A few thoughts on the Robbins:

The materials and build quality were good.

The design leaves something to be desired. The last top I installed (a cheapie vinyl top w/ plastic rear window) at least emulated the OEM design in that it has pockets on the front which slipped over the front header bow. This one didn't and required the use of glue.

Also, I got the attached rain rail. Quality on the rain rail was nowhere near OEM, and several of the holes in the semi-hard plastic weren't punched out all the way through. I'm sure it'll work, but it was much harder to align and install than the last top I did, where I re-used the OEM rail.

 

Waiting on my royalty check for use of that phrase
that's kinda sad, cause aren't they like $600?

 

Yes, they are.

I'm not saying that the rain rail it came with was bad. The last top I bought (the cheapie) came with a "rain rail" that was two pieces of flat black plastic stitched together, and it was already cracked when I took it out of the box. This one was a sort of rubbery material which felt like it'll be robust, it just isn't contoured to the body like the OEM piece is.

Only workmanship complaint was the holes I mentioned earlier. Looks like the holes are all die-punched, and a few of them weren't cut all the way. This was annoying when it happened in the areas where there are two layers of rain-rail and two layers of cloth to go through, especially since I didn't notice one of them until the back of the top was almost completely attached to the car.

And, of course, there's some sloppy design in the front. On the OEM top, there are corner pockets at the front which slip over the front header. The Robbins top is just straight cloth, with instructions to fold it over the header and glue it in place. You'd never notice the difference after it's all installed and the rubber trim is over it, but it adds a potential point of failure during the install process, in that if you accidentally drop glue on the top then you're fucked, and you also have to do some work to get everything perfectly aligned the first time with no wrinkles.

I just hope that the new design holds the rear glass in place better than the ones they were selling circa 2006. On that one, my rear window started to come detached from the top after only about 3 years.

 

I was amused that the abatement was started in mid December, scheduled to take about 6 weeks, and is still ongoing. Only 460sq ft and still not finished?

 

Union job?

 

Make sure you have audio.

 

<p>You do know where that audio came from right?</p>

 

Oh yes I do, that's the point.


http://www.mazdaraceway.com/homepage...sports-reunion

Oh yeah, that's what's going on at Laguna Seca this week That would explain why that stupid Lamborghini Aventador revved on me at a stoplight yesterday. Where is 18psi in his Subaru when I need him?

 

Old photo that I forgot to post back when I took it, and happened across recently.

 

Is Ken Block there in his awd 800+hp 65 'stang?

 

That car would make this crowd literally kill themselves.

 

I heard that Ken Block was the best driver of all time.

 

lighting up all 4 michelin pilot super sports

 

I maaaaaaay have revved at him first. And repeatedly. Totally worth it.

 

I'm starting to think that these things are breeding. Every time I turn around, there are more of them.

 

<p>Seriously, just sneak 1 or 2.</p>

 

No allahu akbar no care.

 

Every now and then, I run across a really well-done mashup.

 

First good mashup I'd ever heard was a Nelly song. Found it on myspace, so awhile ago. It was Sweet Home Country Grammar, this is similar, but not the exact version I found.




Edit to add, there is a band that plays on the east coast, if you can find them, called Mashwork Orange. Exactly what it says on the tin, live performances of mashups. Pretty fun.

 

Interestingly, that was the exact video that got me started this morning on what has so far been four solid hours of Youtube going in the background as I lay out the new control room in AutoCAD.