Enjoy it!!!

Got my HP Tuners from AkursedX today!

New Jersey is expecting ANOTHER noreaster / possible blizzard THIS weekend!

I am now trying to convince Dave to move down to Houston and bring the car with him LOL. I just can't catch a (@*&$*(! break with this weather @*$#(*$.

Trust me, I would love to sell the shop and take a few years off in a warmer location. I'd get bored really quick though and I'd probably have to go back to work to pay the insurance on my Ford GT or Audi R8.

Dave

quote Originally posted by bmwguru:

What's this white stuff all over the car?
.
.
.
- j/k <--- spoiled from California.

In all seriousness, Dave, when are you going to move a little bit closer to the West coast, so I can actually do a road trip over?

[This message has been edited by Austrian Import (edited 02-06-2013).]

quote Originally posted by Austrian Import: In all seriousness, Dave, when are you going to move a little bit closer to the West coast, so I can actually do a road trip over?

Houston is closer to the West Coast right?

Too bad for you guys. I like him right where he is...now if he were to move to northern Virginia........

quote Originally posted by mptighe: Got my HP Tuners from AkursedX today! New Jersey is expecting ANOTHER noreaster / possible blizzard THIS weekend! I am now trying to convince Dave to move down to Houston and bring the car with him LOL. I just can't catch a (@*&$*(! break with this weather @*$#(*$.

Glad it made it to you in time!

------------------
'11 Subaru WRX
'04 Mazda RX8 Build Thread
My former Fiero- '88 GT- 3800 Turbo 11.367@121.03mph (Sold and gone now)
GM Tuners

Joe, autox on a lake this weekend with the furrin group. Are you in?

------------------
Turbo 3800 E85 F23 5spd spec5
11.17@132.6

quote Originally posted by Justinbart: Joe, autox on a lake this weekend with the furrin group. Are you in?

I found out about Turk Lake too late and I wish it were Sunday. I am competing in the Detroit Indoor Rowing Championships on Saturday.

------------------
'11 Subaru WRX
'04 Mazda RX8 Build Thread
My former Fiero- '88 GT- 3800 Turbo 11.367@121.03mph (Sold and gone now)
GM Tuners

Well it's cold and wet up there and they still don't know how much snow they might get from the sounds of it. I chose to be patient (and warm and dry) and wait until a more appropriate time to go get the car. That much power on summer tires during a time where the roads are cold and slippery would probably make a VERY SHORT test drive and I want the brakes to stop the car, not a light pole or another car. So I'm looking at the second week in March now. By then all that silly white stuff should be nearing an end and I should be able to at least get it on the road.

I did find a guy here locally that might be able to tweak the tune during the summer, but am still keeping an eye out. I have HPTuners now so I just need to find someone that's good and familiar with this.

quote Originally posted by mptighe: I did find a guy here locally that might be able to tweak the tune during the summer, but am still keeping an eye out. I have HPTuners now so I just need to find someone that's good and familiar with this.

It's NOT hard, and if you want to be more involved in the creation of your car then tuning could be your ticket.
I haven't turned the wrench much on my car but I can tune the hell out of it.
Turning a wrench is not rocket science either it just takes the correct tools and a few youtube "how to" videos, and "WTF, is this" type of questions on the forum.

quote Originally posted by Justinbart: Joe, autox on a lake this weekend with the furrin group. Are you in?

It is fun to watch cars racing on the front lake at Turk Lake. That has been going on for a looonnnggg time. Well over 30 years. I lived just off the lake while attending college a long time ago.

Right, so I'm making yet another attempt to go to NJ and see /drive the car. I'm waiting until the secondish weekish in March in an attempt to avoid any more snowstorms.Dave is going to check on shipping again for me so I know if it's gong to be more practical for me to ship it or drive it back. Since the weather is potentially going to be nicer, driving back is once again on the table.

On a side note, I'm going to try my hand at making a proper interior thread once I get it back. I'm also planning on getting a Deatschwerks 320 lph pump to resolve the issue that Dave encountered with mine. I don't need to get crazy but I'd really like to eliminate the weak link in my build. Since the tune will need to be tweaked for our weather anyway, why not?

I vote for DRIVE IT BACK TO TX....but that's just me

NJ Turnpike to 95S to 66W to 81S to 40W to 59S to I-12 to I-10 (at Baton Rouge) then poof....back to Tejas!!!!!! Approximately 1900 miles. Makes for a great break-in and road trip!

[This message has been edited by Charlie64 (edited 02-18-2013).]

Well I'm here in New Jersey. Got in early evening and am getting ready to settle in. It's a little cooler here than home, but at least they cleaned that white stuff up a bit before I came. I'll be at the shop tomorrow (today technically) looking the car over. I'll try to update the thread as well as I'm able.

[This message has been edited by mptighe (edited 03-10-2013).]

I am waiting patiently for pictures and signs of approval.

You would save at least a $1500 bucks if you drove it back I imagine.. Seems worth the time to me... getting paid roughly $80 an hour.

My friend owns a hauling company and can haul the car for cheaper than the fuel cost of driving it

Ok I'm here with Dave and the car. This is the biggest POS I've ever seen

More details later....

I still say drive it all the way back to TX and get it broken in

quote Originally posted by mptighe: Just kidding The car is a completely different experience than what I'm used to now. I have to relearn just driving this car. It sounds mean as hell and has a ton of power. I had a smile stuck on my face the whole time, and Dave hit every mark I wanted. ...

Nice to hear the good stuff!!

Well that sounds like really good news for you. I'm glad to hear that you are pleased with it! After all this time, I'm sure it was a nice sigh of relief.

