[Toshi]

if you're going to make it a pure race car w/cage and all it'd make MUCH more sense to get a used Spec Miata. not as "manly" at some crude level neaky: but readily available, on the verge of being practical, cheap tires, etc.

see the classifieds at www.specmiata.com

 

[Toshi]

ooh, finally on page 79 -- no more loading millions of images, at least until this page gets clogged up, too.

anyway, my question of the day to the peanut gallery is whether this is a stupid plan:

- buy back WRX assuming reasonable price
- store in garage on stands
- try to part it out by myself whenever i get a spare hour or two

this would require me to a) learn how to take a car apart if not put it back together, and b) acquire some more tools. i guess i'd also need c), the approval of my housemates to take over the garage indefinitely .

thoughts on the sanity of this idea?

if i'm going to part the car out, i'm going to part it out COMPLETELY, and if i do the labor myself it'll be much more fruitful financially, plus i'll get better acquainted with the mechnical workings of the modern automobile...

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

ooh, finally on page 79 -- no more loading millions of images, at least until this page gets clogged up, too.

anyway, my question of the day to the peanut gallery is whether this is a stupid plan:

- buy back WRX assuming reasonable price
- store in garage on stands
- try to part it out by myself whenever i get a spare hour or two

this would require me to a) learn how to take a car apart if not put it back together, and b) acquire some more tools. i guess i'd also need c), the approval of my housemates to take over the garage indefinitely .

thoughts on the sanity of this idea?

if i'm going to part the car out, i'm going to part it out COMPLETELY, and if i do the labor myself it'll be much more fruitful financially, plus i'll get better acquainted with the mechnical workings of the modern automobile...

taking out a wrx gearbox is rather complicated, you´d need at least an extra set of hand for that. i´ve personally not dont that kinda thing, but my friends all swear is quite a pain in the ass.
you´d need a crane for the engine too. for other parts, nothing a reciprocating saw cannot fix.
dissambling a car isnt hard, just a bunch of wires and a few bolts. the tricky part if putting it back together. the body is quite easy. 3 bolts and the doors are out. starting with the interiors would be ideal, so you dont rip or dent anything while taking out the other parts.
the suspension is rather tricky (and dangerous if you do it without expert supervision for the first time). besides the gearbox and suspension i dont see why it wouldnt work out.

drop me a line once if you ever decide to sell and have an idea on what kinda price you´d ask. it could make a mean racecar for somebody here.

 

[Toshi]

i'll let you know when i find out the buyback price. at that time i'll try to figure out how much parting out would net, etc.

now that i think of it the best way to go probably would be to buy the car back at a good price, part out the simple things with high return and comparatively easy removal (water injection, stereo, interior bits, wheels/tires, brake rotors?, coilovers) and then sell the rest of the car to a local wrecking yard such as aaron's auto, which is a subaru-only yard in my neighborhood.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

toshi, check this out and die.

a friend of mine snapped this pictures.
1972 challenger r/t spotted in the ghetto. check out the stripes.. looks like it might be the original paint
friend located and talked to the owner (the guy lives there, according to him, his dad bought the car many many years ago) on the spot, guy not interested in a sale.

 

[Toshi]

meh, big american cars aren't my thing. that's awesome that it's in original condition tho.

<-- just got done driving the expedition 400 miles back from oregon. that's a big american vehicle for ya . picked up a smelly hitchhiker in salem, oregon and took him up to seattle as my token act of charity for <insert timeframe here>.

 

[Toshi]

train ride pics from saturday: took a bus to the train station, then a train from seattle-portland, and then two buses from portland-eugene-coos bay. also sorta picked up on a uw freshman on legs 1 and 2 of the journey , we'll see how that turns out.

 

[WTGPhoben]

train ride pics from saturday: took a bus to the train station, then a train from seattle-portland, and then two buses from portland-eugene-coos bay. also sorta picked up on a uw freshman on legs 1 and 2 of the journey , we'll see how that turns out.

Nifty blur effect.

