Happy Feelings Again!!!

Chris: some times as you get older you'll notice having some new feelings

me: in my pants?
Chris: sure
me: about cars?
Chris: um, yes?


So yeah, we took the NeoPandaS14 out for some fun in the rain and sun on Sunday! New suspension all aligned and everything:

The car was on rails. Literally. It went faster than a non-turbocharged 240sx should ever go. I'm wondering if I can get the car aligned like this without heim jointed control arms.... because with some engine work and tweaking this thing would be AWESOME in DSP. Just thinking about how well the car handled makes me feel stupid funny, like I just thought something naughty but I'm not really sure what it is but I daze out and get some silly grin on my face and stare off into nothingness with the epiphany of a handling god.

Yes.

Anyways, congrats to me, Mike, and Wiley! G-Fab season champions for NER in SM, DSP, and FSP!!! YAAAY! Next year we will sweep the region of all classes G-Fab touches. Yes. Beware the wrath of zipties and duct tape and spot welded fender flares.

-PJ
I feel so dreamy.

OMG UPDATES!!

GFab wins DSP again thanks to Mike Shields OMGWTFBBQPWN3Ding the competition. Chris was not too far behind, holding down the 4th spot after placing 6th on Day 1. I'm sure Chris will have some posts when he's SOBER.

Meanwhile, on the homefront, Jenna and I played house:

Yarrrr... off to New Hampshire to make fun of the ricers this weekend. Back soon for more incredible edible updates!

-PJ

HIT EM UP GANGSTA'

Because I was too lazy to subtitle:

1. Spot insurance
2. Be assertive in "persuasion"
3. Get paid
4. Get the girl

How Pandas Deal:

Big pimpin' spendin g's. Almost. STILL working it out but they gave a final number which completely BLOWS and I have to do a ton of work just to break even, but oh well.... at least I can get to work on it. MIGHTY MORPHIN WELDING TIME YEA.

-PJ drunk on MS Visual Basic code

Earmuffs

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FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

Dave White and I will be at Devens this weekend... thanks to the wonderful person who decided alcohol was a good idea in large doses while driving on the highway. After almost hitting Mike's truck... a drunk driver decided to go for accuracy and picked a nice small target: i.e. my 240sx.

Result: an hour of waiting for a cop and a tow truck to get us off the NY Thruway. An hour of waiting for the cop to give us a report (although we did verify that the drunk was being charged). Then 2 hours of waiting for a AAA flatbed to tow my car back to CT.

The's a huge mixture of emotions one goes through when losing something they've devoted a lot of time, effort, and money into....happiness is not one of them :(

GL to the DC guys that made it... I'll be rooting for you. I'll see the rest of you at Devens on Sunday.

-PJ

PS GODDAMMUTHERFUCKINGPOSHIT :( :( :(

PJ Froman, Ziptie King of New Haven

First of all, Scott lacks html embedding skills.



Booya. Scott's run, without nasty links.

Second of all, the diehard crew ran NNJR this Saturday. Chris, Paul, Dave, and I went down to Jersey. That's right, we went to fucking JERSEY to autocross. Knee deep in the armpit of GOD BLESS AMERICA surroundedby vicious jerseyites and risking life and limb in foreign territory.

Good news: panda didn't break

Bad news: we didn't win, but our excuse is that we didn't want to set off the locals or anything. We were scared. We can admit it.

Anyways, here's us vying for RAW FTD because panda is now that fast.

Me:


Dave:


More detailed update later,but right now i'm beat like a red-headed stepchild. Not like the fire-crotch-blazing-hot girls that distract Chris at BMW events, but the ones that make you realize that yes, there is a thing called the "ugly stick" and it is indeed real.

-PJ

High octane fuel is the other 1%.

Took the panda to Bristol Dyno in East Hartford, CT. Loads of fun repeatedly pulling to redline under load. Yaaaay. I'm so excited. And I just can't hide it.

So, after a few shakedown runs, I started getting the hang of the Emanage Ultimate that Jeff at 240sxMotoring convinced me to go with (over DIY ECU daughterboard installs like the Bikirom that Mark went with on "wings"). The thing made tuning very easy, and tons of flexibility and options. Still haven't gotten into the more complicated features, though. Since Dave and Paul will be on the car and I'll be drunk passed out somewhere in a cheap hotel room (yay weddings) I didn't want any chance of anything going haywire. Turbos scare them, unless they work properly, in which case their turbophobia somehow turns into mash-the-gas-itis. It's a common disease, generally found in the less-mature portion of today's society, and most notably, GFab.

