Past Projects
In the fall of 2001 Ryan and I started assembling and modifying cars together. All started in different forms, some from scratch, others from near full build requiring only tweaking and tuning. Nevertheless, all of these cars have been ours… we have a tendency to go through a lot: lots that never even made mention here, and some that I spent hours writing and thinking about. It is some form of A.D.D…. really. In the first few years after we teamed up, neither of us managed to make it through a single season with one car. They came and went. Mostly it was because we liked to dream, but it was also partly because there was always someone willing to buy. Cash just looks so good.
Note: These charts are for fun. Don’t confuse them for us being hard core and bad ass. Check it out.
Well here is a better picture for those who aren't on forums where such things already exist. Not that it's really a GOOD picture... but whatever. The hood is up, and it is notable that perhaps the best thing that Paul did for me was throw spacers between the hood hinges and body, rather than between hood and hinge as I had. That allows the hood to open wide and stand straight up without support. Unfortunately this realization was found after a trip out onto the track without the hood pinned down. There are some minor damages there.
I've been grinding pretty hard lately... but I did find time to make it out to the garage this morning and do some analyzing. I am happy that my former project/parts car is still around. It is true that this may have been a track dog at one point... but it is not that now [...]
The current plan might actually be to ressurect my partially parted and very much rust infected AE86. Cost effective? Wise? Not entirely...
The result will more than likely be a vehicle that resembles AE86 only in appearance. Engine and tranny are already gone. Fenders and headlights already gone... rear floor pan already gone. Even steering rack and column are already gone.
Why replace these things with stock or even stock ish items when weird oddball stuff is just as desirable and maybe even cheaper.
The real challenge is time and money. For the first time ever, I will be working within a very limited budget, and there is actually a hard fast deadline to finish things up (at least evolution 1). I've said before that I operate a real car life on an RC car budget... and that's not an exaggeration. Total budget of like $1500 from this point forward?? That might be a stretch of many things.
The purpose of said project will remain private. We might just be up to no good... and we might be on our way to riches. Call it our plans for the ultimate street AE86... except of course that there will be nothing ultimate about it because let's face it... $1500 buys shit.
The welder is going to get well used. Many visits will be made to Metal Supply House, and PNP and... probably YOUR garage under cover of night [...]
I'm missing our new camera hard. Ran "Top of the World" on Sunday with a small group that included Ryan and his monsterous YJ. Monsterous? Well... maybe not but it's certainly a capable rig. And even though it's running what most publications would call a smaller tire size (35"), it has a lot of advantages over stockish rigs on 31's. Out on trails and actually facing adversity... the ZJ has some major disadvantages over other more popular rig choices. Facing 2' drops and gigantic walls of dirt and mud, polyurethane bumpers seem like the dumbest idea ever. Especially when they are as long and as fat as those on the ZJ... even after my trimming. And clearance... whether a stock XJ or Toyota or Nissan would hit bottom as often as I did I don't know, but I hit it way to much for comforts sake. I was definitely glad for the armour I do have, and will certainly invest in some more. And the 318 that is so nice on the streets and highway... is pretty irrelevant on the trail.
We all want to be fabricators extraordinare. Custom stuff adds so much to your car life. My problem is that because I have a few tools, I feel like I can do stuff that I really can't. Wife and I are heading off on a week long road trip tonight, and given the amount of driving we'll be doing, and the inadequacy of the factory head lights I thought it was important to add some auxillary driving lights. My past experience with driving lights has been... not that exciting. Everything I've ever bought has left me wondering... upon turning them on... if I had in fact turned them on. So this time around, I bought the biggest lights I could find... and afford. That meant some 7" 100W units that I found at Princess Auto... for... $50. Meh. The other lights I've had have all been 55W or 80W so... hopefully these do the trick. But where could I mount such big lights? They could have easily been mounted in the stock position, in front of the grill, but... given there gigantic size[...]