Um, I did buy a new washer fluid cap because for whatever reason, mine was
missing.
I can't stand, I can't stand looking at an engine bay when it misses.
It's like missing a cap.
I'm like, fuck yeah.
It's like, what's, is it like, um, it's like tryptophilia or whatever.
Whatever the fear of like holes.
Oh, is, I just, I just didn't like how it looked.
It was just, that's what I mean.
It's just like, it's supposed to be like off-putting and like, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I gotta put a cap on that hole, you know, which is weird because I'm really
into a few holes, you know what I'm saying?
Right.
Golf, 18 of them.
Right.
Um, so washer fluid cap was $7.
That's exciting.
Winsha wipers, $14.
Tricos, Amazon.
Damn luxury.
Got to test them today.
Um, dude, sorry, I got to have lights that work and wipers that
work for a rally because, you know, when they don't, you get, you know,
a situation where the weather gets horrible and you just can't see.
Uh, it's real rally cars and wipers.
So I thought like that.
Um, I got those fog light covers, little $8 cut your own, came out pretty good.
Nice.
Um, little sensitivcation, the prancing, the prancing moose, Dave's
Volvo official decals, $12.
All right.
All right.
Uh, the brake vacuum hose assembly.
This almost ruined my entire build.
So on the, on these Volvos, dude, there's a, there's like an electronic,
like it's a vacuum pump that assists the brake booster.
And it has this crazy vacuum network with like four different, uh, connections.
Like not just vacuum lines, like actual physical, like there's like
some weird ass connectors and it's like a convoluted system.
It doesn't need to be as complicated, but it's Volvo.
They're overengineered, everything.
Dude, the other one, so when I bought it, I'm like, what's
this big lump here?
It looked like, it looked like a bunch of electric tape wound up.
And I'm like, well, that's going to be a vacuum leak under there.
I know that.
So I start cutting electric tape and there was a rubber glove, like a purple
nitrile, like rubber glove wrapped around.
And then there were different layers of glove and glue to make whatever that was.
And it was a pretty solid, uh, holding vacuum situation.
Yeah.
So the bad thing is I'm like, oh, I just, it's like mostly it's just
this one length of tube, which I could probably cut and replace.
And then this little like valve, like this plastic bypass valve looking thing.
And I'm like, I looked it up online.
They're like, you cannot, none of those parts are sold separately.
They're not manufactured separately.
You have to buy the whole unit.
You're like, I was my box of gloves and like some, some spray foam or whatever.
I wasn't going to do that because if that goes, that fucking pump will
just run constantly and it will overheat and you want to break assist.
Yeah.
Um, so fun story with that system is, as I look at the price here, um,
online it's a $270, $280 part.
Sure.
I don't have the budget for it.
I get on marketplace.
Just shoot looking.
I'm like, oh fuck, maybe someone has it cause I found, I always check marketplace too.
I did look for a lot of stuff on there.
I didn't have a lot of luck this time.
Right.
Low and behold, someone was selling what I needed.
So there's an NA one and a turbo one and they look exactly the same.
Cause when I looked online, I almost clicked on the NA one like 30 times.
It has a slightly different like sensor attachment.
Um, and he had the turbo one, but he had an NA car and he had it forever.
And it was just sitting on his shelf.
Got a little bit.
So he had it listed for 75 bucks.
And I don't think a lot of people would be like, oh, I want that, but he just
kept it up there and been up there for like six months.
I'm like, ah, what are the chances he has it?
I messaged him.
He's like, yeah, he's like, you want anything else?
And I'm like, what do you got?
He didn't have too much I needed.
Yeah.
Uh, but I scored that for 75 bucks.
You just like ticks question mark and just like, see, have him send you some,
some nudes.
I saved like 130 bucks on that.
No, like almost a hundred bucks.
Actually, um, perfect.
No, 200 bucks, 200 bucks.
It's fairly easy to swap it out.
Dude, it's like you unclip everything.
There's like six connectors.
Pop, pop, pop, pop.
And it's like, it was the exact OEM part went right in.
Perfect.
Dude, um, still in the vovo like bag sealed bag when I bought it from him.
So I was like, dude, you're a lifesaver.
