Update on the STi

Opposite direction of the sunset.

At lunch a couple weeks ago I noticed a huge door ding in the front driver side fender. Luckily I caught the guy that did it and got his insurance info. His insurance paid to fix the fender. The place I had fix it quoted me about $100 less than what insurance paid to fix it. So I had them put some satin black vinyl over the chrome strip that has bugged me since day one on this car. It bugged me enough I almost bought another car instead of an STI just to avoid the chrome. Unfortunately, it seems nearly every car manufacturer has decided all consumers are either Mexican or 70+ years old and want chrome. Well, I got the car back a couple days ago and while I was sitting here at the computer not doing homework, I noticed the sunset was making some cool lighting and decided it is time for some photos.

Bye bye old man chrome. Wish I had the older STi headlights.

I was shocked how much more I love my car now that the chrome is gone. I knew I hated the chrome. Always have. But I have a renewed excitement for driving it and modifying it now. Prior to the fender dent I was very meh on the car. Nothing about it excited me anymore. Now all of a sudden it is a fun car again. And now that I have my coilovers for it, I will start to make it even better to drive. Crazy how sometimes it is the little details that make all the difference.

Sunset over the house

And as further proof of my lack of excitement prior to chrome removal, look how many pictures of the Subaru I have posted prior to this post. I bet I have more pictures in this post than all other combined. Yet the wife’s Mazda and my old Mazda and even my old 350Z had a significant number of picture posts dedicated to them. Anyway. Back to the eye candy. Man, this sunset was cool.

Into the sunset

More Great Dane puppy pictures

Not going to say much. It is obvious how adorable they are. They began to open their eyes at 10 days for Boba Fett and 11 for Han Solo. And last night at day 13 they walked for the first time. This typically involved walking about 4 step then plopping their rear down. Han Solo could walk a little further since he doesn’t have quite the girth to carry around. They still are making cute puppy grunting noises and doing a lot of sleeping and eating.

Now onto the pictures, sorry about the quality. On-board flash is not so awesome, and they wiggle around too much to not use a flash:

Puppies!!!

The morning of October 21st, Heidi was acting a little lethargic. We figured puppies must be coming early. They did not come that day. So I figured she is due Thursday, so I better get a webcam setup as I had a seminar I couldn’t miss. So I downloaded icam. It is an app for smartphones that allows you to check in on your webcam and lets you stream it or have it motion activated and allows up to four cameras to run at the same time. So we set up 1 camera looking over Heidi and I went to my seminar. Crushing Circuit Operation and Maintenance. Yeah, I know you are jealous…

Anyway, shortly after 8:00 on October 22nd, Heidi had already bailed out of her whelping box. Camera showed nothing. But no sound was being picked up so I figured she just wanted a more comfortable spot to rest for the day. When I made the whelping box, I assumed 24″ tall sides would be enough to discourage her from hopping over the sides while about ready to pop. I was incorrect. Well, about 10:45 I started hearing something on the camera. Still no sign of Heidi. I sent a text to Cara to let her know Hedi was AWOL and that I was hearing noises. So she left work and came home to find 2 little puppies being washed off by Heidi on the loveseat. Gross! Oh well, luckily they are fake leather and clean easily.

4 hours old.

This is Han Solo. He is skinnier than the other puppy, and such a looker. He will definitely be a lady killer. That brindle doesn’t show up well in photos as it is sort of dark inside and they move too much for slow shutter speed so I had to play with flash compensation to even get it this good. But in person, the brindle is more grey than it looks in pictures. And seems to get more grey toward his rear.

Puppy #2 at 4 hours old

And here is Boba Fett. He is more adventurous, always heading out on his own, but then he gets all whiney and starts crying for mommy. He’s already more of an eater than Han Solo. And his coloring is crazy cool. Big Grey patches. So cute.

So after the 4 hours was up, Cara called the vet to see what they thought/recommended. They said it is unheard of for a Great Dane to have just 2 puppies. But they were closing soon so they couldn’t look at her and gave us the number for the 24 hour vet. Well, Heidi was acting fine, other than not wanting to eat or drink, but she seemed happy to have babies to take care of and would get up and go outside fine, provided we stole her babies. So we figured we would wait until morning to see if anymore came out and decide what to do with her.

Sleeping on mommy’s paw

In the morning, Heidi was acting even better, so we just setup the webcam so I could monitor her from afar. Silly girl was supposed to wait until this 3 day seminar was over. Well, everything on camera was fine all day. When Cara came home she took Heidi and the puppies to the vet to get checked on and dew claws removed. Everything checked out. No more puppies. So yes, we have a Great Dane that had just 2 puppies. We were totally expecting 6-8, but no. And yes, I know we could have had an x-ray, but the cost and risk didn’t seem worth it. She was going to have what she had and an x-ray wasn’t going to change that.

Only having 2 puppies definitely throws out the plan for new flooring for the house. And we will barely break-even. So don’t care. They are adorable and Heidi is an amazing mom. It’s crazy how much that mothering instinct is programmed into animals. As soon as they were born, she was cleaning them off, directing them toward food, keeping them warm, and protecting them from us. Such a good mommy.

