From: John De Armond
X-Source: The Hotrod Mailing list
Date: Sep 1993
Subject: Interesting tidbit from the car show
X-Sequence: 6431

On the way home from the arts show (in which my wife was exhibiting *groan* :-),
I stopped by the regular monthly show  of the local rod club.  Nifty get-
together.  Mostly old-style rods but a few modern cars tossed in for good
measure.  A guy was there with his new Camaro with "Official Indy Pace
Car" slathered all over it.  Otherwise a nice looking convertable.
He had the hood up so I poked around a bit.  First thing that got my
attention was how far the engine was set back in the frame.  I could only
really see about the front 1/3 of the engine; the rest was back under
the cowl.  I was wondering what body parts had to come off for service :-)

Next thing I noticed was a thick plastic "wire loom" running from the
fire wall to the front of the engine.  It had writing in large letters
that said "Caution High Pressure Gasoline".  I did a double take and
saw that inside the loom were several runs of plastic gas line.  Looked
identical to the hard nylon stuff used in industrial instrumentation
called PolyFlow.  I don't know that I'm just real impressed with this
"feature".

Last thing I noticed as the light started to fail was the air
temperature sensor just kinda shoved through the wall of the plastic
intake snorkle.  Looked like it could fall out with little urging.

And I noted that Detroit has eliminated me as a potential customer yet
again.  Have all these car companies forgotten that some percentage of
the population is tall?  Grrrrr.

John

From: emory!spbted.gatech.edu!tim.drury
X-Source: The Hotrod Mailing list
Date: Sep 1993
Subject: RE: Interesting tidbit from the car show
X-Sequence: 6444

>>And I noted that Detroit has eliminated me as a potential customer yet
>>again.  Have all these car companies forgotten that some percentage of
>>the population is tall?  Grrrrr.
>>
>>John
>
>My father and I have the same problem.  I don't know what you consider tall
>but he's 6'2" (and he says shrinking :-)) and I'm 6'3".  We both can fit
>into the 82-92 F-bodies - but only with T-tops.  Thank god for tilt wheel
>and reclining seatbacks.  BTW have you ever tried a mustang 5.0?  The seats
>never seem to be just right.  I still love the car - last factory hotrod
>IMHO but good their are some weird compromises.
>
>[6'7", 300 lbs.  I'm BIG.  That's why I drive my 280Z and the
>old Fury.  JGD]


John, I cant help but laugh.  Recall a certain road trip in my CRX?  For those
who are confused, John looked pretty funny crammed into the passenger seat of
my 88 CRX.  Even funnier is when, while travelling down I-75 at about 75 my
hood came unlatched, flew up, and crushed my windshield.  It was very handy
have a 6'7", 300 lb guy _kick_ my hood back into shape (2 kicks to re-curve
the hood, and 1 good kick to _almost_permanently_ close it).

See John, I can laugh about it now... :-)

-tim


[That was the closest I've ever come - INCLUDING when the drunk hit me
head-on - to having to get out and shake out my pants.  We're driving
along, me with my knees up under my chin, talking typical hotrod stuff
when absolutely, completely without warning something exploded right in our
faces, the world went away and my lap was filled with glass.  There was
oh, maybe a 0.005" slit for Tim to look out of between the hood and the
cowl.  Nothing to describe the feeling of hurtling down the road at
take-me-to-jail speed and not be able to see a thing!  That hood wrapped
back to conform to the contour of what was left of the windshield.  This
thing came up so fast I didn't see it move before it hit the windshield.

What happened was the ^%*&^&*^ little bolt with a funky head on it
Honda (and most other mfrs) use these days for a hood latch backed out.
This is the bolt that has the spring that pops the hood when you release
the emergency latch.  This spring took up the slop as the bolt unscrewed,
hiding any indication of it loosening.  Air got under the hood when it finally
popped loose and ripped the safety latch loose.  (Ok Dave, dammit, no jokes
about 4 wheeled recycled beer cans!)

I do have to admit I got a certain satisfaction from kicking that hood
back into shape.  :-)  JGD]