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Car is almost ready!

June 28th, 2009

I put a few good hours into the race car today. Got more stuff done that was on the list, and also decided to make a couple of things “better”. A good quote I heard a few weeks ago is “better is the enemy of done”. I had some slight overheating “issues” at the last few weekends, in that I had to run the heater when I was in the draft, to get the car to stay at 190 degrees. If I pulled out of the draft I was fine. I decided to go ahead and fix that issue, so I ordered up a C&R aluminum radiator. Install was a piece of cake, and I also put in some new radiator hoses just in case.

Also finished up the sway bar brackets I started on a month ago or so. At VIR the swaybar was just fine on the 2nd to last setting, but with these brackets, I can make it stiffer very easily. They also put the heim joints at a nice position regardless of the setting. This was the first time I got to use the drill press and also put my new table top grinder to good use. I used to just use the “wheel of death” air powered zizz wheel, but the table top grinder is much nicer.

Only a few things left on the list. I’m going to build a new splitter on the new bumper. I decided I can do it better then the current iteration that uses the stock add on lip. If I fail at it, I’ll just use the old one, so not a big deal. Also still have to get the graphics from KC so I can put them on the car. Lastly, just a thorough nut and bolt and some final clean up and she’ll be ready for July 17-18th at Road Atlanta.

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The race car is back…and straight!

June 20th, 2009

Picked up the race car from the body shop today. It looks AWESOME! Mike at Sentry Body and Paint did a kickass job with it. Both the quarter panels are fixed, the rocker is fixed, the fender from VIR is fixed, new doors are on, and everything except the roof, hood, and back bumper got a fresh coat of paint. There are no dents….at all…..

I’m ordering the new sticker scheme from KC at rallydecals.com next week, and will have the car all pimped out for the July Road Atlanta race. I took some inspiration from my old WRX and the “swooshy” scheme on that. Should be a nice mix of black and silver on the red.

Its also nice how inspiring it is to work on a straight car. Cleaned it all up today after I brought it home. The interior was absolutely filthy from spending a week with open windows in a body shop. Ended up doing the alignment as well. Front was pretty much dead on (1/16″ toe out per side). The loss of my drivers side rear camber was also good news, as the camber adjuster just slipped. I used a new lock washer and tightened down the set screw, so hopefully it won’t happen again.

Tomorrow, I start the rest of the giant to do list before the next event (16 things so far). Everything from fluid changes, to some DL1 wiring. I’ve also decided instead of just a plain nut and bolt with checking torque, I’m going to pull off all the suspension and inspect everything.

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Hmm, tethering on iPhone 3.0 and not break Visual Voicemail

June 18th, 2009

Its not like *I* did this, cause of course its not allowed on AT&T, but if you were so inclined, you could you know, do this yourself, to enable Tethering, MMS, and also not break Visual Voicemail like some of the other guides do.

Follow the instructions here, except use a different ipcc file. The one on his site, I heard, breaks Visual Voicemail. If you use the .ipcc file that is found here you don’t end up breaking Visual Voicemail.

Basic Instructions for a mac (PC instructions in link above) are

  • Download ipcc from above link
  • Run the following command in terminal: defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE
  • Open iTunes and Alt-Click on “Update”
  • Choose the ipcc you downloaded
  • On your iPhone, go to general, network, tethering, and turn USB tethering on. I’ve heard the Bluetooth is slow, and Bluetooth sucks anyways, so don’t use that

    • Now there are additional steps to enable MMS if you’re so inclined. If I was doing this, I wouldn’t bother, as I don’t really care about MMS, and you end up having to mess with your att account.

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Project: trailer overhaul

June 14th, 2009

So come to find out, I haven’t been so “safe’ while towing. Not only did I not use trailer brakes, 3/4 of the lights on the trailer didn’t work, the breakaway switch was busted and generally sounds like I was lucky I didn’t die the last ohhhh 20 tows :)

So as not to cheat death anymore, I decided to do a trailer overhaul. I was going to do the wiring myself, but after getting an $85 quote from a trailer factory, they did the work. Got the trailer back and couldn’t be happier. All the lights work, the brakes work, got a fresh breakaway switch, and for a few bucks more, I got the hubs repacked, and even bought a spare hub to assure that I won’t ever need one on the road. An old Autox buddy of mine Aaron had an extra brake controller, so now the 4 Runner has that installed.

With all the mechanicals overhauled, I decided to give it a fresh coat of paint as the 2-3 year old rustoleum was getting a little long in the tooth. Decided to go with truck bedliner this time around instead of plain spray paint. Figured it would be more durable, protect from rocks better, and also provide more traction for the R-compounds driving up on it. Rather then deal with the pain in the ass of rolling on the stuff, I decided to go with spray. Along with the easy of cleanup, its also 1/2 the price. I’m not going to be putting it though THAT much, and you can layer the liner, so I’ll probably give it another coat in a year or so.

