Sprocket's Competition

[clocker]

She drives!

Started out yesterday installing the steering rack.
The new passenger side bushing/bracket and the modified driver side bracket worked perfectly to locate and tie down the rack, no more lateral movement.

Won't be able to evaluate the swap until the car is aligned.
We lost every possible adjustment when the rack and suspension were replaced and it's a miracle the car even goes in a straight line.
Depending on Kev's visit and the weather, probably get her done on Friday.

I went over every hydraulic connection and gave them all a little tweak...no more leaks.

Dan the mechanic had kindly lent us his vacuum bleeding apparatus for the weekend and Sigfrid and I tried our best to make it work.
It seems completely counterintuitive to me and indeed, it did not seem to be doing anything...after a few hours we gave up.
Very frustrating, we were so close to being able to drive her and something as simple a clutch bleed was going to stop us.

Rolled her out of the garage to test fit some seats and just by habit, Sigfrid put it in gear...and it went!
No idea what happened, we went from having a good pedal feel but not able to go into gear to having good pedal and OK shifting (it actually seemed to improve as we drove)...it's very mystifying but it works, so I shan't question the results.

After the alignment I'm going to swing by Precision and have Dan bleed it properly, so it should only get better.
Maybe get him to vacuum bleed the brakes too...couldn't hurt.

The new shocks/springs lowered the car quite a bit.
It has a beautiful stance on the wheels but we'll probably need to roll the fenders for clearance.
We'll know better once it's aligned and the wheels are sitting properly.

No pics this week, we were too frazzled and the car is too dirty.
I'll rectify that ASAP...promise.

[j2k4]

Can't wait to see the little beast.

[clocker]

Well, Kevin didn't have to wait long...he saw the "little beast" Wednesday evening.
I'll let him detail the visit as he sees fit but I had a great time, despite coming down with some sort of bug.
After Kev left Friday morning I went back to bed and didn't get up till 5 PM.
Feel much better now although I still sound like a consumption ward.

We took the little beast for an alignment on Thursday.
Everything adjusted to spec and she steers like a normal car.
I'm calling the steering rack swap a success but Sigfrid has yet to drive it and see how he likes the ratio.
If it's too slow, I have two other racks with faster ratios we can try.

The brakes are crap, hopefully a rebleed will solve that but if not, I have several other combos to install (yes, I have a crapload of parts...).

Thursday night j2 and I drove the car back over to Sigfrid's- approx. 20 miles- in a rather nasty snow/ice storm.
We made it in one piece (although I slid us off the road in my car on the way home) which I consider somewhat of a miracle.
A rear wheel drive car- no traction control or ABS- with 285/35 high performance summer tires, 400 + HP, a twitchy throttle and wonky brakes does NOT make for the ideal winter ride.
Saw many cars slide off the road but the RX's did fine.
Later, after we'd left, Sigfrid tried to move the car up his driveway into the garage and barely made it...he was amazed we'd gone 20 miles since he could barely go 20 feet.

I attribute this to my F1 level driving skills.

The project has taken yet another turn.
We now have a proper mounting kit coming and will basically rip out everything and redo it.
It's the way I've wanted to go since day one and Sigfrid finally agrees.
We'll have a whole new subframe and engine mounts, new tranny mount and power plant frame.
This should alleviate the horrible vibration issues we now have and also makes it possible to properly mount the alternator.
Should also make a more efficient intake easier to install.

Sigfrid and I will be discussing our approach today, so I'll let ya'll know how this will work.

[Detale]

I attribute this to my F1 level driving skills.

[clocker]

What?
It could be true.

Too bloody cold to do much yesterday.
We rebled the brakes and they are now much better.
The weather is supposed to get nicer as the week progresses and Sigfrid plans on driving the little beast to work, so we should get some idea of the overall viability of the current package.

Along with the new engine mount kit there is also a stock gauge cluster on the way.
This will eliminate the awful AutoMeter mechanical gauges and the mangled cluster we now have.
This will probably be our next project as the engine mount kit is coming from Honolulu and will take a while to arrive.

Looks like we still have several weeks of work to go...

[Detale]

If anyone here drove F1's it would be you bud Hawaii? I take it it's used or did they open an auto part factory there I missed?

Could you take a pic of the gauges before and after please.

[clocker]

Here is a pic of our kit...

I'm guessing this has never been used (look at the driveshaft flange) but could be wrong.
It is not uncommon to find kits such as this, typically for one of two reasons.

One, someone bought the kit and then came to their senses and realized what they were getting into or two, during the (usually extended) build process they decided to go with the newly released (and much nicer) Samburg kit.
As pictured, this Granny's kit sells for $1700, the Samburg kit goes for nearly three grand.

We'd like the Samburg kit but the bucks just aren't there and even this is a major upgrade from the plate mount setup we began with.
With our current solid mounted engine anything over 2500 RPM and the mirrors are blurred beyond use.

TBH D., I'm not that great a driver.
Competent, yes, safe, yes, fast...not so much.

[j2k4]

Well, Kevin didn't have to wait long...he saw the "little beast" Wednesday evening.
I'll let him detail the visit as he sees fit but I had a great time, despite coming down with some sort of bug.
After Kev left Friday morning I went back to bed and didn't get up till 5 PM.
Feel much better now although I still sound like a consumption ward.

