Random posting

[MyNeonSaysHi]

Saw my first Dodge Hornet in the wild. Was parked in the road in front of a business in downtown Kansas City. A black one.

No thanks. Wish Dodge would come out with a performance car for the sport compact enthusiasts. Guess those days are long gone.

Old old friend of mine is selling his OB SRT-4.Has like 150k miles on it. But he is a master Dodge mechanic and has replaced everything on it pretty much. New clutch/ mater cylinder, new tires, seals, bc coilovers etc etc. List goes on. Asking $7700 for it. Kind of tempting. LOL

[Midnight_Rider]

Not a bad price. Give in to your temptation... LOL

[INVUJerry]

I don't like how big, yet small, the Hornet is. The technology seems really interesting, but it would be better if it was in a hatchback or coupe package for me. Then again, with how disappointing the Dart was, maybe it's better off that I'm just away from it.

Anyway, I got the spindle done, and did my video for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8_FPNtfduA

[Pizzacrust]

I wish the Hornet was in a hatchback configuration but knowing how everyone is just making SUVs, it'll never happen. The spindle replacement looks like a lot of work for sure!

[Midnight_Rider]

I wish the Hornet was made in this country. If I were in the market for a new vehicle, it would probably be down to a Jeep Wrangler if looking at Stellantis products.

[occasional demons]

https://www.jeep.com/bmo.wrangler.html# ... 4/wrangler

Waaaay too much money for something if you never plan on using it as a Jeep. The road manners on snow covered pavement are not the best. The neon can easily out perform a Wrangler going around a curve on pavement with an inch of snow on it. Any AWD car in a lower price point with winter tires will out perform it.

You would be severely frustrated unless you plan on going off-roading. The Wranglers are basically still a short wheelbase version of the XJ Cherokee, just with a frame on body construction. My Cherokee was the worst vehicle I ever drove on slick pavement. You were better off driving in the ditch.

And yes, I ran the same winter tires on the Jeep as I did my neon. The neon hands down was superior on the pavement.

Not that you're interested, but the Impreza made both look like kids toys as far as accelerating from a dead stop on snow and ice, and stopping.

I always got a chuckle at all the rednecks in their big 4x4's that passed me on my way to work on dry pavement. When there was snow, I was passing them.

[Midnight_Rider]

Nope, not interested in a foreign-made product.

[INVUJerry]

Medical update: I have a bulging disc in my back that is pressing on a nerve causing all of my pain and the weakness in my leg. I'm getting an injection in my back next week, and hopefully between that and some more physical therapy, I can get better. This is really fucking killing me though.

https://www.jeep.com/bmo.wrangler.html# ... 4/wrangler

Waaaay too much money for something if you never plan on using it as a Jeep. The road manners on snow covered pavement are not the best. The neon can easily out perform a Wrangler going around a curve on pavement with an inch of snow on it. Any AWD car in a lower price point with winter tires will out perform it.

You would be severely frustrated unless you plan on going off-roading. The Wranglers are basically still a short wheelbase version of the XJ Cherokee, just with a frame on body construction. My Cherokee was the worst vehicle I ever drove on slick pavement. You were better off driving in the ditch.

And yes, I ran the same winter tires on the Jeep as I did my neon. The neon hands down was superior on the pavement.

Not that you're interested, but the Impreza made both look like kids toys as far as accelerating from a dead stop on snow and ice, and stopping.

I always got a chuckle at all the rednecks in their big 4x4's that passed me on my way to work on dry pavement. When there was snow, I was passing them.

My father ranted for years about how good his 78 Subaru was in the snow, second best being his Hyundai with tire chains, and then our 4x4 S-10 that I drove for years. He was in the Navy for 24 years, traveled all over the world, his vehicle list included Mercuries, Studebakers, Dodges, a 60's Ferrari, a Triumph. and his 2 favorite cars were his 69 Jaguar E-type and then his 78 Subaru.

Nope, not interested in a foreign-made product.

This reminds me, I need to get an engine for the Insight I have.

[racer12306]

Medical update: I have a bulging disc in my back that is pressing on a nerve causing all of my pain and the weakness in my leg. I'm getting an injection in my back next week, and hopefully between that and some more physical therapy, I can get better. This is really fucking killing me though.

I'm glad they have an answer. That's a tough one to handle. My dad has had a herniated disc for decades, likely due to having an amputated leg (1976 iirc). Prosthesis' are really good now, but they were almost never exact in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

If the PT doesn't help, talk to your doctor about having the disc trimmed. My dad had this done last year and it was otherworldly. It had gotten especially bad for him in 2021/early 22, and then he was back up and kicking like the past 12 months hadn't happened in short order. Outpatient surgery, minimally invasive.