------------------
'11 Subaru WRX
'04 Mazda RX8 Build Thread
My former Fiero- '88 GT- 3800 Turbo 11.367@121.03mph (Sold and gone now)
GM Tuners

Well it was a full day. I woke up, went to my friend's store, got picked up by Joey and went to the shop, went for a couple of rides in the car then drove it around a couple of times, went out to eat with Dave and the bunch, then came back to my temporary NJ home.

The test drives were cool. Dave and Ryan pushed it more than I did. I don't know the area well and kept getting into traffic, so I didn't have room to test it properly. It's a fun quick little car with the boost control off. At this level it's at 8 psi off the waste gate and is still well over 300 whp. At 12 psi it's faster than I could get into in traffic, but it pins you in your seat and you can't easily lean forward from when Dave pushed it. At 16.5 psi, let's just say the tires will never last and I'll only be getting into that level on a long stretch of highway when I'm already rolling.

I took a few pics, but I only have my tablet right now and I don't want to deal with photosuckit, so I'm going to wait until I get home. Sorry guys. I'm going back to Dave's shop tomorrow to drop off the car and arrange shipping. Oh btw, New Jersey roads suck. Just sayin.

[This message has been edited by mptighe (edited 03-11-2013).]

I was too busy laughing to take pics. Ryan mentioned a week ago that if I bought him a dress, he would wear it when he met Michael. So, I held him to it....he was working on a BMW crankcase vent valve in the dress when Michael showed up. Sadly, I think Michael didn't find it odd at all and kinda expected it...lol.



Then we put Michael to work and had him help us unload a ton of pellets for our pellet stove. Eventually, we took him out in his car and I showed him that the properly sized turbo for the application can make for a very fun ride. I don't think he was expecting the car to pull just like a supercharged 3800 and be as violent as it is.

Dave

quote Originally posted by bmwguru: I was too busy laughing to take pics. Ryan mentioned a week ago that if I bought him a dress, he would wear it when he met Michael. So, I held him to it....he was working on a BMW crankcase vent valve in the dress when Michael showed up. Sadly, I think Michael didn't find it odd at all and kinda expected it...lol. Then we put Michael to work and had him help us unload a ton of pellets for our pellet stove. Eventually, we took him out in his car and I showed him that the properly sized turbo for the application can make for a very fun ride. I don't think he was expecting the car to pull just like a supercharged 3800 and be as violent as it is. Dave

Atleast you enjoyed the car, hopefully you can get a nice piece of asphalt back in texas to open it up. like a track, with a slip for all of us to see. Be sure to share that Interior thread here. What were you thinking? firebird, or a pisa?

quote Originally posted by bmwguru: I was too busy laughing to take pics. Ryan mentioned a week ago that if I bought him a dress, he would wear it when he met Michael. So, I held him to it....he was working on a BMW crankcase vent valve in the dress when Michael showed up. Sadly, I think Michael didn't find it odd at all and kinda expected it...lol. Then we put Michael to work and had him help us unload a ton of pellets for our pellet stove. Eventually, we took him out in his car and I showed him that the properly sized turbo for the application can make for a very fun ride. I don't think he was expecting the car to pull just like a supercharged 3800 and be as violent as it is. Dave

Yeah I wasn't really surprised. I would have been more surprised if you hadn't have done something like that. I think this means Ryan and I are somehow going steady in some states, but I'm not too worried about it. I should have demanded he wear the dress for the test drive.

Dave, Ryan, And Nesbit are good guys and seem to have a good time doing what they do. It would be nicer if they did what they do in a slightly warmer and closer area though (nudge nudge wink wink).

The only part of that pic that bothers me, are the latex gloves.

Congrats to all involved. It is great to see a story end up this way.

Sitting at the Newark airport waiting for my plane back home. I never got to really test out the upper range of the car, as I was always in some form of traffic. The shipping company is scheduled to pick up the car a week from today. I didn't ask them how long it would take, but I'm hoping to have it Friday or Saturday. I'm still kind of in disbelief that it's coming home.

It rained most of the day yesterday, which reminded me in full force how badly the t-tops leak. I don't know why I spent almost $1k on new seals, you'd never know. I'll be glad to get it on a long road, in a warm dry climate. I'm also looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. My friend and I grabbed a slice yesterday, followed by Indian food later, then wedding a pub crawl and were out until about 2:00 am. I don't drink but it was still a long day and the different foods didn't exactly mix well. Yeah I'm passing out when I get home.

[This message has been edited by mptighe (edited 03-13-2013).]

quote Originally posted by mptighe: Made it home. Die first, pics later

Good to hear....supposedly someone slipped a little surprise into your screen saver on your laptop while you were here.

Dave

So I found the "surprise" on my netbook. I'm a little unsure how I feel about it, but it's all good. I'm not going out drinking with these guys if we ever get together again, as I'd be afraid to pass out in their presence.

quote Here's the trunk I padi a fortune for.

Uh, and someone stole half of it?

quote Originally posted by darkhorizon: Uh, and someone stole half of it?

Yep, the exhaust did. The plan wasn't to reinstall a full trunk, just a functional one.

The last shop that thought it was a great idea to cut the trunk completely out upset Michael. He had lost his t-top storage. We bought a junk Fiero and cut the trunk out and reshaped it to hold the tops (or a petite dead hooker) depending on Michael's taste. The carpet isn't great, but an upholstery shop can get that looking pretty.

The car performs really well and Michael had a weekend to nitpick my work, but everything met his expectations.

Dave

quote Originally posted by bmwguru: had a weekend to nitpick my work, but everything met his expectations. Dave

I've been nitpicking your work for years and still haven't found anything I dont like. BUT - I'm a little upset about not being offered the petite hooker storage option.

quote Originally posted by sabooo: I've been nitpicking your work for years and still haven't found anything I dont like. BUT - I'm a little upset about not being offered the petite hooker storage option.

Coffee everywhere!