SoCalChris

Sadly, this topic ends after only three pages......I think it is worthy of much more. This is my favorite TV discussion this year and I just recover my PW to post. Kudos to those who have offered assistance.

I even initially understood the poster that said a bargirl is the answer. Whatever neurotransmitters that need to be tweaked, so be it. Billions do it everyday with coffee and alcohol. Then there's the more significant recreational and prescription drugs. Although, the warning is this effect is only temporary and can even exacerbate an existing condition.

I (US citizen) have lived in Thailand for five years recently and now find myself in Australia. When I was first in Thailand, I exercised regularly and found it to be the best solution for depression. Upon taking a corporate high-paying job, there's now no energy for exercise. I am in a conundrum of quitting my current job and moving back to Thailand un-employed so that I can get back into it and essentially save my life.

All the best to those who are on the edge. I feel your pain.

I never really understand why so many foreigners rush into marriage, and then rush even faster into divorce.

Depends on the situation. For me, I was happy not being married for the two years until we had our child. We had agreed in advance to return to farangland benefitting the child for a good education and upbringing. Getting married made it easier to get the Visa. Now the Thai wife won't follow me over with my son (thanks to the family!). I'm now contemplating divorce as I don't want my wife to legally have rights to half of the 6 digit Thai baht I'm able to save every month. I still provide generously every month though for my son.

IMO, we had a plan, I'm the bread winner and she should follow through accordingly.

I own a small Hass avocado farm (couple of fig trees there too) back in Southern California. My ex-wife takes care of it while I'm in Thailand. I tried growing some Hass from seed here in Thailand (I know it would not be pure Hass), but they did not take.

Lately back in California, there appears to be an increasing frequency of heatwaves. These heatwaves burn the crap out of the avo leaves, even if they get watered a lot. I might not have an avocado farm for too much longer at this rate!

Waiting time in Bangkok for the two models I am interested it:

K-Motors - Toyota Vios

- 50 year edition .... 2-3 days

- All others ... around 5 months

Rama IV Honda - Honda City

- December delivery

I'll be buying the City next week. I hate to spend so much, but we have a child on the way. It's time to say goodbye to the motorbike.

You should keep the motorbike if you can. Doesn't use nearly the gas the car would for an errand to Big C for milk powder/diapers or for commuting to work. It's faster too with BKK traffic, which you will soon find out will drive you crazy now that you're getting a car (pardon my pun).

Buy an older full frame truck/SUV and chop off the roof like they do with the older Chevy Blazers and Ford Broncos in the US.....

I was thinking the SB Olds back then was badged 355, no?

I"m an Olds guy and never heard of such a thing stock for a small block engine. A 0.030" overbore might produce this displacement though.

You might be thinking of the 455 big block Olds.

The V8 badge looks Ford, yet it has 350 on the side of the bonnet.

And I am sure if you opened the bonnet you would actually find a 15 year old Nissan diesel!!

No, you are wrong. First of all it's a 350 Oldsmobile V8 under the hood. Not everybody likes diesels! Second: The car was a 52 Morris Oxfort. Yes you read it correctly. "IT WAS"!

Cool, a 74 Olds 350 in an Omega was the first motor I built when I was a kid.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't think this car has the W31 variant though....

Anyone know how I can re-calibrate my odometre and speedo etc.? I have much larger tyres than standard and my mileage is all over the place, but I don't know by how much.

At present I'm just checking on google maps against my odometer and getting about a 10% difference....is that likely?

I did it on my Jeep Cherokee by switching a plastic gear inside the speedometer output on the transmission or transfer case.

If you want to just being able to normalize the odometer reading, measure the change in tire diameter from stock and use that to calculate the true mileage. IE., my Nissan has 10% smaller diameter performance tires. I know to subtract 10% mileage and 10% real time speed. 100kph is actually about 90kph......

