johnj92131

See this link: https://fswerks.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/205742378-What-engine-do-I-have-Ford-Focus-engine-types- My late wife got a new 1998 Ford Escort ZX2, think it had the same engine and 5 speed. Reliable car as long as she had it. Gave it to sister-in-law in 2004. Her idiot husband kept driving it after overheating and destroyed the engine in 2012.

Sad news, Don will be much missed here on the forum. I enjoyed learning from his experiences and buying and selling things with Don. My condolences to the family.

Knucklehead, Not to worry, you are learning important lessons about housing. Most important, you are looking at the LOCATION of your rental and its neighborhood. Much more important than just how much $$ it cost. Lots of people offering junk for lots of money out there. Cars and housing both. A smart landlord is not just looking for top dollar rent only. It is the long term costs that are/should be important to the landlord. I for one am willing to offer good value rent pricing in exchange for a good tenant who takes care of the property. Over time, I have found that gives the best return for me. Find a well cared for house at a fair price, not a cheap price, pay the rent on time. And when you have an issue with the house a good landlord will fix it promptly. But don't be a pain on small crap. Take care of it yourself. Believe it of not, Anita had one tenant - a female college professor - who expected us to change her light bulbs. NO, we are not doing that. Same lady asked us to feed her cat while she was on Vacation. Did that once, for her. But never again. After 2 years, Anita did not renew the lease. Any wonder why? The lady tenant was a pain in the back side. Paid her rent on time, but a pain in the U No What. BTW, she also got fired from the University, because she was a PAIN.

Yes, don't expect the landlord to provide a refrigerator/washer/dryer in San Diego. Do expect a range, oven and a dishwasher. All fairly standard. Also expect to pay $2200 a month (minimum) for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo and more for the same size house. Hey - San Diego is not Alabama or most of the rest of the country. That said, both Anita and I have been willing to provide a refrigerator, if the tenant asks. But if it breaks in 5 years, well, buy your own new one.

Knucklehead, The bank is not your buddy! They want to cover their investment. No more and no less. But they will be flexible, because the know the market is flexible (unlike ). My last purchase was sold for $680K, just before the Great Resession. The bank offered it at $479K for the first 30 days. Then they dropped the asking price to $429K. We purchased it at $425K Remember, I live in San Diego. It is a hugely different market from any place in Alabama.

First line supervisor on Salary = pay cut for the hours you will serve/work. Just the price young "people" pay for the "promise" of future gold! Not trying to be an old grump!! But there is some truth to that. It is also a bigger stretch for you to make it to the AA league. Sounds like you are learning a whole bunch. First, cheap is not good. Review the Tom Hanks movie "The Money Pit". Funny movie, but lots of truth there. It is like restoring a car or buying a good car someone else has restored. Frankly, it is cheaper to buy one that someone else has done a great job restoring than than to pay for the restoration yourself. Been there, done that, more than a couple of times. Remember, low interest borrowing is your friend when your income is increasing at a faster than interest rates. Also, the best deal about borrowing money on a home is called "leverage". That means when you put up $10 and borrow $90, then the value of the property increases by $100, all the $100 increase in value belongs to YOU. Lender gets his interest, but you get all the increase in market value. Here in California, it has worked very well since WWII. My/Our first home was opened in December, 1972 with 5% down. $23K or so and $1200 down. Total Payment was $302.48 - Double our previous rent of $150/mo. But we when we sold the property, we walked away with $20K in 3.5 years Yes, this was/is in Southern California. So your experience in the rest of the country will not match. But, in 3.5 years we sold the condo for $46k, purchased our next house for 54k and sold it 3 years later for $105K. But I/we have only lost once on Southern California real estate since 1972. That was because we simply could not ride out the down turn. So we learned how important it was to have cash reserves.

Knucklehead, Not to throw cold water on you. BUT, do you really want a fixer-upper for your first house? Especially when you are working 80+ hours a week?? My advice is to rent a place for a few months in the area. Use that time to look around the area and find a house that suits your needs better than a fixer upperl Remember, the THREE most important things in real estate: Location, Location, Location! Here is another web site to see houses for sale: https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Leeds-AL-35094/73317_rid/0-100000_price/0-397_mp/pricea_sort/33.568718,-86.533127,33.492161,-86.650372_rect/12_zm/ One last thing: There are lots of different FICO scores out there. One for the retail industry, another one for a car loan, etc, To buy a house, the lender will use a credit report and FICO score from each of the 3 credit rating firms.

87MJTIM offers great advice about being house rich and cash poor. I have been there and done that. It is a bad spot to be in when "stuff happens". And stuff always happens. So hang on to some cash. That way "stuff" will not be a major issue when it really should be a small thing.

Got the adapter from: http://gastodiesel.tdconversions.com/adapter/ Here is a good thread for a quick summary of available adapters: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=494925

Abby, Thank YOU for taking the time to keep us informed! We all appreciate the updates and best wishes to Don. John Jackson

This is really a great read! People are People, all the world over, we have the same issues in our every day lives, no matter where, when or who we are! None of us have changed much at a certain level. True, we may be a bit more literate, a good bit better off, better educated, etc. But we are still the same people we were thousands of years ago.

