Ace-Garageguy

Good question. I have some GS Corvettes and they're fine. I THINK I still have some of the McLarens here too, and if so I'll have a look. EDIT: Occasionally I've been able to stop surface stickiness on soft plastic parts by washing them in acetone or lacquer thinner, and then shooting them with a flat black interior dye. ALSO...one way to keep tires from attacking styrene wheels is to wrap the wheel in BMF or aluminum foil. You have to be really careful, but it works. I tried coating styrene wheels with epoxy as well, but I can't recommend the results.

Not much, but seein' as how I needed to clean the bench off again to do more work on the 1:1 DeLorean panel, and as I'm inspired by Dave B's Cheetah build, I figgered I'd do a quick mockup of my Cox Cheetah, the same basis Dave started with. Wheels and tires are from an Accurate Miniatures GS Corvette, maybe a little too heavy for the Cheetah. ...and as I had the oven cleaner out anyway, I stripped it before putting it back on the shelf of doom. This one was a complete slotcar.

"Barkley" was the name of a golden retriever I once knew.

Just a thought, should you want to spend a lot of money and effort to build something nobody else would have: consider the Mitsubishi Starion turbo'd and intercooled 2.0 or 2.6 engine and 5-speed gearbox. They made around 180 to 200 HP, depending, with enough torque to work in a light truck. Starions were successful in motorsports, which is usually indicative of a good engine design.

Yes, I've been aware of the TV cable issue, and have been as anal about keeping mine adjusted correctly as only I can be. I had mine upgraded internally by a "name" shop way back in 1996 without a lockup converter, as I'd intended to do extensive towing of a race-car, which failed to work out. But of course the car is still quicker off the line with the lower first gear, and manages over 20MPG on the highway at 80MPH, so I'm happy too.

I believe you, and yes, the 700R4 is the non-electronically controlled 4L60E. When the old Borg Warner in my first Jag XJ6 died, I put a 700R4 in it (using the John's Cars kit) and never looked back.

When I had the fleet services company, our largest client had dozens of Mitsu trucks running the (IIRC) 2-liter L4 that also had balance shaft issues, primarily drive belts stripping and allowing other internal rotating parts to contact balance shaft weights. As the older trucks aged out, I bought one and experimented with disabling the balance shafts, and locking them in position. I noticed no difference in engine roughness without them spinning, and began performing the same mods on all the trucks as they came due for timing belts. Zero B-S problems after that. I see there are "balance-shaft delete kits" available for a lot of engines now. It's generally thought that 2.4 liters is about the upper limit an L4 can go without balance shafts because of the inherent "rocking couple" of L4 engines.

Man...I missed most of this earlier. Pretty cool. Have to admit the opening shots inspired me to find that kit though.

I'm very familiar with the 4L80, which seems to be a very robust piece of hardware. We're running a substantially upgraded one behind the 750HP (flywheel) 572 in the '66 Chevelle. I have no direct experience with the 6L80, and judging by what I've read, I probably won't. I hope yours lasts as long as you need it to.

Funny cat antics on yootoob rarely engender attacks of the grossly misinformed in the comment sections that are so prevalent elsewhere.

Or if you want to broaden your horizons, try rebuilding it yourself... https://www.mazdaworld.org/threads/build-thread-b2600i-4x4.340896/

Most excellent !!

Ya ever see the countless "me too!!!" vids of sweet, intelligent, responsible young people opening ice-cream containers and licking them, then putting them back? What's to keep the same superior brains from putting poison in the stuff?

The oil pan is more than "fancy". The internal and external fins greatly enhance cooling, and the drain plug makes fluid changes vastly easier. Run a steel guard under the trans if you feel the need to hit boulders at speed. Thing is...there's not really much you can do to make these silly things last as long as the old ones did. Any engineering student with half a functioning brain cell ought to be able to work out that cramming 10 forward speeds worth of drums and bands and planetaries and clutches and bearings inside a case that's big enough for 3 will require significant DOWNSIZING OF HIGHLY STRESSED INTERNAL PARTS. Itty bitty parts under the same loads as big fat ones wear out a whole lot faster. Make sense? EDIT: And if y'all want to blame somebody, besides the whole "planned obsolescence" thing, blame the gubmint for enacting increasingly strict fuel economy and emissions regs. That's what these multi-speed slushboxes are for: supposedly keeping the engines operating in their peak rev-range for more of the time. But when they break, you junk the vehicle. We've seen newish Corvettes with blown 10-speeds sitting literally for months at dealerships awaiting gearboxes. Gee. What a deal.

I did some research. Remanufactured engines for these are in the $3500 range, plus crating, shipping, and installation. https://www.ebay.com/itm/293038163145? https://www.ebay.com/itm/235078481247? https://www.sandjengines.com/product/1989~Mazda~MPV~1107?srsltid=AfmBOop6bdL52cbGR6f0eaLQVgoT9jmrelJBqCVwRT2AbnxafTV7emJw https://www.firstusedautoparts.com/post/rebuilt-mazda-b2600-engine-for-sale?srsltid=AfmBOopgqGaD8u3N_6L2XRZ58cEXldEP8kMO_zcfOcvzIJaJwzDeARIf

Excellent point. The only problem is that these days, there are almost no mechanics or shops even capable of rebuilding an engine with standard replacement parts, assuming it's not worn to the point it needs a crank turned or a block overbored. Need machine work and careful assembly, measuring, and fitting everything afterwards? Pretty much forget it unless you know one of the increasingly rare old-school shops. Good luck. I understand Jasper is still rebuilding engines, but their quality (in my personal experience) wasn't great in 1977. Who knows now?

If only that were true...

"Trouble is my business, schweetheart" joked the fat PI in his exaggerated Bogart imitation.

"Street freaks" were a build style I never really liked all that much, mostly because of real-world handling issues.

Yup. Funny how GM's Turbo 350 and 400, Chrysler's 727, and Fords C4 and C6 would go 200,000 miles with decent maintenance and no abuse, and were entirely rebuildable with readily available parts if you wanted to keep one going forever. But everyone "knows" new cars are better...

A lot of us know what you've been going through, and care very much. Stay strong.

You can not get internal parts for these, and entire gearboxes are virtually unobtainable from anything but wrecks.

Very very nice collection of Fords there, sir.

I had a decent '62 double-cab pickup, and a very clean '67 Westfalia...both right up there at the top of my "sure wish I had 'em now" list.