Clocker is sick, folks.

He is a sick S.O.B. in real life, too; he made me drive through lousy weather with his RX 7, rather than let me drive the Stealth.

To his credit, as it happens - the weather was lousy, but it was a piece-of-cake for me; he had to drive The Beast...

I almost larfed out loud.

Then, to finish, he has the art to execute a right-lane-inside-out drift, hanging a wheel out there nicely - only to gracefully describe it as the automotive equivalent of a tank-slapper.

He is an aggressive driver, even while behaving...let's just say no one passed us on the way home from the airport, home, where he and his creators maintain supremely comfortable digs, not the least compromised, only enhanced by the fact that real people drink real coffee.

I partook of it with hunger.

Really.

No, really.

This is a treat I only get when I hang with Clocker.

Anyway, I didn't get to take my jacket off and he drags me over to the car.

It was pretty damn cool.

Then he made me drive it.

It stayed cool for the rest of the trip.

Cool abounded.

His parents, (I almost typed your names, there), were cool.

He was cool (the usual, you know).

His friends were cool.

Sigfrid is an awfully enthusiastic car nut who truly knows that cars should be enjoyed in selfish ways on the most regular basis circumstances allow.

I liked him, and I thought he was cool.

He big dumb dog, Romeo, kept me in stitches and dog spit while I was there, and reminded me of home.

Romeo was cool.

His neighbors were half-cool; he walked the dog in a few too-many ways, she was friendly and bubbly.

Their dog wasn't too cool - maybe half-cool, like I said.

There's a theme to this.

We took the little beast for an alignment on Thursday.
Everything adjusted to spec and she steers like a normal car.
I'm calling the steering rack swap a success but Sigfrid has yet to drive it and see how he likes the ratio.
If it's too slow, I have two other racks with faster ratios we can try.

The brakes are crap, hopefully a rebleed will solve that but if not, I have several other combos to install (yes, I have a crapload of parts...).

Thursday night j2 and I drove the car back over to Sigfrid's- approx. 20 miles- in a rather nasty snow/ice storm.
We made it in one piece (although I slid us off the road in my car on the way home) which I consider somewhat of a miracle.

Miracles are always stressful.

You did fine.

A rear wheel drive car- no traction control or ABS- with 285/35 high performance summer tires, 400 + HP, a twitchy throttle and wonky brakes does NOT make for the ideal winter ride.
Saw many cars slide off the road but the RX's did fine.
Later, after we'd left, Sigfrid tried to move the car up his driveway into the garage and barely made it...he was amazed we'd gone 20 miles since he could barely go 20 feet.

That car...when it's done, it'll be right, and when it's right, it'll be awesome.

Like an old Cobra, but friendlier, in a slightly, um....evil way, if you follow.

I attribute this to my F1 level driving skills.

Okay, I did larf a little, there, just in the back of my throat.

You are a fine (foul weather...who knows, maybe even fowl weather) driver.

I got a bit practicing to do (on the F1 part, at any rate).

The project has taken yet another turn.
We now have a proper mounting kit coming and will basically rip out everything and redo it.
It's the way I've wanted to go since day one and Sigfrid finally agrees.
We'll have a whole new subframe and engine mounts, new tranny mount and power plant frame.
This should alleviate the horrible vibration issues we now have and also makes it possible to properly mount the alternator.
Should also make a more efficient intake easier to install.

Sigfrid and I will be discussing our approach today, so I'll let ya'll know how this will work.

This will fix the car - as much as it can be, and still consider it streetable.

It's gonna be quite a ride.

It is not uncommon to find kits such as this, typically for one of two reasons.

One, someone bought the kit and then came to their senses and realized what they were getting into or two, during the (usually extended) build process they decided to go with the newly released (and much nicer) Samburg kit.
As pictured, this Granny's kit sells for $1700, the Samburg kit goes for nearly three grand.

We'd like the Samburg kit but the bucks just aren't there and even this is a major upgrade from the plate mount setup we began with.
With our current solid mounted engine anything over 2500 RPM and the mirrors are blurred beyond use.

And I'd like to have had a date with Ann-Margret, except now I'm too old for her.

Fix it and report, like.

Bugger the weather.

TBH D., I'm not that great a driver.
Competent, yes, safe, yes, fast...not so much.

I said, you're fine.

The Stealth's gearbox shifts like a stick in a bucket of swill, but the car is in all other respects an utterly amazing conveyance.

I did some driving on the way home I wouldn't even attempt in any other vehicle I have ever driven.

Think of it as the World's-most-highly-refined ox-cart, to the tenth-power.

Or something.

I am just so damned pleased about everything that has happened, here.

Really extraordinarily lucky, lately.

More later, as events warrant.

[clocker]

Where are the pics?

[j2k4]

Can't get my phone software to play nice with Win 7 64-bit.

Oddly, it seems to be an OS problem rather than 64-bit; it worked fine with Prophesy 64 bit, so.

The pics will be okay on the phone, but I'm still working on that, among other things.

Scouring the Samsung site for a patch for the, um, patch.

Actually.

Bastards at Samsung will probably outlast my phone - hell, it's already 8 months old...