rodan

Yeah, Pilot Sport 4S in stock sizes was over $1500... The stock 220TW Goodyear F1s are under $1200/set, and are probably equivalent to RE71s... maybe a bit less outright grip, but probably last longer. And then there's Hoosier R7s, which are availble in stock sizes... $1900/set...

25* here overnight... about a month late for our first freeze, and colder than usual... went straight from high 30s/low 40s to 25*. Brrrr... I put the 'winter' tires back on the NB a couple weeks ago. Today I need to winterize the camper... I'd been putting it off, but now it's time.

Well, more research turned up a new Bridgestone all-season in the stock rear 305/30-20 size. Of course, they don't make it in the front size... They do make it in a 295, just 10mm wider than the stock 285, so this morning I ordered a set of the Bridgstones in 295/30-20 and 305/30-20 from Tire Rack. At the time of my order I got two of the last 4 295s in the country, and 2 of the last 6 of the 305s... I had my local Discount call around yesterday, and TR was the only place that had any. Good news is they were pretty reasonably priced (by comparison, LOL)... under $1k for four tires. My plan is to put them on the stock wheels, and order a second set of wheels for the track, and mount up the stock Goodyears.

As I get older, I find myself less motivated to modify just for the sake of modification... it's all about improving performance for the specified purpose. That was actually part of my calculus when making the decision to jump on this thing. I honestly can't think of anything I would change with the exception of brake pads or wheels/tires, and that would only be to swap in for a trackday. Even then, the stock tire is essentially a 'super 200' like many of the track tires out there, and from what I'm reading, the brakes do fine on track. It really looks like the only 'mod' will be a 2nd set of wheels/tires for the street to save the good stuff for the track.

Yes, all ZL1s do. Except 1LEs, which have spool valve dampers, solid mounted to the chassis. Great for track, not so great for the street.

One of the first things we did with our C6 was ditch the run flats. Huge improvement. I'd rather carry a plug kit and compressor than deal with run flats. And yes, the torque is just silly. What amazes me, though, is how good the suspension works for a car this size/weight. Same with the Gen 3 CTS-Vs. I've been on track with them and they are just blazing fast. Looking forward to getting this beast on the track. There's a track day mid-December, but I don't know if I can get it all together in time to run the Camaro.

We drove by Tire Rack on our trip in September. I like them a lot and have ordered from them often, but usually get my tires from Discount. Between being local, price matching, and the multiple rebates/ zero interest financing they've always been a better deal. Over the last couple of years, TR has managed to wrangle 'exclusive' deals on a lot of performance tires, such that Discount can't even source them. One set of Dunlop tires, Discount actually bought them from TR to sell to me, but they won't do that anymore. I bought my Rivals from TR. Either way, both are good places to deal with.

So, it's not all unicorns and rainbows in ZL1 land... This thing comes with Goodyear F1 Supercar 3 tires. Gumball, 220TW summer only tires. Good news is they're awesome... when it's warm. They can actually be damaged by driving in freezing temps. We live in the AZ mountains, and though winter daytime temps often make it into the 60s, in the mornings it can be in the 20s. Easy, peasy... save the the stock tires for the track, and buy a set of wheels for all-season tires, right? No one makes an all season in the rear 305/30-20 size. I talked to Tire Rack about other options, and it looks like I can get away with Conti ECS... great tire, have them on one of the Miatas. Rear size on backorder... ETA unknown... Michelin P4S are available, but more prone to cracking in cold weather, which is the same risk as the stock Goodyears. My options are drop down 10mm in section width from stock and get ECS, park the car 'till spring or stock size ECS become available, or buy Nitto NT555R in stock sizes. I'm not at all excited about Nittos, but they are cheaper... Grrr.... First world problems, huh?

Warning, serious answer coming... Well, we're DINKs for starters (dual income and no kids). Even so, we're fortunate to be where we are in life, though we've both worked hard to get here. I'm a cheap bastard when it comes to a lot of things, but I'm willing to spend money on the things that make us happy. This car is really more than I would like to have spent, and not something we would have bought new, but the opportunity to buy it basically new at a $10k discount put it just barely in the budget. It will impact our discretionary spending in other areas, slowing down the progress on the Miata, and will eliminate a couple of trackdays, as our /trackday cost will increase, but I'll live with it... Another factor that's important to us is the enjoyment of life. We're closing in on retirement, both in careers where we see people dealing with misery and tragedy on a regular basis. Also, most of my circle of friends are older than I am and I'm watching them giving up what makes them happy as they suffer the infirmities of age and poor health. When I reach that point, I want to be content in having done all the things I wanted to that were realistically in my grasp. I don't want to be the guy that says, "I had a chance to do that once... I wish I had." That kind of thing makes me really sad to see. As a result, I'm not going to retire in a 5000sqft house with a couple mill in the bank, traveling the world. We'll be plenty comfortable, though. And I'll be content with having really enjoyed life while young(er) and healthy. That I do. She even shoots competition with me. Although she has no interest in things like cars & coffee or car shows... nobody's perfect. Seriously, I'm a very fortunate guy, and we are very blessed to be able to enjoy this stuff together.

https://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/bought-camaro-276359.html?p=5845297#post5845297