He's like, I just like forgot I had this.
He's like, I put it for sale and it was in my like garage and just sitting on a
shelf is like, I literally had to unbarry it when you like messaged me.
I'm like, killer.
And he was like 40 minutes away.
I'm like, I was worth every bit of that $200.
So huge save there.
Um, I did end up selling those old tires instantly.
Um, so the car came with, uh, Kumo X says, I can't remember the
solises, I think, um, yeah, that's right.
Yeah, right.
The solid is the same ones I had on my civic hybrid.
Yeah.
So 700 treadwear would have been absolutely abysmal, uh, for the rally,
but they were 2024 date stamp.
So like early 2024, but still then the guy had literally, he said, Oh,
they're like 2000 miles.
They look brand new.
They still have all the paint stickers and everything.
So I put them online.
I'm like, I just need a hundred bucks to get placed just ding, ding, ding,
because like 16 inch wheels.
So like people looking for older car wheels.
Yeah.
And it's people like the people that are going to buy newly used
tires are going to be like smaller wheels.
They're going to be older cars.
Um, dude, it's just everybody.
I'll give you 125.
I'll give you 150.
Can you hold them for a week?
I'm like, whoever comes and gets them, dude, because they're like,
they're perfect and that's 25 bucks a tire.
You just can't beat that.
So like, I hate selling stuff like that.
And that's so annoying.
I'm like, first come, first serve.
I'm sorry.
And they're like telling a story.
Oh, I, I can't afford new tires.
My horse got hit by lightning and one of those tires is more than a hundred
bucks new.
It's like you're getting all four.
Um, so that was a hundred bucks back in the piggy bank.
There we go.
And I found this is a new thing I'm doing for all my project cars.
I'm keeping track of the change, loose change I find in the car.
So I didn't even negative 65 cents.
I do have.
Oh, I sleep.
There were a bunch of pennies that I already chucked into my like
change bucket that I just have in the house, but it was probably
like 30 cents of just like really gross pennies.
But I forgot about that.
Like those are your credits on your balance sheet.
I know in the door.
And that's the thing.
I, if I'm like going to be $2 over budget, that's like consequential.
Like if there's like 275 and in quarters, that'll keep me, that'll
get me in the game.
So yeah, I'll have to look at that.
I have just in the glove bombs on my spreadsheets for the past like, I
don't know, 15 years since I tracked like my cost of fixing cars.
Yeah.
The Bonneville had $8 in 95 cents.
Okay.
Like actual dollar bills were in it.
Yeah.
That's my by far, my, my outlier statistically for that.
But anyway, so 65 cents change credited back to me.
Same with the credit of the tires.
I am at without the tires, I'd be over $3,479 and 35 cents.
So that means I have $20 and 65 cents.
There we go.
Interesting.
Okay.
Mission accomplished.
Yeah.
There's got to be, yeah, get like the, you know, the black ice
little trees, air freshener.
Well, um, some can you get like, can you get like chrome valve
cover or valve stem covers?
Oh, those would be killer.
I'd go for the like member tire fly.
What were they tire flies?
Yeah.
Remember those back of the day?
Yeah.
The real LED.
Yeah.
The tire flies are just like the dice dice or eight balls.
Get eight balls.
Eight balls is good dice.
I would do snake eyes killer.
And, and you have, you have no loose ends at this point.
You're ready to go.
I, I, is the car perfect?
No, the heat shields rattle a little bit.
Not enough to be annoying.
Um, when you, when you open up the whole fucking cut out exhaust,
the world doesn't matter, bro.
Exactly.
This fucking car is so fun, dude.
No, it, uh, after driving it today with a shakedown, I feel
like it is perfect.
I think it's perfect.
It's going to be $20.
Isn't going to remedy anything that's fucking fabulous.
Well, my mind is less perfect.
I've heard because we did, we did the shakedown.
We did the shakedown this morning, bright and early.
I got up at like six a.m.
I got to your house a couple of minutes after seven, uh, and, you
know, came down in the focus and, um, yeah, since getting everything
that we talked about on the list done, you know, I've driven it,
I don't know, probably.
