Maximum Attack!

Braille Battery Charging

2011-06-15T10:35:00.000-05:00

Getting back into the swing of things, and digging through the shop turned up a Braille battery I need to install.

Of course, since it's sat unused, it's dead. A little digging turned up the following instructions:

 Make sure to disconnect the battery from charging if at any time it becomes hot to the touch. Some warmth is normal, but HOT is NOT. Let battery cool before starting the charging at the next lower charging level.

1. Charge the battery for 30 minutes at 15-20 amp hr rate.  
2. Let battery sit for a few minutes.  
3. Charge battery for 30 minutes at 6 amp hr rate.  
4. Then place battery for 8-12 hrs at 1 -3 amp hr rate.  

The above procedure is exactly what we do when we receive a "warranty" battery. We find that 98% of the returns actually are perfectly good but need a proper charging as described above.

So, we'll see. Not sure yet which is the lucky recipient of this, probably the Alfa.

Certified Zip Tie mechanic...

2009-10-25T22:06:00.002-05:00

Well, after 3 rallycrosses, it became evident that the SRT needed a little more ride-height. The evidence was a bunch of broken plastic bits under the car that also needed cleaning up.

I love having a power washer...

where have I been?

2009-10-25T12:28:00.001-05:00

wow, it's been a long time updating this...

...have to fix that.

tired old girl (who knew?)

2009-05-09T23:29:00.002-05:00

Well, the MR2 is more tired than I thought. She had bent and frozen front endlinks and a completely bound front anti-sway bar. She still has bad steering rack bellows, bad front shock bellows, bad sway bar bushings, bad front control-arm bushings, tired shocks, and many rusted fasteners.

Ugh, she made me bleed today. Fortunately, nothing is beyond throwing money and parts at it :)

Catching up to do

2009-05-03T10:44:00.002-05:00

OK, so a lot's happened since my last update:

1) The shop is almost ready; chris is going to finish one of the walls today while I put together shelving and get things ready. I'll do a shop story soon.

2) Chris and I took the MR2 to the Evolution school in Salina. The car did well, but the beginnings of minor problems began to appear. I also blew out the rear shocks on the Suburban. At the end of the Phase I school, Chris beat me in the MR2 by focusing on driving clean and consistently. I on the other hand, threw away my runs by chasing the clock and hitting too many cones...

3) I replaced the shocks on the Suburban with some nice Bilsteins and a fresh set of Goodyear E-rated truck tires. She's a towing machine! The suburban makes an excellent headquarters to work out of on race day. I was even able to recharge my impact gun batteries using the truck's 12VDC and a small inverter!

4) The following weekend, I took the MR2 to the Evolution Dial-In session in Lincoln. One of the front end-links is buggered, the front anti-sway bar may have some bind, and the thrust angle may be off. Also, the alignment isn't what I thought it was. I did succeed in destroying my arthritic shoulder by doing 60+ runs at the slalom while dialing in my shocks. Driving the MR2 on a 42 degree day on wet pavement on cold slicks was an education in itself. Until the tires warmed up, the car would terrifyingly transition between tedious understeer and frightening oversteer.

5) Yesterday, Chris and I managed to get the SRT-4 back together. We set the ride heights (a truly tedious task), and dropped it off at Olstons for fresh control arm bushings and an alignment. We will have a rallycross car again! And what a car it'll be :)

6) There's something leaking from the MR2 onto my shop floor. Since the whole suspension needs a going over, I'm certain I'll figure out what it is soon enough.

7) Last, but not least, I talked to my cage builder and the cage is in the rally Neon, but it still needs some "putting back together". He says two weeks, but he said that 2 months ago. At least it's progressing...

Moving on up!

2009-03-04T23:16:00.003-06:00

Well, like George Jefferson, I'm moving on up to the top!

Into some real shop space. From my super secret lair, I can begin my assault in earnest: solo -> rallycross -> CHCA -> Pikes Peak!

It's 800 sq. ft., 110/200v AC, heated, and with water and a bathroom. I'll need to come up with some tres flash graphic for the door.

