the baby diesel

[Wake]

Well uncletruck i think it is safe to say if you ever tried to get a job as a motivational speaker , you would be a spectacular failure. Lol. Did you tell your kids if they tried hard enough they could accomplish anything or did you tell them flipping burgers is good enough. Heh ah man im just yanking your chain. Your post is pretty depressing though. Judging by some of the hard work that has good into some of the cars on here , a lot of people dont agree with your "too expensive dont bother " outlook. Ive seen a couple turbo diesel in old cars videos and they didnt look rich. There is an old monte on you tube right now with a cummins in it and it looks clean. I think i saw a chevelle on there too. So it can be done. And it would be neat as hell to have a duramax g body i dont care what anyone says. And i agree american cars dont hold up as well as the imports but we still love our g bodies dont we.

 

[custom442]

Trucking is different now, if you find the right independent contractor with the right company, you can take it to the bank. I'm 21 and in college and I made 25 grand this summer, but I've been working with the guy for 4 years. If I was full time I would make 70/80 grand a year workin my butt off. Labor jobs are still there, you just gotta know where to find them, and the good paying ones aren't easy at all.

Foreign small cars, or almost any new car, are just throw away. They are kind of fun to drive. Break away joints, thin steel, you won't be able to restore these cars easily in 15+ years. They're junk cars really. An older steel body can be fixed and always wins in a wreck. If you want to save money, swap a cheap running 350.

As far as the low sulfur, well, whatever you say.

 

[redneckracer305]

i like the idea of diesel swps. but thats just more cause its kinda somthin outta the norm. ive seen many things around the interent about people swapping little cummins 4 banger turbo deisels into older rangers,s trucks, and pre 78 broncos. i personally dont think i would ever go through the hassle to try and make a diesel swap into a car just because the the time effort wouldnt be worth it to me, but its still a pretty tick thing to see.
As far as cars go new vs. old. i really havent been driving all that long but ive been through a lotta cars (all american made) mainly cause i whooped the snot outta of em, but i dont do that on a regular basis anymore at all, the cutlass i have owned almost for a year thats the longest ive kept a car on the road. mind you though i have never payed more than 1700 for any car ive owned, and the 3 priciest ones are projects . im probably buyin a 180k 240sx next, just for driver so we can get the 3 g bodys sittin out there, the way that we want em

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Given the choice of a new Civic or an old G body or Impala as a car I had to have a 40mph offset-frontal crash in, I'll take the Civic. There's a video on Youtube of a mid 90's Volvo vs a 2005 Renault ( basically a Nissan Versa), and the subcompact Renault obliterates the Volvo wagon. Newer cars are designed to crash, and are very rigid around the passenger's compartment. Old cars are not.

Here's the video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrkwdshZkv0

 

[Wake]

I agree, its also why supercars like the lambo are absolutely gigantic now. Its all about surviving a crash.

look at the size of the Ford GT. The guy on Top Gear bought one and found he couldn't fit into some parking garages with it.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Even funnier is that Clarkson couldn't fit it on some British roads because they are so narrow! That's part of the reason American cars are not popular in Europe. Those countries were mostly developed during the time of the horse and buggy, whereas the Americas were mostly developed during the 1900's.

 

[custom442]

One of the big reasons I bought a cutlass is I saw a wreck where an F-350 T-boned a cutlass in its side at about 40-50 mph. The Ford was smashed to hell and the car had only a big dent in the side from the door to the rear quarter, no windows broken, no frame twisting, nothing; G-body wins.

 

[HFX]

Diesels should come with replaceable liners. Hell I think gas engines should too. But I have weird ideas about it being better for the environment keeping an old car going then buying a brand new one and sending the old one to a junk yard.

 

[redneckracer305]

i think there was an article in car craft about somthin like that. how hot rodders and enthusiats are really actually, if you want to say "green". cause we recycle and reuse damn near everything when it cames to vehicles. and it is true when you think about it, cause paeople dont understand that when a car goes to the wrecking yard, people like us get to it yank and reuse anything we could possibly use sometimes even if i cant use somthing and i think i might in the future i grab it. then the vechle that they got rid of for a more efficient newer car, suddenly becomes more effiecient because when you take into consideration the useage of fuel, manpower electricity and all that good stuff it takes to recycle some scrap metal, it winds up being less energy useage to just keep that old car going on the road. well on a big scale it does when you consider all the vehicles that are just junked everyday for no particular reason than the fact they are old, and "outdated". personally my dream daily driver to be more green, isnt the 4 banger im thinking to buy. it would be an older gm from the 80s, caprice, camaro, gbody, with an ls1 and overdrive.not modded out but, more or less bone stock for great mpg, comfort and style, that you comprimise with a newer car.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

You can also recycle a 90's 4 banger car into something more useful, which is my plan for the near future. I would like to do it with a classic subcompact like a Datsun PL510, but it is too expensive and time consuming for a car that will see 30-40k miles a year. It likely will be a robust small car like a Sentra or Civic instead.