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For me it has to be an orange Volvo/DAF 55. I have a fetish for oddball cars. It showed up in a scrapyard one day and I said I have to save that. I never thought about why the owner scrapped it. I loved the belt drive CVT. The transmission was super weird and the car would go as fast in reverse as it would forward. I tried it once. Going 60 mph backwards is the scariest thing I ever did. I loved the shape of the car so I planned to fit a 2.0 pinto and type 9 gearbox along with an atlas back axle. There was no space to widen the transmission tunnel, only room for 2 pedals on the floor. Hands down the most stupid car I ever bought.

VID-20190625-WA0009.mp4

If I was rich as fek then I would always go a new car. Regardless of how well kept it is, it's just never like a new car. Oh and sell it at 50k kms amd get another new one. But since that is never going to happen.!!! P.S : I LOVE depreciation makes me able to buy cars which were close to half a million DHS new now for literally peanuts. But it is an effort more than $$$$ to keep them going well.

After arriving in Saudi Arabia and looking for a fun car to drive that i could also take to the desert, I went shopping around and came across a 2008 FJ Cruiser in voodoo blue with the roof rack, stereo upgrade, cold air intake, and hardly a scratch. Mileage was a bit high at around 200,000 kms but it was the best looking FJ in the area after weeks of searching. Fast forward a few weeks when I go into a small patch of desert near to the compound where I’m living and get stuck immediately, although i deflated and ASSUMED this was a permanent 4x4. Well, this US model was a 2WD.... hence the low selling price 😔😔 Kept it another year and then left Saudi, but that was a hard lesson learned not to be falling in love too quickly and hasty. But the car itself was fantastic as pretty fast.

For me it was two entry model cars that I had purchased. The first was a Chevrolet Optra bought brand new from the showroom. The car expired just after 3 years of usage. Everything on the car was falling apart and finally scrapped the vehicle just after the loan got over. The next and the biggest mistake was trusting a Nissan. I bought two brand new Sentra from the showroom and both of the CVT gearboxes failed like clockwise precision which I recently had to rebuild. Lesson learnt is that when it comes to entry level cars it's better to go with a trustable brand like Toyota or Honda as the cars made at this segment are with cheap material. And yes of course, stay away from CVT.

Most stupid car I ever owned was a 2001 GCC specs. Jeep Cherokee 150k kms on the clock, well maintained and taken care and loved to death by a British expat lady since new. I sold it the first chance I had after 3 -6 months of owning it,Can't even remember how long I owned it since I'm trying to erase that part of my life. And was probably the only car I was happy to see go.

Actually i really like this Jeep. It was comfortable, good ac, lots of space good for camping and bbq. But at the end it is just 6000AED car. If repairing it will cost more than 2000AED better sell it for cheap and look for something else. Or i dont know actually what to do now. Because my history with old Jeeps not that good. I was keep repairing my old cherokee always with mopar parts but it never became good. I am afraid i will pay good money repair it than after one month another problem will come up.

Shit amona koyaim I cant give you a price but speak to Dexol in Al Quoz. Dexol Al Quoz ديكسول القوز 10 Street, Community 369, Al Quoz Industrial Area 4 - Dubai 04 380 4411 https://goo.gl/maps/y4pjQJEX3xDrAxQ19 They have been doing all my transmission work for 4 years. If it’s a small problem they will charge you small but if it’s a big problem they will charge accordingly. They have never ever let me down and they have never ripped me off. I don’t know how much a transmission is from scrap but I would rather have a rebuilt one from these guys than buy a second hand one that you don’t know how long it will last. If you love your car, repair what you have, then you know what you have.

The whole deal with off roading is to have as much ground clearance as possible and specially when it comes to rock crawling to protect the underbelly and exposed parts specially engine and trans pans and diffs. And have less things sticking out of the bottom to get hung up on. Good well thought out 4x4s have both their diffs in the same line front and back and to one side so if one needs to go over an obstacle like a rock in tye road they can go over it from the side where they know the diffs are not hanging down. This thing totally defeats the purpose.

I think I’ve been in that guys garage before

I have made 2 mistakes in my life. My Renault Megan's, which I bought due to my great experience with a Renault Clio. Even paid a bit more to get with warranty from the dealer, but every service I was handed a bill which was at least 4 times to cost of the service to some failure not covered by warranty. My second mistake was my 2nd Jeep Commander which I got with my great experience with the first one. However as the story unfolded the 2nd one was an American Import which kept giving me lot of issues and within an year had to sell it for peanuts as the Oman market closed any cars over 10 years old. Hard lessons learned in both cases.

