This is a car parts gifts thread.

"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
12/22/2016 at 13:28 • Filed to: None

Okay, fess up - how many of you are giving car parts (or accessories) as gifts to people? Pros: expensive, often needed. Cons: It’s a lump. Of car.

I’ll start things off: I’m making someone a bracket for a brake booster, and buying a bunch of door seals and Lucas lamps. Like so:

You win a no-prize for guessing what sorts of vehicles are getting these parts.

Anyone else being a Partshouse Cad, or just me?

DISCUSSION (43)

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:29

Are those Lucas lamps for a Land Rover?

E90M3 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:32

What, no throttle position actuator for the E9X M3 owner on your list?

vicali > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:34

Does it count if we put them on our list and helped someone buy them for ourselves?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
12/22/2016 at 13:35

Indeed, sir. The L581s are for a II from somewhere around 1960 (those are the ones a bit like a jam jar), and the L692/691s (cone with chrome ring) are for a ‘67 IIA pickup. Also got in a few spare 692 lenses for a ‘61 and another ‘67, as they enjoy cracking and we’re down to very few.

I’ve got a cousin buying a set of 488s for himself for the front, but that’s neither here nor there - the 488s are the toolless rubber boot family which included rears, but were never used as rears in the US.

Kinja'd!!!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > E90M3
12/22/2016 at 13:36

I don’t know enough of those sorts of people in real life, but that counts. Hard.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > vicali
12/22/2016 at 13:37

I mean, that’s only one step removed from just having it on a wishlist, so... valid. It’s not like the spouses who buy cars for their dearest aren’t going to be paying for it and insurance out of common funds, so it totally counts to help someone get something for you if it’s expensive enough.

PotbellyJoe and 42 others > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:40

Does a shift knob count?

Because if it does, then, no I am not giving anyone car parts for Christmas.

Matt Nichelson > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:40

Does it count if I am getting parts instead of giving them? Getting Akebono front and rear brake pads and new wear sensors.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > PotbellyJoe and 42 others
12/22/2016 at 13:41

You know you want to. The tackier the better. Do it. Do a skull.

E90M3 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:42

Me either, I need to befriend some fellow E9X owners

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:42

I find it oddly interesting that Land Rovers used so many different lights, is does that mean I’m getting weird?

Sweet Trav > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:42

Those metal skulls are the worst in the winter. my hand almost froze to mine in my old S10. I replaced with a golf ball.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Matt Nichelson
12/22/2016 at 13:43

That is the kind of thing this thread is for, nearly perfectly. Expensive, much wanted, but sort of crushingly boring to anyone who isn’t into cars and not even that thrilling for someone who is. These are the car guy equivalents of a new serving bowl set, for which we should all feel shame. Shaaaaame.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:44

I bought my girlfriend REALLY nice earrings because I spent a bunch of money upgrading all of my exhaust. So I consider that a christmas present to myself!

Tripper > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:44

My wife got me a 3 ton low profile jack for my birthday a few days ago, I bought her tires for hers yesterday (in addition to other gifts, I’m not stupid). My dad and I were planning on getting longtube headers for my mom’s C5, but we didn’t act soon enough. So she’ll probably get those for her b day in the spring. I have a few other things that I’m hoping to get for the M3 (new hood roundel, new trunk struts, new side marker lights).

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Sweet Trav
12/22/2016 at 13:44

Hah. Should have been a fake chrome plastic skull - your problem was that you didn’t go tacky enough.

unclevanos (Ovaltine Jenkins) > E90M3
12/22/2016 at 13:45

I have main bearings and lcms on my list.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Tripper
12/22/2016 at 13:46

Ah, you’re another poor bastard in “month before christmas club”. Always makes birthdaying a little awkward. That being said, nice lists, particularly the headers.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
12/22/2016 at 13:50

Not at all. I’ve barely scratched the surface. There were also several glass rears distinct from any I’ve shown, another odd-size BIG plastic amber one used on US Series III, a set of fronts quite similar to the L488 but with screws, and there are several Defender versions, some of which are available in repro (having a similar look to the L692) and which get put on Series reworks because the rest are expensive. That’s not even counting the special lights put on rigs with front bumper jerrycans or the NATO jam-jar screw in lights, as 4muddyfeet’s SIII has. There’s nearly a chapter’s worth in a book I have just on light parts-shelfing oddities.

My favorite combo is flat/beehive L488 combos up front, all clear, and a set of all-red L692 family fixtures in rear - though other people have different preferences.

Matt Nichelson > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:51

Pretty much. It was something I needed, so that’s what I asked for. I’m pretty excited so I guess that counts for something. Oh and I am getting a new bluetooth aux adapter for my car as well since the cheap one I had decided to die. I guess that’s more fun than brake pads.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/22/2016 at 13:52

That’s almost like a very silly version of Gift of the Magi, except not at all apart from your wallet saying “OW”.

vondon302 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:53

My wife got a full suspension kit for her 06 gt mustang this is just after she got a new fost with a mountune kit. I got a new shifter for my Boss and snow tires for the p71.

Kinja'd!!!

