So I have no idea why I haven't done this yet but, better late than never! Most of you all know me however I am definitely more active in the club now. I am a junior hospitality management major.
Aayway I have a 2014 BMW X1 28xDrive with the M package (stiffer suspension, body kit, better steering wheel and sports seats). It's my grocery getter mom car but I love it. It's stock unfortunately because of warranty and not having much money to put into it/extremely limited aftermarket. Thanks guys.
Hey everybody, I'm new to the forum and I'm on the hunt for a new fun daily. Previously owned a 2002 Ford Focus SVT, but it was a bit of a lemon, and the upkeep wasn't worth it. Anyway, now I'm looking for something new around the $2-2500 mark. Super interested in an NA miata or a DC2 Integra, but I'm open to anything. Just has to be manual, and I'd prefer it to be as stock as possible. Post what you got!
Mods waiting to be installed:
Top Speed catless headers
AA tune
Subframe reinforcement
Team MFactory Helical LSD
3.15:1 or 3.38:1 FDR Diff
UUC short shift kit
Mods I wish for:
Coilovers
Apex Arc-8 wheels
Story:
I found this car for sale on E46Fanatics and contacted the owner. Drove down to Cary NC to pick it up 2 days after finding it. The owner is an avid SE46 racer and knows what he is doing with these cars. The entire cooling system had been replaced, Inner and outer intake bellows, clutch and flywheel, alternator, tie rods, valve cover gasket, all of these had less than 2k miles on them so it was a sweet deal for me. Drove the 300 ish miles home on Conti race slicks and swapped them out for some Michelin AS3+ 235/45R17. Went down to JMU for my first ever Autocross a week later and won the novice group. I can't wait for the opportunity to take this thing out onto VIR or Summit.
So what's next?
Well, the original plan coming into this past year was to go built motor and big turbo over the Summer. That was before I signed the lease for a much more expensive apartment for this coming Fall semester (mucho regrets). I'm a very responsible spender and I refuse to go into debt by buying car parts that I absolutely don't need atm. So that being said I've switched my focus to upgrading my fueling system so that I can run full E85, upgrading to a nice set of coils (maybe fortune? idk yet), a drop in turbo replacement (600hp capable def not running that on stock block), Bigger intercooler, race inspired seats and harness and maybe a summer set up for wheels and tires.
I don't take my car on the track very often so that's not my primary focus but it's definitely an influence. I like my cars to look good, sound good and to be fun to me.
sum: RIP built engine big turbie hello full e85, coils, and drop in turbo
Maybe this is old news, but to be honest, its the first I've seen or read about it.
During our senior project working on the ethanol powered Harley in ISAT, I spent a LOT of time researching alcohol's and their effects on engines. For example, a "flex-fuel" vehicle can operate on mixtures of ethanol/gasoline. The inherent problem was the compression ratio though. Ethanol requires a higher compression to burn efficiently. So while flex-fuel vehicles can "run" on mixtures of ehtanol/gasoline, they don't necessarily run well on anything but pump gas because the compression is always geared for more a heavier gasoline mixture.
I had spent countless hours trying to figure out the control system for an electronic wastegate that would alter the boost levels of an engine based on the alcohol content of the fluid in the tank. Turns out the only piece I was missing was Nissan's "multilink." Hey, 20 years of research led them there, I was just stoned off my ass trying to figure out to make it go faster and use alcohol more efficiently...
The thing that shocks me the most about everything I've read so far, is that all the articles focus how it's going to replace the 6 cyl and provide more power. I see this as a huge step towards getting off of gasoline all together (I know this at the bare minimum will strike up conversation) and allows more efficient combustion of alcohol/gasoline mixes.
4 years ago, I was a freshmen in college with $800 and a dream. I posted here a lot about what could be my "first fun car" and got a lot of good information. I cringe when I read what I said, but that's a part of growing, I suppose. A few pages into one of my threads, I posted this.
Someone I knew from offroading knew a guy that needed to sell a Miata quickly. I emailed him and got two really bad photos, talked prices, then things fell through. I ended up waiting another year before I finally bought my first Miata, a white 92, and the rest is history. Fast forward to present day. I've been scouting an abandoned NB in my apartment complex for a while and I've been trying to get in contact with them. I planned to offer them $500 and see what happens. On Thursday I got an email titled "Miata" with the message:
Quote:Hi Taylor A couple of years ago you were interested in the 93 Miata. I need to get rid of it. Any further interest? Repeat - needs battery & tires & tags & inspected. Roof is ugly but does not leak. Runs good.
