Starting to think

With this wet summer I should have built something with AWD and rain tires! Just gotta look forward to the fall mountain trips. Also, I'm thinking more and more that a hard top is a good idea.

Hrrm...weather

So I finally finished these mods I've been waiting impatiently for and my god, look at the weather. Rain forecast for the next 10 days. Thumbs down for that!

Leno talks about the benefits of a manual transmission

Some people really don't like Leno, and I don't like him as a comedian talk show host, but I think he's great in his online series 'Jay Leno's Garage'. He really 'gets' cars and appreciates all the same things that most of us car guys do. Watch this episode of 'garage' and listen to how he talks about why he prefers manual transmissions to paddle shifters or automatic transmissions.
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/audi-r8-v8-vs-audi-r8-v10/1191694/

Tires Mounted

I got the tires mounted on the wheels today, but on the way home it started raining raining so I couldn't go for a drive after mounting the wheels. Here are a few pictures.













You can see the fake carbon fiber rock guard I have put on the fender wells.

Update: tires & gears

First up: congratulation to Brandon and Allison who got married this past weekend at Raffaldini. Quite nice =)

Update on the tires: I ordered the Nitto NT01s and they are due in Saturday.

Update on the gears: FastLane finally got them in off backorder and I'm scheduled to have them installed Tuesday. At the same time they will replace the bearings, rebuild the traction-loc and do all the other wearable maintenance back there.

Updates soon on the major performance boosts!

Oh yeah and I almost forgot, another cobra builder that I have been following for about 2 years now has 'finished' his car and graduated from ffcars.com. Congrats to Scotty!

The next Gen

First off - I have turned off the comment moderation on the blog - I had to turn it on because I was getting some comment spam that was a major pain to sift through and delete. You'll still have to be moderated before your post will show up if the post is older than half a month.

2nd off - I let Brandon drive the cobra to Los Tres today for his birthday. It's really weird to ride in the passenger seat =) Thanks for not crashing it into anything B-zone! Actually, a good job adjusting to it, I know it's a bit odd to drive at first.

Lastly off - On the way home today I drove passed a young guy on a bike in my neighborhood, who turned around and followed me home to ask me some questions about the car. His name was Nathan and he seemed like a pretty cool kid. We chatted for probably an hour about cars in general. It was nice to get a fresh perspective from a younger generation of car enthusiasts. He seemed to appreciate all types of cars right off the bat which is really cool! It took me so long to have a broad appreciation of cars. I was always swayed by public opinion at the time - either 'muscle cars are stupid because they can't turn worth crap on a track' or 'ricer imports are stupid'. I feel like it took me a long time to gain that wide lens perspective on cars - from enjoying a powerful muscle car, to a sup'd up civic, to a perfectly balanced car like the WRX or RX-8. I took him for a quick spin around the block which he seemed to really enjoy.

I really enjoy Shelbatoast if for no other reason than the excellent conversations it gets me into. On the way home, a guy in a 'murdered out' Charger rolled down his window beside me just to hear the engine sing.

PS. I can't wait for the final gear and new tires =)

Brakes, rotors and under-lining.

Well, I finally broke down and ordered some new brake stuff for the rear wheels. They've had the same old random pads and rotors on since it was a mustang so I figured it was time for some fresh kicks. I went pretty simple, standard rotors (w/ powdercoated hubs woot) and akebono street performance ceramic pads. I have these on the front and really like them. They make no noise, no dust, and have a decent stopping force. I really need better tires before I need to be concerned about better brakes. They seem pretty resistant to heat too, which makes sense being ceramic.
Brandon came over after work one day and we got to work on it. We popped the eBrake off the caliper for the first one. We did NOT make that mistake again. All the extra thickness of the pads and rotors made it almost impossible to compress the spring back in far enough. Worse than that though, was the surprise piston. On some models, the rear pistons can't be forced back in with a clamp - the method I am used to. But rather, they have to have a special tool to rotate the piston clockwise. Not having a special tool we made do with a blade changing tool for the grinder. It took several busted knuckled and manly grunts before we decided to internet it up and found the rotation requirement.

While we worked on the brakes on one side, I sprayed the rubber undercarriage stuff in the wheel wells. It looks a lot better than the bare aluminum panel and hopefully will be an added layer of protection.