The interior is unfinished, including unfinished privacy walls around the stool. Only the unself-conscious need crap here. It will need a tear down and spartan refit to be useable.

I sign the lease tomorrow.

MR2 Update

2009-02-23T07:47:00.003-06:00

I managed to get the oil and trans fluid changed last Monday. The Redline fluid seems to have helped smooth out the shifting. I also installed my Hella H4 conversion headlamps, and that's a major improvement.

But, alas, it sits alone while I work on the SRT-4.

Driving the MR2

2009-02-11T10:20:00.004-06:00

Well, in the month since I've had the MR2, I've actually managed to run a full tank of gas through it. That's not saying much, but between the weather, a new paint job, and leaky street tires, it's the best I could manage.

So, here's what's transpired during that time...

New paint job from Maaco; $320, and the local guys were really cool. They'll be freshening up the rally car, if Lael ever finishes the cage.

New battery; the old one died in the cold while at the paint shop. Strangely, it was a Group 24 battery, which is not the correct one for a 91 NA Coupe. According to Autozone's parts book, a 91 should take a Group 35 battery, and their cheapo value battery turned the scales 8lbs lighter than the old Group 24 that was in it. :)

New street tires; the "snow" tires that were on it leaked terribly, enough that I wasn't very comfortable driving it to work. It now has a fresh set of BFG Traction T/A. Not the best street tires, but a good compromise.

On the Interstate, it's loud as f**k, turning 4100 rpms at 80 mph. It's short little legs might be good for acceleration, but truly crappy for high-speed cruising. It idles too high, which I'll have to dig into once it warms up. There's a weak synchro and a crunch going into 3rd if I shift hard, and the alignment makes the car squirm at high speeds. Rear toe-out is great for low-speed rotation on an autocross, but requires a fair bit of concentration when you're trying to stay in your lane at 80 while fighting a 40 mph cross wind. Also, the headlights are crappy the same way that all pre-90s car headlights are. The side mirrors won't retain their adjustment, and the door window belt trim is in terrible shape.

In short, I love it :) None of the issues described above are things that cannot be fixed. I have a Hella H4 headlight conversion on order, and a case of Redline tranny fluid in the garage. If that doesn't reduce the crunch, I'll just have the spare tranny put in when 3rd finally implodes. I have new door belt trim pieces, and the mirrors have to come off for that, so maybe I can fix the sloppiness in them.

As for the noise, a new stereo and speakers with an iPod adapter will probably make that less of an issue :)

MR2 is in da house!

2009-01-04T22:52:00.004-06:00

MR2 IS IN DA HOUSE!

Yup, Chris and I had a long, cold, and uneventful tow from New Berlin, WI. A place where you can feel at home in a down vest. I've put a grand total of 30 miles on her, and she's a absolute f***ing blast to drive!

I've also started to put together a to do list, most of which is cosmetic and preventative in nature:

Wash her really well, she's filthy. Remove all of the stickers.
Get her up on stands, and take a really good look at her.
Go through every system, check fuses, log what works and doesn't; test horn, wipers, washers, lights, turn signals, heater and defrosters, etc...
Change fluids; transmission, oil, coolant, brake. It's going to be Shell Rotella T 5w40 in the motor, Redline MTL in the tranny, Water Wetter in the coolant, and ATE brake fluid.
Lube chassis suspension points and inspect chassis; top mounts, ball joints, bushings.
Routine tune up; distributor cap, rotor, wires, plugs, brake pads, brake rotors, fuel filter.
Have the interior detailed. Maybe even have the front seats re-upholstered. They're getting kinda tired...
Fresh respray of original color by a cheap-o body and paint shop.
New window trim pieces to replace unsalvageable ones.
Strategic application of black spray paint to refresh trim pieces.

Here, have a slideshow:

With it, also came:

set stock 14" wheels shod with Hoosier A6s;
set stock 14" wheels shod with Victoracers;
spare transmission (current one has a weak 3rd gear synchro);
NIB Koni sport strut cartridges;
Salvage-yard stock front/rear strut housings;
NIB KYB strut boots;
...and other assorted goodies.

