zoom-freakin'-zoom

LRP and Roof Racks

2010-06-05T18:19:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I went to Lime Rock Park with NEPOC and Team Ohio. On Saturday we had 55 Mazdas in attendance who got to take a lap around the track. I didn't (for once) take many photos, so here's the link to the NEPOC LRP thread.

The cars are racing at Watkins Glen today and I got a chance to get some of the action on SpeedTV. @ToddSpeed drives a car in both ST and GT, and a couple of GT teams are Dempsey Racing (yes, that Dempsey) and SpeedSource, which Team Ohio crewed for last Monday.

I also put racks on Macy last week so here's a pic of that:

Bored in traffic

2009-11-05T16:24:00.000-05:00

I need to get this leaking exhaust thing fixed.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Update on Macy

2009-11-02T10:10:00.003-05:00

So she died, then was fixed, then died again...and is now running great, stopping alright and sounding better than ever.

On my way to my parents house one weekend, she died. I thought it was the distributor, once again, since she had started skipping, but no. After a trip to the shop, and over $1200 later, she had a new timing belt, tensioner, cam gears and hardware, as well as a new sound. Some of you may remember my car as the 'diesel' because of the noise the spring on the cam gear. Not anymore!

Since then she feels like she has more power, and I don't have to turn her off at drive-thrus. Also way less embarrassing at car shows and meets...and people are less likely to point and laugh. She hasn't skipped at all anymore either, and the HEI mod with MSD Blaster is holding up well.

The second time she died was a bit cheaper, but just as much a pain. I was supposed to drive to CT to catch a flight to LAX, and in my driveway the brake pedal went to the floor. She'd been leaking brake fluid for the longest time, and the master cylinder finally went. Jamal and Ryan helped me change that, and in the midst of bleeding the brakes I snapped both bleeder screws off the rear calipers. So new master cylinder and rear calipers later, and she stops again. Still not very well, though, so bleeding the brakes again is needed.

Yesterday I brought her down to Matt's shop and he, Ryan and I installed both the PRD Moog sway bar links and the RR Racing polyurethane motor mount inserts. End result is marvelous...no more body roll around corners and engine rocking when I give her any gas.

Next up is to get the ball joints changed, brakes bled and alignment done, whoo!

Well it's about time.

2009-07-22T21:37:00.002-04:00

Car was out of commission for over a week. A week!

Started off by dying on my way to work, then after 3 distributors from Autozone later, it died in Haverhill. I bit the bullet and installed an external ignitor module and coil, and started her up. Something happened and she wouldn't start again, so I replaced the ignitor module again, and grounded it better...then she would start and sound terrible.

After checking spark, timing and compression, we realized it was the MAF that was dead. My mom drove up from CT and brought me my spare MAF, and she ran! Then the disty went again (camshaft position sensor). Replaced that...she's been good since.

Oi.

It's time to start prepping for the New England Rally. As Director of Media I'm in charge of organizing the filming and photography of the rally. My car will be carrying myself and the roomie, and another car will be carry two more film crew peeps.

We'll be running two D-SLR's, as well as in-car video, and a handheld video camera, plus whatever else we scrounge up.

I need to do a few things before the rally...mostly install my wink mirror, and do an oil change. I'd also like to rework the wiring of some accessories, and install the police scanner and CB radio. Also need to make a list of everything to bring, and really clean out, and reorganize the car. If I get motivated I'm going to replace my rear shocks with the shocks I took off the car, but keep the lowering springs, so it'll ride a bit better. If I have the money (doubt it) I'll buy new shocks for the front as well.

Well that's all for now. Stay tuned for pics/info on prepping for the rally.

Alleyway Macy.

2009-06-22T12:30:00.001-04:00

pics from this morning...

tie rods, oh my!

2009-06-16T07:37:00.002-04:00

The last few days have been nothing but blood, sweat, tears and tie rods. Went to swap tires and take a look at my brakes at a friend's house, and come to find out the outer tie rods were shot already. I replaced them a year ago or so...

Well try taking one off and nope, no dice...hard to work without air tools or a torch. So yesterday we ended up doing all four...inners and outers. The inners were SHOT and most likely the cause of the outers going so much, and the reason why my car can never hold an alignment.

Using some ingenuity and a huge wrench we were able to get them off the PS rack, and at the same time apparently flushed my PS fluid (yay power steering fluid EVERYWHERE).

dead outer:

dead inner and outer:

yay big ass wrench:

Went for a test drive around some back roads of Marblehead and man does she TURN! Feels so much better, safer and more solid. Next up, sway bar links that have prevented me from having a sway bar...oh yeah and shocks.

Newnewnew.

2009-06-01T22:31:00.005-04:00

Lots of shtuff to report on.

