March 29th, 2008 the Mad Scientist
Catchup:
I apologize for being so inactive this past week, lots of different things have been stealing my attention away. Thanks for sticking around, all you readers are really awesome!
I took a trip to a friend’s house today to check out a pair of ‘project’ cars his father is selling. Two NA 13b-powered RX7 convertibles. After taking some measurements (width, height from subframe, height from ground, and length), I think this particular engine will fit into the CRX engine bay without any major modification. I’ll probably have room on the sides, in fact.
Driver:
Since he’s selling two, I’ll probably make one my daily driver and make the other the donor car. Here’s the potential daily driver (the convertible top leaks a bit, but that’s fixable): 
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March 24th, 2008 calicab
Imagine a world where car enthusiasts, people that drive the car they do because they love the freedom it represents, have to drive only on the property they own. What kind of world would it be if someone had to spend all your money on gas to and from work and on the weekends spend more money just to enjoy your hobby on a smooth road?
I recently came upon this web post and thought to myself…wow this would suck. I was unable to find more about this topic yet, but I will update this when I do.
I ask you please to look at this site, and leave a comment about what you think, if this is really going to happen maybe together, united and strong we can resist it and change their collective minds.
I and a lot of people I know are against it and I feel it would be a shame to have this happen. Please support your hobby and your friends; let us know what you think.
Further reading:
Original Article
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March 23rd, 2008 the Mad Scientist
Discussions about brake rotors are as heated about comparing Nissan to Honda. Wilwood, Brembo, or Fastbrakes, the question always boils down to ‘what performance options are worthwhile?’. Well, this basically breaks down to a few different categories.
Drilled
Drilling metal weakens it, and magnifies inconsistencies in the metal. This means that your rotors are more likely to warp. Also, the holes themselves are now missing from your contact patch, meaning that you have less effective braking power. The second downside is that holes are always the weakest point of the rotor, meaning that cracks are more likely to form, especially under heavy braking.
The exception to this is Porsche rotors, since they are cast with holes, rather than being drilled. It’s a great way to set yourself apart from the competition, but the slots only help to prevent brake fade. Another variant of the drilled rotors is dimpled rotors, which offer the same pros and cons.
Slotted
Slotted rotors were the hottest thing available for hot rods. They’re not so great for street cars. As long as the slots are shallow and close (if there are more than 5 slotted channels on one rotor, they’re close) you’ll get good braking response along with decent heat dissipation. If you simply must have that import-tuner look on your car, slotted rotors are the way to go. Just make sure that the slots don’t extend to the edge of the rotor. The inner and outer edges of the rotor should be solid, with no metal cut out of them.
Blanks
Brembo Blanks are what I suggest for everyone who asks. They’re inexpensive, they’re very effective, and they’ll work well with whatever pads you use. If you’re racing on a track, you’ll want a little more heat dissipation, but in all reality, you should have two separate sets of front rotors: street & track.
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March 22nd, 2008 the Mad Scientist
Wobbly Windows
When I picked up the shell for CRX2.0, I noticed that the driver’s side window would not close. I dug around in my manual a bit, but all I could find was a very rough diagram of what the door innards look like. I decided I’d have to just roll up my sleeves and take off the door cards to see for myself what was going on in there.
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March 21st, 2008 the Mad Scientist
I posted this way back in November of ‘07, but it seems to have disappeared. I was showing it to a co-worker and wanted to make sure it was up here SOMEWHERE! If you can’t read it because your screen is too narrow, right-click it and select ‘Save to Desktop’ then open it in any image editor you like.
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March 19th, 2008 the Mad Scientist
I’ve been fighting to make time for my project cars since my bassist first showed me how to perform an oil change. It’s difficult to predict how much time a project will take to complete before you start on it. Sometimes a stud will break unexpectedly during the weekend you’ve set aside for ‘car stuff’, and you won’t have it until Wednesday of that week. What do you do, if you have to work Mon-Fri and don’t have a designated ‘daily driver’ car?
A bicycle is an elegant solution for many of us. It’s not hard to get ahold of a decent mountain bike, and it’s cheap and easy to convert a mountain bike to an easy-to-ride commuter. Really, all you need is normal maintenance and some road tires. For around $150 you’ll have a healthy alternative to driving to work. I paid $50 for the bike itself, $50 for all new brake and shifting levers/cables, and $50 on tires. Given the option, I’ll take the bicycle almost every day.
Not only is this a good way to get to work and get into some semblance of shape, it’s also cheap! Paying over $3/gallon for gas is obscene, especially with a tuned go-fast machine that gets 20mpg. It just doesn’t make sense to me to drive into work any more. On a good day, I ride around 30 miles round trip. Most of the time I wuss out and take the bus for some portion of that.
The next time you’re putting your car up on jackstands, think about what could go wrong and always have a way out. A bike might just be that way out for you. For those of you interested in commuting by bicycle, check out the following sites:
I’m no hardcore bicyclist and I’m not in as good a shape as I’d like to be, but this keeps me from feeling sluggish. I get home from work and feel energized and ready to tackle whatever project happens to be in front of me. There’s no reason you can’t feel the same!
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