Antilag

So, we went from this on the 27th of February…

To this on the evening of hte 28th…

And thence there’s a bit of work I need to do.

Now, once I had the car stripped back, it seemed to be an easy job, as crash damage goes. Bent control arm, bit of panel bendage, tie rod bent. The fact the underpanels have been stripped of just about everything already that is allowed to be removed meant that a lot of what could of bent flexed back instead of staying bent. And so, after retrieving the car and assessing the situation, I began to gather parts for the fix, which as I said looked pretty easy as things go. The fact that VR4 parts can eb hard and expensive to find really wasnt much of an issue either…. I found out TP Magna suspension parts are a direct replacement! And that the sedan Galants are also front end interchangeable, which made the guard a easy one to find and modify to look like a VR4’s.
The problem was, you know how if you have your car for a while, you get a list of jobs in the back of your mind where you put off until another day for various reasons? I’m no exception, in fact if you asked I could rattle off a list that would be mind boggling, from little bits of trim I want to find, to major drive line overhauls. Mostly due to lack of funds or parts. Having access to a four door Galant tho for the first time in a while at Pick and Pay Less (Why they call it that when you pay a lot more than other wreckers AND you have the privledge, nay JOY! of rolling around in the mud / dirt and heat to pull slimy, greasy and filthy parts off yourself is beyond me. AND you also PAY for the joy of even getting IN the place in the first place!  Someone’s onto a good scam….)

Thinking of scams, the price jacks you get if your car is a ‘special model’ astound me. 250 dollars for a coil pack, when the exact same coil pack (right down to part number!) exists on a Hyandai Lantra for 60! Do part suppliers think the average joe is THAT stupid? It’s always good advice to find out alternative parts for sports cars – and usually, said sports cars usually have much lower spec cars for donor parts to begin with. Very few bits are 100% unique to any model. Used to always ask for Mazda 626 / 121 parts for feeding to my old RX7. Apart from the engine and body, almost everything else is interchangeable for another Mazda for a third of the price.

(If you have a Ferrari F430, the washer bottle is the same on a Lancia Beta sedan and a 10th of the price. True story)

Anyway, with the low model Galant, it suddenly became the car to donate hard to find trim and bits for the VR4. And that’s where things got out of hand. To top it off, I managed to find the Motherlode of VR4 spares, went for a trip and returned with three motors, two gearboxes, panels, spares galore and a fine addition to the dining room of two EVO cylinder heads, complete with rare as VR4 EVO intakes.

My to do list suddenly became “Lets do it!” list.

And it just got worse from there.

The headlights were the first victims. Switched for decent units.

Then the intercooling piping, known to be damaged for three years got switched.

Roof and door trim found and replaced

Engine trims to keep water off the spark plugs done

And so on and so forth until the new fender was done.

Black? Well, why not?

Cause the rest of the front end isnt black, the sane would of course reply.

*sigh*. No wonder I can get accused of no life. Honestly, I was only going to fix the control arm, not go into a full front end overhaul!

What’s more scary tho is that I have an event in two weeks to get to and the front end overhaul is nearly complete! Amazing what a cordless rattle gun and air compressor tools can allow you to do over Easter….

I’m sure others know exactly what I’m thinking as they have been there too – how on earth did such a small job turn into this monster?