Smokey

Well....life moves fast so no major projects completed for the car before the final event this year. I did make a change to try out some Yokohama slicks instead of the Pirellis. They're also larger at 285/650/18 compared to the typical 265/645/18 I was running in the Pirelli. Thankfully they weren't really any taller of diameter which is important because that's where most of my fit issues come from. Fit on the front was tight for sure. Rubbed all over the fender liners, and had a couple small rubs on the metal, but thankfully nothing that did damage. I'll probably go back to the Pirellis and maybe try the 285 Pirelli or stick with the tried and true 265. Here's a view comparing them to the 275/35-18 NT-01s on a 10" wheel. The slicks are on 10.5" I finally broke down and replaced the rear rotors. They weren't cracked and had good life left in them, but from the beginning seemed to be out of true and made a lot of noise. Win some lose some. I kept them as backups if needed.

I like the idea of the car. I subscribed to B is for Build when he was doing a FD build. About 3/4 of the way through I unsubscribed. I like that he’s doing a lot DIY like most normal people would, but then he cuts corners or slaps things together to speed up progress for what seemed like silly or artificial deadlines. It’s not an example of how cars should be built at all. Someone else bought the FD he built and had a whole series on how to fix it.

Yes have a small battery tender which I use when we leave the car for a period like going on vacation but would rather not have to use it regularly. I ended up ordering the Audew 2000amp model. Funny enough they’re on backorder because of that project farm video but should still hopefully get here before we go out of town next and take her car. The $20-ish price difference between high and low priced units I was looking at wasn’t as important to me as it actually working when I needed it. Thank you for all of the replies. I’m sure I’ll need to use it this winter so I’ll update the thread if I use it.

Awesome video, thanks for the link! I should have known to check project farm I’ve looked at his videos before. It’s especially a great video because he tests the starter I was looking at and it didn’t perform well. The Audew model that was his winner is now more expensive, but seems like a solid choice. I like that he tested them at 0 degrees too because my hope is to just throw this thing into her trunk until needed.

My wife’s car loves to kill its battery especially in the cold. I figured it’s a good time of year to get a lithium jump starter so she’s not stranded and/or it could make quick work of me having to jump it in the morning if needed. Anyone have any experience or recommendation? I’m looking at models that claim they’ll do up to “6L gas engines” so it could work for my DD v8 if necessary too. This is the one I’m leaning toward: https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GB40-UltraSafe-Lithium-Starter/dp/B015TKUPIC/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3VK7V58F5GDMG&keywords=antigravity+jump+starter&qid=1573334131&sprefix=Antigravity+ju%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExRjBUM0c3NjY3WDJOJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzk0MTY0MjhIQ1RZWEdSWjE5UCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzYzMTY0ODNKNkVZQktPV1pCJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Looks awesome Matt. The tail lights came out great and look factory.

Looks like lots of fun Greg, thanks for sharing. After racing karts for a year it’s really easy to see how car racing expenses could escalate very quickly.

I believe he was quoting money pit

Bummer to hear you didn’t get to use it as planned. Good luck with the sale. Values have been strong lately for sure.

Kart racing has pretty much consumed my free time for the past year or so in both good and bad ways. Let me know if you want a true time and money drain and I’ll tell you more. Haha. I’d say just be open to trying new things and look for something you can be passionate about.

After the event I washed the car and put it back into street trim (street wheels/tires, street brake pads, remove brake cooling hoses). In doing the pads I could hear something bouncing around in the brake rotors. The good news is that the brake ducting works. The bad news is that it'll catch rubber coming off of cars (like when I'm close to that mustang) and they get in behind the rotors and turn rock hard with the heat and just bounce around there. Not hurting anything, but not helping cooing and sounds annoying. I also had some pretty big chunks out of one of one of the front pads. They were near the end of their life, but i'll keep an eye out for more of this in the future. Just got them pretty hot it seems which happens with 30 minute sessions. Here's the bogey one and the other from that caliper for comparison I've still got like 2-3 sets of half-used pads that I'll use up in the fall at Mid Ohio. Next event isn't planned until Sept. Hopefully that gives me time to tackle some other projects, but life moves fast in the summer so who knows. I'm also actively trying to drive the car on the street more and put some street miles on it for once.