For me, I hate getting stuck as I would off-road alone many times. And even more so if in Thailand cuz my Thai sucks. So, what truck do you have.....I still don't know.

Anyhow, I did my 93' Jeep Cherokee with LSDs on the front(D35) and back(D44), BFG AT radial TAs, fully articulating suspension with swaybar disconnects, suspension with good ground clearance, skid plates, winch with long tow strap and yada yada. It could go most anywhere but was limited a bit by the tires.

For your truck, it could be an ok/fun light off-roader if you don't want to go through the expense of converting the front axle. Just bring some friends along and defintely have a winch to help you get unstuck.

You had a d30 in the front of a Cherokee, 35 is a rear end.. Arb is a great choice front and rear for a daily driver or hardcore rig, very easily had here.. For a dedicated wheeler a Detroit rear locker is about as good as your gonna get, no worries about torn airlines ect.. If you go for a arb a stainless steel air line is highly recommended as the cheap blue plastic lines arb supplies are notorious for failure.

Right, I meant a D30 in the front, but wrong, I had a Dana 44 aftermarket axle for the rear because I heard the 35s were weak. Both had 4.56 ring/pinion combos or very close to that......

Yeah 35 c clip axles are garbage for anything over 32's when they break the whole shaft slides right out... Wheel and tire come along w it... I usually run 60's they can handle a good ammount of abuse good for so cal wheeling

Yes exactly even though I only had 31s. Also, I set the truck up to be my dedicated tow vehicle for my almost 2ton trailer-sailer with surge brakes. Pulled it like a charm and retrieved the boat out of the water without even breaking a sweat.

My friend was lucky as his Cherokee came with the Mopar corporate 8.25 rear axle. They are supposed to almost as strong as a Dana44......

For me, I hate getting stuck as I would off-road alone many times. And even more so if in Thailand cuz my Thai sucks. So, what truck do you have.....I still don't know.

Anyhow, I did my 93' Jeep Cherokee with LSDs on the front(D35) and back(D44), BFG AT radial TAs, fully articulating suspension with swaybar disconnects, suspension with good ground clearance, skid plates, winch with long tow strap and yada yada. It could go most anywhere but was limited a bit by the tires.

For your truck, it could be an ok/fun light off-roader if you don't want to go through the expense of converting the front axle. Just bring some friends along and defintely have a winch to help you get unstuck.

You had a d30 in the front of a Cherokee, 35 is a rear end.. Arb is a great choice front and rear for a daily driver or hardcore rig, very easily had here.. For a dedicated wheeler a Detroit rear locker is about as good as your gonna get, no worries about torn airlines ect.. If you go for a arb a stainless steel air line is highly recommended as the cheap blue plastic lines arb supplies are notorious for failure.

Right, I meant a D30 in the front, but wrong, I had a Dana 44 aftermarket axle for the rear because I heard the 35s were weak. Both had 4.56 ring/pinion combos or very close to that......

http://www.wheelseco...4ab8e8fc016cfce

http://www.wheelsecondhand.com/forum/ if you can find someone to read THai.

This site also sells a lot of new and second hand tires at discount prices. I got my rare retro sized tires from Taiwan there for a very reasonable price. (Sonar) I can't read Thai but was able to figure out how to navigate around the site.

IMO, 100% cash. No VAT, no financing interest charges and you have more power to bargain for an immediate sale. Just make sure to be safe with that large "chunk o' change" you might be carrying around or even do the whole deal at the bank.

Also, having the car's blue book in hand usually means there is no lien on the vehicle.

Another one to consider is the Nissan Almera (400-500K THB range). It's a practical sedan with CVT that received a good write-up in the US auto magazines. It's built on the same platform as the March and the interior/trunk space approaches that of the larger Altima (Teana in TL).

I'd go for the Ford Fiesta for its styling though. They look pretty cool to me.

Amara looks pretty cool you saying 400k for an automatic? Is it totally underpowered?

