My new friends over at Blitzkrieg Motorsports have completed the final steps in order to get the car logbooked. The halo bars have been tied directly to the main hoop with tube gussets. An additional seatbelt tab was welded on each side. Plus I had the A pillar tied into the cage with two long plates. This brings the cage up to spec. The metal head fire extinguishers will be shipped tomorrow from Safe Drives and I’ll be measuring for the length of the tow hooks I’ll need this weekend.

Over the weekend we explored two junkyards (eco-yards, salvage yards, pick-a-part). We only found 2 Neons at the second yard in Anaheim. I was able to get some calipers, some hoses, a horn, a few interior bits, and pocketfuls of fuses and relays. I had lost the cover over the interior fuse panel as it won’t stay in place now that the cage goes through the dash. The back of that cover contains the primer for the fuses. Without it I’d be guessing what fuses did what. I found one and discovered that I don’t have a power sunroof, but I do have a spare fuse for it. I filled all the empty spots with spares and now I have a nice little paper chart that I have to laminate and stick under the dash.

The big downer came in the California law I discovered over the weekend. Even if I found a car with a full exhaust, etc. They can’t legally sell used catalytic converters. With this law I feel CA has accomplished two things. 1. Black market for catalytic converters. 2. They have kept 0.0002% emissions out of the air. Now instead of not passing smog and getting a used cat that passes the legal requirements for smog. I have to get a NEW cat (at 10 times the price) that lets me pass a smog test at a fraction of a % better then if I had a used cat. Wonderful…

The $30 ‘all you can carry’ yards are not going to be in LA or the OC. They’re going to be 300 miles out in the desert. I think I got a fair deal for $80 - but I could have done better…

We took the co-driver seat and the rear cushion out, as the car goes in for cage work this week. I showed Christine how to use the sandblaster and she cleaned off the rusty seat bracket and the front engine mount. I had that out so that I could replace the leaky oil pan gasket. I added a little black RTV sealant for added effect. No leaks so far. I’m excited that the car is back on the ground, but we still have a lot of work to do.

The co-driver pod, light, and clock are all powered up and fused. I included a special circuit and regulator for the rally computer to keep it running even when I’m cranking the starter. Christine tested her foot switch horn ‘blamph’ last night. Now she can honk at people while I keep my hands on the steering wheel.

We just signed up for the Gorman Ridge Rally on August 20th.
Emails, press releases, sponsors, phone calls, pdf’s, bio’s, maps and more information coming soon. Please check out the volunteer sign up, or just wait for my email / phone call to hound you.

I’m still knee deep in the wiring. Saturday I gutted what was done piecemeal and started from scratch with fresh automotive grade wire. Today I got all of the gauges to light up and all the wire fed through the firewall. I hit a dead end when I tried to find the horn switch wire. I made two educated color guesses and lost. A few more hours with the multi-meter to go.

I just finished wiring the co-driver pod. It came out fantastic. I have pics of the massive kill switch wiring too.

I was looking up prices for the intercom system and came across Subè Sports. I’m about to make a web order when I look at their contact information. “Huntington Beach?!” Their world headquarters are about 15 miles away. Sweet!

Tine and I went on Saturday to to try on suits and pick up a Peltor FMT110 intercom system. We both fell in love with some new Puma shoes. Andreas at Subè Sports showed us the complete line up, including shoes for the ‘co-pilote’. We have a better idea of our suit size. The Puma suits, although very comfy, are ‘tre’expenseev’.

I also took some time to post up the rally tool kit contents
and the volunteer sign up is also ready to be clicked.

After a week of carbon fiber construction, I finished the co-driver pod and the blank plate for the radio. The pod looks awesome, but I’m saving pictures for when it’s all wired up. I used about 8 feet of 10 inch wide carbon fabric and 16 ounces of 3:1 thin epoxy to make 2 flat plates. I then added a second coat of epoxy to make them smooth. The epoxy takes 8 hours to cure, so advance planning is a must. I did 5 seperate epoxy ‘cures’ over the last week.

After seeing how beefy this switch was, I decided that just CF attached to the plastic faceplate was not going to be safe enough to hold it. I built a bracket out of some left over diamond plate. Then drilled and bolted the kill switch where the radio once was. The bracket worked out well as I could recess the switch slightly and cover up the bolts with the CF plate.

The kill switch will get wired with some 4 gauge I picked up at the local Circuit City Road Shop. I have a bunch of wiring to do and I must say that I miss handing that task off to James. The Brantz rally computer, water temp gauge, oil pressure gauge, and kill switch, all need to be connected and tested. This is the fun stuff compared to an engine swap or body work.