Am I a visionary?

[Jeep Driver]

Yeah, I am. 

 

 

I've been beating this drum.

 

Very timely. 

 

More Uncle Tony, today's bloviating. 

 

Listen, pay attention, decide what you want to do with your truck, plan for the future. Time is not your friend. 

FWIW, I don't necessarily agree with his assessment of OBDII being any kind of cut-off date.......but the rest is spot on. 

 

 

[Jeep Driver]

As a side note-

 

I'm casually looking for my 350 Chevy block, virgin bore, 4 bolt. I found two, one is 3 hours away and one is 2 hours away, both want $350 for a bare block. 

Round trip and cash.....no weekends with either........can't take a day off.

 

I'm patient. 

 

Point is- SBCs were literally dimes-a-dozen 20 years ago.........not today. 

[Swampy]

Its interesting because I wanted to see what the classic car world/market would look like when I am in my 50s and 60s because I a 2015 mustang would be eligible as an antique in 2045. I wondered what it would take to keep a car like that running for that long because of the computer systems. I guess we just have to see how it goes and adapt. 

[13 Legion]

Emissions is a scam. Junkyard parts no matter what you’re looking for, are a finite supply. It’s hard to find pre 90 parts. 10–15 years down the line good luck finding an XJ in a yard. 

[WahooSteeler]

I bet if you took that cigarette out of his hand, he couldn't speak a full sentence LOL. The one he had in the other vid was down to the filter LOL. 

[Pete M]

If I had the money and space I'd have a large collection of whole parts Jeeps. 

[Eagle]

10 hours ago, Swampy said:

Its interesting because I wanted to see what the classic car world/market would look like when I am in my 50s and 60s because I a 2015 mustang would be eligible as an antique in 2045. I wondered what it would take to keep a car like that running for that long because of the computer systems. I guess we just have to see how it goes and adapt. 

 

This is why I laugh every time some of you guys put down the occasional iconoclast who mentions converting a Comanche to a carburetor and conventional distributor. Sure, it's low-tech, it might not deliver quite the same fuel economy (but it also might be better) ... but it's a lot easier to keep running, because the engine doesn't require input from four or six different sensors to know when to squirt gas into the cylinder and when to fire.

[Pete M]

The 1s and 0s in the software might actually get easier to deal with over time.   It's a computer program, and if someone can write it, someone else can re-write it (given the proper motivation of course). 

 

But I seem to be attracted to low-run and oddball vehicles so I'm already kinda used to parts scarcity.  If anyone is up for a challenge, find me a pair of fresh air intake ducts for an 83 Z-28 HO with the 4barrel carb that aren't already held together with electrical tape.   

 

 

[NHMJXJ]

Technology is not (always) your friend.  I choose to drive older vehicles.  Traction control can get you killed and proximity sensors are equally dangerous.

[Minuit]

Although I wonder what it'll be like to find sensors for an MJ in 30 years, I wonder a lot more about the technology on the interior, and what it'll be like trying to find a working touch screen for a modern car in 30 years. I wonder what kind of life expectancy your average "infotainment system" in a new car has. If it's anything like a smartphone or laptop, once it hits about 8 years old it's absolutely ancient. Don't even get me started on the car radios that have spinning hard drives inside of them, although I hope there isn't anyone in 2019 still putting a spinning hard drive inside of a car radio.

 

As a side note, car electronics of today will NOT age well. The infotainment systems in 10 year old cars are so slow and unresponsive by today's standards that they're practically unusable. Meanwhile I'm surrounded by 30 year old radios that still do the same job just as well as they did on day one. One of these days I'll probably end up having to buy a car with a screen in it, but I won't be happy about it.

[mjben]

1 hour ago, Pete M said:

The 1s and 0s in the software might actually get easier to deal with over time.   It's a computer program, and if someone can write it, someone else can re-write it (given the proper motivation of course). 

 

But I seem to be attracted to low-run and oddball vehicles so I'm already kinda used to parts scarcity.  If anyone is up for a challenge, find me a pair of fresh air intake ducts for an 83 Z-28 HO with the 4barrel carb that aren't already held together with electrical tape.   

 

 

 

You didn't say cheap...