In total, in total, since I bought it, I hit the
trip odometer before I bought it and it's been just over 200 miles.
Okay.
Wait, before, before you detail the story, which is a great story.
I just want to, a big shout out that today was the first day we saw each
other's cars in person, which is a very important event.
Yes.
Lovely that we both arrived on cars that are a year apart, Ford
Motor Company products, and both as cool as they are.
I think, I think that's so killer.
Like they share a platform, but like their approaches to
ultimately like four doors with a rear hatch.
But cool how we like were given an open ended assignment and
kind of got kind of got a lot of similarities gone, but, uh, it
was the first time we saw each other car, each other's cars.
And, uh, dude, I, I love that bright comp orange you got.
So I was pretty pumped to see your car.
Yeah, as good as yours do.
It, it, it came out really well, um, you know, and, uh, and
yeah, they drove down.
We got down to almost to Santa Cruz.
Um, and yeah, you know, light rain.
Oh yeah.
One thing I did pick up and you, you had mentioned that you
saw it driving behind me was, and I told you when I got to
your house, it was like, I feel like there's something not
quite right in the rear suspension.
Yeah.
A little loose in the caboose.
Yeah.
And so I've still yet to determine that.
I'm going to, I'm going to get my head under the car tomorrow.
But like, especially like most of like sweeping right
turn, like freeway speed, say 60, 70 miles an hour.
You can just feel the rear and kind of horking over
like there's like it kind of wants to do like a figure eight
like within itself.
Um, and the more I get down there, yeah, it felt like
maybe subframe or maybe, I don't know, but some sort of
bushing didn't feel like a, it didn't feel like a blown strut.
It didn't feel like it was a wheel hopping.
No, you weren't moving like that either.
Yeah.
It, so there's something kind of loosey-goosey back
there, whether it can be remedied for under a hundred
bucks, I don't know.
Um, I could spot you 20.
You can.
Yes.
Um, but I see who knows, I still got to count the coins.
I'm maybe I don't need all 20.
Um, the other bit is coming out, coming down at us.
The highway 17 dropping down in the Scots Valley.
Um, I was driving light rain.
You were behind me and just coast coasting down the hill.
I was in gear, right?
Not really feeding it any throttle and just driving in the
number one lane to the left most lane.
And then it just, the hell, it just drops to idle.
I thought I had lost power.
Um, I'm in gear.
I'm in sixth, just cruising.
Like, so I, I get over to the slow lane.
I, I, I give it throttle.
I noticed there's no warning lights on at all.
It's just at idle.
This is fucking weird.
I give it, um, I give throttle and it's just free reps.
I'm in gear.
I'm like, oh, shit, that I lose the clutch.
So I pull it out of gear.
I hit the hazards.
Um, I thought I was going to may be able to roll off the next exit.
Cause we were doing 65, 70.
Yeah, we're moving downhill too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, um, but then it started to gain elevation a little bit.
And I was just like, I've got nothing here.
So I just pulled off to a wide ish part of the shoulder.
And, um, yeah, um, engine's running great.
Uh, you put it in gear, the, the clutch pedal feels perfect.
The shifter feels perfect.
Um, you put it in any gear, doesn't move.
Mm hmm.
Just nothing.
Little light rattling noise when it's in gear.
And you give us some throttle, but nothing.
Um, nothing super obvious.
Nothing fell.
It didn't feel like bits and pieces and chunks were falling out of it.
Yeah, it didn't hit my windshield.
Nothing hit your car.
We poked around it a little bit and we didn't find anything, um, overly catastrophic.
No, little noise, little noise under the hood.
And so we kind of, we just left the car.
There's not a whole lot we could do there on the side of the highway in the rain.
So we left the car there.
We, I hopped in with you.
We went to morning motors.
We came back.
You dropped me off.
Uh, waited about an hour and an hour and 20 for a tow truck.
Mm hmm.
Um, via AAA, um, when you play with ship boxes like us, you end up with
AAA memberships.
And I didn't ask you.
I was like, do you want me to stay Frank?
I fucking threw you out of the car.
Like, listen here.
Yeah.
Worst date ever.
And I did a four wheel peel and just fucking smoked the side of your car with rocks.
