some oblong smiley face in the sky

Set a 62 second lap during setup day for the test and tune. Got my girlfriend behind the seat and she managed a 68. Girl’s a natural, just needs to get a bit more aggressive. I need an alignment and to figure out why my suspension suddenly feels super vague and shitty. Something’s loose and it’s sketching me out.

Put my free new low profile license plate on the Jag. Also put some Lucas oil stabilizer in it. It almost completely killed the knocking noise, so hopefully it can be idled around without causing much more damage due to the thick oil cushioning the bearings. IDK. I quickly grow sick of the logistics of rebuilding this…

Buddy gave me this crossover tube he had welded up back when he had an NB1. Little bit of massaging and it fits my NB2 just fine. Throttle response in the low-mid RPMs seems a little different, butt dyno says I have a million more horsepower and will absolutely decimate a Bugatti Chiron, and my induction noise is a…

There was some very nice old British iron at C&C today.

Ha ha, you have to click through to see the “after” picture. Washed the Miata for the first time in probably two months and peeled the plastidip off of the OEM tupperware, and left it on the front lip since it’s just black anyways so whatever. I say “peeled” but I really used WD40 and a pressure washer. Spray…

Did some photographing and photoshopping today. Here’s the original of that shooped pic.

Why couldn’t the CRZ have been good? :(

This is what the bearings looked like on that junk 350. I returned it and got my $300 back.

Local photog Logan (the guy that did the Jag rollers) and I did some light painting last night on my filthy Miata. If I can find my tripod I intend on doing this tonight with the Mustang.

Local auto photography club has a monthly meeting where we rendezvous with a local unique-car owner and shoot their car. In this case the car was a straight-6-having Jaguar that has been beautifully restored. The owner claims it’s been perfectly reliable (though, honestly, the straight 6 is a wonderful engine) as…

The Flowmaster 60 Delta Flow muffler doesn’t get enough love. One of my favorite Miata upgrades, makes the car sound how the NB2 always should have instead of the whisper-quiet-exhaust-all-induction-noise washing machine that we got from the factory. Here it is shifting just before redline into 3rd as I go past the…

Infiniti G37 coupe, manual, in that blue, with some high-quality coilovers at approximately that height, with this dope-ass white and grey interior. Yes.

4-bolt main. Unfortunately it’s completely fucked. Needs rod bearings, main bearings, a crankshaft, and cam bearings. So that’s a couple hundred dollars and my buddy can’t let me keep the engine in his garage that long so it’s a moot point anyhow. Going to contact the guy I bought it from and see if he’ll be nice.…

My parking pass expired and I’ll be damned if I’m going to continue spending $50 a month to use one of the city’s parking garages. For a while I just had Michaela drop me off to work but now she has a full-time job and can’t do it any more. Luckily JayhawkJake let me borrow his fixie. Going from a full-sprung walmart…

All ready to be built up. Just gotta wait for the gasket set to get here. Peep the Mustang lurking in the background.

Off to buy an engine here in an hour or so. Yay.

Behold what happens when a Triton V8 rejects its catalytic converter. This was a fantastic thing to witness in person.

I really like the Chevy SSR. Convertible trucks are cool, the interior is neat, and it drives pretty nice. It looks frumpy, sure, but I can get past it.