Wear your safety equipment, kids.

This video is horrifying. Not for weak stomachs.

Killed Myself When I Was Young from The Jalopy Journal on Vimeo.

Via Devour.com. Found on the 24 Hours of LeMons forum.

I'm having hot patches.

Taken in front of a mirror, then flipped back in Photoshop. Did I just blow your mind?

Thanks to recessbilly for the sweet TeamZX2 patch. I ironed on the LeMons Chicago and the TeamZX2 patch to my racing suit this afternoon. It took a couple tries. I'm excited to show it off at the track this year!

Up and Comers for 2011

Last may, I wrote about my plans for the 2010 racing season. These included a lot of work on the Miata, which I couldn't take on because of limited time and/or money. Let's recap.

Things I did accomplish:

• Completed a welding class. Got a welder for my birthday -- thanks, Mom and Dad!
• Ordered all my LeMons don't-catch-my-ass-on-fire gear.
• Tore down the free Miata engine (pictured above, though it was last weekend, not in 2010).
• All my LeMons-related goals! Engine swap, cage build, wheel/tire fitment, finding enough drivers, getting accepted, and racing! Holy crap, racing!

Things I did not accomplish:

• Race in enough events to be eligible for an autocross trophy.
• Replace Miata suspension bushings.
• Install Flyin' Miata frame rails.
• Rebuild any Miata engine.

LeMons took a lot more research, effort, and straight up wrenching time than I anticipated, and limited what I could do on my street/autocross car.

What's coming up this year?

Complete my first (and perhaps second) engine rebuild ever.

The rusty Miata block is getting an overbore and new OEM pistons, but the bottom end is all in pristine, low-mileage condition. So that's staying as-is. Saves me the effort of Plastigaging all the bearings, and I'll have an OEM-quality bottom end. And that saves time too. I'm already on borrowed time with my timing belt, and I want to swap engines before the belt snaps.

I'm buying a cheap rebuild kit on eBay with standard bearings and rings. I'm initially just using the gasket set. After the first rebuild is done, I'll take my quarter-million-mile engine and give it a complete rebuild with the bearings and rings from the kit, buying just a gasket set and some Plastigage to complete the job.

Give the Miata a few little upgrades.

Namely, those same FM frame rails and perhaps those Energy Suspension bushings I wanted last year. Replace the speedometer cable. Get a new set of tires. Replace a few other small comfort or function items. Deal with the rust on the windshield frame. Fabricate a custom cat-back exhaust. Install new, not-from-a-junkyard speakers. Y'know. Just a few little things.

Race the Team Resignation Escort in one or two LeMons races, and break into the top 10 on laps.

Last year, I led Team Resignation to a Heroic Fix trophy at the Blago 500, and managed 60-somethingth place with 200-some laps despite almost an entire day of down time. We also got some internet and mainstream press coverage and earned a couple accolades. This year I want to keep it on the track and make it into the top 10 when LeMons returns to Autobahn in October. With a little luck, we might also run the July race at Gingerman.

A top 10 finish is ambitious, but top 20 is definitely within reach. The car will need more camber (as part of a real alignment), better exhaust, better springs, and a better engine computer, and a complete wiring harness that hasn't been hacked to pieces. All these things have either been purchased or are coming soon. We'll also need to seriously work on cutting down pitting, fueling, and driver-change times. Giving everyone specific jobs for each stop and practicing it all will be part of that, as will arriving at the track on Thursday to get a good pit spot.

And, of course, we'll need to not have catastrophic failures. To prepare for that eventuality, I want to...

Strip the parts donor and prepare a spare Escort drivetrain.

My old commuter car is still sitting in my parents' driveway, with the LeMon's blown engine in the trunk and its original transmission zip-tied in the engine bay (you read that right). I'm getting a spare engine and rebuilding that transmission (it needs a new shift fork), and mating them up. I want to have a complete drivetrain ready to swap in if anything goes bad, so we can get back on the track in (kind of) a hurry.

We're also stripping any usable parts off that ZX2 to keep as spares. Wheel bearings, brake rotors, and steering rack, primarily. And selling off the rest to offset some of the costs of racing.

Autocross?

Racing autocross events this year will primarily be to shake down the Escort and test suspension settings. I'm not renewing my SCCA membership this year because it's too expensive and I don't have the time to devote to it. Besides, the frame rail reinforcements aren't legal in STS class, and the SCCA is too serious and not-fun anyway. Which means there'll be an ugly, rusty, Contact-papered Escort running the cones with a bunch of Miatas. It'll be great. I'll run the Miata when I have time.