I ended up using 9 cans of liner at $8.50 a can, right under $80 after tax. Not too bad on the price considering the roll on stuff is $70 a kit and needs 2 kits to do a trailer. The entire trailer got 2 coats, and it took about 1.5 hours or so. Not bad at all and it came out great! The only thing that could be better is a little less “spotty” coverage. Because of the spray, some areas just get a bit more then others, and because its a closed deck you can sort of see that on the deck. Once it dries/cures it will probably get better. I’m still really happy, as it looks like brand new trailer! Maybe I’ll even get it registered to become “fully legal” even though I haven’t been bothered about that in 5 years now.

Here are a couple of pictures of the texture and the final product.

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4 Wheeling at Mt. Aetna in Chattanooga

June 14th, 2009

Last camping trip we stopped by Mt. Aetna on the way home and realized that its pretty much unlimited 4 Wheeling. Jeep heaven if you will. We decided to go back a few weeks later, and last weekend, we made the trip up. Had a few jeeps from gatrailriders.com come with us and a great time was had by all. Glad that I hooked up the CB right before we left, as the other Jeeps also had one, so communication was super easy on the trail. We have to convince Jeff to get one next we go, as its much better then yelling from Jeep to Jeep :)

The trails at Mt Aetna are everything from easy powerline trails, to mud boggin, to rock gardens that we couldn’t climb without lockers. 37,000 acres of fun! The entrance that we used this time, was supposed to close this week, so hopefully we can talk to some of the locals and find another way onto the mountain.

We only took shots at a couple of stops so I didn’t get that many good action pics. There is always next time :) I think next time I’ll bring the GoPro video camera as well so we can get some muddin video. Good redneck fun!

Posted in All, Jeep, Pictures, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Clean Jeep!

May 31st, 2009

So it was time for the Jeep’s “once a year” cleaning. I figured I’d get all the branch scratches and marks off the paint, and throw some wax on it as well so the mud will come off more easily. Did the same 2 step Meguiars #83 and NXT Wax as on the 4Runner last week. I don’t think the Jeep has ever been this clean! Actually looks newer then it is :) My Mazda3 is up next, as I’ve been neglecting the pain on that poor car. Its going to get a claybar first, and then #83 and NXT. Maybe next weekend unless I get inspired to work on the race car then.

Posted in All, Jeep, Pictures | No Comments »

Smokin!

May 31st, 2009

I’ve been watching the show Good Eats lately. Coupled with the fact that I enjoy FoodTV sometimes, our neighbors house/baby sit for Alton Brown, so I’m a fan. I saw an episode on the home made smoker and it got me intrigued. I’ve never tried smoking, and frankly, I’m not that much of a cook. When I do it though, I tend to enjoy it. A few google searches later I find that quite a few people have made these successfully, and a tested parts list. Sold!

First stop was Pike nursery for the Terracotta pot and bowl top for $30 total. I pick up the recommended $10 hot plate at Walgreens, and an $8 Weber grate at Home Depot. I also bought a meat probe/thermometer at BBB as my pimpy wireless one from Brookstone took a dump :( $48 later, I’ve got a smoker!

I decided to follow some of the advice on the forums and locate the controls of the hot plate outside of the pot. That way, all the plastics are outside of the heat, and I can control the temperature as I please. It was easy as pie. One screw on top and everything comes apart. The base is strong and sturdy, so I decided to use it as the base for the entire smoker. Figured since it supports my weight, its good enough for the pot/top. I then cut out a piece of plywood to go in between the pot and the hot plate controls to keep the heat away from the plastic. Lastly, I found a small clay pot/water holder thing that I broke in half to stabilize the hot plate part on the bottom of the pot. I tried it on Friday night and got some great results, as I was able to hold 230-240 degrees on the lowest setting with no meat in the smoker.

Following Alton Brown’s directions, I brined the pork in salt, water, and molasses for 10 hours before cooking. Fired it into the smoker last night at 11:30pm. I used an aluminum pie plate (mistake 1) and Hickory chips (mistake 2) as that’s all that was avail at the grocery store. The mistakes turned out to be very minor, but I learned my lessons for next time. The aluminum pie plate burned right through and the hickory chips ended up right on the burner (iron bowl for next time). They burned/smoked quickly as they were small (getting chunks next time) and brought the temp up pretty high (250) right off the bat. I let that go for an hour or so, and as they burned/smoked off, the temp came back down to 220. Right before going to bed, I took the pork out and put some more chips in, but this time around the outside instead of right in the middle of the burner. I’m going to make a couple of U bolt handles for the grill grate to make this process easier for next time.

Woke up this morning to a 219 degree smoker, and the pork cooked perfectly! 200 degrees in the middle and super tender. I pulled the pork off the heat at 10 hours because of the middle temps. Alton says 10-12 hours for a 6-8 lb Boston butt, and I had a 5 lb’er so I think I was right on.

