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.

This weekend we spent two solid days at the shop. The exhaust manifold has been wrapped down to the catalytic converter with heat wrap. I’ve shielded some of the heat venting directly into the underside of the intake stream. Hopefully my under-hood temps will go down.

Along with adding a K&N filter I replaced the 1996 oxygen sensors. 22mm wrench + 400ft/lbs of force = easy off. Plus a host of other things on the to-do list got done. We mocked up the carbon fiber co-driver pod. This will house the rally computer, oil and water gauges, and possibly a small fuse panel. I mounted the kill switch on a sturdy bracket where the radio was. I’m going to use a carbon fiber plate to make it look much more professional. *bling **cough

While I’ve been under the car, Christine took the time to vacuum out the interior, the seats, and all the dry lake bed we brought home with us from Jean, NV. This ‘moon dust’ goes right through the shop vac, and leaves a nasty mess when wet. I can actually see that the inside of the trunk is indeed ‘red’ not ‘beige’.

I have random garage pictures here.

I actually thought a lot more then 3 years had passed since I picked up the Dodge Neon for $1400. I found and posted some of the first pictures of her and the head gasket we fixed on May 10th, 2002. This project has outlasted most marriages! Beginnings gallery.

We dropped the Neon off at the garage this weekend and took a lot of hardware and tools back up there to work on the car over the next month. We got started quickly by checking off a few of the outstanding items on the list.

I switched the oil pan over to the steel one while Christine scraped the goo from stickers and tint off the windows. Then I managed to get the parking brake adjusted (and tested ). We finished off Saturday by flushing the coolant and filling the system with water and ‘water wetter’. Then we performed a quick oil change on the Malibu and headed home without the Neon. It’s nice to be able to work on larger projects and not worry about having it back together in time to go home. I can drop the exhaust and just leave it there. With day trips I would always worry about biting off more then I could chew.

Earlier on Saturday we made a good find at our local PepBoys. They had Quick Shade portable shelters on sale for $89. All metal construction, 10X10, and as beefy as any of the $300 ones I’ve seen. Here’s what Amazon is selling them for, along with the only on-line description I could find. I think it was a pretty good deal. We got all of our neighbors attention when we set it up in the common.

I just made a rather large parts order. You can follow along by seeing what I plucked off the list.

One of the things I’m most excited about is the Brantz rally computer (tripmeter). We’ve heard nothing but good things about them and Christine is excited to get one in the car. I never thought I would be showered with affection by saying “… and I’ll wire the remote to a foot switch so you can make easy resets.” “OMG You can make it a foot switch?!” This response can be explained after you understand that she used a “Terror” computer at the rally school. Hunched over the buttons – hard to see – hard to understand.

With absolutely no shock to me at all, the rally car didn’t pass the CA smog test. The car has the original O2 sensors and the CAT has hit the ground on a number of occasions. Did I mention she’s on engine #2… At least the CE light wasn’t on and it *gasp PASSED a visual inspection. So, some fresh BOSCH sensors are on the way and I might drag a midpipe home with me on our next trip to the eco-yard.

The full report: We headed up to Lancaster on Friday afternoon. Traffic was light and we made good time. It’s only about 1.5 hours with a good average speed from Irvine. We made the decision to take the Chevy, as it’s a highway cruiser and less conspicuous then a red and white Neon with out of state plates – that when pulled over is NOT (technically) in the rally. Seeing about 15 LA cruisers in various places around rally campus and stage roads confirmed this.

They canceled the only stage that had forest spectator viewing on it. This stinks, but they made it very well known at rally HQ. Flyers everywhere letting people know that there would be no way to forest spectate the rally. Okay, like I said at Ramada – I can deal with it, as long as I’m informed.

This prompted us to take action and volunteer to work. I figured we’d have to pull some strings, but a quick chat with MaryAnne in the volunteer booth and we were ‘hard carded’ and signed up to work the Magic Mountain stages on Saturday. Christine and I already knew the stage captain Brent from the Ridgecrest Rally School. Going to Ridgecrest has paid heavy dividends for meeting and networking with the people of CRS. It was worth it just to meet all the organizers, tech, support, and some competitors that will be at: Rim, Ramada, Gorman Ridge, etc. It’s a big family that we’re becoming a part of.

We hung out and watched tech and scrutineering. I’ve never seen this aspect of any rally up close and it gave me a lot of information on ‘what to expect’ when we hit tech. Ron Wood was a familiar face that was part of the team doing the thorough tech inspection. I took lots of pictures and made notes on what to watch out for.

The first super special was an ‘exhibition’ run, so most didn’t get too crazy. A lap around the outside and two times off the jump. It got dark and cold quick.

Saturday we met the group up at rally HQ and traveled about 40 miles to our spot on the top of the mountain. We worked a windy, sometimes cold FTC, and then a cold sometimes foggy ATC. The arrival time control is probably one of the harder controls to work at a rally. As you get competitors coming in on the same minute, and you have to re-space them out 1 minute apart again. As well as allow them enough time to get belted up and over to the stage start. Brent grabbed timecards, Christine pulled off the copies and wrote the time down, while I logged each car and calculated new start times. We made a good team. Rick worked as the CRO (competitor relations officer) for the stage and made sure there wasn’t a log-jam coming up to the control. And if there was going to be one, he let us know with time to spare.

Saturday night we were able to catch the last dozen competitors on the super special stage. I must say the over/under bridge kicks ass! This was a cool super special to watch. Although we were bummed about the spectator situation, we got involved and got some great experience for when we run the Rim of the World Rally.

Rim of the World Rally Pictures