I did some shooting myself over the weekend, taking some (paying) pics for the Boston Bike Film Festival. To make a long story short, it was a study in 1600 ISO (the whole event was in a dark movie theater, even when the movies weren't playing).

http://www.phoben.com/photos/pgal/gallery.aspx?AlbumID=549&subs=False

teaser:

 

[Toshi]

ooh, that's cool. what's the story?

also, are email notifications broken for everyone else, too?

 

[Toshi]

 

[WTGPhoben]

ooh, that's cool. what's the story?

also, are email notifications broken for everyone else, too?

The event was plagued by a myriad of problems, from not having a DVD player, to then having one but it not working, to there not being enough programs, and most importantly they couldn't find the cleaning lights in the theater, so I had to shoot the whole reception at ISO 1600, guessing at the focus because it was too dark for auto (even with the assist beam) and definitely too dark to see well enough for manual.

I always wondered when I would need that backlight on the little LCD...

I'm still getting email.

 

[Toshi]

most definitely not in my budget, but the hotness nonetheless:

PONTIAC SOLSTICE CLUB SPORT (Z0K)
Winning in the showrooms and on the racetrack, the Pontiac Solstice is fresh off its first-ever Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Showroom Stock B National Championship, and this fully race-prepared Solstice Club Sport is a shining example of how weekend racers should equip their own Solstice for success in SCCA. All SCCA Club Racing Solstices are equipped with the Z0K Club Sport regular production order option, and this Solstice is no different. Developed by GM Performance Division, the Club Sport option features the standard five-speed manual transmission along with anti-lock brake system (ABS), a limited-slip differential and FE3 suspension. The FE3 suspension is made up of lower control arms with higher-rate bushings, larger stabilizer bars, stiffer stabilizer bar bushings, endlinks and clamps, performance-valved shocks and higher rate springs.

Powered by a 177-hp, 2.4-liter Ecotec engine with a five-speed manual transmission, no other options are available when ordering a Solstice Club Sport, but this SEMA version also features some standard components and safety equipment required by SCCA to make it track ready, including a removable carbon fiber hardtop, rollcage, Hoosier 245/35R18 racing ties, Stainless Steel Brakes Corp. racing brakes, Sparco six-point safety harness and fire suppression system. Racetech racing seats, cat-back exhaust, Sparco racing steering wheel and an Orange Crush paint scheme make this Solstice Club Sport ready to take on all challengers.

Vehicle highlights

Ecotec 2.4-liter I-4 VVT
Five-speed manual transmission
Z0K Club Sport regular production order option package, which includes ABS, limited slip rear differential and FE3 suspension
Custom-painted removable carbon fiber hardtop
Cat-back exhaust system
Racetech racing seats
Hoosier 245/35R18 racing tires
Standard safety equipment, including a roll cage, fire suppression system and Sparco six-point harness
Custom, Orange Crush racing-inspired paint scheme
Stainless Steel Brakes Corp. racing brakes

 

[Toshi]

this is also a fun read:

http://www.musketeerracing.com/comparo.html

as is this in some perverse manner:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?p=1333

finally, go search on btjunkie.org for "Too fast to race". it's about the heyday of Group B rallying... mmm.

 

[Toshi]

a tripartite post:

part the first:

i _still_ have not received a valuation from the insurance company. i had a preliminary estimate of $15.5k last thursday, but that was before i submitted any receipts for the modifications. do note that i had $4k in additional coverage for the mods, so might even get $18k for the car? (i know, 18-15.5 is less than 4, but the 15.5 figure included some generic allowances for "aftermarket wheels", "spoiler", "lowered suspension" that will be deprecated/obsoleted by my self-provided mod list.)

