A Gambler 500 CR-V and Whatever Else Shows Up

Before I started it seemed like such a simple practical plan. Just take the engine and transmission out of the eXbox and put the other engine in. I think that I mentally skipped over all the details that I knew were there; Swapping the Tiptronic transmission and engine harness onto the engine that had a manual transmission bolted to it, Driveshaft and exhaust bolts that would rather be stripped than turn, All of the parts that needed to be swapped onto the 'Good' engine (replace cracked coils, broken oil filler tube, vacuum hoses...). Here it is Friday and I have nothing Done, but have done a lot. Not sure this car will race on Sunday, but I am going to get this finished before working another car.

At about 6 pm I was swapping the wiring harness from one engine to the other and got a text from work. The night pilot is sick, can I come in and cover tonight. I am dissapointed that I can't get the engine in the car tonight, but also relieved at having a good reason to walk away from the car for a while. Some time today it stopped being fun. The self imposed deadline of having the car ready to race on Sunday morning was pushing me hard. I enjoy working on cars at an easy pace when I have free time. Working instead with a short deadline, every little hold up makes me push harder and become more obsessed with getting it done rather than relaxing and enjoying time in the garage.

The car may be ready to run on Sunday or may not. Tomorrow after I get some rest, I'm going to put on some good music and relax in the garage. Maybe work on putting the engine in, maybe clean up all my tools and get them back in order. No rush.

EDIT: A little after 3 am now. Busy night and I'll be out flying pretty much to the end of shift. Looks like I'll be sleeping most of the day and not worrying about cars and Rallycross this weekend.

While I was sleeping this was delivered by the USPS:

Do you know what that is?

It's the electronics along with the immobilzer stuff to make my 2004 beater Boxster run correctly. It will probably take me 15 minutes to install (add 45 minutes to that to factor in reality).

I don't know what I'm going to do on Sunday. I still half expect to be called at 6 pm tonight and asked if I can work night shift. If I don't work tonight, a likely scenario will involve getting a trailer back from my pretty much son in law and taking the '04 Boxster to Muskogee tomorrow morning for SCCA autocross. I just don't see me making it to the other side of Oklahoma for the Rallycross tomorrow anymore. I may just sleep in and have a nice brunch.

The parts? I had been watching a $699 + shipping buy it now on eBay for a while. I couldn't get myself to do the $700+, but knew who the seller was from the 986 Forum and had bought stuff from him over five years ago. I took a chance and used the old contact info and made a direct offer with a Zelle payment. I'm still amazed that it actually got here today. ...thanks Tony!

The back-up car heads towards overheating now and that's what it did the last Rallycross I had it at. I expect that the water pump is bad and I've got two new ones on the shelf. It's about a 2 hour job at an easy pace, but I don't think I'm going to need that car any more.

The eXbox is running well on the replacement 2.7L engine. There's an SCCA Rallycross about three hours away next weekend and I have taken Saturday and Sunday off work to attend. Right now I'm figuring out more of the basics for the car to get it ready. I will probably put some Cayenne wheels on it with some all-season tires. Maybe go with the red Factory hardtop instead of my scrap-top. Seat...? Regular Boxster, Sparco R-100, or one of the actual race seats from the Fiero with a 5-point harness. I'm tending for the Sparco and the normal 3 point seatbelt since the car is mostly just stripped and stock.

Changed out both CV shafts today after one slung grease all over a wheel. I should have replaced it when I did the engine and saw the small cracks in the boot.

Put in a bigger radiator and re-did the plumbing up front.

Need to figure out an exhaust.  The stock exhaust is restrictive and heavy. Cut off secondary cats with pipes sound great at idle, but too loud to hear when it's opened up.

Going: NEOkla 2022 RallyX- Honoring Patriot Day in the dirt!

North Texas Rallycross is running south of Dallas (Big O Speedway) this weekend and that's too far for my time available.

