Car-spotting thread

UtahJoe said:
im not sure I understand how this makes financial sense....heated seats are a mechanical device..they are either in the car, or not in the car...so when you tell me that this car im buying has this device in it that I now have to A. buy/pay for in the first place then B. pay a monthly fee for the right to use? This sounds like one of those trial balloons that companies float and when the get the negative reaction, cancel the idea...thus making people "feel" better for pretty much no reason.
Click to expand...

Sort of makes sense. Heated seats is seriously a $5 per car adder for the manufacturer. Go look up heated seat kits on Amazon that go under the cloth. There's really not much to them.

It's probably cheaper from a manufacturing perspective to just put the heated pad in every seat, same wiring in the harness, less individual part #s, supply chain differences, etc. It's why Honda doesn't sell crank windows in the US, they figured it's not worth making manual cranks, different door panels, dealing with the supply chain etc for the small % of low end buyers, ends up being cheaper to just have all electric windows and doors.

Then just program the output from the body module to work or not work. Lots of modern cars don't even have buttons for things like heated seats, it's through the infotainment system anyway. So it's not like there's additional switches being installed anymore.
 
Is this a manual fuel switch like what you find on garden equipment?IMG_20200831_170125.jpg

Was "working" on burnouts and the front end sounded funny. Need to find some one who knows these suspensions to check it out. Going to find the grease gun this weekend.IMG_20200901_192640.jpg
 
UtahJoe said:
im not sure I understand how this makes financial sense....heated seats are a mechanical device..they are either in the car, or not in the car...so when you tell me that this car im buying has this device in it that I now have to A. buy/pay for in the first place then B. pay a monthly fee for the right to use? This sounds like one of those trial balloons that companies float and when the get the negative reaction, cancel the idea...thus making people "feel" better for pretty much no reason.
Click to expand...
Yes, you pay for the hardware in the first place then you pay monthly for the right to use a piece of crappy code that controls the actual device you’ve already paid for. Same as it has been happening in the computer Industry for years, not surprisingly. The irony is that having all controlled by the computer they save a bunch of money on logic components and get to charge you extra for using special equipment to fix it in case that crap breaks...I would hold on tight to your mustang since you’re lucky enough to own one! The name of the game is making you depending on the subscription so they can keep making money out of nothing (a small sw modification that prevents the device from working if the subscription is not paid for). Not much dissimilar from a pusher giving freebies to his customer until they are addicted and will do anything for that dose. Can you tell this subject fires me up?
 
qclabrat said:
IMG_20200831_170125.jpg
Click to expand...

ATF dipstick/fill (do they still add fluid through there?) the symbol is supposed to be a gear in an oil bath, not the sun setting off huntington beach.
 
Santapez said:
Sort of makes sense. Heated seats is seriously a $5 per car adder for the manufacturer. Go look up heated seat kits on Amazon that go under the cloth. There's really not much to them.

It's probably cheaper from a manufacturing perspective to just put the heated pad in every seat, same wiring in the harness, less individual part #s, supply chain differences, etc. It's why Honda doesn't sell crank windows in the US, they figured it's not worth making manual cranks, different door panels, dealing with the supply chain etc for the small % of low end buyers, ends up being cheaper to just have all electric windows and doors.

Then just program the output from the body module to work or not work. Lots of modern cars don't even have buttons for things like heated seats, it's through the infotainment system anyway. So it's not like there's additional switches being installed anymore.
Click to expand...
No I totally get that aspect of it and the power window example is a good one...I meant more that this idea will become a turn off to your brand...unless of course all brands do this and were all fucked. Like as much as I would love a new bronco...if I walked into the dealer and I had to pay a monthly fee for heated seats, im out. You have lost me as a customer. And the car industry isnt the airline industry where we are forced to bend over to the same extent. There are TONS of choices out there. So I dont know...ill be surprised if this idea goes mainstream. BMW...I mean if @Carson wants to pay a fortune for a "german car" put together by hillbillys in south carolina, more power to him. 🙂


qclabrat said:
Is this a manual fuel switch like what you find on garden equipment?
Click to expand...
Walt, this is the best thing that has ever happened to this thread, thanks for keeping us in the loop. And what @Patrick said. Whats the noise you are hearing in the front? You now have metal on metal heim joints holding your front end together, metal on metal connections....these can get noisy...This is why the factories use all of those rubber bushings and stuff that people rip out. Factories want quiet more than max performance.
 
Dingo said:
Is there anyway to reduce friction using bearings? Maybe someone makes a kit. That would make it feel better.
Click to expand...
So I replaced these parts for now....should work alot better. Plus all of the bushings in the equalizer bar....this should make it a lot better for now at least.
1599048305530.png

1599048327814.png


So I called and talked the the people at modern driveline....They are something else. Guy on the phone is telling me to set up a dial indicator and measure around the whole face of my toploader to make sure its perfectly flat...bc it if isnt, it can load the TOB ever so slightly off center and it will fail.....Im like wait...so what if its off? Am I expected to totally disassemble the transmission case, place it in the milling machine I dont own and fly cut the top of it? this is absurd. This system is a piece of shit. They are going to send me a new TOB and ill sell of of this crap as a kit like I bought it.
 
UtahJoe said:
...if I walked into the dealer and I had to pay a monthly fee for heated seats, im out. You have lost me as a customer. And the car industry isnt the airline industry where we are forced to bend over to the same extent. There are TONS of choices out there. So I dont know...ill be surprised if this idea goes mainstream. BMW...I mean if @Carson wants to pay a fortune for a "german car" put together by hillbillys in south carolina, more power to him. 🙂
Click to expand...

Yeah, any brand that makes this choice is effectively a non-starter for me (sorry, but BMW was a non-starter after the 1970's 2002 models). So I'm back to try and convince my wife into a restomod next car...
 
Patrick said:
ATF dipstick/fill (do they still add fluid through there?) the symbol is supposed to be a gear in an oil bath, not the sun setting off huntington beach.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I was looking for that but the icons on it threw me off as well. I'll have my mechanic find out about the ATF filling process when I get the wheels replaced next week. Also noticed the radiator reservoir was empty, don't remember the last time I've had to put antifreeze in my cars. Lots of quirky locations for things, look at the ease of access for the oil filter. Interesting choice as the oil has to go through a series of braided lines in and out of the filter.IMG_20200820_201240.jpg
 
Another quirk with the car. Brake pedal is about 5inches higher than the gas. Was told by guys at a firebird forum to check the pedal arm height as it may be in the longer position. But appears to already be in the lower hole. IMG_20200826_115548.jpgIMG_20200826_143318.jpg
 
Another guy was kind enough to send me this to check, basically shortening the booster rod. I'm fluent in Latin, but not this... please translate
I'm planning to get a matching billet arm and pedal to the gas, so maybe the replacement will resolve the pedal height differentials?

1599053345270.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom