I absolutely love the look and total sleeper effect of the car Lance.....but I feel like I am driving the piss out of it and it just doesnt have enough tire to keep up with the guys with 315's. Sure it could be the setup, or tons of it could be the driver but man the turn in ability of a 315 is huge in comparison with a 275.

Much appreciated my friend. Glad I was able to be a little bit of a motivation, lord knows I need it here and there.

Been spending the last week or so taking care of a bunch of little things that have been bugging me.

Spent a bunch of time wandering the hoses section to find the perfect pre bent hose to get rid of my kinked one for the vacuum to the booster. Also added on some OEM style crimp hose clamps.

https://i.imgur.com/E26KdH2h.jpg

I also noticed that the barbed connections I previously had on the radiator were not up to the task and were leaking and looked well ****ty.

So I ordered in a few fittings and converted the radiator overflow to a -6 an. Then went to barbed. on the catch can. I am not in love with the way the an fitting looks, as its a little too racerboy but its very functional so Ill let it roll for now.

https://i.imgur.com/jfKCSwyh.jpg

Engine bay has been fully detailed, fluids all replaced, catch can drained and nut and bolt performed all around the car.

https://i.imgur.com/vVISdSRh.jpg

Stickers all removed, car got a full detail, removed lots of rubber and cone marks from the sides of the car. Clay bar, polished some areas and a coat of Griots new Best of Show wax...stuff is amazing if you have never tried it. Wheels got a full cleaning and coat of wax with a few small touch ups as well.

https://i.imgur.com/ZLxLbaKh.jpg

A few weeks back I got an email from K&N offering up a spot at SEMA and the Optima Invitational. I dont feel like I did anything to deserve it but I wasnt about to turn down the opportunity so all this has been in prep for being in Optima Alley all week.

Looking forward to spending the week with some like minded car folks and learning a thing or two from some amazing drivers.

Flew down to Phoenix a few weeks ago and picked up a new daily. 2013 2 door MK6 golf R. 2 owner, 45,000 miles and in damn good shape. Was a wonderful drive home, took every possible backroad and stayed off of the interstate for all but 200 miles out of a 1,300 mile trip.

Aside from the seat sucking the car is wonderful, light, handles great, all wheel drive and some great power.

https://i.imgur.com/78JCnkMh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/gMhlSbqh.jpg

Cheers!!

Sean

Congrats on the invite!

Great choice for a daily driver, I've had a similar platform for two years now and absolutely love it.
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...-6w75bph-L.jpg

DD shootout? :D

Came all the way to Phoenix and didnt holler, that hurts man! 😀

I'll see ya in Vegas though.

Now this sounds like a fun time.....you let me know when I would love to get it out and do some autocross or track day with it and see how it does. Didnt buy it for that but its an awesome driving car.

Sorry man. Flight landed, uber to Dealer, test drive car and I headed out of town to beat rush hour. Didnt work but I made an effort at least =)

I will say for my first trip to Arizona I was shocked by how scenic it is, I would love to go back and check it out sometime. Maybe in the winter for a track weekend.

See you next week my friend!!

Vegas was overwhelming for us. 2 day drive down and 2 day drive home. We walked about 60 miles in the 6 days that we were in Vegas, lots of it for SEMA lots of it from hotel to casino, down the strip and at the racetrack.

I am not sure I need to do SEMA each year, Ill probably take a break for the next year or more. There were so many people there it was insane.

A few of my top pics and fun ones from the show.

https://i.imgur.com/TqLBd5qh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bOk17ceh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/om0lZz7h.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/s1ZZ25Nh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/kTXPfbXh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/DSSQIRfh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/DglQg5eh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uirnGOEh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/yPkpHwxh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ezxcdoTh.jpg

Garage build

https://i.imgur.com/TZ7pGvxh.jpg

The car seemed to be a hit. People loved that it was something different and well built. Each time we were at the car for something or another people would stop and take pics or ask lots of questions.

I think my goal of subtle from the outside and great content on the inside was a success.

We headed out from SEMA Friday even on the Ignited Exit Parade. It was awesome, tons of people but we were exhausted by then.

https://i.imgur.com/p6wFExDh.jpg

OUSCI was pretty rad, lots of cars and spectators on day one for the Auto Cross, which was half autocross and half road course. Run times were just under 60 seconds and the course itself was awesome, first half was a little loose, second half had lots of grip so it took some adjusting to that.

Road Course and Speed stop were Sunday. I did well on speed stop at 18th out of 32. I had a tough time on the Right side and would have done better if I could get that time down more.


https://i.imgur.com/4y6kzRMh.jpg

Saturday Night was Road Rally out to Shelby.

https://i.imgur.com/0i7d4IFh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/wvZOIxLh.jpg

Sunday LSX Magazine grabbed the car with Kristi and went out to take some pics of it for an upcoming feature.

https://i.imgur.com/FGjCGFLh.jpg

And just some random cool shots over the weekend.

https://i.imgur.com/2cOyqZch.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/CicWuogh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/CMNyPWAh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ysBLI5ah.jpg


So that's a wrap.