$18k would be quite nice: i bought the car for 13, but of course have put quite a bit more into it since then. on the other hand, i've also pulled things and sold them as well. furthermore, 18 is a lot more than i could have realistically gotten for the car as it was before, complete and running.

moral of the story: modifications only add value to resale if you have them insured and total your car.

as for reselling the hulk, i'm going to try to do it locally, and this week, for the flat rate of $1k over the buyback price, with the item being sold being the whole, wrecked car. it doesn't help in this endeavour that the insurance company hasn't told me what the buyback price is.

also, i found out that the timing belt was broken in the wreck. this is significant because the body shop people tried to crank the car over. the WRX's engine is an interference design: this means that cranking the car with a broken timing belt implies wrecked internals, or at least new valves and pistons. not good for resale values of the wrecked car, as you'd imagine, but further insurance that the car will (remain) totaled.

part the second:

i'm swamped with work. finally school is catching up to its reputation. on the upside, part of this workload is my fault, as i enlisted as cheap grad student labor on a research project mapping out cortical structure and volumes using MRI data.

this isn't the specific study i'm contributing to, but is by the same dude/lab: http://www.nida.nih.gov/whatsnew/meetings/pediatric/dager.html

what this means in terms of this thread, besides whiny posts from me, is that i don't anticipate being able to ride, ski, or shoot much until, say, mid-february. might get in some of the latter two activities over winter break, i suppose.

part the third:

i've figured out a little more of what i'll be searching for when i reemerge to the world following my surgery rotation in mid-february:

- 1994-1997 miata. changes over the years for reference. this is because i like the older "NA"/pop-up headlight body style better, not to mention that the cars will be cheaper to buy and insure.

autocross also plays in (reference): the 1999-up miatas are in C Stock, whereas the 1990-1997 miatas are in E Stock, a class with an easier index. there were no 1998 miatas.

- this miata must have the Torsen limited slip differential. (this is another reason to go 1994-up, as the 1990-1993 ones had a viscous LSD, which is ineffective and basically no good for autox.)

- it'd be nice if this miata were a R Package: lighter, better shocks, standard LSD. however, i'd certainly settle for just the LSD vs. hunting for a rare car.

- must be low(ish) mileage, appropriate for the year.

- must be local to seattle, and i'll get it checked out at a local miata shop, after finding out which independent garage specializes in them.

- must not be modified. this is both because of my sobering experience with reliability of modded cars with my ex-WRX , and also because i want to stay in E Stock for autocross purposes. (again the allowable Stock class mods are front swaybar, struts-of-same-length-but-different-damping-but-not-springs, air filter element [only, not the whole intake], and catback exhaust.)

you can tell the above is an old photo as he's running in B Stock. cars move down the ranks as they get older -- as i wrote above, this generation of miata is now in E Stock, a much softer class.

 

[Toshi]

 

[Toshi]

a cool photo from http://rion.nu (no space age bubble things today!)

 

[narlus]

The event was plagued by a myriad of problems, from not having a DVD player, to then having one but it not working, to there not being enough programs, and most importantly they couldn't find the cleaning lights in the theater, so I had to shoot the whole reception at ISO 1600, guessing at the focus because it was too dark for auto (even with the assist beam) and definitely too dark to see well enough for manual.

I always wondered when I would need that backlight on the little LCD...

I'm still getting email.

welcome to my world. 3200 can be yr friend too.

 

[Toshi]

http://www.treeline-designs.com/

 

[Toshi]

"in our respective elements", the gimmick being that these were shot an hour apart. no, it's not ski season yet, but i had to pack 'em up as i headed out to idaho again yesterday. this particular photo is for a $1k contest at evogear.com, as i bought them from evo last season.

 

[Toshi]

this should interest alexis in particular, and many of you who have an eye for a clean layout:

http://windingroad.com/

(and http://windingroad.com/download/)

feel free to enter my junkmail address as a subscriber when it prompts you: spiky_dog . yahoo.com with the appropriate character inserted

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/ is also well done, but lacks the feeling of a total package. it's more a blog than anything, not to damn it with too much faint praise.

 

[WTGPhoben]

"in our respective elements", the gimmick being that these were shot an hour apart. no, it's not ski season yet, but i had to pack 'em up as i headed out to idaho again yesterday. this particular photo is for a $1k contest at evogear.com, as i bought them from evo last season.

