Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A new heart... & Miata Maintenance

We found a new heart for Frankie yesterday. A nice SBC... Well used, but in reasonable shape. The awesome part is that we got it for the cost of a nice engine stand!

Past that, parts are starting to show up for my Miata. I'm excited to get out there and get autocrossing. Sadly, this week looks like it will be in the 30s for temps... Definitely not Miata weather!

Miata maintenance that I did today:
- Spark Plugs
- Spark Plug Wires
- Air Filter
- PCV Valve
- Fuel Filter (that was a little messy!)

Other things:
Loosened the spark plugs on the SBC for Frankie... Sprayed the engine down to loosen it up for future work.

It was a nice productive evening.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A bit premature?

Last night I decided to get my Miata out of "deep storage" and move it to my garage for some general maintenance. Well, sort of general maintenance - here's my plan:

  • Oil Change
  • Timing Belt Change, including Water Pump, many hoses, belts, gaskets - essentially the full 90,000 mile maintenance plus some extra to be sure for autocrossing.
  • I'm debating about radiator and associated hoses
  • Roll bar
I'd also like to get some new shocks, but my current budget doesn't allow both the roll bar and shocks. Roll bar won out due to the extra safety in an accident - and because I want my wife to know I'm as safe as possible.


Of course... This morning I went out to my SUV (now sadly parked outside) and there was frost on the windows. Perhaps I was a bit premature in pulling the Miata out?

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

First Sponsor of 2011!

All Right! We have our first sponsor of 2011!

Sprecher Brewery, one of my favorite local makers of fine Root Beer (among other things), has agreed to sponsor us with some cases of gourmet sodas for our races!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Saw this quote, thought it was interesting...

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and torque is how far you move the wall.

Hope my wife doesn't read it!

-Niles

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Wow... Another year! So, it's 2011 now, and we've been silent for a while. This isn't because we haven't been doing things... No, we've been so busy that we haven't updated!

So... What excitement has occurred?

We participated in two LeMons races last year - Gingerman and Joliet. They were both a blast, being competitive, although not finishing in the top 10.

We were incredibly competitive at Gingerman - we were in the top 10 after the first day - but then ran into transmission problems, losing 3rd gear. Then the fun kicked in - we found a transmission 2 hours away, drove and picked it up, swapped it that night (thanks to the guy who let us use his hoist!), and were back up and running the next morning.


And then, 3 1/2 hours into the race the second day, we lost 3rd again.

There goes the comeback.

Needless to say, we were a bit bummed - but it was still an awesome experience, and with the improvements since that race we expect to be extremely competitive at Gingerman this year.

The second race - at Autobahn Country Club, we did fairly well - in the top half. Quite a bit of interest on the first day, due to all sorts of rain. We're not good in the water... But once it dried up we were doing pretty well! Unfortunately, we weren't able to catch up from where we were after the rain.

On a personal note - I picked up a new "fun" car for myself. A nice 1995 Mazda Miata M Edition. It's a bit more "sophisticated" looking than lots of Miatas... Means that I can't go all "racer" on it, but it looks beautiful and my wife loves it.

Oh... And I got married last year.

See - busy!

More, rapid, updates to come!

-Niles