What's up y'all, I'm Henry, I drive a 2009 Volkswagen rabbit and I'm happy to be here. I'm from Richmond, VA and I have some very basic mechanical knowledge and some more extensive knowledge of cars in general, but I'm mainly joining to learn and drive more. I've never tracked or restored before (parents aren't into cars) and I'm looking forward to doing both with the club.

Hey guys, I’m Jack from Alexandria VA. I’m a first year who drives a 2004 Honda Odyssey. I joined because of many reasons, the biggest being I’m just flat out super interested in cars! I’d also like to learn how to drive stick. Haven’t really done too much in terms of working with cars (haven’t been given a chance). I’m looking forward to the track/drag portions of this club!

Hello and welcome back to another adventure brought to you by Taylor. 

The track car isn't finished, the Fiesta needs things fixed, the truck has been neglected, I've got student loans, car loans, credit card bills, and like $1000 in my savings account. The only sensible thing to do is to buy a car. Dave, Jackson, and a few other BMW lunatics from MM usually send cars along to each other, and I've expressed my interest in getting something a bit older than the various E30s I've had. Dave sent along a clean-ish looking E21 320i on craigslist with little information, fuzzy photos, no price, and some incorrect information about what engine was in it. Best of all, it had 90,000 miles, zero rust, and 1 owner. Worst of all, the tags on the license plates read 1991 and it hasn't ran since before I was born. I shot him an email while I was sitting on the porch drinking some coffee and offered $500 and left my phone number.

I was spending my labor day weekend replacing the clutch in my neighbor's XJ to try to make some side money and crawled out to check my phone. There's a text message from this guy and he basically said "okay, I don't know anything about BMWs but some other guy wants to come next week and he said $500 is too low, but you can come tomorrow to look" (I'm paraphrasing). I prepped my girlfriend for the inevitable bad decision and set out with all of my tools, the trailer, a hand winch, and cleared out my savings account at a sheetz ATM. We arrived and I started looking over the car. It was true, zero rust. The trunk floor, floorboards, shock towers, rockers, all sparkly clean. I knew I wanted it. Farther up the hill, in his garage, I spotted a pretty red convertible E30 and decided to ask some questions about it. He told me he was going to keep that one and try to restore it, but as I probed him for more answers, I could tell he knew nothing about it as well. I peaked inside and noticed it was a 5 speed, had a crack free dash, and was completely intact. I checked for rust and found none, and I started to realize this was a diamond in the rough. Curious, I asked how much he wanted for both as a package deal. He threw out a number that was very very very good. Like, almost unbelievable. I was so surprised that I wasn't sure what to do, so of course, I called Dave. The Puppet Master himself didn't want it, but was kind enough to do me a solid and front me some money to pick this up since it was a sure fire winner. THANK YOU DAVE. I threw caution to the wind and made a deal. 

Time to load them up. The e21 was first to go. The tires were ready to pop at any minute, it had no brakes, no clutch, nothing. With some heaving, pushing, and ratcheting, we got it on the trailer and set off to my house to drop it off. My mind was racing and anxiety was setting up. What would I do with these things? Now I owe someone money, why did he let them go for so cheap? Was this all a mistake? Oh well. #sendit. We went back and grabbed the e30 and I sent him the rest of the money. By this time, the whole neighborhood was out watching the circus and the operation went very smooth the second time around. We got a running start, and with the help of a gentle downhill slope, i rammed the pretty red e30 up on the trailer and we headed home. Jake was looking for an e30 vert, so he came over to take a look to see if he wanted to buy this one. As all e30s, the allure of the photos and sexy 80s styling wear s off when you sit inside it, smell it, and struggle to get the trashed convertible top up for 20 minutes. Jake passed, but that was alright by me as I knew it would be an easy sell.

The next morning I listed it in the usual places for a price I thought was kind of high. I was immediately met with an onslaught of interested parties and before lunch had several people lined up to view it. I was wrapping up that Jeep and would have to roll out from under the thing every 5 minutes to respond to the messages and texts. Eventually a guy and his brother from PA messaged me saying they had a vert that was wrecked and it had all of the parts that this one needed. They sent me a deposit and they're supposed to come down in a few hours to pay me asking price and take it away.