The event on Sunday was the first time that I have been to a RallyX and drove the whole day without my car breaking down. It was a great venue with only about ten drivers. My times ...improved and left plenty of room for more improvement. I need to get off work and out of the garage more and Drive. The picture album on Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA6QP2

Heavy wheels and street tires are not the right way:

The rear bumper wasn't re-attached very well after it was ripped off at HooptieX last year. It didn't stay on for long:

A few pics of my car with someone else (Michael) driving so I could take pics (His MR2 lost a driveshaft early in the day):

I've been busy. ...always these days. Next up project is getting the Frog (Green RallyX Boxster) set up with an engine, but Okie Gambler is this weekend and I managed to get the weekend off by swapping shifts. The CRV is sort of ready. I drove it to work today and started putting the lift kit on, but half way in had to Work at work. Later ended up undoing what I had done to make sure I can drive home. It just feels a little less Gamblery right now than it should. I may take it on Saturday and take a Boxster on Sunday.

Boxster? ...the black one from the previous post, former 2019 Challenge car. Last weekend I went to a spec Boxster race to watch, hang out with friends, and sell a trailer load of parts that I'll never use. I sold most of what I had - doors, fenders, and other parts that I don't like to ship. There I was with an empty trailer and a couple thousand dollars in my pocket. My buddy Woody's trailer right next to me with a nice set of 996 wheels with nearly new chunky snow tires on them and five good Boxster seats. I came home with a trailer nearly as full as when I left. Anyway, those snow tires would make the Boxster a Gamble to take out on Sunday and hope the water crossings don't get too deep. ...very likely a bad decision since I have only driven it a few miles around town and one RallyX since putting the engine in it. In my time available if I take the Boxster, I should probably duct tape the rear bumper on or drill holes and zip tie.

CR-V on Saturday. Xbox(ster) on Sunday.

Short video from Okie Gambler '22.

Next up? There's a Gambler 500 Key Swap event in December. It sounds like a terrible idea. Pretty sure I'm going to bring the CR-V and roll the dice to see what I get to drive home with.

The Boxster was a lot of fun with some good twisty back roads on Sunday and did fine on rough roads with chunky snow tires. With the Frog becoming the RallyX car, I am really feeling inspired to build the Xbox(ster), XBox, eXbox, Poorsh-uh? into my next Gambler car.

If I make it back home with a car from the key swap (200+ miles), I can always give it to family or friends to Gamble with.

Also this week Two (of four) Fieros (non-titled/not-my-projects) go away and one Super-Awesome '94 Vandura will appear in my driveway.

Here's a video from my Gambler buddy Billy.

The cylinders that fire have been propelling me through small-town Arkansas towards home at up to 60 mph. The engine has been smoking for an hour. Oil pressure dropping, but the needle still out of the red. Is that a tapping sound? It gets louder, yes. I pull to the side of the road. At idle it rattles and coughs for a moment then stalls out. Mrs AAZCD pulls over in her Honda Element behind me.

"Are you okay?" she says.

"I'm not sure. Give me a minute to check things over."

Oil is low, but still shows on the dip stick. I grab the gallon oil jug in the cab and pour over a quart into the valve cover. The TBI 350 SBC is wet with oil from the throttle body back.

"I think it's going to be okay. Just a little low on oil."

"Do you still want to take the Turnpike?" She says.

"Probably not."

We had planned to take the Turnpike as a steady, straight road. Precise stopping and turning are not presently features of this 1994 GMC 3500 Vandura. With heavy braking I found that it pulls hard to the right. When I first learned that, I was glad that it had not been a pull to the left into oncoming 5 pm traffic.

I walk around the van. Front right tire is looking low. The left rear is already wearing the spare with the former tire tossed in the back with a bad valve stem. We have no suitable jack anyway. At this point I just want to get it home. The sun is getting low and rain is forecast to start any time. The rubber rotted off the metal arms of the wipers long ago, but that doesn't even matter because turning the switch, they only moved an inch up the windshield before stopping.

