Grex Cars Conference

View Responses

Grex Cars Item 77: New-model Coupe D'Etat on horizon?
Entered by davel on Tue Jan 16 02:47:59 UTC 1996:

No, that's not some dadburned foreign car.  For background, here's an
extract from the current (but soon-to-be-old, maybe) coop conference:

> Item #91: Proposals for New Conferences! (extention of Item #15)
> #128 Baxter (carson) (Sun, Jan 14, 1996 (07:29)):
>  <carson waves his hand>
>  
>  I noticed that the cars conference doesn't have a FW anymore. I'd like to
>  FW it, and I even promise not to try any stupid FW tricks there.
>  
>  I'm not asking because the conference name is so similar to my own,
although
>  at times I think that's why my dad picked my name out for me. :)
> ----
> #129 Dave Lovelace (davel) (Mon, Jan 15, 1996 (06:31)):
>  carson on cars?
> ----
> #130 Baxter (carson) (Mon, Jan 15, 1996 (08:08)):
>  My karma ran over my dogma. ;)
> ----
> #131 Valerie Mates (popcorn) (Mon, Jan 15, 1996 (08:39)):
>  Carson as fw of cars sounds to me like a good idea.
>  As always, Grex has no official policy on how this kind of fw change
>  works.  Would it make sense to enter an item in the cars conf to make
>  the change, or to just go ahead and do it?  Hm.
> ----
> #132 John H. Remmers (remmers) (Mon, Jan 15, 1996 (13:09)):
>  My general feeling is that for an established conference, it's
>  best if the participants in the conference have an opportunity
>  for input into fw changes. That means discussing it in the
>  conference, since not all participants read coop. It's
>  certainly the more democratic appropach.
> ----
> #133 Arnold D. Barr (adbarr) (Mon, Jan 15, 1996 (17:35)):
>  The majority should not impose ideas on the minority, unless they are
>  into the subject? Sounds good to me.

Indeed, though ragnar is FW of this conference and there is a user with login
ragnar, it appears to be a coincidence, and for practical purposes the cars
conference is indeed lacking a FW.  Carson has proposed that he take over,
and it would be nice to get it settled one way or another, so this is your
chance to approve, or disapprove, or offer counterproposals.  I'll post a
mention of this item back in coop.

11 responses total.

#1 of 11 by carson on Tue Jan 16 13:53:27 1996:

found it.

As you may or may not know, for the past two Agoras, I've had an item
dedicated to one's daily experience while driving. Recently, while
accidentally being a helper, I was asked to post a question regarding
what sort of computers are used in cars...

...which got me to thinking, "wow. maybe we should have a car conference."
Imagine my delight when I found that there was one! To think, two years
here, and never knew...

...anyway, I'm a fellow car owner, the proud papa of an '80 Mazda 626.
I've even been fortunate enough, if you will, to have worked on it a
bit, having rebuilt  one engine, swapped another, replaced the 
driveshaft. I can even rotate tires! 8)

I don't want to give the illusion that I'm any sort of whiz-bang
mechanic, though, because I'm not. Most of what I've learned has been
from my father, who was a mechianic in high school and has helped me
in nearly all of my automotive escapades.

If it's OK, I'd like to take a shot at FWing this conference. I don't
expect to do anything terribly out of the ordinary or greatly different
from what's gone before. I'll probably link an item over or three,
and make this conference the home of the "How was your drive?" item
once Agora rolls over.

I also happen to have a couple of problems with my car as I type this.
The front right tirearm has rusted through, so I'll be getting that
replaced at some point _soon_. I also need to replace my exhaust
system. I'll likely enter an item or two related to those car troubles
later.

#2 of 11 by n8nxf on Tue Jan 16 14:35:50 1996:

1980 Mazda 286 huh?  For a salt encrusted S.E. MI, that's not too bad.
 
Carson seems like a logical choice to me ;)

#3 of 11 by bruin on Tue Jan 16 19:24:17 1996:

We want Carson! We want Carson!

#4 of 11 by carson on Thu Jan 18 13:36:03 1996:

The Mazda spent most of its life in sunny California, which has faded
the paint job, but otherwise left a healthy body. It's only been driven
in three Michigan winters so far, and it's starting to show signs
of rust along the edges. My dad suggested that I take a wire brush to
the spots to smooth them out, then cover them with a rust protectant.
I haven't gotten around to it yet, though.

#5 of 11 by n8nxf on Thu Jan 18 20:41:28 1996:

I squirt non-detergent oil into the sheet metal folds along the bottoms
of the doors, trunk and hood lids.

#6 of 11 by mcpoz on Fri Jan 19 02:30:31 1996:

n8nxf - I know someone who has done that for years and he always has rust free
cars.  Even back years ago when cars tended to disolve at the first heavy dew.
He mixed very heavy viscosity oil with kerosene and blew it into all the nooks
and crannies 2x/year.

#7 of 11 by n8nxf on Fri Jan 19 15:23:54 1996:

That sounds like a good idea!  Did he use some sort of air spray gun to get
deep into the body panels?  (A friend kept his Chevy Vega well oiled and
after 11 years, a new engine and 120K miles here in Ann Arbor, it looked
and drove great.)

#8 of 11 by mcpoz on Sat Jan 20 00:11:21 1996:

Yes, the guy used a compresser and a wand and drilled a few holes to permit
him to reach pockets.  The really thick oil in kerosene apparantly would leave
a good coating of oil in there after the kerosene evaporated.  Whenever he
sold a used car, he had a standing line of people ready to pay a premium
price.  He lives in Westland and saw plenty of salt.

#9 of 11 by carson on Sat Jan 20 20:36:14 1996:

That does sound like a good idea!

#10 of 11 by n8nxf on Mon Jan 22 19:21:38 1996:

Sounds like the kind of spray applicator used by rust-proofing shops.
Anyone know where I can get something like this for inexpensive?  I'm
gona give it a try.

#11 of 11 by mcpoz on Tue Jan 23 01:56:25 1996:

I think he made his own out of copper tubing.  I would think a pressurized
garden sprayer would work fine.

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.