Dead Smurf Racing

New Year's Day anti-football rally

2012-01-01T20:49:00.001-08:00

Lots of cool cars at the anti-football rally (note: you don't actually have to dislike football to take part). One day, maybe an exotic Italian family hauler?

Pantera

Saab 96

Saab 93

Iso Rivolta

Iso Rivolta (detail)

Lamborghini Islero front

Lamborghini Islero rear

1954-1965 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider

2011-12-13T20:23:00.000-08:00

What does the 1600 on the back mean? I thought these engines were only the 1.3L. In Berkeley, near Telegraph and Parker with just a little love-tap in the front.

Super-charger plus Jaguar equals

2011-10-24T06:23:00.001-07:00

... this (thanks @cwareham)

1958 Chevrolet Apache "Task Force" Fleetside

2011-10-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

In Berkeley near Ellsworth and Derby

Windows and door handles back on the 356

2011-10-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

1959 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite - Melee version

2011-10-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

Potrero Hill

Early '50's Grumman Step Van

2011-09-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

Alpine UT

Check out what was in the yard nearby, same owner?

1972-1977 Mercedes 508d camper

2011-09-18T21:50:00.000-07:00

Pleasant Hill CA

1969-1972 Chevy K5 Blazer - topless on a 90degF fall day

2011-09-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

1964 Jaguar E-type shows up

2011-09-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

1979-1982 E70 Toyota Corolla slammer

2011-09-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you walk down Telegraph Ave from UC Berkeley at night:

Plus this cool 240D across the street:

1978-82 Datsun B210 (Sunny!)

2011-09-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

Saw this near Picante's in Berkeley, nice manual transmission, a working wagon.

1989? Audi 200 S Wagon

2011-09-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

Saw this while driving around Oakland (Adeline near 45th), always liked this car for some reason.

356 progress, slowly but surely

2011-04-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

The 1964 Porsche 356C progress continues bit by bit. The engine is complete and running, the bodywork and paint finished (see pictures). We're now deep in the suspension, both front and rear and have recently rebuilt the brakes (discs for that year). The kingpins in front were a bit worn so we had to get new bushings, and the rear just needed a good cleaning and reassembly. New shocks are on all four corners, and the steering play has been removed. Once we get all the mechanical pieces back together, it's time for the interior. Luckily, we have a local interior guy who is working out of our shop and is willing to show us some tricks of the trade (thanks Alex). I hope to have this on the road by the end of the year, wish me luck!

Preparing the back half, alignment, last metalwork on fender

2010-12-11T13:46:00.000-08:00

We are getting steadily closer now, the back half of the car is prepared to shoot, all metalwork done, all sanded, filled, and primed. We still have the hood to align and prime, along with finishing up the metalwork for the driver's side front fender which was pretty beat up. Tam is a master at gap alignment. For all of the photos so far, check out my gallery of photos.

Engine tin back from powder coating

2010-12-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

So, the engine tin is back and looking very good with a couple problems. One piece of tin is missing which is situated under the fuel pump. Also, it turns out that the car came with an incorrect (early) heater box. It will run with it, but unfortunately doesn't cool as well so I really should get another one. I also need to find some new J-pipes as the old ones are rusted through, and I feel like I'm forgetting one other important piece that's missing as well ... hopefully I'll remember soon.

Starting the body prep for paint

2010-12-06T11:11:00.001-08:00

Lots of work done, lots of work left, but at least the preparation for paint has started!

Engine built, ready for tin

2010-12-05T02:27:00.000-08:00

The core of the engine is built, heads are on, oil pump and cooler installed, everything is ready for testing except ... the engine tin isn't finished with the powder-coating yet. Next weekend perhaps?

General update, 356 work, oil-burner, the borrowed 911

2010-11-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

The Porsche 356 progress has gone pretty well so far, I'm gathering up the receipts and pictures to put together a bit more coherent picture, but here is a quick list of interesting items:
* completely stripped and re-coated the underside, engine compartment, trunk interior
* cut out and replaced all rusted areas, including floorpans, kiddie seats, battery tray, some engine compartment areas, and other small damage on the roof, doors, decklid
* reinforced area around bumper mounts to prevent sheetmetal damage in the event of a small bump
* stripped complete inside and outside, re-painted the inside, need to finish bodywork on the outside first
* waiting on last body panel (left front fender) to arrive
* aligning body panels, trunk, decklid, doors
* engine is rebuilt, spinning now, test fire in the coming weeks, SC grind on the cam, slightly oversized pistons, heads cleaned up

In other car-related news, we purchased a 1987 Mercedes 300TD with 250K miles, a nice seven-seater wagon in pretty good shape. The turbo diesel isn't fast, but it's fine, and the car handles great. We've driven it all over the Bay Area with no problems.

Last, over the summer we exchanged our Eurovan for a 1968 Porsche 911. It was a great car to zip around in for the summer, but I don't think I want to buy one anymore. Now we are back to the Eurovan, and the 356 should suffice for any Porsche-related desires.

July 09th 356 update

2010-07-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

I’ve been a little slow lately due to the arrival of Anton Joelson Secor on July 02nd (Hi Anton!), but here is a quick update on the 356:

* crank is good, getting bearing surfaces machined a bit

* pistons (86mm) shot, need new set, bought from Sam

* case is good

* heads are good, cleaning up valve surfaces, getting new valves, keeping springs

* need to do something about the rear kiddie seats as Tam doesn’t want to make them and they are shot. Trevor’s Hammerworks?

