WARNING: LONG READ
Spark Notes:
1. My car blows up on the dyno during a nitrous pull, got it on film, link attached.
2. Turbo build - 600+ rwhp
3. Friend causes it to blow at 4,500 miles
4. Had to rebuild motor, AGAIN
5. Duration of time from nitrous explosion until now - 7 years
----------------------------------------------------------------------
My close friends say:
“…your car has seen more down time than you’ve had it up and running”
Well, to say that I'm embarrassed is an understatement... I just did some research on the ups and downs of my car to see if the comment my friends make is true or not… here goes nothing.
2001 Mustang Cobra
Aug 2003 thru March 2005 - (Drive Time) 1yr 7months
Purchased car and drove until first major "break". Car blows up on 150shot dyno tune at Speedtek. You old timers may remember this video… it spread rather quickly…
http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/pics-videos-buffet-149/170583-killsprays-nitrous-explosion-dyno.html
Nitrous Explosion on Dyno - YouTube
March 2005 thru May 2005 - (Down Time) 0yr 2months
Speedtek fixes damages but didn't realize that a main bearing was bad.
May 2005 thru Aug 2006 - (Drive Time) 1yr 3months
This is drive time but during this time, a slight tick was slowly turning into a big knock... a friend who builds mod motors told me it’s a main bearing and that the motor needs to be rebuilt. I decide to park it.
Aug 2006 thru Jan 2008 - (Down Time) 1yr 5months
This time in my life was tough. Was in college full time for Mechanical Engineering and couldn't afford to fix the car. I walked by my car every day saying that the day I graduate college the car is going in the shop. Graduated Dec 2007. Started my full time job Jan 2008.
Jan 2008 thru May 2009 - (Down Time) 1yr 4months
During the first week at my first job, I drop off my car at Gear Heads. They do an overhaul. Built motor, Turbo, T-56, Solid Axle, wheels/tires.
May 2009 thru Nov 2010 - (Drive Time) 1yr 6months
During this wonderful time, I only put about 4,500 miles on the car. Had a blast. I kept her in the garage when I wasn’t playing around and took real good care of her. But out of nowhere, I started having an issue where my car would stall when I turned right. Determined it was an electrical issue. Didn't have time to find it and fix it and was traveling overseas to Israel a lot for work a month at a time. My friend, Anthony Paredes (ex-employee of Gear Heads) offered to fix it while I was traveling. So I let him take it to his house and agreed to pay him for the repairs. On a side note, he was really hurting for money. I won’t go into details because I think he’s still a member on here but I let him take my car partly because he wouldn’t charge me as much and partly because he was my friend and I was honestly trying to help put some money in his pocket. Additionally, my ex-girlfriend’s (who I just broke up with although still living together temporarily) Altima was sitting parked in my garage for quite some time not being able to run. He offered to fix it too. So, to help put more money in his pocket and to help out my ex-girlfriend I say sure, go ahead and try to fix it and I’ll pay you for parts/labor. Additionally, on one occasion, I paid his phone bill for him. So to paint you a picture of this guy: Extremely nice guy, very knowledgeable with Mustangs, very helpful and was not in the greatest financial situation. He helped bail me out on numerous occasions with my car and I honestly considered him a good friend of mine and wanted to help him out in any way I could… even if it meant giving him my ex-girlfriend’s Altima and my turbo Cobra to work on… This, is the beginning of a pretty crappy period in my life…
Nov 2010 thru Jan 2011 - (Down Time) 0yr 2months
This time in my life was pretty hurtful. Anthony had my car and when he towed it to his house, he damaged the front bumper beyond repair on accident. He offered to fix it on his own dollar so it didn't bother me. He was helping me and it was an accident... Plus, he was my friend. During this time he said he bought me a new bumper, had it painted, purchased new fog lights, installed them, fixed my car and it was ready to be picked up. Additionally, the Altima was fixed. It was running and was ready to be picked up as well. When I come back from overseas, he doesn't answer my phone calls. Doesn't reply to my texts or emails. Straight up avoids me. I start to panic thinking to myself, what the heck did I do… Did he just run off with my