Idle time
I was watching my buddy working for a day and a half making this bracket. When he asked me what I thought, I told him “you have too much time on your hands.” He laughed. Must be nice to not have to build a new car in the off season.
That old feeling
Its no secret that I have been pretty jaded when it comes to cars in the last couple of years. Dumbass customers, whack margins, shitty trends have all but killed my love for something that I used to be so passionate about. If it wasn’t for finding new things to learn about and friends dragging me back in, I would probably not do anything with cars and be a bit happier. But every once in a while you find something to rev your engine back up. (no pun intended) Seeing this thing on the dyno and riding around in them has done that. You turn up the boost and it makes more power. Amazing! Lets see how long this lasts for…
Milling around
Our first attempt at setting the cam timing in on my motor ended up being a exercise in futility as every time we tried to set the dial indicator, the needle would walk. After about an hour of frustration, Naoto suggested that we figure out a valve angle for the head and make a tool. Honestly, I couldn’t really conceptualize what the hell he was talking about, but I just did what he asked me and called Japan for the data.
Since the guys over at Apexi have been nice enough to let me use their facility, I took advantage and helped myself to using the mill as well(well to be accurate, Naoto used the mill and I just helped him by cutting stuff). After a couple hours of measuring and cutting, we came up this tool. I moves in any position and keeps the shaft of the dial indicator in line with the retainer. This way we can maintain the proper angle and keep the end of the shaft from walking as the valve travels up and down.
Metal arts and crafts is getting funner and funner! Hmmm, maybe I should make that splitter for the Civic…
Cranky
So what started as supposed to be a head gasket swap and cam install turned into a complete tear down when I inspected my bearings. From looking at it, besides having a bit of oil starvation, something had come out of the crank and marred my bearings up. The only conclusion that I could really come to was that there must have been debris lodged inside the crank galley and decided to come out to say hello to my bearings once it filled with oil. I never really took the time to have the plugs removed on the crank. I guess I’ll never make that mistake again.
This time around, I decided to take the crank to dudes that only do cranks. Right next to Triumvir’s office, there is a shop called Marine Crank. I have always heard about them in engine building circles, but never really took the time to look into them. But I figured, hell if all they do is cranks, they got to be pretty damn good at it. So I asked them that the best route was. They sent me away to a place called Jerry’s broken drill and tap removal. I had been to this place before about 10 years ago, but just to have time serts installed in a head. Apparently the steel balls that seal up the crank is super hard to get out and they have a special machine that burns them out. The machine is pretty cool looking and they do a super good job to not damage the crank, so don’t be surprised when you get the bill. (honestly, I was a bit shook when I got the bill, but its kind of worth it)
I took the crank back over to Marine and they worked their magic on it. I had the oil holes chamfered, the journals micro polished and the galleys tapped. Total bill, around $200. But after I give it a good cleaning, I can at least be relieved that I won’t have shit spitting out of the crank onto my bearings. I recommend this for anyone that has had their crank out and polished.
Pump, pump the jam.
This is one of the worst oil pump designs ever. The only reason I say that is because it wouldn’t register any oil pressure after a rebuild; even after cranking for 10-15 minutes. If you look carefully, the oil from the pickup has to fill the circled chamber before it actually hits the pump and can transfer pressure. So under low rpm, it will never have enough vacuum to pull the oil through. That might be alright when you have a freshly built motor with tons of assembly lube. But what do you do when you have stored the engine for months and all the oil has settled? Piece of shit.
Arts and craps
Alright, alright. Its been a really long time since I have posted anything up. I know I have been lagging. But for a while there all I was really doing was going to school and training. Basically the same thing over and over again. But then I figured out that the bearings in my motor where all toast and I had to get ready for the final FD event of the year(more on those things later). Things got real hectic.
While all this was going on, I found the time to work on one of my side projects. A while back, I got a catch can from Greddy. Its a really nice looking piece: extruded aluminum case and pressed aluminum caps. But it was literally just a can. I knew for it to be really efficient, I had to add some internal baffling. But how to go about doing it. After thinking about it and bullshiting about it, I finally just went to work on it.
I ended cutting the top off with a cold saw, trying to make it straight as possible. I then took 2 sheets of aluminum and cut them to size to make a V. Each sheet was drilled to allow air to pass through them but still strain out the oil. Positioning them in a V to create a dual chamber effect within the can. In retrospect, I probably should have just used a single sheet and just made a single bend on the brake. But I guess you always come up with things to do. I then made 1 bung for a drainage and added a spout for a filter on the top. Hopefully this will take care of my blow by entering in the cylinder.
The reasoning behind the title is that a lot of girls post up that they are into Arts and Crafts. I like to think of this as functional arts and crafts with metal.