At the door I turn back to my wife by the Element and put my arms out with palms up. She smiles and returns a shrug. Onward! I climb in, take a deep breath and turn the key. Will it start? The battery was flat dead a couple of hours ago and I have no idea if it held the charge. Yes! The beast roars to life. Oil pressure is back to the middle of the gauge. We take the back road and arrive home as the sun sets and the rain begins.

Jon;

Love the Boxster gambler idea! That thing looks killer. I have done a couple Gambler's, what a great time. Good luck with the van

BBC

Again, the last thing I need is another project car. ...did someone say "Need"?

Won at $1250 which is below reserve. Reserve was only $1800. Gives me an 'out', but I think I like it. Lets try a counter that kicks my bidder fees down a bit.

I'm killing time to see what happens with the counter bid. I expect they will hold the reserve. I'm pretty sure about what I'm going to do.

Although I like the CR-Z I picked up in April, it really isn't the car that I'd hoped it would be. I'm ready to sell it and move on. The CR-Z is not really sporty and doesn't have impressive gas mileage for a small hybrid. Good for getting around with, but I lost interest in finishing up the repairs to make it 'right'. The front left fender is hard to find an undamaged replacement for and a new one costs about $500 now. The TPMS quit working and the airbag sensor on the right front has an open circuit. All stuff that I can fix, but too low a priority to get to.

Yesterday I was looking at salvage auctions to get a parts motorcycle for my BMW R90/6 Scrambler build (not started) and saw this Prius at the local COPART. My daughter and 'pretty much son in law' love the 2005 Prius I gave them last year and I enjoyed it the short time I had it here to work on. It occurred to me that a decent Prius would be a better econo-appliance than the CR-Z. I have plenty of sporty. I don't have a great economy cruiser unless you count 30 mpg in the Touareg TDI. I expected bidding to go over $2k and don't want to spend over $2,500 counting fees. No way did I expect the $1,250 bid to win or the reserve to be under $2k. It looks nice in the pictures, VIN report looks good at 'AutoCheck' and at the Toyota Owner's site when I claimed to be the owner and checked maintenance history. What I fear is that there is something wrong that the other bidders knew about that I didn't. Missing cat? Bad engine or transmission? Hybrid issues?

The dash picture looks good:

and the under-hood doesn't show any pending disasters.

Well... I'm going to check back on the status and do whatever I'm gonna do.

It's here. It looks like I had a good buy on this one.

There are some minor cosmetic issues appropriate for any 2007 car in 2022 - paint damage on the hood and roof, some minor scratches and small dents.

It drove off the truck easily, then I drove it around the block. No major faults detected, but a check engine light. My AUTEL scanner showed a code indicating the 12V battery had been low. It's fine now and less than a year old. There was also a code in the airbag module for "Open in D Squib Circuit". Most likely that's a bad clock spring. I see in the maintenance history that it has had trouble with that in the past. Other than the airbag code, everything is now working as it should and the car shows signs that it was well maintained - the oil change is due in another 4,000 miles, tires and brakes look great, and under the hood all fluids look good. 

I'm getting the CR-Z ready to sell. I was frustrated today by the radio code. I put a new battery in (old battery was from 2015) and the radio went into security mode. I figured it was no big deal because I already had Honda send me a list of likely codes. There were 25 codes on the list I tried them all. No luck. Maybe I had a typo..?

The 04 Toyota Sequoia was ready to sell and planned to list it this weekend. Wednesday night my daughter hit a deer on the way home and wants to borrow the Sequoia next week when her '18 F-150 goes in the shop. It's just cosmetic damage, but it could take a couple weeks to get it repaired.

I'm out of parking spaces until someone takes away one of my cars.

I wonder if the rock pitting on the hood is an indicator that it was towed behind a motorhome or similar???

Edit - never mind - it doesn't have damage on the bumper or anything else....

good buy!

In reply to jfryjfry :

The pitting is puzzling. The pattern does look like it's from sand or small gravel kicked up by a vehicle in front of it. Maybe the flexible plastic didn't chip like the rigid hood?  In general, there's no rust and the paint on the sides and back looks great. 

