Google Maps. Your best friend. Your only friend. Soooo awesome having LIVE ACTION TRAFFIC REPORT.
It's 3:01 PM. We're on the tail end of I-95 about to hit NY, leaving towards the later part of our scheduled departure. The car is loaded. We have way too many tools. Way too many drinks. Extra fuel. 5.6L of towing power. 600 miles to go.
-PJ
(Total times hitting traffic: 1)
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Holy Toledo! Muffin Tops and Breakfast Sandwiches
Today at work we did a pot luck breakfast before the weekend. I brought in muffins but can only seem to get through the top before discarding the bottom in a wasteful manner which seems to provide some analogy for my life as a whole. Hopefully, I'll have some muffins to eat while possibly stuck in traffic along I-80.
You read that right. Despite the overwhelming mass of people who will be taking the upstate NY route to Toledo, Dave and I are planning on following one of G-Fab's most sacred traditions:
Drive fast. Take chances.
Drive fast? 70mph is fast, right? Maybe Dave will brave 75mph (I aim for 13 mpg). We're definitely taking chances though. There's a chance we'll hit traffic and arrive in Toledo at the same time as everyone else, and there's a chance we'll be scott free all the way to Toledo, where we'll be Scott-full, since he's sharing a room with us at the oh-so-popular Days Inn.
Anyways, before embarking on this journey, I took the liberty of preparing the 240sx for its next conquest. This ordeal involved:
- Oil change. This is only exciting because I'm now using Valvoline VR1 RACING oil. It must be good because it's specifically formulated for RACING, right? I'm hoping the anti-foam properties help in keeping the turbo from foamulating my oil and possibly reducing my oilability. I'm also running straight 60 wt in hopes of reducing oil blow-by, as well as expecting a lot of heat in Toledo. I hope I'm not wrong.
- New old spark plugs. I had some Iridiums already gapped and ready to go. They've been sitting on my desk forever. I pulled the old copper plugs and they were somewhat gritty coming out, but nothing some PB Blaster couldn't fix. I'm really hoping nothing is fucked, but I also hope I didn't lose any compression through the plugs being dirty and not fully seated.
- Compression. Check. While the plugs were out, I had Jenna crank it over. 180 across the board. My rings are good.
- Reworked crankcase breather. My evac check valve is seized shut, so for now I'm just running a breather line. Blow-by seems to be reduced, and hopefully oil consumption will go down. The rings should seat better as well, so I should have more power and less chance of detonation! Win-win!
Also, some newly installed parts since last week that I meant to put up include:
- New rear shocks:
- PJ
(fueled by an overabundance of breakfast)
Monday, June 30, 2008
Swapping Pos's and Made from Real Lightning
DC Late Update:
So it’s like a week later, and it’s still just sinking in that I lost by what should’ve been the difference between a good and bad 60′ for my car. As depressingly upsetting as that could possibly be, I’m still somewhat relatively happy. For the first time ever, I beat the Travis Cibic y0, and I won my first Hoosier. Not a bad haul, eh?
Still, I’m only still now realizing that the class was decided by thousandths of a second. Had Chris not red-lit his best left run, or had I nicked a cone or swayed from the line on either or both of my last runs, the results would have been resoundingly different. At times, the three leaders were within a couple tenths of each other, with Dave not far behind waiting to put an upset on all of us. In the end, it was really anyone’s game, and I’m left with the consolation of knowing exactly where I need to make up my time.
GG DC. GG.
So, after DC came this past Sunday, which included a fun filled day with NER at Devens, MA. After DC, I added some new rear shocks (replaced? swapped?). The car now sits on double adjustable Koni shocks on all four corners. After screwing around with the alignment for a few hours, we took the car out and Dave and I ended up neck and neck. Just 0.011 seconds seperated us after morning runs, with the two of us sitting in the #4 and #5 PAX slots.
In the afternoon, we made some changes to the car, and gained some time. Unfortunately for Dave, he also gained some cones, and had to depend on his fastest morning run to retain his 2nd place position in the class. I ended up dropping about 0.8 with some added compression adjustment to the rear shocks. In the overall PAX list, I dropped to 5th (I hear Brian Levesque cheated and stole a run from/ got advice from Grant, who I also heard cheated and drove on a computer simulation of the course) and Dave dropped to 9th. Still a decent overall finish for the G-Fab 240sx.
That’s all I have for now, because I’m boring and bored at the same time.
Here’s some video of my best run, with Jenna along for the ride.
-PJ
So it’s like a week later, and it’s still just sinking in that I lost by what should’ve been the difference between a good and bad 60′ for my car. As depressingly upsetting as that could possibly be, I’m still somewhat relatively happy. For the first time ever, I beat the Travis Cibic y0, and I won my first Hoosier. Not a bad haul, eh?
Still, I’m only still now realizing that the class was decided by thousandths of a second. Had Chris not red-lit his best left run, or had I nicked a cone or swayed from the line on either or both of my last runs, the results would have been resoundingly different. At times, the three leaders were within a couple tenths of each other, with Dave not far behind waiting to put an upset on all of us. In the end, it was really anyone’s game, and I’m left with the consolation of knowing exactly where I need to make up my time.
GG DC. GG.
