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This is the first attempt at placing my photos and text so bear with me , it will get better.

This is the starting point for the build. A 97 intrepid with the 3.5 24 valve motor.
Apparently it makes from 215 hp to 240 depending on which version you get.
This is the part we came for and it runs well. 700$ well spent and he lent us his trailer to haul it home.

This picture of me should explain any reason for me to build a regular seven.


I suspect over half the car was recycled this way

Even the battery was in good shape.

Getting the car down to the level it needs to be at to remove the drivetrain.

Lots of wiring to deal with. We want to keep the stock fi and the tranny controller.

Car is just about down to the level where the rest of it is easy to work around.

We will be using the stock fuel pump mounted in a jazz fuel cell.

I have some tools that make life a little easier for me than most. Before anyone gets bent out of shape we dont work under the suspended loads, these are set up pics.

Anyone that has worked on a lot of cars would love to have one of these to lend a hand

My nephew and main helper ( the egonephew ) showin off the luxurious reclining feature of the intrepid.

Even though the egoman doesnt drink himself he realizes the help will show up more frequently if they are properly lubricated.

The engine appears to be lost. Where did it go?

There it is , thought the wife might have thrown it out.

Dont you want to see if the crane could flatten the car with the engine?I know that I did but the urge was resisted,barely.

The egonephew working the levers like he had been doing this his whole life. Of course I dont have any shots of him hitting the garage and knocking the eavestrough off. The real funny part of that is when he swung back he knocked it right back in the brackets. Says that he meant to do that. The panicked look on his face told me different.

The drivetrain at its new home. It wont see the out side of the shop for many moons.

You're off to a good start.

Looks like an excellent death to a terrible car. I can't wait to see it re-incarnated.

To put this into context this is actually the winter of 08.

Now you are going to see a lot of undocumented progress here. This was originally going to be a dune buggy with a polaris 650 cc engine . But because it is a sturdy frame we decided that it deserved a second chance. This frame was built back in 2003 and sat while I was away at work for several years. It is also a single seater because racecars dont carry passengers(world rally excepted).

Just setting the engine into place

Here the decision is being made as to how close we can get everything to the cage.

Here is anice shot of the engine mounts. I decided to use the stock rubber stuff because I dont know how strong these engine are if bolted solid.

At this point you can see the engine and trans are solidly bolted in. In the other pics you will also see where bars were cut out to make room for an engine combo thats alot larger than the snowmobile drivetrain.

This may seem funny but about a year went by and I had lost interest in this project entirely. Through my sisters boyfriend I ended up with this beauty for
500$. This car had everything including all the manuals and it had been well stored for at least the last 10 years. Unfortunately for the previous owner that storage was not paid for.
Any ways the reason I regained interest in my project is because I ended up with the new project. Turn out the lotus people never envisioned a giant like me in on of their cars

Ok in this shot you can see the rear lowers are in place.

I am using as much of the stock stuff as possible until the car is a runner,then the decision will be made as to what has to go or be upgraded.

This is a better shot of the rears

The other side.

Sitting on the trans are the strut plates out of the donor. I havent decided to use them or not.

I have several of these aluminum plastic rads in various sizes,which one am I going to use and where am I mounting it.

In the other forum I asked about using the struts in the rear and the reason for the question is If I stand the struts straight up the stiffener bar that I would have to install would block my intakes. Dont worry there is more to come as I am taking the winter off to enjoy the fruits of my hard work over the last ten years.

I had no idea the Intrepid was longitudinal - that's really interesting.

Ok time for a recap of the last few weeks here.
Bought the lotus and it doesnt fit.
Found the wonderful world of kijiji and sold the lotus.$$$$$$$$
BYE BYE lotus!

Took the profit from the lotus and purchased something that I can fit on.
[

Wait there was still something that I needed, oh yea I remember!!

By the way the jack on the trailer works just fine, except when you put 1200 lbs of tubing against the crank.
The round tubing is 1.66-.100 wall. The other tubing is 2x1 2x2 and 2x3 all .100 wall thickness.

Yes the intrepid is longitudal and that was my main reason for choosing this combo. Of course its only available with the auto. Near as I can recall the tercels from a few years back were available with the proper north south layout and manuals were available.As an autocrosser and track car the auto doesnt bother me at all. The wiring will be the hardest part with the electronically controlled trans and the fuel injection.

Any chance of cobbling together some sort of paddle shifters for it?

Looks like it is going to be an interesting build. I'm suprised you didn't use the subframe too. When setting up the strut mount, make sure the tripods don't bottom out in the inner cups.

Actuall laminar there is a company that makes a computer monitoring system for this transaxle to let it be used with other engines. I would imagine that the possibility of paddle shifters is there. Mind you my plan is to reduce the car to its simplest form, not make it more complicated.
As for using the subframe there is no way that I am going to carry that extra weight. This car is for racing and eventually all extra weight that can be removed without spending ridiculous amounts will be gone. Of course Im not going to lose too much weight.