The original plan was to have 195 repaired and back on the road by the end of May. Well, that would be Saturday, which leaves me with just two days to get a LOT of things done. I’ve got a conference call tonight and we’re off to the lake tomorrow afternoon, so yeah. It’s not that there hasn’t been any progress, just that there hasn’t been enough progress.
Our trusty ‘Migo provided the power needed to make short work of the compacted upper and lower core support. The next step will be to re-align the lower mounting tabs for both the radiator and AC condenser. I doubt the ‘Migo will be needed, but it’s SO much easier to simply strap something to the hitch and let the 3.2L V6 take over. For the radiator tabs, I’ll see if I can’t pull them back into place by simply cranking on the ratchet straps a couple times, but the Isuzu is a handy tool as well.
The 4WS lines under the core support were munched in the accident, resulting in the power steering system being completely drained. Poor thing sounds like a Ford Mustang when the steering wheel gets any input. (Horrible.) I’m going to disable the 4WS, rather than delete it completely at this point. My plan is to simply bypass the lines before they go below the core support. Should work, in theory, anyway.
Once the radiator and condenser are situated, the next project will be test fitting the lights and grille to see just how extreme the repairs to related mounting tabs will be on the front of the car. I anticipate things which once mounted to the car with four bolts to end up making do with just two or three. There may even be a need to fabricate a replacement bumper out of pipe, as the factory bumper was mangled into a useless heap of steel that found it’s way into an apartment dumpster last month. (A shame, too, as I bet I could have recycled it for a couple bucks or something.) Assuming I can get the lights and grille installed decently, the next order of business will be to get the SRT4 intercooler bolted up and plumbed. At that point, I should be able to fire the beast up and take a much needed test drive around the block.
If things go well on the test drive, it will be time to pound out the fenders, get the hood flat and latched, and mount the front bumper cover. After that, it’s off to emissions and the DMV for a new tag and some boosted daily driving. That will be nice.
Now, for some less than good news. It looks like the voice of reality has finally gotten to me. I’m pretty sure the early entry deadline for Prescott will be sometime in September. This means I have just four months to get this car up to the bare basics if I’m going to enter that rally. Sure, that means selling the Talon and having the cage fitted, but the devil is in the details.
In addition to the cage, I’ll need a pair of seats. Those seats require installation hardware (bases). What good are seats when there is nothing to keep you in them? So add a pair of harnesses to that list. Hell. Might as well add in two helmets while we’re at it. Rally computer? Haha. Not in the budget. Rally lights for night stages? If they’re more than $50, they’re not in the budget. Same goes for a set of new tires, which are probably a good idea. This leads gets me thinking about the brakes, which I’ve not touched since taking delivery of the car over two yeas ago. All the miles put on 195 since I’ve owned it have been put on the brakes which were installed prior to Engine No. 2 locking up on some stranger in New Mexico something like four years ago. I’d be a fool to throw this car into a corner at any kind of speed on the Prescott roads without fresh rotors and good pads.
So, including the cage and seats, we’re talking something like $5000 or more just in product to get the car to the minimum safety requirements for competition. Oh yeah, and there would need to be a couple CRS and NASA licenses needed prior to coughing up the entry fee. I just don’t see how I can come up with that kind of money in time to complete the car to a level which won’t even provide a shred of potential in competition, let alone the open class.
Add to that I’m driving a 22 year old refrigerator that cost $1000 on Craigslist to and from work these days that STILL doesn’t have either a radio or any air conditioning with faded paint and blown-out muffler and it seems it might just be a better idea to use proceeds from the sale of my beloved Talon to fund a proper paint job, air conditioner and stereo install for the wagon, while putting a couple hundred into the Galant. All the love in the word of rally can’t really justify building a $10,000 car which one can only afford to really drive once or twice a year. Maybe I’m just destined for rallycross, although it’s not looking promising on the local rallyx front these days either.
All in all, just a bit depressing. Press on regardless, though.
