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2K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Homeytwist 
#1 ·
Hello guys. I am finally back at home in VA. I made it back this Tuesday. It was a long, but exciting road trip, met lots of people and had fun for the most part. Had a lot of close calls, and even some actual "calls". While still in New Mexico, at night, was driving 85MPH and right over the crest of a hill were 3 coyotes standing in the middle of the road. If I'd had nailed them, the whole front end of my baby would be gone. I swerved around them, thankfully I missed them, but I had the car going in a left-right, left-right sliding swerve about 4, 5 times doing 85MPH, was scary cuz it was on the verge of rolling.

Not more than an hour later when just entering Texas, a pole cat jumped in front of my car and there was no going around it, he just straight ran in front, again doing 85MPH, so I had no choice but to steamroll his ass. He scraped up the bottom right corner of my bumper and put a crack in the brushguard, and his guts were spread all over the bottom floorpans of my car.....but it's all clean now.

Civilian cops never mess with my 93, it's always been like that. A couple of times on the trip, I did some things that asked to get pulled over. In VA I passed a state trooper doing 85 in a 55MPH zone. Here in VA, they're extremely strict, and what did the cop do? Waved at me as I passed!!! I got messed with again on base in NM right as I was leaving...thats another story. But in the civilian world, my car is invisible.

The Tempo handled the road trip like a champ. Did excellent on gas....getting a high of 318 miles with 8 gallons....thats about 40MPG!! The low being 33 MPG, through city driving. The clutch is doing ok still, though you can feel it is very tired. Driving cross country is a pounding for a vehicle, bugs, rocks, tar, animals, road imperfections, it all pounds a car, but the Tempo took it well, only a few minor front end scratches that I will buff out. Road tar and all the bugs were washed off.

Once I got back, old friends would drive down and saw the green Tempo.....they'd stop by to say hi and all, and they'd ask me if that was my Topaz. They thought I repaired the XR5 but I told them that it's my new car. Everyone likes it. I told them about the 93's future and they can't wait to see it when it's finished.

I'll write more later.
 
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#2 ·
Glad to see that you made it out there all in one piece. Enjoy the visit with your family and friends back in VA.
 
#3 ·
Thanks

Thanks B :D I'm going to try my best to have a good time. I'm sure things will be great. I should have lots of good news coming through while I'm down here. Besides vacationing, I'm doing a lot of things for the Tempo and TTHP while I'm here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about a lot of things, I hope to have some real good news for you guys.

On a different note, the 93 finally got pulled over tonight. It was dead obvious, I was down at the strip, which is cop central. You'd be better off speeding past the police station than doing anything illegal at the strip. Well it took the cops a good 4 hours to notice that my window tint was way illegal. It was funny, one cop was talking to another across the street and he happened to glance at my car, then looked closer, noticed my windows were black and mentioned it to another cop. Dealing with the punks they typically do, they came over real aggressively, but I was cool about it, laughing most of the time and they chilled out. My friend was riding and couldn't believe how they let me off considering that beach cops NEVER let anyone off. They ended up laughing about the whole situation too. They used a laser with a reflector to measure light going through, it's at 2% tint. Apparently I cannot legally drive my car here in VA because of the tint, but screw that!!!! I didn't drive my car across the country to park it!! On the way back home, everytime we'd see a cop the windows would come down, when we passed him, they'd go back up hehehe.
 
#4 ·
Roll em down

After I finally got my car registered here in Cali, I've been the same way around the cops here. It's illegal in California to have the front windows tinted, unless it is from the factory. The rears can be tinted as dark as you want, which to me looks ridiculous. There have been a few times where weather have prevented me to roll down the windows next to a cop.. and they are either oblivious to it or they just don't care. I'm not really gonna worry too much about it until I get pulled over... I will more than likely just get a fix-it ticket and at that point I will take my car to a shop and have them remove the tinting from all the windows. I think it would look ridiculous with just the front windows with no tint and the rest alll tinted.

Are you going to be installing any of your 'saved' parts on the Tempo while you are home? Or are you just gonna haul them back and install them when you get back to NM? Once you get back we need to start planning the southwest meet... maybe meet 1/2 way in Phoenix or something. That would be pretty awesome cuz I need some green chile!!!
 
#5 ·
Of course

hehehe. Hell yea! That green chile is pretty good!! Definetely gotta plan a southwest meet. I would love to have it once the V6 is in, but if not thats cool. I should get the V6 running by October or November hopefully. Even though I'm on vacation now I'm still doing work concerning it's buildup.

About the saved parts, yea, a lot are going on the 93. Of course the spoiler will go on, but not right away, I will put it on when I get the car painted black and when I get a body kit. The Topaz's wheels were stored and they still look good, just dust, but the tires look good still too (two of the tires are a little worn hehehe), but they're going on. I'd like to take the polished ones back with me, they look great and the tires are new, but I'll probably have to leave them here. Plans for my 1987 GLS have changed seeing its present condition and the polished wheels will be saved for the GLS. All of the parts that I swap over to the 93 will be restored completely before I put them on.

About my GLS, I was really dissapointed when I saw it. It's mine, but I let my parents use it when they need it, but they don't really use it much. they put on just 1000 miles in about a year, so thats not bad at all, but it's become a total beater. I'm sad to see that it's completely falling apart. The engine and brakes are fine, but the rest isn't. Mounts are busted, squeeks and rattles everywhere, clutch is fried (again......), the shifter that was tight, is now wobbly and floppy, the headliner is seriously jacked, the interior is messed up, the white paint is peeling in many spots, more rust in other spots, power steering is gone, belts are gone, the overall car looks and feels worn.....The GLS was my first car and we've had it brand new since 87, and it's got low mileage, just a tad more than my 93, it's too bad it's in such bad shape, I"ll be fully restoring it in the future.
 
#6 ·
parts from XR5

I meant to ask.. what all are you gonna put on the Tempo when it is all said and done? I know of the Addco bars, the Topaz lightbar grille and the rim (the split 5-spoke or the GLS???). What about any interior pieces? The power lumbar seats? Leather steering wheel and shifter (boot?)?

Just wondering what to expect next month =)
 
#7 ·
Tint in Illinois

It is illegal to have the front windows tinted in Illinois unless the car was previously registered or is registered in a state where it is legal, like Florida. They'll give you a warning and check the car's history, and if it hasn't been registered in any of those states, they'll send you a ticket. They don't care about the rear windows, though.
 
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