Because Daddy's a Bonehead...

VAROOOM!!

2008-04-17T15:36:00.002-04:00

Well - the car runs. It wasn't easy or fun, but it's running.

After chasing down fuel pressure issues, ensuring proper oil pressure before it was allowed to fire up, and a bazillion other issues, I was finally able to turn the key, and it sputtered to life on what sounded like 2 cylinders. It sounded terrible for a 4 cylinder car, but on the other hand, it sounded EXACTLY like a Ducati at idle. That was a very good thing...

While this was fun and amusing, it wasn't a happy Neon. I messed around with plug wires, coil packs, swapped plugs etc. Nothing helped.

I pulled the plugs to take see if I could figure out which cylinders were not firing. It turned out that 2&3 were firing, but 1&4 were not. I also noticed a fair amount of oil on the threads of the plugs in each cylinder. A few days before, I poured a capful of oil into each cylinder to ensure good compression for the initial startup. I wondered if the oil was keeping the plugs from grounding properly, and thus, not firing. So I cleaned the threads of all the plugs and the cylinder holes. Started it up again, and now I magically had 3 cylinders running. Not complete success, but good progress.

The next night, I set about to figure out why the last cylinder wasn't firing. My spark checker said the plug was getting current, and when pulled, there was clear evidence of the plug arcing properly. In engine diagnosis, there are three things that you need to make an engine (or a single cylinder)function.

1.Fuel
2.Spark
3.Compression

If you have all three - then the engine pretty much has to at least try to run.
So I started down the line. I didn't get very far either.

The #4 cylinder wasn't getting fuel. I knew from previous tests that I had reasonable compression and spark to that cylinder. First guess was either that the injector wasn't being told to 'fire' by the computer, or the injector itself was clogged or bad. A quick check with a voltmeter showed that the injector was indeed getting a signal from the engine's computer, so that left the injector itself. Rather that futz around diagnosing the injector, I simply swapped in a spare from the old engine. I put it all back together and gave it a crank, varoooom! The engine was happily running on all 4 cylinders! I felt rather proud of myself to be entirely honest and I wanted to bask in the moment, but the garage was rapidly filling with fumes.

Before I could turn it off, the engine pretty much stalled on it's own. A scene that would repeat itself every time I started it. It would start and die usually 4 times before it would run on it's own. Not exactly a trait I wanted in my race car. But no matter - it was time to drive it!!

Next: The First Drive

Huger(er) update.

2008-04-02T11:33:00.008-04:00

Again, no real time to write. Hopefully it's true that pictures are worth a thousand words, 'cause here comes a small novel...

We got the engine back in the car.

I left of some of the critical parts off in order to make installation easier. Now it was time to get all those parts back on. A task made much more difficult when the engine is crammed into the tight quarters of the engine compartment.
After a few hours of work it's all back together, but I don't have a battery to crank it over. I don't want to use a stock battery because they're very large and heavy - something not really conducive to race intentions. Stock batteries are made to start a car in all 4 seasons, thus their size and weight. I only need to start this car in 1 season, kind of like a lawn tractor. So that's what I did - bought a biggest tractor battery I could find. It was still a good 1/3 smaller and probably 15 lbs lighter. Best of all, it's got more than enough power to crank a Neon motor.

So now, its all back together and ready to crank.

It's been well over a month of work to get the engine to this point. Countless runs to auto parts stores, hours and hours online doing research and asking questions, and most of all working until 1am practically every night. The shop is completely trashed - I even took a couple of breaks to clean it up so I could continue to actually get some work done. And it still looks like this:

The car, for all the work doesn't look any closer to being a "Race Car"

Guess I should start it and see if it runs...

Huge update

2008-03-13T17:14:00.009-04:00

Well - it's been a long time since I've posted anything new, but that's mostly because the deadline to get the car ready for the start of the season is rapidly approaching, and it's officially crunch time. I can barely get the work done in time, much less write about it. With that in mind; here's a synopsis of the last few months:

I had this

Which I turned into this,

this,

and these.

They were filthy, so they all got a little bath

and turned into this,

and this.

Then, I had to use all of this,

to put it all back together (properly)

and then cram it in here.

Done! Pretty simple huh?

Nope.

Ok - back to work.

Kaboom!

2008-01-19T23:42:00.000-05:00

Right, so now the original engine is out of the car and hanging from an engine crane. I hadn't drained the oil before we pulled it out of the car, and now my tired brain decides that we have to do that before we tuck it over in the corner. Even though we're desperately curious to see what has gone wrong in this engine, it's late, and we've had a long day.
So we pull the oil drain plug and the fun begins. As we're watching the very black oil pour into the pan, Brent, who has the plug in his hand, glances down and notices this-

The previous owner had the foresight to install one of those magnetic drain plugs, and that is one alarmingly large piece of metal stuck to it. Well, that's certainly not suppposed to be there, is it?.
It looks like it was once part of a spring, but those are all supposed to be up in the cylinder head - roughly 16" away and separated (ideally) by pistons, rings and all sorts of other barriers. Very intriguing...

Well, now we just HAD to at least drop the pan...this was too good. Unfortunately, the engine is hanging by a chain while the new motor is on my only engine stand. No matter - we're resourceful young lads! In a remarkably hillbilly-esque procedure, Brent literally hugged the engine while I broke loose the oil pan screws. As I pulled the oil pan off, the tale of this engine's final moments started to unfurl before our very eyes. The debris in the bottom of the pan was both startling and glorious. What distinctly looked to be the remains of a piston skirt lay shattered across the bottom of the oil pan. We giggled like schoolkids for several minutes.

After we regained our composure, we snapped these:
Click for a larger version - it's worth it.

Did you click yet?? C'mon!!

The liquid at the bottom may look like oil, but it's more of a metallic "pudding" I grabbed a magnet, and passed it along the outside bottom of the pan, and you could literally watch the slurry deform as the metal particles aligned with the magnet. I wish I could have captured it with a camera - it was really cool.
At this point, we grabbed a flashlight and looked up into the engine from below.
More laughter - several minutes worth.

The #1 piston top was jammed up at the top of it's stroke. The connecting rod and wrist pin ripped the whole bottom half of the piston into the shards of aluminum that we saw in the pan. Ok - so now we're desperately curious to see what's going on in the cylinder head. A piston can't just stop at the top of it's stroke while the engine is running - bad things happen (as if chunks of said piston in the oil pan aren't bad enough).

