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.

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.

What an awesome potential for a comeback. (See Video Here)

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

Sponsors!

So... Over the winter we've been fairly quiet on here... But that doesn't mean we haven't been doing things!

The biggest thing I've been doing is seeing about getting sponsorships. Amazingly, I have one I can announce, and a second on the way...

We have been lucky enough to be sponsored by Hoyt Technologies! They make some great car/motorcycle related gear, specifically camera systems. They have been nice enough to let us use an MSR-200 High Definition MotorSports Camera. The even cooler part is that they've set us up so that we can re-sell their units at the races. If anyone is interested in one, see me at our events!



I'm uploading videos to YouTube right now...

After a long delay...

And, after a long delay, I'm finally back at posting... Sorry about the looooong delay.

I've finally gotten some video editing software, so here goes, the first intro video:

No longer an unstoppable force...

Today frankie started on the path of adding/modifying bits... We drove to where it's stored and spent a good 6-7 hours working on it today. It got some basics - windshield wipers, tires properly pressurized - as well as some just-passed basics. We did our initial rebuilding of the rear brakes and can now fairly confidently stop.

With the possibility of stopping, we've now officially declared the car "safe enough to drive", so we took it out for a little spin. It's going to be quite the fun car to drive! I'm rather looking forward to getting it out and autocrossing it.

I'm continuing to learn quite a bit from Matt - and I'm improving on my skills. I've now re-built 4 drum brakes, I think I have a fairly good idea of how they work now. He's also starting to show me around the engine compartment - I'm sure removing the A/C as well as other bits will be a good experience for me!

We're definitely exited about Frankie - we just need to make sure we don't lose focus of what needs to be done to 'Scort... Our current plan is to get the engines out sometime this week...

Till next time space cowboys...

The new SuckerPunchMobile! "Frankie"!

Today was a fun and exciting day - we went and checked out a car we found on craigslist... A 1989 Camaro RS with a 305 and Automatic. It looks... "experienced", but when Matt did a more technical inspection he discovered that it's in great shape! Well, all except for the brakes... Which were also quite... experienced.

Needless to say, we now officially have another car for Team SuckerPunch. We're looking at getting it prepped for Lemon's 2010 - 2009 will be the escort's ("Scort") second run.

Once we payed for the Camaro, we -carefully- drove it back to Matt's Pa's place - he was nice enough to let us fix it up there prior to getting it into the Milwaukee area. We plan on fixing up the brakes and whatever other basic repairs prior to taking it to Gordon's #1 Service - the home of Team SuckerPunch.

After arriving at Matt's Pa's place, we started taking it apart a bit more and seeing what was really there... And it was even better than what we initially thought it was! Matt has asked me not to give away all of the innards, but as he said to me "when the original owner ordered the car, he must have checked EVERY option".

It wasn't all easy though... Obviously the brakes are important, so we wanted to take a look at them. I poped off the covers on the nuts, and unfortunately there were wheel locks on the car. So a search ensued... And even included dissassembling some internal paneling looking for the key.

Officially determined the key was nowhere to be found, we attempted to use a few tools... And no, they didn't work... So we went to an auto parts store, where they looked at us and said "we don't sell anything like that". So we went next door to a tire shop - they said "We'll take them off if you drive it here". Only one issues with that of course - um, we want to fix the brakes before driving it more... Finally, thanks to Menards(!?) we had the proper tool and were able to remove the locking lug nuts...

So now it's just waiting for us to return with supplies - brakes, brake lines, and so on... We're hoping to be able to drive it back to Gordon's by Sunday...

Team SuckerPunch 1989 Camaro - Frankie!

Team SuckerPunch: Round 2 - Frankie! from Niles Stonne on Vimeo