I believe it's supposed to be sunny and warm.

 

Ok folks. I'm about to leave work and find Al. We're heading to Summit. Call us if anything comes up for tonight.

 

talmage ftw

 

Anyone got any ideas of what I can do to prevent the shavings from getting into the crankcase when I hone> Or does honing not make that much of a mess? That is the only thing I am worried about. I was thinking about dropping in a stock piston then honing as far down as I can go. That will stop the particles from getting into the crank area.

 

At the last time I checked, it was going to be sunny and 68-70. Kinda iffy tomorrow for our TNT, but from there it gets nice.

Registration opens @ 8:30 I think. Get there early and get registered.

I will be there around 7:30 to help set up.

Hope to see you guys there.

As far as the classing thing.... I got nothing. If anyone has issues with the classing, that's what emails to the national solo board is for.

Masking tape?

 

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. It just seems screwed up, but I'm going off of that PDF that a lot of people seem to use. There are some GLARING errors on there though. Such as the IRL <-> SS/SC being in two different classes.

It seems like most of the answers are coming from the Honda crowd, where motor swaps and updates/backdates are all the rage.

I don't think they fully understand that there are three completely separate vehicles. That's what I was trying to clarify/get clarified in my post on Race PA. With the wholesale changes needed to update the SS to match the SS/SC, I don't think it's be eligible for SP either. I think the two most compelling arguments for putting it in a different class are that the Neons are segregated and also that the Solstice/Sky and GXP/Redline go into two different SP classes.

We'll see what comes of it though, but I definitely think that CSP is the WRONG place for a 2.4 SS.

 

Did you pull the engine from the car? Didn't you unbolt the crankcase from the block. You don't want to mess up something you spent lots of money and time on. If you do drop a piston down there to save time I'd vacumn what ever falls down in there out. Still think it a better idea to take it all apart.

 

hey i went to bww last night and didnt see anyone there

i was hoping to see some of you guys out last nite

 

I'd have to agree on this one. It won't take more than a few miniscule shavings to destroy that motor... take your time and do it right. If you don't, odds are you'll be tearing it down in the end anyway.

 

wiah i would have known u were going to show up i would have texted u

 

Wow... I am glad I am not running the TNT tomorrow... I got a buzz.....

TX Roadhouse and all the cuties taht work there FTW MFR

I got the car all loaded up and ready to roll for the weekend. Gonna clean it @ Ryan's tomorrow.

Hope to see some of you on Sunday.

 

The motor is still in the car, and all I did was drop the oil pan and remove head. The block/girdle are all still together.

It's not that I don't want to pull it, I already bought the engine stand and we have a picker. It's that I need a car ASAP now. It's why I am not even doing cams/valve springs yet, just tossing the pistons in and getting it running. I also have the Neutral balance shafts here, but I think I might put those in since I have the oil pan dropped ATM.

 

it was more like a last min thing... the wifey got hungry and we were by bww

 

Is anyone headed to the auto show today?

 

Summit trip got postponed to today.

 

Ya me and Erin went down today. The show basically sucked but it was worth the price of admission just to see the new Camaro and Challenger. Even a lot of production cars that you could go to any dealership and see, werent there. They also had a new Pontiac G8 which was pretty cool. Mercedes had no AMG cars there and BMW had no M series cars there. There was a new R8 which looks sexy in person, but ive already seen one on the road. All in all, it sucked but there were a few highlight cars that made it worth it.

 

Couldn't agree more. I only went to see the Camaro.

 

Honestly, my family and I were discussing this back and forth since they're all car people and PADA members. There's talk of moving the show PERMANENTLY to April. I REALLY like the idea, BUT they're basing it on how the attendance is this year. Well, that's going to be pretty biased, especially if word of mouth spreads about this year's sparse offerings.

I like the idea of having it in April. My main objections to having it in February is it gets sandwiched in the midst of too many other MAJOR shows. Also, it's a BIG draw for people outside the immediate Pgh area. I know people who drive all the way from WVa and Ohio to go. February isn't an ideal time for it because of the weather factor, I think a good many more people would go to an April show rather than a February show.

There are plusses and minuses to this year as well. We were NOT going to have the Camaro, G8, Challenger, and I think there was one other "big" name that would not have made the February show. So by postponing it, we got to see cars we otherwise would not have been able to see. On the down side, the collapse happened so quickly that everyone was prepared to start the show in February and weren't able to make arrangements to change orders to accomodate April.

I would like to see it stay in April myself, but who knows what they'll decide.

 

I read that we were getting the camaro coupe no matter what date it was, in Feb. or the rescheduled date. I didnt read anything on the challenger and since the G8 was recently released i dont think anyone knew the dates for that. The camaro was bad ass.

 

The talk I heard amongst dealers was the Camaro was a good possibility, but not a definite. I think most were banking on yeah, it'd be there. But that's the other "plus" to April, we'd get to see more of the later-in-the-circuit unveilings, just like the G8 this year that we'd NEVER see in February.

 

Ya i really think we kinda lucked out getting those three cars. 1 definately but all 3 is just a product of it being later in the year. Pittsburgh just doesnt have the market that would make unveiling a hi priority car, or bringing hi priority cars here a yearly thing. Every year they say that this will be the biggest and best as compared to years past. Honestly i think the show has gone down the tubes progressively for about the past 4 years.

 

Well this year is a product of the roof collapse. Most later-year car shows are better than early-year car shows. Mostly because of unveilings that happen after our show. We're actually a decent sized auto show for the market size. I know there are some bigger cities that have WAY crappier auto shows. And usually the way it works is once a car is unveiled, it usually goes on the show circuit so we WOULD get a LOT more big-name cars like the G8, Challenger, Camaro, etc if they make this a permanent change.

 

Holy shat... 5am and I just got home. I will not be making the auto-x tomorrow... er... uh... today?

The trip to Summit resulted in an impulse purchase: sportlines. Al and I installed them on my car tonight as well as do a few tiny things to his car. Let me tell you this... springs are not an easy in and out operation. I didn't expect it to be easy as pie... but I also didn't expect it to take somewhere around 8 hours. Having the correct tools helps. We also ran into some stuck bolts... so that delayed us while we figured out how to break them loose. I bought these thinking we could get them done in a few hours and I could run tomorrow with them on the car... ha.

Now for the review after the drive home:
They're awesome. The ride is a little rougher around the edges. It's not bad by any means... just slightly rougher. The handling is awesome. I didn't expect the car to feel this good in the curves just from these springs, but I was pleasantly surprised. The roads were cold and a little wet (plus it was freakin 4:xx AM with deer out and about), so I didn't push the car too hard. But I will say this: high speed turns result in the car staying put and you sliding in your seat. There is almost no body roll. It feels awesome. I just need to get an alignment and I'm set.

My only problem is that stupid rear support bar... which comes off tomorrow. The drop results in that bar hitting my exhaust pipe on every little bump. Once I get that off, I'll be set.

I bought spring compressors at Summit. I have the tools if anyone else decides to get springs. I will not, however, attempt to do this project again in the evening. I'll be glad to help... but only if we start earlier and make sure we have all the tools ready. Also... I refuse to tighten/loosen the spring compressors for anyone else. I did enough of that tonight to last me quite a while.

With that said... bedtime. Good luck at the auto-x to everyone that's going.

 

Anyone up for h/e install today?

 

I LOVE my sportlines. no more rocking on the back wheels during a launch as well. Hell it only tool me like 4 hours to install mine