Al's waterfest story/Rieger restoration once again incomplete [long]

["Allyn" <amalventano1@home.com>]

Whew,
    OK, im finally rested enough to slow down and write my waterfest story email to the list, so
here goes:
    My prep time for waterfest seemed to be going pretty well. I had changed engine mounts at Erics
place up in 'assville', NC, and things were looking good... so i thought. A week before the 'fest i
had a wheel bearing sound that would not let me diagnose it for crap. The sound never changed, wasnt
bad enough to tell where it was from. I tried like hell to identify the bad bearing, even almost got
the rieger up on 2 wheels turning so hard in a parking lot, still no luck.
    Sometime around wednesday i change rear bearings. Go figure, no effect. That means its a front
bearing (just what i needed). That coupled with the fact that one of my inner cvs is giving me a
hell of a shutter on the highway cant be good.     So after some self-debate, and realizing that i
have NO money to even do the cv/bearing swap, i decide to rough it to 'fest on my damaged
drivetrain.
    Friday comes around, i get out of work asap, and im on the road at 11 am. I didnt have the time
to do the stereo install, so i have only a noisy bearing and the rattles imposed by the bad cv to
keep me company. Damn that song gets old fast!
    The pace of the drive gets a bit better about 50 miles south of baltimore, where i get passed by
none other than a MCLAREN F1! (yes, im sure thats what it was). He was obviously not getting on it,
since he let me tag along with him around 4-lane I-95 traffic for about 20 minutes. The F1 takes an
exit and im left alone on 95. I find a suitable pack of cars moving at a decent speed to keep up
with. 5 miles from the baltimore draw bridge 95 thingy (yes, draw bridge, right on 95), our
pack-o-cars comes up over a crest, and oh, lookie, all the cars are parked. The whole pack commences
instant sliding. The truck in front of me delayed my view of the wall-o-traffic, and therefore
delayed my braking by a fraction of a second. The same happened with the car behind me, he evaded my
rear bumper, but not without scuffing the median/barrier (we were in the left lane). I got about a
foot to the left during hard braking and realized the Rieger wouldnt fit between that truck and the
barrier, so full attantion turned to getting the car stopped vs. turning away. At about the 10 mph
point, i kissed the rear bumper of the chevy truck ahead of me. I was stopping at a faster rate than
the truck, so he pulled away after only 1-2 inches of penetration.
    Battle damage was limited to the hood, grille, pass lights (shattered), driver lights (broken
mounts), and some bending to the upper rad. support. NO damage to the spoiler/bumper/fenders (thank
god). I wont be ordering any parts from Rieger for this repair.
    OK, after dealing with much distress, i decide i will have fun regardless of damage. I make it
to the dragway, and drive around looking for a ramada from there (it should be close, shouldnt
it???). Well, after 3 hours of roaming around, i end up parking the Rieger on some guys farm and
sleeping. The next morning some calls to Cheapass Ron are made and i figure out where the ramada is.
I make it there and several people slowly filter out and have pitty on me. Eventually the scirocco
guys all filter out, and i feel once again at home.
    I decided not to enter the rally (bearing+cv bad, dont wanna stress em when im 750 miles from
home). I acted as navigator to one of the other guys (i suck with names, but he had a black jetta).
We were one of the few that actually finished the rally, which was cool. After the rally came
burnouts, followed by the entire police department. Regardless, fun was had by all. The most fun was
watching Josh Able argue with them.
    The next day was the 'fest. We got an early start, and despite how early we got there, the place
was crammed full of vw's (redefine heaven). The whole day was fun as hell, im definitely doing it
next year (without the accident option, of course).
    After the show i took Brian McGarvey home (east side of manhattan). God the Rieger is extremely
out of place there. That night we got cleaned up, I met Brians lovely wife, Deborah (i think), and I
had some genuine NY sicilian pizza. The next morning was followed up with the best bagel i've ever
eaten and a fresh cannoli. Damn, my mouth is watering again.
    After an hour delay getting across manhattan, i cut across NJ and swung by Scirocco parts Petes
place in Deleware, where i saw him putting on some mk1 euro bumpers. Considering he got em for like
$30 at the show, he was damn happy. I picked up a non-bent mk2 hood from him, threw it in the hatch
(yes, IN THE HATCH), closed the hatch, and went on my way home. After another 1 hr delay in DC I
made it home at about 12:30 (am).
    The last hour of the trip showed signs of imminent bearing failure. Squeaks gave away definite
metal on metal contact. Tuesday i took of the bent hood and the non-damaged spoiler/bumper cover so
i could more easily see the damage.
    Photos of everything will be up shortly. The big versions are up already, smaller ones to come
shortly:
ftp://etka:etka@big-al.dyn.dhs.org:69/waterfest/
I warn you, they are big.
al

Allyn Malventano, ET1(SS), USN
87 Rieger GTO Scirocco 16v (daily driver, 160k, rocco #6)
87 Jetta 8v Wolfsburg 2dr (daily driver, 260k, 0 rattles :)



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