Professional Photoshoot Done Next Saturday, followed by a drag race Sunday

So yah, now that the Z is somewhat pretty, I figured it'd be nice to do a dusk/night time photoshoot of the car by this guy: timscribbles.com. He seems to be an all around decent chap, and local. I'm looking forward to it.

SDCR's final event to wrap up Season 1 is 01/17/09 and will be a drag race at Barona. This'll be Kristen's first time and my 5th time total, so we'll see how the car holds up. With her new camera, expect to see tons of photos from all our competitors.

Not sure if we're doing the burnout contest there or not, but we may very well do it there. Considering the fact that I have to get ready for a move, I might not cripple the car by doing a brakestand as it's an optional event anyway. Aside from that really not much going on, we're getting a lot of folks that look at the car now so that's always good.

2010 is an important year for our Z.

For many, the new year is home to the ever popular resolution tradition and sitting here with my wife and I, it's no different. Think back if you will, the insane amount of work that has been done in the latter part of 2009. The car was a complete pile of junk when we picked it up. My best friend even mentioned not to pick it up, but something about this Z captured my eye. It wasn't anything I could begin to explain to anyone else, but could only be understood by folks that have been in my shoes. The simple fact is this: This would be the start of a long and arduous journey for all parties involved. There will be many thousands of hard earned dollars ready to be spent without hesitation, because it is what completes my life. It is what completes OUR life. I cannot have gotten this far with the car without the continuous support and actual elbow grease from my wife and best friend.

With that said, I have to say that 2010 is a significant year for us and our Z. It is with great pleasure that we announce that Kairi, Kristen, and myself will be doing a full SCCA Autocross season. With finances looking on the up and the car becoming more and more familiar to work on, we tend to not only race a full season, but also prep the car for serious body work. We intend to fully restore this car and go with semi-race setup on the car so we can still have it streetable. This is our passion, this is our dream. I consider myself pretty dang lucky for having a wife that not only encourages and supports this, but wants to be an integral part of the process.

Well our 2 week Christmas/New Year's trip was actually cut short early for a few reasons, but after we did get back to San Diego and immediate fires were put out, JG, Kristen and I decided that we would go ahead and paint the car so that it's at least just one color to make the car halfway decent. 21 cans, 3 hours of work, and 3 woozy heads later this was the result. Not bad for $40 lol :p

Here are some pictures, but you can see the entire album HERE.

Long time since a post..again

Well mostly nothing has been happening, just racing in the San Diego Club Racing Series, but other than that just been cruising around. The car's been quite reliable, and has really not had any issues. I've gone ahead and taken the liberty and ordered a new MSA fuse box so that I can run the car at night with much less risk of electrical fire. Who knows, maybe then a lot of the peripherals might work!!

That's really it for now. Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

Here's a picture of the new MSA fusebox:

Afterthoughts from an exhausting day at the Qualcomm Stadium

Well the San Diego Club Racing Series was an incredible success today. We got membership dues from pretty much everyone and everyone had an absolute blast. Quick recap on the car's handling characteristics: pretty much unchanged! Predictable and aside from the car pushing from understeer, it's incredible easy to drive quick.

I'll spare you all the details...you guys can check out all the pics here: Click for full San Diego Club Racing Album

Here are some cool shots of the Z being driven by both my wife and myself today :)

Running Event #2 at the SD Club Racing Series Sunday 11/22!

So Sunday I run my 2nd event in the Z at the SD Club Racing Series. The time style has been changed to a rally style timing so that it's a combined timing set up. The idea is for the drivers to be consistent. It's going to be a doosey! I'm a little worried about making some mistakes, but the West Lot at Qualcomm stadium is perfect for a longer autocross course. We also announce the winners for the autocross event after the results get posted...I know I won't be last, but I know I won't be first either lol. I adjusted the electric fan thermostat to kick in a bit earlier this time..hopefully this'll be enough to prevent the car from running too hot and be a temporary fix until I get my aluminum radiators and a Flexalite. Of course I won't be doing that until I get my new fuse box from MSA for the risk of electrical fire. I'll probably be upgrading my charging system to a 280zx alternator as well to handle the extra juice the fans will pull. This car is coming a long!

Immediate concerns:

1) Fuse Box
2) Radiator
3) Fan setup
4) 280zx Alternator
5) Switch the lights out to H4 Halogens and do HID Conversion
6) Put in bought motor mounts
7) Put in 280z Sub Axles

Other than the car is being driven regularly with no problems. I ran with a modded 240sx (N/A and kept up with him no problem). He tried to loose me, but couldn't lol, so it pulls just fine! More later!

Well I've been rather busy with the San Diego Club Racing (sdclubracing.com/forum) and work lately, so a bit of an update since the car had the exhaust put on.

Autocross thoughts: good car to drive overall..has a bit of understeer, but cured with a bit of early anticipation (aka early braking) and smoother driving techniques. Overall the car held up to a total 7 total runs and I improved my lap time by almost a second which resulted in 2 seconds slower than our fastest driver in the competition. I'm getting comfortable with the car and it's easier to gauge the car's behaviour in certain situations. Overall I'm quite pleased with the outcome of the car and how it's handling. It's no wonder why the Z usually dominates it's class and then some. What I did notice however is that the cooling mechanism needs to be looked at. With the electric fan conversion and the stock radiator, the car is fine for a DD, but needs to be beefed up for autocross. I'm thinking of getting a triple row aluminum radiator, which should more than take care of the heating issues.

As I have been rather absent, I figured it would be a good idea to update this post with a video of my new 2.5" header-back exhaust with a Flowmaster muffler. This thing sounds beastly and looks completely OEM. I love it and I've gotten quite a few compliments already on the car's sound. Performance wise, I feel that the car doesn't sputter as much any more and it ends up holding the revs nicely and consistently. At freeway speeds in 4th gear, the car isn't too loud unless going over a certain limit, but hey we would never do that now would we? ;) Anyways, less talk more vid, so here you go! :) Enjoy!!

Exhaust goes in today!

So primary goal is to get the exhaust on today. I called Rising Sun and they'll have the diff mount and the replacement motor mounts so I'll have Kristen pick those up today and then we'll go later this afternoon and put everything on. Pictures will be up soon :)