BRZ

[Evan]

I mean, you could always add a 2mm spacer if it’s an issue.

I got some 3mm spacers (thinnest I could find in 5x100) to play around with,  but I wouldn't use them on track.
According to wheel stud/lugnut manufacturers you need a minimum 12mm of thread engagement (diameter of the stud),  and stock/no spacers is 12.9mm (I measured)

A spacer would be fine on the street,  but I don't want to wonder if my lugs are going to fail in VIR South Bend or Summit T10, especially given the soft factory studs.
(and I don't care to put on extended studs at this point)

[Evan]

*sigh*
Project is currently on hold.

remember all that stuff covered on the first page of this thread? I was pretty excited to dig into the car when I bought it so I did all that in 2 days (most of it in 1 actually, and plus a bunch of small stuff I didn't mention). Also moving stuff around in my garage/basement to make room and unloading/setting up a (heavy!) quickjack.
This thrashed my elbow, wrist and hands (which Ive had tendonitis issues with for years) so I have no choice but to put the car on hold.
Currently I cant pour my kids a glass of milk and even typing hurts, which is kind of important for drawing a paycheck.

So far Ive missed 3 weekends that I intended to make and while I hope to be able to make an event in September, there is a chance it wont be until 2020. Or never, if this keeps coming back. Its been almost 2 months since this happened with only moderate progress.

The good news is the only thing that it needs to be track ready is a rough DIY alignment (its currently a hazard to drive on the street) followed by a real alignment.

[Kaan]

Good luck man... I have tendon issues in my hands too. Every now and then I feel a pop and basically cant grip a thing. I've had to spend a lot of time splinted and using one hand. I've been told that only "rest" will help but it will never go away completely. working on the race car with busted hands is no fun.

[ScottyB]

Sorry dude. Give it some rest and maybe some good PT? I never used to believe how people talk about your body getting broken as you get older until I started getting there too.

[Evan]

Good luck man... I have tendon issues in my hands too. Every now and then I feel a pop and basically cant grip a thing. I've had to spend a lot of time splinted and using one hand. I've been told that only "rest" will help but it will never go away completely. working on the race car with busted hands is no fun.

Ugh that sucks.   How long does it take for your hands to recover when you do pop one?
Have you been to any doctors that have been any help?
My experience with doctors so far has been either:   
Hand specialist:  "Oh,  you aren't eligible for surgery.  Must be inflammation just go to a physical therapist.   Preferably the one I get referral bonus for sending you to"
Physical Therapist:  "Oh, your hand and wrist hurts,  which means you do these exercises"    (which don't help at all)

[SlimKlim]

That really blows. I fell on ice and landed on my wrist wrong a few years ago and it hasn't been the same since. It took a few weeks before I could grip a gallon of milk in that hand, and it will occasionally still ache unless I wear a compression brace. Yay getting older

[Kaan]

Doctors said therapy... very good hand therapist we know said "rest." She also put me in a brace like this thing... every x-ray/ultrasound/etc. hasn't come up with a reason for my issues.

https://smile.amazon.com/Vive-Trigger-Fi...way&sr=8-9

this brace will make my hand sore from just wearing it a day. I can't sleep with it on.... its too annoying to keep on. i can usually make it a couple of days with it on and then i quit. It stretches out my tendons and keeps me from using the impacted finger. i think it helps with any inflammation too.

i can lose grip strength from minutes to weeks. its generally is limited to one finger in the hand at a time, not my pinkies or thumbs. lucky it hasn't hit both hands at once... i've been told i'm just lucky. If its going to last for weeks, I can grip a beer in a couple of days, but i can't do much past that for a while.

[Ryan T]

I don’t really have a tendinitis issue or anything, but I’ve got 14 pins and 4 plates in my right forearm and a plate and 7 screws in my left wrist. I asked my physical therapist about it and wrenching/working out/etc before I completed therapy and she recommended wearing a slip on compression sleeve whenever wrenching or doing extended work with my arms (especially my left since it’s in my wrist joint).

I bought some Copper Fit compression wrist sleeves at Walgreens or CVS and it really has helped me with wrist soreness after extended work. Might not work for you, but worth a shot and the sleeves can be had for like ~$15 each. I”m not necessarily endorsing Copper Fit as a brand, just some form of short compression wrap that covers your wrist joint.

[Evan]

So, some (small) progress.
Been going to physical therapy and hand/forearm has been feeling a bit better, at around 50%. Physical therapist says "do some stuff and go use it" so YOLO, here goes doing the same shit that fucked it up in the first place.

Thanks to Andrew for coming over to help.

As mentioned earlier, all it needs to be street worthy is a rough alignment followed by a real alignment.
So to start, I levelled the floor with 18x18 ceramic tiles with 18x18 steel on top (just ceramic without the steel cracked).
With digital angle gauges that you can set a reference level with it was not necessary to get exactly level, but I lucked out and it easily levelled to 0.0 in both directions without tweaking.

