+# Stalker MX-5
+
+After watching Robert race autocross in his Porsche 924S in the summer of
+2015, Karen started talking about maybe trying it herself. In our usual
+style, this turned into a family-sized project.
+
+If you want to race, the first thing to do is buy a race car, right? After
+considering lots of options, the idea of getting Karen something in the
+[Lotus Seven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Seven) genre seemed like
+it would be a lot of fun.
+
+After a lot of reading and research, we decided to try building one of the
+kit cars from [Brunton Auto](http://stalkercars.com). Specifically, we got
+excited about the Stalker MX-5, which is a kit based upon the idea of using
+a Mazda MX-5 Miata as a "donor car" to provide the drivetrain and many other
+mechanical parts. That plus a kit plus a bunch of time, and we could have
+a modern build of something very much like a Lotus Seven... and we'd have
+huge fun building it, too!
+
+
+# The Donor Car #
+
+A funny thing happened along the way to having a donor car. Bdale found a
+pristine 1999 Miata for sale locally through Craigslist for what seemed like
+a very fair price, and bought it to take apart. When he got it home, Karen
+asked if she could go take it for a spin... and when she came back from
+driving it, told Bdale in no uncertain terms that he could *not* take it apart
+to use for the kit car build, because it fit her perfectly and she wanted to
+keep it! If we hadn't already put 50% down on the Stalker kit, it's entirely
+possible we'd have just put the Miata in the garage as Karen's fun and
+autocross car and been done before we started... but... well...
+
+Since this was just before our wedding anniversary, Bdale took a
+deep breath, said "Happy Anniversary, love!", and went back to looking for a
+donor car... Fortunately, about 48 hours later a wrecked 1995 showed up in
+a Denver suburb
+on Craigslist, with significant body damage but no damage to any of the parts
+we cared about, and Bdale was able to acquire it for $500 cash plus about $100
+in trailer rental and gas to drive up and retrieve it. Perfect! After taking
+one look at it, Karen agreed that taking this one apart would be just fine.
+
+## Fixing the Idle Problem ##
+
+As received, the donor car ran and drove well enough to get itself on and off
+a car hauler trailer, but would not idle. It seemed prudent to figure out
+the problem and fix it *before* taking the car apart.
+
+It didn't take long to discover that the small air hose that connects a nipple
+low on the throttle body assembly with one in the main air plenum near the
+right front corner of the vehicle was torn, allowing air to flow in downstream
+of the MAF. This made the car run lean, and prevented it from idling. A
+quick wrap with tape on one end and holding it in place on the other end
+allowed the engine to start and idle completely happily. Since a previous
+owner installed an after-market air intake tube set and filter that didn't
+fare well in the crash, and now that we know the engine runs just fine, we
+can defer a decision about whether to just replace the torn hose or spend
+more on a tidier air intake setup when it's time to put the engine in the
+kit car.