This is going to be one big damn year.

I'm pumped!

Update:
Oh yeah, the Supra.
My brother-in-law reminded me in the comments that he's got a Supra that's been sitting for a couple years. I agreed to toy around with it and see if I could troubleshoot its hot start issues.

I suppose it's more apt to say "I convinced him to let me do pretty much what I want with it while he's gone." And I have not lived up to my promise, since it's still sitting at his parents' place untouched. Oof. This is gonna be a big year indeed.

The hottest mans alive

Myself and Eric, always with teh sexiness.

Amanda and Jenny, welcome to your futures.

A eulogy.

And so it goes. I tapped the rocker panel with my foot as I left work last Thursday. Really, it was a light tap. And the tip of my shoe busted it in, because it was nothing but paint. I suppose it's just as well. When it happened Thursday, I snapped this photo with the expectation of making a humorous post about it here. Instead, it has become bittersweet.

I'll spare you the details; Eric will be posting soon on the Team Resignation blog about how it all went down. Suffice it to say that the race car's engine blew up, and swapping in the one from my ZX2 was the only viable option to keep us on the track.

So that's what we did.

Which makes it pretty official. After roughly a hundred thousand miles across six and a half years of service in my hands, my daily driver is dead. Its 210-thousand-mile engine lives on in the race car, and soon too will its wiring harness and perhaps front control arms. Which gives it a status not unlike an organ donor (except, you know, less important).

Little car, you have served me well. I'm sad you're gone, but your final days weren't exactly your best.

• You had an evap system leak I refused to fix. I had pulled those vacuum hoses and plugged the intake manifold with electrical tape. This also meant the HVAC fan would only blow at the windshield.
• You had a loud clunk from the front suspension which I'm pretty sure was broken sway bar links, but never put in the effort to check.
• You had been backed into a faucet and your rear bumper was screwed back into place. A week later, the mirror got busted off on the corner of the same house and was reattached with the same screws as the bumper.
• Your exhaust was beginning to leak, making you noisier by the week.
• Your third gear hadn't been working for several years.
• Your shifter bushings were completely shot, and the shifter buzzed loudly at nearly all times.
• Your rear defroster never worked.
• You had bald tires on ugly Escort GT fan-blade wheels.
• Your rear speakers would crackle at the mere suggestion of bass.
• I planned to never wash you again.

But despite all this, you unfailingly, albeit noisily, carried me to work. Took Amanda and I on a camping trip to Michigan. Were flung over a set of railroad tracks daily at 70 mph so I could get sweet air. And so on, and so on.

Goodbye, dependable commuter car. I have no choice now but to keep what I need and part out what I don't. It's not an elegant death, true. But I hope your heart lasts long enough to propel us into the top ten next year. You can do it. You've survived worse.

Sightings!

This post contains random sightings, in the form of photos taken with my cell phone. Pardon their shitty quality. With that out of the way, BEHOLD!

Super fast cigarettes! They are filled with win!

...if lung cancer is a form of winning (says he who smokes on occasion).

Sweet retro Mello Yello dispenser! If I were a hipster, I'd cream my pants. If I were a scientologist, I'd be retarded. I actually just drink the stuff.

Why does this remind me of the awesomest movie ever? Is it just because it's got a guy whose name is kinda similar to Peter Weller, and John Lithgow, and what seems like a joke title?

Shit, you can get everything at Wal-Mart. Even dildos and/or ass plugs disguised as sidewalk chalk! Are we even talking about cars anymore? Where did this come from?

Ahh, that's better. Wait... what's going on here?

Oh yeah, epic overkill. Welcome to America. And speaking of America...

This is what it was like to be livin' in America after The War. Eric spotted this in the junkyard while we were hunting for Zetec parts. It's a beat to shit DeSoto with plates that were last renewed in '77. 

The body was in impressive shape in terms of rust, but the frame was completely rotted. You could tell because while the front of the car was still on the frame, the back half of the body had slid off it.

We would've looked at it more, but there was a wasp nest somewhere in it that we clearly disturbed. Eric held it open long enough for me to snap this, which gives you some idea of the amount of room under that hood with a flathead six cylinder.

But I digress.

Spotted in the driver's seat of a car in a junkyard. Probably in a Contour. An apparently fruitless attempt at saving the car. Oh god, I'm really boring you aren't I? Please don't leave! Here's some eye candy!