Yeah, you, uh, you did the proverbial squirt and scram.
That's what we do in these challenges, guys.
It's, it's no mercy.
Exactly.
Um, out for blood.
Um, he probably actually, I'll have to look at you.
He stole those coins out of the, the car that I was talking about.
God damn right.
Um, so the.
Okay.
Where was I?
Um, tow truck, tow truck arrives.
Yep.
Um.
Actually, before he arrived, like the dispatcher calls me and he's like, Hey,
just let you know, um, you know, he just, the driver, he just picked up someone else.
You're gonna have to like, are you cool sitting in the cab with another dude?
And I'm like, that's fine.
Where's my car going to go?
And he's like, Oh, it's just a motorcycle.
So he grabbed a motorcycle and, um, but they're going the same way.
So I just want to make sure that's fine.
I'm like, I don't have much of a choice.
I'm on the side of the fucking road.
Like fine, I'll make it work.
Like I'm not picky.
I just don't want to be here anymore.
So sure enough gets there.
What if he picked up a lot lizard?
That would be an exciting ride.
He's like, you're going to see a lot.
You're going to hear a lot.
You're probably going to smell it.
You're going to taste.
You're in the splash.
I didn't go to taste, but thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, actually speaking of which, uh, and this, we're going to have to edit.
Um, can I give a pause?
Can I give a pause real quick?
Sure.
Cause I really have to go to the bathroom.
Okay.
Let's do it.
You know, this might be our first try to do that.
This dude.
All right.
Party break.
So, uh, let's pause over to go when you were.
But, uh, yeah, no lot lizards.
Um, you look lighter, dude.
Yeah.
I feel lighter.
Um, so yeah, no lot lizards, no, uh, you know, I did ride along once though
with a, um, a tow driver guy.
This is a long time ago.
I was like early twenties.
Middle of nowhere, middle of the night.
And the guy was like, it was me and like a couple other people.
And they picked us up.
This is outside of like grass valley.
And the guy was just like, he's like, oh yeah, I've got my girlfriend with me.
And like, she was just like smothered all, he was wearing this
chick like a blank at the entire time.
And they were probably, they were also probably in their like mid twenties.
And it was like super awkward.
We're just like in it was like a, it was like a quad cab tow truck.
It was weird.
Oh yeah.
Um, and so we were all in the back, like three wide.
And, oh no, there were the three girls I was with, they were all in the back
three wide and I was in the front.
And then the, the, the girlfriend was like basically in this dude's lap.
And they were like making out as we were driving and we're just like,
this is fucking weird.
But yeah, didn't have that.
Um, but you know, we, we load in, um, he loads up my car.
It was like this, like 20 year old kid with a dirt bike who the dirt bike
was on the flatbed and then just, you know, bully bar picked up my, the focus.
But the guy in the cab, the kid had like all of his gear.
He had like a backpack and all this, like, and mud boots and a helmet and all
this shit.
So we had to put that in the backseat of my car so I can have room
to sit in the cab, drop us off.
We get in, right?
And the kid was like, oh, I mean, he was tiny.
He was, he was skinny 20 year old kid.
He's like, oh, I'm the smallest.
I'll go in the middle.
I said, all right, that's fine.
Like I'll take the middle of his like, no, no, no, I got it.
So we get in.
And so we sit there and he like looks around and there's like no seat belt.
And he goes to the driver, to the driver.
He's like, uh, there's like the buckle, but there's no seat belt.
And he's like, uh, where's the seat belt?
He's like, oh no, it's fine.
Don't worry about it.
Nice.
Oh, OK.
I guess I won't.
Put it in your mind.
Yeah.
And then he, yeah.
So anyways, made it home, dropped it off in front of my house.
I have a theory because we made it to morning motors.
And we were discussing with with the usual suspects.
Like what the hell could have happened here, right?
Like could it could it be a it could be a bunch of things.
But it was just weird because I've driven it, you know,
a hundred and something miles since doing the axles in the front
suspension and then drove it all the way down from Martinez down.
Who who installed the axles, Frank?
Oh, some idiot.
So I have I and I had a whole tow job.
Not you know what I mean, not a not a tow job or a foot job.
