January 2012
2 posts
October 2011
1 post
April 2011
3 posts
8 tags
March 2011
2 posts
Check out my new website!!! →
February 2011
1 post
Prescott Rally, Championship Event
United States Rally Championship is an amazing series which races Eastern events and Western at the end of the season the teams in contention for the championship title are awarded a travel grant to go the final round.
After some debating we decided to go to Arizona and try for the win.
I borrowed a trailer and a crew of my friends stepped up and took the car out. I really felt like I hit the...
January 2011
5 posts
July 2010
0 posts
Skipping to Today... and Tomorrow
My blog has been neglected but my rally car has not. I have to catch this thing up and I will I have pics and the rest- so to get to the point:
I am currently preparing for New England Forest Rally. The car is all apart, nothing is going as planned and my list is getting longer not shorter. Stress is through the roof, time is ticking and wonder why am I doing this anyways? I have raced 3 rallies-...
February 2010
5 posts
3 tags
Test Miles & Harness Bar
The car is all together and ready for some test miles. I also need the harness bar installed. Being so small the cage builder wanted me to get my seat installed before the harness bar was welded into the cage to ensure the proper angle of the belts.
On my way I stared feeling funny. I arrived with a nasty case of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Seems the header weld did not penetrate. Luckily Dan at...
2 tags
How to get crazy about Padding
I haven’t explained my personal work or background yet so… I am an artist, yes who doesn’t paint much anymore unless it is a car. But this attention to detail is a strange combination when it comes to some things on the car Like Roll Cage Padding.
Spending 5 hours cutting and measuring, angles and notches to get the padding to look super neat and perfect. I used a measuring...
5 tags
3 tags
Bang it!
All ready- time for a test drive… and the car won’t shift on the ground. Up on the lift it happily goes through all gears nice and smooth. On the floor it get’s stuck. I called Jay subiemedic for help and he was confidant that the trans was good. So just a rough bang into gear and all was well… few! Sometimes you have to just bang things into place…
5 tags
A little of this and that
The 2.2L (97) motor with WRX (02) transmission in 95 Front Wheel Drive Impreza shell proves to be custom Custom CUSTOM on so many parts. I am telling you right now -unconventional ideas challenge you and your patience more than most people should. I am lucky enough to have a lot of support and access to parts and tools to literally make many of the parts.
The mishmash of years and models was the...
December 2009
3 posts
2 tags
subiemedic
The subiemedic says:
“you will have to order 2 shims on Monday. The pinion depth is incorrect. I don’t have any to use. The diff is assembled and all the seals have been replaced. After I get the shims, it goes back together and its done.”
My custom WRX front wheel drive transmission should be together soon with the M-Factory LSD!
4 tags
Dashing is Flocking Cool
Not that you would ever think about this unless you have built a rally car- but using the stock dash in a caged car is not easy. Fit is really tight and you want it to be removable for access to wiring and heater core. Sean helped me clean up the wiring all tidy and he installed the harness before laying the dash over. I got the original (tan) dash flocked by Broken Motorsports...
3 tags
The Girl Factor
So Vermont Sportscar states that a rally car takes 800 hours to build. Well for me I have not logged my exact hours but with the girl factor it is surely got me up to over about 500 now. For instance assembling the under the dash. It was a 3 hour expedition for me. It takes a sweet finesse to get it in the specific way. I hope I never have to do that again!
November 2009
3 posts
Some more Bling for Outside and In
I ordered these light pods forever ago and they finally show up. So here is a pic- they seem pretty fragile. I am also left scratching my head about how to mount them and the assembly of the actual housings. Yikes that’s going to be a fun day…
- And the M-Factory Diff. When I ordered this I thought the trans for a fwd was the same as the awd. Upon looking at the two gearboxes side by...
Paint, for real... I swear
So for some reason painting my cage has been a major topic in my life for like 2 months now. Since my cage came back from Race Labz I have been talking about what and how to paint it. So the people around me must be relieved that it is finally done and decided. Sean again steps up and offers to teach me how to actually paint an interior. We build a make shift paint booth and go to town with...
Preppy Swiss Cheese
So prepping the interior and cage for paint is SO much more than one little step as it sounds. Started by sanding everything with rough grit sand paper. Then went over with steel wool and wiped all surfaces with acetone.
Onto the Swiss Cheese issue… 5,000 holes in the chassis can’t be good. Fill or cover all the holes in the shell, yes even the small ones that go into the rockers....
October 2009
10 posts
Bling Bling
Trip to RalliSpec to get a bunch of used Work wheels and RSSP suspension. I will be reviewing the suspension for my use- so stay tuned.
Cage me Crazy
Drop the car off to cage builder. Dan has a lot of experience installing custom cages and works with our ideas and the FIA rule book to come up with a design.
We machined some custom plates for the front and rear strut towers.
Clean on
Now it’s time to clean all of the seam welding out. You will see this rubbery glue running along all the seams of the interior and exterior of the sheet metal in the car. I tried many methods of removal in hopes of finding a nice quick one. It seemed best to use a fresh wire wheel on inside the car. As for the underside of the car I never figured out anything that seemed spot on- Tried a...
More Stripping
Time to take the dash out to discover that my melted dry ice is needed. 5 lbs was plenty to do the car if you take everything out first- get out the chisel.
Help taking the motor and auto trans out. Yucky axle grease!
Ice Ice Baby
So to get the sound deadening material out I read on a Jackson Rally thread on Dirty Impreza to use dry ice. This was really exciting and reminded me of a science project. Lay the dry ice over the sound deadening for a minute or so and hit a hammer on it to break it from the car.
Time to Strip
Take everything out. I would suggest removing the dash at this point as well. I didn’t and it bit me later when I had the dry ice. I have a box of screws and fasteners that I removed from the car to help in assembly. Not sure how much it will help.
Mission:
I feel a sense of obligation to women, myself and perhaps the world… to try something uncommon and challenging. I am relying on skills that I don’t even know if I know yet. Taking the leap to learn the way I choose it. Trusting an idea, a school, a car and a community to teach me how.
Purple Fuzzy Dice
This car must be a race car, it came to me with purple fuzzy dice, tan interior and a blown head gasket. I have a lot to do.
Start.
Starting is the hardest part they say. It began with an idea and change in view. A worn out car or a race car? I have a lot to learn and many things to share with you. Please follow along and help me build my car.
