Darned RIMPAC RF interference is making my car remote even more buggy than usual!
(0)Archive for the 'car' Category
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Subaru BRZ was at todays SCCA autocross. I’m sticking pics in here because I can’t seem to link images in the gallery website now.
Saw a Saturn Ion making a turn off Punchbowl by Restaurant Row. There was a pedestrian in the crosswalk, but the Saturn driver invoked the “yield to pedestrians in your lane of traffic” rule by driving in the oncoming lane instead! Sorry, ma’am – that’s not how the law works.
(0)Had a guy in a Ford Harley Davidson edition pickup truck in back of me in Kaka’ako today. At every four-way stop, he ghosted me through the intersection after I stopped, yielded to other traffic, and proceeded, without stopping himself. Even with the traffic with the right of way on the cross streets honking their horns at him, he continued to do this. He knew the law, but intentionally disregarded it.
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I’m gradually moving over the good parts into the rally FX as that is the dedicated race vehicle. I’d swapped the steering wheel last week. This afternoon I decided to swap the short ratio shifter over. This shifter has been with me since the very first FX16, it’s of unknown origin, but I think it’s a TRD made for JDM AE92 Corolla. The key points are that the ball joints match, the rest was made to work. The way this kit works you can see here. The stock shaft is on the left, the short ratio on the right. The main pivot is moved up so the ratio for the fore-aft movement is quickened. The short side stub is for the left-right motion and remains the same length and ratio. To allow for the extra length of shaft below the pivot, an aluminum spacer is used below the mount for the ball joint. This had to be modified with some filing as some of the mounting bolts did not line up.
OK, I try not to go into rants on traffic because it’s pointless and never ending, but I’ll get it all out today, it having been an especially horrid Friday, even though traffic wasn’t that bad. Actually this isn’t about traffic, it’s about idiot drivers. First and foremost, the title of this post. It sure seems people think otherwise though, I had red light runners at two consequtive intersections! My other top peeve that I’m sure I’ve posted before about is, the solution to gridlock is NOT to make your way into the intersection to make sure you don’t have to wait a light cycle since your already in the intersection. Who cares about the traffic backing into the freeway even though the through lane you are blocking is clear for an entire block past you!
Survived this Sunday’s Rally Cross in one piece, although same can’t be said of others! Broken radiator, dropped muffler and overheatage. It turned into an overcast day, but still hot, I’ve got a headache going right now still.
So after the first day of usage of the GoPro Wi-Fi Back I have mixed feelings of it so far. When it works, it’s great, but I seem to be experiencing some struggles. First off was the remote fob battery was almost dead even though I swear I had charged it the day before. Luckily the USB on my car stereo can charge it, although the controls act a little funny when the remote is plugged in, I guess it’s a combination that isn’t expected to be used. The number one problem I’m encountering is loss of wifi connection. The supposed ideal range is 600 feet, I was no where near that far and losing connection. There was a portion in video where you can hear me comment “hello” and pick up the camera before connection was reestablished and the camera turned off. I’m going to have to get in touch with GoPro about this, it seems really bad.
This Saturday the plan was for Scat to cruise over and we’d continue working on the grill area of his sled. The rally FX was still in the garage as it was when I got it towed home. The only thing I had done was pull the CV shafts and put in a spare set scavenged from the carcass FX. I however hadn’t tightened anything down, so before Scat showed up, I torqued everything down to spec. As long as I had it up on stands and half the wheels off, I figured it’d be a good idea to rotate wheels. Charged up the air and hit the lug nuts. 
Odd, one was being slow. The other 3 spun right off. This last one wasn’t. This is the first time my IR impact gun was having problems and I was pretty perplexed.
Dammit! It’s not looking good, all the online Toyota parts sources I’ve checked so far tell me the CV’s are discontinued, none in USA. One guy who brings in OEM JDM parts is going to check if Japan has them, in which case he said it’d take a couple months to get, curses! I could try the junkyards, but the FX16 is a bastard child, the only cross that shares the same shafts is the diesel Corolla. I’ve never seen one of those. I’m not sure if just the ends are shared with any other model, possibly the AW11 MR-2 as it has the same bolt on flange at the transaxle side. Of course that means I need to find some MR-2’s in the junkyard, which isn’t exactly common either now. There is a possibility the next gen AE92 Corolla GT-S shafts might fit, it would be the one piece spindle at the transaxle side instead of the two piece bolt together. If I have to that would be ok, although the two piece is very convenient for servicing, it’s what allows for 20 minute shaft changes.
Sheeze, what to do? The Drive Shaft Shop wants OEM shafts to work with but I’m not sure if the ones I got left are. I don’t see the typical Toyota part # stamped on it, but it kind of looks OEM because the shaft has machined down sections that the aftermarkets don’t seem to bother with. If I can find them in stock, I could go through Toyota, but thats a pretty penny, anywhere from $800 online to $1400 at Toyota Hawaii.