So, after DC came this past Sunday, which included a fun filled day with NER at Devens, MA. After DC, I added some new rear shocks (replaced? swapped?). The car now sits on double adjustable Koni shocks on all four corners. After screwing around with the alignment for a few hours, we took the car out and Dave and I ended up neck and neck. Just 0.011 seconds seperated us after morning runs, with the two of us sitting in the #4 and #5 PAX slots.
In the afternoon, we made some changes to the car, and gained some time. Unfortunately for Dave, he also gained some cones, and had to depend on his fastest morning run to retain his 2nd place position in the class. I ended up dropping about 0.8 with some added compression adjustment to the rear shocks. In the overall PAX list, I dropped to 5th (I hear Brian Levesque cheated and stole a run from/ got advice from Grant, who I also heard cheated and drove on a computer simulation of the course) and Dave dropped to 9th. Still a decent overall finish for the G-Fab 240sx.
That’s all I have for now, because I’m boring and bored at the same time.
Here’s some video of my best run, with Jenna along for the ride.
-PJ
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Got Crabs?
Day 1:
SM:
Chris Travis leads by .122. Competition is tight. 3rd place trails me (in 2nd) by 0.023. Fucking all-wheel-drive puts a half second on me by 60'. Time to start looking into launch control for the 240. Dave overdrove all day and is in 4th, behind me by .15'ish. It's reeaaal close. If it's dry tomorrow, things will be interesting.
DSP:
Mike leads by cleaning up his runs. No clue how the rest follows, but I think Alex is in 2nd.
FSP:
Quag improved by 2.7 seconds going into the afternoon. His position in 3rd did not change as a result.
DS:
I just can't watch it. It's too gruesome. I need a 40 to pour. Perhaps into Dave, which might help him drive tomorrow.
Other than that, it was hot. I'm exhausted. I like showers.
-PJ
Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and desert you.
SM:
Chris Travis leads by .122. Competition is tight. 3rd place trails me (in 2nd) by 0.023. Fucking all-wheel-drive puts a half second on me by 60'. Time to start looking into launch control for the 240. Dave overdrove all day and is in 4th, behind me by .15'ish. It's reeaaal close. If it's dry tomorrow, things will be interesting.
DSP:
Mike leads by cleaning up his runs. No clue how the rest follows, but I think Alex is in 2nd.
FSP:
Quag improved by 2.7 seconds going into the afternoon. His position in 3rd did not change as a result.
DS:
I just can't watch it. It's too gruesome. I need a 40 to pour. Perhaps into Dave, which might help him drive tomorrow.
Other than that, it was hot. I'm exhausted. I like showers.
-PJ
Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and desert you.
Uphill Battles
Practice starts were yesterday, with the start line for each course on a major uphill incline. This makes for an interesting launch, with the need to e-brake the car in staging, to hold it as you clutch and gas in while the lights drop. On the green (or 3rd yellow), it's a furious fumbling of frantic e-brake and simultaneous clutch action!
240sx: Too much power. Couldn't get a good start till the 12th or so practice start, resulting in a slightly bogged 1.9 sec 60ft. The 2step isn't working as consistently as we'd like, so it looks like "normal" starts for us! Maybe we'll shoot some fireballs after we're winning going into the 2nd round. Dave, however, managed to win $20 by perfecting his timing, with a .500 R/T (which is 0.000 at the green for you non-prosolo-ers).
BMW: It's a BMW. Mike struggled a bit on launch, but I think it was just to give Chris a false sense of confidence with his 2.0 60' starts.
510: It eventually made it to the 60' (2.4+)!!!!! The uphill is going to be painful for the poor little dime, but what comes up must come down!! The way back on each course should be a good thing for the 510 and its narrow track.
3: It's FWD, but it's boosted. Chances are, the "zippy" nature of the course and the uphilling will give it an advantage over the ITR's. Who knows if it'll keep that momentum on the turnbacks, where both courses can punish an overaggressive approach.
VtEK Cibic y0: Same as it's been for like, a brazillion years.
Smokey the ITR: Not quite as smokey as the 240, at least.
Today is day 1 of competition. We're gonna be late leaving, so I'm gonna post more later.
I need donuts and coffee.
Serious.
-PJ
240sx: Too much power. Couldn't get a good start till the 12th or so practice start, resulting in a slightly bogged 1.9 sec 60ft. The 2step isn't working as consistently as we'd like, so it looks like "normal" starts for us! Maybe we'll shoot some fireballs after we're winning going into the 2nd round. Dave, however, managed to win $20 by perfecting his timing, with a .500 R/T (which is 0.000 at the green for you non-prosolo-ers).
BMW: It's a BMW. Mike struggled a bit on launch, but I think it was just to give Chris a false sense of confidence with his 2.0 60' starts.
510: It eventually made it to the 60' (2.4+)!!!!! The uphill is going to be painful for the poor little dime, but what comes up must come down!! The way back on each course should be a good thing for the 510 and its narrow track.
3: It's FWD, but it's boosted. Chances are, the "zippy" nature of the course and the uphilling will give it an advantage over the ITR's. Who knows if it'll keep that momentum on the turnbacks, where both courses can punish an overaggressive approach.
VtEK Cibic y0: Same as it's been for like, a brazillion years.
Smokey the ITR: Not quite as smokey as the 240, at least.
Today is day 1 of competition. We're gonna be late leaving, so I'm gonna post more later.
I need donuts and coffee.
Serious.
-PJ
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