[Midnight_Rider]

Yeah, the SRT-4 engine being Mexican-made kept me from buying one for the first two model years but I finally gave in for the '05 MY. Guess that makes me a hypocrite.

[MyNeonSaysHi]

Yeah, the SRT-4 engine being Mexican-made kept me from buying one for the first two model years but I finally gave in for the '05 MY. Guess that makes me a hypocrite.

Majority of the car is american made. I think its over 80%.

Curious what is going to happen to the car market in the next couple years. The lots around here are starting to fill up like crazy! New car prices are just too high. Average transaction price of a Stelantis car VVVVV Also I believe its over 9% for financing too on a new car. Why they are running up loan length to under a 100 months LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K06Qh5COoek

[Midnight_Rider]

Yeah, the SRT-4 engine being Mexican-made kept me from buying one for the first two model years but I finally gave in for the '05 MY. Guess that makes me a hypocrite.

Majority of the car is american made. I think its over 80%.

Yup, 84% US/Canadian content for mine.

[occasional demons]

I seem another YouTube video a few months back about Stellantis purposely inflating the prices. The Dodge and Jeep lots were full, while the Toyota lots were nearly empty, because you could buy a higher trim Toyota for thousands less than a basic Wrangler.

It's probably purposely shooting themselves in the foot. I have zero desire to buy anything Stellantis. I wonder how soon these folks are going to be hung out to dry with $50,000 plus in debt, and a car that they can't get parts for.

A $30,000 9 year loan at 6.9% interest will cost over $44,000 to pay off. I can't imagine having to pay a $55,000 loan at 10 years or more. You'll be owing far more than it's worth in 6 years.

Better get some good gap insurance....

[Midnight_Rider]

Considering that Stellantis is the largest employer in my county and that my late father's benefits from Chrysler are still being given to my mother, I want to support them in any way that I can.

[occasional demons]

If the car payment is more than your mother's benefits, that's a tough sell.


If they could find a way to get out of paying Chrysler Corp retirement benefits, they already would have.

Even if they stop manufacturing vehicles here, they are probably going to be paying retirement benefits.

It's doubtful they would cease all manufacturing, it just won't be CJDR. It would be just like Honda, Toyota, Subaru, etc.

And really it isn't far off from that now. They are not American owned.

A lot of American companies are no longer American owned. They just make stuff here.

[Midnight_Rider]

If they could find a way to get out of paying Chrysler Corp retirement benefits, they already would have.

Thank God they haven't been able to do that. My late father worked for 37 years at Chrysler so he earned every benefit that my mother now receives.

[MyNeonSaysHi]

I seem another YouTube video a few months back about Stellantis purposely inflating the prices. The Dodge and Jeep lots were full, while the Toyota lots were nearly empty, because you could buy a higher trim Toyota for thousands less than a basic Wrangler.

It's probably purposely shooting themselves in the foot. I have zero desire to buy anything Stellantis. I wonder how soon these folks are going to be hung out to dry with $50,000 plus in debt, and a car that they can't get parts for.

A $30,000 9 year loan at 6.9% interest will cost over $44,000 to pay off. I can't imagine having to pay a $55,000 loan at 10 years or more. You'll be owing far more than it's worth in 6 years.

Better get some good gap insurance....

I don't think Stellantis was affected nearly as much as the Asian manufacturers when it comes to production. Yes the prices are insane. They are going to be sitting on them for a while. Funny thing is some of these Stellantis dealerships have cars that have been sitting on the lots for over 4 months and they STILL have a markup on them! Usually you lower the price of something you can't sell.

Same, no desire either. The only cars I like that they offer is the Hellcat or 392 powered ones. But with soaring gas prices, not a good vehicle to put a lot of miles on unless you can afford the gas. Plus I like smaller cars too.

Most of these vehicles are high priced and I bet they the new owners are only putting 5-10% down. Lots of repos are coming in I have seen. Mainly V8 Chargers and Challengers, go figure LOL.

[INVUJerry]

So, I got an injetion in my hip joint Thursday. It's helped a little, but I still have the numbness in my leg off and on which is off putting while I'm driving or walking.

In other news, my 99 has switchback LEDs in the reverse lights now, so they work as my flashers, which is neat. And yesterday I had to fix a broken exhaust hanger, so I used what was still attached to the muffler, and a head bolt to cobble it together. I really want to clean it up this weekend...but I also want to leave it to see how long it'll last haha.

[INVUJerry]

Here’s my fix, it works for now.

