The Next Episode / A New Beginning

[vt_maverick]

congrats Ashley, nice looking place you got there also, maybe a spring meet out there.

Definitely would love to have you guys out. It's about 4.5 hours from Newport News, or 2.5-3 hours from Fredericksburg (for Tom). I can probably put one or two of you up for the night, but there are hotels a short drive away (maybe 25 min. or so) too.

[vt_maverick]

Congrats on the new VX....take some pictures with the Borbets when you get the chance.

I would love to see them

Lol, well since it's the exact same color and has the step bars and the 1.5" Daystar coil spacers it looks EXACTLY like this picture of my old VX:



I didn't have a chance to take pics before I dropped it off at a fellow member's house on Saturday for a little upgrade... more on that to come.

[tom4bren]

"Another build thread with minimal "after-only" pics and no write-up... but I guess that's the MO for most big upgrades.

Hope I'm wrong dude... if you do have more pics and a write-up it would be a great contribution to the site. There are a lot of people who've talked about doing powertrain swaps and as our VX's get older they may become mandatory just for parts availability."

I didn't have a chance to take pics before I dropped it off at a fellow member's house on Saturday for a little upgrade... more on that to come.

I can fortell the future: Ash is gonna be eatin his words real soon.

[vt_maverick]

So I said in the first post it was a real odyssey getting this VX back to Virginia, and I want to say up front that it wouldn't have been possible without the support of several members of the VX family. God help us if this forum ever disappears...

Anyway, I found this VX through AutoTempest on Cars.com. It was located in Evergreen, CO, had 93K miles and a clean AutoCheck, and overall looked like a good possibility. I put a request out to some of our Colorado members, and VXorado volunteered to drive out and take a look for me. He gave me some great feedback, not the least of which was that the tranny was slipping in reverse. I convinced the owner to have it diagnosed, and the feedback from the shop was that the reverse gears were worn and it was probably a good idea just to rebuild or replace the transmission. I priced a rebuild at $2200 and a new transmission at $3100, so I pushed the owner to drop his price by several thousand. After several back and forths we came to a good enough price to make it worth it for me to fly out and see it for myself. I already had a business trip scheduled to Phoenix in October so I routed my return flight through Denver so it wouldn't cost me anything to check it out.

Unfortunately the owner had a conflict pop-up a few days before I was to arrive in Denver, so rather than cancel on me he left his VX unlocked in the airport parking deck so I could test drive it anyway. I got in touch with Earl (Mile High VX) and he put me in contact with Jack (pbkid) who arranged for us to inspect the rig under the bright fluorescent lights in the Car Toys shop (it was dark out when I got to Denver so it was an immense help). We noticed some rust on the roof rails, a missing headlight gasket, a cracked insert, as well as that the tires were nearly bald. Couple that with the fact that the ABS unit (or wheel sensor maybe) needs to be fixed or replaced, and I probably should have known better than to do what I did next. (Insert ominous music here.)

I used to travel to Denver all the time for my last job, so I decided to stay at a hotel in downtown so I could go eat at one of my old hang-outs. I was checking my blind spot to get off the interstate when a Chinese delivery guy in a Kia in front of me came to a near stop in the middle of the interstate. I swerved, but with bald tires and no ABS I didn't have much of a chance. I caught his bumper with my driver side front bumper, which cracked the headlight, fog lamp, and turn signal, and bent up the front of the hood, driver side fender, and front cladding. I probably hit the guy at less than 15-20 MPH, so while I am still impressed with the VX's safety from my other accident, I'm less than impressed with how well it absorbs low speed impacts without generating significant damage. Mechanically everything was fine though - I actually drove the VX off the interstate and into a McDonald's parking lot for us to sort everything out.

So can you imagine how awkward is was when the police showed up and the registration and plates were for someone else entirely? Fortunately they were cool about it and I managed to get the owner on the phone with the cop so they didn't book me for grand theft auto. I had the VX towed called GEICO in the morning to report a second accident with an identical vehicle in less than two months. (Fortunately insurance covers new vehicles for up to 30 days even if you haven't informed them of the purchase yet.) GEICO was great about getting her repaired quickly - they found most items new, got a few things used (like the hood), and took care of everything within a week or so. While it was there I had them fix the roof rust as well, so in the end the VX actually looks BETTER than before - no rock chips on the hood, flawless paint, etc. Earl agreed to go inspect the repair job before I had it shipped home, and sent me a TON of pics so I could compare the pre and post-shipped condition once it got to VA. I got her a week ago last Wednesday, and she looks great other than having one beautifully clear headlight and one cloudy headlight.