Mind you, it's probably 10 or 11 o'clock by now, but we decide that we MUST see the rest of the destruction. It's time to pull the head off. So it's back to the hillbilly engine hugging.
The process of removing a cylinder head is a fiddly procedure even when you do it the right way. Much less, our way....
We stubbornly forged ahead, and a mere hour or so later (don't ask), our curiosity was satisfied. We were greeted with one of the best piston "grenades" we had ever seen:

clickee for biggie™

The destruction was very, very impressive. Notice in the 2nd picture you can see the clean area where the piston top was beaten into the top of the combustion chamber. That's not just clean, the metal is actually depressed there, resulting in the crack. Also notice the four distinct gouges where the valves were repeatedly smashed into the piston.

Well that was quite a discovery. As near as I can tell, this engine is nothing more than scrap. After the piston let go, the connecting rod and wrist pin slapped around in the cylinder, gouging out the walls in four places. I'm pretty sure even a .030 or .040 overbore wouldn't take care of it. Even if it did, the expense of the engine work, oversized pistons, and all the labor involved would seem stupid when you can get a fully functional engine for $300.

At least this engine provided some chuckles on it's way out....

'Old' Motor Extraction

2008-01-16T17:45:00.000-05:00

So I managed to con Brent into yet another LONG workday out in a cold garage. The mission was to pull the engine out of the white car to make room for the soon-to-be freshened up 'new' engine.

Usually removing an engine involves pulling lots and lots of electrical connections, hoses of every size shape and description, battery trays, and various engine bay parts. Not so in my case. Thanks to the previous owners random disassembly methods, most of the work was already done for me. Mind you, it wasn't done right, and many of the parts that were removed are nowhere to be found. Many of the bolts and fasteners that formerly held all the missing parts on were found in several piles scattered around the engine bay. I pretty much had no choice but to gather them all up, organize them by size and style, and put 'em in a box - maybe as I put things back together, I'll figure out where most of them go.

I had been chipping away at the car throughout the previous week, removing the drive shafts, engine wiring harness, intake manifold and various other small parts. As with all things that the previous owner worked on, there were a few amusing discoveries along the way. This time it was the shifter cables. On both ends of the shifter assembly, Neons use little rubber grommets that snap onto shift linkages. Inside the car, the bushings are fairly protected and live long happy lives. On the transmission end however, conditions are tougher - heat, cold, vibration, and the elements all conspire to bring about a swift end to these poor little bushings. It's a common problem that's normally fixed with a trip to the local Dodge dealer. But that clearly wasn't an option for Whitey's resourceful previous owner. Nope, why fix something properly if you can do it completely, and utterly ass-backwards? Apparently an enormous gob of epoxy will do just fine in place of the proper parts....

In the above shot, the bushing on the right is completely gutted - missing it's entire center portion, but was left to perform it's duties as best it could. The one on the left however, was apparently so bad that it had to be addressed. A big old glob of epoxy was smooshed into the bushing and slathered, and smoothed all over the entire repair - much like an ugly little cake.
I had to chip the stuff off just to get down to the main bushing and end link. I can't figure this guy out - the proper fix for this, even using upgraded parts is maybe $25. Go figure...

With the shady shift linkages out and most of the other fiddly work done, all that was left was to disconnect the exhaust and unbolt the motor mounts, and yank the damn thing out. I borrowed a 2 ton capacity shop crane or "cherry picker" from one of the other Spec Neon racers and it made quick work of lifting the relatively light (maybe 400 lbs?) Neon engine/transmission combo out.

And with that, we were done.

So, the engine was out, but the 'new' engine wasn't ready to go back in yet. Ever curious, we decided to take a peek inside this engine and see what really went wrong with it. Blown head gasket was my guess. That'll be coming up in the next post.

'New' Motor Teardown

2008-01-15T23:17:00.000-05:00

Ok - time for some honesty. I've only helped with one engine transplant my entire life....

I was 17 and the slant-six 225 in my 1965 Plymouth Valiant had popped. My dad and I found a donor car, pulled the engine out, painted it a nice chrysler blue, and dropped it in.
That was a long time ago and the details are very fuzzy. Looking back, my Dad probably did all the hard work. I was 17, and probably extremely useless. Since then, I've only done light shade-tree mechanic stuff. Hell, I've only ever seen the intake valves (from the outside mind you) of one car since then.
I've never even held a piston or connecting rod in my hand. I know what all the parts do, but have very little hands-on experience with them. So I guess it's only fitting that I'm tearing apart a perfectly good 2.0 liter SOHC Neon engine in my "spare time". It started out innocently enough - the engine clearly had an oil leak. Everything from the valve cover on down was coated in so much oil that it had taken on a texture that I mistook for the factory finish.

When I smeared my finger through at least 1/8" of oil buildup, I knew it was time to strip some parts off and see what was leaking.
I pulled off the intake manifold and found about 1/4 cup of filthy oil pooled in the bottom, which promptly spilled all over the floor when I wasn't paying attention.

Hmmm...that's a lot of oil.

The intake ports of the head were also carbon/oil stained.

I'm not 100% sure what this is a symptom of, but I knew it wasn't "normal" since the intake air is supposed to be nice and clean. No reason to have lots of oil in the intake charge. Looking further into the cylinder head revealed oily residue and lots of carbon on the intake valves.

Most likely valve guide seals. This was unexpected, but not devastating - I was planning to take the head off to put a fresh head gasket anyway. I know nothing about valve-train work though, so it was a bit daunting. I started this whole undertaking because I wanted a new project where I could learn a few new tricks right? Well, here was a new trick.

The neat-o discoveries kept coming. When the exhaust manifold came off I was greeted with more carbon than I thought was possible under normal conditions. There were literally sheets of the stuff.

I'm sure others will tell me this is nothing out of the ordinary, but I'm still amazed. This engine was clearly run on cheap gas and ran lots of short trips. Nothing shows any signs of neglect, but definitely no pampering either.

Time to pull the head - this is officially the deepest I've ever been into an engine.

Oh good grief! The intake valves have freaking mineral deposits on them - the contour of the valve is completely obscured.

Damn cheap gas.....

Top of the pistons show similar evidence

Top of the head shows signs of equally cheap dino-oil. Lots of varnish on the cam and all the followers.

At this point, the engine that's already in the car is starting to look more attractive. Despite it's unknown mechanical status, it's clear that it was run on better gas and oil. Varnish is virtually nonexistent, and the intake ports are spotless.

Unfortunately, I've just finished pulling it out of the car....details on that in the next post.

Stompin' on the Regulars

2007-12-10T22:41:00.000-05:00

So, it's winter here in MI, and most of the racing series ground to a halt back in September. But not the hardy souls of the SCCA Detroit Region RallyCross scene. They had their last event of the season on Saturday (12/8). I managed to con my pal Brent into driving out there to check it out.