* battery box is in

* undercoating is mostly removed

Style Kings car show

2010-06-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Super cool cars, totally not something I’d build …

Don’t fiddle with hot radiator hoses

2010-06-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

More progress on the undercarriage, floorpans arrived, engine apart

2010-06-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

More progress on the undercarriage has occurred, lots more elbow grease. We figure we have about 15-20 more days of scraping to go. We also split the case and examined everything. The crank looks ok, there is rust in the cylinder bore from water accumulation, the oil pump key is about to go, the cylinder heads look like they experienced a fair amount of detonation, and the compression was quite high. We’ll probably have to grind the crank a little, put in new cylinders, valves, and a few other bits and bobs. Also, it looks like the engine might have overheated, so we’re probably going to replace the oil cooler as well. More pictures here.

Removing the undercoating on the 356

2010-06-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

Lots of elbow grease (and not all mine, thanks Tam) to remove the undercoating on the 356. It’s uncovering a few other repair spots, but overall we’re pretty happy with the starting state of the car body. Next up is to weld in the floorpans and battery box. Those parts are on order but haven’t arrived yet. We might also get around to splitting the case on the engine, but first we have to buy beer for the guys at EASY who provided me with a nice, used windshield.

The Porsche work has started

2010-06-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of days/evenings we’ve pulled the engine out of the 356 and taken it a bit apart. We then rolled the chassis over to a good body guy to help weld in the new pans to take care of the rust. After that, brakes, suspension, paint and exterior body, then we’re good to ride. I’ll try to source some cool wheels in the meantime and I also need a new windshield and quarter window.

Hopefully some more updates will happen soon as we work on it. I’d like to be driving it by the end of the summer if possible.

This pretty much captures how we roll at LeMons

2010-03-25T13:00:00.001-07:00

via Jalopnik comment

What is the sound of twelve cylinders firing?

2010-03-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

Killer Bee, engine swap with two weeks to go

2010-02-21T13:00:00.000-08:00

Alas, the engine that served us well through a couple races and several barrel rolls finally wheezed out its last the other day. Today was engine surgery time, and the steady hands of Pete and Jesse excised the old lump and started performing replacement surgery. Two weeks to go, hope we make it!

Canamagon takes shape

2010-02-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

Taped up bodylines, investigated dual-engine fit measurements, removed various interior pieces, the Canamagon is officially in play! 917’s around the world will cower in its presence!

The “after” shot of the CanAm-agon?

2010-01-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

1984 VW Vanagon - $250 LeMons CanAm-agon!

2010-01-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

So, the build can finally begin. After a couple false starts, we finally have our platform to build the CanAm-agon. It was cheap ($250, no paperwork, left in a field of a foreclosed house), was designated a gross polluter in 2000 according to CarFax, and still has seats in reasonable condition that we might be able to sell. The engine runs but overheats fairly easily, transmission shifts but somewhat stiffly, and the suspension looks to be in reasonable shape for 250,000 miles. There are no keys, a screwdriver to hold the steering lock up, and fun hot-wiring hijinks to get it started.

We now have to source another engine and start planning and hacking the chassis to support it. I think that we’ll first start with ripping out the interior and scoping out where to stick the driver, how far the engines will lay going forwards, and what kind of supports we will need. Then we can flip the engine and transmission around, figure out a shift linkage, and figure out the best/worst connector between the two engines. We also have to think about what to do with the suspension, but at the moment we’ll just leave it as is, I’m not too sure what all can be done yet.

More to come …

http://prodtahoe11.allmydata.com:9001/file/URI%3ACHK%3Axzxqgp57n2qaeoftpc7spaolry%3Azm7yjcjgmguaz4ospxl7p4tjwvjpezoypiisumu6cbsvunowzsuq%3A3%3A10%3A1214746/@@named=/IMG_1357.JPG

$250 Vanagon procured, runs and drives mostly, no keys

2010-01-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

Just got our $250 Vanagon delivered, from the property at a foreclosure, lots of leaves, runs pretty well actually, needs new fluids, shifting is a bit tough, but it’s a runner. Time to locate engine number two and start on the bodywork and chassis rearrangement. Pictures coming soon.

1968 Toyota Corona

2009-12-29T13:00:00.000-08:00

Another fun little addition to the stable, less than $1000! Thanks to Duff who has his own stable of very interesting and quirky cars. Now I get to learn about old Toyotas, something I know nothing about (yet).

Pedal Pushers Rally Nov 2009!

2009-11-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

Had a lot of fun doing most (but not all) of the Pedal Pushers Rally last weekend. Thanks for a great time, pictures are here. Imagine lots of old slightly crappy but very drivable cars spinning their way merrily along wet, twisty roads in the hills.

The Smurf Returns (to racing)

2009-11-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

So, awhile ago we sold the Miata that we turbo’ed up for LeMons to some co-conspirators who recently campaigned it in the inaugural ChumpCar race which is similar to LeMons in so many ways that I forgot what the differences are, but I’m sure they think they are cool somehow for it.

It looks like the car has a new paintjob, some new holes in the bodywork and hard-top, and a bunch of go-fast wing-dings and bubbles and graphics. Here is the blog post about it by the guys who raced - nice going dudes, fastest lap!

Latest Addition - 1960 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite

2009-07-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

LeMons - looking for a Vanagon

2009-06-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hey intertube surfers, we’re looking for a nice, cheap Vanagon for our next LeMons project. We thought we had one sourced, but yours truly forgot to do something very important, like pay the guy a deposit for the piece of junk. Seriously, how much deposit do you pay on a $200 shell?

Anyway, if anybody sees something, we’re looking for a beater Vanagon, a couple engines, and a working transmission.

Peace!

More Porsche patina

2009-05-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Caught this on the street in North Berkeley near the BART station. Yes, it runs and moves frequently. I think it’s a 356B based on the back grill and high headlights.