cars??? I get pissed and threaten to go over there with the police and he finally texts me back. He says, "sorry, you can come pick up your Cobra but I never got a chance to fix your bumper. You don't have to pay me anything." Yeah, he was bs'ing me the whole time!!!!! Then he texts, “oh, and I never finished the Altima either. The front of the motor is still taken apart so you will need to tow it back home…” I literally felt like I was on an episode of “Punked”. Started getting nauseous... Me and 2 of my buddies decide to roll out to his place in Garland to pick up my Cobra. I had to bring some muscle in case things went south…Funny thing is, he wasn't even man enough to be there when I showed up. He had his girlfriend give me the keys. Also... yes, there is an also. I let him "borrow" my brand new battery powered impact wrench the night he took my car to his house. He said it would be in the car when I picked it up... nope. So, obviously, my impact gun wasn't there. Go figure. The next day, after I harass him about the impact, he said sorry and that he'd have it waiting in the Altima when I came to pick it up with a tow truck... So a few days later, I go over there with a tow truck and believe it or not, he had the guts to be there... it took every ounce of energy NOT to break his nose. And guess what, he accidentally left the impact wrench at work even though I reminded him SEVERAL times that same day NOT to forget it. So I told him off and let him know what I thought about him and told him every time he uses that impact wrench, remember that someone else put in some honest hours at work and EARNED the money to buy it. So I towed the Altima outta there. Oh, and a very important note… which is where the fun starts… when I drove the Cobra home the night of January 25, 2011 from Anthony’s, it was smoking like a freight train. I drove it straight to Gear Heads and dropped it off. I later found out that when he couldn't find the electrical issue, he thought there was a problem with the tune and started jacking with it. He denies it to this day that he jacked with the tune but he told me over the phone that he started looking into the tune, he said he was going to have someone come and help him look in the tune with him and there were reports later that someone saw my car on the dyno at Lonestar… Anyways, after some time, he actually found the wiring problem... it was an exposed wire coming off the block... yes, that's all it was... an exposed wire... oh, but this story gets better... stay tuned.
Jan 2011 - May 2011 - (Down Time) 0yr 4months
Gear Heads thinks the smoking was due to the turbo seal leaking. They remove the down pipe and oil just pours out of it... no bigs, sends turbo to local guy to replace the seal. They put it back on and dyno tune it. Travis realized someone jacked with the tune at this point because the tune he custom built now had about 27* timing. So, he fixed the tune but the car is still smoking... Gear Heads says there was a bunch of oil in the down pipe which most likely means my entire exhaust system is full of oil and that I need to burn it off... no biggie... I'm on it. So I get the car back, finally. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I told Gear Heads to buy an 01 Cobra bumper and paint it since Anthony destroyed mine. I get a call from Gear Heads one day and they say, "hey man, we got your 03 bumper in and painted and it looks great!"... wait, who said anything about an 03 bumper? Awesome. I didn't want an 03 bumper. Oh well, let me go ahead and invest in some 03 fogs and chin spoiler <rolls eyes> But who cares, right? I got my car back... finally. The fact of the matter is, I spent just as much money making the 03 work as it would have taken buying an 01 bumper… the 03’s are very cheap like $150. The 01, not a popular aftermarket, costs about $500. I was pissed at the time but I have grown to like it… although my hood doesn’t shut properly…
3-5 days in May 2011 - (Drive Time)
I really don't count this as "drive time" because I'm pretty much babying the car just trying to burn off the oil but it never lets up... over the course of a few days, my oil level dropped to about 1/3 above “minimum”... no bueno. Car smokes like a freight train. When I pulled up to a red light once, the guy next to me rolls down his windows and tells me he thinks my engine is on fire. I inform him that it's not and not to worry. How immature of myself... I send it straight back to Gear Heads. Here we go again...