Rallycross is the messy little brother of Autocross. In both events a course is laid out using cones in a large open area and competitors run their cars through one at a time. Hitting a cone earns a time penalty - usually +2 seconds for each cone you hit. Times are taken over multiple runs, and then added up at the end of the day. Lowest score wins - just like golf.
The primary difference between the two is that autocross takes place on a paved surface - usually a parking lot, while rallycross is run on dirt or grass. Both emphasize car control, and precision, it's just that you get to slide around sideways in rallycross. No special equipment is necessary to compete - just a helmet and a car - any old car will do, in fact most people drive their cars right to the event. Only one car at a time is allowed on course, so the potential to wreck your car is really minimal. For those reasons Autocross is hugely popular. It offers people a worry-free chance to test their limits, along with their car's. Rallycross is still in it's early stages, but will undoubtedly prove to be very popular.

Our initial goal was simply to spectate. Check out the event and see if the rallycross scene interested us. In gathering info on the event, I managed to make a few contacts that offered to let us ride along during their runs if we wanted - all we needed were some helmets. I've got two, so we were good to go. As the day got closer, Brent started to show some interest in actually competing in his car. His car is fine choice too. A 2000 Subaru Impreza. It's got a zippy little boxer engine with 165hp, nimble handling, and one of the best all-wheel-drive systems on the planet - It's the perfect car for a rallycross. He was a bit unsure at first since it was his only car, so I left it entirely up to him. The day of the event arrived and he was positive he wanted to give it a go - YEAH!!

With that, we drove out to the event, got registered, got teched, walked the course (twice - first time was the wrong direction) and attended the driver's meeting. At the meeting we learned that when you're not driving, you're expected to lend a hand running the event. For the untrained (us) that meant standing at a corner waiting for cars to hit a cone, running out to reset the cone, and radioing it in to timing and scoring. Sounds like fun right? Maybe on a nice summer day - but this was not to be one of those days. The expected high temp was 26 degrees. We froze our asses off out there for about 4 hours before our first run.

Behold! The tundra...

Brent lined up for his first ever rallycross run and I was along as "co driver" (more like dead weight). We pulled up to the start line still futzing with helmets straps, seatbelts, gloves, and just generally being nervous.

The starter waved us on to the course and it was time - I wondered what Brent's approach was going to be. Brent's a pretty laid back guy, but lemme tell ya - he freakin' FLOORED it! I had no idea he was going to attack like that. The whole first run, I kept thinking "Oh man!! Too fast, we'll never make this tur----Holy crap - we made it!"
We clipped a few cones on the first run, but never spun out or did anything too silly. We pulled off at the end of the run and stopped at the timing truck for our time. 102.603 - we had no idea how that compared, but didn't really care. We were just there for the experience.

We ran 3 more times before lunch, then it was time for the afternoon runs. Brent got faster and smoother with each run - still tagging the occasional cone here and there, but we were having a blast and weren't too concerned with it. We think he had one really fast clean run, but the timing got all messed up and he had to re-run. The re-run was good, but the previous run felt way faster.

Unfortunately, before long the event was over and we had to head home. Brent had some obligations that evening, so we couldn't stick around for the final results. We'd have to wait a few days for them to post on the website.
They finally posted the results Monday evening - I just about crapped my pants when I saw them. Brent took second in the 'SA' class (stock all-wheel-drive). 2nd IN CLASS!! I was stunned.
Scanning the results, he also beat out most of the cars in the PA, and MA classes (prepared all-wheel-drive and modified all-wheel-drive, respectively) DAMN!!

Here's some photo evidence of the day's events. In retrospect, I should have let Brent do the afternoon runs alone so I could get some shots of him in action. Oh well...how was I to know he was going to do so well his first time out??

Tradin' Motors

2007-12-03T22:54:00.000-05:00

A few posts back, I mentioned a potential "no cash" engine deal I was working on. In the car & parts package I purchased, I got my choice of two engines: the single cam (SOHC) that was already in the donor street car (blown - cause unknown) and a twin-cam (DOHC) engine that had a rod knock. I hadn't witnessed either engine running, so I was left to choose based on gut instinct. The mystery engine in the street car was very frightening to me because it was clear that the previous owner was, to put it kindly, a moron. It's obvious that after the engine let go, the guy decided to pull it out - either to work on it, or just put a new engine in. Problem is, that he just started yanking miscellaneous parts off and cutting any hose he could reach.
The lack of any sense of order or common sense is probably indicative of the maintenance history as well. Take into consideration the 160,000 miles that it has seen, and my guess is that the engine needs a full overhaul. Not my cup of tea - at least not right now. So the DOHC was a sounding a little better. It ran, but had a rod knock. It was most likely a spun rod bearing, which is a fairly straightforward fix as long as the engine is out of the car. Which it was, so I wasn't too worried about that. What I was concerned about was all the extra "bulletproofing" that was needed to make the DOHC reliable on the track. A little (ok, a lot) of research on Neon engines revealed The DOHCs history of top-end oiling problems when driven hard, and the connecting rods were also a concern under race conditions.
The solution for many of the oiling issues is a very nice oil pan made by the fine folks over at Moroso. Unfortunately, the pan cost $375.00!! That's right, almost $400 bucks. I just about fell out of my chair when I saw that. You can find a damn nice, used, RUNNING engine for that. If you're smart (and budget conscious), you'll get a SOHC that doesn't need any of that crap to be reliable. Now, before I get a bunch of DOHC hate mail, let me state that the DOHC is a fine, powerful engine when all the oiling issues are resolved - just not for a guy who's on a shoestring budget. So that put me squarely back to the scary SOHC - poop!

Cruising the usual Neon websites, I found a guy who had a running 50,000 mile 1995 SOHC engine that he wanted to sell. His asking price of $200 was a pretty good deal, but that nagging budget thing kept popping up. After talking to him, I found out that he was looking to put a DOHC engine it it's place. "Wha?! Hey!! I've got one of those!"
After a few weeks of negotiating, we worked out a deal, and the week of Thanksgiving ('07) I traded a rod knocking DOHC and engine harness for a low mileage, running (I'm told) SOHC and it's harness. The best part is that everybody's happy with the deal.

So, there ya have it - my best trade to date. I have a new engine, and I didn't spend a dime. A little preventative maintenance and it's time to pop it into the car. The next major project is to pull the current SOHC out of the car.

Uhhhhhhhhh, what?

2007-11-18T23:25:00.000-05:00

Just read a big forum discussion about National Auto Sport Association's (N.A.S.A.) decision to eliminate the Spec Neon class from their lineup.
Are you freakin' kidding me?? I haven't even finished building the car, and the class has been killed?

Great. That's just great.