It is totally that should be a thing.
A tow job.
Yeah. Oh, I'm sure it is.
I just I just don't.
Which way swim like this is to receive or give.
You see, I imagine I imagine the tow, the tow's grip.
Like if you like, like, don't first off, first off, friends,
do not watch the video.
Frank's doing hand gestures again, but pretend this is audio.
OK, it's audio.
And no, I'm not going to pretend this is not going to pretend.
I'm not going to play games.
The band is real.
I will not pretend.
Oh, so I had a ride in a tow vehicle, I should say.
Perfect to think about it.
And so I what I think went down is
because when when the tow truck picked it up, I noticed
it was it was kind of just dumping once it got up at like a high angle.
I noticed it was dumping the manual transmission fluid.
OK, that's not good.
And so either A, there's a fricking hole in the case somewhere.
Jesus.
But like, again, I didn't feel that dramatic.
Yeah. Or B.
So here's what I think.
And it looked like it was coming more from the passenger side of the transmission.
So here's what I think went down is the way the.
The passenger side is the longer axle.
It's got like that like longer like horse stick section
that presses into the transmission and it does not have a like a.
I can't think of a word, not a C clip, but like it's got like a locking
like a snap ring. Oh, yeah.
Kind of like a snap ring on the end that on the driver side,
it snaps into the transmission.
You got to pop it in and it pops in and then it holds there
and retains it in the transmission on the passenger side.
It does not have that because it then has a carrier bearing.
So it's a long section.
It's got a carrier bearing.
The carrier is held in a bracket.
And then on the outside of the carrier bearing is that first joint.
This first CV and then it goes standard axle and then the other CV at the the knuckle.
It's held in the carrier bearing.
Carrier bearing, he tried to say,
is held in with it's just a cap and two bolts.
I I remember going over and torquing a bunch of different things,
putting that thing back together.
Like I remember the tie rods, I think they were 29 foot pounds.
And I know the axle.
And I think like the end links were like 32 foot pounds
and the axle nut is 199 foot pounds, which is basically just fucking send it.
Send it.
I don't remember specifically torque.
I remember putting wrenches on that that carrier bearing cap.
I don't remember off the top of my head.
If I like I don't remember the torque specs, which makes me think I don't remember.
It might have been finger tight.
It might have been more than finger tight.
I don't I specifically do not recall.
I remember taking it apart.
I remember like figuring it out because I first I was like, oh, how come I can't just pull?
Oh, OK, I see.
I got it today and it was kind of an annoying angle and got it apart.
And I remember putting it back together.
So my suspicion is that whether it's due to user error, 99 percent chance
or, you know, weird vibration and bullshit, 1 percent chance
that I'm willing to bet.
I think what happened is that cap and I haven't been under the car.
I got the car home.
I got in the driveway.
I've not had time or energy or wherewithal to dig into it yet.
I'm going to do this tomorrow.
I think what happened is that cap either partially or completely wiggled off.
Which made that that carrier bearing pop loose
and the axle popped out of the transmission.
Yeah, I have thought these were limited slip.
I looked it up on the ride.
They are not. We learned.
They're all on these cars, which is interesting.
And so I also found out the transmission is shared with the Mini Cooper S
of the aisle, though.
That would be the supercharged one, right?
Correct. Yes.
R 53 to 80 get dragged to 85.
So long story short is I think that was the culprit,
which isn't necessarily a death nail, because when this happened,
I was like, well, I guess the whole rally thing is is over.
Right. But if I can get under there tomorrow
and if that cap is just gone and I just have to find a cap and two bolts
and they're available, I look like they they show available
at Ford for like three dollars for the cap
and assuming nothing else is damaged because of this, right?
There's still a possibility to raise like a Phoenix from the ashes
and get this and going.
I also find someone to drive the car,
which if you're listening to this, it's either happened or didn't by this point.
I've got some I've got some people that are interested in it,
but I got to make sure the car is remotely viable.
I'm glad it happened on a shakedown run the morning motors.
Right. On the rally or route to the rally
or with someone else behind the wheel.
So that's a good thing.
We were together also too, right?
Like it's nice to have a buddy system
because it would have been harder to get to the meat or.
