Post crash: Some good news

[Paul Workman]

I pulled the plenum to inspect it for grass an such, and found it to be essentially clean except for a couple flecks of grass...and a crack in the plenum gasket (that I've re-used "a few" times).

The impact had pulled the ECM loose from that little rail they sit on, and I worried too about possible damage to that pricey little gem.

New gaskets from Jerry, and rolling the key to the "ON" position and all the initial check lights and the shift light winked their familiar "hello", fuel pump ran for a couple seconds and stopped as usual. Seems ok. It even put a nervous smile on my face. But, now the big question...

I rolled the switch over to "START", she cranked for a heart-stopping 4 seconds - seemed like a long time - and then a short, loud high-pitched shriek - sounded like metal being torn - before she came to life and purred like nothing ever happened. It's hard to describe the feeling of relief I got. But, what the hell was that noise???

I had masked the front of the air horn off against dirt or whatever getting in there, and I had forgotten to remove it before I hit the starter. The shriek was only the air making that noise as with the tape tearing under stress of the BEAST trying to draw her first breath since the mishap.

I could only let her run for a few seconds - as most of the coolant had gotten away from somewhere under the front right corner. But, considering how sick it makes me to see her this way...that sound of the LT5 roaring to life and settling down to a smooth idle was a real rush of something I've needed ever since "it happened". She WILL get past this!!

P.