Stop in for a cup of coffee

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Good morning Coffee mob, I am not man enough to back read the million pages put up since I was last on here. Two week story condensed to one paragraph my wife’s father passed unexpectedly. We had a mad scramble to get to airport fly out to Oregon and deal with the aftermath. He was Mormon and I cannot begin to tell you how complex the death ritual was. I was amazed at both the complexity of it and the support the church followers gave to our family. While I am not a supporter of that faith there is no question in my mind that they are genuine and walk what they talk. Just a great bunch of people. My sincere thanks to many on here that reached out and expressed support and understanding. Special props to Zman for the “comms check” and ensuing sitrep relay. I just got home late last night, wife will get in later this afternoon. Just a quick note of thanks to all of you, more later.
SLO/SublimeOne/John
Sorry about your loss, John.
 
Swapped out the ECU and coil on the GTS and tried to fire her up.

It’s ALIIIIIVE!!



Pulled her out into the driveway. She was covered in a couple of years worth of dust like some kinda barn find, but a quick bath took care of that!

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Here’s another fun thing I discovered today. My original music master am radio and speaker works!

Just for giggles, I tuned it on while warming the car up and heard staitic while I was playing with the tuner. So I pulled the antenna wire from the aftermarket underdash radio and plugged it back into the music master and it worked just fine.

Boy was it a blast from the past to hear that sound coming out of the dash speaker just like back in the day.
 
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I still think i have an fm convertor, may have to dig around some. I used it in one of my way back cars,so i could tune in my favorite station.
 
I gave the brat a trunk mount radio/cd player when she had the Dart. It had a hard wired remote and integral antenna. Just had to run one hot wire to the trunk and snake the remote and speaker wires to usable locations. The AM stayed where it was sposed to be. Her grandmother gave her a Turbo Bug on her 18th b'day and the stereo went that direction and I got the Dart back.
 
I swapped the old coil back onto the GTS and it still runs fine. The issue was definitely the ECU.

New part less than 18 months old and only 200 miles on it.

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Replaced it with the 15 year old Mopar Orange box that came with the car and has over 12k miles on it.

I’m pretty sure I know why the new green box failed and the old orange box is still going strong...

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Well, good morning by the way, I forgot that.

Foggy and 43 ouside.

Bill

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One good lookin car in the middle there.
Gosh, I remember when compacts from the big 4 started to look like big cars. Past I don't know how many years and the trend has been the other way.
Of course I've mentioned that my "Full Size Jeep" is now smaller than pretty much all newer SUVs and even the 'normal' size jeep. :rolleyes:
 
I even found studded winter tires in 175/80R13, but not in this country. It is more of them in Europe, more smaller cars there. Or was in the old days. Now it is a different matter. Even the Mini Cooper has big tires these days. It is ridiculous, and wide tires are horrid in snow no matter what car it is, and even more horrid with 1-2+ inches of wet sleet on the road.

Bill
Tire rack will stud if you're mail ordering. Some local places still do - mostly north of here. Firestone still makes a traditional snow tire available in 14" that can be studded.
Swapped out the ECU and coil on the GTS and tried to fire her up.

It’s ALIIIIIVE!!



Pulled her out into the driveway. She was covered in a couple of years worth of dust like some kinda barn find, but a quick bath took care of that!

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Nice. Was wondering if you ever take it out - and now I know why you hadn't been.

I think if I was going buy a new ECU, my money would go on the 'Hi Rev' unit Rick Eherenberg sells. Still a gamble, but my sense is the odds are better.
 
Tire rack will stud if you're mail ordering. Some local places still do - mostly north of here. Firestone still makes a traditional snow tire available in 14" that can be studded.

Nice. Was wondering if you ever take it out - and now I know why you hadn't been.

I think if I was going buy a new ECU, my money would go on the 'Hi Rev' unit Rick Eherenberg sells. Still a gamble, but my sense is the odds are better.
I thought about different ECUs and what I might buy. But I figure an old orange box that still works fine is probably going to be the primary and anything else will just be a back up for the trunk tool/parts kit.
 
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I use the car's radio (AM) for news and traffic but do wish there was still some decent AM music stations remaining in the area. Used to be a couple with big band, and couple smaller stations with country. WPEN was one of them - that might have been out of Mt Holly area. Doesn't matter now - all gone. Once I'm on the highway with the windows down, the radio becomes a mute point anyway. (yes pun intended).
 
I use the car's radio (AM) for news and traffic but do wish there was still some decent AM music stations remaining in the area. Used to be a couple with big band, and couple smaller stations with country. WPEN was one of them - that might have been out of Mt Holly area. Doesn't matter now - all gone. Once I'm on the highway with the windows down, the radio becomes a mute point anyway. (yes pun intended).
I don’t really listen to the radio in my cars much, even in the newer ones that have satellite radio. I only turn them on about 5% of the time I’m behind the wheel and generally only when I am stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Otherwise, I would rather listen to the engine and the road.

I have only turned the aftermarket underdash AM/FM/CD stereo on in the GTS once since I have owned it. I am going to pull it out and just have the AM Music Master for now. If I get ambitious, I will swap it for one of the new vintage case am/fm units that look just like the original but have modern electronics in them. At least that way I could power the rear deck speakers.
 
I swapped the old coil back onto the GTS and it still runs fine. The issue was definitely the ECU.

New part less than 18 months old and only 200 miles on it.

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Replaced it with the 15 year old Mopar Orange box that came with the car and has over 12k miles on it.

I’m pretty sure I know why the new green box failed and the old orange box is still going strong...

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I put an echlin one in my power wagon 20 plus years ago. Still running strong.
 
When i get to building a deck i want one of those fire pits. Throw much heat?
It does. This is a medium low setting. If I turn it up it to high, it could heat the entire deck...and maybe melt the deck railing behind it.
 
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