Goodbye Sam

2008-12-25T08:46:00.004-06:00

There's an emptiness in my heart this Christmas, my beloved boy Sam died yesterday of heart failure.

To paraphrase Lord Byron's Epitaph to a Dog, he possessed Beauty without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, and all the Virtues of Man, without his Vices.

I'll miss my loyal and courageous friend.

Godspeed Sam.

Ready to tow!

2008-11-28T19:26:00.006-06:00

Oh God, I'm now one of the gas-guzzling, SUV driving, obnoxious f**kwads who drive BIG ASS trucks. Specifically, a Suburban.

But, I really like the 'burban. It's a kickass ride: leather interior, heated seats, room for 7, and tow package. It also has a gas-guzzling 5.3L V8 and a 9000 lbs. max tow capacity, which is more than enough for my pathetic little race cars.

UPDATE 12/26/08

I've been living with it now for several weeks, and aside from being a gas-guzzling pig, it's quite nice. Fresh Blizzaks and full-time AWD are good on the ice and snow, and the heated leather seats are posh. It creaks a bit when it's below 20 deg., but it's quite reliable, even in bitter cold temperatures. The suspension needs to be lubed, and it should probably get new shocks (Bilsteins) and a full fluid change to heavy duty grade fluids. The Blizzaks work well with the ABS, GM ABS seems to really prefer grippier tires than the Firestone Destination LEs it came with. When the weather is less shitty, it'll get some Load Rating E severe service tires.

SCCA Solo Nationals are coming to Lincoln!

2008-11-27T11:07:00.002-06:00

And I'm getting this to drive in it...

SCCA National RallyCross Championships

2008-11-27T11:04:00.004-06:00

Well, this is long overdue. To keep it brief, the car did well, and at times, so did the driver. I ended up 6th in M2. Many drivers, myself included, had some hard luck. One of us rolled. Otherwise, there has been plenty of controversy about the event, so I won't say anymore.

NO, I did not cause or contribute to any of the controversy...

RXNC: Arrival and Day 1

2008-10-24T21:00:00.004-05:00

Surprisingly, 13 hours in a Sparco race seat isn't too bad. In fact, the Evo 2 is pretty damn comfortable for long drives, even more comfortable than any stock seat I've ever used on a long road trip. It's a damn sight more comfortable than my SRT's seats.

Sadly, the seat was the best part of the drive down here; the weather was the worst. Torrential rains plagued me the whole way, and a windshield wiper failure at 70 mph in heavy traffic during the dead of night did little to make things better. Fixing that on the side of the road, in the dark, while semis sprayed me from less than a yard away, frightened me like few things can.

The day dawned cold and rainy, no change from the night before. I rolled in late, registered and tech'd the car, and was advised that 2WD cars couldn't make it on the practice course, so I unloaded some tires, and traded lies with the other 2WD drivers while the AWD guys got all muddy. There are still several inches of standing water in the trunk of my car.

Tomorrow, we start racing...

Progress

2008-10-19T00:37:00.002-05:00

Today, I succeeded in re-affirming my inability to weld. I did this while fixing the broken exhaust, which is fixed.

I also pulled the seats, fixed the drain plugs that were working their way out, re-installed the Sparco driver seat, cleaned up the interior, vacuumed the "monkey felt" flocking, raised the rear (and the rear roll-center) 3/8", and removed the passenger belts. All that's left is to replace the rear view mirror, wash her, put in fresh oil, and re-sticker her.

I'll have to finish this weekend, the car needs to go into the shop for an alignment and to get the Michelin rally tires mounted on Monday.

Nationals ToDo List (in progress...)

