Replacement header goes in painlessly

(click here to see these photos in a gallery)

Replacing the header went well. I'm thoroughly satisfied with Raceland's customer service, and I'm hoping the rusty one was just a slip-up in quality control.

Previous post related to this:
Initial impression and installation guide.
First signs of possible issues.
When it actually broke.
Raceland's response.

Warranty honored on Raceland header

I found out last night from their website that they offer a 2 year warranty on materials and workmanship of their products. That was somewhat reassuring, but I was a still skeptical about a relative newcomer to the US market and a company that seems to have a lot of presence on eBay. My skepticism has been assuaged a bit.

I received an e-mail response this morning from Raceland USA. The person (who did not give a name) said they've never seen that kind of problem before, assumed it was defective, and would gladly send me a replacement. This rep said that s/he'd talk to their tech department, and would send me a return shipping label if they wanted to study the rusty one.

I've received a tracking number. Having to redo the work is no fun, but it's nice to know they respond quickly to problems and honor their warranty. I will continue to document this experience.

Update, 1/6/10: The replacement arrived. They did include a return shipping label for the failed header, so I'll be sending that back as soon as it's out. Quality of the welds and materials on the replacement looks about as good as the original. Here's to hoping that the actual alloy used is a more proper mix so it doesn't rust.

Raceland header rusts and breaks

 

Update at bottom.
On my commute home tonight, my car backfired badly twice on consecutive upshifts. Immediately after the second blast, my car was ear-bleedingly loud. I knew something bad had happened to my header; it had been looking and sounding iffy for a couple weeks. When I got home, I jacked the car up and saw this.

After a trip to Farm & Fleet for a patch kit and a set of jack stands that I would later return, I came home and applied the patch. It worked for about 5 minutes, and quickly became nearly as loud as it was before. I blame my poor patch job and not buying enough patch material. But it's quiet enough to get me to my parents' garage without making me deaf.

I'm going to send the picture above to Raceland and ask for a replacement. T-304 stainless steel shouldn't rust, especially not like this, and not after barely more than a year. For now, I'm driving Amanda's car to work the rest of the week (the university is closed, so she's off work) and I'll apply a more permanent repair.

My original post about the install is here:
http://sentimentalmechanic.blogspot.com/2009/11/var-gajshost-https-document.html

Update: The 2-year warranty was honored, and I'm impressed with their customer service.

http://sentimentalmechanic.blogspot.com/2010/12/warranty-honored-on-raceland-header.html

The hottest mans alive

Myself and Eric, always with teh sexiness.

Amanda and Jenny, welcome to your futures.

Did you expect something classier?

I got under my car to fix my broken exhaust hanger for a second time. The strap I used before broke shortly after I got this car back on the road. I took this opportunity to put in a new muffler.

So I grabbed a Thrush Turbo universal muffler with 2" ID connections. Since the Miata's stock piping is 1-7/8" OD and I, of course, was too cheap to buy adapters; I just stuck exhaust clamps on and cranked the shit out of them. I sealed up the gaps with muffler cement. I cut the hangers off the other muffler and welded them on the new one, but I welded the inlet-side one (that was broken off the OEM muffler) in the wrong place. It was late, the sawzall blade was shot, and I'd lost interest in perfection in my already ghetto setup, so I did the strapping job again on that side. I may revisit this oh who am I kidding? It's gonna stay shitty forever.

I had a glasspack on the ZX2 for a long time and it droned unbearably while cruising, which is why I went with a more normal muffler. I have a long commute.

This setup is quiet at idle and even at a fast 4,000 RPM cruise (at 80 mph). No booming, no droning; perfectly civilized. It rips pretty nicely when you're on the gas above 3k RPM. No, it's not a classy burble and it's not a low tone by any means, but I'm enjoying it. I'm sure it's not good for my gas mileage.

Horsepower? Pfft. Who cares? It's quiet when I want, loud when I want, and the pipe doesn't bang on the subframe brace anymore. I call that a success.

_____________________________________

In other news, I'm now using the wet weather tires from my LeMons racer on the Miata. They're taller than stock by about 1.5 inches, which means they rub the fenders and fender liners often. But they look nicer than the shitty 13" steelies I had on before, give much better grip, and best of all, don't make the car shimmy at highway speeds like an alcoholic detoxing.

I also switched oil to Castrol 20w-50, and it has stopped burning oil entirely. Gas mileage also dropped about 15% (to ~27 mpg), and anyway that heavy oil isn't ideal for winter. I'll be searching for a happy medium with my next oil change.

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.

Righting past wrongs.

This car is finally gone. I had it for almost exactly 3 months, and oh holy crap am I glad it's gone. That's the Mazda 323 GTX that I picked up in July, without a transmission or turbo, and with a blown engine and hacked-to-fuck wiring harness. The car itself was free, but it did cost me a vacation day and about $100 worth of gas -- and a LOT of sweat because I wisely picked it up on the hottest day of the year.

I did manage to scavenge a few things from it. Most notably, several aftermarket gauges, a battery terminal and some battery cables, and an old 5-point safety harness.

I sold it to a local man for $300. He owns another 323 (non-GTX) and will use this as a parts car. I hope he can put it to good use. Pictured is my dad hooking up the winch on the guy's trailer.

As for that spot in my parents' driveway? I hope to fill it with my brother-in-law's been-sitting-in-his-parents'-garage-for-several-years 1988 or '89 Toyota Supra Turbo (with hot start issues!) while he's away for a year or more. And I still need to rebuild the Miata's engine.