Rumor has it that Dave Hunt is coming down to play. 70 ish cars pre registered.....a good weather forecast (75ish deg) brings we NW types out from under our moss covered rocks.

Dr. Gary's got new trick shit on his 914...spending money like a drunken sailor...and, like a drunken sailor, says he's gonna kick this old man's ass.
I gots new big black beanies in the shop but ain't even gonna put them on so he has a chance.

We now have 2 seats in the shitbox ....for instructional purposes. This will be the 2nd test of the 2 speed trans. The course map shows a good spot for testing that.
First gear is good for 55ish mph, 2nd to around 75.....yeehaw!

YOWSA.... I'm gonna try out a "C" first. See where it gits me. Should be good for an extra 10mph? You using an "E" or "F" first?

Hope ya get some video. I'd like to see that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC_epZWbgdM...player_embedded

Gary got me by .06ish.....damn.
Dave's car is in my shop. I hope the T-4 fungus isn't contagious.

My money is on Gary's car to win this years Shoot out as the dark horse if he stays on current path. He is inching every closer to Brit. If day is cold I put money on AX tires over road race slicks. If its warm than the road race slick clad shitbox might have a chance.

Gary, Hint if you have any input to course design make sure there are a series of slow tight turns at the start of the event and then open up the course to take advantage of your power.

Grant, are you feeling OK? You just said some nice things here.......
Shootout will be a blast. We are plannng an evolution school on the Friday, running AX on both Saturday and Sunday. I'm signing up for the school, so much to learn. I took a mini school at our Spring Breakout and dropped almost 2 seconds off my times! Smooth.....
Feels good to beat JP once in awhile. We both are running last year's tires. Love to beat Britain once. I'm working on it. Car just had a suspension overhaul, 22mm front torsion bars, rear Fox shocks, remounted rear sway bar in the trunk for lower ride height. Very balanced feeling so far on both track and ax course.
The car is major league fun!

You have your work cut out for you carrying extra weight compared to that yellow car, but focus on suspension will help. Anything you can do to get a little bit of a HP advantage will help as well. Just make sure to show up to the Shootout on fresh and scrubed A6's. Thats worth a lot of time.

I was very impressed with your car at Marina. Nice to see a street legal car that has stayed within production specs without a lot of hacking mixing up with the sawzall crowd.

Weight is an issue. I'm at 2243 pounds, I think JP said he is at 1750 or so. So i'm giving up quite a bit. The shit box has more rubber than the redracer does as well. I kinda like operating as the underdog, no expectations...then whoa, where did he come from?
Sure looking forward to the shootout this year in Packwood. We are scheduling an evolution driving school for autocross on Friday and running both Saturday and Sunday events. Big, smooth asphalt, kick ass courses. Fresh rubber for sure.

Sounds like your car and my car are very similar. You just have a lot more HP tan I do I think my car is 2250 with me in it at last corner balance. I did remove some stuff but also added some stuff so I think the weight should be the same. Can't wait to run wth you guys this year. It will be fun.

I had a great time at my first autocross! But, sadly, I wasn't very fast; even though I can assure you my heart was racing after each run.

Anyway, so I had fun, and I want to get faster. JP suggested 19mm anti sway bars up front as a good start. He also warned me that I would be sucked in to spending everything on my car.

Bring it on, I say. Bring it on.

I have a basically stock 1973 914 with a 1975 2.0l engine and 44mm Empi carbs. Adjustable Koni's all around, 140# rear springs. Turbo tie rods, mallory electronic distributor. Very shiny, bahia red.

Any opinions on whether 19mm or 21mm anti sway bars are the right choice?

Really just depends on what you want to end up with on your car. Gary and I both have street legal AX cars where JP has an all out AX car. Some have daily drivers that are well prepaired and some have as close to stock as they can.

Set a goal you would like your car to be at. Set a price you want to spend in the end. We can help you figure it out from there and give you a good order in how to do it. If you just take baby steps on some of it you will end up spending thousands more than you want to spend.

21mm hollow bars worked ok for me

JP had a street car longer than he had a race car. I remember the progression.

That's a mighty pretty 914.....too nice to do do any heavy race car mods....tho a 6 cylinder would be good. Not much lean for having no sway bars.

I was pointing at where we are now and where he wants his car to be Does he want his car to be close to what it is, close to Gary's or mine, or close to what you have now

I don't think many are stupid enuff to make a log term plan to end up with a car like mine....I know I didn't....shit happens, ya know? I'ffn I was smart, I'da stopped
while I could still run in SSM (SM2). Prolly wouldn't have been any cheaper in the long run......but would have made a car with wider appeal should I decide to sell.
The problem with both yours & Gary's is they are neither fish nor fowl.....tweeners.

Pick me for being stupid enough. However I could not make a Shit box replica from the Red Neck Racer. That would be stupid. Hence I bought a bucket of bolts, welder and blindfold.

Look out for one mean ass XP car Coming up. Front suspension goes in this weekend.

I understand that a budget and an end game goal would be ideal, but that's rarely how it works. Here's a rough idea of what I am prepared to do over the next 6 months:

Front sway bars - Hollow Tarett's http://www.tarett.com/items/914-products/f...ba22-detail.htm

Rear springs - 200#? Got 100# now. Maybe go right to 225#? Please suggest a source if possible.

Race seat and harness - open to suggestions.

$7K budget for engine rebuild - was thinking Jake's 185 or 210 kit, but I am open to other ideas as well. Obviously this is the big ticket cost item.

I want to keep the car street legal.

Also, wheels and tires go without saying. I like the look of the flared fenders, duh. Is it even reasonable to consider stock fenders and standard wheels?

Okay, for now I would sugest this:

-get your stock brakes working perfectly. You don't nered to do anything there as long as everything works great and you have good pads.

-Tarret bar is perfect. You will likely run it full soft but it will balance out the 225lb springs.

-21mm hollow or 22mm hollow torsion bars are what I would suggest for the front with that but I may be corrected. Get elephant bushings if you can afford it.

-Stay with 7 and don't flare for now. You can run 205 45 r 15s on a stck fendered body and have an advantage over the flared cars. Our flares will hit cones you won't.

Seats are all in how you fit in them.

All parts can be ordered from GPR or PMB performance. Jonathan at GPR will take very good care of you. Eric at PMB is the brake man who will make sure your system is running perfect. Also a great guy who will take good care of you.

Is that without you in the car? My Boxster is down to 2390 lbs now and I havent really started going after weight reduction aggressively. I still have another 100 lbs that will be easy to take out. I would think you could get your car down closer to 2100 and maintain its street appeal. Weight is everything in AX.

From ORPCA AX #2 yesterday. I coned on my fastest run....figures.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdqgERs5P74...player_embedded

Now that looked like a bunch of FUN!

Nice run.

It is fun, by God......you outta try it sometime.

Don't I wish.