Just a couple days left to go. The car is as ready as it's going to be, and barring any major last-minute disasters we'll be off to Staten Island for Night 0 on Sunday.
Our decorating didn't go exactly as planned; the temporary paint we used ran after a light shower, manufacturer promises to the contrary notwithstanding. I thought about cleaning it off, but decided to leave it. This way we'll be able to measure our progress in the event photos by how much paint has been rinsed off the car.
That's about it for now. The car has been packed with tools and parts. This won't prevent us from having problems, but simply guarantees that whatever problems we do experience will be obscure and require things we don't have with us.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Brakes are good
As I am on vacation in Vermont, the task of brake repair has fallen entirely to my co-conspirator. He advises that the rear pads and rotors were installed successfully. The rear calipers, however, could not be easily sourced, so we may be using the old ones; they're seemingly functional, and hopefully they will continue to be so. The front pads delivered were apparently incorrect, so back they go. The old ones have a few millimeters of life left, and should be sufficient for the BABE. Fluid was flushed weeks ago, so no problems there.
Need to get moving on the decoration phase....
Need to get moving on the decoration phase....
Monday, May 11, 2009
Oh well, no pictures...
Dead batteries in the camera. Long story short, front brakes are OK, rears are shot. Rotors are crusty, calipers may or may not be working. Everything in the back gets replaced; it's cheap enough. Didn't have enough oil to do the transmission, the sole remaining fluid that we haven't replaced. Other than that things look good. Started to get a list of tools and such together in anticipation of not needing them. Whatever we forget will, of course, become utterly necessary at the least convenient possible moment.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Welcome to the Team Mossy Cap Racing BABE Rally Blog!
This blog will chronicle the misadventures of Team Mossy Cap Racing's sure-to-be-eventful participation in the 2009 BABE Rally. For those not familiar with this particular form of organized lunacy, please check out www.baberally.com
Our chariot of doom for this is a 1993 Nissan Sentra SE-R that is arguably too functional and hosting too few infectious microorganisms to fit in with the assembled horde. We will probably be chastised endlessly for this. We don't care. We paid $500 for it, and it has thus far tormented us with hideous aftermarket alarm wiring that prevented it from starting, had three distinct types of tires which shared as their sole commonality an abject lack of usable tread, and had a driver's seat from a Volkswagen Jetta held in by, among other things, a block of wood and a cable lock. And of course, there was the moss-encrusted gas cap that gave our merry band of idiots its moniker. It may not run on three cylinders or be infested with racoons, but don't get the idea we're riding in style.
The exhaust broke at the flex pipe a few weeks ago, so we slapped a piece of pipe in with a couple U-bolts. That held for a couple days before it popped off, at which point we refitted it and added a few ugly tack welds for good measure. It is still rather loud. We may add an old ANSA sport muffler originally mounted to a BMW 2002 for additional obnoxiousness.
We are working on decorating the thing in a sort of pseudo-race/rally car theme. Grassroots Motorsports magazine generously donated a bunch of stickers and door number panels that have been put to good use. A set of big driving lights we had lying around have been bolted on. Paint will be applied, perhaps even with a modicum of attention.
Anyway, that's where things are at the moment. Updates will come as work progresses, along with pictures. We hope to update daily during the event, keeping track of all the hilarious failures as they happen.
Our chariot of doom for this is a 1993 Nissan Sentra SE-R that is arguably too functional and hosting too few infectious microorganisms to fit in with the assembled horde. We will probably be chastised endlessly for this. We don't care. We paid $500 for it, and it has thus far tormented us with hideous aftermarket alarm wiring that prevented it from starting, had three distinct types of tires which shared as their sole commonality an abject lack of usable tread, and had a driver's seat from a Volkswagen Jetta held in by, among other things, a block of wood and a cable lock. And of course, there was the moss-encrusted gas cap that gave our merry band of idiots its moniker. It may not run on three cylinders or be infested with racoons, but don't get the idea we're riding in style.
The exhaust broke at the flex pipe a few weeks ago, so we slapped a piece of pipe in with a couple U-bolts. That held for a couple days before it popped off, at which point we refitted it and added a few ugly tack welds for good measure. It is still rather loud. We may add an old ANSA sport muffler originally mounted to a BMW 2002 for additional obnoxiousness.
We are working on decorating the thing in a sort of pseudo-race/rally car theme. Grassroots Motorsports magazine generously donated a bunch of stickers and door number panels that have been put to good use. A set of big driving lights we had lying around have been bolted on. Paint will be applied, perhaps even with a modicum of attention.
Anyway, that's where things are at the moment. Updates will come as work progresses, along with pictures. We hope to update daily during the event, keeping track of all the hilarious failures as they happen.
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