She Sucks Me In

Ooh, she's a crafty one. So, my dear, sweet Emily is in dire need of new struts. And, since I am replacing the struts, might as well go ahead and replace the shocks, too (they, also, need replacing; just not as badly). "What," you may ask, "would cause dampers to go bad after about 20,000 miles of use?" Well, when I purchased my big suspension package, I assumed a nice set of KYB's would provide enough dampening power. Apparently, I was wrong. The springs overworked them and now their dampening ability makes one feel as if they are cruising around in a Wrangler.

So, off I go hunting for new dampers. And, I find that not very many after-market manufacturers create suspension components for second generation J-bodies (who would have thought?). Lack of options and market saturation is not something you want to find when looking for car parts. Koni makes inserts, but I do not like the notion of sticking Koni internals into an AC Delco housing. So, I am down to one vendor -- Mantapart. They have three offerings -- sporty dampers ($350 for the set), Bilstein sporty dampers ($650), and competition level Bilstein's ($700).

So, I emailed the fellow I knew who works at Mantapart and autocrosses asking him if the $350 dampers would be enough. Short answer -- no. Long answer -- no. They would be fine for normal street use and hard driving in street conditions. However, they would perform woefully inadequate in an autocross situation and would not make it through 4 driving seasons and 2 autocross seasons. Bleh!

So, now I am staring down a hole of $650 worth of suspension upgrades (not including bushings). Dropping $650 into Emily was not something I was prepared to do. In the foreseeable future, I will be purchasing some other car that will end up being used as my primary autocross car. But, sinking this much money into Emily, primarily for autocross reasons, -- well, it seems pointless to not continue to use her in an autocross fashion. But, the fact of the matter is, my choices are limited. Buying any other dampers, and they will wear out just as quickly as the KYB's.

QED: I have no choice but to drop $650.

So, having dropped $650 in suspension components on top of the other suspension components I have purchased for her, I might as well get a crated engine from GM.

See...? See...? She has me in her clutches! She's playing me. She has turned me into her Sugar-Daddy.

Ah well, I still like her and will continue to drive the snot out of her. I'll get a junkyard 3.1, have some people rebuild it; and in the winter, buy a $500 junker so she can be put up all season to have the new engine put in. (I am just assuming that her current 60° V6 will not last another year.) What the Hell, I have been trying to get Scott to get a pick-em-up truck (so we can tow cars around with our mountain bikes in the back); this would be the perfect way for me to spend $500. Rusty, clunky 1983 Ford F-150, here I come!