My first keitai
The first time I ever went to Japan, I was with Eddie and Naoto (Jan 2002). Since me and Naoto were there for a bit of time and we had to split up for separate work, he decided to buy a prepaid cell phone. When I ended up moving to Japan, he gave me the phone and I have been using it ever since. This thing has been a trooper for all these years. But unfortunately, Softbank is killing 2G service as if next March. They sent me a message that said I needed to upgrade to a 3G phone. Which is not a bad thing, as I felt super embarrassed when I would whip the phone out in front of people I knew. Lets paint the picture… You talk to a girl, convince her to give you her number and you break out Zack Morris’ phone… Yeah. Its about time to upgrade.
The shit part? I have had the same number for the last 4 years and they won’t let me keep it. Oh well. Thanks little guy for holding up all these years. You will mildly missed.
Type Sherri
The other day I had to hangout at home with the boss’ daughter as he had to go with the wife to the son’s school for a baseball function. Since I am about as mature as a 6th grader, it was super fun. Well… besides softball, video games and manga, I don’t know what 6th graders like to do. So I showed her how she could make her own shoes on Nike id.
Surprisingly, she was really particular with the colors until they were just right. It was a perfect way to kill a hour. The best part was when it asked her to personalize the shoes, she wanted to put the cat’s name on the shoe. Awesome.
Beauty in the details
I have been cooped up in my make shift studio for the last couple of day shooting product shots for our site update. We just got in our new Evo X manifold and the boss asked me to take new photos of it before we installed it in our demo car. This might not mean much to majority of people, but it seems to put a smile on my face. I don’t think I will ever have the steady hand to pull this off.
Separation Anxiety
I woke up pretty damn late today and it was really nice weather, so I decided to get some work done on my hoopty. Ever since I put my car together, I have had an issue with my air separator tank. When I first thought about my layout, I made sure the top of the air separator tank was the highest point of my cooling system. But no matter, how many times I would bleed the system, a air bubble would form right at my radiator. After some thinking, I realize that the way I routed the hoses (from the radiator to down under the filter, to back up into the tank, made any air get trapped up into the top of the radiator.
Since the new route was shorter than the original, all I had to do was cut all the cable ties, reroute the hoses and cut to fit. After getting everything sorted out, I filled the system back up with some distilled water and definitely noticed it was circulating much better than before. I didn’t have to pump it as many times to really bleed out the system. Good stuff. Now if I can only figure where this damned oil leak is coming from.
For some show points, I routed it through the strut tower bar. It actually fits better this way.
Broken stick
I broke my bat today… damnit! I should feel like good that I am hitting enough balls to break a bat, but I feel like I didn’t really get my money’s worth yet. I did a quick estimation and I probably went through about 600 hits on this bat before it gave out today. Oh well. I had to buy something to finish out our session so I picked up a shitty $20 piece of wood.
Thinking to myself now whether I should just step it up and get an aluminum bat. But I am probably going to get another bamboo bat. Maybe the one after the next I will try to step it up.
今日バッテンぐセンターでバット折った。くそ！まだ２ヶ月だけ。仕様がない。今度アルミバット買うかな。
Ball and glove
To continue on with the theme of getting things that are unnecessary to my life, I got something else. I have been trying to go to the batting cages as much as I can and I have convinced Naoto to join me. He is honestly more of a golf guy, but I won him over after I told him that he won’t leave the cages as frustrated as he leaves the driving range.(I was wrong about this by the way) After going to the cages a couple times, he told me that it would be fun to change it up and play catch. So we agreed to go out to Chicks, since they are having a liquidation sale, and pick up some gloves.
I tried to do some homework on the net and figure out what to get. Since I used to live with a fanatical baseball family in Japan, I already had an idea of what gloves cost. When we got there, we were bummed to find it was only 10% off. But any discount is a good discount. Naoto was really bummed when he saw that the only gloves they had left were on the high end side. His jaw dropped a little when he saw that the majority of gloves cost $200 plus. But nothing good is ever easy. After a bit of digging, we found the exact glove I was looking for.
We both picked up Mizuno MVP Prime 12″ gloves. Its supposed to be a solid all around glove. We found out soon enough as we went straight to the park by Naoto’s place. After playing catch for about an hour or so, I discovered a couple things.
1. I really suck at baseball
2. If getting hit by a baseball hurts this much at our slow ass speed, getting hit by a major league pitcher has got to suck ass.
3. You don’t realize how much energy you go through running around catching balls.
4. Not all bugs that fly around are gnats. Some are really big mosquitoes.
5. I really suck at baseball
Headcase
Sometime… scratch that, most of the time I buy shit I don’t need and put off the shit I really do need. I was at Dynamic and Eddie showed me some new HJC helmets he started carrying. Honestly, I have wanted a new helmet for a while and my mom has actually been pressuring me to get one with all the time I spend at the track. So after some convincing, really little actually, I am the owner of a new AR10 HJC helmet.
