The Chronicles of Dr Tweak

The Chronicles of Dr Tweak

So, as some of you may know, I've been working on a 3SGTE swap into a 6th gen Celica for the last couple months. Anyway, it was supposed to be done this last Wednesday and the owner wanted to come pick it up. I wasn't sure it would be done so I said come up Thursday, which he did.

Long story short, we ran into some time-consuming problems and the car finally was finished around 9pm. So they had a 6 hour drive ahead of them and I told them to give me a call as soon as they get home so that I know they made it safe and the car went good. (So I'm expecting a call around 4am).

So my wife and I chill out a bit ( :naughty1: ), head to bed, and I just fall asleep when the phone rings around 1:30 am. And right away I'm like, uh-oh, that's not good...

So sure enough, there seems to be some problem with the car and it won't run, they had to get it towed off the interstate and are now sitting at a gas station. I knew that the problem was simple and I tried working them through it on the phone (including the tow truck driver who kept telling me it was a clogged injector ), but they couldn't figure it out... I kept telling them that they could do it, but the owner was on the phone with me and he's like, "Please, can you come down?" and he sounded really sad that his car wasn't working right, so I'm like... oh boy....

So, it's 2am, and I get up, put all my tools together, attach my car dolly (in case it was a more serious problem and I needed to tow it), my wife decides to come along, and off we go. About and hour into the trip, I'm hauling along at like 80, and through the fog I spot a deer. OH CRAP! I slam on the brakes and dodge left, right, and left again, just missing him by a couple feet! PHEW! That could have been a quick end to that trip! Almost three hours later I'm with the car, and it's fixed in less than 15 minutes (defective hose clamp failed causing a massive vacuum leak, just as I suspected).

So off they go and made it home without incident.

And here we are after being up pretty near 24 hours, 3 hours from home, with a car dolly... what to do. Well we went and found a hotel not too far away and ate some breakfast, crashed for the morning, and then made a phone call to this other guy who's car I've been planning on picking up, he was a few hours away in a direction that could sort of be along the way, so we set that up and headed out.

So I'm driving in traffic with my car dolly, sitting at a stoplight. It turns green and I start to take off and then I hear this loud crash from behind me, and the Jeep shakes! I look in my rearview mirror and I see a newer F250 pickup truck ON my car dolly (well just about). I jump out and the driver is just sitting there like a retard, I'm like "BACK UP!!!" (I'm pissed). The guy backs off the car dolly and I check it. Thankfully it's very rugged and there was no damage to it or his truck, so that was that. I guess forgot it was there and couldn't see it over his hood, and the took off to take up the distance between us when the light turned green, and bam.

Anyways we continue on and finally locate the residence and the MR2, I take care of business and get it loaded on the car dolly. We head back north stopping every little bit because I kept having trouble with the car dolly swaying REALLY bad. Finally I figured out that I had to keep the speed to 55 or else it would just get out of hand, so I had to creep home making the regular 3 hour driver stretch out even longer... man oh man.

So all in all, quite a little adventure in a couple days, and LOTS of miles covered. And I'm BEAT :sleepy1: <<<I wish that was me...

Wow, great story, how old was the guy in the 250?

Prolly like 35-40.

why you posting... sleep then post.... naw.. J/K ummm glad everything went as well as it did glad to hear you are ok after the deer and the ford... hope you get your dolly fixed... good luck with the MR2...

I wish I could, I'm at work until 7

wow....

props on going to fix the celica, nothing but respect for someone who backs up their work

Good to hear everything worked out, eventually, even though it was a long tiring trip.
That is a long haul! Well I'm sure you'll look forward to your nightly rituals and a good night's sleep in your own house. Soak it up. haha

bad ass man, good to hear the swap went good man

hey just out of curiosity, how much do you charge to do engine swaps? or put in a turbo?

Depends on what you need done: http://www.phoenixtuning.com look under "Services"

-Doc

hehe been there to that site! hey man at least you back your work up and you are a man of your word. i had a similar type of thing with the shitty local Honda Dealership a while back.

are you still making the supercharger for the 98-00 corollas?

well man some major development u got there man...... shit I wonder how my car would run with that swap in there hehehehe

Yes, we have a volunteer that is giving his car to me for a few months to play with, it is a '98, so we'll see what happens there

sick stuff man, hopefully things will turn out good with the S/C.... are u makin one from scratch or are u takin the ones for the current 03+ rollas and just modify it

Just gonna try modifying a TRD setup.

kick ass man, sounds good. How hard does that Celica pull with that 3S?

Think of it like this:

Heh - I'm hoping for the same feel if I ever get a 4AGZE & small pulley in the MR2..

Holy cow, thanks for the story!

good man u are