Last weekend (as in the 22-25th) was the Mazda Corral at Limerock. I had a BLAST, met so many people, hung out with great friends, and got to drive the track a few times, and watch some cool racing. I also did something new and posted stuff, pics and whatever, straight to Twitter from the track, so that it would update to thecollegedriver.com

I don't know if I can even sum everything up, I should've posted this right after everything but I've been pretty busy and such.

Here are the articles:
Prelude
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

All my pics are here:
One
Two
Three
Four

I also did a photoshoot with the car one night at the parking garage:

More Pics Here

Other then that, scored one of the wheels from the Miata that crashed at Lime Rock (thanks Mahk!) and I'm turning that into a night stand thing. Also put up the Grand-Am flag I won at the raffle...

Tis all for now...the doorpanel is coming off for some reason, so I need to take it off (AGAIN) and reattach it. I think I'm going to hit up a JY for new clips first.

Boston Cars and Coffee

2009-05-17T15:01:00.002-04:00

Went to Boston Cars and Coffee this morning. Met up with NEPOC at the movie theater beforehand, then headed over to tradecenter 128. We had pretty good parking, but not 5 minutes later Chris calls...MAF died. So Marc and I hopped into my car and went looking for him...right in the rotary, awesome! I provided the tools and Chris and Marc got the car going, enough to get to the meet.

It was raining and overall pretty dreary out, but inside the garage not so bad. A lot of cars there, including a guy with an FB RX-7 that apparently I had given the thumbs up to somewhere in Salem...small world.

Pics here:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123740147&page=12

Blurb here:
http://thecollegedriver.com/posts/431-Boston-Cars-and-Coffee-3

On another note, this weekend is the big Mazda weekend at Limerock Park. I managed to afford a ticket, and therefore will be driving Macy on the track on Friday :D Plus watching some racing Sat/Mon and going to the OWTS show Friday, and hanging out with people on Sunday...good times!

2009 OCC Mazda Meet

2009-05-03T18:43:00.003-04:00

So finally home from the OCC Meet, and it was good times as always.

Started off bright and early on Saturday...well not so bright, was raining for most of the ride down. Met up with several people at Liberty Mazda, then cruised down the pike to the Charlton rest stop, and met up with the bulk of the group. Finally cruised to Waterbury and picked up three more, and headed to OCC.

We weren't able to park together since there were so many Mazdas but no worries.

Day went great, remembered to wear sunscreen this time, and there were plenty of goodies that OCC handed out for coming to the meet. Also won a shirt at a raffle, as well as buying a Mazda shirt, and getting a few others from random places...Mazda wardrobe is getting bigger...

Chris (subspeed) won best Mazda6/Speed6, Bruce won best Miata and Jeff from NETC won best 'other' with his '88 GTX. NEPOC members also won quite a few prizes from the raffles, which means another work meet is in order!

The aftermeet festivities were fun...to make a story short: beer, food, great friends, ricers, etcetc.

This morning we gathered again at OCC for some hanging out, photo-ops and such, but ended up all rolling out before the rain hit too bad. Cruised back with a bunch of people and slowly trickled down to cruising home alone.

Video:

Pics:
OCC Pics

Pics of Macy and I when I find them from other people.

NEPOC Spring Cleaning Meet

2009-05-03T17:47:00.003-04:00

Well this was LAST Saturday, and I forgot to post the pics/video and such...so here they are!

Vid:

Pics:
PICTURES

Fun times as always...got burnt like a lobster and have been recuperating all week, but I learned my lesson.

Next up...pics/vid/writeup from this weekends OCC Mazda Meet!

Parts Galore

2009-04-24T17:01:00.002-04:00

In preparation for the Mazda meet tomorrow, and work on the car Sunday as well, I ordered a few parts that need to be replaced.

I'm not sure what I'm going to get done tomorrow, but at the least it'll be a good time, and hopefully, somewhat, productive. I've found I'm more productive at these meets then anywhere else though, mostly from the ribbing of the other club members.

Here's a pic of the parts I got this week:

1- wink mirror
2- front motor mount
3- rear motor mount
4- complete A/C oring kit

At the least I will get the mirror in...anything else will depend on how motivated I am and what space I have to work in.

To do before the meet:
- ~~get gas~~
- ~~clean out garbage from car~~
- empty trunk of crap
- fit bike in car (washing that too!)
- charge cameras: ~~P & S~~ Canon
- wake up RFE (really fucking early)

Pics and videos from the meet sometime tomorrow!

Curves, racing and mirrors, oh my!

2009-04-20T21:49:00.002-04:00

My mirror fell off my car yesterday. Again.

I have thus ordered a 'wink' mirror, which I'll get this week hopefully. It's a 4 panel one...allows me to have almost no blindspots in my car. Here's an example:

Friday afternoon drove down to my parent's house in CT, and on the way took one of my favorite roads in that area...here's a video showing the curves coming down the mountain.