One of Zandr's shots

2009-05-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

http://photo.milewski.org/v/wheels/magnolia/magnoliagallery/IMG_7099+print.jpg.html

http://photo.milewski.org/v/wheels/magnolia/magnoliagallery/

New addition - 1964 Porsche 356C

2009-04-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

We have a new addition to the stable, a 1964 Porsche 356C in fairly rough condition but the motor runs well and everything works on it. We need to replace the pans in the front, battery box, and redo the brakes, but overall it’s a pretty solid car. I’m looking forward to getting it out on the road as a driver.

https://www.allmydata.com/tahoe/file/URI%3ACHK%3Axvukym2l6oizd4xjvwq4j6wxvu%3Asz2sqpcg4dtztnggd2ltaxxjrc4noteigwm7e6q4ksh3rtewmwlq%3A3%3A10%3A430289/@@named=/IMG_0511.JPG

Bye Smurf!

2009-02-23T13:00:00.000-08:00

The Dead Smurf has departed with Brent and his family today, possibly off to another LeMons campaign, perhaps as Rattus Trackiferus, time will tell. Let us bid it farewell and move on to the next project! Long live the Fiat!

1979 Honda Civic ($300), 1977 Fiat 124 ($100)

2009-01-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

A bit of an adventure yesterday resulted in a 1979 Honda Civic showing up in our shop ($300) and a 1977 Fiat 124 arriving next weekend ($100). Acquiring the Honda was quite an adventure as it was out past Placerville near Somerset off a nice muddy dirt road and up a hill. And we didn’t have a tow bar installed. And it was raining. And my boys were running around. And there were 100 other dead cars staring at us in this field. And it was getting dark.

The Fiat was much easier as we visited Clint in Sacramento to check it out on the way and realized how cool it was for LeMons.

Back from Thunderhill - we finished!

2008-12-31T13:00:00.000-08:00

We made it back from Thunderhill last Sunday evening and unpacked everything on Monday. The weekend was great. In bullet-point format:

* incomplete cage welds result in four passes through tech inspection plus a lot of on-site welding on Friday once through tech inspection, judges rule our car a mega-cheater and give us a 1200 lap penalty!
* we emblazon our ride with “-1200″ and get ready for Saturday driver’s meeting at around 9:15am Saturday, basically don’t drive like a dick
* I’m first up (Peter), so first time in car on track, first time at Thunderhill, first time in wheel-to-wheel racing, first time racing on four wheels, etc.
https://www.allmydata.com/webdrive/tiny/5hg5hwn5e04c3x9ejbv4oxce5i6g
* yellow for awhile, then green, crank out some laps
* about 1h15m later come in to pits, 17th place, but pinhole leak burned in heater hose from whacking against the manifold under acceleration, car ran great
* fix leak, put in new heat shield, Tim goes out
* drives around in circles, then loses it in turn three, goes off-track, gets black flagged
* Tim comes into the pits for reckoning, gets to follow the old VW bus around while we throw oranges at him
* Eduardo drives and sets a fast lap
* Brent drives and sets a fast lap
* Dinner with the Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys - thanks guys!
* Sunday driver’s meeting at around 8:30am
* Scott out on track first, does some good laps
* Zandr out on track, gets T-boned by RX-7, towed in
* We fix the coolant leak by joining tubes together with a socket, then notice giant oil leak
* Fix giant oil leak by shortening oil return hose, then Jim? from Saab team goes out
* I go back out, after about 25min notice big puffs of blue smoke under acceleration and ride it in to the pits oil return line is melted, scrounge up new tougher hose but not long enough so have to sleeve with the casing of an aluminum pen, tighten bolts to turbo
* Tim goes back out for a bit, but then back in with turbo loosening problems
* Eduardo goes out, sets good laps, back in and we have to tighten seat
* Brent goes out and finishes up the day
https://www.allmydata.com/webdrive/tiny/yfwackdq4kvstbs53id6d3246l01
Totally a blast, thanks to everyone for a great time. See you at the races!

Ps

Getting close, door bar, steering extension, etc.

2008-12-21T13:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, we’re getting pretty close. All of the driving gear has arrived and yesterday we did a big push towards getting the car finished. We were able to get a door bar welded in, fit and bolt in the seat, extend the steering column back a few inches, drain the coolant, mount the fire extinguisher, and paint the numbers. Remaining items include finishing the electrical cut-off (need cables and wire to run iginition (blue) interrupt), a new battery, and getting supplies ready for transport up north. I also re-installed the windows so that we can run with the hardtop and heater on if we actually drive off-track for any reason.

Roll-cage is drilled and ready

2008-12-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

Just got done using my cool new 90deg angle drill. It is super low-profile (I’ll get a picture next time I’m at the shop) and I can drill holes in hard-to-get-to areas. Specifically, the front and rear stays for the roll-cage were kind of hard to reach, but with the new drill it wasn’t so bad.

I also taped up the lights and mirrors. We still have a list of things to do, but it’s slowly getting knocked out. Race is coming up faster every day it seems (Dec 27th/28th).

Roll cage padded, windows out

2008-12-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

The last couple weeks before the big race are upon us. We’re going through the checklist for the race and hopefully will have everything more or less ready by the 26th Dec. We have to drive up to Thunderhill that morning, do an inspection, then race a little over the next couple days.

