My god, what have I done?

I saw and spoke to a couple of DSM owners at the large weekly car show here in Scottsdale last night.  It has been a while since I have seen one and 2 was the entirety of the DSM local forum in Phoenix.  Having campaigned a couple of them in Rally a decade (almost 2, damn I am getting old), I am still nostalgic for the 1st gen.  

You look to have a real solid base on your hands for a great car.  It was the wiring harnesses that ultimately dissuaded me from getting another.  I keep looking at what a modern alternative would be.  No real contenders.  Looking forward to watching this build.  

No actual work done yet, but as I've been digging through everything I've realized the original builder owned this car for a long time - 10+ years at least. In the words of Aeromoto: "This was not a happy breakup."

After cyber-stalking him a bit, I see he's had a series of relatively recent life-changes: new job, marriage, moved to a new town. Hopefully the HG failure was just the final straw in the bigger picture of life, and not the car its self. 
 

The goal this weekend is try to cram 3-cars into the garage in a manner that won't piss off SWMBO(too much), still keep the Miata dry & accessible, and allow me to start tearing into the DSM.

Needs more pictures. Not of the cyberstalking but of the car. And you get to keep the Miata, van, and DSM?  Keep upping the vehicle count like once a year and soon you'll be like me. 

In reply to Stampie :

That's the vehicular plan for now. The DSM is well beyond any future DD use, but the Miata still has it's a/c intact, so rebuilding that could make it into a 4-season car/backup for when I need to work on the van.

My current thought on squeezing in 3 cars is something like this pic below. The Fit will remain on the right, but be restricted to parking closer to the door in the blue area. The Miata will stay put, and the DSM will be on dollies in the yellow area. It'll be a PITA, as  I'd need to move the DSM to get to most of my tools, but it's really the only way I can make it work.

In reply to Pete Gossett :

That's very lacking in pictures of the DSM. Just saying. 

That is not a large area to try to fit 3 cars and have atleast one of them be readily accessible. Good luck.

I just discovered the spare oil pan is from a 7-bolt engine. Who knows if that has any relevance to the engine in the car though. I'm not sure it truly makes much difference for my intended use anyway, as I'm far more concerned with autox performance than the quickest 1/4-mile times it could achieve. 

I finally had some free time today. First things first, in the week since I picked up the car it turned green from all the pollen. 
 

Though that pic doesn't really show the true hue, this one at least gives some contrast.

The paint job is definitely good enough for racecar/Challenge use, though all the black surfaces will need repainted and/or re-cleared.

I took a closer look at the damage on the passenger side rocker. The way this is tied into the unibody I don't think there's any way I can straighten it, so eventually I'll work on reattaching the body cladding.

Lastly: 10lbs of cars in a 5lb garage.

There's juuust enough room to squeeze around the Frinkin' Laser & Miata.

The Laser is too heavy for me to really roll it around on the dollies. I ended up wedging a 2x4 under the front dollies to work it an inch or 2 at a time back into place. I'll likely need to use the lawnmower whenever I need to move it back out. 

I don't think I'll complain about working on the GTA in its current space for a while.

In reply to Pete Gossett :

Good thing you're not fat like me. 

In reply to Stampie :

It's a challenge sometimes.

I also noticed the windshield squirters are gone, though I was too tired when I finished to check if the pump & bottle are still there.

In reply to Daylan C :

I'm not exactly sure what I'll do when it's time to work on the suspension...

I have a spare pair ill sell you from a neon!

I like dsm stuff. So neat.

Also, the 420a shares a lot of parts with the neon engines. 

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

What do you have a pair of, cars?

Sorry

Windshield nozzles 

Dusterbd13-michael said:

Sorry

Windshield nozzles 

I have a pump and reservoir from a 350z!  You can truly make this Johnny Cash style. 

In reply to Stampie :

Oh if I have/get a washer pump it'll be repurposed as an intercooler sprayer anyway. This car is beyond any DD-type use, though I need to refresh myself on SCCA classes & figure out where it should be post-Challenge.

I also picked up some of that copper Permatex gasket spray, oil/filter & coolant for it today. I wanted to be stocked up before everything gets shut down, which sounds like it could happen this weekend.

In reply to Pete Gossett :

Funny what we think of doing before the lockdown. Even though I'm like supposedly essential I was thinking I should visit the car wash tomorrow to get the oil off parts so I can work on them whole locked down. Think I could claim parts washing as essential?

In reply to Stampie :

Sadly I think you could probably pass them off as parts for your work if anyone questions you, especially if you're in your work van.

I started doing some homework tonight. I read through the HG replacement procedures in FSM and both the Haynes & Chilton manuals. Fortunately they all show basically the same steps & there's no surprises or special tools required. The cams stay in the head too, which is a plus. 
 

In for the part sales listings!

Vigo said:

In for the part sales listings!

AKA my estate sale - I'm a hoarder...

If I could get locked down I could get so much done around the house.  But I'm not. Just everything around me. 

In reply to bobzilla :

The county is supposed to vote tonight on a 2-week long 24-hour curfew. However, being 100% WFH anyway I'm actually busier now that I was before. Though leaving the house less sort of even things out.

Finally, some actual work tonight. I drained the milkshake-mud out of the oil pan & this is what was on the drain plug. Considering the bottom end was just rebuilt does this seem like a concerning amount of metal?

Also, I discovered this...it certainly explains why I have an extra stock oil pan.

Oil pan cool, drain plug not so. Cut open the filter?