April Foolishness

**Bawanna** · 04-13-2024, 03:42 PM

So nice to see an engine picture where you can actually see the various parts out in the open, not covered by plastic and get at stuff.

**getsome** · 04-13-2024, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by jeepster09

In honor of 4-13 today

I think I smell smoke!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nll2r0h8rRE

He’s hot with ram induction but it’s understood, I got a fuel injected engine sittin under my hood…….

**wyntrout** · 04-13-2024, 09:09 PM

That's one of several bad things about vans... but I DO have a twin turbo capable of under 7 seconds 0 to 60 MPH!

I got all of my "RV" stuff out of my 19+ year old Savana today. Tomorrow I'll shampoo the carpet and dig out the two rear passenger seats from my "storeroom" living room, and put them back in... an 8-pax van again!

After I change the oil and filter, and get the 5-wheel rotation and balancing under my Sam's Club road warranty done next week, I'll be ready to sell it.

On the other hand... our A/C stopped cooling today... ambient temperature 78°. We got a new compressor/condenser motor last Summer and in September got a new compressor... AND another new motor, too, as the dumba$$ repairing it left a wire untaped and ruined the motor. They offered to only charge us HALF the price of the new motor as the guy had f'd up! We paid... and now, it doesn't work again!

At least it's cool/cold at night and I have a fan rigged to suck the air out upstairs and the windows open downstairs. I didn't feel like pulling the two window units out of the storeroom until tomorrow, if it's hot again. I'll call the emergency A/C line then, too. They were closed today... 3:30 PM, but I left a message on the answering machine.

I thought we had a few things covered... new A/C outside unit in September and a new washing machine in February... but the water heater is over 14 years old... 12-year warranty... so not bad.

We do have THREE vehicles and are paying $1,160 every 6 months each, so some urgency is needed in lessening that! Insurance has skyrocketed... but not so much for the house... yet!

I've got to build a new shed for the generator coming in Monday or Tuesday, too, AND get the old one out of the way! I just don't have enough to do... to procrastinate... with hurricane season coming!

My new inverter-based Duromax XP16000iH will use LPG or gas and I need a few tall LPG tanks for that, since it uses about 2 gallons an hour. I will have 8 five-gallon cans of gas, but not use that unless I have to. LPG doesn't go bad as quickly as gasoline. I won't even put the gas into the 10.6(!) gallon tank until I have to. I've never had an outage longer than 28 hours since I got the old generator.

**Bawanna** · 04-13-2024, 09:58 PM

Wish you weren't on the opposite end of the continent. I'd take a look at that 19 year old Savana. My 24 years old F word van is still doing fine and I actually like it but I'm still a GM guy.
I've looked at the vans like you got online and I just can't wrap my head around a V6 in a full size van. I know you say yours hauls the mail but I'm struggling. I'd love the 6.9 V8 they put in the GM pickups and I think some vans.
Plus the price of vans like yours and all new stuff far as that goes is insane. Like buying a house back in the day.
Guess my old van's gonna have to go a ways longer. Don't actually drive much these days anyhow. Sometimes go a month without leaving the driveway. Just the way I like it.

**wyntrout** · 04-13-2024, 10:59 PM

Yeah, I know. It must be 3K miles up there! My GMC has 8 doors... a real PITA for pull-in parking... and parking in our tightly filled garage... shelves full of stuff on the sides and overhead on the walls. Opening the side doors is like an airlock with opening one door, then the other, then trapped between the two until you reverse the process. A slider is much better.
Yeah, we were out of debt... WERE... and we're burning through savings on needed things and stuff for the new van, and putting off home renovation... mainly due to my procrastination, but the van is a big debt... for a few years.
The Transit probably weighs just a little more than the Savana... about 6K pounds empty, but can carry about 3,500... 9,500 GVWR. I don't plan on loading it up that much with wood paneling and tiling and stuff as some do... and no underbody tanks of anything but gasoline... about 30 gallons of that, max. Going to keep it simple, but better than tent camping with height to stand up.

**jeepster09** · 04-14-2024, 06:54 AM

Originally Posted by Bawanna

Wish you weren't on the opposite end of the continent. I'd take a look at that 19 year old Savana. My 24 years old F word van is still doing fine and I actually like it but I'm still a GM guy.
I've looked at the vans like you got online and I just can't wrap my head around a V6 in a full size van. I know you say yours hauls the mail but I'm struggling. I'd love the 6.9 V8 they put in the GM pickups and I think some vans.
Plus the price of vans like yours and all new stuff far as that goes is insane. Like buying a house back in the day.
Guess my old van's gonna have to go a ways longer. Don't actually drive much these days anyhow. Sometimes go a month without leaving the driveway. Just the way I like it.

Maybe this one will work.....

**kenemoore** · 04-14-2024, 08:51 AM

My Dad was a BIG Nascar fan, where we lived, Charlotte, Rockingham, and Darlington were all within 2 hours. We went to six races every year. A buddy of my dad, bought a well used school bus, and eliminated about half the body. Cut and moved the rear to about half way. The back end became a deck, with benches, grill, large cooler. We used to complain about not having a porta-jon built in. Built a deck on top of the front half of the bus. It became the Nascar Bus, took it to all the races, we used to park near him and watch the race from the upper deck. It was fantastic. Someone, once had a few to many, and rolled off the upper deck. Had to install rails after that.