All ranting aside, the decision doesn't really affect me in the least. You see, the track that I'll be racing at (Waterford Hills) is THE Spec Neon motherland, and will continue as such because they run by their own set of rules - so I'll have a place to race for a long time to come.
I'm still upset by N.A.S.A.'s decision to kill Spec Neon because it means that if I should decide to race somewhere other than Waterford Hills, I'll potentially be "re-classed" into a class where I'm seriously outgunned.
If you consider the fact that the entry fees for a race at some of the national tracks can be triple that of a Waterford race, this reduces the "YIPPEEEE" quotient considerably. I can't speak for everyone, but I don't imagine spending $300-$400 a weekend in entry fees to helplessly trundle along in last place will be heralded as the "BEST WEEKEND EVER!!".

Spec Neon was conceived as a low-cost, entry level way to get racing. This latest move is a baby step away from that. We all know what happens after baby learns to walk....That's right - N.A.S.A.'s going to trip on the living room rug and hits it's head on the coffee table.

BWWAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAAH!

2007-11-16T14:24:00.000-05:00

Got a new toy last night. Good times
That is all.....

Safety = Budget Killer

2007-11-07T15:06:00.000-05:00

This weeks lesson is titled "Buying safety gear without going broke". For those that don't know, you can't just race a car in whatever clothes you like. There are numerous safety specifications that dictate what gets worn and where. Your 'average joe' club racer dons the following before each race: Socks (fireproof), long underwear bottoms (fireproof), undershirt (fireproof), 1 or 2 piece full body race suit (fireproof), gloves (fireproof), headsock (fireproof), and finally a helmet (also fireproof). I should point out that probably 80% of race events happen during the summer. That's a lot of layers. Layers of technical wonder fabrics intent on one thing; keeping you alive in a fire - that's it. They are not technical wonder fabrics when it comes to ventilation. Any hotter than say, 70 degrees and you are very uncomfortable in full race gear.
Another thing all that gear is not, is cheap. I'm not knocking the safety gear manufacturers, but I gotta believe that there's a little bit of fear mongering at work in the pricing structure - "Sure, you could pay less, but do you REALLY want to?". Be that as it may, if you want their products, you pay their prices.

Here's a quick layout of the safety gear essentials and their price ranges:

Helmet - $250 - $1300
Suit - $150 - $1500
Gloves - $40 - $200
Shoes - $60 - $120
Underwear - $100 - $400
Socks - $25 - $100
Balaclava - $35 - $120

This list assumes standard safety rules for SCCA style competition, and is by no means comprehensive, but you get the idea. As with all things, the sky's the limit in the upper ranges. A custom-molded helmet for a Formula One driver will certainly not be had for anything near $1300 - more likely $5,000 - $10,000.
The most pertinent fact is that the low prices that I've listed are basically the least you can expect to pay for the most basic no-frills safety gear. Do the math - it's damn close to $700!!

So, 700 bucks and you're getting the cheapest, most basic, entry-level gear - both from a construction and a safety standpoint. Everything will pass inspection, but the helmet's going to be heavy, the gloves will fit weird, the suit's gonna bunch up, the underwear will be ridiculously baggy and itchy. The socks & balaclava will probably be fine, but that's about it. Overall, you'll be wearing uncomfortable crap, and you'll look like it. Now, I'm no fashion snob, but I hate ill-fitting clothing, and you would too if your crappy glove seams were digging into your hands while you're concentrating on getting a 75 mph corner just right with a 'fast as shit' Mini Cooper on your ass.

With this, and the idea of increased personal safety in mind, I decided not to skimp on the safety gear. I won't buy the junk, but won't go nuts either. Unfortunately the price was going to take a jump - a big jump. Basically to get what I wanted, the cost nearly doubled - putting me at an estimated $1200.00 - Ouch!

There was no way I could put that kind of cash down and hope to have any budget left to race. Something needed to be done. As I mentioned in the Tools of the Trade post, I'm a damn good bargain hunter and I'm proud of it. Clearance racks, open box items, floor models, bring 'em on. I have no hang ups about buying used.
And ebay, You don't want to go head-to-head with me on ebay - your ass WILL get kicked. I bought most of my race gear on eBay, and saved a ton of money in the process. Furthermore, I was able to get everything new, and in it's original packaging. Here are some links to the equipment I ended up getting, along with the lowest current prices in red, and what I actually paid in green.

HJC AR-10 Helmet
$299.00 vs $152.00

G-Force 545 Race Suit
$450.00 vs $203.00

Oakley CarbonX Racing Gloves
$125.00 vs $56.00

Stand 21 Race Shoes
$259.00 vs $40.00 (!?)

RJS 2-piece Nomex underwear
$84.00 vs $84.00

RJS Nomex socks
$18.00 vs $18.00
----------------------
$1235.00 vs $553.00

By my feeble math skills, that's a savings of $682.00 - or roughly 55%.
Not too shabby, not too shabby at all....

In your face, MSRP!!

State of the shop

2007-11-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

Another non-car related post. I've been busy and or sick for the last couple of weeks, so very little has been done to the car. Fall is here and we've once again realized the penalty for all those nice trees. In the old neighborhood we could simply rake all the leaves to the curb. Not in the new neighborhood. No...I get to fill up thousands of those stupid leaf bags. Even in my silly little suburban lot, just raking out my flower-beds and some of the heavier areas of the yard can fill 20+ bags and take the better part of 6 hrs.

Since the shop hasn't been used for car building, it's become a haven for things that were just "in the way" somewhere else. In other words - my shop is full of crap and is completely useless until I clean it. And frankly, it's too cold out there. I haven't quite accepted the weather change yet, so I'd much rather goof around with my kid and hang out in front of the fireplace than put on some stinky coveralls and wait for my puny kerosene heater to heat the place up so I can clean the shop.

And that's why it looks like this:

A dash of color

2007-10-29T23:02:00.000-04:00

All these paint fumes have made me goofy. Want proof? Ok. I decided to paint the dashboard panels of the Neon.
I can't really explain why I decided to do this. It's a purely cosmetic, and needless thing to do. After all, this is supposed to be a race car - I wouldn't even have the stock dashboard if the rules didn't force me to. So what's the deal?
The original idea came to me when I was driving Greg's car in a co-driver race. His dashboard is the stock gray color, and if the sun was blaring down, the glare off of the dash reflection was visible in the windshield. Not enough to block my vision, but enough to be distracting and make me think "When I build a car, maybe I can eliminate that"
As I was prepping the dash panels to go back in after I painted the interior (see my last post) I figured it was a perfect time to give it a shot. I have this great stuff called PlastiDip

It's a rubber coating that comes in a spray can - very handy stuff for rubber coating tools. It's also got a nice flat, textured finish. Perfect for dashboards? We'll see. It took an extra 15 minutes and looks pretty good so far.