May 2011 - Jan 21, 2012 - (Down Time) 0yr 8months
Very frustrating time in my life. So, since my car was still smoking and burning that much oil, they naturally assumed the guy botched the install of the new turbo seal. So they drop the down pipe hoping to see tons of oil pour out again.... but they don't. Down pipe is clean. And here comes the fun part... So they do a compression check... yup, losing compression on 2 or 3 cylinders. So now they need to check the pistons/rings and must pull the motor. Yay. So 3 pistons are completely torched even though I had the tops coated. So instead of buying 3 new pistons, they suggest I buy 4 so 1 side would be new. So we bought 4 new pistons. So we send the block to get cleaned up and to have the bores checked.... Yay, 2 of the cylinder bores were a little oval and 1 was very oval. Machinist says it will need to be bored .030 over to clean everything up. So basically we need to just go ahead and bore all of them .030 over so we send back the 4 pistons and buy a set of 8 pistons with slightly higher compression that are .030 over... And yes, it gets worse. The machinist says OOPS! .030 over actually wasn't enough to clean up those cylinders, now you need a new block!!!! WTF!!!!! AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Let's rewind here... prior to all of this, my brand new turbo build only had 4,500 miles it and there was an electrical issue causing my car to stall that basically required electrical tape to repair and now I need new pistons and a new block!!!!!!!!! Oh, forgot to mention... I proposed to my girlfriend on 11/27/2011 so from then on I was also saving up for a wedding/reception/honeymoon... ok, back on track... So we find a used Teksid block and clean it up... Bore, hone, etc… Put in the original crank and rods that were still good (checked for balance prior to of course), installed new pistons/rings/bearings/etc... and finally get it running again. So check back on the dates above... I gave my "friend" my car to fix in Nov 2010 and I'm just getting it back running Jan 2012. Sweet, huh? Almost done, I promise...
Jan 21, 2012 thru Feb 25, 2012 - (Drive Time) 0yr 1months
During this time, I'm breaking in the motor. Put about 700 miles on her and hand her back to Gear Heads. Here comes some more drama.
Feb 25, 2012 thru April 12, 2012 - (Down Time) 0yr 2months
It has been almost 7 weeks and my car is finally done. Mechanical problems with their dyno, they’re busy, Travis is out racing all over the country, X-Cal problems, one thing after another but finally, FINALLY, it’s done. Here are the final numbers. Please note, I’m in Canada right now and haven’t seen the dyno sheets. Travis promises these are VERY safe/conservative tunes.
Tune 1
14lb, 13* timing, 93 Octane, 580rwhp/???tq
Tune 2
18lb, 13* timing, 5gal of race gas, 640rwhp/610tq
There is plenty left in her but Travis is seeing more and more terminators coming to him with problems due to crappy gas. He does not trust pump gas anymore and will not push it on a street tune. Once I get home and play around with the car some more, I will take it back and have him set up a race tune with straight race gas and let him get a little more aggressive with the tune. Stay tuned for that…
But, remember, the purpose of this thread was to determine if my car has seen more down time than drive time… so here goes. What are your predictions????
Calculations:
Total Time I have owned car
August 2003 thru April 2012 = 8yrs 8months
Down Time
03/2005 to 05/2005 = 0yrs 2months
08/2006 to 05/2009 = 2yrs 9months
11/2010 to 01/2012 = 1yrs 2months
02/2012 to 04/2012 = 0yrs 2months
Total Down Time = 4yrs 3months
Summary:
8yrs 8months = Total Time
4yrs 3months = Down Time
4yrs 5months = Drive Time
Conclusion:
My friends are wrong. My car has NOT seen more down time than drive time.
With all that said and done, I can't wait to get my car back. Currently in Canada, fly back Saturday and I hope I can get in it and not worry about it breaking any time soon. What a journey, eh? <in Canadian accent>
And just for kicks, here are some numbers I have been crunching ever since I got my car back from my "friend" Anthony... so compare this to the amount of time/money I should have spent trying to find the exposed electrical wire and repairing it myself.
$300 - Impact Wrench
$2,000 - May 2011 Bill (includes $150 03 bumper, $300 paint/install, $200 chin spoiler, $100 fog lights, $40 fog light bezels, $250 dyno tune)
$4,400 - Jan 2012 Bill (includes block, block bore/hone, pistons, labor, etc...)
$??? – April 2012 Bill (will include synthetic oil change, spark plugs, little bit of labor)
Total Cost for re-re-rebuild - $6,700 and some change
Total Cost to learn the lesson to not trust a "friend" to work on your turbo Cobra – Priceless
Final Thoughts
I've had many down times in my personal life and with my car but they seem so insignificant compared to the blessings I've received. I'm thankful for the provisions to learn such an expensive lesson and thankful that I haven't been physically harmed during the time spent in this dangerous hobby. I look forward to the good times I will have at the track rather than on the street like I did during my teenage years and early twenties. Hopefully, people will read this and realize that this has the potential to be a very expensive hobby and to also realize that the more you modify your car, the greater the chances are that it will break. I also hope that people realize that there's more to life than your car...
