You all are not helping my cause here. LOL 
You all are not helping my cause here. LOL
Think i'll wrap my Gastropod to look like a German flag!
In reply to yupididit :
I've been known to rock the Finnish flag as a livery on my vehicles.
I went to call on the bmw and the add was down. Reported for some reason. So I started looking again and found this. Looks a bit to good to be true but I will call anyway
https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/d/chevy-cobalt-ss/6743672181.html
Oh and how hard is it to remove and install new seals in a rear dif for a mid 2000’s A4 Quattro? Found one for cheep with the 1.8 turbo.
In reply to dean1484 :
Probably easier than whatever is trying to break under the hood right now. My wife's 2000 TT had the most horrible fragile plastic and that was when the car was only 10 years old. I think you should buy it and report back.
I found two A4s. I’ve is a little beat up but all ther with some decent mods for 1800. The other I noted above with the rear dif needing to be re sealed that looks fantastic for 1k
Anyone who is looking to modernize the sound system in their Gastropod might want to give this a look see. Unbelievably cheap.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Blaupunkt-AM-FM-Bluetooth-Media-Receiver-Toronto/836526302
Id enter the stepside as a gastropod, but its way over budget. And the tow vehicle for the real challenge car.
However, if the class gains traction, my next daily driver may qualify.
mazdeuce - Seth said:Anyone who is looking to modernize the sound system in their Gastropod might want to give this a look see. Unbelievably cheap.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Blaupunkt-AM-FM-Bluetooth-Media-Receiver-Toronto/836526302
Geez,
Thanks I just ordered that without even needing it. 12.80 with tax and no shipping to pick up at the store.
I can't buy used for that price!
John Welsh said:mazdeuce - Seth said:Anyone who is looking to modernize the sound system in their Gastropod might want to give this a look see. Unbelievably cheap.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Blaupunkt-AM-FM-Bluetooth-Media-Receiver-Toronto/836526302
Geez,
Thanks I just ordered that without even needing it. 12.80 with tax and no shipping to pick up at the store.
I can't buy used for that price!
Woah.
The cheapest radio I could get from my local salvage yard is $11.80. And that's assuming I found one with no cassette or CD because those are more expensive.
John Welsh said:mazdeuce - Seth said:Anyone who is looking to modernize the sound system in their Gastropod might want to give this a look see. Unbelievably cheap.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Blaupunkt-AM-FM-Bluetooth-Media-Receiver-Toronto/836526302
Geez,
Thanks I just ordered that without even needing it. 12.80 with tax and no shipping to pick up at the store.
I can't buy used for that price!
make sure to get a weight on it, you know... for science
I thought about buying this myself, but I have to force myself not to.
If you do up the receipt right, there's a LOT of room for challenge things, and would make a great gastropod that would do pretty well in the drags.
Edit to add pic:
Can I get a bit of clarity on recoup?
"We're not going to hit the recoup game hard"
That sounds like some recoup is ok. Is it? What's the general idea? I ask for general budget planning reasons, not trying to get super complicated.
my 2cents would be limit it to $200 (i.e.10%)... and my exchange rate is like 4:1... so it's worth literally nothing 
I dunno if Seth wants to be that hard and fast, though
In reply to bluej :
No recoup. The best bet is to split things at the time of sale. If you know you're not going to use the wheels that come with the car, ask the seller to sell you the car without them and write you a receipt for it. I don't want people to not be creative, but we're trying to get away from the crazy buying and selling that characterizes a lot of builds.
Ok I have a budget question for the class. On another thread, we go the 1mx-fe running in the donor car we purchased and will be pulling the engine this week or next. Not that this makes a difference on the question, but this is a high school team so some of the things I want to do with them has to do with learning, not just building for the challenge. The plan for the engine will be stock for this year but I do want to put a new timing belt, water pump, cam and crank seals, plugs and wires on the engine while it is out. None of this is performance related (unless I can find some of those magic 5 electrode spark plugs that make 30 extra hp), and I think would normally fall under the like for like maintenance replacement, but not sure how this fits with this class.