Yeah she’s winning. Sometimes it sucks to have a gear head wife.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > vondon302
12/22/2016 at 13:54

“Couldn’t you just go with a $200 necklace this year? Funds are tight.”

vondon302 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:57

I’d have been much better off. Now I gota install all this crap. ;)

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 13:58

I once bought a new fuel filler door for a friend who had been driving around for a few years without one. This was more to benifit me than them as it had been driving me crazy every time I saw their car.

Tripper > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 14:00

Yup, her and I. Luckily we got married in July as our anniversary before then was Jan 7.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
12/22/2016 at 14:02

Right, a sanity thing like most mercy gifts. Kind of like giving your goofy cousin a new denim jacket because you don’t want people to think from his old one you have an ACTUAL DAMN BEGGAR coming to visit.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer
12/22/2016 at 14:04

As another remark, sometimes if a Series is original you can tell more about date of manufacture and market it was sold in from the lights than just about anything else, because body changes are scant and would require an intimate familiarity with front apron, side lower trim, headlight bracket type...

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Tripper
12/22/2016 at 14:05

I’m a whole month out exactly, but the downside there is having near misses and sometimes hits with Thanksgiving. Stupid moving holiday.

StoneCold > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 14:07

I’ve asked Santa for a Ford non-pancake brake booster and a distribution block for 4 years now, but eBay is not my friend. No sub-$100 power brakes for moi :(

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > StoneCold
12/22/2016 at 14:15

My brother is likely going to need to buy the booster/cylinder himself, although his birthday is in February... Anyway, I’m making the bracket, not buying the unit itself, yet. My Ranchero, I’m staying with non-power brakes because it’s not all that heavy and has good weight distribution with discs.

My Lincoln has a Bendix Treadle-Vac I’m probably going to adapt to use a different MC, but they don’t have “booster only” kits and the comprehensive rebuild kit alone is nearly $200 ...

Kinja'd!!!

(Chevy version shown, Lincoln tilts the MC reservoir forward).

vicali > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 14:19

Then I may have a box from Baja Designs sitting on the workbench waiting to get wrapped..

Kinja'd!!!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > vicali
12/22/2016 at 14:20

ERRYBODY GETTIN LIGHTS FER CHRISMASS. ERRYBODY.

Actually, a similar dynamic could be in play here, because I’m not averse to some of the recipients of said lights chipping in for them, further because one set in particular were pricey.

vicali > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 14:24

January is going to be lit fo’sho.

lone_liberal > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 15:02

I have a power steering pump bracket on my list, but I doubt if I get it. I guess to normal people that seems like a very boring gift, but to me it means getting rid of the kludge that’s there now and is very desirable.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 15:12

I occasionally have gotten tires for Christmas.

Don’t mention it, but the last set was a set of Pilot Super Sports for the BMW.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > lone_liberal
12/22/2016 at 15:16

The effect, I think, is that people who do anything dirty as a hobby that even touches on something people are paid for are thought to be weird. Indulgence of any such request is impolite, even. You must just be pretending to not mind working on your car, so giving you something for that isn’t appropriate, unless it’s something to ease your pain like a better flashlight - maybe. Carpentry would be similar, though oddly not woodworking. Something of a fine distinction between a hobby craft and a hobby that’s just work.

In other words, they see you requesting a power steering pump bracket as something like requesting peace on earth. Something you’re saying because it would be good to have, not something you’d really enjoy as a personal expression of regard. Mechanical iron isn’t cheery, and they’d just be humoring you - better to get you a funny wall decoration.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
12/22/2016 at 15:16

Bully, sir, bully!

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 16:01

But now it’s due for a new set and I don’t ask for things. Maybe I’ll end up with another set of tires.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs
12/22/2016 at 16:17

Some people ask for shoes, others for shoes for their cars. The four-footed beastie is much better value for the money, usually.

I’m just waiting until I finally have to buy hilariously expensive tires for the Lincoln , seeing that everything else is distressingly normal and therefore cheap. 195/65 15s, 195/70 14s, 205/65 15s, 7.50-16s...

gergey - Wishes vette was Datsun > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/22/2016 at 16:33

So far I’ve gotten a metal Corvette poster (thanks friend), a Corvette calendar (mailed from my mom in Mexico), and a Corvette Zippo (thanks old guy at work).

So far, no new windshield washer fluid pump, door cards, t-top seals, or weatherstrip... but that big package under the tree might be a Tremec TKO 500!!!*

*disclosure, it isn’t.

I got a friend a new battery for her project Jeep though!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > gergey - Wishes vette was Datsun
12/22/2016 at 16:39

disclosure, it isn’t.

uofime-2 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/23/2016 at 10:28

For the 10$ white elephant with a local Subaru club I gave a single 10mm ratcheting wrench and 10mm 6pt socket jammed into an SRTUSA water bottle I got free at some event

That was shoved in a box from “extreme coffee”, wrapped in a copious amount of tape, then neatly wrapped with wrapping paper. It was probably the nicest looking gift out of the 30 or so there, multiple people picked it up and shook it only to hear a terrible rattling sound (the whole reason I used the bottle was to get that effect) then they assumed it was broken or something and put it back

One of the more practical gag gifts I’ve given and once they got through the multiple layers of red herrings it was pretty well recieved haha