Thanks,
Steve
Spark Notes:
1. My car blows up on the dyno during a nitrous pull, got it on film, link attached.
2. Turbo build - 600+ rwhp
3. Friend causes it to blow at 4,500 miles
4. Had to rebuild motor, AGAIN
5. Duration of time from nitrous explosion until now - 7 years
----------------------------------------------------------------------
My close friends say:
“…your car has seen more down time than you’ve had it up and running”
Well, to say that I'm embarrassed is an understatement... I just did some research on the ups and downs of my car to see if the comment my friends make is true or not… here goes nothing.
2001 Mustang Cobra
Aug 2003 thru March 2005 - (Drive Time) 1yr 7months
Purchased car and drove until first major "break". Car blows up on 150shot dyno tune at Speedtek. You old timers may remember this video… it spread rather quickly…
http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/pics-videos-buffet-149/170583-killsprays-nitrous-explosion-dyno.html
Nitrous Explosion on Dyno - YouTube
March 2005 thru May 2005 - (Down Time) 0yr 2months
Speedtek fixes damages but didn't realize that a main bearing was bad.
May 2005 thru Aug 2006 - (Drive Time) 1yr 3months
This is drive time but during this time, a slight tick was slowly turning into a big knock... a friend who builds mod motors told me it’s a main bearing and that the motor needs to be rebuilt. I decide to park it.
Aug 2006 thru Jan 2008 - (Down Time) 1yr 5months
This time in my life was tough. Was in college full time for Mechanical Engineering and couldn't afford to fix the car. I walked by my car every day saying that the day I graduate college the car is going in the shop. Graduated Dec 2007. Started my full time job Jan 2008.
Jan 2008 thru May 2009 - (Down Time) 1yr 4months
During the first week at my first job, I drop off my car at Gear Heads. They do an overhaul. Built motor, Turbo, T-56, Solid Axle, wheels/tires.
May 2009 thru Nov 2010 - (Drive Time) 1yr 6months
During this wonderful time, I only put about 4,500 miles on the car. Had a blast. I kept her in the garage when I wasn’t playing around and took real good care of her. But out of nowhere, I started having an issue where my car would stall when I turned right. Determined it was an electrical issue. Didn't have time to find it and fix it and was traveling overseas to Israel a lot for work a month at a time. My friend, Anthony Paredes (ex-employee of Gear Heads) offered to fix it while I was traveling. So I let him take it to his house and agreed to pay him for the repairs. On a side note, he was really hurting for money. I won’t go into details because I think he’s still a member on here but I let him take my car partly because he wouldn’t charge me as much and partly because he was my friend and I was honestly trying to help put some money in his pocket. Additionally, my ex-girlfriend’s (who I just broke up with although still living together temporarily) Altima was sitting parked in my garage for quite some time not being able to run. He offered to fix it too. So, to help put more money in his pocket and to help out my ex-girlfriend I say sure, go ahead and try to fix it and I’ll pay you for parts/labor. Additionally, on one occasion, I paid his phone bill for him. So to paint you a picture of this guy: Extremely nice guy, very knowledgeable with Mustangs, very helpful and was not in the greatest financial situation. He helped bail me out on numerous occasions with my car and I honestly considered him a good friend of mine and wanted to help him out in any way I could… even if it meant giving him my ex-girlfriend’s Altima and my turbo Cobra to work on… This, is the beginning of a pretty crappy period in my life…
Nov 2010 thru Jan 2011 - (Down Time) 0yr 2months
This time in my life was pretty hurtful. Anthony had my car and when he towed it to his house, he damaged the front bumper beyond repair on accident. He offered to fix it on his own dollar so it didn't bother me. He was helping me and it was an accident... Plus, he was my friend. During this time he said he bought me a new bumper, had it painted, purchased new fog lights, installed them, fixed my car and it was ready to be picked up. Additionally, the Altima was fixed. It was running and was ready to be picked up as well. When I come back from overseas, he doesn't answer my phone calls. Doesn't reply to my texts or emails. Straight up avoids me. I start to panic thinking to myself, what the heck did I do… Did he just run off with my