Fine, maybe it's shit-flavored candy. If you can taste shit with your eyes. Maybe if you've dropped acid and are getting that sensory confusion thing I learned about in psych class. Sorry. But it's still candy. This is an Audi R8 V10 that I spotted on the highway a month or two back.

Yeah, that's all I've got right now.

Team Resignation

Updates about the 24 Hours of LeMons car, the 1991 Ford Escort LZX2 (ZLX2?), will now mostly be on the Team Resignation blog. Head over there to see the latest.

Ghetto fabulous

I broke an exhaust hanger at an autocross event a few weekends ago. It's entirely possible that it was broken beforehand, but it took the crazy cornering at autocross for the thing to start banging around. It definitely scared me at first, because it just sort of showed up halfway through the day and I was afraid I'd broken suspension, steering or drivetrain parts.

My repair, though not classy, was easy enough. I just removed a heat shield bolt and stuck it through some exhaust strapping. It'll hold until I eventually hack the muffler off and clamp in a Cherry Bomb or something equally high-end.

Moar winzohrs

There have been two more events since my last post, and I managed first place in both. The latest event I won my class with a 3 second margin. If I make it to enough Miata Club events this year, I'm pretty confident I'll get a season trophy. Not that it's a big deal, since it's just the Miata Club, but despite what I said in my last post, I won't be running any SCCA events this year. I'm saving that money for repairs, for LeMons, for whatever else might come up.

In other news, I finally got access to the Mazda Motorsports (aka Mazdaspeed) online store, with the fancy competition discount. So now I can buy all sorts of OEM parts below list price. I'm going to start with a bunch of Ye Olde Miscellany* that need fixing up, like the stupid plastic joints in the headlight lift mechanism.

Expect several short posts to follow this one; I have many updates, and I don't have necessarily the time to lay out a big narrative to cover it all at once. Get ready for a major blast.

Yes, I skipped a night of welding class to do this (among many other things).

*Amanda insists that I give her credit for this phrase. Here you go.

Up and comers

This is going to be a big summer all around. Here's a breakdown of the upcoming projects, obligations and goals.

General/Personal
I'm enrolled in a  welding class 2 days a week for the summer term at Kish. It starts at 6, which means I need to be strict about getting to work on time so I can make it to class those evenings. Maybe I'll get a welder for my birthday.

There's plenty of autocross coming up. My goal this year is to attend enough events to at least be eligible to trophy either with the Windy City Miata Club or Chicago Region SCCA. Since there's conflicting days in the schedules of the two clubs, and some events land on days like Father's Day (I already skipped the Mother's Day event to work on the Escort), that could make it difficult. I have to figure out the minimum for each club and mark down which events I have to attend.

I need to order my racing suit, shoes and helmet.

STS Mazda Miata
About a month ago I picked up a 1.6L long nose short block and transmission for free. Yes, free. The block (sans head, hence "short") hadn't been used in about 10 years and braved the elements last winter. I have no idea what shape it's in inside, but the piston tops and cylinder walls are fairly rusty. I'm spraying the release agent of the gods on it regularly free it up.
    The plan is to tear this engine down and see if it's rebuildable with a simple hone. This will be my first engine rebuild, so even if this block is fucked, I will practice on it so I know what I'm getting into when I rebuild the engine that's in my car right now. (At 220+k miles, it's burning a quart of oil every 600-800 miles. Symptoms suggest worn rod journal bearings.) My friend Duncan is going to lend me a head so I can complete a rebuild beforehand and swap engines in a weekend; when it's done, I'll give him my old head for his future projects.

If I get the time and/or money, I hope to replace all the suspension bushings with a set of urethane ones and buy some Flyin' Miata frame rail reinforcements. The high-speed shimmy/vibration is driving me nuts, and I think these two things are the solution. I'm sure all my suspension bushings are completely shot.

LeMons Escort ZLX2 
That's ZL TIMES TWO, bitches!
Tomorrow, I pick up a used Kirkey economy layback racing seat and a neck brace for the race.
Obviously, the engine swap needs to be completed. The wiring harness needs to be pulled from the ZX2 and installed in the LX. The steering needs to be depowered, the belts rerouted, the thermostat housing replaced. Hopefully all this can be done in time to get it to several autocross events before the actual race.