Yes, from a financial perspective, the Almera is the coolest. About it being underpowered, for me it probably would be, but for my wife who does not like my "assertive" driving style, she would be happy as a clam. It'll depend on your preference and a test drive is a must.

In all fairness, the CVT transmission makes the most out of the 1.2L engine's output over that of a standard geared auto tranny. For full throttle, the CVT will adjust itself to keep the engine rpm close to its peak hp output. It's kind of a weird sensation when you are used to a gear transmissions where the engine rpms rise and then fall with the gear change. Spirited part throttle driving; the engine will go close to its peak torque rpm. Driving like a pu$$y will keep the rpms very low for fuel efficiency. FWIW, I don't know anything personally about the latter way to drive........sorry!

Another one to consider is the Nissan Almera (400-500K THB range). It's a practical sedan with CVT that received a good write-up in the US auto magazines. It's built on the same platform as the March and the interior/trunk space approaches that of the larger Altima (Teana in TL).

I'd go for the Ford Fiesta for its styling though. They look pretty cool to me.

Nothing like a new car!

Until the first dent / scratch

Ain't that the truth! And with the close proximity of the vehicles to each other in BKK, it can be only a matter of minutes.

IE., 5 minutes into my first trip in my newly purchased used car resulted in a motorbike crashing into my back-left wheel. Poor guy broke his collarbone while I only got that infamous first scratch.

Talking to many of my Thai friends, a lot of them simply don't like the styling....kind of love-hate. I think they might have been introduced too early in 2005 for the conversative Thai market. Don't really know.

Anyhow, I always thought they looked really cool and more modern than the competition. So much so I almost bought one 3 years ago. It was a used '06 all souped up with a special fueling box, oversized intercooler and huge turbo. Suffice to say,1st gear was useless. I was in love!!! haha

The current 178HP 2.5L engine has to be the best one out there. I saw the HP and torque curves and was impressed by how rev-happy the engine seems to be. It must be giving the VGN turbo quite a work-out though.

Enjoy your Mitsu trucks!

Hi guys,

I booked a ford ranger back in april. The contract says I get it at the lastest October. Well basically I found out that I was scammed. The saleslady wrote up a fake contract and her dealership had no record of my booking. Since April she was leading me on with a bunch of BS until I called the manager of the dealership and found out this lady had already been fired like 5 months ago. Now I'm in the process of trying to get some accountability from parties involved....whatever I can do.

Has anybody had similar experiences? Tell me your stories. Advice/sugggestions?

Thanks.

You signed all these papers and paid at the dealer?

--edit ---

I just read "she came to your house".

EEEHERRNNNNNN. (That's my buzzer sound)

That's Alarm Bell #1. That's like someone calling you at home saying its your bank and they need your account details.

If you buy a car, you go to the dealer and get a sales person there. All paper work and money is done at the dealership.

yup lesson learned there.

Just because the person comes to your house, does not automatically make it a scam. But I learned the hard way that excellent customer service might suggest someone will make extra money off of you. Case in point for my 1st used car purchase where Thai automobile financing has to be one of the biggest rip-offs I have ever seen:

I wanted to buy a used car, could have paid for it in full but I would have almost 0 funds in the bank so decided to finance 200K THB. Thanachart says they will do it for "3.5% interest for three years", which I thought was OK. Unfortunately, they come to my condo on the day that I had a bad cold (completely drugged up too). I was simply useless along with my wife with no financing experience to back-calculate from the final payment amount. I also thought how funny for them to come to my residence if they will make only about 11,000THB in interest charges from an earlier calculation.

Turns out that is not how it works here in Thailand as confirmed by 5+ other online financing ads and car show flyers. First off, they will charge you 7% VAT on the financed amount...add in an extra 14,000 THB. Next, 3.5% for three years actually means 10.5% APR for the entire finance period (3 x 3.5%). And lastly, they will calculate the payment based on a balloon loan and not an amortization loan, the latter being what the payment schedule actually is......... add in in an extra 22,000 THB more. Once I was done reading the loans docs and back calculating the next day, I was pi$$ed. I spent 36,000 THB more than I would have with the same quoting and processing in the US.