I ordered a couple new key shells for under $20 - the rubber over the buttons is starting to come apart. Other than coaxing the electronics out of the old key, it looks like a simple process to have like-new keys. Great video --> Key shell replacement

I was planning to pull apart the steering wheel to do diagnosis on the air bag issue (Code B1801), then order parts. The new clock spring is under $20, so I'm just going to buy it before taking the time to disassemble. Have it ready to go rather than pull it apart twice. Edit: Just found a Chris Fix video for the DIY. Love his videos and 'Eric the car guy'.

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

Great buy congrats!

BBC

I've been busy. Lots of work and family time as much as possible when off work. The CR-V is close to ready for the key-swap. It developed a bad power steering leak and I haven't had time to get a good look at it, so my solution was to remove the belt from the PS pump. Seems like the leak has stopped and my upper body strength has improved. I decided to match all the tires (keep the old mud tires) and had my tire shop guys put new Wranglers on the rear.

I cut some firewood from my daughter's neighbor's back yard. I hadn't noticed it so much from the road, but he's got some cool stuff back there. I need to get a better look next time. Definitely could build a few $2k Challenge cars from what he's got.

The title arrived for the Prius today and I got it tagged. Tonight I drove it to work and checked it over and gave it a good wipe-down. From the title, I found that it had been bought, then sold by an online dealer, Peddle.com. They market themselves as an easy way to get cash for old cars. They may not have even physically possessed this one and sent it directly to COPART. I'm quite happy with it. Rough enough that I feel no need to pamper it, but nice enough that it will be great as an eco-appliance. Over the next month I plan to base-line the maintenance with new spark plugs, fluids, and filters ( brakes, tires, and battery all look great ).

Tomorrow the high temperature will be in the mid 60s and I plan to finish up some Bondo and primer on the CR-Z's damaged fender. I'll probably wait until after I get back from the Key Swap to list it for sale, but now that the Prius is on the road, I'm ready to have it gone.

I have replaced a Prius clockspring with a cheapo aftermarket unit and all was fine.  Super easy and my experience was true to the Chris Fix video.

Looks like a good purchase.  Does it still have a catalytic converter? 

I have not experienced the same hood pitting and fading but if it is a genuine factory hood, it is aluminum so rust is not a concern.  If it really bothers you, I'll bet you can source a color correct JY hood for $100-$200. Four bolts and it swaps right over.

For roof fade you could repaint or cover the roof section in vinyl for less than $50. Maybe white ala Mini Cooper or any reasonably similar gray or silver color. I've used Vvivid Brand bought off Amazon to cover a badly sun damaged roof of a minivan.. Vinyl on the hood and roof (maybe trunk lid too) could give you a new look.

I see leather and what I think is the larger rear spoiler.  If so, that makes your Prius a Touring Model, another word for the highest trim model with all the options! Leather, nav, 16"ers vs 15"ers wheels. 

This is a great thread and tons of fun to read and see the photos.  Nice work and thanks for sharing!

...

I'm kinda hoping for the Fauxrari, but also hoping to that what I get will be easy for me to pass on to my daughter and 'pretty much son in law' for them to Gamble with (not the Fauxrari).

Sterlin's 'YO':

Billy's 'burban (has been rolled and broke windows on one side since the pic:

Expecting ten to twenty participants...

Tonight I installed the clock spring in the Prius. It was an easy job and cleared up the airbag light without having to reset anything. Only problem is that when I marked the steering wheel position, I used a fat paint marker. Now it seems that the steering wheel went back on one tooth to the right of center. I'm not pulling it back off tonight, but it bothers me enough that it's not going to stay that way for long.

In reply to John Welsh :

Yes, complete with Cat. The paint doesn't bother me much, but it is on my list of eventual tasks. I like the idea of vinyl for the roof and may replace the hood if I find one locally in the right color. Another small thing to fix is the latch handle piece for the hatch has been broken off and poorly repaired in the past. Looks like a fairly easy part to grab at a junkyard.

Hatch latch repair trim is as cheap as $30 on Amazon or eBay.