Another guy with another truck and another story.

[The Underdog]

Well, I'm late to this party, for sure.

I got my first Mighty Max when I was 16. I'm 38 now. It was an 87 cobalt blue metallic, stick shift 2.0 carby. Drove that for a while then gave it back to my dad when I went in the army. Got another one 3 years later. Black 90 stick shift fuel injected. I still have it. Been a long ride. Painted it, supercharged it, crashed it, fixed it, overheated it and lost the head, and now it's sitting. Lots of sentimental value there, but life gets in the way. Other hobbies take over. Now she needs a new head, and one of the bores is so rusty that the piston won't go past a certain point. I have too many projects in my life and I've reached that age where you start to really realize you're getting older fast. I don't know what's in store for my trusted friend of 17 years but it hurts watching it slowly die in my driveway.

Anyone here in the same boat? Words of encouragement? Similar tale of woe?

[noahwins]

supercharged it

Go on...

[pennyman1]

that truck can be repaired - the burning question is - how did you supercharge it, and how about pics? Welcome to the forum. We can help with any of the issues you have with it.

[BradMph]

Some are old here too and you will get past that thinking your getting older stuff as soon as you start to get your truck running again. Wish I was in that supercharger boat though.

I'm with these guys here also on the pictures. We like pictures here very much.

Welcome to the forum also.

[The Underdog]

The supercharger story...

Basically it all started when I found a special short nose drive on Ebay for the Eaton M90 that they used those Buick Park Avenue Ultra's and Pontiac Grand Prix's with the supercharged 3800. I don't know who made it or why but it made that supercharger package just small enough to fit in the engine bay. A friend of mine cooked up some (flimsy ass) brackets to hold it above the exhaust manifold and a sheet-metal "doghouse" to catch the air from the outlet. Because of how things are laid out, I had to run the supercharger upside down but luckily it didn't care about that.
I started out with just the supercharger and a rising rate fuel pressure regulator. Made the main pulley out of a first gen truck's stamped steel pulley with a cadillac smog pump 6-rib with the middle cut out of it welded on to the front of that. That setup broke off twice at the crank hub area and I ended up having a machine shop make me a custom aluminum crank pulley, which held up fine. Later on, I went to a smaller pulley on the blower, added a gigantic volvo intercooler that was just as big as the radiator, turbo eclipse injectors, electric fan, bigger mass air meter off a galant vr4 or something and an Apexi Super AFC. Then there was a pacesetter shorty header followed by a home made 2.5" exhaust with dual magnaflow mufflers running one after the other (not a typo, I wanted it quiet, lol), centerforce clutch, GM intake air temp sensor plumbed in after the intercooler to read actual intake temps. The resistance curves were different between the gm sensor and the mitsubishi one but it still improved driveability by putting the overall temp trends in a more accurate ballpark than they were.
It dynoed at 150 to the wheels at one point when it wasn't in its best state of tune. Hell, the state of tune was never any better than "seat of the pants." It probably could have made 100 more hp with proper mixture and ignition control but I wasn't willing to spend the extra money to achieve all that. It was still way faster than the stock truck and the blower, being a positive displacement type and having a sheetmetal doghouse covering the business end of it instead of an engine block, made ridiculous F1 car noises any time you revved it. I started using that instead of the horn, lol.
Then came divorce and unemployment and a string of bad relationships that took up all my time. Plus I had gotten into autocross, for which a car works way better than a truck.
I don't think I'd actually sat and reflected on all of this until just now. And this is just the supercharger part... There was also a 94 bumper conversion, camaro bucket seats, father-reunites-with-estranged-son paint job, subsequent crash followed by junkyard front clip replacement. Man, I'm up at midnight thinking about this and I have to work tomorrow... Hope it turns out to be an easy day.

[noahwins]

What happened to the supercharger gear? Do you have any pics of the setup?

[geezer101]

The Underdog taking up the flag for the underdog... we're hearing ya. Most of us wish we were more resource rich to pursue our interests and yeah, it sucks how life gets in the way while you're doing other things. However, there's a good chance that you'll be able to get the underdog back on the road in time and with a bit of help and advice - that's what the site is all about. Sharing our acts of lunacy . Got pics? Oh, and welcome aboard!

[The Underdog]

I can't seem to find any of my good pictures. Ones I took after the paint job when it was looking mint but here's some from after the crash and rebuild when I took it to it's one and only autocross. The transmission in my race car (a dodge stratus) had blown itself to pieces and I was waiting on another one.

[The Underdog]

You can kinda make out the supercharger setup. Man look at all that hair I had!

[The Underdog]

Well, so much for trying to insert a video... Here's the youtube link. Sorry about any ads that might pop up. I'm trying to become a millionaire from posting youtube videos.

http://youtu.be/cBXWhoAmZj8

[The Underdog]

I even found some horrible cell phone video of the event... Thanks for the welcome guys. Having someone to talk to about this part of my life might actually push me to do the right thing and resurrect it.