 

https://www.camarocentral.com/1982_1986_Air_Cleaner_Assembly_5_0_Liter_H_O_p/air-1984.htm 

[Pete M]

35 minutes ago, mjben said:

 

https://www.camarocentral.com/1982_1986_Air_Cleaner_Assembly_5_0_Liter_H_O_p/air-1984.htm 

 

$1500!  holy $%#*& that's expensive. 

 

kudos to your hunting skills 

 

that begs the question of how much can a mid 80s camaro possibly fetch in the future to justify spending so much on what amounts to "concours trim".  Those are definitely going to be sold to a guy building his car out of passion, not for profit.

[mjben]

Parts hunting is my career.

 

The only modified/restored/customized vehicles I'll ever be interested in is the ones done out of passion, not profit. Car shows are good examples of this. I'll walk past the store bought big money builds, and gravitate more toward the low budget, enjoy the hobby type builds.

[fiatslug87]

3 hours ago, mjben said:

Parts hunting is my career.

That's good to know! 

[floridaftwman]

Emissions is a scam. Junkyard parts no matter what you’re looking for, are a finite supply. It’s hard to find pre 90 parts. 10–15 years down the line good luck finding an XJ in a yard. 

 

I went to the local yard, an LKQ yard, and they had one XJ. Nothing I needed, might go back for the doors. Dad said that same yard used to have all kinds of ‘em.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Swampy]

5 hours ago, Pete M said:

The 1s and 0s in the software might actually get easier to deal with over time.   It's a computer program, and if someone can write it, someone else can re-write it (given the proper motivation of course). 

 

But I seem to be attracted to low-run and oddball vehicles so I'm already kinda used to parts scarcity.  If anyone is up for a challenge, find me a pair of fresh air intake ducts for an 83 Z-28 HO with the 4barrel carb that aren't already held together with electrical tape.   

 

 

I better brush up on my computer programming

[13 Legion]

I think we’re all here because we have a passion for our Jeeps. Just being able( to attempt, at times!) to keep a 30+ y.o. truck on the street is quite an accomplishment. We are a dying breed no doubt. I love the camaraderie, the banter, hell even the b*@ch sessions sometimes here on the forum. I agree though that each any every day our donor vehicles that we scavenge head to the crusher. Time marches on. Just remember when heading out to the yards... the part you don’t need, I guarantee someone else here does. From a console, to a switch, to a window, to a center cap.

[Minuit]

1 hour ago, 13 Legion said:

I think we’re all here because we have a passion for our Jeeps. Just being able( to attempt, at times!) to keep a 30+ y.o. truck on the street is quite an accomplishment. We are a dying breed no doubt. I love the camaraderie, the banter, hell even the b*@ch sessions sometimes here on the forum. I agree though that each any every day our donor vehicles that we scavenge head to the crusher. Time marches on. Just remember when heading out to the yards... the part you don’t need, I guarantee someone else here does. From a console, to a switch, to a window, to a center cap.

Sometimes it's little things that you'd never think would be that hard to find too. I've been looking for a center console insert with a power mirror switch for almost a year now. Haven't been looking too hard, but I haven't seen a single 96 or older XJ in the yards with power mirrors in a very long time.

 

MJs are getting to the age now where having the kind of plans I have is starting to be expensive.

 

[13 Legion]

5 minutes ago, Minuit said:

MJs are getting to the age now where having the kind of plans I have is starting to be expensive.

No truer a statement.

[Pete M]

buy up the whole ones.  all of them.   

[Minuit]

Just now, Pete M said:

buy up the whole ones.  all of them.   

Hey, if someone's willing to provide me with the funds and space to store all of these MJs that would appear, I'd be glad to!

[Pete M]

Just now, Minuit said:

Hey, if someone's willing to provide me with the funds and space to store all of these MJs that would appear, I'd be glad to!

 

I would if I could  

[glundblad]

I couldn't agree more.  I remember when I bought my '87 off the showroom.  It was my wife's daily driver for about 10 years.  You get to know a truck pretty well when you have owned it for 10 years.  Then I sold it to my father.  He had it for 10 years IIRC and put about 10k miles on it.  When I bought it back, it ran ok but not great.  It just sounded different and didn't idle smooth.  I took it to the shop several times.  The last time I took it, the truck started up and sounded like it did in '87.  It took me all of 10 seconds to figure out that they fixed it.  It was a cheap sensor that needed replaced.  I don't have that issue with my 1971 Datsun.