First event of 2019 was at Mid Ohio with Chin Track Days. Weather was on and off for rain just like this whole damn year has been. Thankfully we didn't miss too much time, just had some damp conditions in the mornings with overnight rain, and lost the last afternoon and left early. Still was able to put 200+ track miles on the car though so plenty of time. Car did great no complaints other than you can hear the rear rotors in my videos again. I've just had a bad batch with this set of rear rotors is my best guess as they've given me fits from the beginning. I'll likely replace them this year and keep them as emergency backups. Had a good run with a newer really well built Mustang race car. Here's playing around with my friend in the black C7Z from previous videos. Always fun to see how our cars compare. His car has only upgraded brake pads/fluid and runs Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires. I'm noticeably less power, but tons of upgrades and running slicks. It just goes to show how far car performance has come. Mid Ohio is 1/2 hp track and 1/2 tight and technical track. His power gives him an advantage from the front straight through the back straight. Then my tire/grip gives me an advantage on the back side of the course from the end of the back straight until the front straight. Makes for some fun with me trying to wring the ever-loving life out of my car on the back side of the course to reel in his gap, then he can gap me again on the front side. We ended up running fast lap times within 0.1 sec thru our full run together, we just get it done in completely different ways with our cars. Here's the short version of just us playing together Here's the long version of us working some other traffic and he also lets me by and we continue on. Same results, I can gap him a bit on the back side, and he reels me in on the front half. Check on the later laps where you can see him in my mirrors on the back straight and how much he can close that gap!

Remember that chip in the windshield? Despite being in the garage all winter, the chip turned into a crack...which wouldn't be suitable to pass tech for any HPDE...DOH Called around and SafeLite was the only company that said they could get a windshield for it. Ordered the grey tint at the top because I like the look better than the blue. Took off the wipers and cowl trim to make it easier for the tech Day of the appointment came and Safelite calls 1/2 way thru my appointment time to tell me the windshield they got is damaged....and it's the only grey tint one they had in their entire inventory....sweet. Luckily they were still able to order a blue one, but I had to wait for it to come in. It finally came in and my mobile tech was really cool. They didn't have an exact match for the windshield trim like they said they would, so he helped us try out a couple ones until we found the best solution. In hindsight I should have ordered the factory trim to have it ready for them to install. Live and Learn. This one is a little bigger, but still the best of the options we had and at least I have a nice new windshield even if it's blue tint. Next up for prep was to put in fresh diff and trans fluid. Ordered Neo fluids like I've been running, then got home to find my shipment like this... Thankfully the company was great about issuing replacements, but damn was that mess a pain to clean up. I can still see some of the staining on the porch as I haven't had time to borrow a pressure washer to take to it. Other than that I was using brake pads I already had so I swapped those out, gave a quick brake bleed, mounted the brake cooling duct hoses, wheels/tires and was ready for the first event of the year.

