Car cruise in the Detroit area

[PursuitSpecial]

Ouch, I feel for you Dave. That's one jerk you'll have to save your exhaust pipe (oh... I mean cell phone camera) for.

Makes me wonder too if he thought you had cash and cut your radiator hose or something. Like the others have said, I would not have left the vehicle alone and am disgusted no one thought to get a picture or license plate number.

Would you at least be willing to turn it into insurance? This would assume you had comprehensive coverage or possibly uninsured motorist coverage might cover it. I'm not sure if it would classify as hit and run or not, but there are big penalties for that I think.

[the armourer]

I did quite a few repairs today. I got the radiator hose swapped out and replaced the damaged/missing spark plug wires. I was able to splice some of the cut wires, but there are still some that I'm not sure what wires they should be spliced to. Replacing the trans coolant line should be easy, and I guess I'll just do a process of elimination with the wires. The good news is that the Machine turned over no problem. I didn't try it long enough to see if it would actually start, though. I'm hesitant to do that with so many of the wires apart.

Can anyone identify this hose/tube? You can see where the prick bent it and I tried to put it back in shape.



HUMVEE Driver

Judging from the o-ring ends and the diameter, it looks like a transmission cooling line. Ford used those funky quick-disconnect ends that took a special tool. Just my guess, but I'm a Mopar guy.

[HUMVEE Driver]

Well I've been fixing/replacing everything I could. Yesterday I finished doing what I could, and while it cranks and cranks, it won't even sputter. So it's something electrical. There are still some wires that have to be figured out, and I'm going to have to have it towed somewhere or pay someone to come out to the Machine. What a nightmare.

I finally got in touch with the guy who took some pics of the damage.

First, here I am enjoying the cruise:





Wires on the left side that were pulled off. The wires on the right go to the coil (fixed) and I figured out where the wires in the middle go (fixed). The bundle of wires on the left: no idea.


Trans coolant line he broke (fixed).


Spark plug wire, random wires, and a tube that got ripped off. I have the spark plug wires replaced. The one goes to the vacuum valve or something, and I have that back in place. The pair of wires, don't know, and the copper tube, don't know.


The right side; my main concern here is are the wires below the dipstick. They go to some electrical plug, no idea which one.


Brake light wires, not fixed yet but shouldn't be any big deal.


More of the brake light wires pulled off. The rest of the wires here don't do anything (they are from the tach which I don't have hooked up). Small consolation.


More wires and I don't know where they go. He took off the breather cap (fixed) and the cable on the right is the throttle cable (fixed).


Another look at the brake wires.


Another look at the right side, with the replacement hose I bought that day. You can see the coolant everywhere and more of the ripped wires.


So that's where it stands (sits) right now. I have an event to go to in a few weeks, then two more car cruises in August. Then DragonCon in Septemeber and Wasteland Weekend in October. I hope I can get the Machine up and running.

This sucks.

HUMVEE Driver

[Nightwalker]

This is some serious damage. This must have taken the f*cker a lot of time.
It's really unbelievable that no one, or even a couple of people, tried to stop him. Or at least film/photograph it.

[Gasoline]

You're probably feeling a bit of despair over the truck at the moment Dave. That is absolutely understandable. It angers me further seeing the extent of the damage and all of the "innocent bystanders" who watched.
I've been thinking about the incident for a couple of weeks.
What occured was a malicious act and you cannot go back and change what happened (but if you do discover time travel, please let me know)
However, there are some positive ways to look at it.
The lord humongous' vehicle is a battle truck. It is built for violence and it has now been baptised in violence. You can now proudly call it a roadwar machine.
It may cost you a few hundred dollars for an auto electrician to correct the wiring but it is a pill you may have to swallow. Then the king of the road will be back on it causing fear in the hearts of all who gaze upon its brutality.
These vehicles cost money to build and run and you cannot expect to get that money back. Fuel, tyres, parts all cost and its something we have to live with. It would be best to view this situation in the same way, mate.

Dave, while the car is 2% damaged, it is still 98% complete.
My wife always reminds me that I spend too much time screwing my face up at the little things on my car that I want to fix, instead of marvelling at and enjoying the 98% that I am happy with.

Just look at your fantastic photo for inspiration.

