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    Page 25 of 27 FirstFirst ... 15 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 LastLast
    Results 481 to 500 of 527
    1. #481
      Join Date
      Aug 2012
      Location
      Peoria, AZ
      Posts
      1,758
      Country Flag: United States
      Looks good Sean, glad you got the fluid transfer line issue straightened out.

      Better get that whip tuned up for this weekend!!
      Lance
      1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car

    2. #482
      Join Date
      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
      Posts
      584
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by SSLance View Post
      Looks good Sean, glad you got the fluid transfer line issue straightened out.

      Better get that whip tuned up for this weekend!!
      Oh we are ready to rock!

      Last night I had a delivery that I wish I had gotten long ago!

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      I stumbled onto Redline Tuning who makes a gas strut kit for the hoods of these trucks. I've been using a prop rod which isn't terrible, but not optimal either. So for the whopping $100 this costs I rolled the dice while keeping my expectations low.

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      35 minutes later I was rewarded with a perfect install. Seriously easy and works flawlessly! It even included 4 pages of full color instructions. I wish I had done this long ago, but most of these retrofit parts require excessive effort for minimal results 98% of the time. This actually did exactly as advertised and works great even with my 7lb lighter hood. While this offers no performance advantage, the ease of access for quick shock setting changes or fluid checks is going to be super nice.

      That should about do it prior to SCCA. I'm excited to see if the combination of setup changes and me having more seat time shows up on the timer this weekend.
      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram

    3. #483
      Join Date
      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
      Posts
      584
      Country Flag: United States


      Realized I never posted this here for those of you not keeping up on social media. Give a click to see this thing in motion. This was day 2 of the Pro Touring Truck Shootout. I may have totally failed at stopping on this one (first run of 6) but the truck does sound great.
      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram

    4. #484
      Join Date
      Oct 2010
      Location
      SLC
      Posts
      590
      Its something about that Windsor firing order that makes the best sound.

      Fantastic work on that truck. I love it!
      Zach

      1970 Mach 1 build - Half-Breed (pro-touring.com)

    5. #485
      Join Date
      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
      Posts
      584
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by Zachalanche View Post
      Its something about that Windsor firing order that makes the best sound.

      Fantastic work on that truck. I love it!
      Definitely has a very distinct sound.

      Thanks for the kind words! It has been really fun to actually enjoy it knowing how special of a truck it is underneath. Seeing the looks of guys faces when I pop the hood at the gas station (constantly get asked to see) is still the most fun. Nobody can believe what is hidden under the original body.
      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram

    6. #486
      Join Date
      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
      Posts
      584
      Country Flag: United States
      The quick recap is that the spring rate change was excellent! The truck doesn't try and push through the turns so bad now and overall grip seemed higher. I realized I was underbraking as a result. So I still have some work to do on the driver. Something else of note, these Falken tires seem to prefer higher pressure than I've started with on other brands.

      I would also like to point out that with normal driving these higher spring rates do not feel harsh. Granted the truck is rigid and there is no rubber bushings anywhere so road feedback is direct, but it is not uncomfortable to ride around town in at all.

      I think I'll try running the heavier setting on the front sway bar at the next event and see what that does. Lance and I also believe that we can cut the rear camber in half from 2 degrees to 1 degree to try and add more straight line grip back. For now, I can continue to enjoy the truck around town since nothing is broken or needing repair. THAT is what I'm trying to do here. Race hard on the weekend and cruise the town any other time.

      BONUS: Did some quick math on my last tank of fuel and discovered that with Andrew's tuning brilliance we are averaging right at 19mpg! Crazy to think this rowdy little SBF can hit efficiency numbers of some modern trucks while making much more power. And I don't baby this thing....ever.
      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram

    7. #487
      Join Date
      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
      Posts
      584
      Country Flag: United States
      If you haven't seen it yet, Terry is local to me and filmed a segment on the truck. Many of you have seen his photos watermarked as @tlysak from various events. He also has a youtube and spent over 6hrs with me a week ago to film what became this. Essentially through these video clips, he provided a voice to all the words in this thread. I feel like he did a brilliant job bringing this thread to life, and I made sure all of you thanked as best I could. I LOVE THIS COMMUNITY!