Whats the point? Well the point is that I never drive on track. I am always behind the pit wall. Who am I fooling? Everyone around me, mostly RR, is constantly telling me to start getting behind the wheel and not stay behind the wrench. Lets see if this is the catalyst. Then again I will probably running a muck with a guy I know.
If you are looking for a nice helmet at a solid price, call dirtnamics and ask them. 949-457-1234
Thanksgiving
While everyone else is watching football and stuffing their faces, I in the garage catching up on work. I got a Racepak IQ3 for my Civic, but kind of half ass made a backing plate for it. I wanted to go back and make a proper one, but was limited by what tools we have access to at the shop. Since we have a plethora of fab tools at my house, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to do it right.
I started with a 1/8th” thick piece of Lexan that was cut to the general size I needed. Taking apart a stock DX cluster, I used the gauge cover as a template. I then cut the Lexan to fit the hood from the same cluster. Next I used a template from Racepak to drill the mounting holes and cut the access hole for the couplers on the drill press using an arbor from the mill. I then made provisions for the buttons to be used with the IQ3, turn signals and warning lights.
The new piece fits a lot better and now I can fully utilize all the functions of the meter. With this out of the way, I can relax a bit and go stuff my face with some Turkey. Oh wait, I still have to do my laundry… doohhh.
Bushmaster ACR
When I first saw it, I fell in love with the Bushmaster M17S bullpup. Compact and well balanced, plus it just looks tough. But I was bummed to find out that they discontinued production as of 2 years ago. That and that I will never own it as long as I live in California. But after reading a couple of blogs, I found that its not all its cracked up to be. Being that the action is behind the trigger, the gas and expended shell is released by your head. Still though, its pretty dope looking and accepts a standard M14 mag.
My newly revived love for firearms got me to reading and I found the Magpul Masada. Bushmaster has licensed and taken over production under the name Bushmaster ACR(Adaptive Combat Rifle). Magpul has basically taken the best attributes from Armalite, HK and FNH to build a totally new weapon system. It also carries a hefty price to reflect it at 1,500USD. If they come out with a California compliant version, and I get some extra dough, it might be something to consider investing in.
Ko-whack
I have had some pretty good use out of all the cameras that I have owned. The last one that I bought was a recommendation from Phil and Toshi. They used to rave about their Kodak V505. So when I got the V705, I was pretty stoked. At 7MP, I could take pictures for work and still carry it around in my pocket. The camera was awesome up until it took a dive. The worst part was that I likes to take a dive at the most opportune time.
Right before the my warranty was up on the camera, when I just got to Japan. I decided that it didn’t want to work anymore. So I sent it back for warranty all the way from Japan. When I got back I found that they discontinued my camera and sent me a replacement, a V1003. The new camera was a 10mega pixel and a step up from what I had before. Only thing was it was bigger and no longer had the dual lens feature.(the initial reason I got the camera)
Well last night at the wedding, the new camera decided to take a dump on me. I have only had it for about 3 months. 3 MONTHS. Pretty bummed. Worst part is that I can’t do stories without a camera. I did a little research this time and found out 2 facts.
1. Canon makes really good point and shoot cameras
2. Kodak cameras are garbage.
Countless people report the same problem with the camera. The lens won’t retract and the camera ceases to function. I was amazed at their lack of response to the problem. Well you can’t really expect anything less of an American company that makes consumer level products.(but that is a whole different rant) Bottom line is that the Kodak was good while it lasted. But, to win a race you have to finish a race. Lets see how far I can get with my new Canon SD790 IS.
GRB tune
After finally breaking in our GRB and running it once at Tsukuba, we finally put it on the dyno to see how it would do. After turning up the boost only 0.1kgcm and some fine tuning we netted 14.5hp gain and 53.6lbft in torque! The car is still bone stock except for suspension. No exhaust, no intake, no nothing. Check out the mid-range power. I know , I know this is on Japanese 100octane. But hey, we are tuning for our market. I am sure it will be a much different story tuning on American shit 91 octane. Never the less, its still pretty impressive for a stock car and a rough tune.
Surefire
A couple years ago, Jensen turned me on to a flashlight company called Surefire. He had the E2D Executive Defender. Being that I am into firearms, I really wanted one for myself. Surefire makes all sorts of military illumination for firearms. They also make silencers and blades.
My brother ended up getting me a 6P before I left for Japan. By far the best flashlight I have ever owned. Especially on the job where it is usually hard to see in underneath cars or in between tight places. I ended up leaving it there for my boss to use. When I got back, I saw that they came out with a LED series that had much more battery life but sacraficed a bit of brightness. I ended up getting an E2L Outdoorsman. Honestly the small scarafice in brightness isn’t much at all. It still out performs any Maglite I have ever owned. If you ever are considering investing in a high capacity flashlight, you should really consider looking into Surefire.