I need to mount my Miata's autocross wheels and see if it interferes with the rear struts. Reports on TeamZX2 indicate that 205/50-15 tires may rub against the strut when mounted to the stock wheels; aftermarket wheels are usually OK. Possible solutions are: using narrower tires, buying wheel spacers, buying aftermarket wheels, using the 14" wheels with necessarily narrower tires, or denting the strut tube in a bit. All these are real possibilities with their own tradeoffs.

Then, of course, all the nastyness of stripping the interior, having a roll cage fabricated, buying and installing all the necessary safety equipment, finding a 4th person to commit to the team, et cetera et cetera.

******

That's a busy, expensive summer. The Escort has priority; it needs to be done by October. The Miata engine rebuild will more likely be a project for the fall/winter months.

Gotta keep my fingers crossed that Amanda won't kill me.

24 Hours of LeMons: American Irony

First, let me say that Eric already covered a lot of our trip to this race. Read his recaps. I'll wait.

Done? Let's continue.

The trip was great fun, and the race was excellent to watch. It's gotten me even more excited (and probably unbearable to live with) about competing in this race for crapcans.

This is one of the penalties that are handed out. I can't remember what the chicken is for, but there are a number of different things that the Arc Angel (for that is her name, and yes, she's a she) will weld to your car. This particular sample is a BMW E30 with a roof that is almost completely Bondo. You could smell that shit burning as the Angel welded this chicken on.

Another penalty is the humping bunnies (as seen on one of my favorite cars, the Woodstock Monte Carlo Grand Prix.). I don't know what it's for, but I'd much rather have that than the chicken.

Still another penalty, as seen on this Rabbit/GTI (with the Lebowski Neon in the background) is writing your folly over and over on your car, a la grade school. (finding that link resulted in some porn, FYI)

You get these penalties from doing this kind of thing:

Note the ridiculous lean on that Audi in the first shot.

If your car breaks down, things can get even more exciting. You can turn your Fiero from a raging 4-cylinder into a parts-spewing hunk of iron. Case in point, the Heroic Fix winners who, after a spun connecting rod bearing, pulled two pistons out.

They later pulled out another, turning it into a smoke-belching 625cc one-cylinder before it finally stopped altogether. For these kinds of accomplishments, you can win one of many awesome trophies.

Hand made with love. Welcome to America.

This book is terrible. (a book review)

I realize the motorsports publishing well might be a little dry of authors, so I can understand if some books by first-time writers aren't very good. Car "enthusiasts" (a polite word for "nerd") may not be the cleverest writers in the world.¹ Take as evidence nearly every article in SportsCar Magazine (basically the SCCA's monthly newsletter, in magazine form), and that Car and Driver, when asking readers for stories to print in their 10Best issue, admitted they rarely received good content and pulled that part of the reader content feature.

But for every interview I've trudged through, every nationals event recap I've skimmed for the few interesting details, every thinly veiled sponsor plug I've dismissed as the cost of business, I never thought I'd get to something quite this awful.

Ross Bentley is a writer who either doesn't understand what "writing to an audience" means, or he thinks he's writing books for 4th grade dropouts who managed to get a driver's licence.

Reading his book, Speed Secrets: Winning Autocross Techniques, is an exercise in repetition. He'll start by telling you something obvious, in broad, almost completely useless terms. Then he'll repeat it, over and over for a page and a half before he says something that truly adds to his point. Then he'll hammer on that for a while. Don't rinse: just repeat.

An example: You're starting Chapter 9, and he just spent the previous chapter covering a few racing lines. This new chapter is titled Priorities, subsection: Prioritizing turns.

"... successful [drivers] know how to prioritize the various turns on a course. Good drivers know where to push hard and where to be patient.
Some corners are more important than others. Winning autocrosses comes from knowing where to go fast and where to go (relatively) slow. .. Concentrate on learning the most important turns first. ... In autocrossing, you will have to compromise one turn's speed for another. ... If you know which corners are most important, you know which ones can be compromised and which ones can't. In terms of your car's setup, there are times when you must compromise the setup to suit one corner more than another. ... It is best to set up the car for the most important corners."

These are lines lifted from 3 consecutive paragraphs. Between the second and third paragraph, in big, bold letters in the middle of the page is a SPEED SECRET. There's a number of these throughout the book, to highlight major points. It's his gimmick. The point of this section, in case you're really a numbskull, is Focus on getting the most important turns right first.

This book does have some good information. It's not completely useless. But it is unreadable, and it's not going to get anyone interested in the sport.

