Topic: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

I'm going to 1st post the play by play. I was basically shunned at the TurboDodge site, but here is the low down so far on my Lemons candidate

texan_idiot25;222733 wrote:

Yes, a laser. It's red, it's bad, and it probably will kill some one.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser.jpg
[SIZE=1] Cliche Craigslist picture... You don't really know what your getting yourself into![/SIZE]

Found this piece of crap on CraigsList, for free. If all goes well, it'll be towed home this weekend. Why?

Why not?

Let's examine the posibilites:

1st, it does run, and move some. Can't ask for much more out of it apparently, but it's going straight to my autotech shop to get it moving strong.

2nd, the basher beater. This will be the car you try all the stupid **** that you wouldn't do in your normal ride. This car will be beat more than the firebird was off road. Hand brake turns, and J-Turns rejoice!

3rd, 24 Hours of Lemons! If this laser proves deadly, and shows some hints of being reliable, here is the PERFECT start for a 24 hours of Lemons racer.

What is the 24 hours of Lemons you ask? Well, goto www.24hoursoflemons.com to get the full details, but it's a dirt cheap mockery of the famed 24 Hours of LeMans. Where you take your beater with a 500 dollar build cost limit and race it for two 12 hour stints. It's all kinds of killer:
http://jalopnik.com/tag/24-hours-of-lemons/


It's a total piece of crap, my mom can't figure out why I want to park it infront of my house, and my insurance company might question me for wanting the absolute cheapest coverage for the absolute shortest amount of time (to keep things legal on road), but who gives a damn.

This summer, I have a frickin' laser (Beam)


Edit: AND it's a stick!

texan_idiot25;222759 wrote:

I can't compete with the pure awesomness that is the SR71 Miata:
http://jalopnik.com/assets/images/gallery/12/2009/04/thumb800x800_3454009979_5a98b47aed_o.jpg

texan_idiot25;222806 wrote:

I'll see what I can do. Typically the ricers tear into the imports the moment they hit. My local redneck yard doesn't typically stock a lot of imports like the Eclipses.

Do they use a vacuum operated BOV like the T-Bird Turbos? Those were REALLY cheap and easy to adjust for more boost.

This is the low-down on the car:



I have to now keep it out of the hands of the rest of my auto-tech class while it's getting fixed and we'll see how long it lasts before I dump cash into turbos and such. The CST10 still needs a good bit of work this summer while it's free. Shoot, may even make the Laser a beater for work.

texan_idiot25;223182 wrote:

First, you must play this song. It will be explained later as to why.

[youtube]MejtR81RzCo[/youtube]

So today began at 9am, with a call from my friend that he was up and ready to meet. I stumble out of bed, change into a dirty shirt from last week and step into a pair of jeans, pre-dirty'd. I was ready to go experience my beater car.

I get on over and we shoot the piss, and some bird with his pellet gun for a while and I call Russ, the Laser's owner to see what the plan is... No answer and it hit's the voice mail. No worries, I leave a message and we continue shooting small varmints. Finally I get a call back from Russ. Now, to fully understand this man, you must also be listening to the song above. You must also imagine what this man sounds like. You know the hippy in That 70's Show? Just like him, but a good bit more coherent.

"Whats good man? Hey, were on the way, had to wait for them to get the tow dolly that they didn't have, but I'm on my way right."

Right-on!

Bit more screwing around and a trip to Wendy's later, up comes a white Chevrolet 2500 pulling a maroon little thing behind it. Thus, we introduce the 1986 LAZUR:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00036.jpg

He cranks it up to roll off the dolly and it's a rough little car. The Chrysler Slant-4 burbles down to a lopy idle and it climbs off the dolly and into the drive way with little drama, and a side of smoke. :nod:

55 bucks for his time, and the cost of the tow dolly and a bill of sale later, and the cari s mine. :eyecraz:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00028.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00029.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00030.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00031.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00032.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00034.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00037.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00038.jpg

Now, about the Rolling Stones. There was a tape in the tape deck that was a recording of some radio station from god knows how long ago. When I popped the tape in, Satisfaction came on. Fitting.

"Cain't get no, satisfaction"

Fitting to the car because it's not quite perfect:

-Can't rev high, figure a bad fuel filter on that
-Stalls at random, I figure it could be the clutch safety switch as you can start the car while the clutch is up. It stalls like an ignition problem and usually starts up when you fiddle with the clutch some
-Outside door handles are gone
-locks don't work
-Rear hatch lock is stuck
-Stick shift needs adjustment, 1-2-3-4 are very close to each other with no fifth. And reverse likes to grind for no reason.
-Powersteering is gone, but not a big deal at speed.
-AC is out
-Smokes, but a can of Restore will cover that up
-can't roll up windows due to door handles being broken, and it's gonna rain. lol
-Leaks oil
-leaks antifreeze

But, once it gets moving and you get used to the extremly close 1-2-3-4 gears, it's a fun ass car. It will stall at random, even while driving, but a few cranks or a bump start will get it alive again to get on home. The clutch feels great, and is an easy car to drive. It's got some guts with that stick shift, and I can't wait to get it shifting and runnig fine to really wring it out some.

Mission success.

texan_idiot25;223377 wrote:

Ha-haaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Solved one half the stalling issue. Two items that cause my stalling issues are the VSS (Vehicle speed sensor), and the AIS, (Automatic Idle Speed). So, 1st thing's first, it's easiest to get at the VSS. So I follow the wires down to the sensor, and low-and-behold, the thing is simply unplugged!

Fire it up, and bam it starts right up with out any cranking. But, I hear a worrying rattling, so I cut it off. Cuss a bit, start it again, and the starter's disengagement clutch bit the dust. It engages, but won't spin the motor. So, thank god for the down hill roll of a lift, and a manual tranny. BUMP START!

