Yes, after years of waiting, reading, thinking and spending money it's finally here !
Yesterday Roy and I picked up the Lt-1 crate that also contained a 2nd T56 for Jeff (my96z).
The engine looked pretty darn good from what we could see and eventhough you can't tell from the outside i have no reason to believe that this badboy has more than the guaranteed 39k miles !
It was a complete package containing engine, t56, pcm, wiring, fuel lines, fuelpump + sender, all accs, hoses, lines, engine mounts, transmission crossmember, etc. and some extra parts that were hard to ship through the APO like a battery, loudmouth exhaust, etc.
All was just fine BUT to my displease i found out that the K member and the radiator+fan combo was NOT present !!!!
I REPEATEDLY asked for these items specificly when i ordered it as i knew EXACTLY what i would be needing for the swap so i'll have to call'em up today and holler about this
Still i'm pretty happy as i do have the major part but due to the missing parts it wasn't all perfect.
Oh well, i headed back home and crossed the border (Holland) and while stopping for a drink the Military Police asked me for ID since they patrol the borders.
After showing him my Army ID he thanked me and wished me a pleasant drive back ! No sweat !!
Well, the fun only lasted 20 more Kilometers as i was spotted speeding trying to overtake a bus.
The Highway patrol pulled me over and told me about the speeding.
The other officer checked the trailer and cargo and they said i needed a special license to haul a dual axle trailer weighing more than 750Kg in total.
I knew that but i played stupid.
They also claimed the emergency brake cable wasn't attached correctly plus the trailer needed a special registration, which i didn't have since it's not mine !( rental).
Well, they wanted a proper examination at the station so i had to follow them.
They put the trailer on a truck road scale and it weighed 780 kg so i was violating the drivers license law.
Inside they quoted me 5 seperate charges worth over 500 euro's !
They then checked my ID and i also showed them my military ID and after 5 minutes the charges were dropped to just speeding !!!!!
I got 4 warnings and a 80 euro fine for breaking the speed limit by 16 km/h (doing 96), now that's what i call getting a break !
They did insist however that i stay and somebody had to pick me up who DID have the proper license so at 22:00 my dad picked me up after driving 125 miles and i drove back his Ford.
At 22:00 we finally left and you could imagine we burned some of that midnight oil as we had to cruise 125 miles west and unload that trailer.
So far i can say that it was a long but good day as it could have been a lot worse.
Many kudos go out to Roy who has once more given me the helping hand, thanks man
Sergio