Welcome to the world of F.O.R. Racing's 84 Rabbit.

The story of my life with this Rabbit starts in summer 2005 in the mountains of NC This is when I saw it for sale the first time. I was on my way out of town for a week of work and saw this great looking project on the side of the road $1000 obo. I called that night and told the owner it would be a week before I would be able to meet with him to see the car. I tried for the next two weeks to get a appointment with him to view and purchase the car. Finally he called me back three weeks later to tell me he sold it and I was out of luck. I was pretty disappointed and overt he next six months often wished I could have managed the purchase first. Around February of 2006 I see a suspiciously familiar car for sale on Ebay, but this one was in Pennsylvania. I contacted the seller and asked out of curiosity if he had bought the car in NC the previous year. He confirmed my suspicions and I set out to WIN the car this time at any cost. I ended up taking an off from work for 30 minutes (a very very difficult thing to do in my profession at the time) just to sit and make sure I won the auction. It cost me $1500 and change but the Rabbit was MINE . I was ecstatic, now I just had to figure how to get it back here to NC, and thus begins the second chapter in my story.

The story of the retrieval/ rescue of the Rabbit.

My cousin and I decided we would load up my daily driver with tools and set out for PA. We had intentions of driving all night Friday night , arriving Saturday and setting out early afternoon to arrive home late late Saturday night. Figuring in that I had to be back at work Sunday at 12:00 noon. The drive up was uneventful. (we were driving a Toyota after all) We managed to meet up with the seller around 10:00 all was well until it started to go wrong. The seller was surprised to hear we intended to drive the Rabbit home. Apparently the running and solid vehicle I had seen 8-9 months earlier was not so great running now. It had not so much as been around the block in months. It was supposed to run he hoped.... Oh shit! We took a look while he went off in search of the title he swore he had "just seen a few days ago." Two hours later he was no closer to finding the title but we had found several little problems to fix before we could set out.

1: The fuel lines were shot and when we tried to start it the first time it show a geyser of gas out at me as I examined the carburetors. We found a Pep Boys and secured the fuel line problem as well as getting a fuel filter and some new hose clamps.

2: The carbs were badly in need of a rebuild having not been driven they were shellacked all to hades, and the floats were sticky. No helping this one it would be hard to find kits and rebuild in an afternoon. We would have to make the best of it.

3: The throttle cable was almost frayed away and so short it barely reached the linkage. Once more we tried in vain to get a new cable but alas none to be had on a Saturday afternoon in a unknown suburb of Philadelphia. we would have to make do.

4: I use this term loosely when I say it had a small exhaust leak. The flex pipe was almost split in half. It sounded like V-8 muscle with open headers, and hey that wasn't too far from the truth. Check out the picture of the carbs this was not an economy model anymore, combined with a healthy race cam and it was like driving in a pain amplifier. Fixing the exhaust would have to wait also... no welder.

This just keeps getting better did I mention it was almost 2:30 in the afternoon and still no Title to be found. He could find the old title that was signed over to him which I might add he was certain the DMV had told him to keep until he got his new one from them. We decided to go with a Notarized Bill of Sale and he would get to the bottom of the title issue on Monday. I was amazed to find out that after calling 5 or 6 places the seller located a bank (yes, banks are open on Saturday in PA) with a notary and it would be open until 3:00. Wow less than 15 minutes to get there lets haul. We walked in as they were trying to lock the door. The guy behind us in the parking lot met a locked door when he tried to get it. Bill of sale notarized and car back to at least running, we set out for NC at 4:00 Saturday afternoon. (Remember 12 hour drive and I have to be back at work at noon Sunday) We set off on the PA turnpike headed for home. Did I forget to mention problem number,

5: No heat, this car had the heater core by-passed and it was freezing.

