A Gambler 500 CR-V and Whatever Else Shows Up

I spent some time messing with the Red '87 Fiero.  The odometer only shows about 28,000 miles, so I've been assuming the engine is in good shape. It turns out that sitting outside for years can be hard on an engine. Here's how the distributor looked when I pulled the cap off.

The internals may be good and the engine should have little wear, but getting it running well is not an afternoon project anymore. I rigged a pulley with a cable and used the Camry to pull the Fiero up hill away from the garage.

Then pulled the Frog to the garage and cleaned it up before putting it in the garage as the current project.

Love all your psost Jon! That camry looks interesting.. Would make a cool Gambler if you don't flip it.

BBC

In reply to Billy_Bottle_Caps :

Now there's an '07 Camry Hybrid coming up for auction without a key. No idea if it runs or what the mileage is, but the pics look decent. Two could become one. I can try to claim it on the Toyota Owner's web site and see if it shows any history.  This could bail me out of the situation with the red one, or could dig me in twice as deep.

I went to the Copart site and looked at that Camry. With zooming I can see there are some residual graphics running the whole side of the car but it is not clear enough for me to read or recognize.  Also a round graphic previously on the hood.  More across the rear bumper.  On the passenger side of the center console is some sort of left over electronics reminiscent of a '90s cell phone.  On the trunk is a unique antenna that probably does gps/satellite communications. 

All these things combined lead me to believe this was an old taxi.   Since it is being sold as clean title my guess is it is pretty bad off.  Sold with no keys might be intentional to hide the engine knock and/or the missing hybrid battery pack or missing cat.  Or, hide the odo which might read 400+k.

I could be wrong but I'm pretty suspicious and cautious. 

Further, I am questioning if this car was factory black and painted white.  This could be possible if the cab companies scheme is white.  The shock towers underhood do not look to be white (or ar they that dirty?)  

Edge of trunk trim is reverting back to black?

This is how a Toyota door VIN plate reads:

In the case above, C-color code = 040

Here's a link to Camry color codes where 040 is white.  

This is your car's tag and C= 1G3  MAGNETIC GRAY

A couple days ago, I saw that the SCCA has scheduled a Rallycross on Feb 5th. I had been planning to have the Frog ready for early March. Now I want to drive it in less than two weeks. I wrote down some thoughts as I worked through my options:

Decisions to make... Four engines to choose from and none of them are optimal.

• The engine that came out of it locked up during a rallycross run. 2.7L '01 Porsche M96 with an intake and headers from a 3.4L. It was assumed to be seized hard and internally damaged. When I took the sump plate off I found some gray sludge, but the engine turns fine and feels like it has good compression when turned by hand. Nothing in the oil appeared to be magnetic or larger than fine dust. The intake manifold and throttle body were partially clogged with oily dust. I'm guessing that the modified intake and filter separated on rough terrain let the engine ingest a lot of dust temporarily seizing it. The damage is likely to be heavy wear, but I expect that it will still run decent and make power for a few races. Pros: easy to install and get the car running. Cons: it may be weak and fail again quickly. Worst case is waste of time installing it and loss of a track day if it fails.
• '04 2.7L Boxster engine from my parts car. It runs and drives as-is and already has a good clutch and transmission bolted to it. It was a factory replacement engine from Porsche and has unknown mileage. To run half decent in the RallyX car, I'm going to have to modify the wiring harness to get the 2004 engine to work in a 2001 car, but it's mostly a matter of swapping some connections in the existing connectors. Pros: Easy to physically install, known to run as-is. Cons: May not run properly in the car without significant adaptation, will take the 'parts car' off the table as a back-up RallyX car.
• Audi ABZ 4.2L V8. I bought it as a 'drop out' engine with ECU and a mostly intact harness. It has sat in my garage for YEARS and should run if installed correctly, but has a lot of unknowns. At this point, I'm going to want to at least do the timing belt and water pump before installing it. Not a big deal with the engine on the floor, but also not what I want to do right now. Also there's the cable throttle in a drive by wire car and a few other issues that make this engine the wrong choice for the moment.
• Audi AUX 4.2L V8. I pulled this out of an '03 Audi A8 as a known good engine after I replaced the timing belt, water pump, and cam adjusters. It has sat in the garage for a few years now, but should be good to run with proper installation. I had a good focus on this engine a few years ago and had the wiring mapped out and ECU reflashed to work in a 2000 Boxster. It currently has a flex plate bolted to it for an automatic transmission, but I have a flywheel and clutch on the shelf ready to put back on it. This is the engine that I want in the car. ...I don't have enough time to have it sorted out for the first weekend in February.