Today I put in the roll-bar padding and made a list of things to buy and fix. I also pulled out the side windows (super easy on a Miata) but am waiting for a ruling on the side windows if I can just tape them up.

https://www.allmydata.com/webdrive/tiny/0o81usrhg48vudbg0c0o0zdylzkl

Crazy Timmy strikes

2008-11-26T13:00:00.000-08:00

Newly uncled-Tim has struck! Tonight he fabricated an intake from various parts laying around the shop, almost installed our seatbelts, quietly replaced a bolt he had “borrowed” for his wife’s Miata, and stress-tested a hard-top with a 70mph take-off and landing sequence. The pictures follow …

Ready for Thunderhill (I think)

2008-11-21T19:56:00.000-08:00

We’re all loaded up on the trailer and ready for Eduardo to scoot up to T-hill. I’ll follow him and we’ll meet up on Friday morning at the track to unload and get the pit set up. If the car were registered I would have thought seriously of driving up - maybe next race. I cut out a little bit of padding today to allow the hardtop to latch on the driver’s side and then duct-taped a plastic sheet over the rear to protect from rain (and snow?).

I just realized that we forgot to cover the positive post of the battery so I have to remember to bring that up. Also, Eduardo had a 10′x10′ tent with plastic sides so we’ll have a pit area to work on the car if needed, you know, to block out all that sun

See you at the races!

https://www.allmydata.com/webdrive/tiny/uhmji71tuqj9e62pk2ze28dotm4u

Total lack of progress

2008-10-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

Due to lack of progress in the last couple months, I’ve decided that the best way to address that issue is to document the many things that remain to be done before we can actually race. I’ve added to the Todo list on the spreadsheet in the hope that it will motivate us to complete our task before the last possible minute. We still have lots of things remaining and we really need to do a shakedown run or two.

Wish us luck!

Peter

Vanagon headlights at Magnolia Garage

2008-09-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

Remember, we've moved!

http://magnoliagarage.com/wordpress/?p=56

Vanagons need headlights

2008-09-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Just last night my brother and I installed more powerful headlights on my Vanagon (and bled his clutch). Believe me, if you have a Vanagon, please upgrade your headlights. It is so much nicer to be able to see where you are going at night

Unfortunately, the problem that I was having with a supposed blown fuse is still around. All of my interior lights and radio are not working, but the fuse is ok. I checked out the fuse block last night while we had it out, but couldn’t see anything amiss. Next up is to trace the wires back to the radio (aftermarket) to see if there is something loose back there.

Talk soon,

Peter

Dead Smurfs have moved to their new garage

2008-07-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

We just rented a shop space at 35th and Magnolia in West Oakland CA. Our blog is relocating there (virtually) at: http://magnoliagarage.com. Please come and visit!

See you at LeMons!

Peter

5-pt harness, roll-bar padding, sold seat-belts, shop space!

2008-07-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

Long time no post, sorry but we all got busy with other pieces of our lives for a little while. In the meantime we ordered up a 5-pt harness and roll-bar padding from Safe Racer which we might get to install this weekend.

We also just sold the seat-belt receivers to Rob whose seat-belt receivers no longer were actually securing the seat-belts. It's great fun to own a crappy car, but even more fun when your friends do too :)

Last, we finally rented some shop space! WOO-HOO! It's cool, 2500 sq-ft inside, 2900 sq-ft outside, heavy power, industrial chic without the chic, and walking distance from Home Depot. Watch out, we may end up fielding yet another LeMons team - "The Red Piglet". Just wait, you'll understand ...

Ok, off to dreams of Miata-engined Bugeye Sprites ...

Shakedown run for Sunday complete

2008-07-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

I took the Smurf out today up in the Berkeley and Oakland Hills for a couple hours to see if I could get it to overheat, break something, or melt something cool. Fortunately (or unfortunately) nothing untoward happened and it was a blast to drive around the twisties. The power is pretty good and comes on strong at about 4200rpm. I have to put some heat shielding around the brake lines as they started to get soft after running hard for a bit. The engine temp never moved off of the center and I listened hard for any sounds of knocks in the engine, but it seemed to go pretty smoothly the whole way.

Next up is to get some monitoring on the engine. We need a boost gauge, maybe a knock sensor, maybe a few more temperature sensors, and probably more things.

Super bad, I mean good, I mean ...

2008-07-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

Please excuse me if I revert to my Southern Cal roots, but ...

Duuuude, this Mia-tah is gnarly faaast duuude!

We got the intake all plumbed up today, subjected it to a sophisticated kiddie-pool leakdown test and coupled that with the Flügelhornwasserbruder regimen (I don't recommend looking that up). We then drove the car backwards off the ramps, into the street, and into hyper-space. Maybe I'm just used to it being slow, maybe I've been driving a Vanagon for a bit too long, or maybe the Flügelhorn made me a bit light-headed, but once the Smurf hit 3500rpm I was glad I tightened the seat bolts all the way.

Of course, at the end of the run the throttle got stuck, something made a loud noise, and now there are a bunch of leaks in the exhaust, but hey, that's what weekends are for, right?

More to come I'm sure ...

Intake madness

2008-07-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

Well, though previously we thought the intake was complete, it leaked quite a lot. We received a bunch of interestingly shaped intake parts the other day and after picking through them, we may have found a solution. This probably will involve some cutting, some bead-making, and swearing.

Today we re-installed the oil-line to the turbo, this time complete with crush washers to prevent those unseemly oil leaks. Tomorrow Tim is coming over and hopefully we can put together an interesting intake.

Also, we pulled some nice big brakes off of an ex-race car (thanks Rick!) so we will be installing those sometime soon as well.

It lives!

2008-06-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

Whew, got the car running again with the turbo, but it took some doing. We did have spark, the fuel pump was working, the alarm-ectomy was successful. However, it still wasn't starting. To debug it, here's what I went through today:

check spark (ok)
check fuel pump and flow (ok)
check for engine codes (none)
check for blockages in the intake plumbing (none)
sit and look at the engine for awhile (thinking ...)
take off all intake and install old Jackson intake (bypass turbo and intercooler) - It runs!
put back on some intake pieces (turbo in-line, bypass intercooler) - No dice!
put back on one intake piece (bypass turbo and intercooler but AFM in right place in terms of intake length) - No dice!
tighten the crap out of the hose clamps - It runs!

