DFB's Garage

For this week's wash on the Ranger, I decided to go a little deeper than usual.

To start, I removed the neoprene seat covers and put them into the wash with Rags to Riches.

For the washing, I wanted to do a bit of a reset in preparation for a topper. This vehicle has had Gyeon Pure EVO on it since December 2023 and its holding up very well. In this case, I washed with KCx Active Foam, which isn't as aggressive as some, but stronger than a normal pH neutral soap. Normally, you'd use Active Foam as a pre-wash, but I used it for a contact wash today. On the rinse off, I noticed the Active Foam smartened up the water behavior, so clearly it did its thing.

Once blow dried, Carpro Reload went down on the paint, glass and black plastics. I think Reload 2.0 lives in the shadow of its predecessors' poor reputation, many overlooking it because they may have struggled with the original. But 2.0 is so easy to use and is one of the glossiest spray sealants on the market. I also LOVE it on black plastic, it really adds a lovely richness to the finish.





After finishing the rest of the car, it was time to clean out 5-years worth of dirt and junk out of the tool drawer. I last did this in April 2025, and it showed..................





You could have sowed seeds in this and grown a mobile garden...................
/


With the drawer emptied, I removed the rubber mat and foamed it with the remainder of Bilt Hamber Touch-less from Sunday. While that was soaking, I vacuumed the dirt, leaves, gravel and twigs out of the drawer, soaked it with Green Star, then wiped up with a couple of Rip-n-Rags. The drawer was soaked down with ONR to neutralize the Green Star, then dried with another towel.



From here, I rinsed off the mat and then blow dried with the EGO. This section of mat was originally in the tray, so its pretty brittle and sun aged, but that doesn't matter here as it still does the job of suppressing vibration.





Tools then went back, a little more organized than before. I actually threw out a roll of 10-year old trimmer line that I was keeping in there for no valid reason.

This also reminds me to look into buying a new set of hedge shears and branch loppers, both of those are pure junk...............and they weren't cheap either. Typical of the rubbish sold at Bunnings (think Home Depo), even when you buy the "premium" product on the shelf, that premium-ness is relative. Because of the "lowest prices are just the beginning" tagline, every product on the shelf has to live up to that. So, instead of offering a true premium product to serve the professional, they cost control everything to meet a price point. And this mentality flows through to other retailers as they try to compete. So, its a race to the bottom and the ones who lose out the most are those who rely on tools to make a living.

Off to Forestry Tools I go....................

https://www.forestrytools.com.au/?g...g9F1-tpK7hJYqnKnbNfwv1EFiRmvuFsgaAh8eEALw_wcB
 
Deyon, your work truck looks better than a majority of cars and C&C's I attend, that white is WHITE

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Figured this was OK to put here as our Aussie members would see it, I enjoyed it. Btw, looking for a funny podcast to listen to this is it, kinda like Howard Stern...well, when he was funny and not woke, just sayin'

The main guy, Drew, has been on Detroit radio/podcast since 1992, total icon

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Figured this was OK to put here as our Aussie members would see it, I enjoyed it. Btw, looking for a funny podcast to listen to this is it, kinda like Howard Stern...well, when he was funny and not woke, just sayin'

The main guy, Drew, has been on Detroit radio/podcast since 1992, total icon

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I was 5-seconds into that interview and I could already tell what car they drive........................................................



Not sure if you get these things in the USA, the Chinese-made MG's that have absolutely nothing to do with the classic British MG's. Think of them as the Chinese version of a 1990's Daewoo, ie severely under engineered and sold at a rock bottom price and bought by the "that'll do" type of people. Under powered, poorly built from suspect materials, no spare parts backup, poor safety ratings.

The sad thing is, just about every other car company has abandoned the small car category, and the ones still in that segment charge at least $10k more than these hateful MG's. So, MG have the segment to themselves and have gradually upped the prices...........................so they aren't so cheap anymore, at which point you are paying a premium for sloppy mediocrity.

Can you tell I really don't like where the car industry has gone?
 
We don't get those or any Chinese cars, well other than a couple Buicks that I think are built in China

I have seen some BYD EV semi trucks and about 7-8 yrs ago a BYD crossover vehicle in traffic in downtown Chicago freeway traffic

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This sums it up when it comes to Chinese cars.......................................


Came across these videos this morning of a BYD Shark taking on a rather steep incline. After several attempts, the final one didn't end well (from 14.45min)......................