Having put that in written words helped. I'm going to proceed with the original engine for now. The AUX engine can go in later when time permits or the '01 2.7L becomes unworkable. If it can't be done in time I can pick an alternate car, but I'd really like to run the Frog.

In reply to John Welsh :

Thanks John, it now looks like that car would only be a further distraction that would be hard to flip and a lot of work to get a return on from parting out. Best to let it go and not start stacking derelict Hybrid Camrys up in the driveway

In reply to John Welsh :

I went back to the page to review your findings and further feed my curiosity. Eventually I put together a little more of the picture.

Looking at the trunk trim, I noticed that the sticker removed from the bumper had said Walmart.

From there, I looked at the rest of the residue in context. The car has been located and leased in Bentonville, Ar - Walmart headquarters.

"Corporate" on the rear door. Can't quite make out the residue on the front door... How about "Security"? Clue the radio by the passenger seat:

Does any of this make the car better or worse? I'm thinking possibly better than a cab company, but still not great. Here's a Walmart security Chevy, I can't find a Camry Hybrid yet:

Walmart Corporate Security by Matt, on Flickr

Interesting!  

As for better/worse.  Maybe better?  

A hybrid is perfect for security work which is likely lots of idling.  Being hybrid the car will "idle" just on battery only then starting the gas engine when needed to recharge the battery.  

As for maybe not better...  What would be your goal?  If the plan is to put it on the road, you are still left with a car that is cosmetically a mess.  The words are Walmart rather than AAAA Cab Company.  Either way, its still ugly.  I could understand a cab company buying a Magnetic Gray Camry with 100k miles on it and then repainting it to fit their color scheme.  I would have thought Walmart would buy their cars new for security use and as such just buy a white one.  

If the goal is to part out...  You have body panels with a crappy paint job.  That's even before the residue.  The white paint is coming off in spots.  I'd suspect it looks like crap in person.  The mechanicals are likely all there and the key is missing.  I too wonder if the key missing part is sabotage from a disgruntled former employee?  But, you'd think corp security would be the type of organization to have some redundancy built into protocol???

The interior is probably rough in the front seats and "like new" in the rear seats.  

I didn't watch the auction for that Camry, but have noticed that it is sold now, so reserve was met. I pushed ahead on getting an engine in the RallyX Boxster (Frog), but got side tracked with a lot of family stuff and work. I'm not sure that I'll have it together in time for Saturday, but it's still possible.

I bought this car as a basket case. The big parts were included, but all of the hardware was 'maybe on the floor or in a box in the trunk'. I selected my best used parts from the garage shelf and installed a flywheel, clutch, AOS, starter, and bolted a 5-speed transmission on. That's pretty much how it sits right now. I used all of my 'organized bolts' on the last engine installation, so now I'm digging through coffee cans of Audi/Porsche/VW bolts and measuring them to pick ones that are spec. I should have all the correct ones on hand, but it takes time to get it all sorted.

With good weather, I could have the engine installed and running by Wednesday night. The weather is not going to be good. It is forecast to be in the 20s with freezing rain until Thursday. My garage is uninsulated and temps in the 30s are not fun for long. My goal with this car (all of my cars) is to have fun. I'll continue at an easy pace and see where it goes. If it isn't close on Thursday morning, I'll probably race another car on Saturday and am considering the Camry Hybrid because... why not?