So, here's the deal. It turns out that the silicone connectors for the extra shiny aluminum tubing we have sitting around don't quite fit right. This means that even if you tighten the clamps up pretty tightly, they still have lots of air leaks and the AFM gets really confused. So, after hooking up all of the intake tubes again and tightening the crap out of the hose clamps, it finally ran with the turbo, but even then there were still lots of leaks. Oh yeah, and I almost burned through a heater return line with the new exhaust placement.

Maybe tomorrow I'll figure out a better way to connect up the intake tubing. I'd really like to take it for a test-run and see what breaks.

Ps

Intake complete, turbo oiled, but no spark?

2008-06-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend was reasonably productive. We took some existing parts and pieces to do up one half of the intake (intercooler to throttle body), and some new shiny aluminum tubes to plumb up the other half (charge tube to intercooler). We undid the spark plugs and cranked the engine a bit to make sure that the oil was getting to the impeller housing (it was) and draining back to the sump (it was). However, after hooking the spark plugs back up and connecting the air flow meter, the engine turns over but never catches. Unfortunately it got dark, I got tired, and the problem still remains.

Is there spark?

Is there something obvious unhooked?

Did Zandr's foray into the alarm nest-o-wires disconnect something?

Coil plug wire?

Fuel pump working?

Stay tuned ...

Alarm-ectomy, exhaust, makin' money

2008-06-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

Zandr came over today and scraped out the alarm from the car (see picture). It's a pretty impressive set of extra wires designed to make the car not run. We're glad they're gone.

We also contorted ourselves just enough to install the downpipe from the turbo. It involved a bit of limb re-arrangement, but now we can reach nuts and bolts from pretty much anywhere. We also clamped up the current exhaust as it was resting on the rear sway bar.

Last, we sold an arm rest to RobK for $10 - his was all ripped up.

Unfortunately we didn't get the intake fully plumbed up so we were unable to start the car. We may need to dip into our sponsor pool for ideas, or break down and buy something.

Roll-cage is mostly in

2008-05-31T18:56:00.000-07:00

Got the roll-cage almost complete today (thanks Walter!), just a few things remaining. We need to bolt in the front and rear plates, and finish up a couple welds in funny angled places. Note that the hard-top in the picture is not for the race, we just thought it looked cool :)

Wow, $12.94!

2008-05-31T10:03:00.000-07:00

If you ever need some extra cash, just look in the hand-brake-well of a Miata - we found $12.94 there today (and counting) while pulling up the carpets to do some welding of the cage.

Removed and sold the convertible top

2008-05-30T23:04:00.000-07:00

In preparation for welding up the roll-cage tomorrow, we removed and sold the convertible top to RobK. His convertible top is rusty, has holes, and generally wasn't really a "top" anymore. We'll install his new one on Sunday, probably along with new carpets.

I'll probably post a bunch of stuff about our welding and such tomorrow if I'm not shattered by the end of the day.

Cleaned up and sold outer shift boot

2008-05-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend hasn't been super productive (yet) but we did end up cleaning up the cars and scoping out some more parts for sale. One of our friends (Rob) has a 1990 Miata that needs a bunch of assorted parts and pieces to make it nice again. He dropped off his car for a couple weeks so that we can sell him whatever is better on ours for a reasonable price. We spent most of today figuring out which parts were better/worse - it looks like there are a few mechanical things (like power steering and convertible top) and a bunch of cosmetic things (arm-rests, some body panels).

We also sold the outer shift boot to my brother's girlfriend for $10 - she has a '93 Miata.

Roll-cage in progress

2008-05-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

As you can see in the attached photo, we've started on the roll-cage installation. The first phase of installing the main hoop went relatively smoothly. It involved removing the stock seatbelt mechanisms, lining up the hoop properly, drilling a few holes through to the wheelwells, removing the inner mudflaps, and then bolting in some plates. Next we started tacking the other bars in place and everything seems to fit rather well. We still have to trim off some metal for the rear stays, and then we have to buy a lot of pizza and beer for my brother's professional welder friend :)

We also found another $0.12 and sold the airbag, the battery, and have a few other parts on-queue to sell. This was sneakily achieved by convincing my brother's girlfriend that she really wanted a Miata, specifically one that was missing many of the parts that we just happened to be willing to sell. I think that's one of the marketing tips in business school about how to create a captive market ;)

The roll-cage has arrived!

2008-05-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Bill at Flyin' Miata and Tom at Bethania Garage for the sponsored roll-cage. It just arrived today (all 92lbs of it) and we will soon be welding away to get it turned from pipes into protection.

Secondary Fuel Regulator

2008-05-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

We didn't have a lot of time for the Miata this weekend (got my brother's Ghia running instead) but we were able to get the secondary fuel regulator installed and hooked up.

I was a bit of a bonehead and removed the fuel line from the injector rail instead of from the much easier to access hard return line, but this gave us the opportunity to install new fuel hoses everywhere.

We have exhaust hookup bolts and hi-temp liquid gasket, so at some point soon that will get hooked up. We're still waiting on some crush washers to show up magically for the turbo oil-line, but that's just an excuse while we mock up the intake. It's a bit more complicated and fiddly than I originally thought.

Also, saw the first couple hours of LeMons at Altamont this weekend - pretty cool.

Sold the handbrake trim for $10

2008-05-07T20:49:00.001-07:00

Zandr was able to sell the handbrake trim for $10 the other day. This meant that we had to find a new button, but luckily one was laying around his house so we now have an ultra-chrome high-performance handbrake button. Watch out LeMons!

Oh yeah, Zandr's friend made an awesome embroidery for our team uniforms.

