demuire

Most excellent :P Have half cleaned up that bellhousing, looks a hell load better now. A couple of spots of "non-aluminium-silver-like-happiness" still but overall it's pretty clean. Will hit it with the scourer tonight and then maybe some metal polish to clean up the last few bits... Or maybe I'll just be happy with it as is :fuzz: Am going to dummy fit it to the dead gearbox i have and see how far off from "bolt up" it is. Re: diff am awaiting speaking to Mr Rob, will let you know...

Head not working... Gah, Noel woke me up. Oh well, going to see this Corolla that Teddy is buying now. Who knows, maybe might even get some photos. ... brain not working ... *what brain?*

Hmm, sleepy already, and I haven't even left the house :P

Woo hoo, leaving in about 10 minutes :P I'm not driving, will be tagging along with Evan and Cara in their Lancer. Have coffee, have V, have Mars bars, head torch and big torch, clipboard, rally roamer, highlighters and pens, am all ready to rumble!

*MAXIMUM BLING* ... what on earth is with the oil coolers???

Dream car? An Evo. I used to be a big fan of the Ferrari Testarossa, that was before I was old enough to know anything. And then the Evo came out. And I've been rather hooked on them ever since... Anything newer than an Evo1 and I recon I'd be happy. As an ultimate dream? Evo5, 6 TME or 8. Not a major big fan of the 7's, but I wouldn't complain... If all that failed... I think I'd like a Lotus Elise. Or maybe a Series 7 or 8 RX7, the batmobile. I like them. Or a Skyline GTR. I like them too. Although neither of them are really very practical cars. If I really wanted a practical car I recon I'd buy a Nissan Stagea. Then again, I don't like big cars much. Evo. Give me an evo any day... *edit* darn it, not only do I miss my GSR, but if I didn't roll it I'd be the happy owner of an Evo3 right now :(

Cool... I won't be there that early :) In fact I'll probably be there about... 10'ish - 11? Maybe a little earlier, not suer yet...

Yes I will be there, yes of course you can come - else I wouldn't have mentioned it.

well, wake up and do whatever is required before you're ready to face the world :)

When you join HSCCQ you can also get your CAMS licence at the same time. That's what Haikal did. I think all up it will cost you $123 or something like that. Tell you what, come for the HSCCQ club meeting next Wednesday night. I think it's at 7.30, but I really can't remember. Meet some people, join the club, get your membership etc. It's at the CAMS office at Milton.

Excellent, I'll try to come down in the morning. What time do you start your day?

andrew: the jap diff has a different yoke to the BW one. Actually I think I might have a tailshaft to suit a BW. Not that it'd fit in the car :S I ended up getting the lot for $70. $40 for the pair of wheel cylinders, $30 for the shoes. All ready to rock and roll... Yay maybe soon I'll have a working and effective handbrake :) Andrew: Will you be around this Saturday?

Poor Rob :S And yes that one took me awhile too, I actually had to look up a few things while writing it (you'd think I'd know the book by heart now, I've been glancing at it everywhere I go and I've referred to that section a billion times now) If you get stuck out with no car for Broadwater, if the white car is running you can have a drive. It owes you one anyway :) The car would have done 3 weekends of trashing in a row prior to that though, and it does seem to have a knack for breaking bits (gearbox still broken), so I really do hope it's still running for the event. Otherwise I guess I'll either have to run Pinky (if it is running, which at the current rate is doubtful) or try to scab a drive in something else too.

This one? Yup, rolled it at QR. Rather expensive mistake, but I lived to tell the tale, and learn from it...

In short, "how long is a piece of string"? It would be a reasonably unique conversion, so might be a little more difficult (costly), but not impossible of course. So many variables, so many options. It all boils down to a) how much money do you have and b) what do you want at the end of the day?

I've managed to find an R31 LSD diff complete for a pretty good price (well I think so anyway), not 100% sure if I'm going to get it yet... Would anyone (Junior?) be able to point me to roughly how much it would cost to shorten? The only quote I've been able to get so far (from a generic diff place) has been closer to $800 which I thought was a bit high (considering Junior set the whole diff up inc new discs, bearings etc for $1000...). Or would anyone be able to hook me up with somewho who would be able to do the shortening / welding of mounts? Any ideas?

