Wheelin and Dealin!

The unique constraints of trying to build up an enduro style race car on a pauper's budget forces you to reconsider what is necessary and what really constitutes a bargain.  The SE-R had a few small issues when we picked it up.  Given the $500 sale price, I didn't really have much to complain about.  The missing passenger window is the biggie, given that the car is supposed to be street-legal and also street parked.  I put a sheet of plastic in the interim to keep out the nasty "winter" we have here in NorCal (read: rain).

NB: We'll end up removing said window for the race, so it technically doesn't count towards our $500 cap, but I need it while the car is still on street duty.

A new window from the dealer would be more than 1/4th the price of the car.  That simply wouldn't do.  I called a few "recyclers" (aka junkyards) to see if they had any.  They did not and it would be around $45 if they did.  Though that's a much more reasonable asking price.  I went to the SR20forum.com and found a guy parting out his SE-R.  I asked him about the window and he said $30 shipped.  Wow!  I tried to bargain, but at $30 he would throw in the window crank as well since it was missing.  Done deal!  I should have the window in by next week.

Continuing on my search for bargains, I found a guy selling a cracked Hotshot header for $20!  Of course I had to have it, even though it would count against our budget ($520 now), but the extra HP will come in handy.  The seller didn't want to ship and he was all the way down in San Diego.  Fortunately for us, all the other interested parties where non-locals as well, so if we could pick it up, it was ours.  As luck would have it, one of the team members was heading down to SD for Christmas.  Score!  The seller was also giving away a bunch of parts which we are hoping to get as spares.  More details to follow on another post.

The biggest bargain to report thus far (and possibly for the rest of this project) is our racing seat.  While one is not specifically required, it is highly recommended and very important to our collective safety on track.  Having used Recaro seats in past cars, that was my top choice.  I even bought two Recaro carseats for my baby boy!  I found one on eBay at a silly $1 starting price.  Watching it all week, I was shocked to see it didn't garner any interest.  With 10 minutes to go it was still listed at $2.25!  The seat was worn and well used, but a new one retails at $1500!  To my delight we "won" the auction at $26. Holy Cow!!!  Shipping will be 2-3x that much, but it's worth it.  Again, as a safety item, this does not count towards our $500 build budget.

More bargain hunting to come I'm sure.  This is almost as fun as the actual racing. :)

-Captain Ando.