johnunit
12-20-2011, 07:55 PM
I'll start by quoting myself from a post in Brown_Muscle's thread where I documented the issues I encountered in my exhaust install on the Crown Vic:
http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?45615-351-swap-headers-exhaust-questions&p=647650&viewfull=1#post647650
I bought a stove pipe kit from Hedman Headers. It was literally smooth-ended cut of exhaust tubing with a metal strip welded to one end, two hose clamps, and a cheap looking accordian stove pipe tube. That's effing it. For 65 bucks or so. Needless to say I was pissed, and anyone adding a second stove pipe setup should try to fab it up themselves. I am buying a green Prius tomorrow and putting the Hedman sticker that came with this item on it because fuck you Hedman Headers. No, seriously, I am.
I must admit I said this with tongue slightly less in cheek than someone who read it would have assumed.
Because the next day, I did indeed buy a green 2001 Toyota Prius. Before going into details about the car, let me explain myself:
1. I got a fantastic deal. I won't say the number, but suffice to say I could literally not find any driveable Prius for the same price anywhere in North America, and this came with a valid safety inspection certificate and zero problems.
2. I do a crap load of city driving, and generally my highway driving is done in light traffic. In short, my use for this car was somewhat optimal in terms of getting the most possible out of the hybrid system.
3. I do care about the environment to some degree (hence the pains taken to keep the Vic's factory emissions intact. Yeah yeah I know the batteries but I'm buying it second-hand and if the batteries ever need attention they'll either be refurbished or professionally recycled and replaced with self-refurbished batteries from a wrecked car.
4. I wanted as cheap to run in the long haul as possible, and my mother will drive it sometimes so that ruled out manual transmission, which essentiall rules out a diesel in the price range... leaving a hybrid.
It has CD, climate control, tape deck, decent speakers, power windows, locks, keyless entry, power mirrors, etc. I was surprised at how roomy it is. It doesn't technically have a pass-through to the trunk, but you can unbolt the seatback and have one relatively easily. This mean it fullfills one of my design briefs: it must be able to carry a Crown Vic bumper and a passenger. It sat my 6'3 friend comfortably behind the driver's seat, and can carry 3 abreast in the rear in a pinch. The turning circle is ridiculously tight, and it's really not much slower than the Vic pre-exhaust. So suffice to say, it's basic design is good for my needs.
It's got 170,000km (106,000 miles, give or take). It has zero body rust and only very minor surface rust on a couple parts of the floor. It's about as mint as you can expect an 11 year old commuter car to be. The only issue besides some stains appears to be a missing rear ashtray. The tires are at about 70% and look aggressive enough for winter use. It has aftermarket rims, but they look lightweight and they aren't stupid looking. It has new high-quality rotors, but is making an odd brake noise from the front driver's area. I'm not sure what's up with that but brakes are Corolla prices and the pedal feels fine. Annoyingly, after about 1000KM the fuel gauge died. It's reading zero, I'm guessing it's a sunken float. That'll cost me but it's something I never could have caught inspecting it, so I'm not too bothered. No real scratches or dents worth noting either. I actually had trouble finding any bargaining chips during the purchase process. But a motivated buyer and cash....
"Mileage so far?" you all ask. Well I've got an all-time best (based on the supposedly accurate dash readout) of 55ish mpg in mixed driving including HEAVY stop and go. That's the slightly odd thing about the prius, is it can easily get better mileage in stop and go as it does in highway traffic. It's more than a bit weird to realize taking the 16 lane highway isn't necessarily cheaper than the side streets. My all-time worst, over about 200KM, was around 43mpg. This was with about 7 starts, zero mind to driving efficiently, heat on, two passengers, cold day, etc. So far it looks like in somewhat conservative driving I'll average 48ish mpg over the winter. A trip from Scarborough, Ontario to Kingston, Ontario (googlemaps it for an idea) cost less than 31 bucks including sidetrips with a big buddy in the passenger seat. That trip would have cost over $100 in the Crown Vic. More to the point, that trip wouldn't have happened in the vic. Keep in mind that cost is at something near $4.50 a gallon.
here she is. She's not named yet.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/priusad1.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/priusad.jpg
I wish it was undercoated, but it is CLEAN considering it wasnt. And it will be soon.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius9-3.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius9-2.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius9-1.jpg
This is really the worst bit, and everything is solid.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius8.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius6.jpg
The standard 12V battery (which governs a lot of the same stuff it would on a normal car) was too small from the factory. It's been replaced with the Toyota dealer upgrade that was available through a TSB. Paperwork indicates everything beyond oil changes have been done at the local Toyota dealer, including some sort of preventative maintanence for the "traction"(hybrid) battery.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius5.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius1.jpg
just damned clean for an Ontario car with this much use
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius2.jpg
http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?45615-351-swap-headers-exhaust-questions&p=647650&viewfull=1#post647650
I bought a stove pipe kit from Hedman Headers. It was literally smooth-ended cut of exhaust tubing with a metal strip welded to one end, two hose clamps, and a cheap looking accordian stove pipe tube. That's effing it. For 65 bucks or so. Needless to say I was pissed, and anyone adding a second stove pipe setup should try to fab it up themselves. I am buying a green Prius tomorrow and putting the Hedman sticker that came with this item on it because fuck you Hedman Headers. No, seriously, I am.
