99StockGT

Unfortunately the FB login thing is becoming MORE of a norm versus less, helps people know they are talking to a "real" person versus some random forum troll... oh wait.. Anywho, been playing around on it for a few hours seems like a pretty decent idea. The ability to share your passions/thoughts/brain spasms with the world as a whole and generally anyone else on the interwebs can find it is kind of nice. There will be some bugs to work out for sure but so far not terrible. Should be interesting to see how they pay the bills on the site with ads and such. On the CC&C subject, definitely get something set up. Knocking out quick little 500 word blurbs with a couple of photos should be pretty easy.

Used to drag there back in high school, they have had all sorts of battles getting that project finished VERY excited to see it finally nearing completion. Bit of a haul for Columbus folk but an hour and a half isn't TOO bad for some good surface to go racing on. It's a 1/4 mile track

So far seems a little like Facebook for gearheads. You have a feed of stories from your favorite tribes, then can jump in and read posts, comment, post. Thankfully it's a great place to hide from all the other BS of life and enjoy car/truck/jeep stuff!

With all of the buzz surrounding the launch of Grand Tour surprisingly not a lot of people have been noticing the launch this week of DriveTribe. Basically they are trying to make a more of a "one stop shop" for gearheads to post/share/gossip/bitch so figure it's something the CR folks would enjoy! Thoughts? Seeing this as an excellent way to share some of our projects and day to do happenings we've actually made our own tribe for the shop called Tales from the Shop, interested in following us? https://drivetribe.com/t/AE5ogh_mS5WMytnX07SdXw We have an exciting upcoming project from a CR member in the next couple weeks as well, in case anyone wants to see such a thing.

Not nearly as uncommon as you might think especially as the cold starts settling in. Goes right along with the cats/squirrels we'll find cooked or chopped in half when they get under hood for some warmth. Happy Holidays!

As long as you plan ahead on replacing quite a bit they are pretty capable cars. They certainly have their issues, hopefully one you are looking at has already had a lot of the factory breaking points already fixed. If not, you can look forward to a very expensive "Off-Season". Not sure exactly what price range you are in but a forced induction mini with some good suspension/wheels/tires/brakes is one hell of a track package. Our "Shop Racer" 2015 base model mini is incredible to run around track.

As someone who did a "buy a low milage used motor" swap very recently... it lasted 2 months and popped a head gasket. Nothing like doing the job twice!

Smoke color? Any check engine lights?

This is a can of worms few people ever have to deal with and fewer still know what they are going to be getting into. Rarely when you crack an engine apart do you just get in get done what you expect and get back out without additional costs/issues. Go into this with eyes wide open, either way you are going to be incurring some serious costs. Per labor guide if you were to buy a used engine (long block) and swap over the accessories you are looking around 20 hours. Add in things you are likely to want to do while the engine is out like timing/water pump, valve cover gaskets, spark plugs. Which might add an additional 3-4 hours. So all told you are likely facing 25 hours +- of labor, plus the actual cost of the engine/parts/markup/fluids Depending on what is wrong with the motor currently in there your costs for repair could come up above or below, hard to say until you get in there and see what's what. Valve damage? Do heads need worked? Pistons rings/cylinder walls? In this instance you will have labor costs for the tear down and rebuild, likely machine shop costs, as well as the parts/fluids/misc/markup. As someone who currently has $4500 wrapped up in a car I initially expected to have less than $2000 in, go into this with eyes open! And keep in mind, that $4500 is with me having a shop!

Ran my mustang for a decade between NE Ohio and Columbus, never used snow tires just good A S and only had maybe 2 issues in the entire time? Central Ohio rarely gets enough snow to make the extra purchase/maintenance cost of AWD "necessary" but it IS nice. Maybe 2-3 days a year we get more than 2 inches of snow? Will be rocking a FWD lowered ricer for the winter this year on some Summer-ish tires.

Unfortunately these sorts of tales can happen anywhere, though they ARE more likely through the high turn-over chain stores. In smaller shops you typically have tighter controls over QA, more hands and eyes paying attention to each job. Chain stores survive on volume so get you in done and out in the minimum time and maximum margin however that often times leaves lesser trained/skilled people doing some of the work which is never looked over by a more trained/skilled tech. On the other side of that token you have smaller shops or "Mom and Pops" that take longer to get the job done and may end up being a bit more expensive than the chain. However the ones that survive and thrive have a higher QA control, so if something happened to be missed by the tech working on it there's at least one more set of eyes/ears that checks it over before it ships. Taking that kind of time just doesn't make good business sense for most chain stores in the "Get them in get them out" mentality.

If you aren't in the Ohio G/Z/GTR Club that would be the first place to join up, there are literally hundreds of central Ohio members with all sorts of exhaust setups. As Draco mentioned, if you are just doing cat back it's mostly just noise you are changing not any actual exhaust flow so do whatever you like. Now when we are talking cat deleted/test pipes/headers that sort of thing keep in mind not only are you changing exhaust flows but your stock ECU will NOT be happy about what's been done. A tune will be necessary to a) get rid of the Check Engine Light and b) Actually show you some gains from the now much more free flowing exhaust. Specific to the VQ motors the G/Zs have under the hood, do you like their signature "warble" or no? Keep that in mind when hunting for exhausts some actually get rid of that sound while others accentuate it.

First battle scars healed, get her ready through the winter then back to the track in the spring! Glad to see no major wounds to you OR the ride.

M&M as long as you stay in touch with him does great work and will get it back at a decent price in decent time. Otherwise Bob and Joe at PRI do excellent work as well, a bit more expensive but quicker turn time and their work is second to none. We use both regularly

This mornings traffic cluster was due to a first gen WRX seemingly attempting the power blend between two cars, taking both of them, himself (herself?), and another car into the left lane wall. No cars in the actual path of traffic but whoooa did we stop dead. Soon as we passed the accident though, hammer down 90mph all the way to Sawmill!

I drive from 161/Cleveland Ave every day to Plain City across the gauntlet that is 270W... Expected drive time? 20 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes. 720am, usually early enough to sneak ahead of the major snarls... 4 car accident in the left hand lane under 270/23 backed up traffic to 71 and beyond... Leave early or leave late, never try to fight it you'll just get furious.

Looking good under the hood!

Several area clubs do this, Ohio G Club has hosted several then do the Annual One Lap event for PTSD, you also have the Central Ohio Subaru group that do pretty regular cruises. We also did 2 post C&C Cruises this year as Draco mentioned

Well done sir! Look at all that rugged manliness! Did you even get some grease on your skin to complete the image? More importantly... what is this silver thing I see in the background of your photo....

I can't imagine the appeal you could use to overturn a ban in this case, especially with video and that many people clearly watching the act happen live. Good riddance that sort of thing doesn't have a place in racing. How badly damaged are the cars? Is there any sort of blow back on repair costs for intentional damage?

Would you quit it with all this positive news and exciting developments?! This is CR where grumpy comments and problem threads are expected! Congrats though man, that's awesome! All the best in 2017!

This works out nicely, going to get a little retuning done on the Stealth this weekend so I can see how she picks up on time. I'm in!

Looks like he took himself out of the race and the other car continued on? Any post race drama? Fines? Thanks for the video post!

What in the hell? Aside from something on a dirt track I've never heard of anything like that happening on a track? The video still up? Would love to see it.

Ahh Tyler.. that man is one hell of a writer for the services and all things military.