what did you do to your non-Protege today?

[CODY004WD]

Good Luck Matt! Have a **** ton of fun at the event, be safe. And most importantly, get some video.

[atomicEGT]

I'll see if my friend's dad will get some video with my phone later in the day when I (hopefully) know what I'm doing, but no promises.

[atomicEGT]

-replaced the broken hood hinge and put the hood back on
-cleaned the car out
-replaced the brake light switch (and the brake lights work properly now!)
-put the interior back together
-installed new wiper blades
-swapped out the Circuit Sports RSTB for a Cusco one
-hammered the fender lips flat so the tires will clear

[DuRWooD]

^^ Looks good Matt. Looking forward to some drift video.


As for me, today, after a lengthy battle getting the Jetta I bought for my girlfriend to run, finally got it running smoothly. I had replaced the cylinder head, only to find there was no mark on the crank to line the timing up to, and the flywheel mark was gone due to it being installed incorrectly by a shop the previous owner took it to. After getting it together, the car had a horrible misfire on all cylinders, I assumed I had the timing wrong, or something was wrong with the junk yard cylinder head I bought. After chasing every possible timing related item on the car, I got VAG-COM (Volkswagen communication software) working on my laptop, and logged the misfires, found that it was most frequent on 2 cylinders. So, I swapped the coils around, and the misfires moved.

Long story short, some how at least 2 of the COPs went bad while the car was being worked on. Bought four new coils today, and it's running like a champ. I was very close to burning this car. Now all it needs is a new alternator.

[progt91]

Replaced the fuel pump and sending unit in my BMW 325. Running like a champ again

[atomicEGT]

WELP.

blew the heater core driving from the pits to the entrance gate. bypassed that, found that using my e-brake caused the caliper to hang up. could run with no e-brake, but I'd still have to come in every three runs to back the caliper back off, which was fine because at that point the car was boiling the coolant in the overflow bottle. also, the car was misfiring really badly at the beginning of the day- possibly a combination of old gas and the Bee*R being a complete pile of ****.

started to get better after ignoring the first corner entirely and starting my drift at the second, but spun a lot, hit the cones a lot, and was just generally irritated with my complete lack of driving talent- I was anticipating understeer and was therefore way behind when the car would finally start to rotate.

for my last run my friend (who drives the caged hatch I've posted pictures of before) and I went to the organizer and asked if he could drive, mostly because I wanted to see what the car could do in the hands of someone experienced/talented... turns out the a portion of my trouble learning was due to my car being a complete dickhead. he said that the car was super hard to drive and was kind of surprised that I'd been doing as well as I did. also, he blew the upper rad hose off midway through the last lap, which was pretty funny.

at any rate, I had a good time, got an idea of what I need to do next, and have a huge list of things to fix to make the car drive properly.

[atomicEGT]

the stud on the starter solenoid for the starter ground wire broke off entirely, which would explain why it refused to start the other day. half-assed it back together for now. also fixed the weird tail light issue- turns out if someone puts the wrong bulb in, the dash lights come on with the brakes and the brake lights stay lit up when you turn the lights on.

****ing Nissans.

[CODY004WD]

The NB is coming along. It's gonna look pretty... ugly. But it works. Uhhhhh, I cant wait to finish this project, and clear out the garage... It needs a deep cleaning, and a good re-organization. It'll be nice to have a fresh start for the Escort swap...

[FE3-323]

wth happened to that poor miata again??

[CODY004WD]

The white one got run over by a suicidal grandma in an explorer... With me in it... The red one was the remains of a cheap broken auto trans car, that was bought and parted out for profit, then sold to me... Just a shell and 1 door plus a fender.

[atomicEGT]

replaced my right rear caliper yesterday.

today I did this:



so I can install my PBM subframe risers and toe arms/RUCAs. that'll happen Friday, with the subframe/diff hopefully going back in by Sunday. with any luck the car will be on the street next week.

[CODY004WD]

Took the Torino to the drag strip tonight... Stomped my friends WRX even though I lost 4 tenths in the 60' just spinning. About an hour later it got rained out, left early, and just got home. Oh and Mickey Thompson Drag Radials suck ass-kabobs in the rain too. I was taking it easy on the highway, maybe 45-50mph. It was just a tick more than sprinkling, not quite raining... only used wipers once every 60 seconds type rain... All of a sudden I'm pointing straight at the guy who was in the lane to the left of me! Fishtailed it probably 4 times before it got mostly straight, and then slowly brought it straight over the next 60-100 feet. Not a bad drift actually, except my heart wasn't beating properly. Anyway, luckily the guy in the Nova (or something similar) behind me wasn't on Mickey's or there would have been an expensive accident, he was able to slow down, and by the time I got it straight, I decided to pull onto the shoulder to let my heart re-start, and he trucked on ahead.

Long story short: **** Mickey Thompsons.

[atomicEGT]

yo drag radials suck in the rain, period. the wagon was ****in terrifying.

[CODY004WD]

Yeah, I had a similar experience last season, except my dad was in front of me in the Fairlane, running the same size Mickey's. We were synchronized sideways on the side of Green Mountain. I almost understand those who swap tires at the track... ALMOST.

[atomicEGT]

swapping tires takes all of what, five minutes? maybe?