      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram

    8. #488
      Join Date
      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
      Posts
      584
      Country Flag: United States
      This past weekend was 2 days of SCCA Autocross with Saturday being a full day of Test N Tune.

      Saturday was great because they setup an extended course allowing the most out of each of 10 total laps we got (I only got 9). This is the first time I've really been able to play with both tire pressure and shock settings individually lap to lap. I also moved about 15% more brake bias to the front which helped more than I ever expected. End result, the truck is significantly faster than it ever has been all by just learning what makes it stick the best. Unfortunately I finally had a real issue stop the day early. I run a Speedway Engineering splined swaybar. Somehow my passenger side arm slipped off (pinch bolt was still tight) and then the set screw on the locking collar came loose causing that to be lost somewhere out there. I never heard anything, but they told me something was hanging down when I came in and I felt a massive jump in body roll halfway around. **** happens.

      With Sunday fast approaching and it being 4pm on a Saturday night I had to find a way to fix this before Sunday's race. Thinking cap on tight...

      Best I could come up with quickly after a run by Lowes on the way home was 4x 1in dia steel washers and a 1/4-20 set screw.

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      Here is the catch, I have a 1-1/4 dia sway bar. It was getting late and I was dead tired so I didn't remember to take photos of the process, but here is what the result was:

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      I TIG welded the 4 washers together with both 5x rosette welds in the middle and all the way around the outside. I used a little vise on the big drill press to run a 1-1/4 hole saw through the middle. Then a quick clean up with the scuff pad on the die grinder before I tapped the setscrew in. Done. Installed and cranked down by 11pm with the truck still on the trailer.

      Sunday went smooth as could be. 2 drivers in the same session knocking out 8 runs. I ran a best of 53.6 seconds placing me 3rd out of 10 cars in CAM-T. Probably the wrong class, but they let me play here...for now. I dropped roughly 1 second every lap just keeping consistent tire pressures and never changing shock settings. I'm incredibly happy with how the truck is performing. I believe it is basically at the limit of these 300tw tires so I'm just gonna wear these out and then jump to a 200tw option to really pour on the pressure.

      I've also worked a lot on my driving. Taking 9 years off from racing hasn't done my skills any favors. I really worked on pushing braking deeper, smoother throttle inputs, and left foot braking. You can blame the driver or anything you want, but these "driver mods" resulted in times faster than a Porsche Carrera, half of CAM, and many modern mustangs.

      Trucks can handle and I'm gonna keep proving it! Thanks everyone for your support. All I need to do is check fluids, flush the brakes, and wipe it down before Good Guys this weekend. Hope to see some of you there in Scottsdale!
      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram

    9. #489
      Join Date
      Aug 2012
      Location
      Peoria, AZ
      Posts
      1,758
      Country Flag: United States
      Nice work this weekend Sean. Way to keep after it. Are you going to be able to sneak it in on Friday?
      Lance
      1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car

    10. #490
      Join Date
      Nov 2020
      Posts
      1
      Found your thread researching front suspension builds and ended up reading all 25 pages. The truck is awesome.

      I think you hinted at other spindle options. I'm trying to find a spindle with an upper ball joint and accepts a hub with a ford bolt pattern. Without going to a full aluminum racing $3k+ spindle (griggs or cortex), I've only found the ridetech, mustang II, or factory five spindles. Did you find any other options?

    11. #491
      Join Date
      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
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      584
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      Quote Originally Posted by SSLance View Post
      Nice work this weekend Sean. Way to keep after it. Are you going to be able to sneak it in on Friday?
      Thanks Lance! It's a combo of making headway with truck setup and driver gaining back some long lost confidence. Still more to go so watch out.

      No, I'm being held to running Sunday only since this front end didn't come to life until 1992. Plus I think some guys are low key watching me find speed and I'm considered a threat (HA!). Totally fine with me since this truck isn't at a level of contending for the shootout...yet.

      Quote Originally Posted by RinerAuto View Post
      Found your thread researching front suspension builds and ended up reading all 25 pages. The truck is awesome.

      I think you hinted at other spindle options. I'm trying to find a spindle with an upper ball joint and accepts a hub with a ford bolt pattern. Without going to a full aluminum racing $3k+ spindle (griggs or cortex), I've only found the ridetech, mustang II, or factory five spindles. Did you find any other options?
      THIS is exactly what I was hoping for! Glad you are able to get some info and thank you so much for taking time to read through!

