Backtobasics
Well-Known Member
...and I must say I am having mixed feelings.....
I admit I am a bit spoiled in my 97 Ram. Torquey V8, smooth idle, smooth shifting 5 speed. Brakes are straight and true. Window crank is clocked properly as not to implale my knee while crusing....
Maybe I am used to V8 engine. This one moves the vehicle OK, but sounds forever to me like a wheezing school bus....and it rides and shifts and brakes like one too.
I know, I know, they are not in the same generation. But man this thing is positively archaic!
--Seat support is non existant, other then the fact that it wants to lean to the outside, so it makes getting out easy, as it almost ejects you upon opening the door.
--Manual steering with a steering wheel the size of the equator, 4 wheel drum brakes that PULL to the left, not to mention what feels like out of round drums, plus the rattle that eminates from under the passenger dash, and the groan from the clutch pedal during engage and disengage.
--The clutch rattles when the pedal is all the way out, and slips during power shifts, and the exhaust is literally clothes hangered to the frame, rubbing and grinding a happy tune.
--At least the exhaust is complete, and runs out the back so I am not smelling fumes, as I could not handle that AND the smell of the compost from the un-serviceable cowl area...sheees.
--The AM radio does not work, but the hum from the rear end, plus the dual exhaust with 12 INCH glasspacks on a /6 was music enough?
I guess this is more of a diatribe to age. I barely noticed this stuff when I was younger and drove these vehicles daily. Now I notice when a semi 1/2 a mile ahead changes lanes, because it changes the airflow around the car, and the car tries to change lanes by itself.
We will see how the rest of the day goes. Lunch, and ride home should be interesting.....:cheers:
I admit I am a bit spoiled in my 97 Ram. Torquey V8, smooth idle, smooth shifting 5 speed. Brakes are straight and true. Window crank is clocked properly as not to implale my knee while crusing....
Maybe I am used to V8 engine. This one moves the vehicle OK, but sounds forever to me like a wheezing school bus....and it rides and shifts and brakes like one too.
I know, I know, they are not in the same generation. But man this thing is positively archaic!
--Seat support is non existant, other then the fact that it wants to lean to the outside, so it makes getting out easy, as it almost ejects you upon opening the door.
--Manual steering with a steering wheel the size of the equator, 4 wheel drum brakes that PULL to the left, not to mention what feels like out of round drums, plus the rattle that eminates from under the passenger dash, and the groan from the clutch pedal during engage and disengage.
--The clutch rattles when the pedal is all the way out, and slips during power shifts, and the exhaust is literally clothes hangered to the frame, rubbing and grinding a happy tune.
--At least the exhaust is complete, and runs out the back so I am not smelling fumes, as I could not handle that AND the smell of the compost from the un-serviceable cowl area...sheees.
--The AM radio does not work, but the hum from the rear end, plus the dual exhaust with 12 INCH glasspacks on a /6 was music enough?
I guess this is more of a diatribe to age. I barely noticed this stuff when I was younger and drove these vehicles daily. Now I notice when a semi 1/2 a mile ahead changes lanes, because it changes the airflow around the car, and the car tries to change lanes by itself.
We will see how the rest of the day goes. Lunch, and ride home should be interesting.....:cheers:
