I wasn't really looking for another car (seriously, at least) but I kinda always have my eye out for a flip candidate, hence why I once owned a Pontiac Firebird with paint falling off and a tie-dye seat bolster.

What started as "oh, here's a $Cheap 328iC that needs front end repair" turned into "if I just spend a little more I can get a kinda nice one" which got me on a bit of a Craigslist hunt. Even then, everything I found had high miles and was still kinda beat. Then I found this car. It was priced very fair (maybe a little on the cheap side, even) and I couldn't say no. I've been really pining for a convertible lately and at this price, well, let's just say I negotiated over iMessage while stuck in commuter traffic on the way home from work, and had agreed to a price and pickup time before I even made it off I-395.

So, ran up to Maryland on Friday afternoon with my trailer and picked it up. It belonged to a younger kid (21) and his dad who were working on it together, while the kid daily-drove it to community college. Now the son is going off to get his bachelor's degree and doesn't want to take an old BMW convertible to college, where it'd sit outside and he'd have no access to a garage/tools to keep it up.

His dad restores old Corvettes and was also working on a cheap, wrecked Mazda3 that'll be his daughter's first car soon. From dad's conversation with me, they did a lot of work to it recently and know their stuff pretty well and I felt good about buying it from them.



It's a 1996 328iC, painted Alpine White with "Blauviolett" leather seats/door cards/carpet. The interior is "love it or hate it" and I'm in the "love it" camp simply because it's a weird, 1980s color combo applied to a mid-90s car.



Best part? It's only got 107k miles on the odometer. :mrgreen:

I unloaded it from the trailer on Friday night and promptly drove to VIR for Chump Car in the Yukon, so tonight was my first time to really drive it a longer distance and get to know the car and the quirks. Before I took it out, I threw the Kenwood head unit from the M3 (which was also previously in Joey's M3) in it, and put my DSII wheels on, with some 12mm spacers I bought off a friend. The stock wheels looked goofy and had dry-rotted tires on them, and the DSII's have nearly new RS3's.



Good Stuff

• Almost everything works. Really.
  
• Even the A/C.
  
• The paint is pristine.
  
• The interior looks WAY better than a 19-year-old E36 ought to look. Seats have a little bit of cracking on the edges but are pretty soft. Going to Leatherique 'em soon.
  
• No unsettling shakes or shimmies (the cowl shake is pretty hilarious though) and suspension feels tight on off-ramps
  
• Lotsa stuff has been recently updated or replaced. I'm waiting on the full list from the PO, but rear shocks, full cooling system, fluids/plugs/filters are definitely new.

• Convertible back window (plastic) is ripped out at the bottom right corner. Not sure if it's ripped out with or without the zipper involved. If the zipper is still attached to the cloth top, I can zip a new window in for cheap. If not, I'll have to have stuff sewn back together.
  
• Electric convertible top doesn't work via electricity. Motors are good, it's a bad microswitch. I have a lead on what to check, just need to spend some time looking at things. It goes up and down manually, but the tonneau cover doesn't latch fully so it looks goofy with the top down. Tonneau does stay shut at 80 mph though.
  
• ABS and ASC lights come on. 99% sure it's a bad wheel speed sensor. The PO replaced one, I replaced another tonight and will try a third. A friend of mine has the right scanner that can tell me which wheel to actually replace it on, but I have a few known good spares.
  
• Check Engine Light is on for code P1188, which is a generic emissions/vacuum code. PO gave me a list of everything he's done to try and solve it, and there are a few things to check that he didn't do yet. Need to get on that this weekend.

So, just got home from the 24-hour Chump Car race at VIR. It was a weekend of firsts for me, and I know Chump/LeMons are kind of "the great unknown" for a lot of people, so figured I'd do a little writeup on how this whole weekend went down

First, the "firsts" - first time doing any sort of wheel to wheel racing beyond karts. First time racing/driving on track in the dark. First time doing an enduro, where you have a team, a crew, and all sorts of rules pertaining to pit stops, driving time, etc. and the logic behind it. First time doing arrive-and-drive.

Background
I was contacted by a guy named Roberto, who I didn't know but had some mutual NASA friends with, who asked if I'd be interested in joining a Chump team. He sent me photos of the car's build, told me they had run it in three prior Chump races and it had been very reliable. He gave me a price to arrive-and-drive and said that would include everything, I just needed to bring safety gear.