HUMVEE Driver

[the armourer]

You're probably feeling a bit of despair over the truck at the moment Dave. That is absolutely understandable. It angers me further seeing the extent of the damage and all of the "innocent bystanders" who watched.
I've been thinking about the incident for a couple of weeks.
What occured was a malicious act and you cannot go back and change what happened (but if you do discover time travel, please let me know)
However, there are some positive ways to look at it.
The lord humongous' vehicle is a battle truck. It is built for violence and it has now been baptised in violence. You can now proudly call it a roadwar machine.
It may cost you a few hundred dollars for an auto electrician to correct the wiring but it is a pill you may have to swallow. Then the king of the road will be back on it causing fear in the hearts of all who gaze upon its brutality.
These vehicles cost money to build and run and you cannot expect to get that money back. Fuel, tyres, parts all cost and its something we have to live with. It would be best to view this situation in the same way, mate.

Dave, while the car is 2% damaged, it is still 98% complete.
My wife always reminds me that I spend too much time screwing my face up at the little things on my car that I want to fix, instead of marvelling at and enjoying the 98% that I am happy with.

Just look at your fantastic photo for inspiration.

HUMVEE Driver

Dave, Brad is correct, this is a minor set-back. Any good automotive electrical shop can get the wiring straightened out. Oh, and check your oil too. Since he took off the filler cap, who knows what he may have poured in there. An oil change is cheaper then a engine rebuild. Trust me on this. I just spoke with a Ford guy I know, 'Dearborn Dave' Farley, one of the best wrench-turners I know, and I described the pics to him. You were correct, the round plug is ignition-related. Part of the early '80's DuraSpark set-ups. The wire with the 90 degree push-on connector is either water temp or oil pressure. The tube is still a mystery, but he said it sounds like a fuel transfer tube off the Holley carb. I couldn't tell how long it is since there really isn't much in the pic to provide a sense of scale. Check the driver's side of the carb and see if anything is missing.

You have been an inspiration in our little community. I'd love to see that beast rolling by in traffic. It just exudes fear and brutality. It is truly a mobile throne for the warlord of the wastelands. The dirtbag must have felt threatened by the in your face boldness of the machine. Getting it back out on the streets is like telling that jack-ass to "F#*k off!". Learn from what this incident has taught you. Never leave the machine unattended, and always travel with a friend. I'm still predicting you will see him again.

[Zarana-X]

Holy Crap! I've been out of sorts for awhile and havn't been keeping up with things, but seeing this vandalism makes me fume. That cunt probably wan't there for the cruise, just happened to be at the shop. There is a gentleman's agreement amongst most car enthusiasts, and that is you don't fuck with another man's vehicle! This is generally only broken by junkies, gangsters, mental defectives, and outsiders.

Anyways about the repairs: the tube? whats it smell like? It doesn't look like a pressure line, you can probably replace it with tubing cut to length and flare the ends. (once you figure out where it went).
I also second checking all fluids; gas, oil, and such for contaminents.
Your vehicle is carburated, and has alot of wiring for a stripped down vehicle. I would guess alot of that wiring goes nowhere now. (befriend an electrician ).

Nostalgia time: I grew up with my dad having a '33 Ford truck hot rod with no side covers, and my first "car" was a '64 baja bug. Assholes were always messing with stuff. You just can't leave a vehicle with an exposed engine unattended. Maybe get a nice big snake to hang out on the warm engine.

Oh, and I have a theory about why noone tried to stop the guy:

Crackhead with a knife...

[the armourer]

Oh, and I have a theory about why noone tried to stop the guy:

The dirtbag was a coward, otherwise he would have started something physical while Dave was present. He prob used the FR-8 bayonet as a tool to do the vandalism and just kept it as a souveneer. People standing around watching and not doing anything is nothing new, they just don't want to get involved. Just another low-octane, low-life type.

[mack tanker]

The tube looks like the PCV pipe from the oil cap to the intake manifold
If the engine has spark it still will not fire with that big of a vac leak
You will get it fixed and this chicken shit will turn up
Good luck !!!

[the armourer]

The tube looks like the PCV pipe from the oil cap to the intake manifold
If the engine has spark it still will not fire with that big of a vac leak
You will get it fixed and this chicken shit will turn up
Good luck !!!

I didn't think about that. That could be where the tube goes. If that were a Mopar engine, this mystery would be a slam dunk. But Ford seems to do things differently then the other marques.

And who else thinks it'd be cool to see the chicken shit coward tied to the prisoner bars on the front of the machine? Payback is a bitch.