It just Fits

It's not a midlife crisis. The fact that I'm nearly 40 isn't relevant. Nor is the reality that I lost my father last week and have been feeling all the feels regarding that. It's not a midlife crisis. It just isn't. 
 

The last two years have been an epic roller coaster ride. I've gone from having a cool project car and a shop to no shop and no interesting cars of any sort. Nonetheless, I've been scouring the interwebs for the perfect score. One that I can convince my wife is a good idea. 
 

Thus far, I've swung and missed on a '68 Camaro chassis. Needed a full restoration, but was relatively solid for what it is. I really really wanted this one, as I was picturing small flares in the wheel houses, modern drivetrain and suspension and all of the cool noises. 
 

I also made an effort to convince the wife that an '81 911T was a good investment. She just rolled her eyes and laughed, which was not a good sign. This one had no drive train , which was a no go for her. She is wise to the world of cars and knew what I was getting into with a turbo P-car. 
 

My salesmanship floundered once again on a '49 Chevy pickup. My dad always wanted one, but that's apparently not a good enough reason to buy one. (To be fair, she's definitely right). BUT! This one ran and drove, just needed literally everything else.  
 

Then there was the '57 Chevy 210. Her dream car is a Bel Aire, so I thought I had a chance here. But alas, there is no classic Chevy in our garage. 
 

Weeks of me attempting to rationalize purchasing a project have yielded nothing. Until today. 
 

I don't have legal possession of it yet. But this is GRM, so close enough. Through creative accounting and good fortune, I secured a 2008 Fit from a customer today for the lump sum of $497. 
 

It doesn't run, but that's neither here nor there. I have a project car again! Not remotely close to what I sought out to purchase, but the price was too good to refuse. 
 

Lost my mom in November. My condolences, it's rough.   

The Fit doesn't run because the threads for the spark plug on #2 decided to exit stage left. I have a helicoil set, so I'll try that first. If it doesn't work, I will "borrow" a complete head for the L15 from one of my techs. 
 

Either way, I expect to have this car on the road and operating as a commuter for well under $1,000 all in. 
 

But, where do we go from there? Just commuter? Strip and cage and track it? Somewhere in between with some suspension and brake mods and make it my autoX and track beater while still commuting?  

Sundae Cup!

akylekoz said:

Sundae Cup!

Got there before me.

I'd look at the rules and see if they fit you

Always start by assessing the rules. 
 

They are pretty fun to autocross. They are classed in H Street, which is dominated by 180-200 horsepower turbo cars on the national level, but my experience running with multiple local clubs is that most of the owners of those cars can't resist modifying them into other classes. 

Wheels and sticky tires and a bit of low. Then drive it like the whole world is your slalom course.

Check the front axles. They tend to corrode around the damper weights. There was a recall on it but you never know if it was performed. 

Love it!  My driving buddy and I were just taking about building something like a Fit for a mountain car, gutted, buckets, meaty tires and all the aero!

Look forward to seeing where you take this.

dculberson said:

Check the front axles. They tend to corrode around the damper weights. There was a recall on it but you never know if it was performed. 

That recall didn't apply to this VIN, but it will definitely get a good once over soon. 
 

First order of business is to try to salvage this head and get it running. 
Second order of business is to start modifying suspension and brakes! 
Third will be to actually change the oil and check fluids. Priorities and pricing being what they are, mods over maintenance!

Helicoil worked and the little Fit fired up right away and runs perfectly! I will get the title transferred and registration done tomorrow and she will begin her role as my beater commuter once I detail the car. She is absolutely filthy, but should clean up well. 
 

I have secured a short shifter and am on the lookout for lowering springs, possibly some Konis, and a rear sway bar. Light wheels and sticky rubber will come when the weather gets warm enough. I figure the stock wheels will roll on cold weather tires for the next year or two. 
 

The endurance racing team that I am a part time member of has the Zonda (75 280Z with a J32), and an '87 VW Corrado. Reading through the Lucky Dog rule book for 2025, I see a note that they may push the entry year of cars to 2008 for next season, which means this little Fit has potential to be eligible for race duty next season.
 