¹ I dispute this idea. Car and Driver (recently, and some years ago), Top Gear (both TV and magazine), and Grassroots Motorsports are proof that there's plenty of good authors out there who are also car guys. Apparently these guys either don't work cheap, or don't write instructional books about racing.

Another 9-hour round of cussin' and knuckle-bustin'

(Amanda tells me we're both stubby nerds. It might be true.)

Ah, the fruits of our labor! At least, the first 3-hour stint. These Saturday projects seem to be forming a pattern. The pattern is: We start taking things apart. A few things break, but in general progress is good. We move on to the donor car, and maybe run into a few more snags, but again, we're not deterred. We take a break, then continue, everything goes to shit, and what we thought would take maybe another two hours ends up taking six. At the end of the night the car is back together, but perhaps barely drivable. Usually the final problem has to do with brakes.

I have a problem, as Eric points out, of misunderestimating the scope, difficulty, and time involved in car-related projects (click the link to Eric's blog; you will not be disappointed). The goal last weekend was to drop the rear subframe from both cars, and bolt the donor (ZX2) subframe onto the racer (LX, subframe pictured above). Not only was my grasp of the simplicity of this project on two cars that combined are about 31 years old vastly incorrect, we made some excellent discoveries on the way.

This is how awesome one of our rear strut towers is. You don't have to be a trained anything to know that if your car looks like it has syphilitic diarrhea leprosy, that's probably a bad thing. Notice the burns on the seat! Of course, the problem is not isolated to the passenger side.

There's your driver-side strut tower. My dad's repair idea involves not welding, but having someone cut a thick steel plate (with proper holes in it) to place between the strut hat and the tower, to spread the load to outside the rusted area. It would increase ride height by however thick it is, but that's probably not a very big deal -- assuming the tech/safety inspectors don't give us a hard time over it. I worry, often needlessly.

These old Escorts had a propensity for breaking rear springs. This example is no exception.

Into three pieces. Notice also the strut hat for that side (which fell on the floor).

Practically disintegrated, and virtually useless at this point. Where's the rest of it? Here:

(Note the emergency brake cable, which has lost a battle with Captain Hacksaw.)

Good thing we're swapping the entire rear subframe from the ZX2, for its springs, struts and disk brakes. I'd like to say the donor is less rusty. And it is. In parts. Notably the strut hat.

Unfortunately, the brakes again became a problem. Not only are the lines horrifically rusted from the master cylinder all the way back to the wheels, but the bleeder screws on those rear calipers snapped clean off instead of loosening properly. We replaced one caliper with a spare I had sitting around (don't ask), but the other side wouldn't come off. 

We rounded off the mounting bolt, which means we have four options:

Option 1: Get a whole new spindle to mount the caliper on. I don't want to get into how much of a pain in the ass (and expensive) this is.

Options 2, 3, and 4 condensed into one: Take either (2) a Sawzall, (3) a sledgehammer, or (4) a torch and cut/smash/melt the thing into two pieces and slide the caliper off. Then we can forcibly remove the mounting bolt with a drill, and use one of my many spare mounting bolts to attach the replacement caliper.

Obviously, we're going with one of the three latter options. Right now we've got one rear caliper that's been bled (poorly) and one that has nothing but air in it. The pedal goes to the floor every time, and requires several pumps before any kind of slowing down happens. And even then, it happens poorly.

I got a pair of used Miata calipers, which will bolt on but also feature a 32mm piston diameter (versus the Escort GT-sourced rears' 30mm). This should give us a bit more rearward brake bias, which will likely help get better, more even braking on race day. Evener braking means evener betterer lap times. I'm sure the brake proportioning is originally set up very conservative, so it's unlikely we're treading dangerous territory here.

Those calipers will go on in a few weeks. This weekend, rent is due, and I'm also spending time with my baby. I mean the Miata. Don't kill me, Amanda. I still love you too.

More details and photos to come, eventually. Stay tuned here and at assonancerood.blogspot.com for all your hot Escort-on-Escort action.

(Want a few more detail photos from that day? Click here.)

Weekend racecar prep Number 1

These are my 10-year-old Caterpillar boots. They've seen a lot of abuse, including a weekend photographing an NIU ROTC trip for the Northern Star (which, since its redesign, is one "Under Construction" GIF away from 1997), among other less taxing camping trips, junkyard treks and work excursions. This pair finally bit the dust on Saturday the 13th, and I promptly replaced them with another pair. Hopefully these will last another 10 years.