Saturday was spent cleaning the car...didn't get a chance to take any good pics...went to the Pike for the first time in months, and saw some people I hadn't seen in a long time. Again...no pics...I was tired.

Sunday was the first Auto-X of the year for CartCT. I managed to drag my dad down, since I've been going for 4 years and he's never been. Real people racing real cars in a town 20 min away...how could you not?

Anyway...didn't race, of course, but that will change this year. Here are the pics:
http://redd-design.com/albums/2009/4-19-09_autox1/

Jamal is going to talk to his boss about maybe bartering working on my car for design/photography work...so we'll see how that goes, maybe I'll get my car fixed sooner than I thought.

Pics and such when I get my mirror in!

Disty...again!

2009-04-12T16:30:00.004-04:00

I've had a replacement distributor sitting in my apt for several months, was always too cold or too busy to replace it, finally got around to it today. The old one would act up on longer journeys, and one bolt was stripped from the cap...so new (reman) disty, cap and rotor were installed earlier.

After driving around I feel the car is much smoother, power-wise. I know there must have been power loss from the cap not being completely connected, and the fact that the disty was on its way out.

I made sure, for the first time, that the disty was lined up according to the old one, since Bahr had timed the ignition when Macy went in for emissions. I'm hoping they timed it correctly and didn't leave it advanced at all. I've never done timing myself so I really don't want to mess with it.

Soon it's going to be getting warm out again, which means I'm actually going to be able to get work done on the car, instead of procrastinating about it. Thankfully, most the parts that need to be replaced are under warrentee.

On another note...I'm an avid cyclist, and as such am looking for a new jersey...preferably from a team. I can find those no problem, but finding a womens size is another story. Thought of the day...a womens professional cycling team sponsored by Mazda. Now that would be nice.

Oh yeah and...

2009-04-10T19:38:00.002-04:00

I completely forgot to mention that last week I took off all the stickers on Macy. I left the NEPOC, NETC and the front NER stickers on, but the rest are gone. Reasoning is I want to start doing some bodywork, and it was time to see the real Macy again. Here are some cell phone pics:

Long lost...belt?

2009-04-10T19:22:00.003-04:00

So I brought a friend to Boston last Monday...then went out for food and beer and such. Was raining out pretty bad on the way back...heard a weird noise...thought nothing of it.

Later on I noticed the charge light and rear taillamp light were on...figured the rain was doing screwy things, or maybe the alternator was dying...thought nothing of it.

Then it started getting weird.

The radio started cutting in and out...the guages started dropping...the radio shut off completely...the wipers started slowing down...

dubya tee eff?

Long story short...very nervous drive home, nursing the car really...brought my friend home, then barely made it home myself. Parked her in the driveway and popped the hood...

Yup...alternator belt was missing.

It had been squealing for awhile but I was always too damned lazy to tighten it, so first reaction was...oh...a/c compressor seized...broke the belt.

Bought a new belt earlier today...just the alt since the p/s was still on there, and figured out how to put it on. It wasn't that bad really...just had to make sure it was on tight, and all lined up. Shining the flashlight down...making sure the belt was on completely...I noticed something laying on the splash guard below. Go underneath...pull it out...and...

It broke across...as if a rock hit hit it. Regardless, I had put on a shorter belt so it would bypass the a/c compressor, since that doesn't do anything right now anyway, so that'll free up a tid bit of power. Went to start her up and the battery is dead (no surprise) so I'll just wait for someone to give me a jumpstart and all should be well.

I'm getting my tax refunds back next week, and I'm going to use half to fix up my car, mainly the motor mounts and exhaust as first priority. I priced out the parts, but not sure how much the labor will be. I'm not comfortable at all with doing it myself, I'll leave it to the pros.

Yuppie Racing Meet

2009-03-15T17:12:00.003-04:00

Forgot to post pics and vid from the last meet...

Here's the pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002781&id=108400085&l=13d91e8921

Onto today's meet! Met the NEPOC crew + some at Showcase Cinemas in Woburn, took pics, then headed over to Tradecenter 128 where the real meet was happening. We ended up being one of the first ones there, and got, I think, some of the best spots.

Pictures are posted here:
http://redd-design.com/albums/2009/3-15-09%20Yuppie%20Racing%20Meet/index.htm

Highlights:

NEPOC meet on the cape

2009-02-28T19:50:00.003-05:00

Went to Altspaces today on the cape to change the oil on the car and help whomever with whatever. Chris and Chris changed the diff and trans fluids in their respective MS6's, I put some Royal Purple in Macy and Jimmy installed a Mazdaspeed CAI.

Here's some pics from Josh (Altspace). Pics and video from me to come later on.

get off my car! :P

the combination of these two pictures is amusing:

"how many guys does it take to work on a car?"
"none, the woman does it!"

tis all.

been a long time...

