Project Add power to make Sith - waiting for new home 8/20

Hotrodhendrix

New member
Terracar":1yb2kgle said:
Sweet. I love reading this thread, always is amazing.

So a new home eh? I picture a 4 car garage with a little house attached. Then again, it is not like you are against an engine sitting in the family room either. :rofl: Good luck on the search.

-Terracar

I picture a very large moon like house complete with death ray.
 

GT4times2

Moderator
darthripley":1j2pu7l2 said:
Quick Update ---

The pics are restored so everyone can see everything again, from beginnings ~7 yrs ago to pretty much current state.

As the title says, we are looking for a new home, before any major engine rebuilding will occur.
We are just sort of tinkering with a few things here & there on Vadar, nothing really big.

Restoring all the pics gave me a new outlook on the whole project & made me realize just how far we have come from Vadar's new life with us.

I'll update in the near future, but until then, both Joe & I would like to extend a Texas sized "Thank You" to everyone (you know who you are) for all their support, constructive criticism & comments, help in finding parts, intelligence and friendliness. You are our Alltrac family & I am thankful to have met each & every one of you whether online only or "in person". Our door is always open for you no matter where we may be.


That's the spirit!!! Glad to see things back up! :wink:

As much as I love cars, I'm not too fond of car shopping. However home shopping can be interesting. I hope you guys find the ideal house, and make it "your perfect" home. I guess we all seem to like projects one way or another. (It comes from owning an All Trac :) ). If I can offer any advice, and if common in TX, I'd look at homes with side entry garages, with enough space to build an additional one in the future.

Best of luck to you and Joe. Frantz and the boys are rooting for ya!! :)
 

phattyduck

New member
Terracar":2xiwtrrm said:
Sweet. I love reading this thread, always is amazing.

So a new home eh? I picture a 4 car garage with a little house attached. Then again, it is not like you are against an engine sitting in the family room either. :rofl: Good luck on the search.

-Terracar
I've always wanted a 2-car direct access garage (clean, for the daily drivers) and a 2+ car detached garage with high ceilings for the 'shop' area.... that way the clean stuff stays clean and the projects have plenty of room. :)

There's actually a house like that for sale in my neighborhood, but my wife and I don't have enough money saved yet... :pissed:

-Charlie
 

Terracar

New member
phattyduck":2eauw2jm said:
I've always wanted a 2-car direct access garage (clean, for the daily drivers) and a 2+ car detached garage with high ceilings for the 'shop' area.... that way the clean stuff stays clean and the projects have plenty of room. :)

There's actually a house like that for sale in my neighborhood, but my wife and I don't have enough money saved yet... :pissed:

-Charlie

Yeah, the wife and I plan on a separate garage for all my... ongoing projects, especially since my only request for the house was a 3 car garage was sent to the grave when we found our current house. Luckily we have some acreage to work with.


Hotrodhendrix - Good point, I can see the house fitting that description as well. When/if Darth/Joe have kids, I picture the VW commercial with the kid dressed as Vadar, but instead of the VW it is Vadar and the kid is being suspended by the real Sith.

-Terracar
 

darthripley

Moderator
Thanks for all the great comments guys, each one made me smile a lot :D

We are going to stay in the DFW area & the area we are looking at, has mostly 2 car garages, but some of the larger sq ft homes do have the blessing of a 3 car garage.
Our real estate agent caught on to the fact that garages are important real fast lol
We've had many houses fall into the "no" catagory due to steep driveways, garages being too shabby (looked at one house where the paint was literally all over the garage floor + a HUGE crack in the ceiling) & garages being too small with driveways way too short.

I'm already planning in for a shop/garage with a tall ceiling for a lift. we will either get like a pre-fab steel building or just build an extra 2 car garage. Some driveways are long enough where you can add another 2 car right in front of the existing one & have it be like a 2 car deep bay. I've got to look into city ordinances/codes etc but there are lots of ways to get to the 4 car garage of my dreams :oops:

Thanks for all the continued support & well wishes. :)
You'll know when we have a new house b/c I will update with a pic of Vadar in a garage! :D
 

underscore

Well-known member
darthripley":34ox8b5f said:
Some driveways are long enough where you can add another 2 car right in front of the existing one & have it be like a 2 car deep bay.

I'm starting to look at houses and I never thought of this! Damn good idea and best of luck on your search!
 

phattyduck

New member
Terracar":whfc582d said:
4 car tandem would be sweet. (the 2 car x 2 car deep)

-Terracar
I have a friend with a 6-car tandem (2 wide, 3 deep w/ entrances on both ends and driveways on both sides). We do big install days there - enough room to work on 4-5 cars at a time. The bar with taps and the large fridge add to the experience. Ugh, so nice!

And to get things back on track... I was doing some minor paint work on my Alltrac over the last few weeks, and I'm reminded how much work it is! It puts all the good detail work on this thread in perspective.