I made the decision with my brother that for 2019 we'll be doing limited car track events and diving in with both feet into a full season of karting with the family. That doesn't mean I'm completely ignoring the Rx7, but it'll change use and priorities. I'm planning on doing 2 events this year in the car and both at Mid Ohio to keep it simple and low-cost. I have a planned intercooler upgrade and battery relocation, but I wasn't going to have time to get to them before the first event in May, so it was just focusing on fixing the turbo gaskets and preparing for the event. Got the turbos taken off and found the exhaust leak. It's always on the same place, the thin section of the gasket for the secondary turbos. This time though it was on the manifold side that it failed which was interesting. Remember last time I had the turbine housings machined, but only block sanded the manifold? Maybe the issue, maybe not. There was more cracking on the turbine housings than I expected with the "higher nickel content" of the '99 spec turbos, but not enough to worry at this time. Here you can see the leak on the manifold side. You can also see the damn bolt that broke off in the manifold meaning it was now trash. Here's the gasket showing the failure I also managed to bake another turbo control actuator to where it'll work under vacuum but leaks under pressure. You can see the plastic deformed around the arm and this is the indicator to test it and see if it's done...mine was. I was able to source a new manifold and turbo control actuator. Side-note these things are getting expensive. I also got a backup manifold and I have a backup set of turbine housings and I'll have them machined and ready for go for the next time I'm guaranteed to do this project. Here are the low mile manifold and turbine housings back from machining...so pretty Also since I keep cooking the actuator I took some spare gold reflective foil and wrapped it all up. Will this really save me headaches of this part failing again? Not likely lol, but it makes me feel like I at least tried to remedy it. Turbos back together with new crush washers for oil and coolant lines. Got the turbos back on and feeling good about moving the project along....except something looked off about the turbos... oh, that's right, the heat shield is missing! Had to take everything off and put the heat shield on. Spent an hour thinking i could wedge it in there without doing that, but to no avail. Here's how it should look if you don't mess it up.

In my normal fashion it's been a while since I've updated this thread. After VIR last year I got the car home and cleaned it up before putting it away for the winter. As you can see it was pretty funky with rubber all over it and the back gets coated with fuel/premix/funk from the exhaust I also picked up a chip in the windshield either at the track day or on the tow home which is annoying. Got it polished up and a few coats of AMMO skin on it The only bummer is that I confirmed that I came back from VIR with a turbo gasket exhaust leak. So they'll get torn off again....that's a common theme.

Good responses so far. She’s definitely full of hormones don’t panic. My advice would be that your marriage came first and ideally should last after the kids are out of the house, so you need to continue to work on it and make it a priority after having the child. Make time for yourselves to take date night, spend time together, etc. it’s tougher than you’d think and easy to just focus on the kids and let the relationship sit on the sidelines.

No matter which shipping method you use size matters most when determining price. If the seat is a 2-piece seat the take the rails off, separate the bottom from the base, and fit it in the smallest box you can while still protecting everything. Same thought applies with fixed back shells but less gains to get. FedEx is typically best of the big shippers for large items, but if you want the absolute best price go Greyhound. You have to take it downtown to the bus station to drop off and they have to pick it up at their closest station but it’ll be hundreds cheaper than the next closest option typically. Just protect the hell out of it because it’s going to be thrown under a bus and loaded/unloaded multiple times. Their tracking sucks too....but it’s cheap so you get what you pay for.

I agree it was a bit of a clickbait idea, but meant in good fun. No harm in messing with a salvage C5 either. That turbo setup on a rotary is really a great combo for power/torque out of that motor that wasn’t available in the past. I’m not overly annoyed by Dahm, but I’m not regularly watching his videos/channel either.

X6 did this shit 10 years ago

Priorities change over time, and free time is at more of a premium than ever as we all get older. Just try to focus on what makes you happy. I’d tell you to sell the FD, but you’ll regret it and spend double or more to get one back in a few years. You can try to track it, but take it from me unless you’re looking for a whole list of new projects for the car don’t do that.

Cool project. I’ve run with a LS3 Miata track car and he can never get enough brake under any wheels that fit so this upgrade of power makes much more sense. Hopefully it’s a reliable and reasonably cost effective lapper for you. Keep us posted.

Go pros are the go-to for a reason...they just work well in these situations. Doesn’t have to be anything super fancy. I’d have to go look but I think I have an old 3 silver and it does well for me. Mounted to the roll bar with the go-pro roll bar mount. Only reason to stray from a go-pro is if you’re using a camera that’s integrated with data like an AIM SmartyCam, vBox, or similar.

Glad to see you’re having fun with it, but where’s the in-car track footage?!

Funny cause he works at the bank with Wes’ wife

Actually I have the fronts!