2009-02-21T12:14:00.002-05:00

So not much new with the car, still plunking along. I moved to Beverly so I'm trying to bike to school more (healthier and saves on gas). Ran into a major obstacle last week when my mom informed me my registration had expired. Had to re register the car but first pass it through emissions.

Macy had failed emissions twice two years ago when I first got her going, and I didn't think to fix it, till now. Took her to Bahr Auto in Torrington, CT (since she's registered in CT) and they didn't me a huge favor and managed to pass her. Nothing illegal, but he held open the EGR sensor, and she passed with flying colors. What had happened was the EGR wasn't hitched up since I'm still using the '95 EGR with the '93 harness. I'll just have to swap them out over the summer (either with new or the EGR from the old motor).

I have a year to fix it before she has to go through emissions again, I'll try not to forget.

In a week or so I'm going to look into getting the motor mounts replaced and completely welding up the exhaust, so that should fix it permanently, as well as fixing my wheel hop problem :)

tis all.

Sunday Snow!

2009-01-11T11:22:00.002-05:00

Well oops. I knew we were getting snow last night/this morning but I didn't realize how much. In the end it was about 6/7 inches. I remembered to put up my windshield wipers but not park at the end of the driveway, so lots of shoveling was in order.

Macy first thing this morning...

There was lots of sand on my tires so she left some tireprints!

Had to shovel :X

Victorious! What you don't see is me making the Captain Morgan stance haha.

Cleeeean and out of the snow

My back is now killing me, no more shoveling for me today. Almost got stuck in the breakfast places parking lot, the road down the street, and my driveway coming home.

I have a new toy/project that I'll post about later :D

NETC meet a success!

2009-01-04T11:35:00.005-05:00

The car club had its first meet of the year last night. Started off with a few games of bowling, at which everyone who said they'd be there were there. Then we went to the usual hangout at Dunkin Donuts with the older muscle car crowd, where we froze our asses off, and also got a vid of one of the members having a bit of fun in his car. Vid:

Afterwards a few of us went to Hops for some late night brews.

On the way home I got this vid:

Pics from the meet are here:

http://redd-design.com/pictures/v/2009/1-3-bowling/

NETC Car Club Website

Just had to post this...

2009-01-02T18:03:00.004-05:00

...pic. I thought she looked perty in the snow!

Yesterday after coming out of MallWart I saw a 2g MX6 LS in that dark green color parked right in front of me, so of course I got overly excited and left a note on their windshield. Have yet for them to make an appearance on my board but hey ya never know.

Oh and my mom bought this for me from the aforementioned store for $10. I can't wait to get my own place so I can be a dork and put it on my wall.

Brrrr!

2009-01-01T16:37:00.003-05:00

So it was cold today, enough so that Macy wouldn't start this morning. My mom's car said it was 14° and her car is pretty accurate. I put the battery on the charger for about an hour, went back out and started her up though it was tough at first.

So, first thing I do, go to the Zone, former place of my employment, and swap it out under warrantee five days before it was set to expire. Sometimes luck is on my side.

New battery, checked the fluids...still getting low on brake fluid once in awhile. I'm pretty sure it's the master cylinder...but hopefully that'll hold out until warmer weather.

Roads aren't good enough to tear up yet, might do a couple more videos tomorrow when it's warmer out.

Dynos and Mustangs

2008-12-30T11:20:00.003-05:00

I'm trying to put all my videos on YouTube instead of the misc other sites they're posted on...so here are two I pulled from the NETC site...

A ride in my dad's car:

And the video from the '07 NETC Dyno Day:

Dad's Car...

2008-12-29T20:57:00.002-05:00

...is a 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1. 351 Windsor with a Tremec 5 speed trans, and all sorts of goodies ;)

Here's a preview...many more vids to come this year.

New Project

2008-12-29T18:06:00.003-05:00

Here's a very quick tour of my project for next year. It's not exactly new...we've had it for almost five years now...

1977 Chevy Corvette L82

111k miles...THM350 trans...

Needs a good deal of steering bushings, a new battery and some welding...as well as interior and paint, but cosmetic stuff is last on the list...

Videos from a Bored Driver

2008-12-23T21:19:00.009-05:00

I finally took some videos off my camera. Camera is a Samsung 8.1mp point and shoot digital camera that takes decent video. The mount is from Ocean State Job Lot and is made by Targus...cost me $6! So I bought three.

This pic was taken with my Blackberry camera, which isn't that great in low light. But here's my Samsung, a bit beat up since it lives in my pocket book 24-7.

Yes it's mounted upside-down. I just flip the around in the video editor and all is well.

Having fun on the highway on the way to work.

Heading over the bridge.

Came across a crashed Focus on the Mass Pike.

And finally, coming up the mountain on the way home after the storm.