So, our Mustang didn't last long... LOL Nothing wrong with it, it was a very impressive car, especially for the price. We finally tracked it last month, and even on all-season Michelins it did really well. I started working up lists of the mods that were going to be necessary for our plans of tracking the car a few times a year: some suspension mods, maybe seats, set of wheels and track tires, etc... And then, along comes a huge wrench, thrown directly in the works... Local dealer gets a used ZL1 Camaro on the lot... 2018, 2700 miles. I like it when other people buy cars I like and then immediately trade them in. I like it a LOT. Same way we got our Mustang. It's always nice to let others take that big first depreciation hit! So, long story short, I take the wife over for a test drive. She likes it. A LOT... and it's going to be her DD, after all. Took some hard nosed haggling to get the deal where I wanted it, but it happened... This thing is absolutely bonkers. For those that are not familiar with Camaro terminology, the ZL1 is the top of the food chain currently. 650hp superchared engine out of the Z06 'Vette with the handling chops to back it up. Randy Pobst got it around Willow Springs faster than a GT3 Porsche and a McLeran 570S. This particular car has the A10 trans, and every option except a sunroof, which I wouldn't want anyway. It even has a built in video camera that can overly data from the ecu for trackdays. I had an 11 second Mustang in the early 90's, so fast cars aren't really anything new to me, but the sophistication of cars today is just incredible. This Camaro is totally civilized driving down the road. It's quieter and rides better than the Mustang did, and yet it can rip off a low 11 second quarter (there are vids on YT of these going 10s, stock at some of the east coast miracle tracks). It handles way better than any car this heavy and powerful has a right to. Yesterday I took a friend for a ride down our local mountain road and we both laughed out loud at what this thing is capable of... he owns a GT3, BTW. Can't wait to get it to the track... I'll post up some more pics when I have time to take a few.

Might have to start a new thread...

Pretty good. My NB gets crappy mileage... ~20mpg. One of these days I'll get the time to look into that...

Fortunately, I have a spare NB sitting in the back yard... Got some pics this morning from a Miata Club guy who was out at the track yesterday. He got a couple good ones of the NA on track. Photog even caught my one spin of the day! Last turn coming to start/finish, got in a little hot and lost the rear. Went around 90*. Fortunately, that was about the extent of it. Front wheels never left the pavement...

Great day at the track today! ProAutosports at Arizona Motorsports park. No more leaks in the NA, and took a second out of my best lap time. First time for the Mustang on track. My wife kinda likes it... Considering it's on all-season Michelins, it did really well. I was able to get within 2 seconds of my time in the NA, which says something about power v. grip on this track. The Mustang had a 10+ mph advantage at the end of the straights, but was falling behind in the corners. Oooh, that power, though... It felt really composed, but the stability control doesn't deal all that well with sliding tires. It does have quite a bit of body movement, but as long I was smooth with the inputs it didn't feel out of sorts. Definitely going to need more spring with stickier tires. What really impressed me was my wife got within 2 seconds of my best in the Mustang! I think I'm going to end up building her a car sooner than I planned...

All back together, brakes bled, clutch fluid freshened, no leaks. Just need to fill the coolant.

Master cylinder is back in, with a new, one-piece reservoir and the bracket for the prop valve and 'T' fitting. I managed to re-use the original line to the left front, with some creative bending, saving some time and effort. Everything is still a lot cleaner than the previous mess. I used an Eastwood flaring tool to make the lines. Worked like a champ! Fortunately, I didn't have to uncover the m/c port for the front circuit when I replaced the reservoir, so I should just have to bleed the lines tomorrow.

So, I've been working on the brakes and a couple other things. Trying to be ready for a trackday next weekend. I fabbed up a bracket for the brake prop valve and 'T' fitting for the front lines that will bolt onto the booster with the m/c to keep everything stable and satisfy my OCD. I've also been working on the coolant routing. After doing the re-route and eliminating the heater core, I ended up with a big loop of hose in the system. The hose is unhooked, but you can see it in this photo: The problem is that the stock hard line orientation is the same as the outlet on the back of the head, requiring a 180* turn from the hose. Among the parts I brought home from FM this Summer were a few different coolant pipes that I picked up with the intention of fixing the problem. I sectioned some of the pipes, and welded them on to an extra stock pipe, and came up with this (on top, stock pipe on bottom): Installed: Now it just has to turn a 90*, and I already found an appropriate hose at the local parts store. On to some brake line bending...

So I90 is privately owned in IN? Nice...

Yeah, we had a good time. We both enjoy getting out on the road and seeing the countryside. Tolls through IL, IN and OH were a bitch, though. It wasn't a lot of $$ but it kills me to pay a toll to drive on a federal Interstate... I never had to retreat to the camper... though I thought about it a couple of times... I used to really enjoy touring on my motorcycle, but sleeping on the ground just doesn't cut it anymore. Guess I'm getting old.

Nowhere all that exciting, really. Visiting my family in WI, and my wife's family in PA. Taking the camper allowed us to stay where we wanted, when we wanted.

Wow, can't believe this thread has been idle since July... My Miata has been sitting in the trailer since June, because of other shit going on. Like a little road trip in the camper last month... Last week I brought it home and stuck it in the garage to work on a couple issues so we could make a track day in a couple weeks (I hope). Wilwood brake reservoir split on the joining line, spewing brake fluid around... I've got the m/c out, and a new reservoir, and I'm also going to make some new lines because the mess of adapters and lines to hook up the m/c and prop valve were driving me crazy. Hoping to get it done this weekend if all my parts show up....

Edit, because apparently the image I linked disappeared...

I'm pretty sure the lawyers would have apoplectic fits if any engineer/designer actually had the temerity to suggest that for a production motorcycle. Would be pretty cool for music/GPS on a touring rig, though.

Needs more pic... H-D's customer base is aging out of motorcycling, so they need to do something. I agree, if the bike isn't competetive, image alone isn't going to sell it with a younger clientele. Just the size of the engine compared to the rest of the bike in that pic makes it look cartoonish. The bar in that category is pretty high.