I tell all of the friends and Thai family NOT to finance in Thailand, The banks are a bunch of crooks on the naive Thai population (or if you are a sick and drugged up farang).

Off topic to the crash, about the water tank on the pickup truck.

I am curious as to how much water the pickup truck driver would carry in his tank. I am guessing that the tank can hold between 300 to 500 gallons of water. At 8 lbs per gallon of water, that tank would weigh between 2,400 to 4,000 pounds! (1,091 to 1,818 kilos) if full.

That pickup looks like it would be rated for about a 1000 pound (1/2 ton) load. (455 kilo)

If I am correct, I would not like to be driving a vehicle in front of a pickup carrying that water load!

I used to drive a U.S. Army 2 1/2 ton truck to fill up a 500 gallon water tank trailer (we called it a water buffalo). There was a big difference in stopping ability when pulling that water buffalo. I almost ran off a road in a sharp turn and almost hit our parked 3/4 ton truck the first time I pulled a buffalo with 2 tons of water in it! I was almost standing on the brakes and all ten tires of the 2 1/2 ton truck and the tires of the water buffalo skidded 8 to 10 feet in the dirt before stopping two feet from the 3/4 ton truck!

That big Army truck is rated to carry a 5000 pound load (2,272 kilos) when driving cross country (off street) but has the ability to carry a 10000 pound load (4545 kilos) when driving on a street or highway, so the brakes are built to handle that kind of load.

Do any of you TV'ers in Thailand have any experience / knowledge of how much water a tank on a pick up truck of that size actually carries?

Don't have the figures but I'd say far too much water than is safe for the truck. Just look at how low down the rear end of most of these trucks are when laden. They must be a bi*ch to drive. I've also seen baht buses so full of passengers that the rear step scraps the road surface resulting in sparks.

I second these observations. Thais simply put too much weight into their trucks. The suspension robustness relative to a US truck is not even close and I agree 1000lbs should be the limit when stock. I've noticed some HD spring and tire upgrades on certain utility trucks. But that should be no more than 2000lbs, and it doesn't even take into account a brake upgrade for completeness. Fake Brembos don't count either!

The crazy thing I see is not only are the trucks overloaded, but there is sometime a significant height to the cargo too. Suffice to say the trucks always appear on the verge of tipping over from the leverage produced when going around a bend.

Good idea to just start with the front diff to save costs. That's how I would do it. And, if the rear LSD doesn't lock up enough when 4-wheelin', you can upgrade that one later.

I keep my Nitrogen sprays handy. 1 in the bedroom and one downstairs. Any chest pain and I spray it under my tongue. If the pain goes away, all well and good, if not then it is a trip to the doctor / hospital.

It is sometimes hard to tell the difference between minor heart pain (angina) and a build up of wind but always better safe than sorry.

I too take half aspirin daily on doctors orders since my heart attack several years ago.

Yes, his wife did the correct thing by calling for help and she at least did go to the pahrmacy too. That show to me that she did care.

I think you mean nitroglycerin. It's one of the best things you can take during a heart attack that will immediately provide a significant benefit. An intra-cardiac shot of epinephrine is better but should be left to the professionals. Caffeine is a no-no.

RIP.

Tip of the day: Keep full strength aspirin stocked in your home. If experiencing chest pains, etc., place one or two aspirins in your mouth and let dissolve.

No disrespect meant. We can't know if aspirin could have saved Mr. Greenfield, but it does save many people all over the world, everyday.

sorry JT but this advice is . being a cardiac patient with a "retreaded" heart i'm quite well informed that Aspirin does not help at all when a cardiac arrest is about to hit. in this case only fast working drugs can give some relief till the emergency crew arrives.