Here's a comparison between the old color and the new. I think it's better - hard to tell though.

I think I'm done painting things now.

Idiot + Spray gun + Toxic chemicals = ????

2007-10-25T00:09:00.000-04:00

It didn't take me long to find a use for one of my new air tools. Of course it's the one I have ZERO experience with - the Devilbiss JGA spray gun. Turns out this thing is quite popular in the automotive refinishing world. Pretty much the one every painter has in his kit. It's not the absolute pinnacle of technology, but it's reliable, and gets the job done.
Well, now I've got one too, and have no idea how it works - so I figured it out the same way I figure everything else out.

I took it apart.

Turns out it's just a big honkin' airbrush - I've used one of those before. This has a few more knobs to turn, and moves a lot more paint, but has the same basic functions.
So I've decided to use it to paint the interior of the Neon. Originally, I was going to just use a bunch of spray paint from Home Depot, but at $4/can x 24 cans (estimated 12 primer and 12 topcoat) that adds up to almost $100.00 fast. As it turns out, all the stuff to get set up with real automotive enamel, reducer, hardener and safety gear is about the same, but now I'm set up and future jobs will cost significantly less.

But wait - you can't just go blasting paint around the interior of a car can you? You've got to mask off everything you don't want painted, right? Yes, unfortunately you do.
Masking off the inside of a car is no small task, especially if you're a bit obsessive about things - which I most certainly am. You can't imagine how many little nooks and crannies there are inside the passenger compartment of a simple car like a Neon. I'll forgo the play-by-play and just say that it took me nearly a week of working a few hours each night to get ready to paint. Somehow, I also forgot to take pictures of the inside before paint. But here are a few of the outside:

In the 2nd & 3rd pictures you can see the main reason the masking took so long. The white plastic garbage bag sitting on top of the dash contains the entire interior wiring harness for the car. It starts at the driver's side of the dashboard, runs along the left side of the car, splits under the rear passenger seat, continues down both sides of the car, feeding power to all manner of door switches, fuel pumps, and rear window defrosters along the way. Finally terminating at the tail lights and license plate light. I chose to painstakingly (and non-destructively) pull the entire harness all the way forward, and tape it up in a bag so it wouldn't get painted gray. Why? Because I'm nuts I guess...I wrestled with the decision for several evenings before I finally gave in to my obsessive ways. I just couldn't bring myself to paint over it. It seemed so unprofessional and half assed. I just can't do things that way, and I like to think that the attention to detail and extra effort will be noticed when people peer into the car. Especially when I point it out to them.

So now the car is all masked off and I've got all the materials to do the job. But I've never used pro level automotive paint and let me tell you - it's like a freakin' chemistry class. You've gotta mix all this super toxic crap together, and then you've got the added stress of something called "pot life". As it turns out, once you mix the paint, you've set a chemical reaction in motion, and it cannot be reversed or slowed. The paint WILL cure and harden no matter what. That's known as "pot life". Once that paint is mixed, you've got to spray. If you can't spray, you've got to get it out of the gun in a timely manner otherwise your little chemistry experiment will turn to a solid plastic puck in the gun and ruin it. Soothing thoughts eh?

Undeterred, I set off into uncharted territory. Mixing up automotive paint. It sounds easy enough, but it involves measuring out magical amounts of outrageously toxic chemicals to achieve the perfect mixture that will dry to a nice, even coat. Not an operation for the timid...
Luckily the guys at the paint store gave me an idiot-proof formula to eliminate all the confusion. "You take a quart of paint, put a pint of reducer in it, and add 4 oz of hardener - you should be all set bro" Sounds easy enough.
Well bros, a quart of mixed paint is a LOT of paint - like enough to do one coat on an entire car. I realized this just as I was about to mix my first batch. Unfortunately, cutting the formula the shop gave me down to make smaller batches required more math than I cared for. In the end, I had to reverse engineer the formula the shop gave me - using the following logic:
1 quart equals 32 oz. Add 1 pint (16 oz) to that and you get 48 oz. I've been told to add 4 oz of hardener to that amount of paint. Therefore, whatever the ratio of hardener to paint is, will be true no matter how big or small the batch is. I hope.
Simple math tells me that 4 oz is roughly 8.3% of 48 oz.
Let me share something here - I was not a stellar student back in the day. Furthermore, I don't deal with liquid measures on a daily basis. The above operation required that a fairly large chunk of my gray matter be dedicated to the math involved. I could've used a nap afterward.
No matter - now I've got my percentage - all I have to do is mix up the paint.

Along with the unintentionally confusing formula, the shop gave me a bunch of disposable mixing cups with all these measuring lines all over them. While I was mixing up my first batch, I figured I'd use these lines to make sure I added a known amount of paint in order to make my math easier. Halfway through, I realized that around the cup's brim were graduations for a bunch of different formulas - none of them looking like anything I'd need - that is except for the very last one - 2:1+10%. Dammit, dammit, dammit!
Well, I took some consolation in the fact that I was only 1.7% off.

Using the measurements on the cup, I mixed, I sprayed, I succeeded.
Behold!

Looking rearward - The funny looking "wishbone" is the parking brake cables tied together, and strung to the roof to keep them out of my way.

Looking forward

The trunk

Not too shabby for a rookie eh? I'll do a full "Before and After" when I get it all put back together.

Tools of the trade.

2007-10-24T21:58:00.000-04:00

This will have nothing to do with the car, but it's "shop news" so I think it qualifies.
Recently, I've had a windfall of tools. Not just any windfall mind you. this is a "grin like an idiot" situation. In the last several weeks, I've acquired a 5 hp, 35 gallon air compressor and a decent kit of tools: 550 lbft, 1/2" impact wrench, 3/8" air ratchet, and a Devilbiss automotive spray gun. Additionally, I managed to find myself with a 90 amp MIG welder. Now, you'll recall that my whole goal in this project is to NOT go broke.
So why am I so happy to have all these expensive new toys? Well, I 've got a bad-ass kit of very capable new tools, and I only had to part with $150.00, and few extra gallons of gas - that's it.

I'm a tenacious bargain hunter, taking pride in never paying full price. I've lost track of the number of items I've purchased at clearance tables, used equipment stores, and even ebay. I'm not hung up on having the newest, fanciest tools. I tend to like proven designs and am willing to let someone else pay the premium price for the fancy stuff, realize it's not what they need and return it to the store, or put it up for sale - at which point I swoop in and pick it up for a steal.

I've been stalking a compressor & tools for several months. You don't dismantle entire cars without some heavy duty tools standing by if you don't have to. I had a few rules that made it difficult to find the perfect setup for a reasonable price: A legitimate 5hp motor, oil lubed compressor, belt drive, and at least a 30 gallon tank. These specs would guarantee a powerful, quiet, and most importantly, reliable compressor.
True, I could just wander down to a big-box tool store, plunk down a paycheck, and walk out with what I needed. On the way home, I could also stop by my attorney's office and pick up the paperwork for my inevitable estrangement.