Umm... A few good valid points, and a few not-so-valid points... First of all, where to start? Teddy: You've got your licences wrong a little. Circuit racing you'll need a C level licence. a) they aren't cheap b) circuit racing isn't cheap. It'll probably be awhile before you even need to look at this category. To do any sort of speed events you will need a 2S licence (or 2SJ perhaps in your case - how old exactly are you? Remember that you have to be under 18 on the day of the event and not on the day you get your licence), speed events include spints, hillclimbs etc. Or, if you're only planning on doing motorkhana and khanacross then you can get away with a 2NS (or 2NSJ). Keep in mind that some touring road events such as the Queensland Challenge require a 2S (or 2SJ) licence. If I were in your shoes I'd get a 2S (or 2SJ) licence, just gives you a few more options of events for not much more money. Also keep in mind that you only really need 1 licence, as in - if you get a 2S, it is "higher" than a 2NS so you can do all 2NS events. Not 100% sure if this applies to C level licences, I would imagine so. You also only need to be a member of 1 CAMS affiliated club. So no, you don't need to join 1 club for each sort of event. I'm a member of HSCCQ, they are a pretty good bunch and are definately big into motorkhanas. Cheap(ish) too for membership, Haikal just got his last night. Next - I do hope you remember (it has been mentioned quite a few times before) that you don't need to actually have a drivers licence to compete unless you are required to drive on public roads. In otherwords, for motorkhanas and khanacrosses, as long as you know how to get your car to move, turn and stop (fast or slow, doesn't matter), you're fine to compete. In fact there's a rather attractive young lady who's dad competes, and she's just started competing too :S She goes real slow, being a beginner and all that, but she still has a bucketload of fun, and that's what's important. Next motorkhana to put in your diary: June 20th. So if you can, try to get your licence before then and see if you can get your car there somehow or convince someone to let you drive theirs. It's at the Broadwater Car Park at Southport. The one after that is at Urbanville I think which is a fair hike. But I think we (HSCCQ) are trying to plan another one at Willowbank sometime before then, not a Queensland Series but just a club motorkhana. A bit smaller, less competitors probably, a bit more personal, just as much fun. Also, for motorkhana your car doesn't *strictly* need to be roadworthy. It doesn't even need to be registered. Just safe - as in your steering is fine, seats fine, brakes fine etc. I've seen cars with huge rust holes in the boot floor and half the interior missing pass scrutineering... You also don't *need* a fire extinguisher and first aid kit for non-speed events like motorkhana, although it isn't a bad idea to have one. Jamie: if only you'd practice what you preach. You should try to get yourself into some grassroots motorsport, instead of relying on your friends to take you there. When I first started I knew absolutely nobody, I just turned up and had some fun. Learnt a lot along the way, met a lot of people along the way. And still learning, and meeting. Whether it's a motorkhana, khanacross, hillclimb or just a simple public sprint, you should give something a go. Hillclimbs are probably a bit in the deep end to jump in I recon, much higher speeds involved and far less room for error as far as I can tell. Softer suspension IS easier to drive on, and will teach you a lot more. That's why I keep saying "don't worry about beefing up your car, adding lots of bling, making your suspension fulli sik and getting that extra 20kW, just go out and have fun". Well, actually Rob was the one who told me that, and now I carry the message on :D In fact, if you're one of those Initial D fans then that should be even more drilled into you. If you learn to drive in a shitta of a car, the car is easier to handle, slower and essentially you'll build up your skills to win the race. Compare that to someone who basically goes out in a fulli sik car and relies on his car to win, he'll never learn a thing. Take away the car, and he is nothing. Also, stiffer suspension is harder to learn with because the car will "talk to you" a lot less, and will be a lot more snappy. Remember that a lot about winning is about the skill of the driver. The car does help, but isn't everything. That's why you pop :) into virtually any car and I'd bet he'd pedal it faster than you can ever imagine. mumblezz: yup, regular motorsport does tend to keep the right foot in control on the street :) *edit* FAR OUT THAT WAS LONG!!!

Haha... I was starting to think you didn't drink at all :) I'll see how my money situation goes, but it doesn't look very friendly at the moment... I think I'm getting pretty good at the flick-of-the-wrist-swipe-of-the-little-red-card though :S

*sigh* Soooooo reminds me of my GSR :) I miss Fiddy :S

Then come along, you don't even need a CAMS licence or anything (if you're navigating). Just bring yourself (and maybe some money). There's no limit to number of people in a car I think.

Oh wow, you're doing the Midnight to Dawn? Cool :) I was wanting to do it too, but have no car that will probably make the distance (red car broken, white car has 3 forward gears and 5th is getting gradually worse. I'd hate to have to drive 460k's with only 1st and 3rd...) I might be there as a nav though, but not sure yet. I've never done the Midnight to Dawn but have done 2 other nav runs... I'd imagine you'd want a good torch (big torch and little torch for map reading - maybe even a head torch), some different colored pens (highlighters also useful), clipboard, note book, rally rover if you have one, maybe even a piece of string (in case you have to do distance traces) and a ruler. And yes, coffee, red bull or whatever keeps you awake...

If anyone else wants to do this but doesn't have a nav, I think I know someone who's looking for a driver. He's got licence and is willing to pay his own entry fee.

Might be picking up new shoes and wheel cylinders this arvo, $75... $35 for the shoes and $40 for the wheel cylinders... Is that the usual price they go for?

No, hoping to just swap the drums... I'd like to keep the frontloader (and the 4.3 ratio :)) for now :S

Ah, so you're going to the Classic presentation too... Hmm, might think about that, don't think we'll go for that though, finances have been all in the red the past 2 months... Damn car... Just out of interest - how much for the Classic presentation night? And you're going for the ARC one too? I wouldn't want to buy tickets and turn up there and not know anyone and look really out of place and all that :S Have spoken to Haikal now, if he can get leave (I've been more or less *told* to take leave so no worries on my end :)) we'll probably head up Friday sometime, come back on Monday. Should be good :D