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Thread: The Semi-Unofficial Pistol-Forum Car geek, gearhead, hot rodder, and vehicle thread

  1. #11
    @RevolverRob

    My daily runabout is currently a 2011 Mazda2. It also has a Corksport rear torsion bar and some sticky tires. Like you said, shockingly quick on twisty roads, once you eventually get up to speed.

    If Mazda, or now Toyota, would sell one with the 2.0l from Mazda's lineup it would be a great car.

  2. #12
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by littlejerry View Post
    @RevolverRob

    My daily runabout is currently a 2011 Mazda2. It also has a Corksport rear torsion bar and some sticky tires. Like you said, shockingly quick on twisty roads, once you eventually get up to speed.

    If Mazda, or now Toyota, would sell one with the 2.0l from Mazda's lineup it would be a great car.
    With the Corksport rear torsion bar, it's amazing how neutral the chassis becomes. It's a little noodley in stock form (especially at highway speeds). But man, bolt in a little more tension and it just comes alive. For awhile, I ran Corksport's full adjustable shocks and struts with lowering springs. But it's too rough for Chicago-area roads. So, I backed back out to the stock springs and went with the Koni ST.Rs, which gives more body roll, but is very predictable. For a front wheel drive car, I rarely get understeer, unless I end up in a tight set of switchbacks or tight hairpins on an autocross course.

    The chassis of the 2 is in fact, better, in my opinion, than the 3-series cars, including the MS3. My MS3 was very quick and turned pretty well, but had a lot of understeer from the word go, and unpredictable bouts of snap oversteer. If you chuck the MS3 correctly, you can induce the oversteer, but it's hardly easy to do. Whereas, I can feel the progression of the 2, almost regardless of tire under the car, to know exactly how far it will go. We bought the car in 2012, in 7 years I've only spun it once on an autocross course and that was early on. It's really a great car.

    My biggest complaint (besides wanting a bit more HP) is the stock brakes do not inspire confidence. This was pretty quickly rectified with a set of Centric rotors and and Porterfield R4-S compound pads. I tried the Corksport pads, which have great bite when warm, but they take a long time to warm up for Chicago winters, when my wife nearly crashed it due to cold pads, I was forced to swap over to the Porterfields. But I'm very happy with them.

  3. #13
    Site Supporter OlongJohnson's Avatar
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    Another idea that makes my wrench hand tingle like a recurring herpes outbreak is the SW20. I'm 6'4", and I know people an inch taller than me fit in them just fine. (The same was true of the AW11 and Spyder. And the 240Z. But not any Miata...) That makes them the smallest, lightest car that came with a drivetrain that can survive making real power without re-engineering the most expensive hard parts. Also, the smallest, lightest car that wouldn't be called a "hairdresser's car" in the UK. I go back and forth between thinking about building proper manifolds and electronics for the 3S and just throwing in a K series and five-speed (K plus six-speed is too wide to fit between the rails). The fact that someone in TX was selling a '93 with a solid roof and I didn't buy it within the last year is good evidence that this is another set of problems I know better than to embark upon.

    Yet another bad idea is a turbectomized FD. The only thing wrong with those cars is the turbo. The madness of crowds for the last 15 years or so has been to put an LS in everything, especially FDs. But if you realize you're a broke dumbass and apply the KISS principle, there's another way. Ditch the turbo, leave everything else. A turbo rotary is an unreliable, fragile mess that is spectacular until it suddenly goes silent. Again. Just like the last time and the time before. A reasonably ported NA rotary makes good power and is nearly indestructible. Take the turbo off a no-sunroof FD, and you'd have possibly the most reliable, lowest-maintenance, awesome handling track car that's ever been. Maybe get a pro built and tuned REW-Renesis hybrid, or whatever the better mousetrap is. You'd' lose a bunch of weight off the front end. Instead of heat problems, you'd have a very robust cooling system relative to the requirements. The brakes would be plenty big enough, but there are solid upgrades available if you wanted, and intermediate options if you are a weirdo whose creativity is inspired by brakes. (Just talking about myself here...) You wouldn't have to get radical with wheels and tires, but you could if you wanted. Clutch, transmission, differential would all be bomb proof and last forever. It would be the car that most people who build turbo Miatas are trying to build. And it would look like sex, because it's an FD. Unfortunately, the popularity of money pit LS swaps has driven the price of an FD with a(nother) blown apex seal, once a dime a dozen, way too high.