Fires up, and runs! No issues. It won't idle some times, but the AIS is next to adjust, and then un-hook so it won't shut the air flow at idle. So, we start test driving it around the lot, and as long as it stayed revved up, it was all good. But any time it stalled, my pit crew jumped out of the car, we pushed, bump started, all jumped back in, and kept going... Good fun.

Got some driving video on a friend's camera, so video may come soon.

So, later this week I'll grab a junk yard starter and disable the AIS, and in theory she should run with out stalling. A fuel filter should stop the heavy load/high RPM studdering, and it's ready for action. Good to know it's taking very little to get the Laser rollin'



And I dusted off a familiar sticker wink
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00051.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00052.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00053.jpg

texan_idiot25;223434 wrote:

I've never heard of this Safty. Does it taste good?

There is no solid plan quite yet until it can go more than a few hundred feet with out stalling. But, with a bit more tuning it should be all good here in a few days. Gonna try and grab the starter tomorrow at the yard. $35 bucks, screw you Autozone. I bet you by disabling the Idle air speed controller to just stay open, it stops stalling at idle. If it doesn't, then I know it's a 6 dollar part that's inside the dizzy. Double check the timing and that may open up the higher RPM and smooth out the idle.

texan_idiot25;223448 wrote:

One of the Honda boys at my school decided to get a ricer muffler and then chose against using it... Don't be surprised if I have a Lazur Canon out the back.

texan_idiot25;223824 wrote:

[youtube]1WGmeX6CLas[/youtube]

Found a paint theme!

texan_idiot25;224465 wrote:

Got the junk yard starter in today, and did a little more work. Timing and fixing the damn Hall-Effect-Sensor are next on the list, but boy when this car decides to run 100%, it's fun. Speed shifting sucks with this sloppy shifter, but it will chirp into third if your fancy enough. But a few more laps around the school parking lot today in celebration! Found a set of tires in the shop to replace the blown, and the dry rotted rear tires, 195 wide like the front, but a little taller and have tons of camber wear... Don't matter to me when their in back. smile

And got a blower scoop, which will be rigged to be functional.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00110.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSC00111.jpg

"THE BLOWER!"

And I now have access to 10 acres of land this summer, and jumps can be built smile

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

Shunned at the Turbo Dodge site?! What are they doing over there, prepping their Omni GLHs for the concours?!

3 (edited by TexanIdiot25 2009-06-02 02:04 PM)

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

Nick_LeMonsHQ wrote:

Shunned at the Turbo Dodge site?! What are they doing over there, prepping their Omni GLHs for the concours?!

Psh, who knows. They didn't like my idea of beating this car into the ground it seems.

They helped a bit if I didn't mention wrecking or Lemons.

Murilee Martin inspired blower scoop action, it's functional! Operates off the vacuum powered heater core valve that broke off while changin the starter... It's summer, don't need no heater (also plugged up the heater hoses with spark plugs, jalopnik style... Just like the CST10)

Shinanigans from today involved towing it outta school, bolting on the blower scoop and getting the butterflies funcional. Then, the fun began with some test driving, and a nice lesson in FWD toque steer.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSCN1007.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSCN1009.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/DSCN1005.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/texan_idiot25/laser/th_laser.jpg
Songless version will be up soon, but I just liked the start of this song "Here it comes! The horrify midnight wagon, saggin', laggin', dead bodies draggin'!"

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

The Laser is an excellent Lemons car. Good choice!

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

It handles pretty well too! Needs the brakes bled, and to fix the power steering. Gotta find a better shifter, as trying to speed shift and quickly down shift is a challenge.

Dig my vacuum blower Murilee? Everyone has been quite impressed with the idea.

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

TexanIdiot25 wrote:

Dig my vacuum blower Murilee? Everyone has been quite impressed with the idea.

Sure, though I'm disappointed that you didn't give me any credit for the vacuum-powered accessories idea.

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

Post #3

Murilee Martin inspired blower scoop action, it's functional! Operates off the vacuum powered heater core valve that broke off while changin the starter... It's summer, don't need no heater (also plugged up the heater hoses with spark plugs, jalopnik style... Just like the CST10)

Yes I did, gotta read my man!

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

TexanIdiot25 wrote:

Yes I did, gotta read my man!

Oh, I thought you meant you were inspired by the Mr Gasket Street Scoop.

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

Ah. The Vacuum idea came off that bit from your book, honestly. The Vacuum powered Nixon and such. Given if it makes it to Lemons, "Murilee's idea" will be painted next to the vacuum motor lol

Way easier than rigging linkage from the throttle, and does the same job.. When I can get ahold of a sawz-all, it's going to suck air threw there. Also need a separate fan for the intake inlet, as one of the engine PCs is cooled by the intake air charge.

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

TexanIdiot25 wrote:

Ah. The Vacuum idea came off that bit from your book, honestly. The Vacuum powered Nixon and such.

Oh. Right. My contribution to the literary canon. Ever since Virgin stopped sending me royalties, I'd sort of forgotten it existed.

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

I will drive on your Lemons team if you do ever decide to enter this car.  Guaranteed.

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

Add "A Chronicle Of Rebuilding British Leyland Machinery"  and suddenly that title seems more apt.

1978 AMC Pacer - The Blue Flag Special
BFE GP '12 - IOE
BFE GP '13 - Co-Organizer's Choice w/ Speed Holes Wrenching

Re: The saga of the Free Craigslist Laser

That would be too easy according to my Scottish friend, since according to him the BL cars were far more reliable then say... The Chevy Small Block.

A strolling Player- If I can afford the build costs, your in