Episode #13: Getting Back to Nature from krate motors on Vimeo.

I've been reluctant to do updates on this blog because I'd like to keep things as a surprise until I get Roxy shot but that sort of goes against the whole point of this blog I suppose. This whole thing started off as something of an anti-vortex build blog mainly because I was 1) banned from vortex and 2) everyone has a build blog nowadays.

The one drawback with this blog is that it lacks the banter and idea sharing that a fast-moving vortex page would get but with the addition of the comment box over there ---> it's almost as good. Even better I guess as it filters out the knuckleheads by not being in the limelight which attracts such a viewer. It's my own personal way of saying, "hey, I'm trying not to be that much of a whore by making my own page and not asking you to look at it if you don't want to." Plus, I think this will be really fun to look back at and read when the car is all said and done with. I'll be able to re-read all of the whiney emo rants as well as all of the times that made this project as fun as it was to build.

ANYWAYS, here I am sort of getting frustrated with the car because essentially, she's done. All of the major projects are complete. My goal has always been to get into PVW. I remember back in the late 90's when I had a piece of shit MK3 and dreaming of getting into the magazine yet full well knowing I didn't have a chance in hell to do it and now that I have a good shot at it, I want it for different reasons. Not really for bragging rights but to just have a way to capture Roxy in a completed state so I can close this out a bit and just enjoy the car.

So, going back to my frustration... I have a 90% complete car on paper but looking back at my initial vision of the car, I'm far from being done. It never ends. And the funny thing is that it has gone through so many phases of being a balanced car. In the beginning, the paint was the main focus, then it was the fuel cell, last summer it was the metal seats, now it's the engine bay but the paint isn't that cool anymore so I need to re-level the exterior out to balance with the interior.... it goes on and on and on.

Going back to the first entry on this site in March of 2007 (fuck!) I said I wanted to design the car in the style of Kimura.

In a nutshell, function follows form as well as vice versa in this case. Although the final solution of this build will not primarliy focus on showroom shine, I would like to attempt to create a rough overall vintage look to the car giving it a dated and very mechanical feel. No frivolous items that won't really give anything to the whole yet when everything is looked at together as a single unit, only then will you see how everything will compliment eachother.

Now is where it should get fun for me and obsessively frustrating at the same time. It's allll in the details now and that's when I can literally ruin the car if I'm not careful and that's what I'm most afraid of. Case in point, I've been wanting to patina the paint for 3 years now. I know how to do it, I've talked to a dozen hotrod artists on how to do it but I just don't have the balls to take that 600 grit to the paint yet. Maybe I never will.

I was talking to the makers of my shifter the other day and asked them if I could get replacement parts if I ruin it by accident and they asked me what I was talking about. I told them that I wanted to take some ferric chloride and dip the parts in it to age it and they started getting really pissed over the phone (which was AWESOME btw).

I found this dude on the intertrons who had some new-old-stock vintage hotrod track winner stickers from the 50-60's and after cutting them out and slapping them on the windows at 10pm, I didn't like how they looked so I ran downstairs, peeled them off and put them on top of some white vinyl sticker sheet so they would have a white background to make them pop more. Now I think I should have left them clear but it's too late and they are there for all time. Did I fuck up? Does it look better now? etc etc. It's shit like that that keeps me up at night which I love but hate. (But love.)

This got lengthy. Sorry. Anyways, more fun stuff coming in the next few days. I've been working on ruining a perfectly good euro valve cover, gonna age the piping this weekend, hopefully age the fuel cell box, if more of my nasty chemicals come in the mail today, I can make an engine plate out of some brass stock. see figure 1


figure 1

Stay tuned...

Man it's hot out. More like humid. Anyways, been a rough week I guess. Every single time I go through a bad patch with this damn car, I feel like hell during it and finally when it's fixed, I feel it was worth the wait. I hope one of these times I'll learn to just stop being so emo about shit and take it as it comes.

Anyways, picked up the car from NGP last week, drove it straight to a local shop where a buddy of mine works to replace the alternator and a few odds and ends i.e. tie rods and the such. Hell, she even went through a safety inspection and passed.

Without me paying the dude off! (haha)

I drove her home yesterday and she sounded like absolute garbage. Not really misfiring per say, just sounding like a gurgling STI. So in a fit, I almost lost my cool and walked away. It was dinner time, I had to meet a client downtown and so Kate dragged me away from Roxy for a few hours. Of course I was thinking about what could be wrong the entire time... so after a few beers later I was calm(er), dinner was over and on the way home I decided to go to the parts store at 10pm (I don't know how I ended up with a wife that puts up with me pt1) and got some spark plugs.

We get home at 11, kate is passing out on the couch because she's so tired and I went down to the car to start pulling plugs and wires until I finally found plug number 2 was covered in what looked like carbon or oil. Ugh, just what I need now is a leaky ring or valve seal. Kate even came down to hold the light for me while I worked. (I don't know how I ended up with a wife that puts up with me pt2)

Popped in a new plug and took her for a test drive. I'm sure I woke up just about every neighbor in town going back and forth down the quiet, dark main drive behind the houses at 9 psi. I totally forgot how fast she was though =) It's just stupid fast now even at low boost that I got out of the car and my arms were still all jittery and I had a smile wide across my face.

All seemed to be well so I went to bed. If it's a bad ring or seal, fuck it. I'll drive it and keep replacing plugs until it dies or I'm ready to rebuild the engine. Hopefully it will last until winter *crosses fingers*

Woke up this morning and re-installed that little piston doodad that came on OBD1 throttle bodies to hopefully slow down the deceleration of the idle so she wouldn't stall out on me when I went into neutral. I adjusted the idle a bit more from 900 to 1050ish and she seems to keep idle fine... once she's warmed up that is. Oh well, guess it's the price ya pay when you start removing niceties in the engine bay such as the idle stabilization valve.

Funny thing happened on a test drive this afternoon... I didn't tighten the set screw for the idle that well and I guess it shook loose and bumped the idle to 2200. So I was at a light on the way home and it just kept revving really high and some old lady pulled up next to me and gave me the worst look (oops).

So yeah, lots to button up. Need to get front turn signals working, front plate attached, need to add all the goodies to the engine bay I have saved up and somehow get the center console back on and around the rallye shifter since it now takes up my entire trans column hump in the car (doh).

Good to have her back in the carport.

Episode 12: Subarus, NGP and Scuba Steve from krate motors on Vimeo.