What do BMW drivers and Prius drivers have in common?

[funklab]

After the salesman slammed my head into the hood a few times while yelling "Buy Today!", I finally gave in. 2015 V6 w/25K miles on it. Seriously too nice a car to replace my Crown Vic and be a 'beater', but it will definitely beat driving that annoying f'in Crown Vic all salt season.

(maybe I'll take a real pic sometime, just got the thing tonight)

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Nice, that's pretty much the exact same car I have except with lower miles. It's black I'm guessing from this damn near monochrome picture? I guess yall can get away with that up in the frigid north. Harder to spin the tires than the Crown Vic I imagine, but it will probably get you slightly better gas mileage.

[Andy]

I'm unreasonably attached to a pair of AZ-1 portable hand controls, so that's all I've ever put on it. .

Here's what some MPD push/right angles would look like on yours

[Andy]

Umm, what happens when you are having a hard time classifying your winter beater as a 'beater'...and it is cleaner than your 'good' car for that matter. Gotta think about this one some more...

I guess one says I voted for Hillary, the other says I voted for Trump. I'm stealthy! lol

[Andy]

Let's Touch Base about BMW's and their owners...

[funklab]

Here's what some MPD push/right angles would look like on yours

Meh, I'll pass. I prefer two aluminum rods aimed at my midsection and a cheap motorcycle grip on my portable hand controls. It's just more comfortable resting your left hand on your crotch as you work the gas and in the case that things get ohairy I've always got something else I can grab hold of as I'm skidding out of control.

[Andy]

Meh, I'll pass. I prefer two aluminum rods aimed at my midsection and a cheap motorcycle grip on my portable hand controls. It's just more comfortable resting your left hand on your crotch as you work the gas and in the case that things get ohairy I've always got something else I can grab hold of as I'm skidding out of control.

Lol. But can you drive one handed gas/brake/steer? Very helpful with controls that are attached to the car. I was rocking portables for a day or two, I was totally lost. As an aside, these Hondas lend themselves rather well to hand control installation. Angles turn out good, and there is room for 'em also. Minor sketchiness encountered attaching to the flimsy metal knee crash bolsters, but it's on metal...all good, lol. Things got ugly during my mission to pluck one of the springs out of the gas pedal for easier operation...Honda makes these tamperproof, or I'm an idiot. I won that battle though . Now I'm wiring in some custom electronics, and running a power lead to the engine compartment I was rather shocked how this car is made out of plastic. Heck, the fender is held on with one tiny metal bracket on the upper aprons, the rest is plastic. I'm used to 'Murican cars, I guess now I know where the weight savings are in this thing. And the random appearing engineering of suspension, transaxle accessories...I'll tell myself it's a Honda and it's supposed to be good, but dayum, this thing sure is for-eeeen

[Rustyjames]

Nice, clean installation on that, Andy. Did you DIY it?

[funklab]

Lol. But can you drive one handed gas/brake/steer?

Except for sharp turns while braking or accelerating, yes I can. I can hold the brake/gas mechanism in my hand and it has enough range of motion to still be able to turn the steering wheel with the same hand to a small degree. And there's enough range that on longer trips (while on cruise control), I can prop my left elbow on the arm rest of the door while still holding the brake (in case of emergency) and steering wheel with my fingers and do a pressure relief pushup with my right hand on the seat underneath me.

Yall keep telling me to get some real hand controls, maybe one day I will just to prove to myself that I don't need them. My only experience with semi-permanently installed hand controls are the van I was trained on in rehab and a handful of really, really crappy rental cars (so crappy that I will probably never request a rental car with handcontrols again in my life)

[Andy]

Nice, clean installation on that, Andy. Did you DIY it?

Thanks. Yep, I really abhor having the 'professionals' touch my car after witnessing various examples of their handiwork. Big difference in quality when you take the time to do it right, vs. some $20/hr 'professional' being rushed to knock out the job (with limited rudimentary knowledge of driving with hand controls for that matter)

Yall keep telling me to get some real hand controls, maybe one day I will just to prove to myself that I don't need them. My only experience with semi-permanently installed hand controls are the van I was trained on in rehab and a handful of really, really crappy rental cars (so crappy that I will probably never request a rental car with handcontrols again in my life)

Well, we have to validate our choice in mobility devices you know! I can see how portables can appear superior to some permanent-style installs also

[Rustyjames]

Andy, where did you buy your MPD's? Did you have to make a custom mount? Agreed on having others do the work, a lot of hacks out there. The one thing they seem to know how to do is charge, Bigly.

[Andy]

Andy, where did you buy your MPD's? Did you have to make a custom mount? Agreed on having others do the work, a lot of hacks out there. The one thing they seem to know how to do is charge, Bigly.

The best is when they mimic the Jiffy Lube tech trying to play master mechanic. At that point you are like...WTF? Here's one...the 'professionals' were installing those new electronic controls and somehow zapped the sport mode functions for the tranny and etc in a Land Rover. Guess who they were blaming on that one...it wasn't them, lol. Weird how replacing a variable resister can do this...or was it something else? Nope, I'm not dealing with these types of 'professionals'. Or paying them what they think they are worth

Anyway, I got one set from some now-defunct place in FL that shipped a new set to me. The other one is Ebay special. Just keep rotating them amongst cars. No custom mount, the Honda was done using the kit-supplied generic L brackets.

[Rustyjames]

Those kit supplied brackets never worked out for me. Had to make up some custom mounts for my VW Eurovan and my Ford E250.

[Andy]

I used like 4 of those L brackets to make a mounting bridge on a Ford column, anchored by the factory column mounting studs. Quite the Erector Set, lol. A lousy photo:

[pfcs49]

My fabricated control, out of 1" seamless .090?wall DOM tubing, requires only a 1" hole in the under dash and a loooong bolt.

Unfortunately, the GTI already had an opening for the control mounting post -so it doesn't look so cool as my wife's Volvo did where the post
went through a one inch hole in the under-dash.
In both cases, the steering column support was a rectangular aluminum casting with a M8 cap screw at each corner.
I was surprised at how secure the controls are/were with only a M8/1.25 threaded rod through the tubing.
If it weren't stout enough, I was prepared to put a companion tube in the left/forward location and weld in
a lateral to really make it rugged, but I've beat on this setup since 2006 without any problems; haven't even had to retighten the single mounting.

I can remove everything except the brake pushrod in about a minute (remove 3/8 cap screw from upper brake rod spherical bearing; remove nut retaining the mounting post, and unplug the electrical connector to the electronic throttle sensor, and out it comes.
Brake pushrod? Without it on a lift (retired, sold my shop) I'd have to get down to reach the mounting at the brake pedal.
I see you (Andy) cross-drilled the brake pedal arm to mount your rod end. I would too if I did it again, and I'd nut the cross-mounting bolt so it would only require a wrench on the outer bolt retaining the rod-end to remove the damn thing. (I used the stupid two part clamp from a previous commercial hand control to connect to the rod-end)

EDIT: looking at my photo, it seems the brake arm is pressed steel part. I still think that if there was plenty of material on either side of the holes, I'd put a bolt in with appropriate spacer to keep pedal arm from being bent together by the bolt.

[Andy]

Ok, one scene for the "should have been left on the cutting room floor"...

If you watch Fantomworks on TV, there was an episode where they installed some 'real' hand controls into some guy's car. MPD's if I am not mistaken. And what a dumpster fire that was. Seriously weird install. Here's a pic, more to be seen in the episode...

https://www.fantomworks.com/project/1969-superbee/