2008-10-06T22:13:00.005-05:00

~~weld patch to trunk floor and re-mount muffler~~
~~grind stupid bolts off SuperTrapp and try to salvage it~~
~~change driver seat to the Sparco, remove passenger seat and belts~~
change oil
~~raise rear 1/2" to raise rear roll center~~
~~re-install center console~~
have T.O. Haas mount new Michelin rally tires and re-align to -1.5 deg front
clean car
re-sticker the car, and shamelessly pimp myself out to GRM

I must be getting faster...

2008-10-05T18:07:00.004-05:00

...'cause I keep breaking more things.

This time, the exhaust failed. A bracket tore through some sheet metal, shame on me for mounting it there.

Chris posted really good times in M2, third overall, losing only to Tony Wells and Christy Carlson in the (in)famous red EVO. 100 hp vs. 300 hp. 2WD vs. AWD. Not too bad, we were the fastest things on two-driven wheels again.

The SRT suspension has arrived!

2008-09-29T23:01:00.003-05:00

The look badass, don't they? Yes, those are external reservoirs.

It was a long wait for them, long enough that I'll be taking the Coupe to Nationals, instead of the SRT. The SRT's first campaign will have to be '09.

Stiff, notchy shifting

2008-09-29T00:58:00.003-05:00

I haven't been satisfied with how the SRT shifts since I bought it; stiff, slow, and very hard to downshift. Double-clutching is of little help. It shifts like a tractor, or a diesel minivan, which is the transmission it shares.

I'm currently working through a laundry list to see if I can improve it:

Mopar Performance short-shifter: actually made it worse, but it's improving over time.
Clutch pedal and crossover cable adjustments: some improvement.

Tonight, with Chris' help, I changed out the old 10w-30 Mobil 1 High Mileage the previous owner had in there. Now it's rocking Amsoil ATF, and seems to shift better, at least in the quick run around the block. It needs some more driving before I can really tell. I also ordered a custom Maddog shifter from Chuck, with a raised knob height and a rod brake.

We'll see...

UPDATE: After driving it to work, the Amsoil ATF seems to be a better choice for tranny fluid. It shifts much better.

Getting ready for Nationals

2008-09-29T00:36:00.003-05:00

Well, I had hoped to drive the SRT-4 at Nationals, but it's not to be. My HotBits suspension *still* hasn't arrived, so it's going to have to be the Coupe.

Which is alright, really. After getting it back from the shop, it drives really well with the new 3.94 tranny, 16:1 power-steering rack, and the new bushings. Tonight, while Chris helped in the garage, I even managed to get the long wheel studs and front spacers installed.

It also gave me a good look at the soft compound Hankooks I ran last month. Sadly, they're wearing pretty quickly. The last RallyCross was hard on them. Fortunately, there's a sweet set of new M4 compound Michelins setting in the garage, ready to go onto my spare set of white Neon "Bubble" wheels.

Oh, yeah. It's looking good.

Xbox racing sims: anything there?

2008-09-24T08:21:00.003-05:00

Well, I've been playing Xbox racing sims the last few days (while home with a cold), and let's just say, it's not very real, at least not to start.

First, the Xbox racing wheel only has about 270 deg. of turn, which makes it .75 turns lock-lock. That's just a bit quicker than the 2.25-2.5 turns lock-lock you expect in a real car. So, driving down a straight at 100+ mph turns into a hair trigger exercise of swaying back-forth across the roadway. In order to tame the wheel's hyper-sensitivity, you have to monkey with the controller options for each game. I've now managed to get the wheel to more/less behave in Dirt and Grid.

Second, the brakes are way too powerful. Even a light application of the brakes can completely overpower the car under throttle. Again, you can fiddle with that too, 80% braking seems to be pretty good; i.e. brakes still work, but you can initiate a slide instead of just stopping the car.

Now, that said, it's very good for looking ahead, picking a line, etc. It certainly demands a lot of attention in order to drive a stage in Dirt, and the co-drivers notes are good, being able to parse notes and push the car hard is good practice.

Oh, and the Pike's Peak stage in Dirt is beautiful :)

Do Racing simulators (Video Games) make you faster?

2008-09-20T16:10:00.005-05:00

We'll just have to see...