I don't get it. Who's the attractive woman in the dress? What does she have to do with a picture of you and a pair of skis you submitted to a contest?

 

[Toshi]

the contrast in style of dress and setting is the point. we're both classmates thus superficially similar yet aren't really

 

[WTGPhoben]

the contrast in style of dress and setting is the point. we're both classmates thus superficially similar yet aren't really

deep.

Totally unrelated - This car review made me drool. Seriously drool: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?p=2545

"Forget violence, you are now driving war."

how's that for a marketing slogan?

 

[Barbaton]

deep.

Totally unrelated - This car review made me drool. Seriously drool: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?p=2545

"Forget violence, you are now driving war."

how's that for a marketing slogan?

Los Jalopniks have been reviewing it and weren't that enamoured. They thought its fast but lousy brakes and no good if you have false teeth.

Toshi, you'll appreciate this:

 

[WTGPhoben]

Los Jalopniks have been reviewing it and weren't that enamoured. They thought its fast but lousy brakes and no good if you have false teeth.

I was most impressed by the writing of the review, and brakes are easily replaced, just like false teeth

 

[Toshi]

I was most impressed by the writing of the review, and brakes are easily replaced, just like false teeth

you can't argue with physics, tho: the RS4 is heavy, plain and simple.

 

[Toshi]

(porsche 956. 6:41 around the nurburgring <-- that's FAST. group C car? <looks it up> yeah: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porsche_956)

 

[Toshi]

so things have changed a lot recently:

- my father is switching practices, from coos bay, oregon to spokane, washington.
- the parents just completed the house, which went significantly over budget.
- the parents just bought a second house in spokane.
- the insurance company seems to have come up with a high valuation for my wrecked WRX: i called for it today as i received word that it was done, but the adjuster couldn't give me the number since it was over some threshold above which she needed to get approval from higher-up beancounters.

the net result of this is that the parents now want the expedition back, so my grand plan of expedition + miata is now completely out the window.

new plan:

- get paid the big $$ by the insurance company
- return from idaho to seattle at end of rotation in expedition (mid-december -- i have two weeks off for xmas break).
- find and buy a new-to-me car in those two weeks
- drive expedition back down to oregon, fly? train? bus? back empty-handed.

which brings me to the same question, only in the latest iteration: what car to get?

it can't be something quite as totally impractical as a miata, sadly, but i'm not sure that i need or want awd. i don't think i'll go with another subaru, for instance. budget is still indeterminate, and will hinge to a huge degree on what the insurance company ultimately pays out.

stay tuned to this channel for more mind-numbingly boring updates in this neverending saga.

 

[Toshi]

which brings me to the same question, only in the latest iteration: what car to get?

it can't be something quite as totally impractical as a miata, sadly, but i'm not sure that i need or want awd. i don't think i'll go with another subaru, for instance. budget is still indeterminate, and will hinge to a huge degree on what the insurance company ultimately pays out.

come join the fun on google spreadsheets:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pQ2qLNRonuOUzO5Szqv-wHg

post or PM your gmail address if you want to be able to edit it, too.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

mini coopers are $11k???? daaaaaaaaamn.. i saw a used S here for $33k a few months ago. my little sister wants one bad. $11k seems a kick ass deal..... for a totally ghey-mobil though.

the 350z is a pretty car with a very nice interior. thats enough to get my vote.

 

[Toshi]

the 350Z is purdy, yeah.

i think the $11k mini price might be a little low in reality, as i've seen most minis in the paper with higher asking prices, but maybe that's what they end up going for.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

the 350Z is purdy, yeah.

i think the $11k mini price might be a little low in reality, as i've seen most minis in the paper with higher asking prices, but maybe that's what they end up going for.

thats one of the things i envy and miss the most about the US..
cars (and toys) are so ridiculously cheap....

a ´03 350z for $16k!!.
thats less than the retail of my ´06 yaris!!!