Hope you enjoy, please leave some comments!

Winterizing Your Vehicle

2008-12-22T08:39:00.008-05:00

Winter in New England wrecks havoc on vehicles, with snow, ice, freezing temperatures and maniac drivers.

I winterized my car the other day to make sure she's ready for the season, I suggest you do the same!

Make sure all your fluids are topped off: oil, coolant, power steering, brakes and windshield-washer
Check your tire pressure to make sure it's ideal, higher the pressure, better traction in snow
Put some HEET (anti-freeze and water-remover) and fuel-injector cleaner in your tank
Silicone-spray all rubber seals (doors, trunk and hood) as well as your power antenna so they don't freeze and cause damage
Put new wipers on, preferably winter ones that have a rubber cover on the metal
De-ice and lube door and trunk locks
Check all the bulbs so your not getting pulled over for something stupid!
Put a blanket in your car, just-in-case
And the big one, put snow tires on!

More SNOW!

2008-12-21T19:53:00.004-05:00

Headed back to CT for two weeks today...dropped a friend off in Boston first, realized that Boston doesn't believe in plowing, almost got completely stuck on Summer Street, and got the heck out of there. Then I realized that the entire state of Massachusetts doesn't believe in plowing.

On the Mass Pike there was at least 3 inches of slush everywhere, which means no traction for Macy when she doesn't have snow tires on the front. It took me about 5 hours of steady driving to get home from Boston, which is normally a 2 hour trip (according to the geepus).

That was probably the scariest driving of my life, and I'll never drive so far in such bad weather ever again. Today made me realize that A- I'm a decent driver, there were crashes EVERYWHERE with cars that should've been fine, and B- I REALLY need snow tires. Now. That's the mission of the week...get some new tires for the front.

Here are some pictures from today...I took video as well but since the cam mount is upside down (new one on the windshield) I need to turn them around before I upload them.

First thing this morning after driving for 30 minutes:

THIS WAS NOT A TAXI!

After about three hours of driving on the Pike. The front of Macy was solid ICE!

I was leading a pretty big convoy, no one wanted to pass me since I had the clear lane:

The ONLY TIME I saw snow plows going my way...about five miles before I got off the Pike:

There were, however, plenty of them going the other way:

I'll try to get the video up tomorrow of my epic driving the last leg home. I live on top of a mountain, and I somehow managed to get up it without sliding off.

Stay warm!

EDIT: Forgot to mention that my spoiler met the doom of freezing temps today. It was loose and coming off so I pulled it off (in one piece, it's fine) and stuck it in the trunk. I think due to the weather I'll leave it off till warmer weather. I might also pull off the stickers too.

SNOW!

2008-12-20T15:41:00.007-05:00

Welcome to New England! We get snow, and lots of it, at random intervals. Last night was one of those occasions. Started around 3 PM yesterday and is still snowing outside. Total was about a foot in Beverly. Instead of commuting home I stayed with a friend last night, best decision of my life. Roads were horrible as of 5 PM, almost slid into so many things, and almost got stuck, too.

This pic was as of 7 PM last night:

Around 9 AM this morning:

All cleaned off!

Only damage to my car was breaking half of the front emblem...however I have a whole other set!

It's supposed to snow some more tomorrow as I'm heading home to CT for two weeks. I'll also have more pics to add to this that I took while driving around!

Swapping a Motor

2008-12-18T20:04:00.007-05:00

This is an email I sent to a fellow Mazda enthusiast about pulling the motor out of one of our cars. I may be missing some stuff, so I'll update this and make into an actual how-to later on...

Hey there,

For me the process was a little drawn out because it was my first swap, friends were unreliable and I was going back and forth to MA and CT.

So you're just going to remove it, no installing? Removing isn't hard, it depends on what you want to keep and such. The car I took my motor out was totaled so we took a sawzall to the front of it, doubtful you're doing the same haha.

Tools...what do you have? It's easiest to take out the motor and trans together, and separate them when everything's out. Engine hoist, breaker bars, GOOD set of sockets and wrenches etc.

First thing, take off the shit on top, battery, intake...drain the oil, trans fluid and coolant. Take off the hood. Take out the radiator and hoses. Put the car up on stands, take off the wheels, pop the knuckles from the control arms, pop out the CV shafts.

In the rear of the bay...there are two heater hoses, the wiring harness, power steering lines, O2 sensors, vacuum lines. There's the two VRIS solenoids and EGR solenoid bolted to the back of the intake...those usually break when taking out the motor, so I suggest taking those off. Make sure you write down everything you take off, and remember where you put the vacuum lines.

Inside the car...under where the radio is is the ECU, and the wiring runs through the firewall on the passenger side, disconnect all of that and pull the harness through the firewall so it'll go with the motor.