But wait, isn't this about an e21? Shut up, I know. So now that the E30 has paid for the e21, what do I plan to do with it? Well, for now, the plan is to get it running if possible for cheap, put around in it for a bit, and maybe flip it for some cash later. That may be a long road, so I figured I'd document my pain and suffering here for your enjoyment. More details to come.

APR intake, SAI filter, and coolant reroute.
$400/equivalent amount of naturdays delivered to VIR next weekend.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Project Turblue Wagon 2:

TL;DR – Bought a meticulously cared for 2011 WRB WRX from MI as a driver for the kid and fun car for us.

Why:
We recently added a new driver to our lineup, son Michael. He’s the one that goes camping with me at VIR and a few of you have met him at Summit Point. So, it was time to add a car. Originally was thinking an Impreza, practical, safe and AWD for ski weekends. But, we mustn’t let the opportunity to add a car go to waste. Knowing we would do autox/trackcross/other driving schools, I thought it would be nice to have something a little (or, a lot) safer and more reliable than the vette. WRX would come with all the practicality of the Impreza, a little extra fun factor and checking with insurance, is only $6/month more than an Impreza and since he’ll be paying for it, it was easy money to spend.

Seek and you will find:
A quick thank you to Tom “Adult Subaru Tom” and Scotty B in the AluMMni chat for guidance and background for the model years. Initially we looked for 06-07 models but soon started to find 09-10’s in the same range so we expanded the search. Since the hatchback/wagon style would be far more practical for his activities we started leaning 09, the earlier wagons are just…not pretty.

We made a deal with a guy in PA, car was pretty well taken care of but it took a lot of time to put the deal together, he forgot he had to go out of town, he didn’t respond for two days so then it was too late for me to change my plans etc. An hour before we were to leave for PA with cash in hand, he sent a message that “he forgot he owed $2K and couldn’t get the title” (which by the way was in his moms name, he was in his 30's). OK, well then, I’m done. I finished my work day, (that I had taken off to get the car) and renewed the search. FB>Marketplace>expand to 500 miles>... WHAT IS THIS?

Just listed was a 2011, one adult owner, blue wagon, within striking distance of the budget but it was in Michigan. It was listed on CarGurus and FB so I stalked the profile and got a good feeling with the guy being an engineer with Bosch and SCCA / Chumpcar racer. I reached out to him with an offer that was bit less than asking because I needed to ship the car. He rejected, having 3 appointments lined up already within hours of listing the car. It was listed $3K under anything close in terms of year (1st year WRX got the widebody) /mileage/maintenance. It was going to sell to the first person who got there. I decided to take a chance, I sent an email with a story appealing to his motorsports side and a solid offer including a substantial down payment and a promise to come get it over the weekend. He accepted.

The PA deal fell through at 11AM on a Thursday, that evening Michael went to a friend’s for the night leaving for OBX Friday morning. He was incredibly disappointed the PA deal fell through and had no idea I was working the 2011 deal when he left.

I rented a car, drove to MI, test drove the car and drove it home. I packed lunch and snacks for two days to minimize stopping and decided to have lunch on the shores of Lake Erie on the way back.
10 minutes after buying:


Next day at Lake Erie:






Most accurate description of the entire drive: (thanks to PO for not shutting off Sirius / XM, I listened to a bit of everything over the 8 hour trip).



Made it from Grand Blanc, MI, (basically Flint) to VA with no tags without even a crossed look from any LEO.