Well since you already paid for registration, insurance and plus have bought oil, filter etc etc. Just flush and refill the filter and drive it for another year. Even if it totally breaks down you can still sell it as scrap or 1000-1200 and get some money back instead of selling now for 2. Also no harm in checking how much a used transmission and replacement cost. . Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!

Could be a sticky caliper I had a customer come in with a 12 explorer he had changed the rear pads like 2 months ago and again I was saying him that you need the rear pads upon good examination the right ones were full new but because of sticking the left ones had finished so instead of fixing the issue he went and brought another pair of pads but changed only the ones which were affected...not my circus not my monkeys...

If I share my honestly, it will create a chaos here. For the sake of clarity, define stupid.

Anyone who buys a new car must be a special type of mental but if it wasn’t for these people there would be no second hand market. If people want to buy new cars I say let them. But don’t fall into the warranty trap. I posted a thread on here before. There is no legal obligation to stick to the dealer for servicing. It’s a scare sales pitch. If the dealer Denys warranty, there are ways where Dubai government will help you. Check manufacturer regulations. Know the rules. Just say hey I’m sending an email to Japan and most dealers will fall to their knees because they are scared of losing the agency. Know your rights

At least he doesn’t know how to use a spanner in the wrong place !

Anyone knows good transmission rebuild shop? And any idea about what can be the cost?

Yeah, it’s not everyone who can say they have 2 front diffs. But this setup was chosen because it’s supposedly the strongest setup GM ever built. I don’t know. I build race cars. This 4x4 stuff is still new to me. I’ll try to get some more information on it. I was told all the tech specs a couple of months ago but most of it went in one ear and out the other, I was just too mindblown to listen. I have too much stuff I’m supposed to remember. If I didn’t write it all down in my diary so I could check back I’d be chevered.

Yup pretty much what I was expecting, just for bragging rights as the ground clearance is worse than a regular setup with more of an exposed softbelly with those droopy twin shafts just waiting to get smacked on a rock and breaking. But thanks for the pic!

It's a mind bender

@desertdude https://filesend.jp/spJvip Sorry for the link but I can’t post pics for some reason. I can’t post too many pics or it will spoil the big reveal when it’s finished but you should be able to see 2 diffs in the front on independent suspension.

Well he's more talented than a lot of grease monkeys Ive seen!!!

Electric power steering is cool. I used to build a lot of rally cars, old 70s/80s stuff. Ford Escorts and the like. One of the first mods I always done was swap the steering column for one from an Opel corsa. Automatic electric power steering conversion. Once you modified it to fit you just had to run 2 wires to the computer to make it work. No pump sucking your horsepower, no pipes to leak. Turns it into a new car.

Yeah probably that new vehicles mostly have variable steering power which make the steering super light when slow ans gets heavier as speed increases. And most newer cars have gotten rid of the old hydraulic type of steering assist all toghter. And now driven by a motor instead.

It’s a super wide transfer case with 2 propshafts running to the front. Both front wheels have their own differentials and their own independent suspension setup. I don’t know how to explain it simpler, my brain was melted first time I seen it too. It’s not portal axles or floating axles, it’s something you have never seen before. You’re welcome to come and see it or wait a couple of days and I’ll post pictures.

No, each front wheel actually has it’s own separate differential. Would I lie to you? 😂 Huge transfer box with 2 props running to the front. It’s a super rare weird setup from a GM panel van that was only built for 2 years. Our USA friends like this setup because it’s supposed the strongest setup GM ever built. I’m going to Oman tomorrow but I’ll post some pics when I get back.

Yes I still like to get my hands dirty. Car shows is only part of it. We still have to repair cars to pay for all the crazy builds we do. You should drop into the shop some day and have a look. I know you like jeeps. We’re building a stupid crazy SWB wrangler rock crawler at the minute. Small block Chevy, lengthened and widened chassis, 48” tyres, air ride suspension, 3 differentials, yes 3, each front wheel has its own differential. If you’re into engineering the front suspension setup will blow your mind. Stupid crazy car.

Thanks to the fantastic service of @shadow79 and Jalil, all bushings are replaced and I’ll be joining in tonight !