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AE86.weblog |
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Thursday, August 19, 2004
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After a year and a half of obsessing over the BMW Estoril Blue, I may have just found another blue that I want even more. The inspiration struck at the recent D1GP Driver Search. The blue is a lighter and slightly more purple than the Estoril Blue. But over it is a pink pearl that is only seen where the sunlight hits the edges of the car. The effect is jaw-dropping.
The car was actually a chameleon color with transitions to green and purple as well, but if I could replicate just that pink-on-blue I'd be a happy camper. |
- posted by //Ender-DI @ 10:37 AM
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I picked up a new Corolla this weekend! But not an AE86... It's a TE38 - a 1976 Toyota Corolla wagon. It's pretty pimpin. And way comfortable. I had to go all the way up to San Jose to get it. It's in good shape, needs a few bits in the interior, but overall a clean example. It's not going to be a racer or anything silly like that. It's just a nice cruiser car for me and all my gear for work and family.
The trip home was an absolute pain in the ass tho. One of the things my friend and I could tell was wrong with it was that the water pump was going out. It wasn't making happy noises. But I figured I could at least get it home. BZZZT! Wrong! I got about half way to Stockton from San Jose to a little town called Tracy, and the water pump went out. I frantically called all the parts stores in the phone book looking for a waterpump for a very old Toyota with only one success. The only place in the entire area that could get a pump overnight was all the way over in Placerville - a 2hr drive to the other side of the state! Fortunately, that was where I was headed next anyway to go visit Gabe - what a coincidence!!
I parked the TE38 in a Chevron Mini Mart parking lot and told the attendant that I would be back for it in the morning - please don't tow it!! The problem was that the Kragen Sunday parts delivery truck wouldn't be there until 3:30pm. Then it takes them an hour or so to go through all the stock they got off the truck. So by the time I get the part and drive all the way back to Tracy, it's after 7pm by the time we get there.
The water pump install went great! Very easy, only took maybe 20 minutes. We fill up the radiator with water and let it idle for a while. All seems great. Ok, GO! We head out of the parking lot, turn the corner and head up the onramp onto the highway. At the top of the onramp, the car starts overheating!! YEARRRGGHH!! *panic* So I pull over within 1/8 of a mile from the top of the onramp. After a few minutes of headscratching, we realize that the engine block must have been out of water. So when we filled up the radiator, the thermostat was cold (and therefore closed) and didn't let any water into the block. So when the car was warm enough to open the thermostat and let the radiator water into the block, suddenly the car was way way low on water.
Weak.
So we get back in the rental car and figure that we'll just turn around at the next exit and get some water at the mini mart thingy and go fill up the radiator again. The problem is that the next exit is TEN MILES AWAY!!! So we grab some water there, and head all the way back - on the surface streets - since the westbound 205 is a parking lot with all the traffic headed back to the bay area for the upcoming Monday. So a quick jaunt to go get water ended up taking over 45 minutes. We get back to the TE38 and fill up the water. It was an entire gallon low on water! No wonder it overheated so fast.
By now, the time is 9:00. It's at least 4 hours south to Tulare, where Will (my wingman for this trip) lives. And then it's another hour south into Bakersfield where I live. Suddenly, it dawns on us that we're retarded. I picked him up in Tulare with MY rental car... He's driving MY rental car... He lives an hour closer than I do. So if I'm to get both cars into Bakersfield, we'd be pulling into my house at 2am. Then I'd have to take him back to his house in Tulare, an hour away, then turn around and drive myself back. I wouldn't get into my bed until 4am. I have work at 7am.
So I decide that we'll head to his house, I'll take a nap at his house and leave the TE38 there and drive the rental back into town. Then I'll drive up and get the TE38 later. Which has turned into Tuesday sometime after work.
1013.1 miles, 48 hours, 2 very tired butts. And I still don't have my new car.
But I love it anyway. =) And now I'm going to pass out. |
- posted by //Ender-DI @ 7:02 PM
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| I went up and visited my AE86 this weekend. It runs beautifully! I still can't get over how good that 5Zigen exhaust sounds with the TRD header. Yummm... Not sure what's up with the paint job tho. I also dropped off the yellow Goodridge stainless steel braided brake lines with Gabe. His car is looking good too. It's almost ready for the photo shoot with Import Racer magazine. Which reminds me... I need to work on those car graphics for him. |
- posted by //Ender-DI @ 6:58 PM
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