Its currently resting in time for the 11:30 pork brunch, but the little bit I pulled off the top to try was ridiculously good! Success!! This was very much a set it and forget it operation. I had to actually “do something” twice, as the first time I vented the top a bit to get the temps down, and the 2nd time I added more chips. The other 6 or 7 times I went outside was to just check the temps to make sure they were doing good.

Posted in All, General, Pictures | 6 Comments »

Memorial Day Camping Trip

May 28th, 2009

We went camping this past weekend in the Tennessee mountains. We really liked North Carolina camping from a while back, and the last few trips to North Georgia, while fun, weren’t all that, just “pretty good”. We were sort of excited about this trip, as we were going to finish the weekend off in Chattanooga, for some 4 wheeling and a good brewery.

Ended up being a ton of fun, and we found our new favorite camping spot. There is lots of water as there are a few lakes/rivers in the area, and there is hiking galore. We did about 11 miles of hiking on Saturday and saw a sweet waterfall. On Sunday we mostly just chilled out, but eventually took off to Chattanooga. Went to Mt. Aetna for the 4 wheeling and it was definitely more then we expected. The trails were long, fun and challenging. We’re planning on going back in a few weeks.

We finished off the evening at Big River brewery. Cathy had a gorgonzola butter Ribeye with white cheddar mashed potates that was the absolute bomb. The beers were also great, especially their Porter.

Here are some of the pics from the trip. As you can tell from the campsite photo, we don’t exactly slum it too bad out there. We managed to get all that stuff, and a dog into our Jeep thanks to a hitch carrier we picked up before the trip. Otherwise, the cooler would have been too big for the truck.

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HD in-car - VIR SARRC/MARRS Race with DL1 overlay by DashWare

May 13th, 2009

Here is my 10 minute cut of the race.

Start on Pole and run the first lap. FFW through the 8 laps where Chris would bump draft me instead of going around me when I tried to let him by :)

Then he finally went around and let me follow for a few laps. The plan to pass with 1 to go worked perfectly, and then everything kinda turned into FAIL when Chris got brake and brain fade into 14 and smashed into me. Still went on to win the race though.

You can view the full HD footage by clicking here or just play the smaller embedded version below

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My in-car video setup

May 13th, 2009

I’ve been posting my youtube HD videos on some car forums and have gotten lots of positive comments regarding the video quality. Seems that most videos I come across are pretty poor, and mine have turned out quite well :)

I’ve tried multiple things with in-car video, and finally found something that worked well. I originally started out wanting HD and tried an Aiptek HD cam. While the video was ok, the exposure and sound sucked. Next I bought a super pimpy Canon HV-10 HD DV camera. 2 mounts, and 2 of those cameras later, I realized, my car just does NOT appreciate DV. Something about sounds/vibrations and the tape make for horrid video.

I then purchased on a wim, the Samsung SC-HMX10 HD Camera (refurbished). This camera does 720p 60fps video and is very light, which works well in the car. This is an older model, and there is the HMX20 that is out now, which has slightly better picture and more features, but is over 2x the price. Currently the HMX10 is still less then $300, while the HMX20 is close to $600, and after seeing my videos, its not like I need better picture quality :)

I’m currently using an IO Port mount on the down bars of the cage. In my first videos, I used a VS mount on the harness bar, but found the FOV too narrow. The VS mount is steadier then the IO Port though, so next time I might try the VS mount but with a wide angle adapter lens.

I also want some “rear view”, so I purchased a GoPro Motorsports Hero Wide camera. This will be used mounted on the trunk, pointing out the back. I screwed up and left the camera at home for VIR, but for the next event, I’ll have that footage. I’ll update this post once I’ve got that up and running.

Lastly, the overlay. I’ve been wanting to overlay my DL1 data on my videos, but there wasn’t a reasonable solution until now. ChaseCam came out with new software called DashWare. This software lets you take ANY data aq and overlay on top of your videos. You can use whatever video and whatever data aq you want. This software will allow you to sync, add their gauges, make your own gauges, whatever, and put out beautiful video ready for YouTube or higher quality if you want to edit further. You can download a free trial on their site to play with it.

For editing, for qualifying laps, I just use DashWare to cut out the excess on the front and back, synch with my data, and put out a 6MB/s 1280×720 h.264 video that I straight upload to YouTube. Probably 5-10 minutes worth of work, now that I made my own gauge template. For the race, I use the DashWare to sync the whole race, put out the same 6MB/s video, but then use Sony Vegas to cut out the boring parts, save it out same quality, and then throw on YouTube. That takes about 15 minutes or so. Of course the encoding on each of those takes an hour or so, but its not like I’m sitting at the computer during that time.

So in summary, what you see in this video here.

You’d be hard pressed to beat my videos for $550 including the software. If you don’t have data aq or don’t want that overlay, its only $400 for HD quality in-car.

edit: For anyone wanting to check out the full resolution, non “youtube” version. Here is the 120MB 2:30 qualifying video in 1280×720 right off the camera
http://www.tomhoppe.com/video/2009_05_10_VIR_SARRC_Qual.mp4

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