What shares the garage with your FJ?

[andyb]

^ and is more fun to ride.

[rossco]

C'mon TC you've shown her the posts  Y/N  You're an aussie answer is --as you do.
Rossco in NSW

[threejagsteve]

This is SoCal...

We don' need no steenking
GARAGES!!!

The current state of the '66 3.8S rat rod Jag.

No weasel-dicks in these parts; had to buy a new effing camera to get these new pics. The autofocus on my 7-y-o cam was crapping out; almost half of the shots I took for my Angeles Crest post last month were too blurry to use. So I've been looking for an excuse to buy a new one, and holiday sales looked like a good time to bite the bullet.


Entire body (except for the underside) has been stripped to bare metal, primed and sealed.


An appropriately rat-roddy door sill.




The rebuilt-from-the-crank-up 3.8L XK motor awaits in dry, weather-tight storage.

A couple pics from Spring 2003 when I'd just had a $500 Jag drug home:




The entire car, even the roof, was skinned in Bondo ranging from 1/16 to 1/2 in. deep. Somebody had spent a lot of time to make it appear to be a straight body. I'd actually just bought it as a parts car, but when I saw the gnarly metal underneath the Bondo, I just HAD to turn it into a rat rod!


The FJ lives between my daily driver Toyota and '67 Jag 420. About a year ago, the 420 developed a leak from one of the 11 o-ringed line ends into and out of the oil pump; I was supposed to tend to that last summer, but getting the FJ running again and then riding it consumed more time than I'd originally planned... 

[the fan]

You might not need any steenkin garages, but your neighbors might appreciate a barn and a little yard work.

[threejagsteve]

Neighbors? We don' need no steenking NEIGHBORS!

I should have elaborated: The 3-in-1 pic is the only one taken where I actually live. The outdoor pics were taken in my friend's backyard; it's behind the main house and two smaller houses behind it. On one side is the back of a supermarket. On another side is a trucking company storage yard; the third side is an immigrant-filled apartment building.  It's a rather large lot, been in their family since the '20s. And also strewn about the property is an assortment of other non-running vehicles, including about a dozen bikes from the mid-70s to the early '80s. It's like a little sliver of Dogpatch right in the middle of the city!

Oh, and here's a 4-years-ago rough of the eventual paint scheme for the rat rod; my current thoughts are not quite so garish but along the same lines:

[Zari]

OK, I'll join in.  My 1973 914-6, from original 914 - 4 / 2.0.  914/6 conversion with full Carrera suspension, a 1987 3.2 liter Carrera motor.  Color:Signal Orange.  It's like driving a beer can go-kart.  Now I just need to get my pal Mark Olsen over here to help me with the clutch replacement.  haha

Ahh, good times !

[Vilike]

Hi there, next to the FJ1200 there is my other Yamaha, a '1988 XJ 900 31A.
And, next to the XJ, there is my little brother's '1984 Romet Pony, 49 ccm-er bike.

[Bill_Rockoff]

2002 was a busy year - EVERYTHING needed work.  The Miata got a frame-off restoration that was driveable 3 months later.  The yellow thing in the background is Joe Nemechek's old Busch Cup winner, and we got it back on track about a year later.  The FJ got a new oil pan and fresh valve cover gasket & grommets for the bolts, so it finally quit leaking oil top & bottom.

[andyb]

Never thought I'd lust after a 914, but that one does it for me!

My garage is sorta full of randomness and junk, whatever people give me to play with/fix/break.  The cars are a 93 miata and a 99 acura CL (with the biggest pile of shit tranny ever made... anyone knows the trick to making that shift less like shit, please let me know!).

The bikes are a 78-81 frankenstein'd XS400 yamaha twin that is awaiting time to get lightly restored; a very ugly 95 ZX9R as a lovely daily driver, a 87 SuperMagna that I still haven't managed to sell, and the FJ of course.  The 80 IT250 got given away, and I finally returned the 95 VFR750, which felt like the baby brother to the ZX9.

Can I post my midlife crisis car, though?  I was a precocious child and had that early in my life, when I was 20.  Had the fastest, least practical car I could get!



1967 El Camino.  Wheels from a 69 vette, motor was a mildish 350, about 375hp.  T22 trans (close ratio 4speed manual).  No heat, no a/c, no power locks, no power windows, no power steering, no blower motor, no power brakes, no disc brakes, no hydraulic clutch ffs... but you put your foot down, and it made it worthwhile!

It also broke shit.  2 weeks after getting it, it mysteriously needed new tires in the back.  So off went the 195/80R15 bald things, and on went 275/50R15's.  A month later, the rear end decided to turn the spider gears into a bunch of shrapnel--in went an Auburn locker.  Next to go was the u-joints, which were replaced with forged units and the driveshaft was straightened back out.  Then the clutch (an 1800lb B&B) decided that 30mph was all the faster I really needed to go... a Centerforce DF replaced it (GREAT clutch btw, the miata has one because of how well I liked it).  When the clutch was being fixed, it turns out that the half-inch thick aluminum bellhousing had cracked, so a Lakewood steel unit went in.  Then I started noticing wheelhop becoming a problem on hard launches, so SSM lift bars took a weekend of my life away.. The last straw was when I realized the transmission housing was starting to crack as well... the car was promptly sold then!  Was a bunch of fun in the summer, it took the smile off a couple of kids driving around daddy's money....  As near as I could figure at the time, it was good for 0-60 in 5.0s, and 12.50's at the dragstrip.  I still miss it.  (Also miss the gymnast that I was dating at the time.. don't tell my wife.. I had a great time for my midlife crisis!)

[Mark Olson]

OK, I'll join in.  My 1973 914-6, from original 914 - 4 / 2.0.  914/6 conversion with full Carrera suspension, a 1987 3.2 liter Carrera motor.  Color:Signal Orange.  It's like driving a beer can go-kart.  Now I just need to get my pal Mark Olsen over here to help me with the clutch replacement.  haha

Ahh, good times !

Sure Craig , Just drop it off and I will call you when It's ready in a couple of months 

[andyoutandabout]

Who'd have thought Craig was such a playboy. Looks like it's lifestyles of the rich and famous in the Zari garage.

[Arnie]

Here's one of the vehicles that share the shed with my FJ.


 

[Bill_Rockoff]

I love the 914!  I don't have current garage photos.  We're at my girlfriend's house, and everything is apart again.  Miata was apart all week for a clutch (easier than a 914-6, I bet, but still a bad way to get over the flu last week) and is just now waiting for me to install a clutch master cylinder.  A clutch is a LOT easier on a bike.  The Ninja 250 needs me to cut part of the fairing on each side so I can put in the flush-mount front signals, although I'm still trying to find a way to incorporate running lights.  Tempting to replace the PO's busted orange lense and just reinstall it as stock.  My son's KX80 still needs me to pull the seals so I can get the forks apart - since August.  And I promised my girlfriend I'd clean "her" side of all the yard crap and bicycles (and find a new home for the Ninja 250) so she can park inside again.

[rktmanfj]

Not too many current garage shots here, either, and all the bikes got exiled to a nearby storage unit a couple of weeks ago...       



From February... getting more snow today.  My Serial-Killer Van (RIP) sitting outside.





Randy T
Indy

[the fan]

Is this Randy's night gig?

The Dead Milkmen- Bitchin' Camaro