The poor little wagon is no more.  It lives on in memory and nightmares.  It shall be remembered as the scariest car I've ever driven.  Just prior to my wrecking it, it had 250k on the odo, a freshly rebuilt 2.5L with garret tb04 turbo, cai and daytona intercooler.  At 70mph you could nail it in 5th and the front would come up a few inches while the car veered in random directions.  It was a viking berserker on speed.  A wolf in sheep's clothing if there ever was one.  Top speed was somewhere in excess of 125mph.  It was quite smooth at those speeds, but things went by VERY fast and can be a bit scary when you're in a tin box.  Alas that was its downfall.  I was the victim of a hit&run and the right front tire got shoved into the passenger side wheel well.  Quite a bit was salvaged including the engine, which fits quite well in a caravan.  Its not the same though.  Nothing compares to the insanity of nailing the gas and feeling the engine try to rip itself out of the car.  (the car really was a tin can.  the frame flexed when I pulled out of the driveway)  I leave this up so that others may be inspired to do equally stupid things to equally ugly and unassuming little cars.

This is my hideous excuse for a car. I bought it for $350 with a n/a 2.5L with 230,000 miles on it. I wanted to learn how a car works... boy was I stupid. The engine is good and I fell in love with the burnouts. Fast forward a couple months of research and three engines later and you have this amalgamation of the best the junkyard has to offer!

The story of Frankenstein has the good doctor taking the parts of dead people and making a monster. I went to the junkyard and took the parts of dead cars to make my monster. I wanted the ultimate ride. Good gas mileage but fast, roomy and easy to see out of, and able to cart me and my fat buddies uphill with the A/C on and not care. And it has to be able to go around a corner and stop quick so when I mess up I can dodge other people. Not to mention it needs to double as almost a pickup truck so I can haul... stuff. This is actually pretty hard and I haven't been able to find a car for even $80,000 that does all of that. I think the wagon fulfills its duties admirably for a golf cart with delusions of grandeur.

This is the heart of the beast. You see a nearly stock turbo 2.5L from a '89 spirit, the wiring harness from a '88 caravelle, the ecu and fuel rail from a '89 caravan, and I think the fuel pump is off some V6 spirit. I've added a manual boost controller (set for 13psi, but not shown) and I'm tweaking placement of the hoses right now. So far no intercooler cause I'm poor and its cold enough outside to make up for it. Its not all that fast yet, but its a lot of fun beating up on mustangs.

The wagon didn't stop that quickly with the stock brakes, so I did a bit of research into the SLH package. And after a lucky find at the junkyard I got the back vented rotors/drums and rear axle off an '89 Lebaron GTC, the 11" front brakes, and the 24mm master cylinder. This tin box stops QUICK.


Thats the original front brakes to give you a comparison to a stock aires. Rear ones were 200mm drums.

And this is my buddy Chuck. I bribed him into helping me with the master cylinder from the lebaron. He doesn't remember how he got in there so I don't know how that happened either.

This is what it does at least once a week. Theres always some stupid leak or something thats fallen off or broken. Right now I have a coolant leak from... from someplace thats really hard to find. Update (4 months later): I found the leak! Hadn't tightened down a hose clamp enough. heh heh. Coolant is still disappearing however.

There is no way this car would even run if it wasn't for my friends. Guys, if you're reading this, you rule. For the rest down I dedicate to the two craziest ones.

This is Chuck's 1990 Pontiac Bonneville. There was once a set of concrete steps (they were there), a speed limit sign (didn't agree with it), and a little old lady (deserved it, never told me why). Chuck is insane .

This is Jason's Big Red Beast. Chuck's Uncle Timmy ripped out the 2.3L EFI 4cylinder engine and replaced it with a late 70's 302. The donor car's identity has been lost to the mists of time. And alcohol. Nobody knows how it runs except Timmy who attached the thingamajig to the doohickey and adjusted the whatchamacallit. This makes it go faster. Jason rebuilt the engine and hopes to have it up and haulin around town soon. At least as soon as somebody finds the doohickey.
Update 2/17/06: still no word on the location of the doohickey.
Update 6/28/06: doohickey is MIA. Jason's looking at his woman's 90's blazer and chuck's 1985 turbo new yorker. chuck's FREE 1985 turbo new yorker.