Thanks again to VXorado, Mile High VX, and pbkid, as well as Pitt VX'r for checking out the Foxfire in Pittsburgh that I didn't buy. You guys made this possible for me, and after all that I've been through this fall, I really appreciate it!

[VXorado]

Wow what a story, I had no idea about the fender bender in Denver.

I'm glad you got the VX home safe & it all worked out

[Buffy]

And this lovely ride is now in my hands about to make yet another transformation but I will let Ashley fill the group in on it.

[tom4bren]

And this lovely ride is now in my hands about to make yet another transformation but I will let Ashley fill the group in on it.

I heard about it & am really 'jonesin' the idea. Hence my comments in #33 above (pix & write up or you don't get credit for the transformation)

[Buffy]

I heard about it & am really 'jonesin' the idea. Hence my comments in #33 above (pix & write up or you don't get credit for the transformation)

I can promise you it will be thoroughly documented as I progress. Lots of pictures too!!!

[samneil2000]

Yall are killin me. What are you up to Dr Buffy???

[vt_maverick]

I mentioned in the post above that my new VX is slipping in reverse, and that I priced rebuilding vs. replacing the transmission before buying it. At about the same time Buffy PM'd me and said he was interested in buying my old VX for a certain project he was considering. During that discussion I mentioned I would probably need my old transmission for the new VX, and he suggested that for somewhere between what it would cost to deinstall/reinstall my old tranny (which had 73K miles) or rebuild/replace the existing transmission ($2200-$3100) I could probably do a 5-speed swap. The AR-5 manual from the Trooper is a more stout transmission than the 430LE auto that's in our VX's and has much longer service intervals and overall life, so to me it sounded like a better investment. I asked Greg (Buffy) if he would be interested in doing the swap for me, and he said he would but that it could take some time to find an AR-5 transmission in good shape. But as luck would have it, while we were talking I was clicking through SearchTempest and came across a '99 Trooper with 93K and manual transmission for $800!

Its engine had seized back in 2004 and the current owner bought it with the intention of rebuilding / replacing it, but then ran into financial problems and never got around to it. So there it sat in his yard for 7 years until I drove up (about 4 hours from my house but I did it on the way to a job so no cost ) to see it last month. It was missing the engine but everything else was there, and there was no rust to be found anywhere underneath. The swap requires a bunch of parts besides just the transmission, so I went ahead and bought the whole vehicle so Greg could harvest anything and everything worthwhile, as well as study how the AR-5 transmission was wired up in a stock Trooper. I paid to have it towed halfway to Greg's house, and he brought it back to his place from there. (Greg feel free to take and post a pic of the Trooper if you want.)

So that's it - Buffy (Greg) is doing a 5-speed swap for me. If you've read his de-rusting thread you know he's more than happy to take and post tons of pics along the way, so I figure he won't make a liar out of me (Tom).

Can't wait to get her back!!!

[VX KAT]

YAH!!! Great to hear!
Let the transformation begin!

And this lovely ride is now in my hands about to make yet another transformation but I will let Ashley fill the group in on it.

So that's it - Buffy (Greg) is doing a 5-speed swap for me.

DANG! Didn't know I was a psychic.....I didn't even know about the tranny issues or the swap when I wrote that. Wonder if I should play the lottery ....

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.and I thought Buffy's post had odd wording to be referring to your wrecked VX...calling it "this lovely ride is now in my hands" .....I see, it's all coming together now in a great way!
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sounds great and even I look forward to the many pics...I'm sure I'll learn a lot !

[Buffy]

So there you have it, a 5 speed swap is on the way. I hope yo get the parts in the next couple days and will start the swap after Christmas. Now I do see his wrecked VX as a lovely machine as my plans for it are 3.1 turbo diesel 5 speed swap! But more on that one after the 5 speed transformation for Ashley. The doctor is in......

[samneil2000]

The doctor is in......

Yep, doctor buffystein... haha

[vt_maverick]

Here you go Greg:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ISUZU-TROOPE...item3cbfe22fbb

[PK]

So there you have it, a 5 speed swap is on the way. I hope yo get the parts in the next couple days and will start the swap after Christmas. Now I do see his wrecked VX as a lovely machine as my plans for it are 3.1 turbo diesel 5 speed swap! But more on that one after the 5 speed transformation for Ashley. The doctor is in......

If you can get one, use the 2.8 turbo diesel instead of the 3.1.
The 2.8 gives better fuel consumption (in the same vehicle) , is more easily modified for more power, and is more reliable.
Lots of people here taking the failed 3.1's out of their MU's and installing the older 2.8's.

3.1's are known for cylinder head and turbocharger failures.

Other than that, good luck with the swap.
I would love to see it done.

PK