Yeah, I just would have not made it.
I would have just been like, all right.
Well, I guess I am, you know, because we're literally like 10 minutes from there.
So yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
It was like whatever was six miles or something.
So yeah, so sort of a bummer,
especially if I get in there and like everything is all together
and it like it is actually catastrophic transmission failure.
But yeah, that's the only way
because like just it leaping out of the transmission
like it wasn't seated all the way doesn't make sense
because it would it would have taken more than 100
and whatever miles for that to happen.
No, yeah, something had to fail critically.
So and that's the only that's the only way I think can get would be is
if that or if that that bearing is just like shit
and locked up or something like that.
And that caused it to long to yeet.
Are we still saying that could be?
Yeah, absolutely transmission.
So that's that's where it's at.
It's hopefully it's minor if it's not I get a DNF.
If it is, but I can't get parts in time, it's a DNF.
If it's if it's not and I can if I need the cap and two bolts,
I can get them and it's like 20 bucks all said and done.
And also nothing is else is really damaged, right?
Like you didn't chew up the splines on the output shaft.
If it needs an axle, if it needs an output shaft seal,
those are available and cheap, but really anything else,
you know, like if I have to buy a new axle,
they're all special order.
I won't be able to get one in time, right?
So then that'll DNF me.
So I'm in the woods.
I've got the flashlight where you hit it and like it flickers.
And we're going to see if I keep hitting it,
if it'll stay on or just will stop flickering.
That's where I'm at.
Yeah, I can't wait for your autopsy photos tomorrow.
I think that's going to be awesome.
Just I'm sure you're going to send me some cool pictures of
the end of an axle with a lot of fluid dripping past it.
Yeah, as it packed out.
Well, this is something to is I noticed
when they got back to the car
and I was waiting for the tow driver.
The I started, I put in gear
because I just put in a sixth and then I revved it.
The speedometer would go,
which means which means that at least the output shaft
is connected because that's how it's
that's how it's getting the information for the speedometer.
It's reading the output, correct.
I push up speed sensor.
So the output shaft is spinning.
So the likelihood that transmission is inside it out.
Yeah, you can freely go into each gear, too.
I don't know if we stated that enough.
That is one of the most important things
so you can put it into every gear.
So yeah, so like everything's great,
except for like first, third and sixth, right?
Something like that, you know?
God damn, man.
Well, I'm looking forward to that update.
That's it keeps making content.
So yes, let's go.
Yeah, let's go.
Well, cool, man.
We stayed, I think we stayed under budget,
which is shocking for now.
For now, you're still you're still working on it.
And we have like four days left to the rally.
So I'm sure something will happen.
Stay tuned.
Maybe.
OK, let's move on to a little something
we like to call the automotive print ad quiz game.
I'm going to I'm going to dial something up a little easy
because I think your your butt has been beaten enough
in one day.
So I'm going to put a little, I'm going to put a little
salve, salve, little Vaseline on your,
oh, please, your tender cheeks, man.
So load me up, describe this wonderful game.
I will.
So this particular edition of our print ad quiz game
Chadwick here is going to find and probably already has
an ad from somewhere in the 1980s,
the 1990s up till around the mid 2000s.
And he's going to read the type copy from this advertisement
without, you know, him giving anything super
overly identifying away.
It will be incumbent upon me within 10 minutes
and three guesses to figure out the make model
and approximate model year of the vehicle in the advertisement.
It's a good time.
You should you can play along at home when I flounder
and you know it and it's super easy.
Scream at your your kids at at your neighbor's kids.
Especially now and at your listening device of choice
at me because I'm a fool and I deserve it.
All right, let's let's let's see how how bad I do here.
Chadwick, what you got for me?
Here's what I got, man.
Single page vehicle is passenger three quarter front angle.
Dutch angle, if you will, to going out of corner
and it's on a looks like a rubberized track
as in field and track.
Oh, high school field track.
Memories coming coming through and the page tears away
near the tires and shows track spikes on a rubberized surface.
And they're definitely the spikes for dirt.
So this is inaccurate for anyone that's a run track field.
But this is it's it's the ad is comparing it to a track star.
