Its just a car...

[vanzuuk1]

A few weeks ago I decided to change a few things on my car, I wanted better brakes and a lighter clutch pedal for the xv event at pocono.




Well, the whole process has been a dark comedy of errors, wrong parts sent by vendor, next day shipping costs, parts from a local autozone in the wrong box, brainfade that led to a blown slave cylinder (forgot to set pedal stop), several paychecks on parts and shipping....thats just the highlights.

Yesterday I thought the nightmare might be over when I actually got in the car and backed it out of my friends shop, clutch felt great and the car felt really snappy (there was an exhaust mod and some carb tinkering while waiting for clutch parts).I was following my friend in his big block camaro watching him do his usual 100 foot burnouts...

Ten minutes later he is running towards me with a fire extinguisher, smoke pouring from my car while I gagged on the smell...the seal between the tranny and throwout was vomiting 90 weight on my headers.. not good.

When we had gotten the throwout bearing back from a rebuild the seal looked a little funky but we put it in anyway, should have been a little more cautious but the deadline loomed...

Well the bottom line is it seems like a simple fix, all the engineering and parts matching is over and I should be on the road by next weekend, fingers crossed. My new attitude is to try and not sweat this stuff, its just a car and eventually anything can be fixed with enough patience and paychecks...

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

money can ALWAYS be recouped.. Time cant. so enjoy yourself.. cause you cant buy an hour back.

[Steve Chryssos]

That's great news, Dirk!! Glad you persevered--and you didn't even need to wait until Monday for hard to find parts. See you at the XV Track Day in two weeks.

Everybody in the Northeast is playing hookie on Thursday to race or watch us run, right? Spectators pay only $20. There will be big time TV and magazine coverage. Not many opportunities to watch pro-touring cars run exclusively at speed. Come on out!

XV Track Day Flyer
Driver Entry Form
Spectator Entry Form

[Steve1968LS2]

If it was easy everyone would be driving hot rods... ;)

[69Nova]

If it was easy everyone would be driving hot rods... ;)

Exactly.

[MrQuick]

Glad to see you got it going.
But its true, its a car, things break and no one knows that better than me. Just fix it up and move on.

What sucks is when you break far from home.

[zbugger]

What sucks is when you break far from home.

Yeah, and with your woman with you waiting for a great cruise home in a car that eveyone likes.....

[BRIAN]

You have some bad luck.

Hope it works out with the new set up.

[vanzuuk1]

I have bipolar luck,it tends to swing up and down a little.Some of it is the result of impatience and a tight budget being at odds with one another.

[Rick Dorion]

Can you do into a bit more detail on the brake mods, etc?

[MrAngry]

Dirk - I have no doubt that that thing will be back on the road soon - hell... your one of the few guys that actually drives their car like it was meant to be driven.

Cheers man - Mike

[vanzuuk1]

Just got the phone call, it looks like another incorrect seal was overnighted from california....yippee...

[Damn True]

Just got the phone call, it looks like another incorrect seal was overnighted from california....yippee...

Sweet!

So you'll have a spare seal that dosen't seal.

[vanzuuk1]

I usually throw that stuff away but if I didnt I would have an amazing collection of what-ifs, all kinds of parts that did not work. I could almost build a crappy car that ran badly and leaked, tires that rubbed and switches that smoked and sparked... Aftermarket ignitions that self destruct on narrow two lane roads with no shoulder..steel rims that wobble..clutch parts that wont play nice with each other...


But the flip side is that when it all works its a blast to drive, and getting all the little stuff to work right is what makes a cool car cooler. I just want get the car home and drive it for a change.