The seller: 
20+ years’ experience as an automotive engineer, started out with OEMs and quickly went to Bosch. His focus is stability control systems. Turns out, many the OEMs really don’t do this, just about every traction control system is a Bosch engineered system. He’s worked with Nissan, Ford, a lot with Honda including the NSX. I could have talked to him for hours, he spends days and days on race tracks and OEM facilities testing and tuning the stability control systems from here, to Japan to New Zealand. Apparently, a lot of cold weather testing happens in New Zealand when it’s summer here. His latest project was stability control for the new F150 that Ford scrapped right before production due to concerns on having a system with selectable 4WD. I dunno…

The Subaru was meticulously cared for, have a look at the folder of receipts:



Includes freshy fresh t-belt/water pump/ thermostat etc. and brand new (7K miles) clutch. Ohh, and mentioned nowhere in the ad and a complete surprise when I got there, COBB Accessport with Stage 1 tune loaded! Only mods are brake booster and clutch master cylinder reinforced mounting brackets from Perrin. Factory installed STI center console with STI short shift kit, blue illumination, and all weather mats shown on the window sticker as installed options. Seriously, the original floor mats have not had a foot on them.

Also came with a set of winter tires and wheels.



He sold it to get this:


The Surprise:
While the boy was in NC I continued to send him links to possible cars and we were "set to go to Manassas" to look at a car. He was getting home Friday but I was playing in a golf tourney Fri/Sat so I took the car and hoped that the wife, his brother and two sisters could keep it quiet! I got home Sat afternoon, went up to his room and asked him to help me get something out of the car. He caught on before he was completely out the door and the reaction immediate:

 



Got him good...

The journey starts with 141,900 miles on the car. Driving impressions and teaching him to drive stick to follow. 

Does anyone know anything about the seemingly abandoned 2003 BMW 540i at hunters ridge?  It has been sitting in the same spot for nearly a year now with a trash bag over the right rear window (the regulators go out all the time so that is not a surprise), the tags are expired, and I am interested in another e39 540i project this year.  If anyone knows anything about the car or the owner let me know, I'm interested in buying the car

   

Need to swap over to a Samsung device for work.

So trying the sell my Pixel 4, 128gb, white

No blemishes or anything.

$450

Have like 6 cases as well

So I sold my M3 in January after 10 years and 50k miles of ownership. It was a hell of a run but I wasn't enjoying owning it anymore, and didn't like the idea of turning it into something I actually wanted to drive. After that many years of ownership I was into the car for so much more than it was worth, continuing to "invest" in it was just a gross idea. The plan was to just enjoy my GTI and bank up some money for a house or something eventually. Then the Trump virus happened, and all of a sudden I barely need a car. Also found myself fuckin' bored. Real bored. 

So, prologue over, I sold the GTI to a dealership in MD and bought this one-owner 2007 Cayman S, midnight blue over stone gray with 51,000 miles. No exciting options, but it has the premium package that includes Xenon lights, power seats, rain sensing wipers & the colored center caps. It was sold new in NJ but has been in FL since about 3,000mi. It showed regularly at Audi Porsche dealerships for maintenance, the last thing on record was a water pump at 48,000mi last year. So I took a flyer on it and had it shipped up from Tampa. 







So they serviced it but I'm pretty sure they never washed it. Pretty ridiculous oxidation on the top of the front fenders.






I started with a wash & quick 2 stage cut and polish so I could stand to look at the thing.





Then my used car ritual of deep cleaning the interior. This water was clear when I started and the interior didn't look particularly dirty. People are gross. Go clean your seats.





Next order of business, bitchin' tunes. 



Turns out it's kind of a bitch to install a head unit in a car with a fiber optic Bose system. You can send the stock HU out and have a stealthy bluetooth feature added to stream music, but you obviously need to use your phone for directions. Your other options are to rip out and replace the entire audio system, or get a fiber optic signal converter to make a aftermarket HU work with your factory amp and speakers. 

If you go that direction you still have two options, a "full" integration kit ranging anywhere from $350-750 that retains steering wheel controls, fader & balance settings and some other shit, or you can go the ebay option for $100 that just converts it to a left & right RCA signal. I went for the last option to get Carplay (really just Waze) but not drop a frickin comma on it. 

Long story short, these cars have terrible grounds and I spent a ton of time trying to sort out nasty alternator whine. The magic formula is to tap (fused) power and ground straight off the battery for the HU and signal converter, and install 12v noise filters on both the constant and switched power leads.

I also essentially ruined the $40 dash install kit I bought from crutchfield and had to pony up for an $80 one that actually came with a cage to slide the HU in and out of. The cheapest option usually isn't. On the plus side, this thing is a dream to run accessory wires on, there is a blank grommet behind the battery that pops out above the throttle pedal.



