[Neanderthal Racing]

day 23

i ordered a cusco radiator shield and cusco catch can several days ago. the can is here already. it's really nice. i also ordered a polished billet battery box for the optima battery (that is moving to the trunk) from "eddie marine".

phil is fine tuning a few aesthetics of his element gt65 kit before he ships it to stick with the blue theme we'll have going in the bay, including the silicone sleeves and the turbosmart wastgate.

in a last minute decision last week, i decided to lap the valves and to install a crower spring/titanium retainer kit while we were at it. the heads are now torqued down on the shortblock waiting for the cams, valve covers and everything else to complete the motor tomorrow.

we had a local subie dealer completely blow an order for gaskets and misc stuff. colonial subaru in kingston, ny came to the rescue. they not only got the order right for less money, they lent us a spring compressor and a cam sprocket wrench set.

too bad we didn't have it during disassembly. here's the untold story: the intake sprocket bolts, which are oil bathed, were removed without issue. after doing everything we could to remove the exhaust side sprocket bolts without the proper tool and after consultation with chris at crawford, we decided to just drill out the bolts. they only cost 4. a piece and they should probably be replaced anyway. it was a pain in the *** without the tool but i wouldn't hesitate to recommend drilling them out in a pinch. i must admit, it was kind of creepy to watch little ricky (who is way creepy as is) drilling, cutting and wacking them loose with a chisel. did i mention that ricky set a personal best record penis-lift of one full case (24 bottles) of corona with his c*ck ring at last years "ranch gong show"? yeah, but it was light beer. i AM chuck berris.

we're working toward a projected due date of thurs 8/18.

day 23 pics

- crower titanium retainers and springs installed
- my newly cleared headlights. thanks to statik for inspiring me with his own ride (a silver sti) and for doing his easybake oven trick over at his house today...hmmmm...what's that smell? an amber bulb replaces the clear bulbs w/ reflectors combo. (he doesn't know it yet but i bought two bulbs for him as a thanks...shhhhhhhh.)
- here's a pic of the billet battery box from the "eddie marine" website. this one is in blue. i ordered mine in a polished billet.

[Ver7wannabe]

Due date meaning project tuned and driving or motor install completed waiting to be tuned?

[donmei]

Better to leave that ambiguous. ;-)

[Neanderthal Racing]

Originally Posted by Ver7wannabe

Due date meaning project tuned and driving or motor install completed waiting to be tuned?

donmei's admonitions notwithstanding (isfh)...by "due date" i mean legs up in stirups...push...push...smack...waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaa.

at that moment, pretty much everything in the plan will be finished except for the roll bar, corner balancing, seating considerations and harness. i'm using the element time attack car's map as a base map until i get it down to md after break-in for a proper dyno tune by phil. we'll add aquamist and race fuel into the equation then.

i'm guessing i'll have close to 500 whp prior to tuning and closer to 600 on the drive back from md.

[91TB78]

Bruce,
Out of curiosity, besides making gobs of power and being streetable, what is your ending purpose for the car? You mention "seating considerations and harness," which would lead me to believe track events or autox?
Todd

[Neanderthal Racing]

Originally Posted by 91TB78

Bruce,
Out of curiosity, besides making gobs of power and being streetable, what is your ending purpose for the car? You mention "seating considerations and harness," which would lead me to believe track events or autox?
Todd

good question. i can give an easy answer (track) or a more thoughtful answer. it doesn't happen often but i'm feeling thoughtful.

without getting into a lot of details, professionally and recreationally, i am into high-speed high-stress activities. among those activities, i'm at the relaxed end of a 31 year skydiving career that has included regional and national competition and a couple of world records for large formation skydiving. my days of knocking off 16-24 jumps a weekend are pretty much behind me except for big events. last week i made 14 for the weekend which was the most i had made in a weekend in a year or so. i'm still a skydiver. i just not going to devote the same amount of time, energy and money to it. i'm going to stay current but to tell you the truth, i can't get much better at it.

my sti has been the most exciting new addition to my life in years. i always planned on getting into racing when i hit this point of my life (53). i have an asset, my harley, that i am selling to finance most of the current project. it's not sold yet but i shifted money around in the interim. all the planets are lined up.

the two most important things about the project itself is to create something that is functionally at the edge of the performance envelope and that it possesses a certain artistic coherance. it remains to be seen if i succeeded at it.

so in the end i'll have a tool that, when it's finished outperforming a car costing many times more, can pull that same car out of a snow bank. the entire concept appeals to me at a visceral level. the next step is to make myself as good as the car is. it could take a while but if there is one thing i've learned over the years, it's that coaching can accelerate the process.

that's the plan. go to school to use the tool. we'll see what happens after that.

[RacerXS]

I am very glad to hear your gonna make it to Englishtown for the inaugural run on the 20th. I will be there with camera in hand! This thing is gonna be WICKED!

[91TB78]

Thanks. I understand where you're coming from and if I had the assets available I might do something similar. These ARE great machines aren't they?!

[Neanderthal Racing]

update - day 23

i have good news and bad news.

the good news; the motor is together and will be dropped in tomorrow with the clutch. the rest of the non turbo related details will be wrapped up by friday.

the bad news: the turbo kit cannot be installed in time for the evo/sti shootout on saturday. it is shipping tomorrow and should be here on friday. it's so close but not close enough.

it's not element's fault. i made a few last minute requests that took a little more time for phil to fulfill. the theme in the engine bay is blue and i just had to have blue silicone tb couplers and a blue turbosmart wastegate. to punish myself, i'm hanging a "kick me" sign on my own *** for when you see me in the pit on saturday.

[donmei]

Better to do it the way you want. Thats why an ambiguous target date is always good.