Anyways, got the larger injectors working, and forced the ECU to stop dumping fuel (i.e. stuttering). Also had to advance my ignition slightly because retarded ignitions are for the short bus, and everything ended up giong great. The GT2871r that I stole from Mark fawking rocks!! Full boost by 3krpm, and stays there all the way to redline! I'm SOOO *somewhat angered* that I can't drive it for the Devens Tour, but I'm sure Dave and Paul will have *buttloads* of *semi*-hungover *fun*!!

*****....

Here's what they have to work with. I overlayed the dyno tune that Chris and I ran in Georgia, as well as Quag's Civic HX for dramatic effect:

You can see that the power of the turbo is almost on par with the neck-snapping raw power of VTEC found in economy class civics. I was amazed!! YOU CAN ALMOST SEE THE DIFFERENCE!

Also installed some Koni 8611 double adjustable struts, and OTS yellow shocks with stiffer badasser Eibach ERS springs.

Out with the old:

In with the new:

The car is on rails. Damn weddings. I have a 7 drink minimum imposed on me. Sure hope it's open bar....


GOOD LUCK GFAB ON THE BEATINGS OF STREET MODIFIEDS AND "D" & "F" STREET PREPAREDNESS!! And also to DS, GS, and STS..... L!!!

i'm out.
-PJ

Detonation caused by overheating of the 4th cylinder!! The piston looks fine, but I screwed the headgasket. Cometic metal headgasket should be in on monday, along with ARP studs. Fun times!!!

-PJ

Well, not quite a 1-2 finish, but I'll take it.

We're on the way back north now and have finally crossed into mobile internet territory but just got onto I-95 in the Savanna, GA area.

The rain held off until 4th heat, when we were working, but long after we were done running. By then, I had already won my first national tour, though PJ unfortunately stayed in 5th. We'll be working on coaching his mental approach for subsequent events.

The weather was actually quite pleasant in the morning, partly sunny and probably around 60 degrees; good enough weather that we were neither at an immediate disadvantage to the AWD Audi nor did we need to use our rain (snow) tires. The course was essentially Saturday's course run in reverse with some changes but it remained very transition-heavy and speed maintenance based, with the exception of the 180 degree turnaround at the end. My first run was not terrible (aside from running a cone over) though I was too fast into the turnaround which meant I got way out of the boost and it was therefore a costly mistake. My second run was much better and a bit faster; enough to put me back into the lead. That was a good thing because I coned the third run real early then blew into the turnaround too fast which led me to DNF rather than risk flatspotting the front tires. So I stood on my 2nd run and waited around nervously for the competitors to crush my times. Somehow that didn't happen. The Audi driver coned his fast run which otherwise would have been enough to beat me, and the Civic which had power and steering problems on Saturday ended up not finishing all its runs, and I had won. Not a bad day for a car which had no working engine just a couple of weeks ago. Overall, our pace was not nearly what it should have been; I beat BS by only 0.007 seconds.

Next the car is going to need some suspension attention now that the drivetrain is healthy. It has a bit too much body roll, causing it to pick up an inside rear in mid-speed corners, and the formerly adjustable left front shock at least needs attention, if not replacement of all 4 shocks.

Nonetheless, a fun trip so far. PJ tells me he will actually get on and write a post when he happens to be neither driving nor calling. I've just handed him Red Bull #2 of the evening, so surely he won't be sleeping for a while yet.

Final results here.

-Chris

We are still having fun. PJ hasn't quite been on the phone the entire time, but it's been close. I replaced the iPod and have loaded some music on it so I don't have to overhear every phone conversation.

I worked on my tan for a bit...

...and blew right past tan to red.
PJ worked on his tan for a bit...

...and, well, looks about the same as usual.