Nope - I was going to need to find a place where people sold wacky things that you didn't stumble across every day. Sounds like a job for eBay - home of wacky crap for sale. I found plenty of PERFECT compressors and tools for great prices, but guess what happens when you try to ship a 200lb hunk of iron across the country? Back to the attorney...

Enter craigslist - the perfect place to buy crazy-ass things like heavy, second hand compressors. After several failed attempts, I finally found a compressor that met my specs. Better yet - it came with a bunch of tools! Unfortunately it was a good hour's drive north. But the price was right, and eventually I bit the bullet. I drove up and handed a very nice guy named John his money. I loaded up my well-used, but bulletproof compressor and air tools, and drove home - grinning all the while. Similarly spec'd new versions of what I just bought would have cost me at least $600.00. Not bad, not bad....

She's no beauty queen, but she'll work for a long time to come.

So that's the compressor and tools, what about the welder? Well, I paid nothing for the welder. Yep - free.
There's a great section of craigslist titled "barter". This, along with the "free" section are my two favorites. You literally never know what you'll find there - my favorite so far has to be the "Free Milk - 1 Gallon" I don't know the circumstances that brought this about, and it's probably better that way - but I digress.
One day, in the barter section, I found an ad titled "looking for wood carving tools and a dremell or rotary tool - $1" I have multiple Dremel's, so I clicked on the ad. Long story short (for once) this guy needed a Dremel and some bits and had a brand new 90 amp welder to trade for it.

I jumped ALL OVER this deal!

I have no real need for a welder right now, but I've always wanted one. Plus, it can't hurt to have one around if I'm rebuilding cars, right?
In the end, I managed to trade a 25 year-old Dremel and a box of bits that I bought years ago (approximate value - 30.00) for a practically new MIG welder (approximate value - $130.00 - $150.00). I know, I can't explain it either.

I honestly felt bad on the way home from the trade - so I picked up a cheapo "flex shaft" attachment for his "new" Dremel and offered to send it to him.

So that's it - $600 - $700 worth of tools for $150.00. My face hurts from grinning.

Oh, and I've got a few more deals in the works - one for a running, low mileage SOHC motor for the Neon, and another for some powder coating work. Potential cash outlay? $85.00
Owww, my face....

Tar Pits Part 2

2007-09-10T22:57:00.000-04:00

So, two weeks or so of picking away at the tar mats for a few hours has left a big gooey mess in my race car. The bulk of the actual tar is gone, but the residue left by heat gun/scraper combo is pretty thick in places. Speaking of the heat gun...I got really tired of holding the gun in place to heat an area, and then heat another area while I scraped the previous area. Well, I guess I didn't get tired of holding the gun so much as I got tired of burning my friggin hand while I was scraping. So I dug up one of my old "third hand" vises and made up this highly sophisticated heat gun stand:

The method is as follows -
1) Point the gun at some tar
2) Wait till it gets a bit shiny & goopy
3) Point the gun at an adjacent bit of tar
4) Scrape previous goopy tar. (don't burn your hand, stupid!)
6) Repeat steps 2 - 4
6a) Explain to your wife why exactly you're meticulously scraping tar off the floor of junk car.

Here's what it looks like right after I finish scraping.

It's not terrible, but it's just a lot of work with a solvent to get it up. To knock it down as much as possible, and to cut down on the amount of nasty chemicals, I put a wire wheel on my trusty old drill and went to work on the dried up tar. This took several more evenings, but the results were worth it:

All that's left now is use a lot of nasty solvent to remove the remaining nasty tar. Knowing this day was coming, I picked up a small can off the aforementioned nasty solvent (GooGone). I put some on a rag and went to work. The results were less than impressive. The solvent softened up the tar, but it packed up on the rag so quickly that it was useless. Not to mention it was a lot of work, and the fumes probably shaved several days off of my life.
I needed something that would save me the work and not clog up as easily as the rag. The drill with the wire wheel was still in the car, for grins, I doused a big area with the solvent and ran the wire wheel across it a few times at full tilt. Holy crap! Power tools and nasty chemicals to the rescue!! It cleaned up great. It slung tar and solvent everywhere, but that cleaned up pretty easily - with yet more solvent. (so I lost a few more days of my life - they probably wouldn't have been much fun anyway) When all was said and done, I scraped about 10lbs of tar off of the floors, and was ready to prep the interior for a fresh coat of paint.
Say goodbye tar...

"Goodbye Tar"

Tar Pits

2007-09-03T22:27:00.000-04:00

This post is a bit late since it was originally intended to go up on Labor Day. Well, it didn't. An excruciatingly busy work schedule got in the way. Anyway, here's the post:

Labor Day Weekend!!....time to relax and take it easy. Maybe get a bunch of work done on the car.....Nope - not if you own a house, and have a young'n running around. Out of 72 hours, I literally got 3 hours to work on the car. The rest was spent maintaining said house and tending to the young'n.
You'll notice, I said car...as in singular After sitting for a week and a half, the remains of Blue went away on a rainy Monday morning. So now I'm down to just the white car. After a little more tear-down and preparation, I'll be ready to actually start building a race car.

I've decided that the first thing on the list should be the interior. My plan is to completely strip it, clean it, and paint it a nice gray color - both to keep it cool(er) inside, and cut down on any reflection/glare. Plus, it gives it that 'professional race car' look. I figure, if I can't actually be fast, the car should at least look the business. It's bad enough that I'll likely be bumbling around in last place - I should at least enjoy my surroundings, right?
My goal is to get the paint work done by the time the snow flies so I don't have to suffer through paint fumes in the closed-up garage.

First order of business is to remove the factory-installed soundproofing - more commonly known as Tar Mats. These are literally large sheets of tar that Chrysler laid down on the floors to cut down on road noise. By the time I took these pictures, I had already started stripping the passenger side - but you get the idea.

Here's my personal favorite - can't wait to get to this one. Clearly, the trunk had a leak on this car, since there was about an inch of standing water in the spare tire well when I got it. Which, coincidentally, I think is to blame for a particularly vicious, recent mosquito outbreak in my garage.

Now - I'm under no illusions here. The weight savings gained by removing these mats is maybe 10 lbs. I'm only doing it because I have an entire winter to work on the car before it's debut next year. Well, that and the aforementioned "pro race car look". I can't think of anything cooler, and more purposeful than a properly prepped race car cockpit.

