No particular section... Just thought I would mention

[JohnnyC]

Hey guys. I know it's been a while since I've posted or been real active on the forums here, but I thought I would check in and say hello and fill you in on the state of things.

My Lanos is currently off the road. The bearings on the front are shot, needs new brake pads on the front, the front right hub is shot, rotors are toast, rear left brake drum is dead, rear drum brakes are toast, the tie rod ends are bad on the front right, and the valve cover needs replacing. So essentially it's about $400 in parts or so to fix it. Right now I have it at a guy's shop that I know from here in town. I'm going to school full time for Video Game art and my garage is woefully small. So doing the work myself and getting it back on the road myself is kind of out of the question.

In the meanwhile I bought myself a cool 50cc scooter that I've been driving around (gets 100+mpg).



It's a Tank Urban Sporty 50. It uses a 4 stroke QMB139 engine. I'm thinking of swapping that out for a bigger bore 80cc engine though... we'll see.

Currently we're considering getting rid of the Woo or just keeping it around as a second car if we need a backup or something and buying a different car that is easier to get parts for. That remains to be seen though. Overall the cost of replacing parts on the woo is getting so expensive that it's almost more worth it for us to just buy a different car that is easier to get parts for (since we usually have to wait for days on the shipping of parts even if it happens to be an easy fix).

The engine isn't horrible but the compression on the cylinders isn't exactly right anymore. 1st cylinder is getting 180, 2nd is 150, 3rd & 4th is 170. Little things like that.

I might be getting a car from my folks since my step Dad wants to buy a brand new car (possibly a Saturn Sky) and I would get his Ford Crown Victoria. We'll have to see how that pans out.

In any case, I just thought I would poke my head in and say hello.

As for the family... I'm getting to see my eldest daughter, Celeste (8yrs), more often than I used to. Zoe, my three year old, is getting REALLY smart (too smart for her own good) REALLY quick, and my 2 month old son, Dakota, is growing fast (almost 14 pounds already). My wife and I are doing well too.

[daewoomofo]

glad the family is good, cool you got your scooter, now for the sweater vests and leather patches on your sport coat, lol! bummer about the woo, if you need help working on it let me know. i have no problem driving to Kali to help you out if you need to fix some thing, thats what pals are for. keep in touch bro!



if it does come down to selling the woo, let me know, i might be intersted in it.

[JohnnyC]

Sweat vests... :P hahah No thanks.

Actually I really like the scooter a lot. I drive it all over the place (put about 620 miles on it in the first month). Yeah... It's going to cost me about $700 to get the woo fixed and I'm going to do that, but I think we're probably going to end up with the Crown Vic. I know it's a beast with 8 cylinders and will get bad gas mileage (20 city/28 highway) and it's rear wheel drive, but it's got all the features you could want (climate control, power everything including seats, even an auto dimming rear view mirror). You could fit about 6 bodies in the trunk space haha... It's huge. But it would be nice to drive around. Overall I'm cool with the idea.

Should I decide I want to sell the woo, I'll let ya know. As it stands I think I'm going to keep it as a second car and work on it from time to time to fix it up and such. We'll see how it all goes though.

[daewoomofo]

cool, 20 city really isnt that bad, and 28 highway isnt horrable either, i know you get 28 city now in the woo but still, its not horrable, and like you said it will be a good comfy car.

[JohnnyC]

That panned out quicker than I thought. My step Dad gave me his 2004 Crown Victoria LX.

Here's a picture of what it looks like (except a slightly darker color than mine)



Here's the specs on it:

4-Speed Automatic
Power steering
power brakes
power door locks
Power windows
Master Window Lock
power mirrors
Dual Front Power Seats
AM / FM / Cassette / CD
dual air bags
Anti-lock braking system
Tilt steering wheel
Cruise control
Air conditioning
Automatic climate control
Remote Stereo / Temp Controls
Rear-View Mirror Auto Dimming
Gauge Cluster
Trip odometer
Tachometer
Map Pocket(s)
12 Volt Power Source
Reclining Seats
Leather seating
Leather Wrap Steering Wheel
Dual Side View Mirrors
Coin Holder/Tray
Courtesy Light(s)
Dual sun visors
Locking glove compartment
Radial Tires
Interval wipers
Temperature gauge
Clock
Digital compass
Remote Trunk Lid
Four speaker(s)
Element antenna
Luxury trim wood/woodgrain on dashboard
Split bench electrically adjustable driver seat with height adjustment, four adjustments and tilt adjustment , split bench passenger seat , split bench center seat
Three fixed bench front facing rear seats with zero adjustments
Vehicle speed proportional power steering
Front seats cup holders pop out , rear seats cup holders fixed
Lockable glove compartment
Front and rear alloy wheels with 16 inch rim diam, 7 inch rim width and partial wheel covers

Safety

Four-wheel ABS
Four disc brakes including four ventilated discs
Immobilizer
Complex surface lens halogen bulb headlights
Headlight control with time delay switch-off and dusk sensor
Driver and passenger front airbag with occupant sensors and multi-stage deployment
Two height adjustable head restraints on front seats
Height adjustable 3-point reel front seat belts on driver seat with pre-tensioners , height adjustable 3-point reel front seat belts on passenger seat with pre-tensioners , lap static front seat belts on center seat
3-point reel rear seat belts on driver side, passenger side and center side
Windshield wipers with variable intermittent wipe

Technical

4,605 cc 4.6 liters V 8 front engine with 91.4 mm bore, 91.4 mm stroke, 9.4 compression ratio, overhead cam and two valves per cylinder
Multi-point injection fuel system
Unleaded fuel 87
Power: 167 kW , 224 HP SAE @ 4,800 rpm; 275 ft lb , 373 Nm @ 4,000 rpm
Fuel economy EPA highway (mpg): 25 and EPA city (mpg): 17
Wishbone front suspension independent with stabilizer bar and coil springs , beam rear suspension rigid with stabilizer bar and coil springs
Automatic four-speed transmission with lock-up, electronic control, shift lever on column, 2.84:1 first gear ratio, 1.56:1 second gear ratio, 1:1 third gear ratio, 0.7:1 fourth gear ratio and 2.32:1 reverse gear ratio



*engine specs bold for emphasis*

HOLY CRAP that engine has some horsepower. Haha

I know that's a bunch of crap to list, I just grabbed the specs for it.

So... uhh... my step Dad hooked me the fuck up! haha I don't think it mentions it in the specs, but it's rear wheel drive. But it does have traction control (and the ability to disable it).

[daewoomofo]

that car will be fun to drive in the winter. im being scarcastic, and literal. RWD is both fun and a major PITA in the winter, congrats on the new car bro!

[JohnnyC]

Yeah... I know rear wheel is not as easy on snow, but at least it has traction control.

[daewoomofo]

from my experiance TC (traction control) stands for total crock, its still VERY easy to spin out with TC on