Well, after months of thinking about it and searching I have gone and done it. One cheap crapbox purchased and being prepped for the Challenge this year. Gastropod entry because at the end of the day, Seth's idea for a basic college kid commuter turned race car is very appealing to me. Also I can use it as an excuse to go auto-crossing and take my brother-in-law and his high school kid with me. We may even turn this very apathetic kid into a driving fool, once we teach him how to drive a manual gearbox.
Now the good/bad/ugly. The car is a 2004 Camry Solara Coupe with a 4-cylinder and manual gearbox. It only has 173K miles on it, just getting broken in. I bought it through Copart with a craunched rear bumper. The bumper cover was not actually attached and the bumper structure pushed the trunk in a little. The car starts/runs/drives but boy was it rode hard and put away wet. There is red clay everywhere and the car was resprayed at least once in its life and there are two little areas where bondo has popped and rst has started. There are a few little things to fix before it is road worthy again in North Carolina: fix the rear bumper so I can hang a license plate, replace the drivers side mirror housing (the electric mirror is intact and still works, interesting), replace one high beam lamp since someone mangled what is currently there. All of the other inspection items are functioning properly. I spent 3 hours making it look half-way presentable for the neighborhood, since it will sit outside.
The AC blows cold, the hood support doesn't support, it it not loud enough.
Alright on with the pictures: How it was presented at the auction front and rear.
It got too dark before I finished the external cleanup, so those pics will have to wait until tomorrow.
The interior...
And the cute little engine...
Olof, that looks like it might give hazmat a run for its money
sleepyhead the buffalo said:
Olof, that looks like it might give hazmat a run for its money
no joke.. i see actual mode on the center console..
I think there needs to be a Gastropod class award for who bought the worst biohazard...
In reply to stafford1500 :
joking aside about the interior, specs look like a solid buy!
lots of parts available and the better of the Solara motors making nearly 160hp is nothing to sneeze at.
Nice! Welcome to the "Copart auction, crunched rear bumper" club.
If I ever get the title sorted on my car, we can have a mini-competition amongst ourselves.
Giggity! Steves back in the game!
Autocross next weekend at zmax. Just saying....
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Maybe... Gotta go see DMV tomorrow, and blast the car with febreeze for a few days.
Most of the interior is just dirt, and pennies, lots and lots of pennies (recoup!!)
If you get the worst of the crap out of it, an open container of plain old coffee beans takes (not covers) a lot of stank out of a car. Used that in an old S10 many moons ago when I just couldn't get the last of the coolant funk out of the car. Obviously a serious cleaning is best but if you're just looking for tolerable, for now, cheap coffee beans are cheaper than febreeze.
That's gotta be a bit of a unicorn, with the 4 cyl manual.
I was going to comment on how you all find such gross cars, and then I remembered that I used a shop vac to remove the old carpet from my TVR. So this fits in well.
Looks like fun!
stafford1500 said:
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Maybe... Gotta go see DMV tomorrow, and blast the car with febreeze for a few days.
Most of the interior is just dirt, and pennies, lots and lots of pennies (recoup!!)
If it doesn't fly, youre still welcome to come co-drive the mutant miata!
In reply to stafford1500 :
Needs way more downforce & aero!
I want to see a Gastropod with nitrous.
Am I the only one that thinks the rear bumper should be ditched for a big ass splitter?
In reply to Pete Gossett :
Maybe...
Stampie said:
I want to see a Gastropod with nitrous.
I have a ~$50 wet fogger setup.....
Dusterbd13-michael said:
Stampie said:
I want to see a Gastropod with nitrous.
I have a ~$50 wet fogger setup.....
I am going to try and blow it up conventionally first
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
How the hell did you get a system that cheap? I've been piecing one together for a year and still have $200 in it.
In reply to maschinenbau :
I'm a bottle and jets short of a $50 wet system. I got mine in the classifieds here.
In reply to maschinenbau :
Trailer park yardsale and some other lucky scores
My bottle was $30, nozzle and solenoids $64, it's just all the little stuff that keeps adding up like bottle gauge, AN hose, bottle re-certification, fittings, etc...
maschinenbau said:
My bottle was $30, nozzle and solenoids $64, it's just all the little stuff that keeps adding up like bottle gauge, AN hose, bottle re-certification, fittings, etc...
You don’t need bottle recertification if you get a mother bottle and filling station, plus it ends up way cheaper than paying $4/lb for refills.
hobiercr said:
Am I the only one that thinks the rear bumper should be ditched for a big ass diffuser?
FTFY
You just need a “bumper” right... doesn’t need to be the whole cover, eh?
Wow, it is almost hard to believe how much crud is in a 15 year old car that has traded hands a few times and was not owned by someone that actually cared about it enough to clean up after themselves.
I started cleaning the driver's seat so that I didn't feel the need for Tyvek before sitting down. Once I started the cleaning just keeps on getting deeper. UP to now, all the seats have been removed and given a passable cleaning. Once the seats were out I could see how bad the carpets were. The rear carpet took ~20 minutes with the pressure washer to stop getting brown stuff out of the black carpet. The front carpet is on deck for this afternoon. I expect similar results. It would appear that someone spiller an entire 2 liter of some sort of soda in the rear seat/floors and just let is dry on its own rather than clean it up. At least the red clay on top of that kept the stickiness from lingering.
From my forensic investigation so far, the car was driven by a woman that: lost a lot of earrings, threw spare change in the center console, ate lots of candy and gum, worked in construction or painting, liked glitter nail polish, drank lots of sugary bottled drinks, ate lots of Cheezits, and played with Lego.
The only thing I have not found so far is french fries, which is odd since every car I have ever disassembled this far has has dried fries wedged into the recesses. I di however find one chicken bone.
I may need to invest in more degreaser. My gallon jug is almost gone. In other news the repair/maintenance parts are starting to flow in and the trip to DMV is tentatively set for next week. I have hung the rear bumper cover to make it look more complete and keep the neighbors from asking too many questions.