cars??? I get pissed and threaten to go over there with the police and he finally texts me back. He says, "sorry, you can come pick up your Cobra but I never got a chance to fix your bumper. You don't have to pay me anything." Yeah, he was bs'ing me the whole time!!!!! Then he texts, “oh, and I never finished the Altima either. The front of the motor is still taken apart so you will need to tow it back home…” I literally felt like I was on an episode of “Punked”. Started getting nauseous... Me and 2 of my buddies decide to roll out to his place in Garland to pick up my Cobra. I had to bring some muscle in case things went south…Funny thing is, he wasn't even man enough to be there when I showed up. He had his girlfriend give me the keys. Also... yes, there is an also. I let him "borrow" my brand new battery powered impact wrench the night he took my car to his house. He said it would be in the car when I picked it up... nope. So, obviously, my impact gun wasn't there. Go figure. The next day, after I harass him about the impact, he said sorry and that he'd have it waiting in the Altima when I came to pick it up with a tow truck... So a few days later, I go over there with a tow truck and believe it or not, he had the guts to be there... it took every ounce of energy NOT to break his nose. And guess what, he accidentally left the impact wrench at work even though I reminded him SEVERAL times that same day NOT to forget it. So I told him off and let him know what I thought about him and told him every time he uses that impact wrench, remember that someone else put in some honest hours at work and EARNED the money to buy it. So I towed the Altima outta there. Oh, and a very important note… which is where the fun starts… when I drove the Cobra home the night of January 25, 2011 from Anthony’s, it was smoking like a freight train. I drove it straight to Gear Heads and dropped it off. I later found out that when he couldn't find the electrical issue, he thought there was a problem with the tune and started jacking with it. He denies it to this day that he jacked with the tune but he told me over the phone that he started looking into the tune, he said he was going to have someone come and help him look in the tune with him and there were reports later that someone saw my car on the dyno at Lonestar… Anyways, after some time, he actually found the wiring problem... it was an exposed wire coming off the block... yes, that's all it was... an exposed wire... oh, but this story gets better... stay tuned.
Jan 2011 - May 2011 - (Down Time) 0yr 4months
Gear Heads thinks the smoking was due to the turbo seal leaking. They remove the down pipe and oil just pours out of it... no bigs, sends turbo to local guy to replace the seal. They put it back on and dyno tune it. Travis realized someone jacked with the tune at this point because the tune he custom built now had about 27* timing. So, he fixed the tune but the car is still smoking... Gear Heads says there was a bunch of oil in the down pipe which most likely means my entire exhaust system is full of oil and that I need to burn it off... no biggie... I'm on it. So I get the car back, finally. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I told Gear Heads to buy an 01 Cobra bumper and paint it since Anthony destroyed mine. I get a call from Gear Heads one day and they say, "hey man, we got your 03 bumper in and painted and it looks great!"... wait, who said anything about an 03 bumper? Awesome. I didn't want an 03 bumper. Oh well, let me go ahead and invest in some 03 fogs and chin spoiler <rolls eyes> But who cares, right? I got my car back... finally. The fact of the matter is, I spent just as much money making the 03 work as it would have taken buying an 01 bumper… the 03’s are very cheap like $150. The 01, not a popular aftermarket, costs about $500. I was pissed at the time but I have grown to like it… although my hood doesn’t shut properly…
3-5 days in May 2011 - (Drive Time)
I really don't count this as "drive time" because I'm pretty much babying the car just trying to burn off the oil but it never lets up... over the course of a few days, my oil level dropped to about 1/3 above “minimum”... no bueno. Car smokes like a freight train. When I pulled up to a red light once, the guy next to me rolls down his windows and tells me he thinks my engine is on fire. I inform him that it's not and not to worry. How immature of myself... I send it straight back to Gear Heads. Here we go again...