Abby, Thank You for the update on Don! Very pleased to hear that he is doing so well. It is a good sign to see him back to his old self. Just be sure to make him stay there and do exactly as the doctors tell him. A tall order I know, but this is what the doctors do best.

Nice project! Here is a website that has some useful pictures on Cherokee/Mercedes engine conversions: http://www.northwestdieseloffroad.com/index.html Northwest Diesel has been advertising these diesel conversions on Craigslist for a number of years. As part of their conversion process, the Mercedes engine is rebuilt - that is the reason for the high price of their turnkey conversion. Below is their ad. https://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/pts/d/jeep-cherokee-diesel/6748540997.html

We got the truck back in mid October. Full story here: https://comancheclub.com/topic/56598-sad-end-to-comanche-tdi-project/ Had the damaged ignition switch replaced on Thursday. Cost for parts and labor was $135. Only problem is that the new ignition key does not match the doors. Need to be careful not to lock the doors till I have the doors matched to the new ignition key. So today I parked the truck in the rear of the yard till I get the locks changed.

Dzimm, My suggestion is to go to your local small claims court and read their rules and requirements. Find out how much filing fees are. Find out how much it costs to have the first owner served with papers. Then decide if it is worth the effort to try and collect. Personally, I would just write it off as a learning experience. But that is me. In California, you first have to write a "demand letter", wait 30 days (?) then file in small claims. The Marshall's office will serve the papers for a fee. Then tell your story to the judge. If the debitor does not show up in court, you win by default. But that still leaves you with the problem of collecting. Collecting can be done, but it takes more time and energy to identify his assets, etc.

Don, I thought the OP was asking about removing the steel drip rails under the chrome drip rail trim piece??

Eagle, Not much anyone can do to stop a fire driven by 60 mile per hour Santa Ana winds, except to get the heck out of there way. No amount of trimming the under brush will halt that kind of a firestorm. These fires create their own weather that sucks in fresh air and push the flames harder. No doubt you have seen the pictures of the "firenado". Quite frankly, the California legislature has demanded the utility companies do MORE to clear their right of ways. Not less. Enough of the politics "blame game" from me. During the 2004 Cedar Fire in San Diego - the fire jumped over Interstate 15 at a point where the freeway was 24 lanes wide. That was 100 yards wide of concrete and bare ground. Absolutely incredible to see. Then the winds change direction very quickly and the fire was not able to jump over the Interstate 805 freeway only 5 miles away from the 15 freeway. It burned back to the mountains.

Good to hear.

Yes, think it is 3 bolts ??

ZJ seats ARE way more comfortable!!! Get the fold forward mechanism from 95+ 2 door XJ seats, install on ZJ seats. Make great Comanche seats.

Nader's book was "Unsafe at Any Speed". He had a Chapter on the 60-63 Corvair swing axel rear suspension and some wrong claims about how it worked. I own 2 Corvair's. A 69 convertible with 25k miles and a 67 coupe

If you are interested in doing a VW TDI engine swap into your Comanche, take look at my build thread: https://comancheclub.com/topic/52550-86-diesel-mj-to-vw-tdi-conversion/

Yes, you are right. Thief could have had handgun. Son spent 10 years, Army Special Ops. Two combat tours. Sometimes training just kicks in.

Got the TDI Comanche back on Friday night. Wildernest is gone, Tailgate was painted black, plates were changed, registration documents are gone. But it is home now. Thieves are dumb. And this one was really stupid DUMB. He drove the stolen truck back to the same apartment complex he stole the truck from to visit a girl. My son walked out of his apartment to smoke in the back alley. He sees the Comanche double parked in the alley, calls the San Diego Police to tell them he found the stolen truck. The tell him stolen cars are a low priority, so it could take up to 6 hours for a police response. He checks the VIN with the cops, yes it is the stolen truck and cops will eventually get there. So son gets a couple of his neighbors to wait with him and see who comes back for the truck. Eventually a fellow come out from one of the apartment and approaches the truck. Son confronts the fellow, telling him the truck is stolen and he is not leaving with the truck. Fellow threatens to kick sons @$$ and take truck. My son stood his ground with a kitchen knife in his hand. Son told fellow he had a choice to make. 1. Stick around and wait for cops. 2. Try to kick sons @$$. 3. Walk away right now. The fellow decided to leave on foot without the truck. Cops never showed up, Son reported car recovered on Saturday morning. I got new plates, etc Monday morning. Ignition switch will have to be repaired. But right now the truck is safe in front of my house. Have to say I am totally surprised to see the truck again, much less with not too much damage/loss. And most of all just how stupid this thief was.

I would have to ask, "How many Florida Jeeps have spent much/most of their early life in the winters of the northeast?" Especially if it is 4 x 4 that is not necessary? And are sellers in Florida more honest than sellers "out west"? My answer is you go west because there are many more "survivers" to chose from. Also air fare from N.Y.C. or BWI to L.A. or San Francisco is much less than from West Virginia to Florida. Last summer I flew from San Diego to Pittsburgh for about the same money a fellow flew from Virginia to Pittsburgh for the same event.