After years of pressure from Spence and Andy Brown, I broke down and did it: Xbox 360, Wireless racing wheel and pedals, new 26" HDTV, and a copy of Grid. Brown provided the 'technical support' (Dude, you gotta get a 720P TV, and get the blah, blah, blah...)

I'm certain they'll kick my ass at this; they're gamers, I'm not. But maybe I can get them in the driver's seat of a real car sometime, and show them the difference.

(EDIT---21:14)

I suck at this. This is going to take some getting used to. I'm playing the Forza 2 demo that comes with the racing wheel. It does have a nice silver SRT-4, which I've wrecked many times.

Off to the shop...

2008-09-17T21:08:00.004-05:00

The Coupe is off to the shop tonight. I have more money than time (lucky me), so Olston's is going to be installing the 3.94 transmission with LSD, the 16:1 steering rack, a new clutch, and freshening some bushings for me. With the exception of the rear drum brakes, she'll be an ACR now.

She should be a dream to drive when she's done...

NRSCCA Back to Skool RallyCross 9/7 Results

2008-09-14T14:22:00.003-05:00

Well, the RallyCross was a blast! Chris and I flogged the Coupe hard enough to lightly bend it. Oh well, it's going in for some serious upgrades: faster steering rack, 3.94 transmission with LSD, new front bushings, and maybe a new timing belt and underdrive pulley. The Hankooks proved their worth again, suffering much damage (soft compound is too soft), and withstanding several rocks driven into the bead at speed. I pried one the size of a walnut out, and the tire didn't even lose any pressure.

I was 2nd overall at 548.22, behind Tony Wells' fire breathing EVO IX. Chris was 3rd overall at 563.56, just nipping Tony Koester in Mod2wd for the class win. Tony Wells and I were EVMs, so our times didn't count, which actually made Chris 1st overall!

Our next event will be the Nebraska Region Divisional event on 10/5, part of the SPS MiDiv RallyCross Series.

RallyCross renewed: NRSCCA RallyCross 9/7

2008-09-06T08:59:00.001-05:00

Chris and I will be out setting up the course today for tomorrow's NRSCCA RallyCross at MAM. W00t!

Licensed, and mine, all mine.

2008-08-28T18:25:00.015-05:00

Paid off, too. I can roll this f***er and walk away. Well, assuming I can walk, but you get the idea. I got a great deal on it.

2004 SRT-4, the first year with the Quaife Limited-slip as standard.
Here is the car, as I received it:

Dark-ass Texas window tint
Booger Bushings
Prothane motor mount inserts
MPP/Borla Exhaust
Fresh timing belt
Fresh MPP clutch
Bling MPx billet shift knob
Bling MPx billet oil filler cap, which gets freaky hot and burns your fingers
Koni Strut inserts in SRT-4 front housing/2GN rear housings
Catch Can
K&N stock replacement filter
Clear corner lenses and a clear third brake light
Factory in dash 6 disc CD changer
FM Modulated XM Satellite Radio
L30001 extra-capacity oil filter
Mobil 1 High-Mileage 10w40 in the engine
Mobil 1 10w30 in the transmission

Since then, I have added:

Standard Stant plastic oil filler cap
MPP short-throw shifter
AEM short-ram air intake
Granatelli spark plug wires, and fresh NGK Iridium plugs
Aluminum ignition coil heat shield
Fresh Thermo-Tec battery wrap and battery tray re-spray
225/50-16 Bridgestone RE-01R tires on 16x7 Flik FTD wheels
Lamin-X amber fog light and headlight covers
The right (as in actually removable) size K&N oil filter
Michelin ZE-80 rally tires on 2GN 15x6 "Snowflake" wheels
Yokohama medium compound rally tires on same snowflakes

Things I've yet to install:

HotBits DT1 Gravel spec;stock length adjustable rally suspension (it's not here yet...)
Forge Motorsports wastegate actuator (came w/ car)
3" O2 housing (came w/ car)
Rage Technologies Spherical LCA bushings. Spherical bearing at the rear, hard-ass Delrin bushing for the front.
19mm 2GN Dodge Neon ACR rear anti-sway bar
Summit Racing drilled/slotted rotors F/R (eh, as much $ as stock, but a little lighter)
EBC Yellowstuff brake pads
Russell stainless brake lines
Speedbleeders
ATE Super Blue Racing brake fluid
Eibach extended front wheel studs
Mopar front strut tower brace
DC Sports rear strut tower brace
fresh poly ASB bushes and end-links
clip-in Simpson lap belts

So, of course I buy a new car before I finish my last project. But, it's hard to pass on a great deal.

