Took my wheels off and adjusted my parking brake on each side so it at least somewhat works now. It'll hold the car on anything that isn't an extreme grade, not strong enough to lock the rear wheels up either. Who needs that when you have rwd anyway? The vacant house across the street sold so the crown vic is in the road now. I need to find a better place to park, it doesn't move a whole lot so it'll just sit in the way most of the time. I'm also kinda paranoid that someone will hit it.
I attached a tow rope to the back of it (actually discovered the towing eye is missing so just wrapped the rope around the centre of the rear subframe). I then attached the other end of the tow rope to my brothers car and dragged the thing home.
Well I live on a farm. The farm next door to ours have a nice little gravel track from the main road into their yard and then onwards to our yard, if you follow the main road from town you hit their farm first and it can be quicker to cut across their track, problem is that when coming from town you also go by a house built right by the side of the road who have put a tall hedge up to shield themselves from noise (and of course this house predates there being a main road there, else it would not have been built most likely, this is a full national speed limit - 60mph- road). The hedge effectively makes the entrance to the turning blind when coming from town, also makes it harder for when pulling out of the entrance as again you cant as clearly see towards town. Brother decided he would turn into it at 30mph anyway, jeep was coming out the other way... Skid marks in the gravel are only about 5 feet long. Jeeps bumper is destroyed, the bumper bar behind is all bent and twisted out of shape, radiator no longer secured properly and leaking. I dont have pictures sadly but all they'd show without me trying to stick the phone inside little gaps is the smashed up bumper. Think its a 2013 model so not very old at all and brothers insurance will probably be paying for that to be sorted out. Airbags did not deploy, fuel pump continued running, it actually backed itself further up the farm track to be parked out of the way under its own power after letting the engine cool (considering it no longer had coolant after dumping it on the ground). Brothers car however. Airbags deployed, fuel pump shut itself off. Electrics all appear dead minus the horn and stereo. Drivers side fender has been pushed back far enough that the drivers door snags on it and wont open fully. Front wheels are visibly toed outwards. Engine has shifted on its mounts. An oil line has been severed, radiator is smashed right up onto the engine and dumped the coolant everywhere. Rad support and bumper bars completely crumpled. I think it will be written off. Thankfully, as that is a private land shortcut to the farm we live on (but do not own, I am not a farmer) it meant it was only a mile I had to tow it without having to worry about braving the 60mph public roads with a car that perhaps shouldnt be moving. Particularly as just after going past that farm entrance, you have a nice downhill section with a very tight bend at the bottom. The crest of the hill is somewhat blind. So you'll be going damn carefully down that with a smashed up vehicle under tow, yet someone could quite easily come hurtling over the crest at 60+ not realising there is a slow moving smashed up car just over the horizon, in fact if we were towing it the entire way from town, across that farm would be the way to go.
(imported from here) (imported from here) Needs moar low though, since it's looking hilariously disproportionate now. Also fixed the comfort/convenience+central locking. Made some headway on the broken cruise control; the stalk appears functional from a quick probing of the cruise module connector, and shorting the right pins after having a good look at the wiring diagramme gets the pump running, though the cruise diaphragm isn't flexing as much as expected. There's either a vacuum leak or the pump is getting insufficient power. (imported from here) (imported from here) idk lmao
Officially have two vehicles again. Got the Ranger re-registered. Still runs great after sitting 8 months. Can't decide which one I want to take to work.
Touched up some of my paint chips and stuff, which has become regular maintenance with this shitty white paint. Decided to use my big paint spots as a slate for artistic expression. Also sanded below one of them to see if that will at least stop it from spreading for now.
I don't know why, but I am satisfied to hear that my car has more power than your car... well... it did in 1988. (173 I think it is.)
The S54B32 engine came with 333 HP to the crank from factory, but given that the motor has 80,000 miles on it, as well as being over twelve years old means I wouldn't be suprised by somewhere near 280 HP to the wheels on my E46 M3. You also have to take weight into consideration. The 'vert weighs around 300 pounds heavier than the coupe, as well as marginally less structural rigidity (most of that weight comes from structural reinforcement, which means that they're less likely to have rear subframe issues), brings the weight up to somewhere near 3,800 pounds. In my opinion, the added weight isn't noticeable unless you're comparing track times to a coupe, and I think it's well worth it since it rarely ever rains here in Austin. Also, the sound from the S54B32 with the top down is absolutely fantastic, as well as a unlimited amount of headroom and rear visibility.
I highly doubt you've lost that much power with 80k miles of wear. As far as I'm concerned, engines losing their power as they age is a wive's tale, unless they're really really worn out and tired. I'd say at most you've lost 1-2 hp.
The Merc is probably putting down 252hp with 295lbsft and weighs 4050lbs. 13.7lbs/lbs-ft. The Ranger is 160hp and 225lbsft. Weighs 3125. 13.8lbs/lbs-ft. The Merc got new tires finally. No more dry rotted Michelin's (which could have been the second set of tires on the car...) Got Firehawk Wide Oval AS on it now. Handle pretty good in the rain.