I borrowed a race suit from my Spec3 friend Justin. He was kind enough to let me use his Cool Shirt as well (super helpful in the heat). I already had the helmet, HANS, balaclava, gloves, shoes, and socks. I sent Roberto $Lots$ and waited for more instruction.

Arriving
Roberto emailed us and asked that we get to VIR by 10 AM on Saturday. I had planned on heading down mid-day Friday, so it was weird to get up super-early Saturday morning instead. But, I left the house at 5:30 AM, blasted down I-95 (for once) and made it there by 9:30.



Got to watch some semi-truck racing (really) and Roberto showed up with some others who were on our team/crew. I had met Roberto and Brandon (primary builder of the car, he and Roberto co-own the team) at the most recent NASA event. They were also both driving the car, as was my friend Zach (NASA TTer), and a guy named Evan, from Ohio.

We had three crew members who were all new to me but super friendly and easygoing. We all got the trucks unloaded, set up our pit stall, and got checked in.



I had to go to a "novice meeting" because I was new to Chump and W2W racing. The meeting, honestly, was a joke given I've been around a racetrack before. We discussed how to properly pass someone, which was promptly ignored by anyone who was actually new, and what the colors of the flags meant. The scary thing about Chump Car is that anyone can pay $50 and get their license... no experience necessary, not even HPDE 1. So, you have some pro-level guys out there, some people like my team (TT/W2W experience) and some total n00bs whose best driving experience to date has been cracking 100 mph on the Beltway that one time.

After that meeting, we had an all-hands meeting for drivers and crew. It was strongly mentioned that passing under yellow was not to happen. It happened anyway.



Driving
There's no qualifying session, so cars are started in whatever order they get to the grid. We got there late so we started from the back... about 79th out of ~85 cars.



Zack was our first driver. The car, in the past, had been able to run for two hours on a single tank of fuel. Chump mandates that fuel stops take five minutes, so it behooves your team to combine a fuel stop with a driver change, as drivers cannot be in the car for more than two hours at a time, and have to rest for an hour before getting back in the car. We figured we could do two hour stints, and change drivers/add fuel at the same time, no problem.

Well, that's fine except the part where the car started fuel-starving badly around the 1h30 mark. Yes, E36's all do that and you need dual fuel pumps and I cannot confirm or deny that every E36 including ours at this race had dual pumps because they're not stock equipment :evileye: Anyway, our setup worked to a point but we weren't going to get 2 hours out of a tank. Fuck.

Our strategy quickly became "radio in when it hiccups, drive it til it hiccups really bad, then back off a bit and try to get a few more laps in before you pit." This let us get to the 1hr45 mark a few times. We made sure to have the next driver suited up early so the driver change was able to take place. The car was taking almost all of our fuel at each stop (we had 3x 5-gallon jugs, the tank is 16.4ish, and it was taking 13-14).



So, drive drive drive, change driver, continue. That's the theme. Oh yeah, don't hit stuff.

We didn't hit anyone but we did get hit a few times. That knocked our right rear wheel out of alignment a little bit, which started chewing up the inner edge of that tire. Then we had side-to-side contact all down the driver's side of the car during a night stint. Car was fine but I'm sure the alignment is all crazy-eyed now.

8-10 PM
My first stint was from 8-10 PM on Saturday. I hadn't driven the car before (we were in a 1996 BMW 328i, I can't escape the four-doors) but figured it'd be just like my M3, perhaps a little slower. Thankfully, I was right. It was very easy to drive fast, even on the tires we had - Chump mandates a 200TW summer tire, no race compounds.

The whole "get in, harnesses on, Cool Suit hooked up, radio plugged in, window net clicked" process was rough the first time but still figured it out in the alloted 5 minute time. You can go over the 5 minutes but it's obviously in your best interest to get out there right at 5 and start turning laps.

So yeah, car was great. They have a giant clock strapped to the passenger door bars, so you can see how long you've been driving. My first hour or so was easy, it's VIR at sundown. No glare, got to feel out the traffic situation and got over my nerves of passing/being passed literally everywhere. Then the sun went down and it was dark dark.

There's no lights used on VIR, so by 9:15 I was driving with just my headlights. Thankfully, the sucktastic E36 lights had been replaced with some super-bright LED strips. Every other team had the same idea. This made looking ahead of you easy enough, but every time someone got behind you, their LEDs would fill ALL of your mirrors, and you had very little idea as to where they were behind you... and then were temporarily blinded as they passed you.

