- Joined
- Nov 28, 2001
- Messages
- 11,205
My annual SEMA trip report will be coming in the next day or two but in the meantime I thought I'd share a fun little story from a little adventure I had in conjunction with my SEMA trip this year.
As many of you know, I am an inveterate junkyarder of many years. I'm drawn to pick-a-parts like a moth to a flame, even in this day and age when most of the cool older cars we picked from in decades past are long gone and treasures are getting really hard to find. I sometimes get requests for parts from friends and I try to accommodate them as best I can. In the AZ desert, this sometimes involves a lot of sweat in the summer months.
A few weeks ago, I got a note from Doug (@904Bronco) asking for a 4R70W dipstick and tube from a 5.0 Explorer that he needed. I told him that I could probably find such a thing but don't expect it before SEMA (he was going too). I looked online and found a few examples in one of the local yards. Last week I decided to do a little prerun at the yard to see if any of the examples listed online still had the desired item in it and could be easily pulled.
I walked the rows for awhile and finally found one of the trucks I was looking for. I opened the hood and much to my surprise, the engine was gone! And just sitting there staring me in the face was the dipstick/tube that I needed! I quickly reached in and did some twisting and voila! I had what I needed in about 30 seconds. The price was fair and I was soon on my way.
A little brake cleaner and it looked nearly new. I contacted @904Bronco and told him I'd bring it along to the show and we'd figure out how to do a handoff.
I had a lovely visit with him at the show on Tuesday, as has become our tradition, catching up on projects talk, etc. We made plans to get together at some point on Wednesday and do the handoff. Those of you who have ever been to SEMA know getting together with folks on the Las Vegas Convention Center campus can be a bit of chore due to its size and the hordes of people.
I figured that no one would give a second glance to a dispstick sticking out of my backpack at the show but that I might get a few smarta$$ comments from folks about it along the way. Ah well, I can roll with the punches.
I went to the show early Wednesday morning, before it opened, to check on a few things (like Bumper Lift photos for @duffymahoney etc). I was bopping along in the entry way walkway outside Central Hall and felt a tug on my backpack. I turned around and there was @904Bronco!! Out of all the places on the grounds, early in the morning, he found me! By sheer coincidence, some friends of mine came by and we had them snap a quick photo showing the handoff
.
So here we were, surrounded by millions of dollars of the latest and greatest automotive parts on the planet, and our most meaningful interaction was exchanging a 25 year old junkyard auto part!
Todd Z.
As many of you know, I am an inveterate junkyarder of many years. I'm drawn to pick-a-parts like a moth to a flame, even in this day and age when most of the cool older cars we picked from in decades past are long gone and treasures are getting really hard to find. I sometimes get requests for parts from friends and I try to accommodate them as best I can. In the AZ desert, this sometimes involves a lot of sweat in the summer months.
A few weeks ago, I got a note from Doug (@904Bronco) asking for a 4R70W dipstick and tube from a 5.0 Explorer that he needed. I told him that I could probably find such a thing but don't expect it before SEMA (he was going too). I looked online and found a few examples in one of the local yards. Last week I decided to do a little prerun at the yard to see if any of the examples listed online still had the desired item in it and could be easily pulled.
I walked the rows for awhile and finally found one of the trucks I was looking for. I opened the hood and much to my surprise, the engine was gone! And just sitting there staring me in the face was the dipstick/tube that I needed! I quickly reached in and did some twisting and voila! I had what I needed in about 30 seconds. The price was fair and I was soon on my way.
A little brake cleaner and it looked nearly new. I contacted @904Bronco and told him I'd bring it along to the show and we'd figure out how to do a handoff.
I had a lovely visit with him at the show on Tuesday, as has become our tradition, catching up on projects talk, etc. We made plans to get together at some point on Wednesday and do the handoff. Those of you who have ever been to SEMA know getting together with folks on the Las Vegas Convention Center campus can be a bit of chore due to its size and the hordes of people.
I figured that no one would give a second glance to a dispstick sticking out of my backpack at the show but that I might get a few smarta$$ comments from folks about it along the way. Ah well, I can roll with the punches.
I went to the show early Wednesday morning, before it opened, to check on a few things (like Bumper Lift photos for @duffymahoney etc). I was bopping along in the entry way walkway outside Central Hall and felt a tug on my backpack. I turned around and there was @904Bronco!! Out of all the places on the grounds, early in the morning, he found me! By sheer coincidence, some friends of mine came by and we had them snap a quick photo showing the handoff
.So here we were, surrounded by millions of dollars of the latest and greatest automotive parts on the planet, and our most meaningful interaction was exchanging a 25 year old junkyard auto part!
Todd Z.
Attachments
Last edited:
. 