May 2011 - Jan 21, 2012 - (Down Time) 0yr 8months
Very frustrating time in my life. So, since my car was still smoking and burning that much oil, they naturally assumed the guy botched the install of the new turbo seal. So they drop the down pipe hoping to see tons of oil pour out again.... but they don't. Down pipe is clean. And here comes the fun part... So they do a compression check... yup, losing compression on 2 or 3 cylinders. So now they need to check the pistons/rings and must pull the motor. Yay. So 3 pistons are completely torched even though I had the tops coated. So instead of buying 3 new pistons, they suggest I buy 4 so 1 side would be new. So we bought 4 new pistons. So we send the block to get cleaned up and to have the bores checked.... Yay, 2 of the cylinder bores were a little oval and 1 was very oval. Machinist says it will need to be bored .030 over to clean everything up. So basically we need to just go ahead and bore all of them .030 over so we send back the 4 pistons and buy a set of 8 pistons with slightly higher compression that are .030 over... And yes, it gets worse. The machinist says OOPS! .030 over actually wasn't enough to clean up those cylinders, now you need a new block!!!! WTF!!!!! AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Let's rewind here... prior to all of this, my brand new turbo build only had 4,500 miles it and there was an electrical issue causing my car to stall that basically required electrical tape to repair and now I need new pistons and a new block!!!!!!!!! Oh, forgot to mention... I proposed to my girlfriend on 11/27/2011 so from then on I was also saving up for a wedding/reception/honeymoon... ok, back on track... So we find a used Teksid block and clean it up... Bore, hone, etc… Put in the original crank and rods that were still good (checked for balance prior to of course), installed new pistons/rings/bearings/etc... and finally get it running again. So check back on the dates above... I gave my "friend" my car to fix in Nov 2010 and I'm just getting it back running Jan 2012. Sweet, huh? Almost done, I promise...
Jan 21, 2012 thru Feb 25, 2012 - (Drive Time) 0yr 1months
During this time, I'm breaking in the motor. Put about 700 miles on her and hand her back to Gear Heads. Here comes some more drama.
Feb 25, 2012 thru April 12, 2012 - (Down Time) 0yr 2months
It has been almost 7 weeks and my car is finally done. Mechanical problems with their dyno, they’re busy, Travis is out racing all over the country, X-Cal problems, one thing after another but finally, FINALLY, it’s done. Here are the final numbers. Please note, I’m in Canada right now and haven’t seen the dyno sheets. Travis promises these are VERY safe/conservative tunes.
Tune 1
14lb, 13* timing, 93 Octane, 580rwhp/???tq
Tune 2
18lb, 13* timing, 5gal of race gas, 640rwhp/610tq
There is plenty left in her but Travis is seeing more and more terminators coming to him with problems due to crappy gas. He does not trust pump gas anymore and will not push it on a street tune. Once I get home and play around with the car some more, I will take it back and have him set up a race tune with straight race gas and let him get a little more aggressive with the tune. Stay tuned for that…
But, remember, the purpose of this thread was to determine if my car has seen more down time than drive time… so here goes. What are your predictions????
Calculations:
Total Time I have owned car
August 2003 thru April 2012 = 8yrs 8months
Down Time
03/2005 to 05/2005 = 0yrs 2months
08/2006 to 05/2009 = 2yrs 9months
11/2010 to 01/2012 = 1yrs 2months
02/2012 to 04/2012 = 0yrs 2months
Total Down Time = 4yrs 3months
Summary:
8yrs 8months = Total Time
4yrs 3months = Down Time
4yrs 5months = Drive Time
Conclusion:
My friends are wrong. My car has NOT seen more down time than drive time.
With all that said and done, I can't wait to get my car back. Currently in Canada, fly back Saturday and I hope I can get in it and not worry about it breaking any time soon. What a journey, eh? <in Canadian accent>
And just for kicks, here are some numbers I have been crunching ever since I got my car back from my "friend" Anthony... so compare this to the amount of time/money I should have spent trying to find the exposed electrical wire and repairing it myself.
$300 - Impact Wrench
$2,000 - May 2011 Bill (includes $150 03 bumper, $300 paint/install, $200 chin spoiler, $100 fog lights, $40 fog light bezels, $250 dyno tune)
$4,400 - Jan 2012 Bill (includes block, block bore/hone, pistons, labor, etc...)
$??? – April 2012 Bill (will include synthetic oil change, spark plugs, little bit of labor)
Total Cost for re-re-rebuild - $6,700 and some change
Total Cost to learn the lesson to not trust a "friend" to work on your turbo Cobra – Priceless
Final Thoughts
I've had many down times in my personal life and with my car but they seem so insignificant compared to the blessings I've received. I'm thankful for the provisions to learn such an expensive lesson and thankful that I haven't been physically harmed during the time spent in this dangerous hobby. I look forward to the good times I will have at the track rather than on the street like I did during my teenage years and early twenties. Hopefully, people will read this and realize that this has the potential to be a very expensive hobby and to also realize that the more you modify your car, the greater the chances are that it will break. I also hope that people realize that there's more to life than your car...
Thanks,
Steve
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