A prequal for being in IL government is the willingness to break federal laws ;) .

How about we discuss how Pick-n'-pull shops like to nickle and dime the shit out of you?

I pulled this 99 intake manifold on memorial day, i think, when everything was 50% off at LKQ. They told me:
1) Since you can take it apart, it is two separate pieces. Two separate intake manifolds is what she rung it up as
2) Then charged me for every hose, solenoid, throttle body, plastic clip that holds the hoses, etc.

So, on half off day, they wanted $102 for this intake manifold. That would make it $204 on a regular day. You can buy the entire long block for like $275 regular price.

She then proceeded to tell me I couldn't take it and put it back with the car, and looked up at me like "So, you gunna pay me or what?"

I responded "You have a scrap pile, right?"

Then I bought my seats, hood and whatever else I had and left. Poor 99 manifold got trashed.

I don't like her.

Lady at your lkq is a bitch. The lkq in Charleston is nothing like that. I got a 1.8 drive shaft, LSD 4.1 diff, axles, subframe and control arms for $125 on a half off day.

Never had an experience like that at a pick n pull before.

I really need to go to one of those again.

My friend needs a new core support for his car, and chopped one off with a saw-zall at LKQ. They took it from him when he tried to pay for it, and told him they were scrapping it. Apparently "it poses a hazard to others who may come across the car".

Pull-a-Part don't give no fucks. We're cutting the next one off there. It takes entirely too long to sit there and drill out all the spot welds in a junk yard.

God damn, fuck that shit. I hate 9/10 junk yards.

We have one down here in Big Pine Key and it's, literally, a Haitian rip-off factory. The guy purposely overcharges for Haitian immigrants trying to scrounge up enough money to get a car working. This place is also in the flood zone (salty flood zone)

A long, long time ago I had called asking about an RX-7 because a friend of mine had tipped me off that they had a 2nd gen in the yard. On the phone the guy told me that they did indeed have not one, but two in the yard. My plan was to snag the 440's out of them for cheap. He told me, "Yes. We actually have two. They are in good shape. No one has picked them yet."

Well, I get there and take a stroll around the yard. I find the 2nd gen and it's an automatic, base model that is completely gutted. The best part is that the second RX-7 is a CRX..... :bang:

I decided that I didn't want to leave empty handed so I take the two 440's from the RX-7. When I get up to the service counter the lady asked me what they were, etc... and says they are 80 dollars EACH. As you can imagine I wasn't about to pay anything remotely near that for some dirt ass injectors. After picking my jaw up off the floor I politely explained to her how much these go for online and that what she was asking was insanely upcharged since they still needed inspecting and cleaning and I had no way of verifying that they even work.

Of course she did the professional thing and flipped her shit saying that I was obligated by law to pay her what she asked because I had removed them from the car. At this point I said I wasn't interested and that I would go back and re-install them on the car myself just so I could get out of there. She says, "you go do that and I'm calling my husband because you're in a lot of trouble for not paying me, you stupid fucker."

I put the injectors back in the car by just throwing them into the engine bay and walking away because I know these retards don't have a clue about what they are looking at. As I'm walking back out her husband comes my direction and starts shouting, "What the fuck are you doing!? You're stealing from me. Pay me for the parts, now, and get the fuck out!!!" I called him a fucking idiot and told him that it was HIM who lied to ME about what cars they had and that it's his fault for wasting my time. I told him that a CRX is NOT an RX-7 and that both cars had been gutted already.

Best part - "I don't give a shit, they're the same fucking thing!!! and "This isn't a junk yard, it's a SALVAGE YARD!!! You pay what I say you pay.

He got in my face for another minute then I think it dawned on him that I'm nearly 6' tall and had 100lbs on him and he backed off saying he's got the cops on the way to arrest me for stealing parts that I didn't have on me and for harassment and trespassing.

Needless to say he was full of shit and nobody showed up. Second best part - My friend jumped the fence into his yard that night; got the injectors, alternator, connectors and then later some really nice M-tech bodywork from an E30. :fawk: eat this dick, bitch.

Before you ask; no I don't feel one bit guilty. He's a crook and a sociopath and the bubba system would never have arrested him even with hard evidence that he was a crook. Doesn't work like that down here. He owed me for my time because I could have been at the gym or playing Sega Genesis.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1428267465

"Oh, will you look at that. No wallet with me today, bugger."

It's almost a shame when it's not a big box company you can finagle some sort of compensation out of.

Fuck those guys. Hopefully you had the Viper that day so they got to consider how far they've come in life with that kind of professionalism.

The last time i went to a pick and pull lot i got a set of fog lights.. they wanted 40 bucks for them... NEW they sell for 30 bucks from autozone... Oh and my buddy got his window smashed and his stereo stolen on the parking lot the day after.

If i want something i just get it on amazon/ebay/other.

A few years back Joe P wrote a post about he owed the IRS money in taxes. I have finally joined the ranks of owing the IRS tax money. I owe about $1800 total between state and federal. What I learned is I should have spent more money on getting MKTurbo running.

We are getting a refund this year, for the first time in maybe 10 years. I always try to owe a little - the bastards get enough of my money, they don't need an interest-free loan, too. So long as you have the money you owe, it's the way to go. I have had to write a couple of painful checks, but $20 is painful when you pay the IRS.

Owing is the way to go and indicates proper financial management.

Assuming, of course, you don't owe ALL your taxes, which indicates complete mismanagement ...

We had a refund this year for the first time since ... I honestly can't recall. This was due to a drop in income compared to last year due to various circumstances. That was a nice surprise.

I am abnormally late in filing my taxes this year. Just got done writing nearly $3k in checks to NJ, NY and Fed.



I blame the woman for distracting me. She's always like "Pack a bag. I'll be home in 15 minutes. We're going to the Poconos for the weekend."

QFT

So many things I haven't achieved because of this. Well, the woman, and the kids. Otherwise I could have been Aku by now :)

She must love her champagne flute hot tub.


My wife seems impervious to the "refund as an interest free loan" argument, and gets upset when we do not get a refund.

I did not owe ALL of my taxes. Just a small percentage. I knew I would end up owing I just did not know how much. I have the cash available so it all works out.

Funny thing is that while driving through the mountains, we did come across one of those places. Fortunately, we're of a similar mind when it comes to that sort of cheesy, forced romance. Kept driving until we found a nice little town to stop in, with a very ordinary, quiet Hampton Inn.



^ This.

The ideal situation, for me anyway, is one in which you owe whatever amount falls just under the amount at which an underpayment penalty is applied.

Yes, it takes some management. Owing too much will generate a penalty. We hates writing the quarterly estimated checks. Didn't have to do that last year, though. Won't have to this year, nor the next, because of this NZ expedition.

The last year I spent in the navy was almost entirely in a combat zone, so all my income was tax free. I got a refund and enough Pell grants to make money my first year of college.
Spoils of war I guess.

Finally pulled the trigger for a custom exhaust for my car.

Everything from the head to the tailpipe...

My 16 year old OEM 4-2-1 header had started developing leaks over the past year.
And, the downpipe was in really bad shape.

A friend owns a custom fabrication shop. They mostly do turbo work (and they are very good at it).
We decided t go for a 4-1 header (because supercharger), and I got a hold of Gibb.
He graciously sent me all the specs for his design, and we are copying it.

There will be 2 straight through resonators and a large Borla muffler.
The cat has flanges, and is removable (actually, installable for the biennial inspection).
I am excited.