Looking at the timing belt it looks OK but with no history, I don't see the point in not replacing it. This has a bit more of a budget hit if it counts toward budget since there is no recoup. I think this is a good exercise regardless, as this is what I would be doing if this was a daily driver replacement, so we will probably do this either way and just give up something else if you guys say this counts toward the budget.
Along this same thread of doing things for the experience, we are rebuilding calipers rather than buying rebuilt calipers even though that would be allowed under the rules. I am not trying to expand the scope or do I want to be seen as cheating the budget, I just want to be clear on the rules so we can play by them.
AWSX1686 said:I thought about buying this myself, but I have to force myself not to.
If you do up the receipt right, there's a LOT of room for challenge things, and would make a great gastropod that would do pretty well in the drags.
Edit to add pic:
I tried to get my buddy in hagerstown too buy it.
Damn enablers....
mazdeuce - Seth said:Anyone who is looking to modernize the sound system in their Gastropod might want to give this a look see. Unbelievably cheap.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Blaupunkt-AM-FM-Bluetooth-Media-Receiver-Toronto/836526302
I bought three. Free shipping. Great deal.
^ I did the same thing. I don't think I need them, but I might someday and I'd rather buy another $12 radio to hit free shipping than pay the $6 or whatever for shipping. I think it was $38 with tax.
This might be the only way I can do the challenge as time is such a scarce commodity for me today, thanks Deuce!
In reply to Fladiver64 :
I meant to reply to this sooner, but I was busy this weekend. I did spend a bunch of time thinking about it though.
First off, you have to stay within the Challenge rules. The current ruleset looks like you can replace items like for like if they fail in use. That doesn't mean you get to put new belts on and not take a budget hit, but it does mean that if one fails in testing you can throw another one on. All of that fun preventative maintenance has to fit within the budget for the Challenge with the exception of fluids and brakes and whatever else is in the rules or you can talk Tom into.
My proposal is this: normally you would make room in a budget by recouping things to add money under the recoup rules. We don't have recouping in the Gastropods (remembering that this is all totally made up and not official other than I'm making a trophy and shirts and stuff) so I'm proposing limited recoup for preventative maintenance for educational purposes. If you choose to use this loophole you need to provide a written justification for all the items, why they are needed for proper maintenance (not performance) and how you paid for them.
For example, my total budget is $2000 even, but the car has a timing belt showing cracks and I don't want to drive 7 highschooler 22 hours each way and risk death. What I do is sell the amp and sub box that came with the car for $100 and buy a $100 timing belt kit. My official Challenge budget is still good as I show the $100 recoup, and even though I've blown my Gastropod budget, I bring along an addendum to my book that shows a picture of the new timing belt kit sitting on top of the sub box and a group of teens being sad about missing bass in the name of reliability.
This Gastropod loophole exists ONLY FOR ROUTINE MAINTENENCE ITEMS. If you have any questions about whether something is a routine maintenance item, please ask.
If anyone is curious about how I came up with this, it's from my past. My parents wouldn't give me money for go fast parts, but they would hand me money for a new cap and rotor or fan belt so that my terrible cars would be reliable for carting my siblings around. The house rule was "we're not paying for car stuff unless we decide to amend that rule because you getting stranded with your siblings sucks for everyone".
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
I know what your intent is, and I get it. But I think this approach is a little fuzzy. None of us grew up in your house!
I think we need either “No, maintenance items will have to be included in the budget”, or “Yes, a certain list of maintenance items are budget exempt”.
Considering there are several student teams and new teams, I prefer the latter. I’d rather teach basic preventive maintenance to students than bolt on go-fast parts.
Addendums to the build book, and wondering if someone will approve or disapprove are too confusing and push people away.
I don’t want to have to justify why the maintenance I did SHOULD be allowed. I want to know what the rules are.
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