Lockjaw, meet Ike

Just a quick post now that my workplace has opened. (No power at my home, no Internet at Andy's.)
Hurricane Ike did a lot of damage to the area, but mainly to trees & power lines in our neighborhoods. The Tetanus Neon is undamaged, but a box chimney fell on Gutros' car. Official lamentation has been postponed until insurance decisions are made.

MSR Houston also suffered only minimal damage from Ike, so the work will continue for the race weekend. More updates later as more of the team gets power back.

Impatience is the Aunt of Invention

We've all heard that Necessity is the mother of Invention, but I'd say Impatience qualifies as an aunt at the very least. These photos are from my cell-phone, which is why they're so grainy (and some are very old to boot), but I felt the peculiar tactics used one day needed to be documented.

You see, Neons don't seem to have a tow hook in the back, so we'll have to add one to Lockjaw. When we needed to pull the car out of the junkyard (the second time), of course we weren't in a mood to hang around waiting while someone carefully installed a tow hook from scratch, so Impatience dropped in and pretty soon Invention came calling too. So for your own tow-hook related emergencies, we will share our wisdom in three words: rear seat belts. Only useful provided you won't be using the vehicle as a full passenger vehicle again, obviously.

As long as I'm posting grainy pics, here's a shot from Saturday evening. The Neon's look changes from "Hi!" to "WHAT?!!" without those friendly headlights, doesn't it? We actually had a very productive Saturday, there wasn't even any beer until the work was done.

• Duy and I pulled the fenders so I could hammer out the dents a little bit.
• We also later removed more of the remaining dashboard.
• Duy and Andy installed a battery relocation box so the battery wouldn't just be rattling around underhood.
• Andy also bypassed the heater core and gave the cooling system several flushes with his garden hose trying to get a decade of ick out of there.

Progress Pics

Now that the interior has been removed / obliterated and it's running well, we're delving into more of the details, such as battery relocation, hose changes, and various prep work. I don't think any of us have ever power-washed the interior of a car (well, maybe those who have owned a Jeep), so we've added something to our list of Unusual Things I've Done To/With A Car! Coming soon - roll cage and race seat.

Before the Deconstruction...

And after... Duy here still insists that we need a stereo, but we had to explain to him that stereos add weight, and we won't be able to hear it anyway.

LockJaw really wants to be a drag car, so we humored him a little bit. As you can see, the layer of iron oxide is coming along nicely on the roof.