http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2007/0...ng-series/

http://www.goodspeed500.com/

Would anyone be interested in going ice fishing later today? Say around 2 or 3?

1998 Jeep Wrangler Sport 4.0

Stone White, Full steel doors, 5 speed manual, cold A/C

Mod List:
-Rubicon Express 3.5" Super-Flex Lift
-JKS Quicker Sway Bar Disconnects
-Advanced Adapters Slip Yoke Eliminator kit
-Tom Woods Custom Shorty CV type drive shaft
-Lock-Rite locker in the front axle
-Dodge Durango Steering box upgrade
-Full Grand Cherokee ZJ Steering linkage upgrade
-Kumho 33x12.50 Mud Terrains with full size spare
-Safari Snorkel with K&N air filter
-Flush mount LED tail light conversion
-Custom built rear bumper with tire swing, tow hooks and lights
-High lift jack mounting behind rear seat
-Front tow hooks on the stock front bumper
-Sony head unit with Ipod hook-up

Parts that have been recently replaced:
-Front wheel bearings
-Fan clutch
-Alternator
-Rear control arm bushings
-Rear axle seals
-Rear brakes
-Front brakes
-Rear pinion seal
-Exhaust manifold

Things that should be replaced:
-Soft top, doesn't have any holes in it, but the rear windows have a few tears in them and the zippers are less than smooth
-Front pinion seal, which I have but have not installed. Doesn't leak bad, just a known issue.

I'm asking $7500 which I feel is a fair price for my Jeep, but I am open to reasonable offers. It has been a great vehicle and never let me down. I don't live close to any trails and my commute to work is 50 miles a day, so this vehicle doesn't make much sense for me to have anymore. This Jeep is very capable and fun to drive. I really have gone back and forth about selling it, but I have four cars right now and this is the one that gets used the least. This thing was bone stock three years ago when I bought it. I did all of the mods myself and only mods that I felt were needed to make this Jeep more capable.

Shortly after graduating in May, I decided I needed a car that is better suited for day to day driving. Working full time now, I commute a total of 50 miles a day to Sterling and back to Manassas. The Rabbit isn't so great in stop and go traffic with a six puck clutch, it's doable but gets cumbersome over time. The Jeep drinks an absurd amount of gas, were talkin like 12-13 mpg, which gets expensive when you drive at least 50 miles a day. I've been driving the truck which is great, but I consider it more of a collectorÔÇÖs item that I don't want to continue to subject to the rigors of NoVa drivers and traffic. So here is my new project, a 1991 Volkswagen Jetta GL.



Empty engine bay:



Recaro interior:



I finally convinced Wieder to sell me this car, after it sat in his driveway untouched for six months. He bought it in hopes of swapping the engine from his other car into it, but I convinced him that he doesn't have the motivation to do such a thing. This car was the perfect starting point for me as I had almost everything needed for the swap from my old GTi (R.I.P.). More great things about this car: paint is less than a year old with shaved marker lights and antenna, full recaro interior that came in Jetta GLiÔÇÖs of this generation, Corrado G60 brakes installed which is the best factory upgrade you can use on this car, and hydraulic pedal cluster and cable shifter box already installed (one less thing I have to do).

Car after we got it home:



Before I began the swap, I decided to install new timing chains and tensioners as my engine had over 120,000 miles on it. It is much easier to do with the engine out of the car as half of the work is done already. These are interference engines if the chain does break, my friend found out the hard way.



I am not the best at taking pictures while working on cars, I get focused and end up getting a lot of shit done and forget to document it. What you donÔÇÖt see in the pictures is changing the subframes and notching the frame rail to accommodate the larger engine. I installed a new steering rack and tie rod ends while everything was out because the old stuff was wasted. After finishing the chains and getting the engine put back together, I joined the engine back with the trans. I painted almost everything black because polishing takes too much time and I have a blacked out theme in mind for this car. My friend Rich helped me shoe horn the engine in and he took some pictures while we were working.