That said, I had to fly to San Antonio, TX and drive it back.

Thanks to Mike V. for the car, neons.org, and Mike B., for letting me crash at his posh country estate in Newell, OK on the drive back.

God Bless Lancaster Co. Dept. of Motor Vehicles

2008-08-28T10:32:00.002-05:00

God bless the great State of Nebraska, and the Lancaster County Department of Motor Vehicles!

You think I'm being a smartass, but I'm not; I'm serious, they rock! I had an out-of-state title inspection, new title issued, sales tax paid, registration completed, and, and, and (yes) renewed my driver's license. That's three separate lines, three transactions, all in 40 minutes!

Hah!

Seat pain; part 2.

2008-08-26T22:13:00.004-05:00

Seats in this car are a real headache.

I've given up (for the time being) on mounting a proper racing seat in the new ride, and decided to just live with the stock seats and a proper Simpson lap belt to keep me planted. In fact, the belts arrived today.

So, of course, while the seat was out for the shifter adjustment, a quick scan revealed that mounting lap belts isn't going to be as easy as hoped. The fastener for the seat belt receiver will not accept a Simpson lap belt. Nothing on this car is turning out to be easy.

So, now I get to drill holes, and carve up consoles, etc., to mount the belts properly. I've tried the CG-Lock, and it's not for me, so no alternative there.

The proper way to adjust 2GN shift linkages

2008-08-26T22:03:00.002-05:00

I've been dealing with a balky shifter all week, which has caused me no end of irritation, and discovered the proper way to adjust the crossover cable on the 2GN Neons (courtesy of Maddog on srtforums.com):

Remove center console
set parking brake, put trans in 3rd or 4th gear
using 8mm socket, loosen adjuster on crossover cable, let it find it's "happy" place.
slowly retighten, torque to 70 in/lbs
test drive

...and now, it gives me sweet love.

Skull & Bones

2008-08-24T18:35:00.004-05:00

A little more fiddling around today: fresh heat wrap for the battery, to replace the aged, disintegrating stock wrap, and some Lamin-X protection for the foglights.

And, of course, the BONES!

Seats are proving a pain in my ass

2008-08-16T13:20:00.004-05:00

Mounting race seats is a huge pain in the ass. I need sliders, since my co-driver is 1' shorter than I am, and the setups provided by the manufacturers are utter crap.

My Sparco base and sliders raise the seat several inches, and is nearly impossible to bolt in. My Cobra seat base, which looks to be built much nicer than the Sparco, doesn't even line up so it can bolt in. WTF did I spend my money on?

Here's my tip: don't buy seat bases from the seat vendors. They're very expensive, and total junk. Save your money and build it yourself, since that's what you'll have to do anyway.

Bollocks!

In theory and in practice

2008-08-13T22:29:00.003-05:00

Some things are good, in theory. Like a larger oil filter that allows an extra 1/2 quart of oil to keep the engine nice and cool and wear free.

But, when the extra-large oil filter can't be removed without punching it full of holes with a chisel (because there's no room to work an oil filter wrench on there..), and the same extra-large oil filter means that you can't get a socket on the drain plug, well theory sorta goes out the window.

That's only going to happen to me once.

On a good note, the magnetic drain plug had very little metal on it. Either that means the engine is healthy, or it's so worn it's not wearing much anymore :)

The importance of good posture

2008-07-26T11:46:00.001-05:00

At last weeks Pike's Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC), two Colorado drivers (Nate and Brandye Conley) were injured in a crash. (Our hopes and best wished for their speedy recovery).