Lessons learned, the car needs lots more radiator. My fixes worked great in traffic and around town even on the auto cross and speed stop the car stayed cool in sunny 80 degree weather but got hot again on the road course. Temps about 230.

I developed some vibration in the car in Fontana and thought it was tires, but we noticed it all the way over to Shelby and Back and it never improved. Sunday on the Road Course, the vibration got worse on hard right hand turns. I got the car up in the air and looked everything over, possibly a little bit too much pinion backlash but everything else seemed ok. I tightened a couple of loose jamb nuts but no improvement. I only did orientation and 1 road course session so I could get a lap time, but they were not hard or fast laps.

I need lots more camber and lots more front sway bar, as I have gotten better and faster, I have been able to push the car harder and harder and getting more induced chassis roll. This is letting the front roll over onto the edge of the outside front tire on mid sweeping turns and I am getting some shudder and push, also have to scrub a lot more corner speed than necessary.

Ill be upgrading the front struts, bigger sway bar and more camber in the off season.

The car needs more power. Will be doing the BTR cam, valve springs, 1000cc injectors, 2.4 pulley, cnc ported snout and a retune on it in the coming weeks. I would love to do an aluminum 6.2 but its not in the cards right now.

A few other odds and ends, hood vents, front brake cooling ducts, tripple adjustable rear shocks and a rearend checkup will be in order as well.

Overall for a car I built in my garage with mostly junkyard parts I have been pretty impressed with it, not only how it handles, but the beating the car took all summer long. The list of things we have done with this car since it was finished up in April is pretty awesome. Not to mention the people we have met along the way have been awesome. Looking forward to more adventures in 2019.

This is all built around a 200k mile 6.0 and a used 2002 Camaro T56.

Time for more chop chop this winter to get ready for March.

Sean

Very cool update, Sean--thanks for the pics! Can't wait to see what becomes of this thing next year . . .

Was great to see you again and meet Kristi. Every time I went by your car in Optima Alley it had a crowd around it. That says a ton...

Glad you had a great trip and made it home safely. And I hear ya on the once every couple of years being enough deal... I was only there for a bit over two days and I was swearing I'd never go back while on the way home. I've scaled that back a bit now though. :D

Thanks Lance. I could have easily just been there for 2 days and been content. Always good to shoot the **** with you, I was serious about coming down to AZ for a few days. I have to been in Scottsdale for work in January, we should definitely get together then.

Finally unloaded the car from the trailer this weekend and took it for its last spin for the year Saturday afternoon. Beautiful afternoon too.

https://i.imgur.com/nkkeXIYh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PBGsK2vh.jpg

So here we go Sunday morning, not working at a feverish pace or anything I tore the car down. Drained all the fluids, bagged all the hardware and inspected everything.

https://i.imgur.com/MLah3uZh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/YNpXeihh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/yAKGcCTh.jpg

This was about lunchtime. Found a couple of interesting things. The alternator is totally trashed. There is a good 1/8- 3/16" play up and down on the end bearing so it will need to get changed out.

Tore down the Drivers side after lunch and began with removing the rockers and rocker tray and pulled all the plugs.

I ordered all of this stuff from Brian Tooley Racing and everything so far has been awesome, the valve spring compression tool works so good, they have great instructions online as well. These are a dual spring setup and come in a kit with new hardened spring seats and new valve stem seals. I also ordered the valve stem seal installer tool which took all of the guesswork out of the install.

The process is pretty straightforward on these, a couple taps with the hammer to make sure that keeper is loose, thread in the air chuck into the spark plug hole and give it some air to keep the valves closed. Spring compressor to loosen keepers, pull the keepers with a magnet and remove tool, Pop off keeper, spring and pull the seal and spring and reverse the order.

I took my time removing everything to make sure that it all goes back in the right locations.

https://i.imgur.com/MM0U4tDh.jpg

Here you can see I have cylinder 2 done and working my way back.

https://i.imgur.com/LnyO6pjh.jpg

All 4 done and ready for the other side.

https://i.imgur.com/IjpdUQOh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/iHLHWHuh.jpg

I am still shocked at how clean this thing is inside. It had over 200k when I installed it last year and has been beat on all summer long. The van it was in was one of our fleet vans and had the oil changed at regular intervals of 7,500 with synthetic fluids. This is a pretty good testament to me that regular maintenance is key to long vehicle life.

I have been running Mobile 1 and WIX filters since it went in the car and after being in here I see zero reason to change that.

Going to mess around with the other side of the engine this week and see if I can get all of this buttoned up for the cam swap this weekend.

Then I can get onto the blower snout, pulley and injector and figure out what to do for an oil cooler.

Happy Monday,

Sean

Well down the rabbit hole we go BTR V2 trunion upgrade is ordered after reading about bearing failures of the stock stuff with the double valve springs. :oops:

http://www.superstreetonline.com/fea...gli-delicious/

This is finally out. Pretty cool to see this thing in print....although I dont have my actual copy yet.

Sean