The Road less traveled: 1978 Ford Fairmont

In reply to CarMichaelangelo1 :

Thanks for the info! and I'll try not to derail your thread too much. My engine is a 2JZ-GE so the port spacing is a little different than your FrankenFord and seems to match the BMW stuff closely. I think a simple adapter plate might work for me. I do plan on boost, but probably a traditional metal plenum. I noticed the M3 ITB's seem to have their own built-in vacuum chamber, the stainless steel tube parallel to the fuel rail. Is this not a good place for a MAP sensor?

Anyway please keep sharing your work. This is definitely the best forum for this kind of build, and probably the best one in general.

This is a great thread!  I'm very sad that the 250 didn't work out long term, but the change is certainly understandable.  I too am learning the hard way that it's difficult and expensive to be different.  At the same time, the more people who tell me that an LS swap in any of my cars would be better, the more I want to puke.  I'm loving the story, and your skills are very admirable!  Thanks for sharing.

I am so very impressed with your stubborn determination to not quit, despite heart-breaking adversity.  You get an "A"!

You have been on quite an adventure with this car. Thank you for sharing. I look forward to seeing what you continue to do to this Fairmont.

- Sean

This thing is bonkers! I have enjoyed this build thread! Have you considered bringing it to Foxtoberfest in NC? It will get ALOT of attention!

Love this build, keep on it!

In reply to CarMichaelangelo1 :

You're equating a lack of comments with a lack of viewers. I wouldn't make that connection. I comment on other peoples' threads when I think I have something to add, otherwise I just sit here and watch and learn.

Yeah, I've been watching every post and enjoying immensely. Hate to see you not continue.

I'm interested in following this thread, there's no question you've got skills and I'd like it to continue.  With that said, to this point the work you've posted was by your admission already completed.   Suggestions / pointers from other members on finished work would be 20/20 hindsight and might come across as just being critical right?  I'm guessing there are a number of members following along waiting for you move into the next phase of the build and to throw a question or two out to the group.

A suggestion if you will:  This place is all about sharing and the relationships that come from that.  You've only posted here in the thread that you started.  It's great but replies here depend on who's looking, when it's at the top of the page, etc.   There's a lot of other build threads and other areas of the forums where questions get asked and great discussions happen.  Jump in to a couple of those as you feel it, this is a great group and there's a lot of good information to be had.

Totally agree with the above comments.  This has been a great read.  This is an involved community.  Perhaps commenting/sharing on other builds would be worthwhile.  This is an entertaining forum, plenty of knowledge on a variety of subjects.  Too bad, will miss this.

I've been looking at Recaros as well, didn't realize they were as reasonable as they are since I usually buy used at half that price and have to fix something. May as well buy new and not have to think about them again. I Look forward to your thoughts once they arrive.

Congrats on the new Recaro purchase. I've had great luck with getting used Recaros on Craigslist/FB Marketplace/Etc and then having them reupholstered. You mentioned you wanted to go custom anyway, right? As others said above, don't conflate lack of responses to a lack of interest. I've read every bit of this thread and really enjoy it. You're our kind of people here at GRM. 

I'm sad to hear about the issues with the Corbeaus. I've had two sets of them and I've never had an issue with either set. I think they're great seats for the money. Having said that, they will pale in comparison to a set of Recaros. I just couldn't afford a set of those when it was seat time for my truck. 

CarMichaelangelo1 said:

In hindsight:

 This forum evolves too quickly for anybody to waste their time posting updates. it literally takes hours to update a thread to the level where it is actually informative. With as many different things going on daily, once  you ignore updating the thread for a week, the thing disappears 4 pages back.

My review would be if you are fine talking to yourself, this is the place to post. Very little interaction from readers, and no clue as to who if any is looking in.

What a colossal waste of time and effort.

Yep, agreed.  It's why I killed a similar thread I started here.  Unless you treat it like a Twitter addict, it will disappear like money in a casino.  A bit of specified organization might add value to the thread system here.

From the other side they are super useful to see what worked for other people (or what was made to work) as well as being able to ask questions as you go. I understand either way since I'm horrible at maintaining a thread and was impressed with the depth you were going to

If you want to find a thread that has been dormant for a time all you have to do is hit the "follow" eyeball at the top of the page to keep track of it. I haven't posted on my Challenge build in two months but I can find the thread in 30 seconds.

Since Recaros have crept into the conversation, I bought these for $70........

Carry on , Gentlemen !

I've bookmarked this place by the "Latest Topics" link, which gives me all the new.  If I'm interested in a thread, when it's updated it shows up in "Latest Topics."

"Next Level" interest I click "Your Posts" and it pulls up the ones I'm interested enough in to mark it this way so I can find it again.

CarMichaelangelo1 said:

In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :

how do you know what to look for once it goes dormant? if you weren't following it from the jump, it's buried.

Then you have to use the search function until you find the thread you want. To find this I'd be using Fox body, or Fairmont, or even you're user name. Yes, it's not the easiest way to navigate the site but it works with some diligence.

One must share the spotlight.

Too bad. Pretty cool build. Not a great ego.

What happened to this thread? 

In reply to maschinenbau :

I guess we were voted not worthy.   One of his last posts was complaining that this thread had slipped to the 4th page in a few days time.   I dunno, I thought an active forum with a bunch of build threads was what is supposed to be going on here.  It's too bad, there was a lot to like there.

That's too bad. Not sure what he was hoping to get by posting here. The way I see it, build threads are for documentation, both for personal organization and to share knowledge with others. I like having all my build progress and thought process in one nice easily-consumable linear story. Like an online scrapbook. I often click through my past build threads the same way you'd look at an old family photo album.

To get my vanity dopamine fix (which is understandable after putting so many hours in a build), I post on social media or bring something crazy to a car show. Though I'll admit the little 'thumbs up' here help with that too.

maschinenbau said:

What happened to this thread? 

Oh, snap.  It appears that the OP has taken his chips and bounced.  It's one thing to stop using a forum.  It's another to remove all of your own content.  The OP made a point to mention the effort he put into making posts only to get no response.  If I'm upset about the effort:reward ratio, I generally walk away.  It required extra effort to remove the content with no potential for reward.  That seems like spite--at least pettiness.  

Oh, well.  I guess I'll have to find something else to enjoy reading.