Ontopic New Car Thread!

Seeing it's got a 5 speed manual and a clutch, I might as well move my riding mower adventure here.

Neighbor told me today that the mower burns oil pretty bad, like there's a blue trail following the mower around... great.

Got into it proper today. The thing's filled to probably twice its oil capacity. It's pissing oil out the breather into the intake, and leaking more oil out the sides of the breather, and it's leaking out of the dipstick tube. Pulled the flywheel/alternator off the top and had a look at the top oil seal, that one's fine. The bottom of the engine has lots of oil on it, hopefully just stuff leaking from above.

I'm gonna start by just cleaning the engine up, getting the breather and intake cleared out, putting fresh oil and gas in it and seeing what happens. At least turning the thing over by hand, it feels like it's got compression and doesn't have any slop in it that I can feel.

Frame and body are in amazing shape, other than everything being covered in oil. Also, the previous owner had the deck repaired by a welding shop... and they did a really good job. They cut out sections, welded in new sections, ground the welds flat and painted it. You can see the work that was done through the paint but it's not all that obvious.

The tinted headlight was because the previous owner broke one, so he bought a tinted one off someone who had their mower pimped out for lawnmower racing. There's a lot of local lawnmower racing enthusiasts out here...
Probably is in such good shape because of all the oil doing corrosion control duty, lol.
 
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replace the air filter if its got any oil on it at all. Thatll completely fuck your air/fuel ratios even if it looks clean
 
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dumb thought: when it comes time to tune the thing, how feasible would it be to poke an oxygen sensor in the exhaust?

Like, could I haul an O2 sensor out of a scrapyard car, hook up a multimeter to it (maybe a bench supply for a heated sensor), stuff the sensor into the muffler hole and get an O2 reading I can use to adjust the carb?
 
dumb thought: when it comes time to tune the thing, how feasible would it be to poke an oxygen sensor in the exhaust?

Like, could I haul an O2 sensor out of a scrapyard car, hook up a multimeter to it (maybe a bench supply for a heated sensor), stuff the sensor into the muffler hole and get an O2 reading I can use to adjust the carb?
How adjustable is the carb?
 
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Get your hands on an early ‘70s Olds Vista Cruiser and it’ll outclass anything you’re seriously considering. Take corners real fast and pedestrians will clear the sidewalks seeing that land yacht bouncing around the corner.

The skylight windows provide a romantic view for date night also.
 
I need an old stuck shift for my oldest. It has to be running though.

granted she won’t study so she can pass her drivers test and even though she turns 16 in less than two months still isn’t driving. I just don’t get it.
 
I need an old stuck shift for my oldest. It has to be running though.

granted she won’t study so she can pass her drivers test and even though she turns 16 in less than two months still isn’t driving. I just don’t get it.
I'm about 2 years out on the boy. I figure 2 years is plenty of time to spread out the necessary repair.
 
It's growing to be time for me to pick up a raggedy shitbox for my kids.

It can't be running when I buy it, and it can't be automatic.

I'm thinking of an $800 Ford Focus that's on Craigslist r/n.
Ford Focus = the car your kid will hate, but the car your kid will need, and years later he'll look back at that car with fondness. It's boring but it's indestructible and easy to fix.

Giv'er.
 
I need an old stuck shift for my oldest. It has to be running though.

granted she won’t study so she can pass her drivers test and even though she turns 16 in less than two months still isn’t driving. I just don’t get it.

My son doesn’t drive. He never wanted to learn at age 16 and frankly, wasn’t ready either, but that’s another issue. Later, I bought him a van and started teaching him, but he had little interest in it and wasn’t proactive in obtaining a license. He thinks about learning again (via a pro, I can’t do it) sometimes, but he still really doesn’t care.

Luckily, we live where mass public transit is a thing and he can get to work easier than if he drove.
 
She wants to drive, just will not sacrifice the time to study so she can pass.
It’s all online too, she doesn’t have to take a class or go in to the dmv to test. It should be a piece of cake.