The job that did it was swapping suspensions on the new Ford Escort diarrhea bucket of an automobile. That's right, I officially have an unofficial LeMons/ChumpCar racer! It'll be a 2nd-gen Escort LX/3rd gen ZX2 Franken'Scort. (Theme and actual car/team name TBD.)

Eric, my only willing co-conspirator and co-money pit feeder at this time wrote up a good bit of detail on it. It's worth every second of your time to read, because he is a hilarious and insane man. This most recent Saturday, we (almost) completed that job by doing the rear suspension. Details on that are coming, as soon as I get my photos back from my dad's camera.

The Weak are Killed and Eaten

Special thanks to my friend Greg, who gave me this shirt for Xmas. I am determined to wear it to every single racing event I attend this year. Yes, it'll look to my autocross friends as though I'm a filthy, unwashed philistine. Or at least like I have no other clothes, because I spend all my money on racing. Which isn't far from the truth.

To be imprecise, I spent more than $650 on parts for my Miata on the 2 weeks following Thanksgiving. A mere 3 days after I replaced my broken differential with a fancy-schmancy viscous limited slip one ($220), the clutch failed. I took a day off of work and my dad and I replaced the thing along with the rear main seal. I also found out that the oil pan gasket in the area just below the rear main seal was leaking, and had been improperly repaired before with Permatex gasket maker spread over the area of the leak. Once I found out that dropping the oil pan for a proper repair involved basically removing the entire engine, I opted simply to clean off the old stuff and reapply. It's actually working. ($200, including various chemicals and supplies)

After this, I put on my snow tires (with heavier 14" steel wheels) and am reminded of the scary vibration at higher speeds. Specifically, at 70+ mph. I had previously tried to chase down this problem only to get tired of spending money after balancing all the wheels, replacing a wheel bearing, and replacing an axle. I knew the vibration was coming from the rear right corner, but I couldn't figure out what component had failed until the day I was doing the clutch. I wiggled that rear wheel, and there was play at the top/bottom, but not left/right. And I could see the axle move with the play, whereas the upright was staying still. This could only mean that the bore for the wheel bearing was distorted. I ordered a new one. ($80)

The following week begins, and my car needs a jump to start at any temperature below 40 degrees. I replace the battery. ($100) Starting improves, but its still very slow to crank and not exactly confidence-inspiring. I replace the starter, fearing sub-zero jump starts. ($60) Starting is solid.

My dad had picked up a new clutch slave cylinder for me sometime during all this, because while replacing the clutch, we noticed the boot on the slave was destroyed. My brother, Brian, helped me install the clutch slave on the same day as the starter. ($50, but my dad paid for it)

My family had Xmas early this year, on the 19th. My dad got me a pair of subframe braces from 949Racing. After the festivities were over, he and I went out to the garage, replaced that rear-right suspension upright (also called a hub assembly) and installed the rear brace. I'll find out for sure once I hit the interstate if the vibration is gone.

That's been the big maintenance lately. Posts coming soon regarding a brake job on the ZX2, my new not-made-of-a-wire-hanger-and-duct-tape radio antenna, and my brother's car crash. Don't worry, he's OK. The car is definitely not.

For a few more photos and details on the differential and clutch job, click the picture below.

diff and clutch

Raceland header wrap & install

Updates at bottom.
This weekend, I installed a new header in my Miata. I bought one of the very inexpensive ones you can find on eBay, though I went through their Web site. (I also bought a windblocker; details on that later.)
For the incredibly low price of $80, I felt like the Raceland unit (part number RO-HMX5NA-1.6) was worth the gamble. I also bought some generic header wrap on eBay for $25, and a new oxygen sensor on RockAuto.com to accompany this project. This modification is legal in the SCCA's autocross STS class, which means I have nothing to lose.


The installation, unlike nearly every other major project I've taken on, went without a hitch. I had no major difficulties, outside of one bolt I had to snap off. Nothing was too difficult to get at, or too hard to remove. I didn't even have to run back out to the store. It was surprisingly painless. I've heard that the 1.8 liter models have more fitment issues, but everything was fine on my 1.6L engine.


Click the photo above to go directly to my Web photo album. There are some close-up pictures of the header, details and tips for the installation process, and a surprise crack I found in my original header.


