$2019 Gastropods - come join us.

*sigh*

I gotta make this happen this year..

In reply to klodkrawler05 :

Yes!

And fair warning to everyone, this guy is pretty handy at developing cars and making them go around corners. And he's kind of rad to hang out with. 

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Yes! I bought them entirely in hopes of recouping some value towards the challenge but would gladly work a deal if it helps with someone else’s challenge budget. 2 tires are corded but I have a pair of Bridgestone re076 I was going to put on.

They’re 17x9.5 et19 17x8.5 et25 and bolt pattern 5x120 I’m not sure yet what the second pattern is but suspect 5x114.3. 

In reply to bluej :

You're close enough that if you need a team to hop in with, let me know. 

So uh.....how much trouble would i have with a 97 BMW 740il thats cheap? 160k miles and i feel like the old saying that nothing is more expensive than a cheap german car might apply here....

EDIT: its not the one posted in this thread

I almost want to do something ridiculous like this if i cant get the Caprice done. Driving 5k miles with this would go perfectly fine, right?

https://spokane.craigslist.org/cto/d/priest-river-1958-volvo-b18-sport-model/6817954660.html

Antihero said:

So uh.....how much trouble would i have with a 97 BMW 740il thats cheap? 160k miles and i feel like the old saying that nothing is more expensive than a cheap german car might apply here....

EDIT: its not the one posted in this thread

I dunno, Robbie managed to bring a '90 750iL (that means V12) for the Aristocrats back in 2015.  A '97 is another generation newer, and more electronic... but a_florida_man is working it out.  but, I don't know these cars well enough to identify a "weak spot".  ymmv  

In reply to klodkrawler05 :

Bummer, those won’t work for me.  I’m going 9.5” front and having a spare pair of 9.5” widened to 11” for the rear.

In reply to Antihero :

BMW's of that era are mostly simple and reliable. Cooling systems are a liability if you don't have enough budget space to at least put a new waterpump on I'd be nervous attempting a long drive. Cam sensors can go bad and throw a variety of codes but are fairly cheap to replace. Other than that it's the usual leaking gaskets and such that german cars are so loved/notorious for. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

I appreciate the kind words!

I've spent entirely too much time today researching tires. It seems like OLOA and GTA enthusiast class tires will be the hot choices perhaps. GTA does utilize 220tw so there is one tire they run (Achilles 123S) which won't work on a gastropod due to 220tw but the other usual suspects seem to be fine.

In no particular order the tires on my short list for gastropod contention are:

GT Radial Champiro SX2

Michelin P4S

Continental Extreme Contact Sport (and pray it rains)

captdownshift said:

In reply to bluej :

You're close enough that if you need a team to hop in with, let me know. 

Thanks! I've got some other life commitments happening late summer/early fall that are the main limiting factor.  If I can make it, it'll be in the b2300 i've been working on and would be driving down and back in. If nothing else, I'd want to hook up with some people for the drive. Between Nonack and some of the others in the area, I'm sure we'd get a pretty good caravan going. Maybe I can talk josh (Irish44j) into finally coming.

In reply to klodkrawler05 :

Hmm.....it has a new water pump.... 

bluej said:

captdownshift said:

In reply to bluej :

You're close enough that if you need a team to hop in with, let me know. 

Thanks! I've got some other life commitments happening late summer/early fall that are the main limiting factor.  If I can make it, it'll be in the b2300 i've been working on and would be driving down and back in. If nothing else, I'd want to hook up with some people for the drive. Between Nonack and some of the others in the area, I'm sure we'd get a pretty good caravan going. Maybe I can talk josh (Irish44j) into finally coming.

I was hoping to hitch my wagon to a train out of this neck of the woods as well.  Not sure how that will work just yet...

Antihero said:

So uh.....how much trouble would i have with a 97 BMW 740il thats cheap? 160k miles and i feel like the old saying that nothing is more expensive than a cheap german car might apply here....

 

EDIT: its not the one posted in this thread

M62 timing chain guides are ready to E36 M3 the bed around 160k.  Tedious but not difficult job.  

In reply to paranoid_android :

from Michigan? Let me know how that works out for you. 

Going to have to start keeping track of how much I spend on my recently-purchased $1,000 Audi A4. Right now I’m just daily-driving it :-)

In reply to Antihero :

That is not a B18, that is a B16. Good old car, but marginal cooling system, only 3 main bearings and 6 volt electrics. May be 4 speed, but split windshield car was originally a 3 speed gearbox.

In reply to captdownshift :

I really didn’t need to see that...

Chelsea is 20 minutes from my front door.

In reply to paranoid_android :

The seller also has a 2.0L 5 spd probe. All the cars are manual transmission.

paranoid_android said:

In reply to captdownshift :

I really didn’t need to see that...

Chelsea is 20 minutes from my front door.

doooo ittttt

nlevine said:

Going to have to start keeping track of how much I spend on my recently-purchased $1,000 Audi A4. Right now I’m just daily-driving it :-)

Absolutely!  Keep track, knock together a build book and come hang out. It'll be a good time. 

bluej said:

paranoid_android said:

In reply to captdownshift :

I really didn’t need to see that...

Chelsea is 20 minutes from my front door.

doooo ittttt

I second the motion, all those in favor say "eye".

Aye

In reply to paranoid_android :

As a bonus I'll be bringing another EGT gastropod 

I'm thinking two awards. The main award will be the highest scoring Gastropod when looking at the GRM score sheet. This absolves me of any and all responsibility for numbers. I like that. The second award I'd like to give will be something like "Spirit of the Gastropod Award" and that will be voted upon by everyone in the class. Who do you think really nailed the idea behind the class the best. Who "gets it". 

With those things in mind, I started on trophies today. I dug out a brake disk from the pile out back and made it stand up. Self supporting trophies are the best trophies. 

Then I abused the chunk I cut off with the angle grinder and the bench grinder. I'm looking to justify a TIG welder to weld on some eye stalks and weld the pieces together. Things will be cleaned up/painted/made prettier. Plenty of time.