 

[Toshi]

at first i thought a 2 seater would be completely impractical as a sole vehicle just by virtue of being small: i do have to move my junk to boise and to jackson in the upcoming months. but i think it might work with a small trailer:

http://www.mainstreet-data.com/trailer/index.htm for instance. about $250 in parts and some labor will yield a great little trailer, which also could be used to carry some (a small bit) of said junk when moving...

the equivalent trailer mentioned, only with 12" wheels vs. 8" to be more stable, have less bearing wear:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90153

with a hitch installed all manner of ski and bike racks are possible, too... hmm

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

so, am doing a couple road races this austral summer. yay!
am in the market for a new suit and helmet...

open face helmet is be preferred, as it gets hot.
toshi, recommendations?
preferably a plain white one so i can get it painted jackie stewart style, but instead of scottish motives, a stripe made out of inca decoration or something to look cool like that.

the suit, check this sparco one out. how kickass!! its nomex, but it has the looks of the 60s.

although it doesnt seem to have the shoulder straps which could prove to be a safety liability... hmmm...
recommendations on suits?

 

[Toshi]

i actually have no idea about "real" racing gear. i just use my non-nomex driving shoes and 6 yr old Answer M8 motox helmet...

places to look for advice: Motorsports forum on NASIOC, search for "driving suit". or sccaforums.com

 

[Toshi]

finally found out the insurance company payout: $19300 and change, minus my $1k deductible. the car was actually valued at 21200 but my $4k in mod coverage wasn't enough. still not a bad figure, especially since i bought the car for $13k.

however, i crunched the numbers for the life of the car, and they are not favorable at all: unless i'm missing something this car has cost me something like $8300, independent of operating expenses (gas, registration, insurance). this over 13 months in which i drove ~23,000 miles. that's 36 cents a mile before the actual costs of running it...

so it's been an expensive ride, filled with breakdowns galore but also with plenty of entertainment. will this deter me from buying a modified car next time, or even a subaru? you bet it will...

 

[WTGPhoben]

finally found out the insurance company payout: $19300 and change, minus my $1k deductible. the car was actually valued at 21200 but my $4k in mod coverage wasn't enough. still not a bad figure, especially since i bought the car for $13k.

however, i crunched the numbers for the life of the car, and they are not favorable at all: unless i'm missing something this car has cost me something like $8300, independent of operating expenses (gas, registration, insurance). this over 13 months in which i drove ~23,000 miles. that's 36 cents a mile before the actual costs of running it...

so it's been an expensive ride, filled with breakdowns galore but also with plenty of entertainment. will this deter me from buying a modified car next time, or even a subaru? you bet it will...

Now let's not be mean to subi. Your recently deceased friend was a known drag racer in its youth. You've gotta expect a little extra wear and tear...

 

[Toshi]

Now let's not be mean to subi. Your recently deceased friend was a known drag racer in its youth. You've gotta expect a little extra wear and tear...

true. ultimately, the stuff that broke couldn't be directly traced back to drag racing, tho:

- alternator belt, probably due to improper size choice by lazy previous owner.
- fuel pump, which would have been simple were it not for the fact that the mods kept the dealer from working on the car. instead, the tuning shop needed a month to hunt down the problem, and along the way sundry other parts were replaced.

oh well.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

this is a rather beautiful picture of a place i´d usually consider among the most sucky-sucky in town.... i´ve actually never seen it like that. not mine btw. just saw it on a website and it really strike me cold.

 

[Toshi]

maybe i'm overreacting, but i've actually been thinking about getting something like this, or one of the other "baby cars" (pictured is kia rio, but also see hyundai accent, honda fit, toyota yaris, nissan versa)

in all honesty, something like this would probably be the most practical choice for me: a good warranty, 10/100 powertrain on the kia (!), cheap to insure, enough room to haul my stuff without a trailer... and i guess i could get another set of steelies, put V710s on, and toss it around in H Stock. i'd get whipped on by the Minis, but it'd be a more useful car than a 2002 Mini.

agh. i don't want to grow up