Sold the wheels and door panels for $90!

2008-05-04T21:33:00.000-07:00

Got rid of the door panels and steel wheels today for $90 - a bit more and we will be close to getting even. I also bought a banjo bolt for $4.95 from Kragen today plus a bunch of clamps for $10. The oil line now is connected but the intake plumbing will take some more work. I also added in the cost for the intercooler as it wasn't in our calculations before. Looks like we have about $150 to go before we are back to the $500 budget for the car. I think we should be able to hit it, definitely without the turbo and intercooler but that would take all of the fun out of it :)

Intercooler and intake mock-up

2008-05-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Today we hung the new Jackson exhaust, bolted up the cat and downpipe from the stock exhaust, mounted the intercooler, and mocked up the intake. We are still waiting on the special banjo bolt for the oil feed for the turbo, so it's not clear when we will be running again, but hopefully by next weekend for LeMons at Altamont just to show off.

My brother and I will make a parts run to get some liquid gasket for tightening up the exhaust system and a few extra bolts (unless we find them laying around) to connect the exhaust stub from the turbo to the downpipe.

Steel wheels for sale - $50, tires 185's in good shape

2008-05-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

We have some steel wheels for sale (thanks Rick for the nice 15x6.5's). They are in good shape, the tires are decent, and we used them to drive around a lot until we installed the new wheels and tires.

$50 or trade for cool parts, a good story, or maybe we should keep them as an extra set of wheels for the race ... hmmm, let's see what kind of offers we get ;)

Exhaust manifold in, intake manifolds are next

2008-05-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

Whew, that was a bit of a pain. However, the exhaust manifold for the turbo is now bolted down. Unfortunately it's too dark to really take any pictures now, so I'll take some tomorrow morning. Looks like we may actually get a chance to plumb up the intake this weekend too! My main concern at this point is mounting the intercooler, but maybe that will be easier than I imagine.

UPDATE: Just added the pictures with the impeller and exhaust stub installed.

Banjo update

2008-04-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

After paying visits to all of the fine nuts and bolt establishments here in Oakland and Berkeley, we realized that we'd actually have to break down and order a $4.95 banjo bolt online. Berkeley Yamaha came the closest with a 10mm 1.25mm thread, but we need a 10mm 1.5mm thread. Once this part arrives (ETA: 2 weeks) plus crushwashers, we'll be ready to move on to the next turbo problem.

Actually, I think we're just going to install the turbo anyway because it's going to take awhile to hook up all of the intake plumbing. In fact, before we do that, we just noticed today that the manifold doesn't really fit that well. We will first try a few intimidation techniques to get it over the bolts, and then we may have to move to more radical maneuvers like measuring things first.

Turbo installation: Stage 1

2008-04-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

The exhaust system that came with the smurf was relatively easy to take off. We enlisted the help of some local Oakland beavers to help chew through the badly welded header system of unknown origin and then extracted the remaining bits through the main engine cavity.

All looks set to install the turbo, right? Unfortunately, the oil pressure pick-up from the engine block requires a special banjo bolt which didn't come with our special low-buck Greddy-in-a-paper-bag turbo kit. So, I guess tomorrow I'll take my beavers and look around for the bolt.

Registration and wheels

2008-04-25T20:44:00.001-07:00

Sold the Daisy wheels/tires the other day for $70, but then registered the car for $73, so I guess it works out to even minus a coffee.

We've been running around a bit with the new seats - we think that they might need a bit more rake to them so I'll try out some bigger spacers this weekend.

The last remaining part that we really need is a downpipe for the turbo. Well, the last remaining part that we know of ...

Seat test

2008-04-23T15:46:00.001-07:00

We now have some nice used (thanks Zandr) seats successfully mounted with most of their bolts. We were able to modify the stock Miata seat adjusters to fit to the driver's side seat, so we will still have adjustability for the different drivers. We still have to take out the carpet to get to our buried treasure (see last post) but the car can be driven once more!

The mother lode!

2008-04-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

Check it out - mucho money found inside the carpeting. We haven't taken it out yet, but I'm sure there is enough to buy another turbo, or maybe even a burrito :)

We (Tim and I) also took off the door panels today and tried to mount the racing seats. We are trying to keep the sliders working so it's a little bit of a pain to get them sized right. Unfortunately we weren't able to get the seats finished today, but I think we have the right mounting technique. We need some 12mm head studs so that they clear the seat rails (13mm gets hung up).

Wheels and tires

2008-04-19T21:12:00.000-07:00

Got some pretty slick wheels and tires for the Smurf. 15x6" sport Miata rims from a '97 I think. We wrapped them in Falken Azenis 205/50R-15's and the thing handles like it's on rails. I was under the impression that wheels are considered part of the safety equipment, but I think we might have to read the rules carefully because in very few videos do I see nice wheels on the LeMons racers. Anyway, I'll enjoy them until forced to take them off :)

UPDATE: It does indeed seem that wheels are part of the safety equipment (see rule 4.2). Wow, I wonder if we could somehow embed little motors in the wheels and have powered hubs ... hmmmm ...

PR Motorsports strikes again

2008-04-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

Rick is a cool guy.

We dropped by his shop again on Friday and he always has some words of wisdom for setting up the Smurf. He also tends to have spare parts laying around that might come in handy. Our main problem will be making sure that they fit within the LeMons rules, so the entire following list of parts may not appear on our LeMons vehicle: front strut tower brace, replacement shock tower mounts, 15x6" wheels, Jackson Racing exhaust, bunch of brake pads, one rotor, and ideas about how to build an extractor hood.

Did I mention Rick was cool?

Also, Zandr brought up his old racing seats which are undergoing a bit of refitting for the Smurf. We're going to try and set them up with seat rails from some stock seats. If that doesn't work we'll drill some holes and secure them that way.