Now, for the event report:
The practice session on new tires yesterday led us to miss the setup a bit. We found the car a bit loose (I nearly spun my first run) so after 2nd runs, decided to let some air out of the rear tires. That led to the rear sticking a lot better, and gave us a much better balanced car. It still severely needs new shocks, but it went fast enough for me to hold the lead over a big Audi S4 by 0.156 sec. I should have been faster, having made some mistakes I can easily account for. PJ held onto 5th, with a 38.571. For those keeping track, I'm beating him by 0.567. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th are very tight as well, so we have strong potential for things to move around after tomorrow's runs. I'll really need to be on my game and have dry weather to hold the lead. Unfortunately, dry weather does not really look too likely, but we will see. Our only real rain tire option are the set of Dunlop snow tires, which we used to get here, and will need for the drive home as well it seems.
The car has really gotten a lot of attention, usually of the nature such as "you guys really drove that all the way from Connecticut?" We've also received some "wow, you're pretty fast in that thing," though the fast guys in AS are beating us, never mind super stock.
We also ran into another New Englander here:

Like the other guy from Vernon, CT at the event, Jinx is also winning. His lead is somewhat more commanding, and he has actual rain tires.
Saturday results are here.

For all the New Englanders following at home, we made it safely to the site today. Only a minor glitch encountered... a part throttle stutter which seemed to have stemmed from a loose underhood connection. In reality, there are many loose underhood connections but this one actually seemed to be problematic. Reseating it, as well as applying a liberal dose of zipties, allowed us to get the rest of the way without further trouble.

PJ seemed both happy to arrive and happy to be once again autocrossing, once he remembered that a full size car doesn't quite drive like a kart.

We did manage to get 3 practice runs in each to get the tires scrubbed. Temps were in the mid-70s so we had more grip than we expect to have first heat tomorrow and found that we are getting enough loading to cause the car to lift the inside rear wheel. We realized that the car has way too much tire in the rear for the power it's making so we opted not to lower the rear pressures down to what would otherwise be regarded as a more "proper" level.

We also realized that the car really needs new shocks but budget and time constraints interfere...
The site is long and relatively narrow, though a decent size, and the asphalt is reminiscent of Heartland Park but with what seems to be less sand and more grip. We have course maps but they are only vaguely like the actual course. More to report, but we run first heat.
-Chris

No, we're not there yet

We just passed the halfway point about a half hour ago, around 1145pm... PJ's back driving for his 2nd stint. Looks like we will make it there for practice. Happily, the rain stopped and the sun came out before we got out of NJ.
Yes, it does seem likely the site will be of a similar size to NHIS, but it's difficult to autocross in New Hampshire in February, so we'll settle for the 70+ degree forecast for Fri/Sat/Sun.
The iPod, so far, has been the only mechanical failure... we are keeping our fingers crossed.

The iPod has died

We're not even 2 hours in and the iPod is dead.
Traffic is crap, and it's raining... but this is fun, somehow, and we're all the way into NJ. More reports later.

Damn my restrictive exhaust. I can't wait to run a new downpipe without the cat, and with the Greddy DD exhaust on there. Although, for the next 1000 or so miles I'll probably appreciate street legal decibels. Bristol Dyno's new shop is nice, but full of DSM's. So much more room than the old shop, and now there's actual tools and stuff around in case of an emergency. Anyways, I did some tuning, and found out my AEM A/F gauge is slightly off. I'm not sure if that's just because of the location or something, though (downpipe vs tailpipe). Here's the results of an hour long dyno session:

My boost is trailing off more than it should be, and it's most likely due to the inefficiency in the exhaust and possible intercooler. I'll have to remedy that later on. I also got a bit of high RPM sputter, which was probably spark plugs. The electrical system is gonna need to be revamped later on, but I'll wait untill I have a good enough fuel system to even bother screwing with before I tackle that.

-PJ

So, I have wheels that are the wrong offset. They're 18x12 with 6.75" backspacing, but I really need 8" backspacing. This means the wheels stick out slightly. With the Georgia SCCA Tour event this weekend, I needed a quick fix.

Option1:
Overfenders. They're big and bulky. Not sure if they're wide enough for what I want in the end. They cost a #@% to ship.

Option2:
Rivet on flares. They're less bulky, and they're cheaper to ship. They MIGHT be big enough for what I want.... but they're still like $200 shipped for crappy fiberglass ones that might not even fit right anyways.

Option3:
Custom make my own flares. Cost: Free. No shipping. Just tons of fun burning myself with weld splatter and cutting my fingers on sharp edges!!! Yay! I still have a couple fingers left to type with even!


