AntiVenom7

hokay so.

David, if the only reason you are going carbed is because of cost. you can pick up a late 80's/early 90s
still going to be cheaper than an LT1 or LS1, but at least you get fuel injection. Though an LT1 can be had for less than 1500. i think. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LT1-E...08057517QQrdZ1
that is an auto tranny, but you get the point.

or http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chevy...06802270QQrdZ1

AntiVenom7

eric, i just don't believe it, but i guess it could be. its just when my rear rotor went, you couldn't get **** for power. when my coolant seals went, you got the same power as with good seals, just with less coolant it doesn't feel like you are losing power. stumbling yes, rough idle yes. if you saw sparks under the UIM could be bad coils?

just as a side thought. with the LS1, well you just get power. coils go bad, power. 87octane, power. hot temps, power. you see where i am going with this hahaahah.

AntiVenom7

phil, i was thinking that it would be a hot-*** EVO. though that FD was a very pleasant surprise.

AntiVenom7

glad you enjoyed it, brother. are you telling me you only drive the TII an average of 1200 a year, or just for the deal's gap trip?

phoenix_flame

Yes, the reason for 350 carb'd is cost...and wiring...and fuel pump...and fuel system redo...and I don't have $3000...I don't even have $1000 right now. I'll be working open to close for awhile now JUST so we can get the fb back on the road...with a V-8. After BC took some time to talk with me on options I think going to go with a SBC 350 carb'd and a T-5 tranny to start with then if I have more money down the road I will replace the T-5 with the 56 if it goes bad. And if the motor on it goes...rebuild kit ftw. It's gonna be nice to not have to go to 40 different sites to get all the parts I need for the motor any more, lol.

camocarl

iTrader: (5)

Joey, were you just driving too fast and lost control?

In any case we have a bunch of miata parts in Raleigh. Or if you want to sell the whole car, id be intrested, those 1.8's make great race cars

Josh respond to your PM's! I hate owing people money!!!!

phoenix_flame

I think the extra mileage came from a few trips to maryville...dunno why anyone would drive out there Thanks to everyone that helped us get set up with the FB. The trips to Maryville were a good time, even if they weren't neccessary for all of us to go.

phoenix_flame

And johny, I see you. Yes, I had my driving shoes for deals gap...I even wore them on the way home...in the back seat, lmao.

speedjunkie

iTrader: (3)

Yeah I see where you're going, haha. Doesn't matter what you say Vader, I'm blocking it right now haha. Like I said, I'm gonna run some more Sea Foam through starting before the TB and see what happens. I still have a little bit left in the last can but I might get another one anyway. You'll have to ride again to see what I'm talking about with the engine power.

JKM

In all honesty, I'm not really sure. I wasn't even going that fast, I just lost traction. It probably doesnt' help that I had just installed a new suspension and hadn't ridden it hard yet.

Selling the car is tempting, I wouldn't have to worry about fixing it, but I think I'll just fix what I have since I think the only things I really need to get back on the road are a lower control arm and a new wheel. On the other hand, Miatas are so cheap, it might be cheaper to buy a new one than to fix the body work.

One thing I learned though, the JUGGERNAUT protects its own

AntiVenom7

wiring will be super simple with a carb. IMO carbed is an engine at it's best. fuel/air, combustion, exhaust. (we won't go into the pain of carb jets haha) it would just be nice to have an aluminum block.

on another note, what ever happened to barry? Northstar in an AE...

AntiVenom7

you can't stop the juggernaut! glad you are okay. i might need to get a miata since they are so cheap.

'hey i wrecked it'
'WTH i will just buy another one'

like changing socks

seriously, sorry about the car. glad you are okay. on the mountain it can always be worse. as long as you walk away, it wasn't that bad. i know, i know, easy to say since it wasn't my car, but you know what I mean.

AntiVenom7

beer runs, advance auto, or just for fun?

JKM

Okay, you asked for it. Book to follow, skip if you don't like reading:

As most of you know, I had just installed a new suspension in the Miata. Tokico Illuminas, stock springs, FCM bumpstops. Makes for a great handling great feeling car even on the stiffest settings.

I skipped out of the meet at the dam early since I was in a non-rotary car so I could drive the dragon by myself. The trip was fun but uneventful, I parked it on the other side next to the lake in the gravel and waited for the rest of the rotards. Afterwards, I got in a group to go back to the other side. I took up the rear, since I was still somewhat unfamiliar with the capabilities of the car and didn't want to slow the FD's down, even though I SHOULD be able to take the Dragon just as fast as they can.

Everything was going well, we hadn't even gotten to the hard part of the dragon yet. It is the second or third curve after the lookout, where it curves to the left, goes straight for a few feet, then curves back to the right. When I curved left, I lost traction. I got the nose pointed in the right direction again, but I was still sliding to the left side of the road, and I never regained traction. I went off the bank on the left side, and slammed into the dirt, which was more like a big pile of mulch (thank GOD.) The car was almost vertical, I had to climb out of the passenger side.

The guys behind me stopped to make sure I was okay, and I was fine. The impact was pretty soft, the airbag didn't even go off, and I barely felt anything. They helped me get my wits back, and one of the guys gave me a free ride down to the gas station, where I ran into Perky, Greg, and some of the other RRDI guys. We called the tow truck, and I bummed a ride back to my car.

When I got there, there was ANOTHER accident in the very same spot. A tractor trailer taking the gap...good idea. No one was hurt, the cop issued a few tickets (but not to me!) and then the tow truck arrived to haul the car out of there. I was going to have him take it to Fontana Village, but he said that it would cost nearly $400 to tow it there, or about $150 to tow it back to their yard. Which is on the Tennessee side, I might add. I hop a ride with the tow driver and get him to drop me off at the first gas station we reach, which is about 50 miles from Fontana Village. Great.

I did have a cell phone signal, and Gary (poor Gary) was the only person in the group that had service, so I called him to see if he could get someone to pick me up. He came and got me, and we got back to Fontana a bit later after freaking everyone out since I had been gone for almost 6 hours at this point.

I hang out for a while and finally just go back to the room. I slept with a guy, but don't tell anyone.

So I wake up in the morning to a call to our phone at 10am. It's my girlfriend-she's in the lobby, and her brother in law has a truck with a flatbed trailer, ready to haul the Miata back. I wasn't expecting that, they had left late last night, stayed at a hotel for a few hours, then came up to Fontana.

I call the towing place, and they said they couldn't get anyone to their shop until about 1:30. Great. To make matters worse, the truck (old ford F150) that Alan had borrowed had a weak, failing engine and I don't think he realized how harsh these roads were. We head to Robbinsville to get some food and come up with a game plan.

I eat three bites of a Big Mac, and Alan decides we should just try to take the truck to the tow shop. Let me restate that: We are taking a failing truck with a flatbed trailer, which doesn't really have enough power to tow a car, and we are going THROUGH THE DRAGON. Yipes.

Well, Alan is quite the driver it seems. We go through the Dragon, and my girlfriend is following in her car. We make it through, get to the wrecker, and get the car. We jack it up and put the donut spare on it (the regular wheel wont' fit without rubbing) and drive it onto the flatbed. I accidentally left the wheel at the wrecker. Oops.

There's no way in hell this truck is going back through the dragon with the added weight of the Miata on it. So we pull out the atlas and try to find a more gentle route around the mountains. We ended up going north and getting on I40 just to the west of Knoxville, and then taking it all the way back home. This is the LOOONG way home. It takes $300 in gas to get that truck back home, but we made it, and all is well.

I went and looked at the Miata today, and the only obviously broken piece is the lower control arm. The upper arm, the shock, subframe, everything else looks peachy. I'll post some pics when I get some time to pull them off the camera and resize them.

AntiVenom7

damn! you slept with a dude?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? i couldnt read the rest of the story after that, I was afraid of where it was going! I didn't want to know exactly what you had to do in order to get the car back home. haha. jk

well again, i am glad you are okay. what an ordeal!

camocarl

iTrader: (5)

hahahah yeah the whole dude thing got to me also.

seamusmurrin17

Glad your alright and all, but...

isn't this sort of thing what the track is for?

Deal's Gap is a public road and a favorite of mine. I really would hate to see it disappear as it were. If their isn't more personal restraint eventually there is going to be an incident or unfortunate circumstance that will result in some really unpleasant "traffic calming" devices.

In the many years I have been riding it I never worried about it because I only saw sport bikes riding WFO and figured how much damage can they do? But, after seeing the sports cars at work on it the story changes.

Again, glad your okay. Hope everyone else had a good time.

Seamus

mrthundercleese

I don't rant often but...
[rant]
Yeah yeah yeah. Sometimes you do things you're not supposed to. It happens. Traffic calming devices will not keep accidents from happening. Hell, people have accidents during normal city driving on roads with no curves. My point is not to advocate driving like a maniac on any public road, but to say that 100K people have already said 'isn't that what the track is for' about the gap. Yes is the answer to your question and everyone who goes to the gap knows the consequences if you screw up. And that's all I got to say about that.[/rant]

A person on a sport bike can do much more damage to themselves than someone in a car. Thank goodness for car seatbelts, otherwise Joey would have been hurt worse than he was. Instead he came out only with a bruised ego and damaged car.

Agent of Chaos

I agree, Well said Thundercleese!

darktritium

I also agree. Seamus, you had mentioned you were going to come to a meet. Don't let this stop you from coming to our meets.

Johny zoom

iTrader: (5)

Posted on 2-25-07

Hey Phil,
It's Johny,
I came up last year with the wife and 2 FC's. I also had all the signs and the banner made for the group last year.

I wont be attending the event this year for a few reasons one of which is safety. With the increased presence of police and the way it has turned into "race course" its only a matter of time before it cost someone a lot of money or even their life. I'm as guilty as almost anyone of speeding through the gap but one pass and I knew it wasn't for me. Then with people bumping each other and a couple spinning out, WTF save it for the track. I'm lucky I live close to VIR and have done several events, with an instructor in the car and learned much about the handling of my FC. A lot of attendees think the gap is a time to test the limits of their car, They will learn the hard way.
Sorry if I offended anyone not my intention.
Good luck with the event


Johny Ligon

I must be psysic!

Joey, David, Christina
I do wish you guys good luck.


Bobby Its different when you just caught up in the moment, but all this was premeditated.

Johny

speedjunkie

iTrader: (3)

OK, am I the only one still watching The Mighty Boosh? This is good stuff people!!

JKM

This is Kristy (Joey's gf)--

When we were making that game plan Joey said 129 was flatter, though it had more turns. When I got out of my car (1999 Contour) on the other side of 129 I said, "Did we just drive the Dragon?" He said, "Yeah." I said, "I drove the Dragon and didn't even get a dang t-shirt!" :0) Don't you love it when someone doesn't give you all the facts?

But seriously, I told him before he left to come back to me in one piece. So atleast he got that part right.

Thanks to all you guys & gals who gave him a hand. I really appreciate it!

(And to calm your fears about the guy in his bed---he really prefers a girl!) :0P

JKM

And...here's some pics!

Agent of Chaos

I watched the full Old Gregg episodes, simply Hilarious, even the ball of funk covered in *****.
Plan on checking out other episodes. Tempted to order a region free DVD player and order the season 1 and 2 DVDs from Amazon UK.

"Ever drink baileys from a shoe?"
'I'm Old Gregg!!"