He eventually sold it to a friend of his who used it on the roads of VT. I happened to have a street legal XR250 Honda dirt bike, and traded it for this car. Then there was a jump...well, a water bar really.
Tim was driving a road he knew well, but apparently someone had added some runoff solutions since his last visit. Neither one of us saw it coming. At about 40 to 45mph, a small flat spot appeared on the hill that quickly turned into a trench the whole width of the road. 'Round these parts, we call that a water bar. It dropped about a foot down for a three or four foot stretch, then came back up aggressively to match the grade of the road. We estimate that we would have been fine at about 65mph, but 40 just wasn't enough. The car was fine, with only a small list of issues. The oil pan was stuffed in, pickup tube was crushed, the radiator was pushed back and a little bit broken, that lower part of the crossmember and bumper that you don't need was deemed ready for removal, there was a bit of gravel in the engine bay, and my right arm ripped the armrest off the door so that only one point of attachment barely remained. If it weren't for the lazy oil pan and pickup and radiator mount, the car would have driven home just fine. Instead we had to get my friendly neighbor to tow it home. We creatively parked it near a hiking trail and smoothed out the gravel and picked up some pieces from the impact site as to not raise suspicion. After the ordeal, we simply swapped my CQ radiator in and plugged the aux radiator outlet with a coolant temp sensor stuffed in a section of hose. A hammer made quick work of the oil pan, and we had a spare oil pickup. The car was back in business sort of, kind of. It still had all of the issues it had before the jump for some reason. Oh well, it still worked enough to drive.
Enter the 100. Tim bought back a 100 he had previously sold, and we cut it up. The NF is getting uglied up so that it can go into the 4kq, and I am pulling the JT out. For now, it'll just get a simple swap, the suspension lift will come this spring. The goal is to ice race this, or at least terrorize the lakes in the next few months. The engine is nearly ready to drop out. The subframe is out, uprights are out, tranny is on a jack stand, and only a few things remain before removal. Here is a nice little video of the last time the JT ran. I had to get an old couch from my house to the dumpster at the shop just down the road, so I figured that was a good task for the 'ol beater.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tophm/11566128294/
The car is getting swapped right where it is pictured above, but with more snow and cold around it.
As of right now, the list is:
Remove clutch slave
Remove speedometer sender
Remove shift linkage
Drain oil
Disconnect starter wiring
Disconnect heater core hoses
Unbolt engine mounts
Drop engine and transmission
Lift car and slide engine and tranny out
I should have it out very soon, and the engine rebuild will be complete soon. I also happen to be doing this in the driveway in New Hampshire, so if you have garage space, don't be a bitch and go work on your project.
