Picked Up a rally car yesterday.

I Finally joined the league of ordinary gentlemen.

We loaded up an old saab 9k with 300,000 miles at 8am on saturday morning. Southern Maine to northern jersey in five hours, no sweat. with my driver/friend/rallyist Sandy behind the wheel, tools in the trunk we are making incredible time. somewhere in mass while talking about run ins with the law we are flagged to pull over at 87 mph in a 65 zone, it takes us awhile but we comply. the trick here is to be "extremely respectful" he says. After some confusion on the status of a Used Car Dealer plate on the saab the officer is gracious enough to hand over a ticket for 10 over. "when you get to the city the speed drops to fifty, take it easy i will be watching you" twenty minutes later almost 70 in a 50 mph zone, our newly made acquaintance passes by at a high rate of speed. Sandy never lifted.
After some confusion i get us on the wrong route On 87N in jersey, we made it a half hour late to see the car, My driver was disappointed. I too.
A brief thorough inspection shows the car is worth the money and drivable, YIPPEEE! I took it for a spin around the block. goes great a bit loud "but what the hell" armed with a second plate we start the dash home.


But first lets stop up the street and top off, the attendant either had no idea i able to pump my gas or he was an idiot, BOTH. "AHMM DO YOU NEED GAS?"
"yes i am parked at the pump"
"HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED?"
"top it off i have a long drive"
"SO how much do you need?"
Long story short i got $10 of 93 for $zero
The ride to the highway was nice. big shit eating grin on my face, heat works great, music from an MP3 player just barley audible over the drone of the exhaust. we merge onto 87 at about that speed, i can barley hold on. SHIT THE WHEELS ARE COMING OFF THE CAR! half hour later they did not come off. 70mph was the doable max, anything more felt like terminal velocity in a french made jet.



Cars broken down, shit on fire, none of it mine. Hours later i payed my first EVER 50 cent toll. the ride home was white knuckle, poorly aimed lights, no horn or plate lights i was a yellow duck on the highway, all 320 miles of highway with an exhaust at this point may have shot some flames between shifts. We made it to Maine, the home stretch. We were back to the shop shortly.



Time to get to work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2010 01:23PM by BJosephD.

I hope you got it cheap..the outside driving lites are mounted sideways....

Does it have a logbook? Unusual numbers on the doors( at least out here in the west). What engine and stuff?

OBTW...congrats!!

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heymagic
I hope you got it cheap..the outside driving lites are mounted sideways....

Does it have a logbook? Unusual numbers on the doors( at least out here in the west). What engine and stuff?

OBTW...congrats!!

Yes, cheap is good, car came with two logbooks. a decorated history to say the least. sunriser 400 9/16/94 "DNF Rolled over-DOH" is one entry. shortly after it was "re-shelled in white" 8/21/95.
i do not know what is up with the number on the doors, they seem out of place and poorly placed though. they will be missing in a matter of days. the motor is a mazda 1.8 16valve, tonight i am hoping to catalog everything out of the ordinary in terms of parts then i will have a better idea of what is on it. i would like to track down the former owners to get more information on those details.

the car will be torn down and reassembled by hand over the next month or so. depending on my budget dictates when the cage will be updated and safety equipment accounted for.
Thank you on the congrats, years of hard work and driving beaters may or may not have paid off.

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BJosephD


But first lets stop up the street and top off, the attendant either had no idea i able to pump my gas or he was an idiot, BOTH. "AHMM DO YOU NEED GAS?"
"yes i am parked at the pump"
"HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED?"
"top it off i have a long drive"
"SO how much do you need?"
Long story short i got $10 of 93 for $zero

All gas stations in NJ are full serve by law so that's why he did that.

Did they rally with that mag light held in by clips like that at pseudo head level? Seems like putting a heavy metal thing that will fly out and hit you in the face when you roll over is a bad idea.

Car looks fun good luck with it.

Congratulations! Now get to work!

Very nice! You're going to have so much fun.

Did they include the rest of the roll of that color-matched duct tape?

Chris,
Yes the Mag Light is a bit high, But held in snug. The kid at the station most likely should not be responsible for thousands of gallons of fuel.
Sean,
thanks. and yes.
Hey JVL what pressure should these have at the reserve. Based on spring wieghts is it? "LEDA" somethingreather.

Al, hells yes! no spares were sold with this car.

good luck with the car, wanna come to sand blast?? you can be our "buddy" and save $$$$ if you have never entered that event.... just need to mark it down on the paperwork.

-Brian

Love my Escort, it's been a great rally car. Looks like your's has a bit more rust though, I don't envy that at all. If you find the engine mounts a bit on the vfloppy side, I've got a passenger side urethane mount for sale. I've been building them for a few years, sold a lot of them to Protege guys and a hand full of Escorts.

-Jon

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jrally
Love my Escort, it's been a great rally car. Looks like your's has a bit more rust though, I don't envy that at all. If you find the engine mounts a bit on the vfloppy side, I've got a passenger side urethane mount for sale. I've been building them for a few years, sold a lot of them to Protege guys and a hand full of Escorts.

-Jon

Here in the northeast everything has rust. the floors feel solid down there,most likely i will be removing the underbody portection and wire brushing all the crap off, then sealing, primer, paint. time consuming.

wow, i havent updated this thread for awhile now.

some safety gear


my buddy is a super geek and was able to refurb my terratrip.


i should have purchased a built exhaust...


rebuildable Vw MK housings with billy HD's


spectator deflector

just got the car cabk from a roll cage builder, Appendix 1 baby!



how it sits..

Glad you're making progress. I'd think maybe get that drilled hole in the main hoop welded. Seems like that could turn into a crack or tear if you ever fell over....if that is a hole in the pic and not a paint mark or some such.

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BJosephD

the car will be torn down and reassembled by hand over the next month or so.

Oh?

Nice that it is coming along though. I still can't imagine starting out in rallying with a fresh build and having to buy every little thing. The amount of time and money consumed (which is bad enough in a reprep!) would be insane. Can't wait to see this bad boy on stage!

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heymagic
Glad you're making progress. I'd think maybe get that drilled hole in the main hoop welded. Seems like that could turn into a crack or tear if you ever fell over....if that is a hole in the pic and not a paint mark or some such.

It is a hole, i am not sure if was common practice but i beleive that hole and a few others were to check the thickness of the tubing. i found a stamp on the main hoop as well 10-19XX.