On Sun Mar-24-2013 11:30, Roy Witt (1:387/22) wrote to Roger Nelson:

 RN> Well, if y'all ever come across any MBs in the mid-Nineties range
 RN> that the owner wants to give away, I'll take them.  I can always use
 RN> extra parts. After all, the repair manual on them for that year range
 RN> is $140, so you can imagine what the replacement parts cost.

 RW> 8^) IOW, over engineered and over priced...

You're probably right.

 RN> I found a reliable shop here that can do the things I'm not able to
 RN> do on the Mercedes.  I'd like it to be my Lincoln mechanics, but they
 RN> told me the only foreign car they would work on is a Toyota.  I
 RN> didn't ask why.

 RW> Probably for the same reason Harry won't work on MBs. Toyotas are
 RW> plentiful and always need repair. Which translates into work for
 RW> the employees and money in the shop's tills. My friend Max in San
 RW> Diego told me the same thing about why he would rather work on a 4
 RW> or 6 cyl car than a V8. Easier to work on and the pay is the same.
 RW> His favorite was the BMW 4 and 6 cyl...he certainly had a bunch of
 RW> 3-series BMW parts cars in his storage lot and wouldn't hesitate to
 RW> make an offer on one that a customer didn't want to pay to fix. He
 RW> usually got them for the price of parts and labor and turned them
 RW> around because he had so many extra parts on hand. 

My Mercedes is a 4-cyl.

 RN> My Lincoln mechanics told me last week they can't get a response out
 RN> of my Mark VIII's computer.  That tells me I can no longer trust the
 RN> guy my SIL has known for a long time and has done so much for him.
 RN> Once I find I can't trust someone, I forget I know that person.

 RW> Perhaps your Mark 8's PCM has suffered a problem that can't be
 RW> corrected unless it is repaired or replaced. If its a pre-OBD I PCM
 RW> (as in pre-1996), the only thing that can be done for it is to
 RW> replace the onboard chip that runs the PCM. Dunno about Ford
 RW> products, but GM pre-OBD I PCMs have a removable chip. BTW, that
 RW> chip can be tested outside of the computer.

I don't know what it is either, but I'll find out tomorrow when I go to their
shop to check on it.

 RW>>> I was a high school student in that year. Not having the income to
 RW>>> buy a new Chevy, I opted for a $50 V8 Ford. I suppose that had I
 RW>>> followed my father's advice, I would have bought a fat body (41-48)
 RW>>> Chevy (big back seats), but then, those weren't up to my
 RW>>> expectations of a real car at the time...

 RN> I had a difficult time getting it because I had no credit background,
 RN> but the salesman moved heaven and earth to push the sale through.  It
 RN> was a 2-door coupe and truquoise in color -- a beautiful car.  The
 RN> dealership didn't have that color in stock, so they tried to talk me
 RN> into a green 4-door sedan with the powerpack 283 engine, which was
 RN> the same engine I had exceot it had a 4-bbl carb instead of a 2-bbl.
 RN> I flatly refused.  When I finished with mine, it had 3 dueces atop an
 RN> Edelbrock manifold (altered by me) and an Engel 3/4 race cam and a
 RN> Mallory dual-point distributor.  The original short block was
 RN> replaced with a Corvette block with 10:1 compression.

 RW> It'd be nice to know the specs on that cam...lift, duration, etc.. 

I don't remember anything specifically about that car except I had a lot of
fun in it.  (-:  I doubt if a 1957 Engel cam can be googled, but am uncertain.

 RN> After I had the heads milled, I could almost outrun everything top
 RN> end except police radios.  (-:[

 RW> I did that once in my Corvette. The cop that came over the
 RW> center-divide on Clairmont Dr probably caught up with the Dodge
 RW> Charger I was racing, but never caught up with me. I dunno if he
 RW> caught the Dodge or not since I didn't go back to find out.

They got me on the Highway 11 bridge across lake Pontchartrain between New
Orleans and Slidell.

 RW>> That was my grandfather's first new car too. A 1941 Chevy Deluxe
 RW>> tudor, maroon. I always wanted that car, but he eventually traded
 RW>> it in for a 52 Pontiac, maroon in color.

 RN> The new Jeeps are somewhat of a disappointment, if you believe what's
 RN> plastered on the Internet.  I'd like to have a Pontiac "Goat".

 RW> I just got a glimpse of a 2014 Siverado. Standard cab, shortbed
 RW> with a 6.2L LS engine and 6spd automatic. Wish I didn't like my
 RW> 'paid for' 2002 so much.

Now is not the time to go into debt again, but only you can make that decision.

Did you like that last picture I sent?


Regards,

Roger 
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna - (1:3828/7)