And after it is all settled in:


I figured I needed to at least one-up myself from my last VR6 swap so here are a few things I decided to do: shortened the accessory bracket, I no longer needed provisions for the power steering pump or A/C compressor. I took the wiring harness completely apart and deleted things that didnÔÇÖt need to be there, items such as the alarm wiring and sensors I didnÔÇÖt need for accessories that are not on the older car. I rewired the car from the dash forward because I wasnÔÇÖt satisfied with the wiring in the car. IÔÇÖve become OCD with wiring in my experience with cars. I even added the OBD 2 diagnostic port inside the car, hello VAG-COM!!! I rewrapped the harness with black fabric tape which is what the factory uses on newer cars and I happen to like the way it looks. I relocated the fan control module to the fender well and deleted the coolant expansion tank and throttle body heater for a cleaner look. To the common person these mods are hardly noticeable, but if you see a stock bay side by side with mine the difference is night and day.
Interior shot while I had everything apart for wiring:



Engine bay shot as of about two weeks ago:




I worked on it over the weekend and a little today. It is almost finished, just have a few little things to finish up on before I fire it up. IÔÇÖll try to get some updated pictures soon.

So apparently there's now a GTR sneaking around the 'burg as well.

**cue the Imperial March**

I was thinking on the way to work today about cars that either a company makes and doesn't sell here, a car that a company makes but without the drivetrain/suspension/features you want, or a car that doesn't exist but you'd buy in a heartbeat (that is reasonably possible). No unobtanium supercars.

Honda JDM Civic Type-R
Honda makes it, it's badass, American Honda sucks for not giving it to us. I can honestly say I would 100% buy one if they brought it (and it wasn't priced stupidly). The only FWD car I would buy.

A 2nd Gen Honda S2000
The first gen was a very successful car for the brand and was a segment leader among roadsters for many years running before it grew long in tooth and was axed. It almost goes without saying that there should've been a second gen.

BMW 120
I think the 1 series is overweight and overpriced. If it had an inline 4 pushing about 220 hp, weighed at or under 3000 lbs, and cost a bit less it would be a much more worthwhile car to me. Having the 3.0L TT in the 135 is cool and all but kind of unnecessary IMO. BMW needs to think more Colin Chapman with this car; add lightness.

Euro Focus Cosworth/WRC Edition
I think Ford could easily do well if they sold a turbo AWD Focus hatchback along the lines of the old Cosworth Escorts. They could position it against the WRX and Mazdaspeed3 or make something more along the lines of the STi and Evo although I don't know if a $30k+ Focus would go over well. Either way it makes more sense to me than the new Taurus SHO.

So what's on your list?

I had a few ideas for some new hoodies so I decided to finally put some of them to Illustrator so maybe some of them could get made. One of my first concepts is a wrench-nut plaid pattern for a zip-up hoody:





I've got a bit of fine tuning to do in order to get the look right but this is the general idea. If the general idea is something a few people like (maybe about a dozen) then we can probably get it made.

I have another idea or two that I can whip up fairly quickly that I'll post in a few days.

If only you had held out... :mrgreen:

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So i'm wes and no i dont go to JMU. i go to a lot of MM stuff so i joined the forum to keep up with events and stuff. i drive a 96 Miata that i put a turbo in. i'm a sophmore and a bio major, but most of my time is spent under the hood of a car (either mine or at work) or on miataturbo.net or supraforums.com. i have a few other hobbies but they're really not important cus cars comes way before everything else. here's a few pics

Ok.

I've got an old but definitely not busted camcorder. Comes with a little bag, two tapes, and everything you need to operate it. (AV cable, charger, battery, etc)

Navin used it to record a track session, and that is what I figure you guys would want it for. Uses an SD card to take shitty stills, but has firewire for video transfer.

It's a cheap, "disposable" track camcorder. 50 dolla. Here's pics: