[SETI20]

One of our members, Dmitry had one of the bearings seize on him recently.
He's currently in Germany, new in town, and didn't know what to do.

Somehow he talked me into helping him replace the heart of his baby. Wich obviously means that I have to drive up there.
Never really ocurred to me how big Germany is...and Ramstein is damn well near France!

So I'll post some pictures up here of my adventure....it's a good 6 hour drive without breaks.

If I don't answer in the next couple of days he probably killed me and stuffed me in a bulkhead of one of the cargo planes on base. If you see someone else besides myself driving my car, please contact your local authorities. :lol:

Off to bed now. I have a whoooole lot of goodies to pick up for the project tomorrow morning!
[mysterious tone of voice]

...oh and ofcourse a 400 mile drive.

 

[baker_jeff]

That's awesome that you're going to help him! A true patriot in our Community.

I present thee with a cookie.

 

[Savage]

that's sweet. 400k to help a fellow rexxer.

 

[SETI20]

I just hope this isn't going to turn out as one of my "cloudpump encounters".
...you all saw what happened the last time I was on the autobahn. :shock:

 

[xxpaulcpxx]

Can't he just air drop it in your driveway?

I mean SHEESH! If you've GOT an airlift cargo plane AND a big parachute, I don't see why you don't use it!

 

[sneaky_pete]

Seti.. YOU DA MAN!

I applaud you.
However, all praise and applause will be repealed, and we will also take away your cookie.. if you fail in your mission!!

Good luck

Sneak

 

[Dmitriy]

Ok, so with ALOT of other problems aside we started taking the engine apart in the 2 hours we had left to work at the Auto Shop. If I were to use a phrase to describe the horror it would be: "OMFG" (imagine those four letters 20 feet high and screaming.) More to come later HAHAHAHAHAAAA

 

[ryan_long_01]

I just hope this isn't going to turn out as one of my "cloudpump encounters".
...you all saw what happened the last time I was on the autobahn. :shock:

Are you saying this problem can't be fixed with a tube sock? :lol:

 

[SETI20]

OK, this is turning into a nightmare.

The trip here was a horror show. I'm doing 80Mph (speed limit) in the rain (on azenis) on the worst road conditions I've seen since Minnesota.
Visibility is near zero because of standing water, and spray...and old people in delivery vans are overtaking me on thw autobahn.
These perple are insane!

I hate germans...I hate germany...I hate it I hate it I hate it!
...tha is until you near Ramstein. Roads here are immaculate. I kinda like it here. Reminds me of carolina.

Long story sort, since I don't know the specifics...
Turns out german laws are a bit different than US and Dutch laws.
Jay bought a shell that's not going on the road again. Turns out, it needs a -clear- title in his name, for him to even own it. Let alone mess with it. (take engine out)

So basically...we can't do anything. One car is just sitting there, and the other one is dead.

And by dead...I do mean...DEDD!
Brace yourselves for some major carnage folks. Here's a storyline.

This pretty much sums it up. SUK.

When it stopped raining it was...somewhat pretty.

The donor

The recipient

Mine

Line-up

DEDD

...yeah he's still smiling now

frgn axl wouldn't pop. So we ended up taking out the entire half-shaft.

...this hole in the oil pan, and a couple of good sized dents were a good indication of what to come.

LARGE VIEW

....to see the full pic...remove the .sized part. I'm too pissed to link all the big ones.

The oil pan sounded like a rattlecan. Suffice it to say those parts are not supposed to be on the bottom of the oilpan.

We're gonna get tanked right now. Updates later.

 

[I4sillypwr]

uuummm yeah...that's gonna require a couple cases of beer to repair.

 

[SETI20]

hm....guess nobody cares.

 

[Angry]

So basicly, this porject was a dead end in the end?

But thats some serious carnage....damn.

 

[baker_jeff]

Nice chunky pieces! :shock:

 

[SETI20]

Well, after ALOT of hassle with paperwork and typical military burocracy....we finally got to get to work.

They were kind enough to give the bay (with hoist) to someone else while we were waiting...so we ended up with yet more delays.

So by 2:00PM we finally got to work. By 3:30 we had the engine out...and all was going well. They close at 8PM, so we were scrambling to atleast get the car towable. At 8 we had the engine in, mounts secure, rad in and latch on.

...that's about it.
We tossed all the other parts in the back...and towed it back to Jay's house.
We finished all the loose crap in the dark, in the rain, with a maglite and a street light.

But....at 2 in the morning she finally cranked.
...ofcourse we had to go on base first to get oil and coolant.

She ran like poo tho. But after changing the plugs and having her sitting and running for a while, she ran quite smoothly.

Jay called this morning to tell me there are still a few quircks to work out, but I had to go back today. So I just got home.

 

[Dmitriy]

So, to piggy back on what SETI said yeah alot of hassle, but it got done. Some of the quirks, if anyone knows the solution please let me in, Radiator fans turns on automatically, loss of power after 3k rpms at 4.5k engine refuses to go higher, no oil light on startup, and a walk through/tip/trick to reinstalling the keeper clip for the speed sensor cable. Oh I also am going to swap the intakes because of the missing sensor on the 88-89 intake for the plug on the alternator wire harness string.

 

[ryan_long_01]

No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.

What makes you say that?

 

[Wasuri]

Looks like what happend to my car.

GL on whatever route you guys end up taking on the rebuild.

 

[Charles]

No kidding. That sucks. The guy drives his ass across a country and gets stiffed.

 

[ollie]

Ouch....Now thats cold...
I hope this is just a tech mix up and this guy actually didnt intend to stiff Bas.
I just wish there was something I could do for ya Seti.
GL on getting this guy.

 

[SETI20]

No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.

Yea you can say that again.

Well, in all honesty I admit I haven't been able to read my emails yet. But I don't have high hopes for good news.