So, I drove 'til 10 PM and came in. Moved us up about 7 places which was cool. Helped on the crew for an hour or so and crawled into the Denali for some shut-eye. Because of the fuel-starve issues, our stints were coming up faster than planned. I was supposed to go back out at 6 AM, and that got pulled back to 4 AM "but be here at 3:30 just in case." I got three hours of very crappy sleep, and pulled all of my still-sweaty-and-now-cold gear back on as I stumbled back to the pits.



4-6 AM
My next stint was done entirely in the dark and it was some of the hardest driving I've ever done. Many instances of "whoops, the apex was 10 feet ago, I should turn now" and "oh fuck that's the grass BRAKES." I did get some really quality passing in and moved us up in position significantly, about 9 places. There were a lot of moments where it was either easier to let the guy behind go by to get rid of the blinding LEDs, or where my knowledge of where the track went was advantageous. I did a lot of driving-by-memory and super-late braking during this stint and got around a lot of folks.

Came in at 6 AM, drank a large coffee and promptly fell asleep in a camp chair in the pits.



1-2 PM
Somewhere around 10 AM, we figured that if we timed our final pit stops right, everyone could get one last go in the car, for an hour each. The last three of us (Zack, Evan, me) took an hour each and I asked if I could be the one to take the checker, as they both had at prior Chump races. They agreed, so I got in at 1 PM.

My whole goal was to simply finish. We were running on corded tires (should've had 3 sets), the brakes were almost down to the backing plates, the track was greasy as hell (quote from Zack: "It's like drifting around a parking lot in the snow") and I was not going to overcook it and lunch the car at hour 23:xx.

After an hour of tediously "racing but not all that hard, but still don't lose position" -- we had 2 laps on the guy behind us, and were down by 2 laps to the guy ahead, so position change was unlikely now -- I finally saw the white flag at start/finish, indicating this was my last lap. All of the teams who still have cars in the race come out to the hot pits wall and cheer the drivers on for the white flag and the checker. Lots of headlight-flashing, fist pumping and cheering going on there.



I took the checker at 2 PM and we finished 15th. :thumbup:

Aftermath
We started in 79th-ish, and finished 15th.

We had 5 drivers and 3 crew. Drivers and crew alike worked tirelessly to make sure we had tires rotated for max life, pressures checked, fluids checked, drivers exchanged quickly and easily, food/drinks on hand, tools at the ready, etc etc. It was a really fantastic group of guys to drive with.

The car used up two sets of BFG Rival tires (225 15), one set of brake pads (PFC 08), approx. 140 gallons of fuel, and burned only one quart of oil. We put about 1,600 miles on the car in 24 hours. The motor was cut off for roughly 4 minutes at a time for fuel stops, and was otherwise ran right up near redline almost constantly.

Ultimately, I don't know if I'd do another Chump race or not. I had a blast, but the varied experience was dangerous IMO. What this does make me think about is where I want to take the M3 after it gets caged this winter. Doing some W2W racing in GTS2 sounds mighty fun.

I have too many things laying around that I'm not using. Putting them up for sale to clear up space in storage haha.

Jeep XJ wheels/tires are shot.... 75 obo




Lico racing gloves, brand new. includes 3 gloves one in xl and the other two in XXL. 30 bucks


Lowepro camera bag. One zipper thing broke but still zips fine.... 30 bucks




Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac 235/75/15 with about 75%... 100 bucks


Bell trunk carrier.... 20 bucks


Wall bikeholder... 10 bucks


Bike work stand...90 bucks, works great


Craftsman toolbox... 50 bucks


E30 steering wheel...30 bucks


Funai 32" 1080p tv with hdmi, usb, sd ports


Gas can... 5 bucks


steadicam, great for GoPro's... 15 bucks


Set of 3 tables.. 10 bucks


Yakima bike rack (I have 2)... 75 bucks

Helping a co-worker of mine sell his bike.

1700 miles
Never been laid down, minor scratches and a dent on tailpipe from pulling it into a garage on that side, sticker is fading a bit on right side, other than that it's in perfect shape and fires right up.