Under the car...exhaust is the biggest bitch, I just cut through mine...but if you want to save it, undo the downpipe from the cat, where the flexpipe is. There's the shift linkage and another bar that you'll have to take off, one bolt each.

On top of the car again...attach the engine to the hoist, two brackets coming off the intake manifold. I found it easier to have the side where the belts are a bit higher than the tranny, so that the tranny can go down a bit to get around the mount. With the engine attached, undo the pass. side and tranny mounts, followed by the front and rear mounts. As far I as can remember that should be it.

The motor, like I said, will have to drop the tranny a tad to get around the mount.

Before you do this take a look at everything to make sure I didn't miss anything. Anymore questions feel free to ask.

- Ashley

wowzers...

2008-12-18T19:24:00.003-05:00

So I slid off the road today...exiting off 95 onto 133, slid across the ramp and went up some snow over the curb and onto the grass. Hit my head pretty hard on the driver window, wicked headache but I think I'll be ok.

Checked the car out, and alignment is no different than before. I'm going to keep a close eye on it to make sure I didn't bend anything. Thank god for that bit of snow I slid up, otherwise I would've hit the curb and definitely done damage.

I strongly dislike my commute.

I also need snow tires, size 205-215/50-55R16. I have Blizzaks on the back but they're too wide to be practical on the front.

*sigh*

Woes of a Mazda Enthusiast

2008-12-14T13:59:00.004-05:00

So along with having an awesome car that I love to death, is having to fix said awesome car when she breaks.

My most annoying problem that's plagued me for the past year or so is the distributor. See, when I had my Probe it was a '95, which has a distributor that works perfectly. When I put the '95 motor into my '93 car I had to use the OEM '93 disty. They have had many problems with that year, with the internal ignition coil and the ignitor module. What solves the problem in the short term is replacing the disty, which I did, and have done about six times since then. What fixes it in the long term is going with external ignition, either distributorless, which I don't want to do yet, or the GM HEI modification with an external coil (MSD ignition so to speak). I'm lazy and it's cold out so I just keep replacing the disty, but I know I should soon bite the bullet and just wire everything up.

Another problem is my suspension, and the "awesome" sounds that go with it. My front struts are shot, and at the moment I don't really care since it's almost winter and the potholes around here are insane. However, I haven't had a sway bar in a year since the old links are sawed through and I don't have the means of getting the rest of them out of the sway bar. Also, my CV shafts need to be replaced, they're starting to make noise, the tie rods (inner and outer) are probably shot, and my car is in need of an alignment.

Also, my motor mounts are shot, which is annoying not only because my car is both losing power because of them, and they make a horrible clunking noise, but because the movement of the motor all the time keeps breaking my normally sweet-sounding exhaust. I keep having friends weld it up for me, one even put in a new flex-pipe since I didn't have one for months, but its broken again, and has an awesome exhaust leak, which comes into the cabin area, and sounds AWFUL. Remedy for this is to replace said mounts (with new OEM ones, which are then filled with urethane), but that job takes about 6 hours (front is easy, rears a bitch) and the use of a lift, which I don't have.

There are some random things wrong with my car which doesn't really bother me or isn't on my priority list, such as the cam tick, which is non-detremental but does make my car sound like a diesal, the lack of a cupholder since I broke the only one in my car on the driverside, some random ghetto-wiring since I'm lazy, etcetc.

Well those were the top-three things to fix and hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some good news to report about fixing any of those.

Edit: forgot to mention that I noticed again, for the second time in a couple of weeks, hitting the brakes hard makes the brake light come one, which means the fluid is low. I haven't checked it yet today, but last time it did that it was pretty low on fluid. When I replaced the rear calipers a few months ago everything seemed kosher, so it could be one of the calipers I used is leaking (they were used). Next time I have the wheels off I'll take a look, and see if brand-spanking new calipers are needed.

Vid Cam Mounting

2008-12-14T12:32:00.006-05:00

This was something I was messing with...unfortunately i tried taking a vid from that perspective and the batteries died...maybe I'll try it again later today. The problem is finding a place to take vid from even if I have a passenger, that the cam doesn't interfere with my viewing the road, and that not too much of the interior is showing.

I have some other ideas for cam mounts I'll try at some point. But check out my tripod! It's amazing!

Cruise to OCC

2008-12-14T12:27:00.002-05:00

This was on the way to Orange County Choppers in NY. Josh aka Altspace took the vid...what's hard to see is I was taking a video at the same time!

Road trip to RI

2008-12-14T10:43:00.004-05:00

Steve and I took a lil road trip to RI to check out a junkyard with Jon and Amanda. We got kicked out of the junkyard by two really drunk guys, but it was still a good time, and Steve got this vid from his webcam on the way back.

Please excuse my swearing and the idiot in the Dodge Intrepid, and my GPS telling me to go the wrong way. And no I don't know what song is playing...it's a song off a 63 track techno CD, I can't be expected to know them all.