[BradMph]

It's great to get new members with great new stuff and ideas, just an awesome story underdog except for the divorce BS. Got your video lined up for you. If you want to embed, use the little film strip icon in the above menu when creating a post or what not. If your going to restart a build...be sure to start a new thread just for your build so we can check in and watch. Your welcome to check out every inch of this place.

Luv the video, tool box in the back and all!

[Merrill]

I'm not gonna lie... that's pretty dope lol.

[noahwins]

That whine.

[crvtec90]

Dude u need to fix your truck! If life allows anyhow. Its probably a similar story for most owners of these trucks. Member buys truck....truck keeps breaking....member keeps fixing it. U on the other hand have a supercharger which makes for a nice twist to the story.

[LSR Mike]

Hmmm. 2 engines, and 2 rebuilds, some radical parts, break everything between the radiator and rear end... yeah, 'bout right.

[BradMph]

I'm pretty sure 90% of us have spent more money then our trucks are worth. Damn trucks get their hooks in ya and won't let go. &^%$#

[thehive]

^^^^^^what he said!! i've spent more money on this thing here and there than i want to admit but it still makes me smile from ear to ear each time i look at it lol

[pennyman1]

I have no idea what you are talking about...

[tink]

Im at the opposite side of 40 and sayeth "save it" and save yourself!!! Every vehicle is just different flavors of problems, that's a mighty tasty looking set of problems you got there.

Want quieter? add some more insulation, want comfy? wire in power seats. I mean really you got the basics and THEN some super whipped cream and nuts topping already right there!!!

I have no idea what you are talking about...

he had me at power rear window... pffft, so tired of throwing out my shoulder to open that dang window.

[The Underdog]

Im at the opposite side of 40 and sayeth "save it" and save yourself!!! Every vehicle is just different flavors of problems, that's a mighty tasty looking set of problems you got there.

Want quieter? add some more insulation, want comfy? wire in power seats. I mean really you got the basics and THEN some super whipped cream and nuts topping already right there!!!



he had me at power rear window... pffft, so tired of throwing out my shoulder to open that dang window.

I know, man. I know. I've got so much else going on, though. I got into the hobby of autocrossing and decided to get a Mazda RX-8, which is as much of a maintenance nightmare brand new as this truck is at 25 years old. 3 engines in 90,000 miles. I've also got a kitchen remodeling project that's into year two. I've got a motorcycle now. I've got a live-in girlfriend who's 1.5 years into starting her own business. She has a motorcycle too. It's a lot of shit to deal with and I just want out from under some if it.

[The Underdog]

Hi guys. Been a while since I was on here last. I've been doing a lot of thinking and a couple of things have happened in my life (Girlfriend started her own business, a couple of people have died, I went to a foreign country, etc. You know, all that life-changing stuff) and I've decided I need to move on. I currently have 4 vehicles. This truck has not been operational in several years. It's been replaced by one that is, I want my driveway space back, I want to quit paying to keep it registered, I want to quit paying insurance on it.

I have a bunch of mixed emotions about this but, at some point, you just have to move on. I don't have the money or time to raise my truck from the ashes like a phoenix so I'm letting go. That much I'm sure about. Maybe it would be different if I was the type to go to shows, meets, and all that but I'm not. I am overwhelmed by how complicated my life has become and it's time to start putting in work to simplify.

Now that I've said that, I'd like some opinions on how you guys think I should go about it. Option 1 is Crazy Ray's. They'll give me $400 if I drag it down there for them. Option 2 is try to sell it as a roller but non-runner on here or ebay or craigslist. Option 3 is part it out on here. I'm leaning toward the part out just because I wouldn't want to give good parts to a junk yard where they might go to waste if nobody knows it's there. What do you guys think? Is there really a market for a part-out or would it be a waste of time?

[noahwins]

Sorry to see you go.

The rule of thumb I've heard is a vehicle is worth about 150% of what you could get for it sold as a used vehicle to a private party (on Craigslist for instance) if you choose to part out and then sell it for scrap. The catch is this can take a loooooong time.

You could cut your losses the most by parting it out, but it will be the slowest option.
You could get robbed by Crazy Ray and only get $400 for a truck that's likely worth significantly more than that, but it would be over and done with tomorrow.
Or you could sell it on Craigslist, which splits the difference between time investment and cash you could get.

It's up to you but a good first step is to see what you have. Post pics. What are the pros and cons of the truck? You might have something someone wants.

EDIT: Holy crap, I forgot you're the guy with the supercharger set up! That sort of changes everything. Please do not go to Crazy Ray's and junk it! You have something pretty special...

[pennyman1]

Put up some current pics of the truck so we can see what you have now so we can give you a honest answer.

[crvtec90]

What is "crazy ray"?

Parting it out can be a real pain in the butt unless U have space to keep stuff until its sold

I feel ya man.....I have too many projects and not enough time either.