Value is around $3200, MM price sits at $2800 OBO

Location is in SE Va

FB message me or text me if interested! 757-319-0015

My place is too far away from most people for a MM anniversary party.
The death of John's burn-it-down cookout left a hole in the world.
I do not plan very far ahead.

Therefore party at my place Saturday 8/22 in Troutville. 956 Etzler Rd 24175.
Depending on interest I would suggest shooting from noon to 2. Borrow mine if you don't have any.
At 2PM any dirtbikes, ATVs, POS 4-wheel vehicles are welcome to run the north course until someone gets hurt.
I have a charcoal smoker for grilling things around 4.
If you're still around at sundown you can crash here.
....
profit?

Hey Guys!
My name's Quinn, I'm about to start my first year at JMU as a freshman, Class of 2019. I'm from North Bethesda, MD, and if you live in NOVA you may have seen me around Katie's Cars and Coffee and other smaller meets in the area. I like to think I'm pretty knowledgeable regarding cars (I worked in a classic muscle car garage summer of '13), but I know I have a hell of a lot to learn!

I currently own a stock 2010 Infiniti G37x sedan that I plan on modding (tastefully) over the next few years (I have wayyy too many plans for it...). After saving up a ton of money, I bought the G in 2014 with around 50k miles and have put 12k on it since. It's not the most exciting ride, but I do love it .


I can't wait to hear about and see all your sick (and fast, if your name is Scott Stone) rides! :thumbup:

Happy Wednesday, amigos.

WHERE: Meet in R1 (Baseball lot)

WHEN: Thursday 8/27/15 MEET AT 12 PM Noon

WHAT: Awesome club cruise down back roads through WV and back.

Another FrOG week event? Hell yeah it is. This time, we're going to do the Mac Daddy of all cruises. A route I've been told you old farts took once.

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We'll meet up in R1 then pimp through campus. Make the loop and come back.
Maybe we'll grab a bite to eat when we get back.

Participants:
1. Taylor (Me) - Driving
2. Josh "Ever drink Baileys from a shoe?" Bailey - Driving
3. Chip "Drives a Camaro" Lowther - Driving
4. Sam Spiceman - Driving
5. Jack "Grizzly Bear" Martin - Driving
6. Garrett "The flyin' Hawaiian" Hughes - Driving
7. Sam "Could be a tad more German" Schaidhammer - Driving
8. Scott "Scooter" Stone - Driving
9. Ryan "Ron Weasley" Herold - Driving
10. Paul "The Transporter" Easterbrooks - Driving
11. Matthew "What Jamaican?" Walker - Driving
12. Tyler McFakeLastName

Alrighty y'all, Felicia was replaced. I got a Mazda Protege 5. I like it alot.







Interior pics to come. It's already dark outside and i just realized I don't have any. It drives really nicely, sharp steering and small amounts of body roll for a stock suspension, which is very nice. The interior is actually rather roomy for a car so small but at the same time not that small. I'm definitely digging the hatch big time. O2 sensor code came on and I think it needs a pcv. Both will be sorted next week, until then, I like it! I have some spots on the hood and a whole bunch of small scratches i want to try and detail out in the near future before winter comes around.

#MazdaMotorsportsFTW

EDIT:

We will be meeting in R1 (Baseball lot) at 1 and leaving by 1:30 PM to all head up to Turducken together. Rides will be finalized there.

Saturday, November 28 at 11:00am

854 Great Lake Drive, Middletown VA 22645


Howdy, friends. I don't know if it's because I'm hungry right now or what, but I'm ready to start hearing about Turducken. But Taylor, it's August! Shut up, I know. Here's a place for us to hash out the details well in advance so nobody can claim they can't make it because there wasn't enough time to prepare.

November 20-30 is the fall break this year, by the way. I think the timing of last year's was fantastic.

Who's willing to host this fine event this year? I'll bring the whipped cream and schnapps.

Rockford MF'n Fosgate 10s... that's right... two of them! If 10s didn't bounce back fast enough... its in a sealed box! Comes with a RF P325.1 amp with a "bass boost" controller. Fits well in the trunk of an Integra, so it should fit in your Miata with no modification to the box (you might have to cut up your Miata though). These would also beast out in one of MMs amazing Prius'

they actually sound pretty good. they just wont fit well under the rear seats in the tundra (and I'm getting too old for TWO). and I'm not in college any more so I wont hook these up to the home theater system and shake the house. $150 OBO