-Charlie
 

jonstew

New member
Good luck on the house hunt! Finding a house with the perfect garage is not an easy task but you are determined so you will find the right place. My house had too low of a celing in the attached 2 car garage for a lift so my solution was putting the lift outside on a pad and building a mini-barn around it. People laugh but it works perfect for what I use it for.

minibarn16.jpg

cars_lift_1.jpg

cars_lift_2.jpg
 

darthripley

Moderator
Thanks for all the well wishes everyone. Finding a new home is quite difficult in the area that we like etc. In our general area, the inventory of homes for sale is at a record low. There simply aren't enough homes available for sale, so the competition is very high, especially in desirable areas. I've missed out on 2 homes that we really liked so far. I am hoping that the next home we go look at will be "the one".

In the meantime, we've been tinkering with installing bits on all the cars.
So Quick updates:

Vadar ---

We bought a SS radiator cooling panel about a year ago from the group buy offered here on the forum.
I decided to cut down on a lot of the shiney SS bling in the engine bay so didn't polish the panel as originally planned as it would have just been way too much.
I saw some other cooling panels done in wrinkle black, so went that route.
I used VHT spray paint & the paint job is not perfect at all. I am not happy with the finish at all.
The VHT rattle can is simply meant for small jobs like valve covers on a 4ag. The paint is so thick, it sags easily, with no warning, on areas that are not perfectly flat which made getting a perfect finish next to impossible.

coolingpanel1.jpg


Once we are able to move, I will pay to have it powdercoated for a perfect finish. It looks better in the pics than it is in reality.
I also need to get more plastic fasteners that are longer for up top on the panel.
I like the look, will get it fixed to look much better later on.
The engine bay is way dirty/dusty from only being under a car cover - 1 of many reasons why no garage sux major ass.

Super2(aka R2) ---
We got the back half of the Autopower roll cage installed on R2, along with a very simple & cheap mount for the fire extinguisher. 4 of the 6 pts of the cage are installed with all new Grade 8 hardware & the car feels better than ever as far as handling goes. On old 14" Falken Ziex tires, the grip level is similar to Vadar, with only a bit of oversteer which is just the setup we both prefer. Need to reconfigure the front portion of the cage - will have to go get it rewelded at a place that does nothing but build cages. I have FIA padding on order also, so yes it will be safe to have in a street driven car.

Maul (Camry) ---
Did a quick oil change, rotated tires (very very pleased with the Michelin Pilot Super Sports) greased rear sway bar bushings. Have heard lots of noise from the rear end & discovered the rear strut boots are completely perished, so I'm pretty sure the rear upper strut mounts are worn out. I'm almost 20K past a timing belt service, but I just can't take the time to do the needed maintenance. It's just going to have to make it to October. For those who know, I have big plans for the Camry, so with the timing belt service a huge power upgrade will be performed. I'm very excited about the upcoming upgrade & am in the process of collecting all of the parts needed. Once complete, it will no longer be an "ordinary" TRD Granny Grocery Getter 8)

That's about it for now. Working on pinball machine restorations + fixing things up at this house in between the car tinkering.
 

abraxxa

Member
Great update!
Thanks for confirming that the Michelin Pilot SuperSport 3 are good tires, I'll also get them once my Goodyear Eagle F1's are done.
 

Hotrodhendrix

New member
abraxxa":3drl39jw said:
Great update!
Thanks for confirming that the Michelin Pilot SuperSport 3 are good tires, I'll also get them once my Goodyear Eagle F1's are done.

I had a set on the rear of the GTO after the proxies.. Lots of traction issues. I have heard other peaple love them so I may have just had a bad batch. Running P-Zeros now which stick and handle great but wear very quickly.

I hope you get in the area you want. We finally had a good showing on the house but still no word back. Once I sale I can move closer to you guys :)

~James
 

phattyduck

New member
abraxxa":vnic65wg said:
Great update!
Thanks for confirming that the Michelin Pilot SuperSport 3 are good tires, I'll also get them once my Goodyear Eagle F1's are done.
I have the SuperSports on both my WRX and my wife's Mini-S. They are very quiet (my wife's request) and very sticky (my request). No word on wet traction... They are even wearing pretty well on my wife's Mini (not much data with my heavier WRX, I ran all-seasons last winter and most of the summer...)

-Charlie
 

Terracar

New member
You guys will find the perfect house, I am confident of it.


88gt4DE":3f3zj612 said:
YES !!! The Camry gets booooost too !!!! lol 8)

My money is on a 1jz with a RWD conversion on the Camry. They are going to swap in the rear subframe from a SC400 and toss on a T67. They will still keep it as their timid grocery getter.

-Terracar
 

darthripley

Moderator
Thanks for all the kind words everyone. Our real estate agent said more people are calling her to list homes so she said it shouldn't be too long before one comes up for us. The biggest "dealbreaker" for us is a pool. I don't want the upkeep & expense of one & TONS of houses here have them. The most important reason why it is a "no" for me is I can't swim well at all :oops:

I love the Pilot Super Sports. Mine are wearing very evenly (had some camber & toe issues that got corrected)
Traction in the dry is amazing & traction in the wet is great. Can't complain at all about them so far even with "spirited driving" ;)
I had 2 sets of Falken Ziex's before & those were total crap - very noisy on the road & wore down in 10K miles even where there was not excessive shoulder (camber) wear.

James - that would be great if you were closer!

I like the guesses so far on the Camry lol.
I think some of you are psychic b/c I haven't shown pics or even laid out my plans for the car :nono:
Terracar you made me LOL with your comments! :lol:
 
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