This post on SpecialStage.com, talks about many items related to proper posture, seat, and belt positioning. It's full of good information.

Maybe a surprise is in store?

2008-07-23T23:39:00.002-05:00

The build out begins (again)...

Car Porn; It's Sunday, I'm in love...

2008-05-18T11:31:00.008-05:00

Sam the Dog had me up at 5 a.m., so I bathed the race car and took her out early this morning. Doesn't she look nice?

I cleaned off all of the dead bugs and rallycross spray at the car wash using one of Mrs. Herbster's hand knit scratchies. I also noticed that I'm starting to chip the paint aft of the front wheel wells, so it might be time for mud flaps again. She's collected quite a few scars from cones, rough landings, rocks, tool strikes, etc.

In the interior shot, the new wide-view mirror is visible, and so is the dead-pedal. I really dig the way I have the interior set up, it's very comfortable and nice to work in. Almost everything is in the right place and/or no longer in my way.

I put the mirror in this weekend ($12.95 at Speedway Motors). It gets the stock mirror out of my field of view and improves rearward visibility a lot. Also, I can't say enough about installing a dead-pedal. Before, I would rest my foot against the inside wheel arch. That meant I had to pull my foot back and over to reach the clutch. When I tried to left-foot brake, it wasn't a natural movement, sliding back or under around the clutch pedal and then over for the brake. I never could seem to find the brake pedal when I needed it. Now, the pedals are all in place and easy to find. The pedal covers are nice too, since they make all of the pedals a little bit bigger, which is good for clumsy feet. Too bad it all looks "boy-racer" gay.

The SuperTrapp was continuing to melt the rear bumper, so I picked up a heat shield (from Summit Racing). It covers a 120 deg. arc and keeps the exhaust gas away from the bumper. I also radiused the cut out a bit more and evened it up a bit. The adhesive heat shield just wasn't doing the job.

And, just to let everyone know I brought game, I mock them with my Evolution Driving School sticker.

05 04 National RallyCross slideshow

2008-05-13T23:06:00.002-05:00

Myself, driving the white car to a M2 class win and 5th overall.

I just discovered this as a feature of Picasa. It's for you Dad, you never get to see that many pictures...

All photographs courtesy of boomer

The new Office

2008-05-13T21:04:00.015-05:00

I'm the chairman of the board, and this is my new office...

...during my spring 08 build, I replaced the Kirkey seat that I used last year with a Sparco EVO L (scored on-sale from Checkpoint Racing, Thanks Mitch!) It's a much nicer fit and far more comfortable than the Kirkey was, although I think I can put together a much lighter Kirkey combination...

...the seat is fixed to stock rails, laboriously freed from a spare set of stock sliders. It's very much a "if you're not built like me, you won't like it" kinda deal...

...in the lower left, there's a fly Sparco dead pedal. This has put my left foot much closer to the clutch and brake pedals. When I had to switch to left-foot braking at the May event in order to rotate the car on Jon's crazy tight corkscrew hell of a course, it was much easier than it had been previously in the sliver mule. There was no hunting around for the brake pedal. Also helping that out is the total absence of a center console, which gives me a little more side-side leg room. Although, once or twice, I mistook the dead pedal for the clutch pedal, doh!...

...hard to see in this photo, is a freshly flocked dash pad. I used the same Don Jer products flocking that Grassroots Motorsports used on their SAAB 99 project car. The stock pad was causing a lot of glare on the windshield, and that was irritating and a bit dangerous during an earlier brisk shakedown cruise on about 15 miles of rural roads. The flocking kills the glare, and makes the dash pad feel like a really luxurious kiwi fruit...

...it'll probably be a bitch to keep clean...

5/4 NRSCCA National RallyCross

2008-05-05T10:56:00.008-05:00

Photograph(s) courtesy of boomer.

I finished 1st in Mod 2, 5th overall. Chris was 2nd in Mod 2, 8th overall.