5/17/13

And “tomorrow” turned into “Friday” apparently.  So, as I was saying, I think I'm going to give up on doing a Rat Rod truck after all.  This fact, along with the sale of the KA-24 tomorrow, leaves me in the position of reviving the plan of putting the VG-33 in the Chickenhawk.  Hmm, the Chickenhawk is sitting on Marty’s 1200 axle and suspension since the axle I'd put in it is now under John's 510 wagon.  I wonder if we otter revisit the “mid-engine with a Maxima transaxle” wackiness.  I'd think it would handle better with that setup.  The giant lump out front is going to make for a pushing pig of a car.  I'll have that in spades with Lil' Wiggly already, do I want two cars which are only fast in a straight line?  I'm thinking “No.”  There is also the fact that we don’t have a transmission for the VG yet.  Damn, I really should have bought that five-speed transaxle sitting on the ground at the junk yard back in 2001!  In my defense, I was fighting a kidney stone at the time and wasn’t in my right mind… sort of thing.  Anyhoo, there’s that as an option.  Of course, front engine will be easier, but how cool would a mid-engine V6 1200 be?  Pretty damned.  Yeah, I'm sure we’ll go the easy route and plop the donk out front.  That will give me the opportunity to finally build that ladder-bar, coil over, rear suspension I've been gassing on about for so many years.  Ooh, with the mountains of torque that engine will provide, I could revisit the rally-car idea!  Giant fender flares don’t have to be for slammed cars on low profile “steam-roller” tires.  I could jack up and put a set of all terrains on a Datsun finally.  We may have to redesign the front fenders and flares to clear a set of 15” rally tires though.  Uh oh, this is beginning to sound like a good idea.  I'd certainly have more room for the zorst if the car isn’t scraping the pavement.  Also, monster-truck ride height would free the car from having to turn as well as it otter when in the weeds.  And then there’s the fact that I've always wanted to build a faux rally car.  I think we might have a plan… which, of course, WILL change a dozen more times before the car is on the road.  But for the time being I think it will be the plan… unless John shoosts it down with some well-reasoned argument tomorrow.  We’ll see.