It's quieter at cruise than my OEM header (probably thanks to that crack), though it sounds racier at WOT and at higher revs. It's also smoother and stronger in the middle and top end. I won't attribute all of this to the header alone; the new O2 sensor and the wrap probably helped a lot too. All in all, I'm very satisfied. If I had spent $450 on the Racing Beat or Jackson Racing headers, I don't think I would've been as happy. This is a significant improvement for a little price. Kudos, Raceland.

Update: The header wrap didn't seem to like snow very much. http://sentimentalmechanic.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-what-happens-larry.html

Update 2: After little more than a year, the thing has rusted -- yes, rusted! -- badly enough to break apart.
http://sentimentalmechanic.blogspot.com/2010/12/raceland-header-rusts-and-breaks.html

Update 3: Raceland honored their 2-year warranty and sent me a new one.
http://sentimentalmechanic.blogspot.com/2010/12/warranty-honored-on-raceland-header.html

The magic of Dymo labels

I love Dymo labels. So does Amanda. I've had this toggle switch in my car since I bought it, and it was (gasp!) unmarked!

So, once I remembered that Dymo labels exist, I took it upon myself to mark the switch. What does it do? See for yourself.

Parking Lot Repairs

A brief bit of catching up: I sold the Mercedes. It was an awful car. It was stately and beautiful, but painfully (painfully!) slow and problematic. Daily commutes tested my patience. Not a day goes by that I'm not glad it's gone.

---------------------------------

The Windy City Miata Club autocross comes highly recommended by Sean, the guy I bought my Miata from. I went to their first event this weekend and brought my friend Mike with.

(Pictures courtesy of Bill, my instructor at The Learning Curve.)

Lined up for the first run

Mike is riding shotgun.

Coming around the first carousel

And a hard left around the second carousel.

Notice how, even with stiff springs and shocks at the highest settings, she still leans pretty far.

All in all, it was a great time. Running with the WCMC is better than the SCCA in that you get a lot more runs in a day, and they're a little more lax about the rules. You can, for example, have someone ride with you who isn't registered as a driver for the day. They just have to sign the waiver.

The people are really cool too, though as with any group of people, there's a few douchebags here and there.

So, I finished my 5 afternoon runs, handed the car off to Mike, and went out to corner 3 for cone duty. A few cars go by, then Mike goes, far more controlled and stable than he was in the morning runs (and not lost among the cones). This turned out to be his best run of the day.

And his last.

About a minute after he went by, I heard a call on the walkie-talkie: "Alan at corner 3, come to the grid. Alan at corner 3 to the grid." Well shit.

I sprint off the track and across the parking lot. As I approach the grid, I see the hood up and people gathering around my car, and I see a big puddle under it. These words keep repeating in my head:

"Please don't be oil. Please don't be oil. Please don't be oil."

Once I'm close enough, I see that the puddle is bright green. A relief.

The Miata radiator has plastic ends on it. It cracked where the plastic meets the aluminum core, apparently all the way across the top. A few guys help me push it off the grid and into the parking lot. Sean lends me his tools, I call around to area parts shops, and Sean's brother Aaron drives me to a Pep Boys in his NC Miata.

(My picture, cell phone.)

I changed the radiator in the parking lot, collected my prize for winning in my class, and went home. The prize, by the way, is a glass beer stein with the WCMC logo on it. Mike got a ribbon for placing 3rd in class. (No, we're not that awesome at racing; it was the novice class, and the car is pretty fantastic.)

SCCA Autocross, Event 1

I attended the SCCA's Learning Curve in the beginning of April. It was raining, so cold that I couldn't use my race tires, and generally awful weather all-around, but I had a good time and learned a lot about racing.

Last weekend I put on my race rubber and went to the first real SCCA event of the season. I placed 2nd in class.
http://www.scca-chicago.com/solo/2009/event1_index.html
Yes, I'm in 71st, but keep in mind that there were plenty of cars there that weren't street-legal, i.e. open-wheel race cars, plenty of people with a lot more experience than me, and plenty with faster cars. So, I'm happy with my standing.

I'm especially satisfied considering the 1st place in my class (STS) was a well-prepared 91 Honda CRX driven by a man with 30-some years experience in racing. His son, who also drove the CRX, was well behind me.

All things considered, I'm happy with my standings, surprised at my own skill, and I think the sunburn was entirely worth it.

I'm going to see about joining the Tri-State Sports Car Council and the Windy City Miata Club so I can attend more autocross events. This summer is gonna rock.