The Gambler 500 was this past weekend, so it's time for an update.
First, though, rewind the clock to last Wednesday. There I was, sitting at my desk, when I remembered that the Gambler was only a few days away. I mean, I'd mostly remembered that, but hadn't really put too much thought into it.
Then I remembered something else: I hadn't touched the Buick since installing the winch. It had been sitting for months while I worked on actual project cars. That meant I had no idea if the tires rubbed, if it still ran or if it could handle the weight of four people. Plus I'd never got around to installing a CB radio, putting together tools/spares/recovery/navigation gear, or really doing any prep at all.
To the garage! I ordered up the cheapest CB radio and antenna that Amazon could deliver in one day, then went to work. Fortunately the Buick started with only a jump, so I pulled it into the shop and went to work. I had quite the to-do list to knock out in just two evenings!
My first to-do item was a biggie: The wheels weren't really attached. I'm not sure why/how, but at some point during the Buick's life it was treated to wheel studs and lug nuts with mismatched threads, with the wheels only held on by 500 ft.-lbs. of ugga duggas. I'd noticed this while bolting the new wheels on, and ordered a full set of replacement studs and lug nuts just to be safe. Call me a wuss or anti-Gambler or whatever, but I really hate it when wheels fall off. 20 minutes and $40 of parts was worth it for the peace of mind.
With the wheels attached for real, I finally went on a decent test drive. The results... weren't awesome. I spotted a few more areas of tire rub, and liberally applied sawzall and hammer to fix them.
Next up... a CB radio! This took the most time out of anything, as I really didn't want to hurt the Buick's shockingly nice interior. I routed the antenna through the trunk and mounted it on the decklid, then screwed the CB under the glovebox and wired it off the cigarette lighter. Not my finest work, but way better than anything else we'd be sharing the trail with.
(I hid the wiring the rest of the way after taking this picture)
Next up: The glovebox, which had a missing latch striker and wouldn't close as a result. I wanted to make sure we could appreciate the real burl wood photo printed on it during the event, so I made a new striker and bolted it in place:
Next up, the battery: It wasn't bolted down, and it wasn't wired to run the winch. No, there's no tech inspection at the Gambler, but I'm a big believer in restrained batteries.
It turned out to be my lucky day, as the factory tie-down and hardware was wedged under the washer bottle. Success! I simply bolted the battery down using those parts. To hook up the winch, I used extended battery bolts to hook two wires with a circuit breaker to a quick-disconnect through the grill.
Complete! Or, well, not quite. As I was loading the Buick up, I realized there were no recovery points on the rear of the car. There's no way I'm crawling under this thing in the mud to hook onto the rear sway bar, so I put it back on the lift and dumped out the scrap bin. Miata to the rescue!! At least, I'm pretty sure this is a Miata tow hook. I welded it onto the Buick's frame without doing any prep, which was a bad idea but did save time.
All that was left was recovery gear, so I borrowed my recovery bag, survival bag, and tool bag from the truck. At some point I'll put together a dedicated set for the Buick, but I was in a hurry. Navigation would be handled by the Gaia GPS app on my phone, which I was already well-versed in using. The Buick was nowhere near perfect, still didn't run that well, and was mostly untested, but it was ready to Gamble. To the event!
Here's the Buick in its new natural habitat with Nicole (left) and her best friend Teri.
For the record, the Buick charged through this hole with no issues, then winched the Miata out. Points!