      As far as "budget friendly" options, you really just can't beat the ridetech spindles. They have been awesome! Biggest hurdle is the steering arms if you are running front steer like I am, but I'm also proof that you can overcome that with some semi-intelligent fabrication. For what you mentioned, these are my only viable recommendation I can stand behind.

      Ideally I'd love to run a Corvette type spindle and maintain the Ford bolt pattern, but you are looking at a minimum of $1,000+ for just the bare pair from the aftermarket. Then it rapidly goes up from there as you build them out to be useful. Part of me did start to consider using the Crow Vic front spindles since they are the right pattern, use an upper and lower ball joint, super strong, and big brake options exist. The Ridetech spindles just felt like a more "known" option to me.

      At the end of the day I'm sure there is other options in the world. I only made a small amount of headway in finding a good all around option. I'm actually still convinced I could make the S197 spindle into a bolt-on double a-arm option, but those will continue to collect dust on the shelf for a while longer while my focus is on more pressing projects. It would be extremely similar to the Factory Five SN95 spindle adaptor they make. Hell that might even be an option for you. Good luck!
      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram

    12. #492
      Join Date
      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
      Posts
      584
      Country Flag: United States


      From All American Sunday this past weekend at Good Guys in Scottsdale.

      Positives:
      Truck ran like a champ
      Competition was much better than expected
      Event runs like clockwork (take some notes SCCA)
      Everyone was so fun to be around

      Negatives:
      My gearing was soooo wrong for this course
      For the size and weight of this truck, I was on smaller and less sticky tires than every vehicle who beat me
      Didn't make the shootout or even top 10

      Overall I will run every Good Guys Autocross that I can. It was so fun and it runs so well for being a "fun" event and atmosphere. I still have some things to work on as a driver, but investments will also need to be made if this truck is going to truly be competitive with the level of guys I'm coming up against. 2 seconds faster would have put me in the shootout with a chance.

      For those of you who stopped by, thank you. The truck had a consistent crowd all day long and it was cool to be the only Ford truck running on Sunday.
      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram

    13. #493
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      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
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      584
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      For those of you that don't follow along with my antics on other platforms, I had to share another of Terry's gems here. We all love his work and he came through with his magic yet again for me!

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      I continue to be amazed at how flat the truck stays overall. We ain't even dialed in yet. This was a 90 degree right turn off of a short straight at Good Guys on Sunday.
      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram


    14. #494
      Join Date
      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
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      584
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      Well I'm a bit behind....oops.

      It's been an extremely busy close to the year. I hope you all had a nice holiday. Mine was too quiet due to not traveling to see my family like I would typically do. The bright side is I spent time on the truck.

      After Goodguys in November the truck decided it didn't like alternators. After only 1000 miles the first one started only producing 11.7v peak. So I called and had a new one shipped to me under the warranty. Got it installed the 2 weeks before SCCA in December. Immediately it's showing 11.8v peak...****. So I tested it every way I could think of and inspected all my wiring before settling on it being defective. Took both dead units to Autozone where they ran them on their special test machine and matched my readings. Well good, at least we know I'm doing everything right on my end. This put me at a disadvantage not having a charging system for an event I was committed to. So I went for a hail mary the night before the event and found some random Duralast in stock about 20 min away. It only put out 105 amps, but if I didn't idle much and kept all non-essential items off it should make it. NOPE! Right away it was not keeping up so I checked the test slip in the box. Imagine my surprise when I see it only tested at a max of 72 amps. WHAT?! So I said screw it...let's run anyway. Autocross is a total of 3-5 minutes of run time and I can make it work. Wrong again. Setting up for my 3rd run and the truck just died. So we packed up and headed home.

      Disappointing to say the least. The one bright side to this is that none of the work I've done has failed. I suspect there has been some kind of quality control failure with whoever manufactures these CS130 GM alternators along with the expected supply chain delays we all expect right now. I'm still waiting on the 3rd replacement under warranty and the vendor has been extremely good with communication while we both wait on that inventory to arrive. So I've focused on other areas.

      Something that has bugged me to death is not having my aluminum door panels done. This is my own fault, but we won't focus on that. I gave a template to my friend with a massive laser machine about 3 weeks ago and he finally had a free moment to throw my little project on there.

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      I'm working on some 3D printed covers for around the door handle and to trim around the window crank nicer. It already looks 100x better.

      Next up, DOWNFORCE!

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      Only 1 wing goes on the truck. The other is for my BMW V8 track car build that I haven't shared since it's not very Pro Touring....I don't think.

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      I placed my order with 9 Lives Racing and had to wait, but man was it worth it. These were less than half the cost of an equivalent carbon wing and still offer the same benefits.

      I had no idea how long it would take me to hand make the aluminum mounts, but omg it was a TON of work. It probably doesn't help that I'm super picky about everything matching perfectly, but I got it done and am very happy with the results.

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      I totally get that some of you will absolutely hate this look and many more of you still won't really "like" it. Remember that the goal is always about function first. The rear view there looks pretty dang cool to me though.

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      The mounts are modular since some series (optima) don't allow such a tall mount. With 4 nuts/bolts removed I can swap to different uprights in 5-10 min total. The lower section actually goes through the bed to mount directly to the truck's frame so I have zero concerns about this being strong enough. Side to side rigidity does leave a little to be desired, but the bed cover is going to really help there.

      Yup, finally doing the bed cover. I'm making it lightweight and easily removed in sections. Stay tuned for that update in a couple days. A few of you might learn about a new material you'll want to try then.

      Oh and as a teaser of what else...I'm keeping things "balanced"

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      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram

    15. #495
      Join Date
      Nov 2018
      Posts
      642
      Country Flag: United States
      I've bought a couple of alternators from Mechman for a couple of different trucks. Both are still running great (family trucks,) and they make far more power than either truck they were installed in will ever need. What I really like about them is they're capable of making more power at idle than the factory alternators are rated for at max RPM.

      So far as the parts store alternators go, the "rebuilding" process seems to consist of dipping the alternator in engine cleaner and sticking it in a box. You stand a better chance of getting a good alternator from a salvage yard because salvage yard alternators are there because the car wore out or was wrecked, while the parts store alternator was there because the previous owner was having charging problems. I don't even bother with them anymore. The new parts store alternators are so expensive that you might as well spend a few extra bucks for a good US-built high amperage one. At least you know you're not going to run out of juice.

    16. #496
      Join Date
      Aug 2012
      Location
      Peoria, AZ
      Posts
      1,758
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      Sean, I found a place downtown Phoenix that will build an Alternator to do whatever you want it to do pretty reasonably.

      Copperstate Alternator & Starter
      Auto electrical service in Phoenix, Arizona
      Address: 3807 N 35th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85017
      Phone: (602) 253-4155

      I bought a reman CS144 from them for like $90 because I needed it that day but considered having them build it up to 250 amp for $200 total.
      Lance
      1985 Monte Carlo SS Street Car

    17. #497
      Join Date
      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
      Posts
      584
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      I appreciate the input on the alternators. This is STILL an ongoing saga and rapidly becoming a giant thorn in my side. The local company that claimed they could rapidly rebuild and upgrade one of my good housings has been a big hot mess to deal with...and that's me trying to be nice about it. CVF themselves have still been plagued by ongoing supply delays, but even now after a month of this they have been communicating wonderfully so it's hard to be upset at them. So yeah....still haven't driven my truck and I'm not a fan of it just taking up space when I LOVE driving it so much.

      Ok so onto more positive things. With the wing mounted and ready for action the need to clean up rear airflow cannot be ignored any longer. Plus I've been wanting to try a new-to-me material. So a lightweight bed cover was moved to Priority #1. Guess the truck being down isn't the end of the world for upgrades.

      I looked around at off the shelf options hoping for the lazy way out with a production bed cover. I'll give you all one guess how that went. If you can find them for these trucks they are horrendously heavy. Like minimum of 70lbs and easily approaching the 100lbs mark for the fiberglass versions. That's not even including how expensive those production covers can be. Of course that just won't do so I came up with my own plan.

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      You can see there how I used 1/16" and 1/8" aluminum angle to create a simple frame to support the lightweight panels. This structure is removable in the future with 25 #8 bolts around the edges. Yes I can think of a specific reason, but that's another topic for another time later on.

