F-Body Europe

Well sports fans, the day has finally come. And it was glorious. Dave's little nightmare has come to an end. I picked up my car from Baltimore two days ago on wednesday. It was actually a little weird driving it for the first time after 2.5 years. But the way it drives now puts all the wait and frustration in the back of my mind. Here it is straight up:
MY CAR IS FAST!!!!!!!
How fast you say. I really can't say yet. Need to break her in more. Less than 250 miles on the engine so far so she needs to be broken in good before I take it to a track or dyno. There are three tracks within 45 minutes from Dover. Mofo is loud as hell too. Even running full cats and the same muffler as before. Well just lettin you oldtimers know.

When you got the car new, did you follow the break in schedule??????


I didnt, (of course, i've swapped engines X2)

glad your reunited, enjoy it and go let stuff ripppppp.

Dave, I'm truly glad to hear that you're finally able to drive your car man. Half of it was your fault, but the other half wasn't, and that still pisses me off to no end every time I think about it. You were done so wrong man, and I wish that you could've enjoyed it over here a lot more than what you were able to!

I hope you get some good numbers, and when you do, make sure you post 'em here!

Congrates that was a long time. Let us know the # but check the tracks I bet you will need a cage.

Congrats Dave!
Glad to hear it finally came to a good end - or better:
a new beginning.

Glad to hear!!! Just wished you could have run it more while you were still here! But at least it's running now! Have fun with it at the track, and make sure you post some numbers

congrats congrats congrats!!!!!!!!!! So whats the deal man how does she run? I saw a pic of the motor that john sent me with the blower on and damn it looked good. When you open her up after 500miles you'll have to let us know how she runs. once again man congrats.

Thank you everyone. It runs very well. It's loud as hell too. Had to turn it off at the taco bell drive through. The guy that did the work is very good at what he does and I would recomend him to anyone needing work done to there american car. That's all he will work on. It also doesn't matter how big the project is, he can get it done. It took 87 shop hours to get my car running. This whole ordeal was deffinitely a learning experience for me. The car went through the whole shipping process undamaged also. That's one for the books.

Yeah Bruce, you are probably right. My goal is to be kicked off the track because I don't have a roll bar or cage.

that way you would ow what you gotta do to meat all the rules

Dave that's good to hear. Man it just really sucks that you weren't able to enjoy it over here before leaving. Seems like that's always the case. Might've been a blessing in disguise since you've got all that new found power you are limited to speeds on the highway. Getting your car back was long over due and I'm happy to know that you are satisfied w/ the end product. Enjoy! IF I get back to the east coast more like when.....and you are still around we'll have to hook up sometime.

I'm glad you are happy with Dirk's build. I have been told that he is the man for American cars over here in Europe. I have met him a couple of times at a couple of get togethers but never asked him how does he do it. A friend told me that he stays up to date on all the American car company upgrades and visits the states all the time. Hope that you enjoy it when she is broken in and STAY OUT OF TROUBLE! It is going to be hard to do with that car.

Where is this guy located? I wish I would have known about him about 10 months ago!

His name is Dirk Groff and he has a website. http://www.groeff-engineering.de

He is located in a town called Zell. It is on the mozel river about 45 minutes from spangdahlem.

Finally got the car cleaned today ... sure can't beat a couple layers of Zaino Afterwards, reduced the tire pressure from the winter and took her for a short spin ... the 'maro might not be a match for the MR2 with its suspension, and the weight-HP ratio is slightly better for the Toyota, but it sure isn't a match for the torque ... must have spun the wheels in corners and at the lights half a dozen times No reckless driving ticket, though ...
On the way home I ran over a wrench ... couldn't find where it hit, luckily ... that sucks ...
Can't wait to drive it down to Bitburg in three weeks ... (well, actually, 18 days )

I thought that the name was familiar, he bought my Sonoma when I got here many moons ago. He used to have a shop (Classics Speed & Customs) in Sankt, Aldegund. Is this still the same?

Cool website! I bet he's expensive though!

Sometimes, paying more results in less followup costs ... I recon I don't have to tell you, Jack, do I?

No but sometimes you pay more, and then pay more for something else that you never even thought you should have been worrying about, and then as soon as you pay for that, you find out that you have to fix something else that you didn't think you had to worry about!