A reason for using this previously failed engine that I didn't discuss earlier is that I can't get myself to scrap it. Yes, it was seized, but now it turns easily and feels like decent compression by hand. If it runs fairly well, it could make it through the summer. If it runs rough, but makes power, I can run it for a day or three until a rod pokes through the case. Not much to lose. Once I kill it good, I'm happy to let it go. For racing it doesn't really matter much what engine or car I drive. I'm just going out to play with a car where people aren't going to be glaring at me for doing donuts in the grocery store parking lot.

The Camry is now 'street legal' with some old Honda tail lights spliced in and bolted on. No progress on the Frog, but I plan to spend most of tomorrow working on it. The Camry is ready enough to get through tech I think. I may screw some acrylic on back to replace the shattered window.

In other news, my pretty much son in law slid off the road and hit a crub and 2 fents  with the Fauxrari on an icy back road this morning. He said there's some scratches to the car, but most of the damage was to the fence. The original Gambler builder did a really good job with the skid plates on the bottom and it protected the undercarriage.

AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:

and hit a crub and 2 fents 

 

OMG hearing that phrase took me to such a happy place!

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

Skid plates saved it from a load cam knock? 

The engine and transmission are mounted in the Frog. Just mounted - there's still a ton of work left to do before it's ready to race. I'm committing to the Camry for the Rallycross. It's no race car and the tires are plain old 50% worn street tires, but I think I can manage to have some fun playing with it. If I kill it, I can go ahead and part it out rather than deal with fixing it.

I went back over the frog's engine before installing it; made sure again that all six cylinders made compression when turning it by hand, replaced all the spark plugs and coils, and looked over the wiring harness. Along with a 1 ton HF 'cherry picker' I also have a medical patient lift that's rated for 475 lbs. The BioMed guys at the hospital alerted me when they were throwing it out. I rigged a pair of 12V batteries to it and it works great around the garage.

This engine has a Porsche 996 intake on it and is a little taller than a normal Boxster engine. It wasn't quite going to fit past the suspension, so I ended up sliding it in sideways, then turning it rather than lifting the car higher. Sliding it on an old sheet of formica it moved pretty easily.

I still have to do all the hoses, connect the axles, shifter cables, throttle body etc. Next week, I'll finish up and see how it runs.

I think that "Walmart Security" is a Lemons theme waiting to happen...

I can basically keep it floored through the course. Hybrid, CVT, VSC keep it too slow to get rolly or spinny.

Ha ha... pull the main ABS fuse and 7 seconds faster on my next run ...and a lot more fun.

Note: Before pulling the fuse I searched for how to turn it [VSC/stability control] off in an '07 Hybrid. There is a long process involving 12 or more steps doing things like "press the brake pedal 3 times while blinking your left eye". Then it would all need to be done again the next time the car was started. No, no.... Pull The Fuse.

I may keep this car around and driveable for a while. I really beat on it with no real prep (I think the rear brake pads are worn to metal) and not only did it survive; It was the best Camry and fastest Hybrid out there and fun! Not that I personally plan to keep Rallycrossing it - I'll have Porsches - but the next time someone says, "I'd love to go, but don't have a car." Camry Hybrid starter car. Boom. Done.

Strange coincidence of the day: On the way home, I stopped in Tulsa to pick up a few BMW motorcycle parts from the guy I bought my R90/6 from. He saw the Camry on the trailer and asked if I got it from COPART a few weeks ago. It turns out that he had bought the same car a week earlier and backed out of the deal.

Video and pics from the North East Oklahoma SCCA Rallycross on Sunday.

Pics: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjArbpr

Next event(s) are March 4th and 5th. The Lime 100 Minibike Race which I am not competing in, but I volunteered to help out and have been asked to do photography and first aid response along with general track help. March 5th is a Rallycross day with North Texas Rallycross at the same venue.