No pictures or anything. I searched through my saved emails from 2014 and found our email chain. We spoke a little more and I learned he was flying back to Virginia from his home in Hawaii to sell his lake house at Leesville lake. The Miata was in the garage and he needed it gone since it wasn't worth it to ship. I asked for more information since we never actually got that far originally and this is what he told me:
1 Owner since 1993, he paid the dealer cash. Garage kept for all 25 years. Dirty, flat tires, and a dead battery, it also hasn't been driven more than 10 miles in the last ~8 years. I asked a price, and he gave me one with only 3 digits. I immediately took Monday off from work and rented a trailer. I drove down Sunday night at my mom's house and he flew in from Hawaii the same day. I woke up early on Monday and finished my trek down there. I arrived at the end of his 1/2 mile long gravel driveway past a For Sale sign to see him doing some yard work. He turns out to be a retired Department head at UVA and a very nice man. We talked for a long time about his career as an engineer, the houses he had built (He built his own house on a small island in Hawaii), and his interest in cars and how he's never bought a used car. We made our way to his awesome workshop/garage to look at the car. It was dirty, very dirty. Not as bad as the E30 was, but mice had been in there, the tires on the 14 inch steelies (Never seen that before) were flat and dry rotted, just really gross. I popped the hood and immediately noticed no AC fan so I asked him if it had power steering and he claimed it did, but a quick inspection show it was actually a factory manual rack. A true base model! The paint was all original and only missing a little on the trunk. The one rocker I could see was completely clean, not a speck of rust anywhere. The interior was very nice, but dirty, and every little part was present. A well done head unit from what I presume is the 90s, the factory manual, a Mazda battery with the tie down, the splash guard, 5 Mazda keys, everything. A 100% complete NA6. I threw a battery in there and it started as SOON as a turn the key. A little belt squeal and a lot of smoke from the water pump being initially seized, but after that, it held the most wonderful idle I've seen on an NA. It was clear this car was cared for a loved before being parked for a decade.
We agreed on a price and talked some more about life. I loaded it up on the trailer and I could see the emotion start to wash over him as we spoke about the memories he had of this car, the lakehouse he was selling, and his wife. He asked me what I planned to do with it, and I told him I'd probably try to use it as a race car and apologized that I would be tearing the car apart, but to my surprise, he perked up and started asking a flurry of questions about what I'd be doing with it, what color I'd paint it, etc. We agreed I'd keep him up to date on it's newfound future. We got my trailer turned around and I pulled away. I looked in the mirror just in time to see him touch the fender and wave goodbye to the car for the last time.
The tow was pleasant an uneventful once I got out of the backroads leading to the lake. I stopped to get gas for both cars and put air in the tires in lynchburg, then I headed to the DMV to get my antique tags. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me take a copy of the title showing 99 miles at the time of titling, but I snagged a picture. I think that's a really cool part of this car's history. I drove the last 3.5 hours back home and unloaded it. Tyler and Zach gave me a hand and we cleaned up the engine bay a little, inspected the car lightly, vacuumed it out, test fit my race seats (They don't fit), changed the oil, etc. We found the sticker for when the timing belt was last changed. It was only 14,000 miles ago!... in 2004. The car cleaned up very nicely and I can't wait to put in a little more work.
Now, I don't know what to do with it just yet. A smart person would put a set of cheap wheels and tires on it and sell it for a profit of a couple thousand. I'm not a smart person. The other option is to keep this and build the race car I wanted to build 3 years ago before I lost Michelle the Miata. Sell the E30 and A) Save that money or put it towards to the Miata or B) Buy something less punishing to my soul to own. I'm leaning towards option B because I don't want to end up where I was 9 months ago hating having a Miata because it's tiny and has no roof. Considering how cheap this car is, I can definitely swing 3 cars as long as 2 of them don't break every 3 and 2/9 days. I'll sit on it and think for a week or two and then make some moves.
If anyone is keeping track at home, it has been NA6 -> E46 -> NA8 -> E30 -> NA6 -> (E36???)
Well, the Bavarian Boat has now come and gone. I love this car for everything that it is, but the need for a car that isn't 4,000+ lbs, has RWD and is a manual has overcome my desire for creature comforts. Because of this I sold the GT and am in the process of buying a 987.1 Boxster S. Yeah yeah the Cayman is better, but I want a convertible in my life right now because why not (don't actually tell me why not, just let me live on in ignorance).
So this is the preliminary post as the new car isn't in my hands yet, but will hopefully be very soon. Not really sure if I want to modify it or not as I don't see much needed and will want to get to know it in stock form at first. BUT, if you have any stupid ideas (minus an LS swap) send them my way and convince me otherwise.
First on the list is adding a way to listen to music, I could do an FM transmitter to start but really want Bluetooth or at least an AUX for better quality. I don't need a head unit as I never use them in cars anyways, but this might be the only option because of the car's layout. It has the Bose system which uses Fiber Optic so ordinary splicing is not an option and bypass units are not cheap. Wondering if anyone had experience with these sound systems and how to mess around with them. Called the MOST H.U.R system I believe.
Moved to Virginia, brought my Mustang with me, why not, seven miles from Summit Point
2002 GT with a bunch of Cobra stuff. Thanks for the add to the the forum.
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