If that is the case, she will be gutted, caged, and power adders will be added. I love the potential of having three uniquely spec'd endurance cars at our disposal! 
 

But in the mean time, I look forward to ripping this little go kart back and forth. My commute features a long section of winding roads and hills, very few straight sections, and even fewer flat sections. Then it's 36 miles of freeway. 
 

This screen shot of the route from my house to the gas station located next to the freeway does not do justice to the amount of elevation changes that exist.  

NOHOME said:

Wheels and sticky tires and a bit of low. Then drive it like the whole world is your slalom course.

This is exactly what I set out to do. Installed lowering springs and wheel spacers. the tires on the stock wheels were 50% tread, so I just left them on and started scrubbing them away on every corner. 
 

I want to hate this car. It's ugly and slow and the radio is junk and the AC sucks and the seating position is all wrong for a guy my size. It's honestly just an awful little car. 
 

but holy crap is it fun! Brakes are for the faint of heart, this thing just STICKS! it's the vehicular equivalent of a point and shoot camera. Just aim it where you want to go and Voila! Just don't have expectations of getting there quickly. 
 

A little birdy told me that this little car is nicely predictable and controllable at the limit too. 

birdmayne said:

Just aim it where you want to go and Voila! Just don't have expectations of getting there quickly. 

As a Honda Fit owner, I 100% agree.

It makes a lot of noise when you push the gas pedal, but not much forward velocity.

Love it to death, though, even if it turns into a greenhouse this time of year in Florida.

It's certainly a fun chuckable little car. I enjoyed my 2013 from new to 65,000 miles when I sold it to buy a house.

In reply to clutchsmoke :

I miss my 2012.

Not that there's anything wrong with the 2015 I have now, the 2012 just got totaled in an accident, so I didn't really get to say goodbye on my terms.

I'm a little behind on the timeline of this project, so I'll buzz through the recap:

All maintenance interval items were done (fluids, filters, valve adjustment, plugs) and honestly, it cleans up halfway decent. 
pre lowering springs:

Lower:

and then, because leaving a good thing alone isn't my style, the next iteration of this project hard launched.
Remember my original post about long term race car plans and aspirations for this turd? 
Ya, that didn't happen. Instead I decided it was time for a turbo build. With AWD. And solid aftermarket support. 

I'm into this build!

I fell over backwards into a large collection of parts that a friend of mine had. I call it a collection of parts because it barely performs the duties of a vehicle at this time:

I traded the Fit straight across with the intent of trading back if this doesn't work out well.  

This OBXT is loaded with go fast parts and as a result, barely runs. From what I can tell, it's currently running the stock ROM, which makes it sticking time bomb without a proper tune. I can't find my Tactrix cable and they are no longer available, but I have RomRaider and EcuFlash loaded and ready to go once I replace the cable. I'm leaning towards a VagCom cable off Amazon and make the necessary adjustments to make that work. 
 

Semi comprehensive list of performance mods found at this time:

18G kinugawa turbo with external wastegate, PW style TMIC, Cobb SF intake (needs to be binned), Cobb 3port EBCS, Perrin BPV, silicone turbo inlet, catless 3" downpipe, catless up pipe, 1050x injectors (I'm like 65% confident here), TGV deletes, AEM wideband (currently not sensing), eBay clutch. 

 

I'm sure there's more, I haven't done anything to the car yet. From what I'm told, the short block has 1500 miles on it, which I believe based on cleanliness. 
 

currently equipped with winter slicks

More to come once I get my tuning cable sorted.

clutchsmoke said:

I'm into this build!

Well, allow me to disappoint!

Not to bad of a trade there. Little better for the winter weather on that side of the mountains. I'm going to say going back to close as stock on the motor to get it running right. Then add the go fast goodies. I have a 98 A4 with the same problem. A whole lot of go fast parts that don't communicate well together. It's waiting to be resurrected in the future couple years.