I mean, he was driving the thing with intent, but watching another video on the Shark, it seems the 4WD system on this thing is pretty useless as it over drives the front axle and cause it to just spin up.

Total write off...................


Bent chassis rail............................

 
Even I know to go up that kinda hill steady, what a clown

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Even I know to go up that kinda hill steady, what a clown

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Those same clowns will ridicule you if you post something up where you apply the "slow and steady" method while off roading, but they won't help you pay for the repairs when you break something using their "go hard or go home" stupidity.
 
It seems as if the Chinese brands are catching up quicker than the Korean's did.

What I hate is how Australia is used as a dumping ground for us to beta test their 3rd rate products. And "we" just let it happen.
 
Restocking some favorites..........................



Included in the order were 10 TRC Car Wash Towels, which I use as a "beater" towel.

The specs on this towel are pretty average, as in they are only 320 gsm, have the 80/20 and not the superior 70/30 blend, are Chinese not Korean made, and only have a basic terry weave. However, I like these Car Wash Towels because they are affordable and perfectly sized at 41cm x 69cm, making them ideal for a variety of detailing and general cleaning tasks. They also serve as my interior towel (green), engine bay towel (red) and multi-purpose towel (royal blue). I even have them as kitchen towels in orange and purple.





My current set of grey towels have been in service since September 2021, and they have been used HEAVILY in that time. Anything from bench cleaning, wiping down buckets after use, cleaning/drying tools, exhaust tips, applying exterior dressings, cleaning/protecting rubber floor mats, drying the tray of my Ranger, or any dirty job. I'm very impressed with their durability for such a cheap/basic towel.

With many miles under their belt, my trusty beater towels were starting to feel their age, hence 10 new ones. A lot of towels from TRC now come pre-packaged, but not the CWT. These are supplied to distributors in cases of 125 towels, which means they get exposed to a lot of dust while in warehouse storage. With that in mind, they really must be washed prior to use.
 
Surprised your not buying gallons of your favorites and re-using the prior bottles Deyon

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I think the next Supra will have the Mazda inline 6 turbo, Toyota & Mazda do have a relationship....

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Man when’s the last time Mazda produced a motor in a car you’d want to drive? Prefer the BMW marriage to Mazda…


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Thoughts guys

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I follow Commodore Man on Instagram, brings back a lot of memories for the Commodores I've had over the years.

Both the Falcon and Commodore were world class, you did get to sample the Commodore as both the Pontiac G8 and Chevrolet SS, and they were as good as they were because of the Falcon, the rivalry between Ford and Holden made great cars.
 
I follow Commodore Man on Instagram, brings back a lot of memories for the Commodores I've had over the years.

Both the Falcon and Commodore were world class, you did get to sample the Commodore as both the Pontiac G8 and Chevrolet SS, and they were as good as they were because of the Falcon, the rivalry between Ford and Holden made great cars.
Competition does that, now, no more competition like THAT

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A few weeks ago, I joined a vintage Victa Facebook group. You may remember me being hacked off at the suggestion my posts on a dedicated mower forum were too long and had too many photos. The very reason why I prefer forums over Facebook is its more conducive to long-form content that I like to make. But somehow, this Facebook group has been far more welcoming that the forum I had been posting on, and far more forthcoming with information and requests for input.

For example, the starter on my Victa 18. When I first got the mower, I was stunned by the starter rope being made of wire and not actual rope. This even stumped the seller. Well, it turns out the wire-rope starters are rare and highly collectable. I had contemplated removing/replacing the wire for rope, but it will be staying as is.



And today, I discovered some interesting patent drawings.

My particular model 5 Victa 18 Special has a ramp moulded into the chassis as a mounting point for the planned optional edger attachment.



That attachment never materialized, but Victa continued to make the chassis with the ramp and blanked it off with a plastic trim. No doubt it was expensive to remove this from the tooling, so it was cheaper to fit the plastic trim to every mower. They did eventually delete the ramp later in the model run. Most unrestored Special's have lost this trim piece, so mine is somewhat unique in that regard.



These are the patent drawings for the edger attachment, which looks to be gear driven off the crankshaft. If the mower itself wasn't dangerous enough, well another spinning blade off to the side would have increased the likely hood of chopping something other than grass. Still, it shows Victa's pursuit of innovation.





So, I'm still learning about these mowers, even after I have mine running and cutting grass.
 
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