    And then there's this: http://brcracing.ca/
    Last edited by OlongJohnson; 12-08-2019 at 01:14 PM.
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    Not another dime.

  4. #14
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
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    I have been casually looking for a fairly good condition FD with a blown motor for almost exactly that kind of project, OJ. Swap in a street-ported 13B, paint it Celestial Blue Mica (making sense yet?) and do that beautifully understated Mazdaspeed body kit. Tune the suspension, I doubt the brakes need much more than stainless brake lines and a good street/autocross pad. Shod it with some 18" Michelin PS4S and call it a day.

    Alternatively, a good condition FD that is running a stock 13B-REW might be better. For starters, it fits right into stock class categories for SoloII making classing easier. Of course the solenoid/vacuum actuator system on the FD is a nightmare, but it seems like silicone hoses and careful inspection can resolve most of that. It seems folks have basically realized that fuel additives are what is necessary to keep the apex seals properly lubricated and keep stock engines running. Regardless, you're driving a rotary, you know at some point it will be broken. Only a matter of when.

    I keep wondering if some kind of teflon coating, like NP3 on the rotor housings wouldn't improve the durability and lifespan of rotaries. I mean, if lubrication is one of the main demise factors in apex seals, wouldn't a teflon-like coating allow the seals to glide more easily over the ports and result in less wear? Wouldn't also a coating prevent build-up in general, allowing longer life? I can't be the only person to think of this. I've seen ceramic coatings, but not a lot of teflon-type applications.

  5. #15
    Banned
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    holding the head of Perseus in my support hand
    I appreciate the tag.

    I’m kind of, I have mainly achieved my ambitions with racing, and the two competition cars I own are what I want. I don’t lust after others. I’ve raced Autocross, licensed wheel to wheel, various kinds of crapcan racing, and hillclimb. My subaru sti is a very early 04 that I bought brand new, special ordered, have competed with since new, and she and I have two National autocross championships and a lot of other wins and and some firsts that will always belong to us. She is prepared to scca street touring rules. And my other car is an 86 bmw e30, caged and gutted, which was a wheel to wheel car in a spec series and which I eventually put a small block ford and tremec in mainly for hillclimb. I’ve set some records with that car which have held so far as I’ve shifted focus to shooting, but I could see contesting them again as needed.

    The unmet and kind of inchoate aspiration in the bmw would be an autocross national title with her, too, but she’s in a crazy spendy class in that discipline and I’m not sure I want to undergo the expense of national competition and development and still be the budget car in the class by several orders of magnitude.

    I will always love cars, but my days of dreaming about projects that don’t have a place in competition or projects that won’t ever get built were over long long ago for me. For me, competition has always been the test. I’ve got two awesome cars a few feet from me in my garage right now, I’m proud of them and what it took to develop them, all the history we share, and they’re ready to battle again any time. That makes me a lucky woman.

    My daily is a 26 year old Volvo turbo wagon which has been in my family since new, that I confess I put springs, koni sports, and baseball bat sized anti roll bars on (and a heftier panhard rod), but his engine and exhaust are bone stock and that’s how I like it. Utility, good handling, and to my eyes, style.
    Last edited by Medusa; 12-08-2019 at 03:08 PM.

  6. #16
    Abducted by Aliens Borderland's Avatar
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    Toyota made some interesting vehicles back in the 80's. I would buy one of these if they were still a thing. I had an 85 SR5 pickup and it was cheap thrills. Turbo 4 cyl.

    Last edited by Borderland; 12-08-2019 at 02:52 PM.
    In the P-F basket of deplorables.

  7. #17
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    Did somebody say cars?


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  8. #18
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
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    We just put the Christmas tree up. I have a box full of Hallmark Christmas ornaments mostly motorcycles and cars. Too many to actually put on our 5' tall fake tree. This year: '68 Oldsmobile Toronado, '57 Ford Ranchero, the original Batmobile, a funky pedal car model of a '64 Lincoln Continental, and a '54 Chevy Lowrider that actually plays "Lowrider" when you press a button on the trunk.

  9. #19
    Site Supporter OlongJohnson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RevolverRob View Post
    ...and a '54 Chevy Lowrider that actually plays "Lowrider" when you press a button on the trunk.

    This one?

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    Not another dime.

  10. #20
    You are neglecting to mention some of the coolest vehicles to ever roam the planet, and they have roamed pretty much everywhere on the planet..

    The Land Cruiser.










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