And it says that it says the vehicle's name and it says track star.
Track star. OK.
Increased horsepower and low end torque.
High output dual overhead cam two liter blank I for.
OK, get track six speed gearbox.
OK, specifically tuned rear suspension for excellent handling and control.
These are continental Connie sport contacts
from the factor on this car.
Oh, wow, it tells you right there.
Two fifteen forty five are seventeen.
So that's a pretty aggressive tire.
OK, little car and driver quote to help you along for March of.
I won't say the year it's March.
Yeah, it is simply in a handling class all by itself.
Sure. OK.
It's all you get. That's all you get. You get ten minutes.
Two liter dual overhead cam.
You said it get track six speed.
Is it the car I blew up today?
Is that a guess?
I mean, God, it's going to make for like shit radio.
Let me talk through it.
We're almost up against time, I think.
I guess. Yeah, let me let me talk through it real quick.
Yeah.
I mean, OK, two liter high output.
Inline four cylinder.
Dual overhead cam.
Get track six speed.
Right. Critical acclaim.
Yeah, and on cloud.
A lot of not a lot of words in this ad,
which makes me think it very well could be an early to mid 2000s ad.
Didn't say anything about.
You know, sequential fuel injection or ABS
or passenger airbag, independent rear suspension.
We do have that. Yeah. No, no dead axle here.
Yeah, I'm going to say this is a 2000 and two Ford Focus SVT.
Final answer.
So Mercury Cougar, actually.
Ford Focus SVT.
Brakstar Focus.
It is simply a hand in class all by itself.
Car and driver, March of 2002.
Good job, my man.
It's hard to tell because the ads really faded.
I don't know if you could get comp orange in the originals.
It's either comp orange or red.
So it's kind of like that lighting.
Such a silly ad.
Cool car. Sure. Yeah.
Right.
I don't know how you feel about it right now.
No, it's funny.
Like my my takeaways with it is,
you know, I agree with car and driver like it handles quite well.
I like the chassis.
Mine has got a little wiggle
that it's in its footsteps and in the rear end that probably wasn't there.
Let's say I'll be fixed.
The rear suspension is being a little bit too independent right now.
Hey, now, I don't.
And this is just coming from me.
I'm not knowing.
Did the the rest of the Mark one focuses.
Folk, I have a dead axle in the back.
Was that like a torsion beam or some shit?
Or did they all have IRLs?
I don't know.
IRLs.
IRLs in IRL.
Yeah, because they said the way they
I mean, I don't know.
I don't know they tuned independent rear suspension.
That's a weird sentence.
Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, I would be surprised if it was an economy shipbox.
But like, yeah, I don't.
I don't know that they would do that much
advanced development in that car for the SVT alone.
Yeah.
And again, they did it for like the Mustang Cobra and shit and like
the contour had a special engine.
But well, special engine.
But I mean, like also doing a whole like rear subframe
and for for independent rear suspension versus had its own body kit,
dude, Contour SVT, baby.
Yeah. Yeah.
You know, we love those things.
We do one day.
Yeah, good question.
I don't know.
But yeah, my impressions are like it's funny.
Transmission when it works great.
Sure. I like I do like the way it handles.
I think it's the ride is about as
ruckus as I would want it in a stock car
without being too too raw.
It's not like an STI or like it's chatter to your teeth out.
Sure. I don't.
I I'm not in love with the motor.
The motor is so.
I mean, it's very boring to me.
Like it's quite a bump over the other two.
Like the regular two liter Z tech have like what one 30.
This has 40 more ponies to it.
Yeah.
That's significant, man.
It's 170.
To me, it was more like 150.
Sure. No, no, no.
Maybe it's my example.
I don't know. What is it?
One of the rev hangs.
It's 170. 40, 130.
No, torque. Oh, yeah.
Something like that.
138, something like that.
But it doesn't have nearly the personality as,
you know, a B 18 Honda motor with the same horsepower.
The V tech.
It's like that has like sound way better.
It's way more personalities, way more exciting.
This one went against the EP hatchback,
which had the K8 20 with only the lower revving 160 horsepower.
So they did get that 10 horsepower over them.
I think that's impressive for Ford to give us something like that.