IDK if we have a post limit so I'm gonna play it safe and break this up. Sit tight.

I was left a few items from my grandparent's estate, and this seemed about as good as anywhere to document some of them. This odd little duck is the brain child of Bill Spence and called a Quadractor, manufactured by the Traction, Inc company in North Troy, VT. Best I can tell from some interwebs was they produced it in the late 70's and early 80's, intended for small logging operations. I think my grandfather got this one in around 1982 or 84, nobody new for sure. I also don't know if he bought it new or used, but with only 3 or 400 produced I'm guessing the used market wasn't very robust back then. 

Basic specs: 

• ~500lbs
  
• 31" of ground clearance
  
• 8hp Briggs & Stratton engine
  
• Vertical, 4 wheel drive
  
• 4 wheel steering
  
• 72:1 drive ratio in low gear
  
• capable of skidding out a 4000lb log with the belly winch 
  

Posted in the groupme a few pics, but thought I'd post a few more. Finally pulled the trigger on a new to me truck. 2019 Ram Limited 2500 with the Cummins 6.7 diesel.

I had been searching on and off for about 6 months, but I finally got my 1999 F250 cleaned up and sold about a month ago so my search got a lot more serious. I ended up buying this truck used in Johnson City Tennessee after giving up on trying to find a brand new one for a price I wanted to pay. Most all the Corona incentives didn't apply to the 2500 trucks, and while they were mostly coming in around 10k under MSRP it was still too rich for me. Add on top of this, my credit union offering LOWER rates for financing a used truck (1.54%), it made me look more seriously for a used truck. Unfortunately, the used car market is bonkers and there is jack shit for inventory. This truck popped up after I missed a deal on another similar truck. It had 34000 miles on it when I picked it up. My only other contender was a couple grand cheaper, but had a few less options, and was at 25k miles. I discovered you pretty much have to jump in the car and go buy a truck if you find one you like, because used trucks in particular won't last long on the lot if they are priced decently. Ended up getting this truck with 34k miles at about 20 grand off MSRP from when it was new. You can still buy a brand new 2019 and they are all over the lots, but dealers are stuck on their prices and no one wanted to make a deal which seems crazy to me when 2021 are about to drop.

The truck literally looks like it had every option box checked, and after traditionally being a GM guy, RAM is way ahead of GM and Ford on interior design and thought-out niceties. Lots of storage inside and out, and the massive screen which controls most everything about the truck. It's not quite as advanced on the camera system as the GMs, and I wish it had a heads up display, but neither were deal killers.

Anyway, highlights:
Ram 2500 Limited in Delmonico Red, Frost Interior (blue and off-white)
Mega Cab
Power Running boards, sun roof, Rambox bed, Anti Spin differential, Snow Chief package, Air Level suspension, 3-fold tonneau top

I wasn't sure if I wanted Rambox, but it has come in handy already, and has a power outlet in it. Wife loves the rear reclining seats, and there is plenty of room for what seems like the super common 5 hour trips we make to our hometowns. We took it to the beach, and it was very comfortable, and I got 21MPG calculated on the highway.

I believe the previous owner was a business owner, as it had a commercial registration. This guy also had some straight terrible wheels and mud tires on it. Made the dealer swap on stock rims/tires, and CPO it. I also bought an extended RAM warranty for another $2500 because all of the electronics and air level shit scares me. Should be good to go for 7years/100k miles now.

The previous guy, I believe, also made sort of a home-made "Night Package", or at least, I could never figure out how to option it like this on the builder. The grill is blacked out, and the mirrors and trim have some sort of semi-transparent black film over the chrome badges and window trim, etc. It also has no Cummins badging.

No mod plans on anything yet set in stone, but I would like to find a roll-up aluminum tonneau that works with the rambox system. My friend had one on his GMC, and that thing was real nice and way less of a pain than the folding versions. I also want to get the front end touched up and put on a clear bra. Anyone have any suggestions on those? The paint does seem fragile as it has quite a few rock chips for not that many miles.

On to the pics...