I can scrap without a truck! See...?

While driving home the other day, I see a fellow throwing some matresses and a broken bed frame on the curb. I circle around the block to find the man had left (he appeared to be a landlord, and the stuff must have been left in the garage). Anyway, I realize that there is a free 50 cents or so laying there, however too big for my small car. Wait, I have two ratchet straps, my car looks like a paint bomb exploded over it, and I don't have tooooo far to go...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnraxl_...in/photostream

I don't care if it's worth 50 cents. Money is money.

never thought of that. I'd have to punch a couple holes in the roof, and u-bolt the frame on. Lol. Actually I can fit quite a bit in the car. Thats why I had the straps, so I can strap the hatch down with an oversized load. I save crap like that up, in the little area to the left in the pic, and borrow my neighbors trailer and parents SUV. I can't afford a truck lol

Hey what a cool idea, 4 posts connected to the bumpers & 4 more clamps connecting to the rain groove over the doors.

I see a lot of those bedframes here in NZ too.

You've got to work with what you've got! Nice adapting to the situation there too. I have a similar car (a 1990 Escort GT) that has a big hatch like that too. With the seats laid down it fits about anything a small pickup would. I've had to strap the hatch down too! Whatever works!

i like the colors, actually looks good

the roof of your car will carry more than you might think. aquire two landscaping timbers . cut them long enough to reach across the structural part of the roof. fold four pieces of card board to ride inbetween the timbers and the roof. drill one inch holes on the ends and run muletape through ,long enough to go inside the car. secure loops with a truckers knot extra tight ( with doors open so you dont have to bo and luke duke it). also drill three eights holes through the timbers close to the ends so you can run eyelets through. these are so you can tie the load down. this system is quick release , and much more robust than anything you could buy.

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Originally Posted by cyclescrapper

the roof of your car will carry more than you might think. aquire two landscaping timbers . cut them long enough to reach across the structural part of the roof. fold four pieces of card board to ride inbetween the timbers and the roof. drill one inch holes on the ends and run muletape through ,long enough to go inside the car. secure loops with a truckers knot extra tight ( with doors open so you dont have to bo and luke duke it). also drill three eights holes through the timbers close to the ends so you can run eyelets through. these are so you can tie the load down. this system is quick release , and much more robust than anything you could buy.

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Thats a really good idea...bad part is the cars on it's last leg...it needs $500 worth of steering/suspension work (thats just parts, at discount) that I can't afford to do. I'm getting iffy about driving it, much less hauling with it anymore

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Originally Posted by bluemeate

i like the colors, actually looks good

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The car is supposed to be light blue...idiot that had it before me spray painted it, cop pulled ME over saying it looked suspicious, that I "comitted a crime and was trying to hide the car." So I got a can of paint stripper and a garden hose. Made it that far and gave up.

haha thats why they have registration papers.
around here those sell like hotcakes for alot regardless of work needed.street racing scene.

Truck?? We don't need no stinkin' truck!! I scrapped for years with my 78 Datsun B-210 hatchback, tore out all the seats except the drivers. I had a heavy duty eyebolt in the middle of the passengers floor ( reinforced with heavy 3" washers") that I hooked a come-along onto with a 6' microlam for a ramp and I would suck engines into the back. The roof has a 60's station wagon half rack attached. I pushed that to 1500lbs plus many,many times. I also got rid of the rear hatch cylinders so I could open the hatch 2X wider to accommodate appliances. Paid $50 for the car and drove it for 4 years non stop. A 4 by 4 block on the rear end helped it from bottoming the suspension out. I killed 2 rear ends and 1 clutch and the interior was an oily hell. 35 mpg minimum. I made many thousands of dollars out of it. Sold it for scrap for $200.Use what ya got and make $$ ( and save the world and all that good stuff!!)

Area67, you're my hero. Lol.

Thanks, I have toughed out some hard times...Front wheel drive cars are not the best scapmobiles since the rear suspensions are not designed for overloads..they can burn up the rear bearings fast. Watch your manufacturers weight limits on those. A rear wheel drive 4 banger can take lots of abuse..Pinto's, old Datsuns, etc. Of course these are hard to find these days. I also used a 69 VW Bug that got hit hard on the passenger side, the pan was fine.. so I removed the door and cut out the quarter to the fender, then I made a 1 piece 1/2 moon shaped door that folded down ( instant ramp) out of 3/4" plywood covered with galvanized tin. It was a great little hauler, but after 1 year it got hit again, that was the end of that scrapmoblie. Ford Escorts can take quite a beating and sometimes you can get wagons that have some life left for a few hundred $$. Make that car earn its keep and insurance!!

I am trying to make my Nissan Quest earn its keep. It recently developed a rough idle and not sure where to start with it. Plugs? MAF? Filter? Sensor? Can't afford a mechanic and don't want to toss money at random stuff to chase the problem out.

Cool idea on the Bug, making a ramp for it.

Try putting a can of carb. cleaner (liquid form Gumout etc..not heat, carb. cleaner) in with your next fill up, the refineries are dumping toxic waste into the gas as "detergent" and it is fouling the injectors, seen it about 10 times in the last year. Also check your oxygen sensor, not too pricey of a replacement, look at air filter..unless it is really bad probably not the problem. Also replace fuel filter. Get on Nissan forums to help with diagnosis..

plugs and wires are cheap.
maf is super easy to clean as well.
once or twice a year i use seafoam on all my vehicles. last month i did my car which ive neglected for a good 2 years. biggest smoke show ever! was awesome.(when used properly u see a smoke show, its basically all the deposits burning off, u see it work)

When I still had my CB radio repair shop, one of my good customers was a small fleet of refinery trucks that ran from East Chicago/Gary to Ft Wayne. The drivers told me that they would test the fuel load for water, there is an allowable amount of water in all the fuel. And if the truck load was low on moisture content they would throw the garden hose in the top and pump a few hundred lbs. of water in. Now you know what your fighting, H2O, get some red bottles of Heat and add at least 2 if you think it's moisture. We have one station that if you use their gas, your "check engine" light will pop on every time, and out comes the Heat to cure it!

Again to area67...I'm not too concerned about the REAR suspension...it's the front I'm worried about! Right now it needs upper and lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rods (the passenger side inner is about ready to snap), and both CV shafts. May not sound bad, but even at discount price the parts were close to $300, and that would mean tieing up my car for a few days with no alternative transportation. I know the rear trailing arm bushings are (beyond) shot...but they've been like that since I bought it and just make for hard bumps. I can't get myself to scrap it, but I can't afford to fix it. Yay.

I have been there many times, all I can say is drive slowly if you have a load. This increases safety by a large margin. I would keep it at 40mph or less and find routes that avoid expressways. I have had to "blow the load" on some scapmobiles..when they get too bad just load em' up as heavy as you can and leave the whole mess on the scale, take the cash and get the lowest mileage vehicle you can. Remember used cars are "the miles left in the car", I look for non fatal body damage and low miles, few people will drive stuff like that. I am not proud, I get it done and put the cash in my pocket, I even got to have some fun along the way. There are some safety concerns about what you describe,so take it easy..it may be more cost effective to drive as is till the bitter end and keep you eyes open.