Because this is the first this is the first European hot hatch
we got from Ford truly.
I'll count an escort GT because I love those fucking cars.
But like in all honesty, this is probably the in the states,
the first hot hatch we got from
Yeah, you're Ford, right?
No, yeah.
And I think, I don't know.
And and like NVH is pretty poor.
It's a focus.
It's a focus.
But even then, like, it's pretty buzzy.
Oh, yeah.
And again, like some of this is my example,
but like also the motor mounts have all been done on this car.
Now they're after market mounts.
So I don't know how much that plays into it.
But what what a difference,
do what a delta between this car and like the focus SD.
Sure. Like, oh, yeah.
So for a follow up act, they fucking crushed it.
Like that car's handling is out of this world.
Gobs more power, like 80 more horsepower.
Yeah. So we'll see.
Like I haven't had a ton of.
I mean, I've had C time in it, but most of it's just like cruising down the highway.
Like I haven't really tried.
I took on a one quick rip down the road near me.
It was good.
Like I like the chassis.
I like the way it handles.
I I agree with car and driver in this ad.
But like the motor is it's.
I don't know.
I wish I wish it was more bubbly.
It rev hangs really bad.
I think that's probably an emissions thing of Ford of its era, I don't know.
But like probably.
Yeah, so it's just it is what it is.
But yeah, if I can more see time in it, hopefully it's not.
Hopefully it is what I think it is.
And I can get it back on the road shortly in time for the rally.
But I think it's yeah, I think they're cool cars.
Yeah, for sure.
All right, cool.
We'll skip PCP.
We had enough project car progress for one year and more more that we need.
More that you're still here's is still procreating as we speak.
You want to shut this bad boy down?
Yeah, thanks.
Thanks for making it this far, friends.
Yeah, another pointless automotive podcast.
Yeah, we'll we'll we'll have more post rally soon.
You can see you can see what happens after this.
So stay tuned if you want to follow along with some more of the happenings
you know, at APA podcast on Instagram.
Tell everyone you can because.
I don't know, one day maybe we can grow this thing
and have more than 12 listeners and that would be exciting.
And and and yeah, we're settled steadily growing this thing forward
and you guys are a part of that.
So thank you. Absolutely.
If you want to follow me, I'm the photographer's garage on all of the things.
You, Mr. Mr. Atkinson.
Oh, hey, auto obscure garage for all your project
rescues, restoration interviews, trackers going to get some more content
because that thing won't go away.
I love it though.
I got to drive it today.
That thing's so cute and fun.
But Volvo content coming if I can pull myself out of the garage
getting the Volvo ready for the rally.
So I haven't, you know, it's it's it's tricky, right?
Filming doubles every job.
So it's been pretty light.
But I will have a series on the Volvo and I'm going to put
dollar like a running dollar total as I show a new part
and install it on the car.
So that'll be that'll be a fun series, guys.
Sticker is like plus $12.
Oh, yeah, yeah, it's going to be super fun, right?
And then the countdown to the budget being dead.
But yeah, it's coming up, man.
But yeah, definitely do what Frank said.
Follow us here.
We love you guys and YouTube.
We put every episode on YouTube with video.
So check us out there.
Subscribe free like subscribe.
We'll run it through the rest of the year.
Free subscriptions, guys.
But we appreciate it.
And as always, take care of yourselves.
We love you.
Catch you on the next one.
Never pull out.
Amen.
In men.
About this episode
Two friends dive into their $3,500 budget rally car builds, sharing detailed expenses and challenges faced prepping a 2004 Ford Focus SVT and a Volvo P3 for a rally. They discuss parts sourcing, repairs, and upgrades, including a dramatic transmission failure that threatened rally participation. The episode also features a nostalgic automotive print ad quiz and reflections on car handling and performance. Their candid, humorous storytelling offers insight into budget-minded rally prep and the realities of project car ownership.
The dude sit down and weep over their respective spreadsheets, finding out if they are at all within their $3500 budgets for their bargain road rally builds. Did Chadwick need to find change in the seats and sell used tires to keep under budget? Will Frank's Focus even make it to the starting line? Do the fellas even have a basic grasp on math?