

... I mean... if this hypothetical car has one or more turbos

@facw I'm a little late to the party but let me know when I can pick up that mighty max, it's so good.

@ibRAD said in When downloading a sketchy FSM isn't malware:

If it's available, I'll just avoid the hassle and get the legit version.

This is the way.

I know everyone is trying to be careful with their money, but my time is worth something too and spending multiple hours trying to get something for free that I could just pay $100 for is not a good use of my time.

That is going to be an awesome trip.

@AkioOhtori so nice, buy it!

@AkioOhtori
If you research Studebakers, are you Studying?

@AkioOhtori I love Stradas....one of my dad's coworkers had one back in the day. Thing looked so cool and was an honest to goodness workhorse. But yeah that's a lot of money for one. I think the unfortunate fact is that there's a lot of sunk costs in to bringing vehicles to the US, so the floor price for any JDM import is going to be higher than what you can expect for US market vehicles.

The other day I saw a a RHD Civic hatch from the 90s with like 120k miles....yeah it was clean and a manual, but beyond that entirely an econobox and they were asking $14K. What the hell kind of niche enthusiast is going to spend $14k on that thing (mind you, they sold the body style in the US too) instead of everything else you could buy for that amount of money???

@AkioOhtori

?

Screenshot_20230224_160204_Instagram.jpg

8500 bucks. If he says it needs nothing, I trust him. Kris is a stand-up guy and straight shooter.

He runs the Overcrest podcast if you're familiar.

@AkioOhtori Well, I'm sorry it didn't work out, but I'm glad you didn't end up with something you'll never be able to fix... I still haven't gotten to the body repairs of Fargo yet, and I do worry about how bad that's going to be... or if it's going to be possible.

You'll find the right thing, likely by accident, and it will be wonderful.

@WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4 said in So... I spoke to the owner of the Studebaker...:

You had me till here.

Lol I'm open to alternatives. But they're so ugly it kind of wraps back around?

Then again I do love a good wheel hunt...

@AkioOhtori
Bless you for this.

Now go buy the Stud!

@RacinBob said in We went cheap car shopping and the results were pretty grim:

Ok, How about an Aztec with tent for $3900? https://prescott.craigslist.org/cto/d/prescott-valley-2003-pontiac-aztec/7581147496.htmlc8d2e9e8-e22a-4e76-8e5b-872c122399e4-image.png

Ok that is amazing...

@WhoIsTheLeader Right now the car is in Garner, North Carolina. 2000 Volvo S70, has a naturally aspirated I5 and a 5 speed manual gearbox, with 330,000 miles on the original clutch. And no it does not slip! If you're interested in more details send me a DM and we can exchange phone numbers

@akioohtori

MUCH EXCITE!