The Frog should be running by the end of my next day off - Wednesday. I have done some minor work in the evenings after work, but after a 12 hour day shift I don't want to spend too much of the night in the cold garage. Lots of little tasks left to get done, but it's all stuff that I'm very familiar with from assembling Boxsters before.

Even though the Frog is the current project and 'next up' at an event, my attention keeps drifting back the the eXbox/Gambler Boxster project. I have committed to doing the Gambler 500 Mexico Rally and that is the car I want to take. It needs a lot of creative prep and modification to be ready; Lift, Wheels & Tires, Full undercarriage protection, Winch, Trailer hitch(?), Reasonable comfort for a day-long drive.... A friend owes me a set of 16" Porsche wheels and I intend to mount some all terrain or mud tires on them. I'm pretty sure that they are a staggered set up with 6" wide fronts and 7" rears. I am thinking of 245/75 16 tires on the rear (30.5" diameter) and 215/85 16 on the front (30.4" diameter). More tire means less need to lift at the struts for ground clearance. ...but then there's body clearance issues. *Stock 16s have a 25" diameter.

The Revs/Mile are closer than some of the stock configurations so that won't be a big worry, but the diameter is going to be a bit of a challenge. At least with this Boxster I don't have the front corner radiators to deal with. I need to do some mock-up on the car before I spend money on the tires to see how much they will complicate things. Just gaming it for now, I could go with a completely different setup.

They Big.

I'm meeting by buddy Rick in OKC on Sunday to pick up the 16" wheels and do dinner. Once the tires are mounted I can get to work with the Sawzall and figure out how big a mistake I've made.

It was a beautiful day. I started work on the Frog but it wasn't going well at first, so I walked away. I took the '04 Special Edition out for a wash and long drive, then got back to the Frog in the evening. I made some progress; axles, cooling system, and clutch slave installed, but did not get to running it.

I love the Special Editions with the cocoa colored interior.

The '04 Special Edition is my favorite.  I'm away from home this weekend for annual flight simulator training and I usually drive the SE when I travel. I took a different car this time so I can pick up 4 wheels on the way home.

Of all the cars, I chose the CR-Z. Lots of space behind the two seats and easy to load stuff with the big hatch. Smooth driving on the highway with about 38 mpg.

I keep intending to sell it as an unneeded excess vehicle, but it's been great to have for this trip.

Edit:  Good burgers at Red Robin in Norman, OK and wheels loaded easily in the CR-Z.

If you come across another special edition for sale, lemme know!

docwyte said:

If you come across another special edition for sale, lemme know!

$30,000 and very low mileage. Low enough that I'd prefer it higher.  $30K seems like a normal asking price these days, but all the ones I've watched like that are a slow sale and sell for upper-mid 20s.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=673051436

I did get the Frog running yesterday. It idles smooth. Revving it was a little rough at first, but got better after a couple minutes. I don't expect this engine to last long (do I say that every time I mention the engine?), but it is running a lot better than I thought it would. I'm planning to run it up to full temperature today, then drain the oil and put some fresh cheap oil in for another flush or two.

There's an electric water pump in the car right now. The engine was running hot when the car was first raced and Woody (not the GRM Woody) thought the electric pump would help out. My single center radiator Boxster has not had cooling issues, so I think I'm going to get rid of the electric pump and install a new stock pump on the engine.

Lots of clean up to do and a lot of refreshing to do on the car overall; Driveshafts need new boots, brake rotors are rusty, cut wire harness ends need to be cleaned up, struts should probably all be replaced, the seat is nasty.... It's rough. Is it a 'diamond in the rough'? Lots of work to make it good, but not much to run a rallycross or two to get a feel for the car and have some fun. Fingers crossed that the engine survives a couple race days before it pokes the rods out the case.

After running the Frog for a while there is oil intermix in the coolant. No coolant in the oil ...yet? It's too late to swap another engine in for the March 5th Rallycross. I don't mind destroying the engine, but is it safe to race? Worth bringing it when it may not even last for one run?  I haven't decided.

The 'first start' video: