So quick update. Got all my blacked out parts done, plus my exhaust and wheel spacer and back and the car looks a lot meaner and more the way I want it.
So black wheels, gas cap, convertible buttons, windshield frame a few other small items like a complete debadge. Put the worlds most F1 sounding exhaust I could find on it. About 30% louder then stock under 3K RPM, then about 600% louder above that. It is so obnoxious when I want it to be and in normal DD mode its just rumbles a little bit. In sport mode it chirps on downshift and scares people no matter what RPM you are in. Sports mode in this thing is beyond aggressive on shifts it not sport chrono its 911 Turbo overboost plus mode.
Gas mileage is atrocious in this thing its actually worse then my STI, ~16mpg on premium day in and day out. Does not matter how I drive it. Insurance is also 150$ a month more for the facelift cars for some reason over my old one. THe spyder is a bit of the cost as well.
Is it a better car then the 911 that I replaced, absolutely not. Is it more fun and a event every single time you get in it. Yes it is. Compared to my 2008 R8 Coupe the convertible is just so much more fun, its also painfully apparent that they never intended to make a convertible originally though in the layout and design of the car.
Am I going to do anything else to it. Ye, I need to retrofit a apple carplay headunit. The OEM one is stone age bad. But all in I love the thing, its been raining and the car has not been washed much since I bought it to busy working but if you have the means and you live in a climate that allows you to have a convertible do it. If your after the ultimate driving precision tool buy the best 911 GTS you can find and thank me later.
Fun with Mid engine repairs and upgrades.
So yeah took a pandemic to do it but I think I am done.
- Viper Gone
- R8 Gone
- Cadillac Gone
- Baja Bug (Stored Offsite soon)
- Thunderbird Sold but not gone yet.
- Jeep Sold but not Gone
- Forester Sold but being picked up soon. .
So down to just the 550 Spyder in the garage and my Ford Flex as a daily and a big old giant pile of cash.
Now I am bored and still want something to drive on weekends but it does not have to be trackable, or comfortable or even sane. Short answer is I am trying to get a Ford GT, long answer is I might end up with something like a Diablo or ilk that I know will appreciate. Something I can use a few times a year and make money on and not have 9 cars at the house. But wife is pulling for something like a restomod corvette that has a autoamtic so she can take it as well.
No Gambler time for the forester?
Shavarsh said:
No Gambler time for the forester?
Work has me at 55 hours a week for the next six months straight. Not even sure I am getting the baja bug in the dirt just to have fun. Its been a very profitable but very trying year.
Your helping me pick something fun you know.
In reply to wearymicrobe :
Me? oh no sounds terrible...
Tom1200
SuperDork
2/23/21 8:34 p.m.
I like the wife's restomod Vette idea; looks cool functions well enough to cruise or have a little fun.
Been toying with sleeper ideas in LS swapped boxster...
Saleen s7 strikes me as a worthwhile ubercar. Can't say I've sat in one though.
You said ford gt, newer or older (assuming not antique, gt40?)
I missed it... why was the R8 sold?
The Vette idea sounds interesting - what year are you thinking? 60's C2? Ford GT prices do seem to be continually going up, so selling for a profit in a few years seems likely if bought well.
@weary- is there a build thread somewhere on your Baja?
With the pandemic, I need 1 car. I have 6. :). We had a big snow a couple weeks ago and I suggested we leave my wife's minty CooperS 'vert in the garage, even though it has snows, and just drive my AWD VW Sportwagen to keep the salt off her car. We haven't had a conflict yet.
docwyte
PowerDork
2/24/21 8:35 a.m.
The 550 isn't a weekend car?
'So 917K is still on the table. I have plenty of cash to do it and could even go nuts and do a 993 Turbo motor with what I have put aside. Issues are I don't really fit comfortably and registrations in not as easy as the 550 Spyder due to some reworking of the body I would have to do to meet regs.
The R8 just did not fit anymore. As a daily it was pretty good but as a weekend car a little light on drama. Plus I made money on it and I put it up for sale to build the 917K before the reg problems popped up and honored the sale to the buyer. This is his fist semi exotic and he is going to love it. No skin off my back
Viper was just to much car for me on the street and way way way to much car for me on the track. That car would hang in lap times that I simply could not provide as a driver. I was 6 seconds a lap off at LS in that car over a pro viper driver who had maybe 3 laps to get used to my suspension settings. HE told me there was another 1.-1.5 left in it if he wanted to push it and even more on better tires.
A lot of this was also cost driven. California has gone nuts with registration costs and at one point with just the reg and the show insurance I was touching 7K a year. Add in the 400 a month the R8 was costing me as the daily and it just stopped making sense.
No build on the bja I got that in trade for a few K off selling the viper. I did put a thread up of getting it ready to go and its fantastic now. Runs, drives, Ides, jumps and handles sand like a pro. Just need to keep it in a trailer so I can just grasp and go to the desert when I have a chance. Like this weekend hopefully we have everything all pack, tents, water the whole thing so we can just grab it work permitting.
Like I have said before in other treads between the promotion and the Covid workload and catching up on what I missed time is getting short for me. Do have a lot of down time at home though so building something seems fun.
58-61 Corvette is just that mush more modern then the thunderbird which means I can use it on weekends and I can use it on sunny days. Plus California can suck an egg on smog and registration. 
P3PPY
Dork
2/24/21 6:54 p.m.
Just catching up on this thread all the way thru and suddenly BAM the R8 disappeared! Ha! Oh well, I hope the new guy likes it. It sure was beautiful
Did I miss the Lightning going away?
eastsideTim said:
Did I miss the Lightning going away?
Yes a about the time the R8 showed up. That one hurts I LOVED that truck but again a friend of a friend wanted it after his got totalled and I let it go.
wearymicrobe said:
eastsideTim said:
Did I miss the Lightning going away?
Yes a about the time the R8 showed up. That one hurts I LOVED that truck but again a friend of a friend wanted it after his got totalled and I let it go.
Aah, looks like I was really out of date. They were everywhere in Ohio, and then it seemed like they all just disappeared one day.
Besides building cool cars... What kind of work do you do fir a living Weary?