The amount of manual labor involved in removing these things is stupefying. I had really high hopes for one method of removing them that involved smashing up blocks of dry ice and letting it sit on the mats until they pretty much cracked from the extreme cold (-109F). This method had a lot going for it because if done right, the tar mats come off in huge chunks AND, you get the added benefit of having the inside of your car look like the set of a cheesy horror movie for several hours. Failing this, I'm left to remove them with a heat gun, a scraper, and a lot of messy work.
Despite the hope and encouragement offered by this link it was not to be. Apparently, Chrysler had special "ultra stubborn" tar manufactured for the Neons. Very much unlike the huge chunks that came off in the Honda example above, all I got was small chips zinging all over the car every time I hit the mats with a hammer and chisel. While this was plenty amusing, it was hardly progress. More importantly, the hammer and chisel were leaving behind a fairly thick layer of tar that would still have to be addressed - most likely with the previously mentioned heat gun and scraper. It didn't make a lot of sense to pay for dry ice ($9.00/10lb block) only to have to finish the job with the heat gun anyway. In the pic below, the larger black area in the center is the result of 5 lbs of dry ice smashed up and left to sit for 30 minutes, then followed by about 10 deafening minutes smacking it with a hammer and chisel. By contrast, the smaller, cleaner area right next to it is the result of 5 minutes with a heat gun and a putty knife.

So, $4.00 in dry ice, 30 minutes of waiting, and 10 minutes of hammering - only to still need the heat gun, versus $0.00, and 5 minutes with the heat gun - no extra cleanup needed. Looks like the heat gun is going to be busy.

Blue Car - Teardown Pt 2

2007-08-21T00:38:00.000-04:00

Next up on the "Teardown To-Do List" is to strip Blue's suspension components. I knew this was going to be a long day, and my Dad was probably still smarting from the last weekend's shenanigans and would likely not return my calls - even if I promised cold beer.

Next victim on the list is my good pal Brent, who always seems to be around to help me out with any loony plan I've concocted. This loony plan was no different, and he willingly joined the mayhem.

The first order of business was to find the perfect place to do the work. We had to consider that when we were done, the resultant shell would be far too heavy to move on our own. Through the wonders of craigslist I had a few people lined up to haul the shell away, but I needed to make sure they could get to the car when I wasn't around - not to mention, I don't like strangers from the interweb wandering around in, and possibly casing my garage.
Much to my wife's and I'm sure my neighbor's dismay, we decided that out in the driveway would be the "perfect" place.

At the top of our driveway, off at an angle, is a little parking spot that will fit one average sized car while still allowing full access to the garage. That's where we decided to put the car. Unfortunately I live right at one of the main intersections in our subdivision, and the decrepit remains of this car would be highly, highly visible. I don't live in a super posh part of town where Homeowner's Associations rule my every move, but I also don't live where it's perfectly acceptable to prop a junked car up on jackstands until the weeds obscure it. We got many second takes, pointing, and general "what the?!" reactions from everyone who drove or walked by.

As with the interior, we had our hands full, and no one else was around to take that many pictures, but we got some decent action shots.

Here are the last shots of Blue with her original suspension intact. This will be the final resting place until she's hauled off to the scrap yard.

The front suspension came off very quickly. Due mostly to the fact that a race car's front end works very hard for a living, and tends to get a lot of routine maintenance. The fasteners were all close to new and in great shape. The only hiccup was due to the accident. The K-member took such a hard hit that it actually broke the internal chassis weld for the main attachment bolt. Without the nut welded in place, the bolt/nut would just spin. Since the nut was hidden in the chassis and never meant to be messed with, there was no way to hold it in place. The K-member was effectively stuck on the car. That's when my handy reciprocating saw (sawzall) went to work...

Five minutes of work with the saw, and the K-member dropped out easy as can be. The front end was done. The rear however, was a different story...

The shot above is of the inboard rear suspension mount - these parts had not been messed with in a VERY long time. Most likely ten years or so, according to Greg. I knew these would be a problem, and for the last few days had been soaking them in my favorite penatrating oil - PB Blaster. I have no idea what's in this stuff, and probably don't want to know. What I do know though, is that it works. All the nuts we needed to get off, came off easily, but the rear mounting bolts were rusted in place and refused to budge - even with some gentle coaxing from Brent and a 10 lb sledgehammer. I didn't want to cut the bolts since they were going to be my spares. Instead we got to play with another of the home mechanic's favorites....

FIRE!!

Didn't matter...We must've torched that thing for 10 minutes. All it did was waste a bunch of propane and provide us with some chuckles as various oil soaked bushings caught fire. The bolts were seized in there, and refused to move. In fact a little more hammering ended up with one of them bent so much it wouldn't come out anyway. Back to the saw...

A few minutes with the saw, and Brent sucessfully liberated the rear suspension. In the shot above, you can see the bolt on the far left. Notice how badly rusted it is.

While Brent was hacking away on the bolts, I tried to free up the equally rusted-in-place outer suspension pivots with the torch.

Nope - no good there either. Now that they're off the car, I'll put them in a vice and see if I can get them out that way. But that's a project for another day.

When all was said and done, we had reduced the car to a mere shell of scrap metal. Time to cover it up and hope that it gets taken away before I get a nasty letter from the city. I'll leave you with the sight that greeted everyone who passed my house for the next week....enjoy!

Thanks to Brent for helping out with the manual labor and for bringing his bad-ass camera, and gorgeous new lens to capture all the madcap fun. Don't get used to pictures of this quality - next time it'll be back to my crappy pictures.

Blue car - Teardown Pt 1

2007-08-17T23:52:00.001-04:00

So, a few weeks ago, my Father expressed some interest in helping me work on the Neons. He seemed both sincere and quite sober. I hope he wasn't bluffing, or using reverse psychology. Because one day I ambushed him and asked if he'd help me strip the interior out of the blue car aka: Blue. Foolishly, he said yes.

He came over one Saturday afternoon, and after many hours of wrenching, drinking beer, wrenching some more, scratching our heads, eating some BBQ chicken, yet more wrenching, some cutting, swearing, and at least one episode of "sledge hammering", the interior was barren.

I don't have many pictures of the days events, but here's what I managed to get. They don't quite capture the 8+ hrs of work, but trust me - it was a long day.

BEFORE-ISH

By now we've cut the cage out - which despite all my fretting and planning, was the easiest part of the whole job. We cut in four semi-strategic places and when I jiggled it to see if it would move, it literally collapsed into the center of the car.
By the way, that's my Dad - he's likely wondering where his day went so horribly wrong.
Note that the dash is still in place - this will take us the remainder of our evening to remove.

Done and done! The dash is gone. All that's left is to pull out the wiring harnesses, strip off the suspension and send the shell to the scrap yard.

