So- ready for another one of my trainwrecks? Cause here we go!
THE BACKSTORY-
I've been bent on LeMons racing since the series was first announced, however many years ago. The costs were prohibitively expensive for me myself and I, and being in a newer relationship, that idea got shelved as I stuffed go fast parts in an ms3 ( And subsequently purchased a MINI Cooper S, for the woman that would be my wife). A few years later... ChumpCar is announced. Very similar... interesting. A little more money is on my side, so I attempt to draft several people into building a car with me. There is some localized interest, but nothing ever became of it. The idea got shuffled to the back burner again, as I got distracted by shiny objects (My wedding though strangely cost less than it will for me to get totally into Chumpcar, sitting on the grid, brand new Nomex and all). About a year and a half later, some friends of mine find out ChumpCar is racing at BIR- which actually makes ChumpCar somewhat practical. They race, and have EPIC amounts of fun. It looks like my kind of epic amounts of fun. Around this time.... several other friends of mine decide that this looks like their kind of fun too.....
THE SEARCH-
With three people on board (Myself, a man we call Picklz, and AJ, whom are all friends from MNMazda) we decide it's time to get down and dirty, and make this happen, right? So we decide in our EXTREME logic, that it's time to go buy a car, and gut it and pay for a roll cage, so we actually do this, instead of sitting on our collective hootuses, as we are wont to do. Thus begins the brainstorming for a vehicle. I immediately voted Ford Escort, since they're about 1$/6 pack of them around here, and it's basically a Mazda Protege.We're MNMazda after all, we should have a Mazda, right? A few Escorts are found, none appealing enough to pursue any further. Various Toyotas are called on, none terribly interesting. A Celica GT-S with a 5sgt-e is offered to us via some MNMazda friends... but appears to be out of our price range. The search continues. Miata is discussed, and then dismissed, as MN based Miatas are worth more than unicorn meat. We finally had a brief discussion- what do we want in a car? It was voted that it should be small, light, reliable (at least in theory) preferrably RWD, and manual. 240's were discussed, but the Drift Tax put them too far out of reach. Next on the list was e30. THIS was actually what we all kind of wanted, what with their reputation in racing, relative ease of repair, and the fact that it met all of the criteria (again, in theory). Several were researched, none came to pass. We also spent our time looking through donation lots, seeing if there were any ailing donated vehicles that we could acquire for our needs, and help the needy at the same time. Philanthropy for personal gains... right? A Volvo 740 turbo wagon is found, but concern for availability of local parts makes it less than ideal. We had also considered Nissan Sentras, as if you did it right, you could get one with an SR20. Those are worth about as much as 240's around here, so no love there. Infiniti G20 was considered, given that we could get them cheap enough. However, every single one we looked at appeared to be about to do a Flintstone. When that happens, that is excessively bad. DSM's were almost immediately thrown out the window, as all I'd want to do is throw 30psi at it, and blow it up. Hondas hold a special place in my heart, right next to the I really hate them vein. No Honda. A similar vote was placed on the Dodge Neon. Me being me, I was reading a lot of the articles on here, and it struck me. P71! Tons of em around, build to be reliable, and who doesn't want to race around in a cop car! Again, several located on the CL. Several calls. The brilliant idea is discussed and subsequently voted on, that we need to have a light bar for it. A light bar is located. And then....................................... no P71. For whatever reason, we never got calls on any of these vehicles. (I suspect it's our combined mastery of the English language) We're back at square 0. Interest is starting to wane, as the grand scheme of impulse buying a race car is rapidly passing, as we're actually having to do research, and make more than one call. There would be no diamond in the rough here. We go back to the Protege, as they seem to be getting more to our price range. As we're looking for cheap Proteges, we stumble upon.... a Celica. Celicas are pretty cool, and this one is a GT-S slantback.... also cool. Same body as the Toyota rally car from like 1990. Further research reveals..... that this is the SAME Celica that has been offered to us earlier. And it was on CL. No sooner than we found it on CL, than the woman who owns it popped online, and insisted we buy it from her, so she could save on tax paperwork from having to donate it. So we arrange to meet at their place after work (we're all friends, and I actually know this car already, so I'm basically along to act as intermediary between the people that know each other, and the people that don't). A precursory inspection of said Celica reveals that this is a car for us. Discussions ensue, and a deal is reached for the Celica. 500$ and me painting Pikachu on the car, somewhere (she's a big fan of the Pokemon, and when we get a car that cheap, we consider that a sponsorship lol). We have a ChumpCar!
The Car- as stated, Celica GT-S. 5 speed manual, with the worlds longest throw. 5s-GTE engine. No idea what year the car is... will find out soon enough. It's the more desirable hatchback, as opposed to that notchback nonsense Toyota tried. Body wise... fairly sound. Clearcoat is gone from like 85 percent of the body, and the paint has oxidized to a nice shade of pink. Rockers by the rear quarters are all but gone. Right rear caliper is seized... no idea why. Can't really inspect that right now. I'll explain momentarily. Car fully wired for high end sound, has nice pioneer deck and a pile of speakers. Has a small battery drain issue, that is likely related to the stereo, which is to be sold. Tires... who knows. They won't be on it when it crosses the grid. Amazingly, other than the drain, the electrical is in really good shape. No birds nests' of fail. Front struts are shot, new ones are included with the car.
The best part?
I already broke it. Didn't even leave the driveway. (The woman we bought it from is a friend of mine, as is her husband, and we ended up hiring him as a driver too) We decided we were going to try and unberkeley the caliper on the spot, and drive it home. It's still even got good tabs! SWEET. As I was attempting to loosen the lugs, I snapped off TWO of the remaining 4 studs. Guess we need new ones of those.
What will follow?
Pics, build stories, swearing, a team name (Sparkle Pony Sunshine is sadly, NOT the winner), and other assorted hijinks, and possibly advice, as I learn more about this car.
