And if said story contains cultural commentary, anecdotes about technological advances, numerous photos, and perhaps a life lesson or two.

My SNAFU happened this morning. We have family visiting for a week and last night they parked their car in my driveway instead of using the guest parking. I took a quick glance in the rear view mirror and didn't see anything. As I was leaving the garage, I hear a crunch. :( I brushed against the side of their car with mine and messed up my quarter panel. :vash: At least it was the beater miata.

I just found out my 3 needs some new tires :(

After some hardcore the other night. I heard a 'poof' and a 'bang' and a fireball. Oh shit! My car finally blew up. Diagnosing the shit while I drive I'm thinking vacuum leak. Its driving like shit but I get it to a friends house. Its dark we don't see anything wrong, cars not overheated no holes in block no leaking fluids etc...

Still drives like shit but I get it to another friends house. I'm like everything's cool so I'll watch Restrepo. (2 hours later) I go inspect Valerie with better lighting.

1 damn vacuum line! :vash: 3rd time this has happened but I always expect the worst at first.

was installing my new motor mounts and cross threaded the hole in the block. God bless tap and die sets.

As ALWAYS a 30 min project turns into a hour and half ordeal

Only good thing about it is i had removed the radiator, fans, bumper, etc to do my front main seal... now my cam seals need to be replaced and i have a race this friday.

Sorry, the clean up has already occurred, don't have time this afternoon to pontificate a'la Perez, and the only tech improvement is a better SEER rating.

I can sweeten the deal with the oldest child taking the opportunity to move out, without notice, less than 12 hours before I departed for the trip and getting a "dear john" eMail from the girl I was dating while on the trip.

Otherwise, it just falls into the normal "cost of home ownership" category...

- L

Well I have one that has my car in pieces and waiting on parts. With 220k on the clock, I knew the 1.6 was getting close to the end of days, but was trying to hold out for more funds. Well I go in for an interview at a new job and on my way home the water pump bearing decides to let loose while at the same time 2 days before I heard a strange noise coming from the bottom end. So I decide to look for a new engine since rebuilding mine won't be cost effective, found a good deal on a 1.8 and decide to do the swap. I order all my parts from Flyinmiata, then get an email saying the throttle cable bracket is on back order, so now I sit and wait with the car in pieces.

from what i understand, you can modify the old 1.8 bracket to work. Considering your car is already out of commission you may as well get started on the swap just to save time.

I am helping a friend put a 20v 4AG in his AE86 Corolla and the whole thing is a SNAFU. The pulley kit he ordered doesn't appear to line up correctly. Then I screwed up the pilot bearing while installing it, so now I have to remove and replace it. With the new water routing kit installed there is no easy way to attach it to the hoist using 2 points. Hopefully the wiring goes smoothly.

this thread would be better with PICS!

I have the engine out, the 1.8 on the stand and painted ready to go in, need the right side mount. I have even painted the engine bay and done a wire tuck. Just waiting now.

Why does your water neck have a temp sensor on it if its a 1.8l?

Just curious...


NINJA EDIT: Sorry, didnt read before hand.... its 1.8l swap... lolz to my retardedness.

I had an awesome SNAFU last night.

I swapped my Traqmate over from my '99 to my '95 in preparation for Road Atlanta this weekend. I had to unlatch the hardtop (which I never do) to run the antenna from the cabin to the rear deck. I also put in new brake pads, then went out for a test drive to bed the new pads. I must have forgotten to latch the top. I was pulling onto the interstate, probably about 50-60 mph, when the car very suddenly became a convertible! Doh!

I'm surprised it isn't worse than it is. Luckily nobody got hurt either - there was a car behind me that dodged the top (thankfully), but obviously the rear glass will need to be replaced (as well as some fiberglass repair and a repaint). Could have been worse!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_a...s640/photo.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_a...s640/photo.JPG



Looks like I'll be reading up on making a Lexan rear window today.

Youch. Looks like a gaping shark mouth.

Sucks...must have been a terrible feeling when you realized what happened.

Now that sucks! So can you run w/out at HT this weekend?

Yep - SCCA requires either a hard top or roll bar for convertibles, so I should be set with just the roll bar. I've got three hardtops though, so I'll just steal the one off my black '99 for the day. Luckily my stupid mistake won't cost me any track time!

Yikes. Was this the car GRM featured on their site today?

Sure was - kind of a nice surprise after the hardtop fiasco last night. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/grassrootsmotorsports?sk=wall

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_a...s800/photo.PNG

Wow that hardtop story is horrible. I have wanted a hardtop for a long time. I would hate it if that happened. Such a nice color too.

Yesterday I changed out my RMS. I put my trans back in and my friend was putting in the starter. I being lazy and stupid did not unhook my battery before we all started. He accident touched the back of the starter to a metal object and there was a giant spark. We put went ahead and hooked it up. Tried to start and car and it just made a clicking noise. So I killed my starter, on a positive note I already have one on the way to me from Steve@Panic Motorsports.