Easier said than done, I'm afraid...

The Street Car

2007-08-14T22:24:00.000-04:00

The Street Car

This is the frame and body that will make up my new race car. It's certainly no show car. It's full history is unknown to me, but it's clearly been sitting outside for quite some time. It was a daily driver in Ohio and has obviously seen several salty winters. All of the suspension fasteners are very rusty, it's got 168,000+ miles and an engine described vaguely as "blown".
To add to the charm, someone has already torn into the engine with reckless abandon and at least one utility knife as every hose you can reach in the engine compartment has been hacked in half.
Inside, it appears that the previous owner drove everywhere shaking an open soda can - pretty nasty.

I'll let the pictures tell the story:

What a looker, huh?

HOT!

Uhhhhhh....where's the rest of the dashboard?

In the trunk of course! What's that thing on the left?
It appears to be a fuzzy shower cap covered in mouse poop. I think I'll burn it to be safe.

At least he took care of the pedals

PEEKABOO!!

I've got my work cut out for me as you can see....

The operating room

2007-07-25T23:51:00.000-04:00

Of all the rooms in our house, my favorite is the garage (of course it is...) The garage is freakishly deep for a late 50's house. You can easily fit two cars nose to tail on each side with plenty of room to spare. That basically makes it a four car garage. It's really well lit with several large flourescent lights, plenty of power outlets and a small side area with a workbench and room for shelves. After meeting one of my neighbors, it turns out that the 2nd owner of the house was a sprint car racer, and had his shop in the back of the garage. Cool huh? I did a little poking around and found a gas line from the main part of the house to the back of the garage for gas heat. It's my dream shop!!

Time for a tour...

This is the garage at the start of the project before the blue car arrived. I've got a lot of stuff piled up in the foreground, but I can actually park another car next to the Volvo.

Here's a lame "pan" of the rear part of the garage I'm too lazy to actually stitch them together - the shop is over to the left

Here's the workbench area of the shop (obscured in the first picture above)

So, that's where all the work will happen. Plenty of room right? We'll see...

Old Blue

2007-07-25T23:41:00.000-04:00

The "Race" Car:

So I've bought two junker Neons with the hopes of one day combining them into one reasonably serviceable race car. They're both 1994 1/2 Neon ACR Sedans. One (The Blue Car - aka: Blue) has already seen significant duty as a race car since day one. The other (The White Car - aka: Whitey) is a thoroughly beaten street car - exhibiting all manner of wear & tear. But...and this is important...the chassis is straight and relatively rust free. It's important because The Blue Car is rust free, but is anything but straight.
Unfortunately, in September of 2006, Blue was involved in a significant front end collision and is now about a foot shorter than it's supposed to be. Details are cloudy, but apparently a different driver and a slow/stationary Miata were involved.

The basic plan is to take all of the go-fast parts off of Blue and put them on/in Whitey. Blue's engine was already transplanted to Greg's new race car by this spring. All that's left is the roll cage, and race prepped suspension. The doors and various other mechanical parts will be removed and stockpiled as spares, and the rest will head to the scrap yard.

Here are a few "before" shots - defintely looking very used up.

And the interior - the seat's already been removed, but the roll cage has yet to be cut out.

The Neons cometh

2007-07-24T23:59:00.000-04:00

So, what kind of car do you race when you have no budget? Well, there are lower budget classes called "Spec" classes that take the focus away from the car and money spent on it, and move it over to the driver. These classes are tightly restricted and generally use a low(er) cost car, and stock parts to keep the costs down.

Sounds good, but all spec classes are NOT created equal. The two viable classes at my local track are Spec Miata, and Spec Neon. The average cost of an entry level, race prepped car for Spec Miata is around $10,000. Conversely, the cost of a similarly equipped Spec Neon is more like $3500 - $4000. Guess which class I chose?

Unfortunately, with my super-tight budget even a bargain price like $3500 might as well be a million. I needed another option - enter "The Project"

When I took my Driver's School to get my competition license, I got a LOT of help from a guy by the name of Greg. He rented his newly built Neon to me so that I'd have something to drive, and flat out let me borrow all of his personal safety gear. Race suit, helmet, gloves, the works. Borrowing that gear saved me close to $700.00. I can definitely say that without his help, I would still be trying to figure out how to get started.

I mentioned Greg's "newly built" car - that's important. You don't generally build up a new race car without a damn good reason. Unfortunately, Greg had a very good reason. His old Neon met a stationary Miata at about 60mph. The chassis is now about a foot shorter than it originally was and is basically useless.
Greg's original plan was to get a junk car with a good chassis and transfer his race engine and all the other the race goodies over to it. He bought the junk car, but before he got started swapping, he found a new race car that would require very little prep to get it on the track. He decided that was a better plan.

That left two junk Neons that needed a LOT of work to combine them in to one functioning race car. Perfect for someone with more mechanical ability and time, than money (read: Me). Greg and I worked out a very reasonable price, and they now both live in my garage.

Next Post: The Operating Room

You're gonna what?

2007-07-24T22:12:00.000-04:00

I'm stupid - simple as that. Not sure how long I've been this way, but it's at least long enough that I don't notice it anymore. Here's why:
Somewhere during the course of my 35th year on this planet, I decided it would be a fantastic idea to become a race car driver - it sounds fun right? Don't get me wrong, it's a blast - probably the most fun I've had in my life. What it's not however, is inexpensive.

There's a rule in racing: Never race something you can't afford to push off a cliff. Wise words to be sure, but it quickly puts a damper on the fun when you realize that even a basic race car will cost thousands of dollars, and can potentially cost several thousand more in parts and maintenance over a race season.

So why am I stupid? The list is fairly long, but here are the highlights:

1. I'm 35 - I really should've taken this up while I was in my 20's. That's when you're supposed goof off and make silly mistakes.
2. My wife and I just bought a new house. We're in that lovely phase known as "house poor"
3. We just had a kid. Our son Zachary to be specific. Time to act like an adult...You know...don't do anything stupid, like buy a race car.
4. We've decided to have my wife stay home with Zach. It's the best thing for him, but her paychecks are sorely missed.

As you can imagine, all of the above has us stretched kind of thin

Perfect! Let's go racing!!

So here's my plan: I'm still going to go racing, but I'm going to do it on as tight a budget as humanly possible. I haven't crunched the numbers, but I figure my total budget will be less than some guys will spend on tires. The idea behind this Blog is part diary as I build up my car, and also a way to show my succeses and failures in keeping costs down. At some point I'll put together a spreadsheet adding up all my costs and savings for this project - hopefully it will be proof that racing doesn't have to be outrageously expensive. That, and my favorite, spreadsheet making, fool - Rachel would be VERY proud of me...