I must admit I said this with tongue slightly less in cheek than someone who read it would have assumed.
Because the next day, I did indeed buy a green 2001 Toyota Prius. Before going into details about the car, let me explain myself:
1. I got a fantastic deal. I won't say the number, but suffice to say I could literally not find any driveable Prius for the same price anywhere in North America, and this came with a valid safety inspection certificate and zero problems.
2. I do a crap load of city driving, and generally my highway driving is done in light traffic. In short, my use for this car was somewhat optimal in terms of getting the most possible out of the hybrid system.
3. I do care about the environment to some degree (hence the pains taken to keep the Vic's factory emissions intact. Yeah yeah I know the batteries but I'm buying it second-hand and if the batteries ever need attention they'll either be refurbished or professionally recycled and replaced with self-refurbished batteries from a wrecked car.
4. I wanted as cheap to run in the long haul as possible, and my mother will drive it sometimes so that ruled out manual transmission, which essentiall rules out a diesel in the price range... leaving a hybrid.
It has CD, climate control, tape deck, decent speakers, power windows, locks, keyless entry, power mirrors, etc. I was surprised at how roomy it is. It doesn't technically have a pass-through to the trunk, but you can unbolt the seatback and have one relatively easily. This mean it fullfills one of my design briefs: it must be able to carry a Crown Vic bumper and a passenger. It sat my 6'3 friend comfortably behind the driver's seat, and can carry 3 abreast in the rear in a pinch. The turning circle is ridiculously tight, and it's really not much slower than the Vic pre-exhaust. So suffice to say, it's basic design is good for my needs.
It's got 170,000km (106,000 miles, give or take). It has zero body rust and only very minor surface rust on a couple parts of the floor. It's about as mint as you can expect an 11 year old commuter car to be. The only issue besides some stains appears to be a missing rear ashtray. The tires are at about 70% and look aggressive enough for winter use. It has aftermarket rims, but they look lightweight and they aren't stupid looking. It has new high-quality rotors, but is making an odd brake noise from the front driver's area. I'm not sure what's up with that but brakes are Corolla prices and the pedal feels fine. Annoyingly, after about 1000KM the fuel gauge died. It's reading zero, I'm guessing it's a sunken float. That'll cost me but it's something I never could have caught inspecting it, so I'm not too bothered. No real scratches or dents worth noting either. I actually had trouble finding any bargaining chips during the purchase process. But a motivated buyer and cash....
"Mileage so far?" you all ask. Well I've got an all-time best (based on the supposedly accurate dash readout) of 55ish mpg in mixed driving including HEAVY stop and go. That's the slightly odd thing about the prius, is it can easily get better mileage in stop and go as it does in highway traffic. It's more than a bit weird to realize taking the 16 lane highway isn't necessarily cheaper than the side streets. My all-time worst, over about 200KM, was around 43mpg. This was with about 7 starts, zero mind to driving efficiently, heat on, two passengers, cold day, etc. So far it looks like in somewhat conservative driving I'll average 48ish mpg over the winter. A trip from Scarborough, Ontario to Kingston, Ontario (googlemaps it for an idea) cost less than 31 bucks including sidetrips with a big buddy in the passenger seat. That trip would have cost over $100 in the Crown Vic. More to the point, that trip wouldn't have happened in the vic. Keep in mind that cost is at something near $4.50 a gallon.
here she is. She's not named yet.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/priusad1.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/priusad.jpg
I wish it was undercoated, but it is CLEAN considering it wasnt. And it will be soon.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius9-3.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius9-2.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius9-1.jpg
This is really the worst bit, and everything is solid.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius8.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius6.jpg
The standard 12V battery (which governs a lot of the same stuff it would on a normal car) was too small from the factory. It's been replaced with the Toyota dealer upgrade that was available through a TSB. Paperwork indicates everything beyond oil changes have been done at the local Toyota dealer, including some sort of preventative maintanence for the "traction"(hybrid) battery.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius5.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius1.jpg
just damned clean for an Ontario car with this much use
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s185/johnunit/prius2.jpg