Thanks for reading,
Ps

Pictures from last weekend (13 April 2008)

2008-04-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

	This is the before picture - note the Jackson intake, power steering, and air conditioning.
	Go fast voodo from Jackson.
	This PS / A/C belt didn't have much longer to live.
	Zandr preparing for dissection (note the high buck hood prop).
	This belly-pan has seen better days.
	A/C compressor, soon to live again in Zandr's car.
	After the guts are gone. Note the water-pump intake extension - part of the Jackson intake kit?
	Don't get Zandr mad at you or you may receive the same treatment as these power steering components.

Tax weekend take-down!

2008-04-15T13:18:00.001-07:00

Happy Tax Day everyone!

So, instead of productively spending our time last weekend, we decided that it was time to start really taking some weight out of the Miata. The day's primary objectives were the power steering and air-conditioning along with assorted plumbing. Next up is to take out the power steering rack and de-power it. However, we think we might have found a swap with a gentleman who would like to purchase our power steering in exchange for his already defectively sealed rack. Also, Zandr had been shopping for A/C and might get a great deal on our newly extracted A/C sytem.

Some photos soon to come!

Peter

List of things in the mail or to pick up

2008-04-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

After some serious scavenging mixed with polite begging, we seem to have lined up the following pieces and parts:

wheels (15"x6.5")
more turbo parts (intercooler, various intake plumbing)
advice - seal up around the radiator to make sure all air goes over it, don't lift the rear of the hood to vent as it's not designed that way, used extractor hood
roll cage
decals from cool sponsors
seats
brakes

We have to go help dismantle some cars to obtain our booty, but thanks to the constant need to upgrade, we bottom-feeders have a nice supply of slightly used parts to dig through.

More info on these parts and pieces as well as specific thanks to the suppliers to come.

This weekend should see a bit more wrenching.

Ps

Cool, free Smurf parts have arrived!

2008-04-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Skip Cannon from MiataPower.net we now have more parts! Thanks for clearing out your garbage bins Skip!

It's not exactly clear where to put them (yet), but I'm sure we'll find a place for each and every one. A quick glance shows that we have a water pump, some intake plumbing, engine mounts, a diverter valve, and plenty of connecting hoses. Now it's time to connect stuff to things ;)

Nothing happened this weekend

2008-03-30T22:41:00.001-07:00

After all that talk, nothing happened this weekend. The Miata still has power steering and still has A/C. My brother drove it around a bit and had fun in the sun, but c'mon, we're not about having fun ;)

Hopefully all of this pent up constructive energy will unleash itself next weekend upon the little smurf and we'll start moving forward again.

Talk soon,
Peter

The Greddy Turbo

2008-03-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

Tim (my brother) found a good manual for the Greddy Turbo online. Reading through it was quite instructive. Some highlights are that it was designed to run with a completely stock Miata, no drilling or bending or breaking of existing parts. It runs at 5psi and the kit includes an interesting fuel regulator just past the injectors to maintain fuel pressure at boost (I think). Last, it is CARB exempt and is legal in CA to run on the street!

Yesterday we also went through what is necessary to take out and plug the power steering. This is not a huge deal, though some people go all out and hollow out the whole thing. I think for our purposes, just removing the pump/reservoir and re-routing the lines should be enough. We also removed the airbag (don't forget to disconnect the battery) and are looking forward to finding a nice cheap steering wheel.

We also took a quick glance at the A/C. I've been reading up on how to remove the condenser as well as the heat-pump itself. The biggest challenge looks to be just removing the lines cleanly.

More to come soon I hope!
Ps

Wheels for sale - $100 OBO

2008-03-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

If anybody wants some ultra-medium performance all-original Daisy (14x5.5) wheels, let us know.

Sold the seats!

2008-03-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

Our all-original, black cloth, beautifully worn-in seats were sold today for the low low price of $125!. That still leaves us with a ways to go to get back to $500 (assuming we install the turbo), but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

If it doesn't rain this weekend in our garage with no roof (sometimes called the driveway), we hope to do a bit more carpet removal and possibly, just possibly installation of the race seats. However, it might make sense to wait on those while we explore the possibility of spraying the interior with truck-bed liner.

By the way, the seats were sold to our good friend Rob who has decided to retire the only-slightly moldy seats that cushioned his journey through the streets of SF. If we're lucky, we will be able to foist a few more parts off on him too. His Miata is also in need of doors without dents (while ours could use some dents) and possibly a fender or two.

Sunday (March 09th, 2008) carpet madness

2008-03-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

The other seat came out of the car today along with a bit of the carpet. It's in remarkably good shape and now ready for a bit of cleaning and slicing for our new funds generation idea :)

Also, I was checking out the suspension and it looks like it was reasonably well set up for the track once before. I think it might behoove us to get a couple new sway-bars and maybe a strut-tower brace, but overall it handles quite well as-is. We probably should get it out to the track for a day just to dial it in.

Next up - reading about how to take out an airbag (safely) and then pulling the rest of the carpet out, hopefully in one piece.

Oh yeah - I almost forgot, we found another $0.60 in change (2 quarters, 1 dime) under the driver's seat, so we're slowly but surely getting back to our $500 limit :)

Idea for funds generation

2008-03-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

So, we're thinking of a novel way to generate funds for our operation. We're thinking of selling small squares of carpet for $5 each (100 or so squares) with going to UNICEF (who provided our video inspiration. In fact, we'll probably do something cool and put a picture of it up on the website with pointers to each piece so that you can see which one you bought!