Edit: the distributor acted up once on the highway on the way down due to the heat and such. I'll make a post about the idiocy of '93 distributors later.

Flyer

2008-12-10T19:43:00.005-05:00

The flyer I use at shows:

Modifications

2008-12-10T19:42:00.011-05:00

Replaced Parts

2008-12-10T19:42:00.010-05:00

Where I've gone!

2008-12-10T19:42:00.008-05:00

Places I've driven my car:

General Info

2008-12-10T19:40:00.004-05:00

Straight from Wiki

2008-12-10T19:20:00.004-05:00

The Mazda MX-6 was a front-wheel drive sporty coupe produced by Mazda between 1987 and 1997. It was called the Mazda Capella in Japan until 2002 before being renamed Mazda Atenza/Mazda6.

The MX-6 was mechanically identical to the Mazda 626 and subsequently the Ford Probe. These cars shared the GD (1988-1992) and GE (1993-1997) platforms. The MX-6 replaced the 626 Coupe, although it continued to share the same chassis. Mazda shared the GD and GE chassis with Ford for their own Probe. The MX-6, 626 and Ford Probe were made together in joint-venture plants either by AutoAlliance in Flat Rock, MI for the North American market, and by Mazda Japan for Asian and European Markets.

First generation (1988-1992)
The first generation MX-6 appeared in 1988 and lasted until 1992 in the United States. In some markets the model years were from 1987 to 1991. It was based on a series of futuristic sports compact concept cars of the early 1980s. It was a large coupe, based on the Mazda GD platform, and was powered by the I4 Mazda F engines.

The US market made use of the F2 2.2 L engine, with the base engine produced 110 hp (82 kW), but a 145 hp (108 kW) turbocharged version was available. European and Japanese market versions were shipped with either the F8 1.8 L, FE 2.0 L or FE-DOHC 2.0 L DOHC engines.

The MX-6 was produced with two transmission options, a 5-speed manual transmission or a 4-speed automatic with overdrive. The MX-6 was also known to be a very reliable car, mechanically.

This generation was available in several trim levels, which differ depending on the market the vehicle was sold in. In the United States, the MX-6 was available in DX, LX, LE, and GT trim levels:

DX was the "bare bones" model, offering the base 120 hp (89 kW)/130 lb·ft (176 N·m) F2 2.2 L engine and few options, but most MX-6s sold in the U.S. were equipped with air conditioning.
LX added power windows, power locks, and power mirrors, as well as an optional electric moonroof.
LE was a rare "Leather Edition" model that was the same as the LX, but included leather seating surfaces and a leather wrapped shift knob on manual transmission-equipped vehicles.
GT included all options from the LX, but also stepped up to the F2T 2.2L turbocharged, intercooled engine, which put out 145 hp (108 kW) and 190 lb·ft (258 N·m) of torque delivering a significant performance boost. It also had 4 wheel disc brakes with ABS as optional, and 3 way electronically adjustable suspension, dubbed AAS.

In 1989, Mazda offered a special four wheel steering (commonly abbrieviated 4WS) option on MX-6 GTs destined for the U.S. This system consisted of an electronically controlled rear steering rack that turned the rear wheels opposite to the fronts at low speeds to improve cornering, and turned the rear wheels with the fronts at high speeds to improve highway lane change maneuvering. This option was available through all years for GT models in other markets.

European spec vehicles shipped as the 626 Coupe and commonly received either the 1.8 L SOHC F8 or 2.0 L SOHC FE engine in GLX models, or the 2.0 L FE-DOHC engine in their GT models. 4WS was a common option for European 626 Coupes. Australian vehicles were almost always equipped with the 2.2 L turbocharged F2T engine as the US models, as well as 4WS. They also carried the MX6 name of the American models.
Asian spec vehicles were shipped as the Capella C2 and were available in several trims, most notably GT-R (FE-DOHC and 4WS), GT-X (FE-DOHC and AAS) or GT-S (F8 and 4WS or AAS).

New Zealand received vehicles in either European spec or Australian spec, selectable on order. As such, NZ GTs can have either the F2T 2.2 L turbocharged engine or the FE-DOHC 2.0 L DOHC, with optional 4WS.

Second generation (1992-1997)
In 1992 Mazda unveiled the new MX6, commonly referred to as the second generation. It used the new GE platform, shared by the 626 and Ford rebadged cars, the Ford Probe and the Ford Telstar. It was released in three distinct variants worldwide, known as A-spec, E-spec and J-spec, which relates to their destined markets – US, Europe and Japan, respectively.

