So I bought the car in November 2008 for $250, then promptly got laid off, moved cross-country from CA to NC to take another job, got laid off again, and eventually moved back to CA. Whew!
Needless to say, buying a car in pieces, dragging those pieces back and forth across the country twice, and then trying to put that car back together when you have no skill, experience, tools or garage might convince a lesser woman to sell the whole thing off and use that money for a nice day at the spa.
But not me. I love my GTX, and the thought of actually putting one together for a GRM Challenge was just too exciting! The problem was…how is a complete newbie who has absolutely no idea what she’s doing going to put together a car, much less do it in less than six weeks? I put a call out to the Yahoo GTX list for help.
For the record, the guys in the Yahoo GTX group are awesome. Terry M, Jeff S., Matt and Trevor all pitched in to help.
Terry (aka bfmrgtx) came up from Santa Cruz and we started tearing down the car on Saturday, August 7th. Terry’s very patient; he’d show me how to do one side (i.e., jack up the car & set on jackstands, pull the brakes and rotors, etc.), then let me go off and do the other, or talk me through things as needed. Great experience!
On Sunday, more GTX guys came out. We pulled the old engine and transmission out, spent a few hours cleaning up the engine bay and stripping the old engine of brackets & bolts missing on the new engine. We dropped the engine back in, mounted it up, and called it a night.
Next week: Carlota learns how to put the car back together! ;)
