Thub

Wondering if anyone is interested in the 96 Taurus JBL RCU that I have left over from the SHO. It still worked when I pulled it out but output seemed to be way down. Shoot me a PM.

Those rims were a little chewed up, not bad though. They were good 10 foot wheels, any closer and you could see the blemishes. I had them on the 2002 for a few months before passing them onto Brian. The nice "Ford" center caps went on the Centennial rims that Nick had on the SHO, and made those rims look really good. Speaking of rims, I did sent take my set of SHO Chrommies to the scrap yard. Dropped them off at Alter Metal in Green Bay and got 59 cents a pound, at 77lbs it was a quick $45 in my pocket. Watched them drop them into a big bin of other raw aluminum. I was impressed at the amount of material that they process through that place, it was a non stop line of trucks coming over the scale loaded with scrap. It wasn't really much of a loss, they were in rough shape, leaked air, peeling coating really bad, and one of them was bent. The old Yokohama tires I was able to pawn off onto a used tire store for the price of dismounting them.

I think those rims have had over 10 owners now.

Those rims look familiar...Brian?

I'd stay away from a Jeep with air suspension and all that fancy stuff, its going to cost a fortune if that stuff gives out and I just don't trust Chrysler quality, even though the new Grand Cherokees look amazing. I hate to promote a foreign vehicle but go take a mid to late 2000s 4Runner with the V8 for a spin, you won't be disappointed. That 4.7L V8 is a beast in the lighter 4Runner chassis, and you won't have to worry about the biggest problems with those trucks since you live down south and nothing rusts. Its a real SUV and can do real SUV things, and its got the muscle under the hood. I test drove one last year and I was very impressed with the handling and power, and to be honest its a higher quality vehicle and will have less problems than any Chrysler product. All of those 4runners are imported from Japan so the build quality is much higher than USA built Toyotas. This body style with the facelift (projector headlights), like 05-09 I think. Only go for the 4.7, the 4.0 V6 just doesn't do it. Don't get me wrong I really like the F150, but I really like SUVs too. I enjoyed the 2002 Explorer a lot and I think that's why in a few years depending if Ford does things right, I'll be looking at getting a Bronco.

Honestly Jeff a truck like that is a great candidate for a big 454 or a 5.9L Cummins. Reg cab short box RWD tire roasting machine.

I got my hands on a pair of used fork lift tires for the F150 to use as ballast weight this winter. They weigh over 100lbs each. They stick to the lineX like glue and don't slide around and for the weight they don't take up much room, plus I can roll them around and stack them when in storage.

It is really amazing how people lack the confidence or are just poor drivers. Parking a car you drive every day should be easy. I was a little uneasy the first week or so but after enough time in the truck I gained a feel for its dimensions on the road and where and how it can be maneuvered. I wouldn't want to take it into a big city and try to park it but I have no issues anywhere around Green Bay. I will admit I had to set up the good old tennis ball hanging from a string in the garage though. I need to stop at the exact right spot for the door into the house to still open all the way and be able to close the garage door without hitting the bumper of the truck. Its tight enough that I can't leave a hitch in the truck or the garage door would slam into it or I would have to squeeze myself between the front of the truck and the door into the house, and I'm about as thin of a person as you can be. Height wise its close too, every entry and departure from the garage is accompanied by a nice loud metallic clang as the antenna hits the lowest part of the garage door. Needless to say when I buy a house I'm going to try and find one with a longer garage and 8' high doors.

With the correct rear end gearing the LT1 will pull very well, even in those heavy cars. The Impala SS would go 0-60 in ~7 seconds. Pretty fast for a car like that in 1994, today...not so much. I think my F150 runs 0-60 in under 7 seconds which isn't bad for a 6000lb 4x4 brick. Thanks to Ford and their CPO warranty the F150 has a new rear window. Normal customer cost = $1300, my cost $100 deductible on the CPO warranty. So now I have working rear defrost and heated mirrors.

All B body cars from 94-end of production used the LT1, slightly modified from the corvette and Impala SS version. I think the 92-93 MYs used the L05 truck engine. The LT1 had a few variants, some with aluminum heads, some with iron heads. I believe the B body cars all had the Iron heads.

Dropped the F150 off at the dealer to hopefully get a new rear window and door latches adjusted under my CPO warranty. I tried to use the rear defrost and heated mirrors the other day when everything was all covered with dew in the early morning hours and nothing worked. A quick search found that a lot of 2013s got rear power sliding windows with bad contacts for the defroster element. The door latches seem to have a common "double pull" issue that is intermittent. Of course I then walked around the lot a bit and there were a few new 2018 F150s there, I quickly made my exit after admiring a white FX4 with the black accents.

Adam and Michelle Hartlmeier.

As many of you may know I parted ways with the 1997 SHO yesterday. The new owners took it back home to Richfield WI, a northern suburb of Waukesha and Milwaukee. It was a great car and I'm sure they will enjoy it for many years. Its already registered and bearing Wisconsin Collector license plates.

I'm going to miss this car. It still is a hot looking ride and with a background like this, its perfect.

Here's the outcome. Green Bay to Kansas City, I 41 to US 151 to I 80 to I 35. Most of the open road driving was above 75mph, long stretches with cruise set at close to 80mph. I wouldn't say I babied it at all, there were multiple higher rpm take overs and passes completed. The math works out based on my receipts for gas, mpg dropped as we got closer to Kansas city, I started to drive faster as we got closer. Though Wisconsin and Iowa it was averaging right around 20mpg.