Mommy and babies sleeping

In the pictures from today, the puppies have little blood spots where their dewclaws were. And here are some more gratuitous puppy shots. Because PUPPIES!!!!

Han Solo laying on top of Boba Fett

Han and Boba cheek to cheek

Using mommy’s paw for a pillow again. Such tiny puppies.

Mommy checking on her babies

Boba Fett sleeping like his daddy

Trying to push mommy away. She’s a bit bigger though.

Heidi and Bob Fett cheek to cheek

And of course, it goes without saying, click pics for bigger versions. I can’t wait to get outside pics with them. This indoor lighting is just horrible.

New shots of our expecting girl

Our sweet little Great Dane puppies will be here in two weeks and a day or so. And while Heidi’s milk bags are growing, as is her appetite, she is still looking great.

Still playful

For some reason, this afternoon she was in a mood to roll around in the grass. She’s so sweet. Gave me a good shot of those crazy milk bags though 🙂

 

Rolling around in the grass

And here is just a shot of her smiling at me. She rarely shows off her tongue. I guess it is really a normal size. I always assumed it was tiny since she never uses it, unlike Odie.

Heidi smiling up at me

 

 

Latest JDM Legends meet

Last Thursday, JDM Legends had another one of their “First Thursday” meets. So here is a few pictures of some of the cars that were there. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of one of the coolest cars there as they don’t have pictures of it yet and didn’t want pictures to leak out before they had a chance to get it all wrapped up. As always. click for bigger versions.

The line-up

Up front, you have a CA18DET powered Silvia, a few skylines, a Bluebird (510), a Datsun 410 (I think), A Celica GTV, the Starlet, and the old Datsun shop truck.

Skyline DR31

I think this is a DR31 Skyline GTS. But the cool thing (well, one of them) about this car is the front lip. That little dangly guy up front is powered. So you can flip it up at the push of a button.

Kenmeri Skyline

“Just” a Kenmeri and a Bluebird.

Bluebird front badge

Bluebird rear badge

S13 CA18det Silvia

This car made me sad and happy. Sad because I have been working on my CA18DET S13 all summer and can’t seem to track down a misfire or detonation issue. Happy, because this car was really nice. No dents on it and in great shape. It has a couple bolt-on’s but nothing extreme to make someone wary of buying it. JDM Legends has not decided on a price for this car. But if you want it, I would contact them soon as I hear employees have been lusting on it.

More of the line-up

Datsun 410

This thing was very cool. And I don’t know if I have ever seen a 410 in person before. And if I have, I know it wasn’t this clean. Such a cool little car.

Starlet front end

This is the JDM Legends manager’s (or whatever his title is) Starlet. I have always loved what he did for front bumpers and the oil cooler on this thing.

Celica hood vents

This is one of the vents on the Celica GTV hood. They are really cool cast aluminum pieces. You never see cool styling cues like this on modern cars.

There of course was a bunch of other cars there, but honestly, none of them were really doing it for me other than Brody’s R32 that he brought. But I didn’t really get any good shots of it.

Vintage motorcycle racing at Miller MotorSports Park

The event is called the Bonneville Vintage GP. It provides racing classes for motorcycles from the 1930’s to the 1980’s. I know very little about these bikes and this racing. All I can say is they are slow and loud, but very cool to see regardless of the relatively low speeds they achieve. So rather than try to inform about this event, I will just show you some of my favorite pictures I took with a bit of description for them. Most of the bikes were in terrible locations to get good pictures of them as they were crammed under a small tent. But the ones there to race were easier to capture.

1967 Bultaco

The owner of this was a super nice old guy. He saw me taking pictures of his bike and immediately offered up his bike for the kids to pose on. He says this is a 1967. He had another bike with him that was a conglomeration of parts that resulted in it being classified as a 1971, but looked almost identical to this one.

The 1971 Bultaco

Ducati inspection cover

This was a clear cover over the valve system gearing. The owner told me this cover is a factory piece that Ducati uses to make sure the oiling system is working, then they put a solid cover there before shipping it out. But I was super happy that this guy kept it on, because it looks bad ass. I do regret not using my tripod for this picture as it looks like I was shaking a bit and the photo suffered. I am still posting it though, because Daaaamn I love it!

Newer bikes

These were part of a group of newer bikes that went out during the driver meeting.

Honda cafe racer pit bike

I loved this little bike. It’s made to look like a little cafe racer. It’s a Honda, but really I know nothing else about it.

Nice exhaust

This was another newish bike parked in the pits. But I really liked the exhaust. Nothing crazy, just nicely made.

Driver Meeting

Pretty good size crowd for the driver meeting. And just happened to have some cool bikes gathered around as well.

Old Indian

This was a nice old Indian parked at the driver meeting. I know nothing about it, but it looked loved.

Another old Indian

And another. I assume this one is owned by the same guy as the other old Indian as they have the same number on the plate.

Triumph being pushed into garage

Cool Triumph. No idea of age. He was being pushed into the grand prix garages.

Vincent logo

Pretty self explanatory. I don’t remember the year. But I believe it was ’50’s.