So, option3 works, but there's 100 ways to skin a kat.... which made 245hp on a 10psi run. Ran out of fuel somehow, which is completely due to the MAF/ECU/SAFC setup :-/ fuel is fine up high, crap down low!. Also, the catalytic convertor and the new exhaust are overly restrictive. I'll be back at Bristol Dyno after working out a new fuel system (bikirom + MAP probably).

Back to the story: I'd been talking to Carl at Soundworksinc.net about doing some custom touring car style fenders, which I'll probably end up doing after Georgia since I messed up the driver's side tub. The easiest way we agreed on was to cut the wheel arch out, and bracket it in place where we want it to be, then shape mold foam blocks into the buldge of the widebody and layer fiberglass over it to connect the wheel well to the body. F(*&(%^ that, I don't have that time at the moment (although I will later). I'm going the simple route.

So, sawzall in hand, I went outside to f(*&# some s*(& up.

The first step is to plan something. I think I ignored this step on the driver's side, but that's half of why I'm writing this: so you guys don't mess up (because I care. I really do). I traced an outline of what I wanted (dirt and grime makes for an easy sketch) and went to work. For the fender cut, you want to take only the outer fender skin after your initial notch.

The next cut should be right along the lip of the fender on the inside (tub) section, so that you end up with as much of the tub as possible. I then cut slots into the tub section so I could hammer it up:

Ignore the bad cut. It'll be covered later. Just make sure that you've got room for your wheels.

Once that's accomplished, undo the shock mount and mount your wheel. Use a jack to bring the wheel up to where you think your suspension might go. After that, set the fender lip to where you want it (ideally clearing the tire) and tack it in place a few times.

Then stand back and take a few s@(%^y pictures yourself!

Another thing that was accomplished since my last post is the OBX HLSD. I've gotta say, this thing bites pretty well. I didn't get a chance to really notice Mark's S15 diff due to the rear wheel lift issues, but I feel as though the OBX has a bit better torque biasing (if that's a word). Occasionally with enough throttle my inside wheel will lock a bit and I'll get some tire chatter. Through some spirited street driving I was thoroughly impressed. Hopefully it can handle 3x the tires, though. On a side side note, the diff was shimmed up and assembled by Competition Gear in Maynared, MA, down the street from FunHondas. I haven't had any issues with it yet, and I've done around 200 miles on the diff so far. Having it professionally done might be the difference between the OBX horror stories and having a working diff.

Anyways, tonight I've gotta pack the car up, take care of some small stuff and head on down to Georgia on Thursday.

BTW, I know there's a ton of spelling errors. I have no fingers. Gimme' a break.

-PJ

PJ and I got the car put back together today, only a couple minor issues, mostly involving timing, but it seems to be running well now.

Issue #1: "It seems like it should run..."

Issue #2: "I think this is how the steering column goes back together..."

And finally, with the car actually running:

Driving the car tonight, I realize that sitting in that seat for 1000+ miles is going to be interesting at best... we'd better place 1 and 2.
-Chris

ALL HAIL THE KA24DE TURBO!!

The new engine sees daylight once again, having been dormant for just about a year now, thanks to an incorrectly torqued rod bolt and a backwards bearing. No, I didn't build it. If I did, I'd have been drunk and put it on right, and my engine would be powered the GFab way: by alcohol.
The old oil pan needed some attention, but rather than do what we do best (hit things with a hammer), I welded up an oil drain fitting to a new(er) oil pan. I played with fire. It was fun. Oil pan + welder = good times.

Add a transmission and accessorize and this badboy is ready for some Panda fun!! Notice Quag bowing to the awesomeness that is the ironblock 4-cylinder engine of doom.

Engine is mounted, and as it stands tonight, the entire intake side is done, transmission filled and shifter installed, wiring slightly mended, and the car is ready for the radiator. The one snag, is that Quag is incapable of installing a bolt onto a flange, but more on that story later. I'm dead tired, and my engine bay is less sad looking.

Tomorrow I'll start this fucker and get this Panda broken in so it can go find some speed :P

-PJ

...or how I made my car smell like a tire factory. Tires for the Panda, in transit.

-Chris

Welcome to the GFab blog. The first event is February 24th - 25th, all the way down in Georgia. We seem to have encountered some technical difficulties, though:
- The car has no engine
- The engine has no head
- I'm out of granola bars at work

And so, the mad dash to get the car up and running, and reliable, begins!!


- PJ