Cars?

[ktrout]

Yeah, there are guys doing high 10s with Z06s and nines with ZR1s.

[Kurt]

It's not very often where the GTR gets smoked...
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/29/drag ... #continued

Against a Veyron? Both are impressive cars but $ for $ the GTR is better but man, the GTR would have to be tuned to be near undrivable to beat a Veryron.

I love 1/4 races, but it is not the best course for either of these cars.

[HockeyGuy]

For sure Kurt. It's just not something you see often, if ever before.

[ktrout]

For sure Kurt. It's just not something you see often, if ever before.

Agreed. It's pretty tits to see a million plus dollars hurtling down a quarter. I still prefer the road course type, though.
Speaking of which, the RX7 has gone on back burner a bit. Gonna add a little mo' peppa'. So, I'm back to fooling around with the 302 I've stuffed into the front of a Volvo 240. When I last closed the hood I had figured out how to crank it from the key. So now I want to actually make it run. One nice thing about this car is that some of the general layout is similar to the Mustang. The ECU is on the passenger side in front of the door and the battery is on the right front. So, the harness pretty much lays out the same. At least both the Mustang and the Volvo have separated their engine wiring harnesses from the body harnesses, for the most part. The RX7 is pretty mixed and comingled, so it's going to be a little more complex affair.
.

[Kurt]

For sure Kurt. It's just not something you see often, if ever before.

Agreed. It's pretty tits to see a million plus dollars hurtling down a quarter. I still prefer the road course type, though.
Speaking of which, the RX7 has gone on back burner a bit. Gonna add a little mo' peppa'. So, I'm back to fooling around with the 302 I've stuffed into the front of a Volvo 240. When I last closed the hood I had figured out how to crank it from the key. So now I want to actually make it run. One nice thing about this car is that some of the general layout is similar to the Mustang. The ECU is on the passenger side in front of the door and the battery is on the right front. So, the harness pretty much lays out the same. At least both the Mustang and the Volvo have separated their engine wiring harnesses from the body harnesses, for the most part. The RX7 is pretty mixed and comingled, so it's going to be a little more complex affair.
.

A Volvo Borkmobile with a 302? Next time I am in the Bay area I am renting a car and want to see your workshop.

[ktrout]

A Volvo Borkmobile with a 302?

Hoping I can actually get the thing on the road and (gack!) smogged. Doesn't fit too badly. Had to break out the minisledge to get the transmission in, but that's a great job for someone whose wife just left. I might want to go five speed instead.
The RX7 as a pure toy is "unrestricted" in its insanity level. Almost don't want to see that rotary go. Plus it has a Mr. DP sticker on the hood.

Next time I am in the Bay area I am renting a car and want to see your workshop.

Not that much to it. I have some interesting toys, though. If you came around when I'm due to be at the track, that might be fun. Especially if it's a race weekend. Lots of whiskey (post race for me to bring me back down), jocularity and plain old trash talking. I still want to go play with Hitoru.

[ktrout]

Hot off the presses from LSxTV, a Toyota Cressida powered by an LS1.

[Kurt]

Hot off the presses from LSxTV, a Toyota Cressida powered by an LS1.

That was very well done. Looks like how a Cressida should look at that age. But the tires give it away a bit.

[ktrout]

Hot off the presses from LSxTV, a Toyota Cressida powered by an LS1.

That was very well done. Looks like how a Cressida should look at that age. But the tires give it away a bit.

Not to mention the 100dB rumble. He could always muffle it way down and play a farty pipe four cylinder soundtrack outside the car. With an ODBII connector he could get rpm and acceleration data and play it with the right tone.

[khalampre]

Well we got the GLI for my wife. She is getting used to having this stick thing to deal with, but doing well. I one the other had love thee car (not that she does not). The day we got it we drove from Bryan, TX to Rogers, Arkansas. The car is properly quick. I was given a 120 mph speed limit by the wife because she thought I may want to stretch the legs on the GLI and see what it could do. Seeing that I had my family in the car I did not go that fast. I will say however that in Oklahoma I dropped from 6 to 4 and the car (with a full trunk and stuff in the back seat) responded very well. I am guessing that the car would hit my wife's limit in 4th, thus making 5th and 6th even more fun. I was getting 32-35 mpg at 75mph.

There is an 11 mile loop with at least 3 90 degree turns and many others that are nice and tight. I take my mx5 out there when I am having a rough day. I was expecting to feel some under-steer from the GLI, but there was none that I could detect. I have to say that for a car that totes my wife and kid around I am very happy with the performance. Oddly several people have told me that they thought I got a BMW and only after taking a closer look did they realize that it was a VW.

I cannot wait to get back from Afghanistan so that I can finish up the Jeep and start on my locost 7 project. I will admit that I have been dreaming about trying to find a wrecked STI or EVO and build an AWD locost 7 and trying to get into rally racing.

[diamondcutter13]

I cannot wait to get back from Afghanistan so that I can finish up the Jeep and start on my locost 7 project. I will admit that I have been dreaming about trying to find a wrecked STI or EVO and build an AWD locost 7 and trying to get into rally racing.

We are on the same program. I can't wait to get back and then build up the Jeep. I have a Sunbeam Alpine up on blocks waiting for love and then its find an Eagle Talon TSi AWD for an amateur SCCA rally.

[khalampre]

I am glad to know that I am not the only other nut case around. My Jeep http://chriskoym.blogspot.com/ is coming back together, but A-stan is forcing me to press the pause button. I want the locost 7 to be a street track car. If I can pull that off the AWD locost 7 will be a rally car. That is so far down the road that I have not even started looking at build regulations.

I am going to use some of the money I make to get a better wire welder, pipe bender,and a planishing hammer. With those tools I think that I can make some pretty damn cool stuff.

I am a very bad father as I have allowed my son to sit in my lap and drive since he was four years old. Back then he was driving a slush box with me and would slap my hands away if I tried to correct his steering (this is when we lived in Geo). As of late I have been letting him shift gears (from the passenger seat) in my MX5. He asks very good questions about why we do things with the gear selector and what the gears are for. I took him (now 6 years old) out on a back back road the other day and let him drive the GLI. While he still has to sit in my lap he is very good at knowing what to do and when. As he cannot reach the clutch we have a code. He says shift and I depress the clutch while he works the gear lever. Going up he has it down, coming back down the range I tell him which gear to select. When his turn was over he looked at me and said, "Dad, I want to drive my go-kart now". He is infected. I want to get him a real kart and ten put him in one of the lowcost 7s when he is old enough. He says that he wants to drive monster trucks, but dad does not have the money to build one of those for him. I would like to see him get on the track or into rally.

[ktrout]

Spent the day at Thunderhill Raceway. They did a free track day for racers with prepared racecars. I'm going to have to get my video downloaded. First generation (FB) RX7 which I haven't driven in years. Different car, different track every time.
I'm currently reading a pretty cool build of a completely custom WRX powered Nissan pickup.

[HockeyGuy]

Spent the day at Thunderhill Raceway. They did a free track day for racers with prepared racecars. I'm going to have to get my video downloaded. First generation (FB) RX7 which I haven't driven in years. Different car, different track every time.
I'm currently reading a pretty cool build of a completely custom WRX powered Nissan pickup.

Do you live in the Bay area? What's the other track up there... Infineon?

That's quite the project...

[HockeyGuy]

"Portend" this...
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/09/acur ... roit-2012/

It's pretty damn sexy sans the rims though.