Thanks for sharing your opinion about this. However, I think people will find that it is now very mainstream medical advice for emergency suspected heart attack pain scenarios. Anyone can easily do their own research and find multiple mainstream medical sources giving the same advice. But good you brought this up as of course there are some people who shouldn't be taking the aspirin, as noted below.

Both of you are right, NSAID drugs such as aspirin, paracetamol (actually NSAID-like), napraxon, ibuprofen and etc. can reduce the severity of the heart attack or even save your life. I'm a molecular immunologist with 5yrs at Pfizer's imflammation drug discovery division and aware of their metabolic effects. Aspirin/Ibuprofen/napraxon are blood thinners and will allow an increased blood flow through an arterial blockage. Paracetamol acts through a different metabolic pathway.

Naam is correct when he said that there is no immediate benefit (ie, within a minute) when taking aspirin in someone who does not have a NSAID drug already in their system. It takes a bit of time for aspirin to exert it's effects. However, it will eventually have a preventative/attenuating effect for a heart attack. It's best when administered in a prophylactic manner.

JT is correct to suggest chewing the aspirin and letting it sit in your mouth for a bit before swallowing. This allows a least a small amount of it to quickly get into your bloodstream through the artery under the tongue even though it tastes really bitter. However, it will still take a while for it to assist with the current heart attack. If it's a mild heart attack, you're in luck as the aspirin will allow for improved circulation through the heart after an hour or so. The aspirin will also help with secondary heart attacks that sometimes happens later.

I always take 400mgs of ibuprofen 1 hour before I exercise......heart disease runs in my family.

Yeah, having a compressor onboard would be great. You need it for the ARB, but you can also lower your tire pressure for better traction and pump them back up with you are done.

A competent mechanic is your best friend here, especially the ones that can spot lack of maintenance and/or identifiy an accident repair.

If someone does have the car's service book that's been filled out by the dealership, you can go check to see if it's true or not too. A receipt trail is a good thing as well.

After that, good luck! Word of mouth by the owner and work done by private garages could be suspect......

For me, I hate getting stuck as I would off-road alone many times. And even more so if in Thailand cuz my Thai sucks. So, what truck do you have.....I still don't know.

Anyhow, I did my 93' Jeep Cherokee with LSDs on the front(D35) and back(D44), BFG AT radial TAs, fully articulating suspension with swaybar disconnects, suspension with good ground clearance, skid plates, winch with long tow strap and yada yada. It could go most anywhere but was limited a bit by the tires.

For your truck, it could be an ok/fun light off-roader if you don't want to go through the expense of converting the front axle. Just bring some friends along and defintely have a winch to help you get unstuck.

The only Thai garage I will go to in located in Khlong Toie. I got to know the manager after a couple of years, found him to be very competent and his prices are reasonable too. IE., he swapped in my high stall torque converter and changed the tranny fluid in my NIssan for 3000baht without parts.

To get there: Head west on Rama4 and the Khlong Toie fresh market will come up on your left. Go through two stoplights and 50meters after the second light, make a left into a small soi. Go about 100 meters and the shop will come up on the right. Tell him the farang with the souped-up Nissan NV see dum sent ya.

Googled it.....all I read in the first 20 hits are positive statements about ARB products. My server at work is based out of Malaysia though so I might not see the same thing you do. I again believe you can't go wrong with an ARB air locker when it's installed correctly.

For serious off-roading, the front axle definitely needs a LSD/locker or you might as well have just a 2wd truck if one of the front wheels hangs off of the ground. Have you identified your differential model(s) and looked to see what aftermarket items are available for them?

When I was doing my FWD sport compact car autocrossing, the helical diffs (Quaife) worked very well. It almost goes to a complete lock-up with only just a little bit of slip. No issues for normal driving either and they don't wear out.

Edit: I know what you are talking about now, certain LSDs chatter when going around a corner.....