I was wrapped up I every warm thing I brought including insulated coveralls and it was still freezing. We got to one of the rest area gas/station combo deals they have on the side of the P.A. Toll road and took a few minutes to check out a new problem,

6: the car was popping out of 5th gear every so often. We put it in various gears a rowed about on the shifter and rolled the car around in the lot a little and could find nothing wrong until... I tried to drive away and it wouldn't move. I was stuck.

No gears worked now. After a few more minutes of testing we decided the gear box was in both 1st and 5th at the same time. since it seemed to actually stay in 5th and it felt like it was in 5th when I put it in fifth we tried a very risky (like I had much to lose) experiment. I got pushed by the Toyota up to ~40 mph and dropped the clutch in 5th gear. It caught and poped out of 5th. We continued it was now 8:30pm and I had to be at work in less than 16 hours. The rest of the trip was blessedly problem free if you call freezing near to death and have to stop to warm up and/or sleep in the other car on a several occasions. We got back to NC with enough time for me to crash for a few hours and make it work at 12:00 sharp. Ouch. I spent the next several months working on the car fixing alot of the problems I found and as for the title after many atempts to solve the issue over the phone and by mail the seller ultimately had to drive down to NC and we went together on a Friday afternoon to the NC DMV and got my title 9 months later. My plans are to make this a track car. Put in a cage and go Time-Trial to start. We shall see how that works out. Presently I campaign it in Highlands Sports car clubs night Auto-X series.

We shall see how that goes too.

A Word on plans for the Rabbit

I am hoping to see this car get significant track time in the coming year now that it is running well. I have plans for a roll cage, and a passenger's race seat, Chassis and body stiffening, Sway bars and maybe a new exhaust in the next year. So far the car has a decent list of modifications to start with.

-1.7 liter 8v block with a ELFF Racing preped head.

-Dual Dellorto 40 carbs w/ K&N filters

-Tokico Illumina front struts

-KYB rear struts

-Performance springs

-Poly Bushings

-Front strut tower bar

-Momo Steering wheel

-Konig Racing seat and Harness

-Ansa Exhaust

-Long tube 4-1 header

-Partailly stripped interior

-Various body mods, shaved mouldings, badgeless grill, GTI flares, Euro bumpers

A word about the Owner/Driver.

I have been Auto crossing since 1999 in other cars and I plan to test this car out this season in Highland's Night series. I recently started doing HPDE with NASA South East. I also volunteer for NASA-SE as an official in return for track time.

I hope to get more auto-x and track time in this car soon. I recently decided to follow my bliss and quit my "real" job to go back to school. I am now in my second semester of Automotive Systems Technology at AB Tech in Asheville NC. Hopefully this way I can make some money off of cars rather than just sinking every penny I have into them.

A word on F.O.R. Racing.

When we first started we were little more than a way to identify a loose group of people with one common interest motor sports. F.O.R. Racing was founded as a club in 2001 by a small group of friends who like to go to car shows, Auto-X, Go to Races, hang out together, and work on each other's cars. Our first official outing was NOPI Nationals car show in Atlanta, GA Sept 2001. In the years since, F.O.R. Racing has grown from a handful close friends to a couple of handfuls of new friends, and we are growing every year. Right now we have members in several states and two countries. We have cars from various makes including, but not limited to, Volkswagen, Honda, Mazda, Toyota, Subaru, Dodge, Geo, Jeep, Ford, Lincoln, Mitsubishi, Scion, Porsche, BMW, Chevrolet (1958 baby), Pontiac (1956, I believe) and, Mini. We campaign cars regularly in Auto X competition with The Clemson Sports Car Club (NASA), Central Carolina Region (SCCA), and Highland Sports Car Club (SCCA). We also have several drivers moving into NASA Road racing via HPDE and Time Trials. Over all we are just a group of Car people who just like hanging out together. For more info check us out at http://groups.myspace.com/FORracing .
http://://www.FORracing.org .

A lot of us work as volunteers officials with NASA-SE and NASA-MA in return for free track time. It's by far the best way I am have found to get out on track.