Thoughts or comments on this appreciated. We hope to induce a rule change for next year :)

Saturday (March 08th, 2008) update

2008-03-09T10:01:00.001-07:00

Well, the Miata drives pretty well around town. I've been using it to do local errands and the odd Berkeley Hills banzai run with no big problems. The only funny thing is that since we removed the shift boot there is very hot air that comes blowing up through the hole around the shift linkage.

This weekend my brother and I removed the passenger seat in preparation for installing the cheaper and more useful beat-up old race seats. We also repaired a bit of the vinyl on the passenger seat so that now we can sell the pair. If anybody is interested, they are actually in quite good shape. Maybe I'll buy them and install them in my Ghia, it hasn't had seats with padding for quite awhile ...

I also insured the car and will probably register and smog it sometime this week. Though at first we thought the tires weren't holding air, they seem to be fine now. Next up is selling all of the various pieces and parts. You can see them in the For Sale section of our spreadsheet. Next weekend we will probably take out a few more things and maybe dig out the power steering and A/C.

Talk soon,
Peter

Saturday wrenching session

2008-03-01T21:32:00.000-08:00

Zandr and I got together today (Sat) and decided to futz with the Miata a little to see what we were getting into. My brother Tim came by too to add to the confusion and help break the other cars that were in the vicinity.

Below are my notes from the day:
* checking out turbo, verifying that the waste gate works
* looking at the header, is it a European model? looks stock, lower exhaust welded together
* removed Hella H4 headlights and sold, replaced with old crappy ones that were laying around
* water pump looks fairly new
* stock swaybars, has aftermarket rear subframe brace, Koni yellow shocks
* front is lower, cut springs perhaps?
* extra foglight wiring (now removed), alarm (not yet removed)
* it has headrest speakers, maybe we can sell those too
* not a limited slip differential, smooth housing
* the Jackson intake should be street legal, as is new exhaust because it has a catalytic converter
* need to replace shift boots
* found $0.25 in change!
* timing was severely retarded, we adjusted and it runs much better, set idle to 850rpm
* still runs rough when cold
* pulled out foglight wiring and extra speaker wiring

Pahrump race is canceled

2008-02-29T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well, unfortunately the race that we were targeting in Pahrump was canceled. So, we're now trying to figure out if we can get to Altamont in time (registration closes tomorrow), or have to wait until the winter. Zandr's looking into a few other possible events that are similar in style.

Oh well, tomorrow is wrench day. If you want to help out, come on by my house around noon.

Things not to do

2008-02-27T23:00:00.001-08:00

Don't put heavy items on top of your Miata's convertible top overnight.

Don't let other people put heavy items on top of your Miata's convertible top overnight.

Turbo time

2008-02-27T16:08:00.000-08:00

Zandr and I found a used (5000mi) Greddy turbo kit for sale on Craigslist and jumped on it today for $500. This means we'll have to sell a few bits and bobs off the car, but between the extra wheels, doors, air-conditioning, seats, console, exhaust, intake, headlights, and maybe other pieces, we should be able to find the money to make this worth it.

Here is the original ad:

1.6 greddy miata turbo - $590 (palo alto)
Reply to: sale-587978689@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-02-26, 4:36PM PST

all parts installed on my miata for less than 5k miles and i bought the kit for 1600 plus shipping and professional installation. the turbo was broken in properly and had the oil changed a total of 4 times in its life, so it's still in perfect condition as are all of the other parts. email w/ questions or give me a call if you would like to set up a time to check the parts out. thanks, Brian 650 424 1229

Greddy turbo, no shaft play
Greddy exhaust manifold, relief cuts made
Greddy down pipe
Vortech Fmu, w/ stainless braided fuel lines

* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 587978689

And here are the pics...

2008-02-25T21:25:00.000-08:00

The original ad

2008-02-25T19:43:00.000-08:00

Below is the original ad that ran (I don't have the pictures yet). Zandr purchased the car on 19th Feb, 2008 for $450 in San Jose.

1990 Mazda Miata - $500 (san jose south)
Reply to: sale-577760841@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-02-18, 12:14AM PST

Hey,

Here's the deal. I have a 1990 mazda miata that currently does NOT run well. It has Salvage title. It will start after cranking it a few times and will run OK when warm. I baught this car from a guy a few months back (october) and it ran fine when I looked at t and drove it home. That night, it took a crap on me. I'm not sure what is wrong with it. My guess is fuel line/pipe or timing issue (just a guess though). It is beat. I am not going to lie! It is blue with the truck spray painted black. The top needs a new rear window and the body looks like crap. I have the title in hand but I have not put it in my name yet. I have signed the title and the car does have insurance and has tags good through 08. I don't want to take the time to put this thing in my name and it will NOT pass smog as is. It passed back in july when the previous owner still owned it and I have some papers to show proof. The car has about 190k on it. Comes with extra set of stock wheels with decent tires and an extra stock exhaust.(you must take these)I want this thing gone. Lets make a deal. Shoot me some offers or trades! I will send pics upon request for now and I should have photos up really soon! Thanks

-Kevin

* This item has been posted by-owner.
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 577760841

Dead Smurf Racing - the beginning

2008-02-25T18:16:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

We've just purchased our entry for the 24hrs of LeMons - a 1991 Mazda Miata for $450. It came with an extra set of wheels and tires, extra exhaust, and multiple problems. However, after a quick look at the intake temperature sensor by Zandr, it seems to be running a bit better. Next up is the timing.

Thanks to Zandr for using his Craig's List karma to swing a good deal for the guy who just wanted this old beat-up blue Miata out of his driveway.

A couple other interesting things - it came with Koni yellows, working electrics (mostly), and a working top (that will probably be removed at some point). It also has a "racing" exhaust that means my neighbors are even happier with me than normal.

Zandr brought the car up on Sunday, and this coming Saturday we'll start our first big wrenching session.