A-spec
The A-spec variant was for the North American market only. It was built alongside the Ford Probe and Mazda 626 from 1992 as a 1993 model by AutoAlliance International in Flat Rock, Michigan. There were three trim levels available on the A-spec models:

'RS' - Base model, fitted with the FS-DE 2.0 DOHC I4 engine, making 118 hp (88 kW).
'LS' - Luxury model, fitted with the KL-DE 2.5 DOHC V6 engine, making 164 hp (122 kW). It was also equipped with alloy wheels, a low rear spoiler, CD player, foglights and leather or cloth interior.
'LS M-edition' - A special edition based on the LS, including different, all-red tail lights, chrome scuff plates, an indash 3-disk CD stacker, gold alloy wheels (same design as LS), all gold badges, and M-edition embroidered on the front seats and floor mats. M-editions only came in three paint colors: a trim exclusive burgundy , black, and white. All with cream leather interior and special gold pin striping.

In 1995 the second generation MX6 was refreshed with different 5-spoke alloy wheels, twin airbags and emissions changes.Another major change after 1995 was the addition of OBD-II to the car. With this addition the 164 hp (122 kW) was decreased to 160 hp (120 kW) for every year thereafter. Known as the 'GE2', this model ran until 1997. Interesting to note is that unlike the first generation, the second generation MX6 only had one model with a different moniker - the Canadian MX-6 Mystére.

E-spec
Built from 1991 in Japan, for Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Compared to the A-spec, it has different headlights (a two-piece projector setup giving far greater lighting) and taillights, different front and rear bumpers, fog lights, wing-mirrors (power+heated), steering wheel, interior trim and alloys as standard. The side indicator lights were mounted behind the front wheels, and there are no corner bumper lights. It also came with optional air conditioning and leather interior (standard from 96), and the MX6’s main act – the 4WS system (not available in the UK). The engine was the same as the US version (although not limited by lower octane fuels) – the KL-DE 2.5 DOHC V6 engine, again making 164 hp (122 kW) and with the higher octane fuels used in Europe as standard, slightly lower mpg but with greater performance.

In Australia, the MX-6 was released in November 1991. Only one trim was available. Equipped with the KL-DE 2.5 DOHC V6 engine, sunroof, 4WS etc., with the only remaining options being leather and electric seats. September 1994 was the release of the GE2 update model. Like Mazda Australia did with the GD2, there were now two choices – the 4WS all options MX6, or the 2WS version. They both had new wheels, interior trim, and steering wheel, but only the 4WS version got the sunroof, CD player, leather (which actually only became standard in late '96) and the digital climate control. The MX-6 lasted until 1997, with the last few rolling out of dealers in 1998.

J-spec
This version was also released in 1991, and is very similar to the E-spec (as they are built in the same place), but with minor changes. One piece headlights were fitted, with indicators incorporated in the fog light housing, as well as a different rear bumper with smaller registration plate cutout, similar to the A-spec. Almost everything was an option, but the 4WS was available, as well as the digital climate control, electric folding mirrors, larger centre console, and of course, the Mazdaspeed body add-ons – a subtle lip kit with Supra-style high rise rear spoiler.

Engine choice was the KL-ZE 2.5 DOHC V6 making 200 bhp (150 kW), a high compression version of the KL-DE, or the KF-ZE 2.0 DOHC V6 making 159 bhp (119 kW), all of the K series engines in the MX6 were based on the same engine block and included those found in the Ford Probe, Xedos 6 and MX-3 V6 models..

The J-spec MX6s are now quite common around the world, from the UK to Australia and NZ, with the KL-ZE engine conversion alone being popular worldwide.

4WS (Four Wheel Steering)
Used from 1987-1997 on the majority of MX-6s around the world, this was the MX-6s centerpiece.

It was available on both generations, although the North American market only received it for the 1989 model year. South African MX-6s never received 4WS.

According to Mazda, the system provided:

Superior cornering stability
Improved steering responsiveness and precision
High-speed straightline stability
Notable improvement in rapid lane-changing maneuvers
Smaller turning radius and tight-space maneuverability at low vehicle speed range

The system electronically controlled a rear rack that was behind the rear wheels. At low speeds (of up to 35 km/h), the rear wheels would move in the opposite direction to the front wheels, aiding parking and U-turns by lowering the turning circle. Above these speeds, the rear wheels would move in the same direction as the fronts, meaning control during high speed manoeuvres such as lane changes or cornering was improved. Either way, the turning angle of the rear wheels was slight at just five degrees, a measurement Mazda determined to be optimally effective and natural to human sensitivity.

Note:
When the engine is turned off, the rear wheels would straighten up. They would change back to the angle of the front wheels when the engine is restarted. This is caused by the 4WS control unit powering down, and the failsafe system overriding the rear rack.

If the system ever faults, as a failsafe the rear wheels would lock straight to allow the vehicle normal 2WS functionality.

testing

2008-12-10T14:40:00.001-05:00

testing this shit out mann.