Put it on the hub stands and proceeded to set camber, then toe for each corner.
Despite this being a street car for the forseeable future, I still wanted an alignment that would be decent on track (it is the entire point, after all) so my target is -3.2 deg camber front with zero toe and -2.6 camber rear with a smidge of toe in.

Front was pretty easy, camber bolts were set to max negative and the camber plates were used to take it the rest of the way. Toe came right in line to 0.

Rear was a bit of a bitch. Factory toe adjustment is a toe arm with an eccentric, BUT it did not have enough adjustment range to correct for the camber, so I had to buy and install threaded toe adjuster arms.
The hard part was that toe very much affects camber on the back of this car so it was a constant back and forth of tweaking toe and camber until you hit your target WHILE making sure the thrust angle is still even on both sides.
Ended up with -2.5 driver, -2.6 passenger, and nailed the toe at 1/16 toe in each side. Thrust angle was dead even as well.

It drives very nicely as a result, definitely responsive and a bit darty from the 0 toe. The steering wheel is a hair off center so I may fix that sometime, but it doesn't bother me so we will see. Im happy with it enough that Im going to put off bringing it in to a shop for a 'real' alignment.


Ive been driving my kids to school in it and driving it to work and its been an absolute blast. Kids love it too.

Next up: The brakes are squeaking real bad at low speeds, I left off the anti squeal brackets when I thought it would be primarily a track car so I will get those back on and slather them in brake goop when I get a chance

Pondering the Trackdaze event at VIR in November, but will likely wait until 2020 for its maiden track voyage.

[Apoc]

What's your car seat situation in that car?

[Evan]

What's your car seat situation in that car?

Its... fine.

My 7yo aughter climbs in via the passenger side (so I don't have to readjust the seat every time) and straps in herself.
Even with the seat almost all the way back, little legs fit fine. 
Just about any forward facing seat is going to fit except maybe that Britax monster cocoon.

Here is a pic I just took with the seat adjusted so I could fit in the passenger seat.   I don't usually drive with it that far back,  so I would take out the jump starter in the seat back pocket if I did.

[ScottyB]

still love that color. super jealous of your DIY alignment setup, i've read of 100 different ways to do it and i still think i'd screw it up...my floor's got quite a grade to it.

[JustinG]

You can always tell when a kids seat belongs to a car guy, so clean. I have had other kids seats in my car that I have wiped down/vacuumed out before I will let em enter our cars.

A lot of judgement of my kids friends parents over car seat cleanliness. Do they roll the seats around in cheerios, yogurt, and feces everyday?

[Apoc]

We borrowed a lightweight travel car seat from a friend of my wife's. It was foul. Don't know how people live like that.

[JPolen01]

My sister in law gives her kid his bottle of formula and he goes fucking wild with it. It's everywhere. She never cleans her stroller or car seat and they are both covered in crusty formula. It's disgusting.

"Even if I clean it, he just gets it dirty again right away so why bother?"

[ScottyB]

"Even if I clean it, he just gets it dirty again right away so why bother?"

that's why i don't even use the toilet anymore, i just piss all over the wall. why bother? i'm taking a shortcut.

[JustinG]

Water and dry foods only in the car.


I can deal with some crunched up cheerios or gold fish. But formula/milk/yogurt/ice cream/fruit juice, you're fucking crazy.

While I'm ranting......letting your kid put fucking stickers all over the back windows!

[JPolen01]

"Even if I clean it, he just gets it dirty again right away so why bother?"

that's why i don't even use the toilet anymore, i just piss all over the wall. why bother? i'm taking a shortcut.

They let us borrow a swing when we had Bradley. The insert was covered in spit up and all stained. My wife is like wtf, you couldn't wash this before you gave it to us? "Sorry we did but it's stained"

Ran it through the wash twice and it's perfectly clean. That's what I'm dealing with!!

[Steve85]

I genuinely wonder if some people know the covers are machine washable.

[Evan]

My sister in law gives her kid his bottle of formula and he goes fucking wild with it. It's everywhere. She never cleans her stroller or car seat and they are both covered in crusty formula. It's disgusting.

"Even if I clean it, he just gets it dirty again right away so why bother?"

Vile.

No food OR liquids of any sort in the car.  Even on road trips,  we make sure they hydrate at stops.
If your kid is too much of a brat to be without drinks and junk food for 15 minutes then you are a shit parent and your kid sucks.

I have car seats that have gone through both my daughter and son and are still spotless.  


My daughter got carsick on the blue ridge parkway once, now THAT sucked.  But I broke the seat down, washed the cover and the belts,  scrubbed the shell and it was back to 100%