At 11:04 PM 12/6/99 -0500, GRMdavid@aol.com wrote:
>Well, after seeing all the talk on the GRM $1500 Challenge, I guess it's my
>turn to say something. The purpose of this exercise was to see what kind of
>cool cars people could build with $1500 cash. As for labor, we really didn't
>want to limit people on how much time they could put into it. After all, it's
>their right to polish a turd as much as they want. The rules were purposely
>left loose, as we really didn't know who or what was going to show up.
>
>For those of you that weren't there, the winning car (the Midget) was
>awesome. Without giving the whole story away, this team took a pair of
>blown-up, thrown-away Midgets and polished the heck out of them, making one
>good car. They fabricated their own engine mounts and put a tired Cosworth
>Vega engine under the hood. For more power, a NOS system was concocted that
>used a scuba tank as the bottle. They made velocity stacks out of muffler
>tubing. The fender flares came off a rusty 850cc Mini. The school bus yellow
>paint was found sitting on the shelf of a paint/body shop. (No one there knew
>where it really came from.) The tires were junk. They polished the bezels on
>the original MG gauges and made them look new.
>
>I LOVE stuff like this; making the most out of what you've got. Keep it
coming.
Ro-spit was an awesome project, because it demonstrated what you can do
and how much money you can save by using your head and getting dirty a little.
I'm presently helping a friend put a 98 2.0 Zetec engine in a Super 7 and
we've
had to solve most of the same problems you did with Ro-spit. Miata diff,
Merkur trans, Pinto bellhousing, hybrid brakes/axles, SDS engine management
system (awesome piece!), headers, custom alum intake for FI, etc. Car should
be running soon. Can hardly wait! Lots of work, but very satisfying
Great magazine!
Bruce Haden
EP 71 Pinto Solo2
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