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Anyone ever heard of the gambler 500 rally?
Y'all gonna hate me for this but I wanna take my festiva on that. I love the car, I converted it to a camper and drove it across the country living out of it, alas it is on its last leg and I would like it to go out with a bang. Runs and drives but the exhaust is rusted out along with the whole car being in the MI salt belt, oil in the coolant, large dent from accident but still drives true, already mostly stripped interior, sketchy brakes. I have access to a mill, lathe, tig welder, and loads of other fab tools. I like to make as many parts as I can for it to practice my skills for when I build another car. I've done lots of performance exhausts, parts, and custom frames for mopeds and motorcycles but never too much with cars so input is appreciated.
What I have planned and possible mods
- Fix the brakes or possible aspire swap if my buddy's decides to get rid of his thats been sitting for too long
- Reinforce the rear swing arm and make a brace for the front suspension mounts. I saw a really cool thread for a bolt on version of this some rad dude made, been searching for awhile but can't find the thread.
- Figure out the widest tires I can for the front rims, got some 13 inch rims from a geo metro on now with blizzak snow tires. I'm keeping an eye on craigslist for cheapo swappable wider rims and would wait to order wide tires till a couple weeks before the event
- Maybe keep an eye out for a cheap engine to swap, I'm a student though so it may not be in the budget. Got a mechanic friend who wants to copilot and is willing to help swap.
- Fab a skid plate so I don't rip my fuel/brake lines on the bottom or re route them to a safer place
- Got a few extra rims with tires so I was thinking of bringing a full size spare or two. Need to figure out the best place to put a second one if I do, I have a rear rack on mine I made so putting it there would be easy but that would be bad for my weight distribution I think. I want as much weight on the front two wheels and as little in the back, correct me if I'm wrong. If this logic is correct I was thinking of a hood/front bumper mounted tire.
- Make a winch plate and pick up a winch since I've always wanted one since I saw the Jurassic park jeeps as a kid
- Lift kit? How much lift or longer compatible shocks? I know its bad for a vehicle to lift it but whats a relatively safe operating range people have had success with?
- Give it a real sporty paint job with dollar rattle cans since everyone knows it adds minimum 5 hp. I'm thinking a mouse since it'll likely be the smallest vehicle there and the top camper section looks like a cheese wedge so the overnight camping spot would be fun.
Any ideas on cheap mods to make it more worthy for an event like this? It's a little over 2 months away so I gotta get moving.
Y'all gonna hate me for this but I wanna take my festiva on that. I love the car, I converted it to a camper and drove it across the country living out of it, alas it is on its last leg and I would like it to go out with a bang. Runs and drives but the exhaust is rusted out along with the whole car being in the MI salt belt, oil in the coolant, large dent from accident but still drives true, already mostly stripped interior, sketchy brakes. I have access to a mill, lathe, tig welder, and loads of other fab tools. I like to make as many parts as I can for it to practice my skills for when I build another car. I've done lots of performance exhausts, parts, and custom frames for mopeds and motorcycles but never too much with cars so input is appreciated.
What I have planned and possible mods
- Fix the brakes or possible aspire swap if my buddy's decides to get rid of his thats been sitting for too long
- Reinforce the rear swing arm and make a brace for the front suspension mounts. I saw a really cool thread for a bolt on version of this some rad dude made, been searching for awhile but can't find the thread.
- Figure out the widest tires I can for the front rims, got some 13 inch rims from a geo metro on now with blizzak snow tires. I'm keeping an eye on craigslist for cheapo swappable wider rims and would wait to order wide tires till a couple weeks before the event
- Maybe keep an eye out for a cheap engine to swap, I'm a student though so it may not be in the budget. Got a mechanic friend who wants to copilot and is willing to help swap.
- Fab a skid plate so I don't rip my fuel/brake lines on the bottom or re route them to a safer place
- Got a few extra rims with tires so I was thinking of bringing a full size spare or two. Need to figure out the best place to put a second one if I do, I have a rear rack on mine I made so putting it there would be easy but that would be bad for my weight distribution I think. I want as much weight on the front two wheels and as little in the back, correct me if I'm wrong. If this logic is correct I was thinking of a hood/front bumper mounted tire.
- Make a winch plate and pick up a winch since I've always wanted one since I saw the Jurassic park jeeps as a kid
- Lift kit? How much lift or longer compatible shocks? I know its bad for a vehicle to lift it but whats a relatively safe operating range people have had success with?
- Give it a real sporty paint job with dollar rattle cans since everyone knows it adds minimum 5 hp. I'm thinking a mouse since it'll likely be the smallest vehicle there and the top camper section looks like a cheese wedge so the overnight camping spot would be fun.
Any ideas on cheap mods to make it more worthy for an event like this? It's a little over 2 months away so I gotta get moving.
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