RyanR
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The adventure begins!
Participating in stage rally has been one of my personal goals since I can remember. Watching cars slide through corners on loose surfaces, and especially snow, just does something zen-like for me. Actually driving those cars through those corners even more so. Up until now, I've crewed for a few teams, volunteered to help as stage crew, spectated at a few rallies, drove in a winter TSD rally, watched unhealthy amounts of rally videos, and generally supported the lifestyle by assisting friends/others. I've talked and talked for years about doing this sometime, and said to myself that I need to quit talking and do it.
So, I did a thing:
I hunted on Craigslist for months it seems to find the right-car-right-price combination. I spoke with many nice owners, but we couldn't come to a deal that made sense for what I am up to. Finally, one of the owners called me back a week after we had first spoken, and offered to negotiate on price. He told me all of the issues with the car, and we agreed on a price assuming an inspection and test drive. On Thursday, Emily, Daisy and I set off in the truck for Vermont.
We got there at about 8PM, and some mood lighting set the scene:
I checked some things:
ALL LOOKS GOOD!
Looked for crash damage, even though the CARFAX/AUTOCHECK was clean:
NO DAMAGE, YAY!! The shell is so clean. No rust anywhere underneath, and the subframes are all factory-fresh. It spent 9/10 of its life as a daily driver in CT for an older lady who put almost 30k/year on it. It was owned by the previous owner gentleman for just under one year. Current mileage is 180k.
Gave it a quick test drive to make sure the transmission and diffs were in proper working order. Jackpot! They all work great, no noises.
At this point, the engine has a Cyl 3 misfire, and no one knows why. I didn't really care because the price was right even if the motor was junk.
SO:
Clean shell: Check!
Clean Tranny/Diffs: Check!
Clean Engine: Dunno, has 180k so anything is poss.
Electronics: All work!
I'll take it!
Made it back to Saco, and had to get some sleep since it was 1AM. Grabbed a hotel for the night and hit the hay. Woke up the next morning and headed home.
Daisy photo bombed this shot:
When I got home, I used a ton of Goo-Gone and removed the most stickers (front and rear) I have ever taken off of one car.
It cleans up pretty nice!!:
The car came with spare body panels, and the smooshed doors will make great spares.
On Saturday, Jake came over after work and we had a few Octoberfesteseses. Decided to see what was up with the Cyl 3 misfire. The previous owner had mentioned that it had jumped timing, but that he had reset it and the codes went away. From driving it, I definitely knew the issue was not fixed. I had assumed bent valves, and was correct. A leakdown test proved that Cyl 3 had 100% leakdown.
For now, I'm going to leave the motor in so I can move it around easily, and whoever does the cage doesn't have to push it about. I was planning on building a new motor for the car for stage duty anyway. Hoping the heads are salvageable and can be used as spares. The short block has too many miles for any kind of reliability racing-wise.
Started the project:
Ripped out the trunk goods, found that someone was prepping to go to the moon. Removing all that will suck:
Ripped out the back seat and rear plastic:
Ultimately, the plan is to run NASA, hill climbs, Canadian, and other events as money allows. If I feel like I'm missing out on RA events, I'll toss in an NA drivetrain and run open light.
The build will take time. I don't have a "first event" set in my mind that I would like to be ready by. We are expecting a child early this next year, and so my thoughts/efforts will mostly be focused on that. I expect to strip the car and seam weld very soon, and get a cage in it ASAP. Then all of the other work can begin on prepping the car for its eventual debut. Drivers mods are also needed, so I'll spend some time at a rally school asap.
To conclude, I want to give a huge shout-out to my wife Emily, who supports me at every turn with this craziness. I could not do this without her! Also, a huge thanks to all of my friends that have put up with my blabbing about wanting to do this forever, and have given me advice along the way to keep my head screwed on straight.
Now I need a team name!
Looking forward to the adventure with you all.
<3 Ryan
Participating in stage rally has been one of my personal goals since I can remember. Watching cars slide through corners on loose surfaces, and especially snow, just does something zen-like for me. Actually driving those cars through those corners even more so. Up until now, I've crewed for a few teams, volunteered to help as stage crew, spectated at a few rallies, drove in a winter TSD rally, watched unhealthy amounts of rally videos, and generally supported the lifestyle by assisting friends/others. I've talked and talked for years about doing this sometime, and said to myself that I need to quit talking and do it.
So, I did a thing:
I hunted on Craigslist for months it seems to find the right-car-right-price combination. I spoke with many nice owners, but we couldn't come to a deal that made sense for what I am up to. Finally, one of the owners called me back a week after we had first spoken, and offered to negotiate on price. He told me all of the issues with the car, and we agreed on a price assuming an inspection and test drive. On Thursday, Emily, Daisy and I set off in the truck for Vermont.
We got there at about 8PM, and some mood lighting set the scene:
I checked some things:
ALL LOOKS GOOD!
Looked for crash damage, even though the CARFAX/AUTOCHECK was clean:
NO DAMAGE, YAY!! The shell is so clean. No rust anywhere underneath, and the subframes are all factory-fresh. It spent 9/10 of its life as a daily driver in CT for an older lady who put almost 30k/year on it. It was owned by the previous owner gentleman for just under one year. Current mileage is 180k.
Gave it a quick test drive to make sure the transmission and diffs were in proper working order. Jackpot! They all work great, no noises.
At this point, the engine has a Cyl 3 misfire, and no one knows why. I didn't really care because the price was right even if the motor was junk.
SO:
Clean shell: Check!
Clean Tranny/Diffs: Check!
Clean Engine: Dunno, has 180k so anything is poss.
Electronics: All work!
I'll take it!
Made it back to Saco, and had to get some sleep since it was 1AM. Grabbed a hotel for the night and hit the hay. Woke up the next morning and headed home.
Daisy photo bombed this shot:
When I got home, I used a ton of Goo-Gone and removed the most stickers (front and rear) I have ever taken off of one car.
It cleans up pretty nice!!:
The car came with spare body panels, and the smooshed doors will make great spares.
On Saturday, Jake came over after work and we had a few Octoberfesteseses. Decided to see what was up with the Cyl 3 misfire. The previous owner had mentioned that it had jumped timing, but that he had reset it and the codes went away. From driving it, I definitely knew the issue was not fixed. I had assumed bent valves, and was correct. A leakdown test proved that Cyl 3 had 100% leakdown.
For now, I'm going to leave the motor in so I can move it around easily, and whoever does the cage doesn't have to push it about. I was planning on building a new motor for the car for stage duty anyway. Hoping the heads are salvageable and can be used as spares. The short block has too many miles for any kind of reliability racing-wise.
Started the project:
Ripped out the trunk goods, found that someone was prepping to go to the moon. Removing all that will suck:
Ripped out the back seat and rear plastic:
Ultimately, the plan is to run NASA, hill climbs, Canadian, and other events as money allows. If I feel like I'm missing out on RA events, I'll toss in an NA drivetrain and run open light.
The build will take time. I don't have a "first event" set in my mind that I would like to be ready by. We are expecting a child early this next year, and so my thoughts/efforts will mostly be focused on that. I expect to strip the car and seam weld very soon, and get a cage in it ASAP. Then all of the other work can begin on prepping the car for its eventual debut. Drivers mods are also needed, so I'll spend some time at a rally school asap.
To conclude, I want to give a huge shout-out to my wife Emily, who supports me at every turn with this craziness. I could not do this without her! Also, a huge thanks to all of my friends that have put up with my blabbing about wanting to do this forever, and have given me advice along the way to keep my head screwed on straight.
Now I need a team name!
Looking forward to the adventure with you all.
<3 Ryan
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