Another Vincent

This Vincent logo was a bit different. Not sure of year range. It was on a 1000 bike. Bu that’s all I know about this bike.

Zoomed out on Egli-Vincent

Shiny BSA Tank

Here is a reflection of a Triumph in the tank of a BSA. Both very cool bikes.

Love this old Ducati

I normally hate chrome. I almost always hate red and gold together. But on this bike it worked. And OMG, it worked so well.

Close up of front hub

Here is just another shot of the Ducati front hub. Again. Love this bike.

Newer Triumphs

A couple newer Triumphs in the parking lot. Just spectator bikes.

Moto Guzzi

Odd color combo on this bike. But definitely an attention getter. Again, just a spectator bike.

Honda CX

Another spectator bike. But damn. I want it. It’s a Honda CX GL500 (maybe 650) They only made these bikes from like 1978 to 1983. The 650 was only 1983. Then the Harley tax killed it. They even made a turbo version of this bike. And they are pretty valuable as they are fairly tough to get in good shape. Nothing like ’30’s bikes or anything. But either way, I love this bike. And the colors are perfect.

Interesting exhaust

No idea what this bike is, but the exhaust was interesting.

Sidecar racing

The sidecars are pretty fun to watch. And the level of commitment from the guys on the sidecar vary quite a bit.

Smooove like butta

This guy was rad. Just chillin’ Draggin ass and checking out the chicks. So funny.

Talk about commitment.

Yeah, this guy was doing this every lap. He was very friendly with the bugs on the track.

Another bug lover

On-track action

More on-track action

Cool to see these super old bikes out getting used.

Spider was hungry

This guy was waiting for us along the path next to the track. He was in the process of eating his latest victim. Not sure what kind of spider he is, but he was large.

Crazy sunset caused by wild fires

Over the mountains to the West of the house, sort of toward the racetrack a couple nights ago was a pretty good size fire. It made the skies go crazy cool colors. So I had to take a picture of the blood red sunset. Of course click to make the picture bigger.

Such cool colors in the sky that night

Lego F1 car complete

Lego Technic 42000

I decided the Man Cave needed some better car décor. So I got a Lego F1 set to put together to hang on the wall. The Lego set number is 42000. And the set is $20 cheaper buying it direct from Lego than it was at Toys R Us. And that was even while Toys R Us was having a Lego sale. And Lego’s price was the normal price.

Lego Technic 42000

The set has 1141 pieces and includes 3 instruction books. All 3 books are for the F1 car even though the kit can also be built as a race truck of some sort. It took me probably 6 hours to put it together. Maybe a bit less. The final car is huge. It’s 22” long and 10” wide. It has push-rod suspension, rack-and-pinion steering connected to both the steering wheel and a little gear on the top of the car. It has a little lever that moves a synchro to lock in either the linear actuator to adjust the rear wing or the two linear actuators that raise the engine cover. It also has a differential on the rear axle. And the crankshaft is tied to the axle. So when the car moves, the pistons move up and down in the engine.

Engine cover raised

I only had 2 issue putting it together. One was the exhaust. One of the pipes on both sides does not show to use the little double sided black connector on one end, just the other. So there is nothing to hold the pipe in place. However, at the end I had a few spares of those, so I used two of them to connect the exhaust. Problem solved. The other issue came near the end. One step calls for two short grey axles and two slightly longer black axles. What I had left was 4 short grey axles. Luckily, the length was not really important, therefore I was able to use the ones I had. Overall, I am very pleased with the kit and think it will make great decoration in my man cave.

From the rear

And I personally think this is my favorite picture of it. In fact, it is my new laptop wallpaper.

Engine wallpaper

Photos from the Formula Drift After Dark event in Las Vegas 2012

I got a call a few days before the event from my friend Erik asking me if I wanted to head to Vegas for the Formula D event. Usually short notice is a no-go thanks to kids, but now that the kids are staying with their mom during school, it gives me a bit more freedom to do fun stuff like this. And man was it fun. I highly recommend attending a Formula D event. I have watched it on TV and even watched demos at places like SEMA. But none of it was near as cool as being there. The noise, the smoke, the carnage, the atmosphere…

I drove down to Vegas with Erik Seo. He is an awesome photographer with a bunch of magazine shoots under his belt. I brought my D3100 with the crappy 18-55 lens, and due to the thick safety fence around the entire course, I was unable to get any good pictures. So really I didn’t even try after a few. Instead I spent my time enjoying the show or being body guard to Erik’s equipment bag. So rather than post pics here I will just send you to Erik’s blog http://www.erikseo.com/blog/2012/10/formula-drift-las-vegas-motor-speedway-after-dark/

BTW, I also picked up an awesome souvenir while there. It’s an HPI E10 Falken Ford Mustang Drift car. And it was signed at the event by Justin Pawlak who is the guy that drives the real one and is currently sitting in 4th place going into the final event of the year.

Datsun 510 at Miller Motorsports

Just a quick photo post here. This is my friend’s Datsun 510. He is one of the guys I share a garage with out at Miller Motorsports. He wanted me to take a couple quick shots of it on cantilevered slicks. Silly car with silly tires 🙂

Datsun 510 at Miller Motorsports