[MyNeonSaysHi]

if it works it works!

[occasional demons]

The head bolt will probably last longer than the original exhaust hanger.

[INVUJerry]

if it works it works!

It'll get me there and back a while, that's for sure!

The head bolt will probably last longer than the original exhaust hanger.

The passenger side hanger on my NYG rusted off years ago, and that car is in remarkably better shape that this one is!

So, at the edge of my property is a small creek that runs under the road. Right now, there's a very old culvert through there that doesn't have much of a headwall attached to it. The township wants to replace it, and they're getting ahold of me to ask for an easement for install, and potentially for maintenance. We pretty much hardly use that part of the property, but I am worried now if it will effect the value of it at all, since it would effect about 60' from the edge of my yard, and probably 15ish feet back from the road, so around 900sq feet total out of 2.4 acres. My property is shaped a little funny, it's 660' feet wide, and 160ish feet deep. I meet up with the civil engineer today at 4PM.

[INVUJerry]

So, at the edge of my property is a small creek that runs under the road. Right now, there's a very old culvert through there that doesn't have much of a headwall attached to it. The township wants to replace it, and they're getting ahold of me to ask for an easement for install, and potentially for maintenance. We pretty much hardly use that part of the property, but I am worried now if it will effect the value of it at all, since it would effect about 60' from the edge of my yard, and probably 15ish feet back from the road, so around 900sq feet total out of 2.4 acres. My property is shaped a little funny, it's 660' feet wide, and 160ish feet deep. I meet up with the civil engineer today at 4PM.

Well, turns out they want an easement of 5000sq ft of yard for install, and about 3750 sq ft for maintenance, forever. They've offered $1.

So, I thought about it, and thought about whether I really wanted the hassle, and then e-mailed a real estate lawyer this morning. I don't want to murder them for it, but I do want to be compensated properly. Yeah, we'll still have access to the property, and we'll be able to use it, but anything that I had planned on putting there more permanently I don't think I'll be allowed to do. I had wanted to fence in part of that area so I could let my dogs out over there, but now that's kind of out of the window.

We'll see.

[occasional demons]

A dollar?


Tell them you want the square footage taken off the tax value ot the land for as long as the culvert structure is there. Plus proper compensation.

[INVUJerry]

I think if I calculated it down, the total cost would change to $165 for the easemnt part of the property since my property taxes are only $3300 a year. But I'm hoping to be properly compensated. I didn't hear back from the first lawyer I contacted, so I contacted another today. We'll see how this one goes. I'll call if I need to, but I don't have a lot of time during the day to baby sit a phone at work.

[INVUJerry]

So I was pretty firm that I wasn't comfortable with a permanent easement being so large since we had plans for that area of the property, and the guy made it much smaller, basically to just the size of the culvert itself. It's about 600 sq feet. The install portion of the easement is still 5000sq ft and it's for a year so they can come back and fix my yard in the spring because they're drving skid steers and everyting on there. I ended up talking to the contractors and told them they could use a little more of the yard against the road if they need to (I don't technically own it). They also had put a port a john down for the workers, and ended up moving it when they realized that's the part of the yard I drive through.

Monday they close the road down and cut the bridge open, so it'll be nice to not have cars driving through for a while.

[INVUJerry]

Hung out with Ryan and Fuzzy Saturday, didn't get many pics, but I'll post some later. They're putting together a slammed ranger with a 2.5 duratec swap, 5 speed, 4.10 gears. Rangers were usually 2.3, but this is a 2.5 block from a fusion with a 2.3 head. Neat setup. Last night I watched my brother's band play a show.

Also, I found my dad's old camera and 2 of the lenses he used for photography. I cleaned them up, got an adapter to run the lenses on my modern Canon camera, it was pretty emotional for me. My parents were not perfect, they both definitely did harm that I had to unlearn, but I still miss them greatly.

[Midnight_Rider]

Ryan and Fuzzy? Many Carlisles have passed since I have seen them.

Glad that you can see past the imperfections of your folks. We humans make a lot of mistakes.

[INVUJerry]

Ryan and Fuzzy? Many Carlisles have passed since I have seen them.

Glad that you can see past the imperfections of your folks. We humans make a lot of mistakes.

Either Fuzzy or Ryan and fuzzy will be at Carlisle this year. I’m going to try to pressure both of them to show up for a bit. Maybe I’ll entice them by letting them drive the wagon in.


Here’s photos of my brothers band

https://imgur.com/gallery/f3mbLQg

[Midnight_Rider]

I just watched a video for "Dressed Down"- is this the band he is in? The song is so sad.