      The real magic is in the panel material itself. I was recently told about something called Omegabond which turns out is commonly known as ACP (Aluminum Composite Panel) in the sign business. It is two super thin sheets of Aluminum sandwiching a polythylene core. Best part is that it is roughly 1/3 the weight of the similar thickness aluminum sheet and costs about 20% less while being available raw or coated in various basic colors. I went with 3mm for this job, but they have 6mm too which I could see using as a splitter.

      I found it to be super easy to work with just requiring a careful touch on corners to prevent damage. Once bolted in place I was happy with the strength and I feel this will hold up really well in this application.

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      Over the course of a couple evenings after work I was able to slowly trim everything to fit just right so the cover sits flush with the bedsides and has minimal gaps around everything else. I also used this to add strength to the wing uprights by using the cover like a spar to the bed itself. This provided the added strength I was missing. Win-win. Oh and the total weight penalty for all this was a whopping 12lbs. End cost was approximately $220. No special tools required.

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      You can see how it came together underneath in that photo. But enough teasing...once you peel the protective cover back you are rewarded with beauty.

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      That's the coating as it comes. Which seems perfect to me. You can also see the fuel filler finally doesn't look out of place. That trap door just behind the cab uses a tool-free dzus fastener to access the battery and fuel pump area of the fuel cell. The tail gate still drops down and can be used as normal. Overall this feels like it gave the rear half of the truck a much more completed look while being extremely functional.

      More to come soon, but man I just really wanna drive this again more than anything.
      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram

    18. #498
      Join Date
      Aug 2017
      Location
      PC Beach, FL
      Posts
      23
      Country Flag: United States
      Love the concept and execution! I had though of creating one in the same manor with aluminum sheet or some other rigid lightweight composite all for the exact same reasons you mentioned.
      Couple questions...
      Are the cross braces attached to the side rails? If so, how did you join them to keep the framing on the same plain?
      Did you use a bonding adhesive to bond the panels to the frame or just rivets?
      What did you use to cut/trim the Omegabond?

      2000 Silverado RCSB

      Built 6.1L / Kenne Bell 2.8L / 4L80E / Suspension

    19. #499
      Join Date
      Feb 2010
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      14
      Country Flag: United States
      That looks great

    20. #500
      Join Date
      Oct 2018
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
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      584
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      Quote Originally Posted by Big_KID View Post
      Love the concept and execution! I had though of creating one in the same manor with aluminum sheet or some other rigid lightweight composite all for the exact same reasons you mentioned.
      Couple questions...
      Are the cross braces attached to the side rails? If so, how did you join them to keep the framing on the same plain?
      Did you use a bonding adhesive to bond the panels to the frame or just rivets?
      What did you use to cut/trim the Omegabond?
      Thanks! Little time and patience paid off better than I originally hoped.

      The two center bows are attached to the sides with the same Stainless #8 bolts I used for everything on this project. All 4 bows would be the same if I was working on a normal truck bed, but I have the rear roll bars and wing uprights to attach things to. Keeping the bows on the same plane was a matter of clamping a straight edge along the top of the "frame" pieces and drilling the bolt holes in place. I used a die grinder and my small metal bandsaw to notch the aluminum angle so it fit nicely together (hard to explain this way so I'll try to remember to grab some pics), but we all know aluminum is easy to cut so use what you've got.

      I didn't use any rivets with the idea being that small bolts are stronger and allow panel replacements (think idiot throwing something heavy on top or something falling). My simple recommendation is to use the double-sided 3m tape to hold the panels to the aluminum frame. I had already started drilling holes before that idea came up from Rob at No Limit. Hindsight is 20/20. You could also use an adhesive if you wanted. I don't think there is truly a wrong way to do this, but just remember that there is some air pressure and turbulence in this area so you want to use quality stuff regardless.

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      For cutting straight lines I like using this 7" metal saw, but a jigsaw works just as well. For the detail stuff I used sanding drums of various sizes on my die grinder. There really isn't a wrong way to cut this stuff. I finished all my edges with a metal file to keep things neat and clean. The only real concern when cutting this material is to not have too aggressive of a blade and ripping the edges up, not that this was an issue for me at all. ACP is overall softer than a full metal panel. I worked mine just like I would a sheet of plastic and had no issues.
      '95 F-150 track ready street beast
      Want more projects/photos? Check my Instagram

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