After a couple of weeks off, the whole team got back together (on 1/24/09).  And once again got an amazing amount done.  The only remaining things are some "necessary" safety modifications.  You know like a roll cage.  Which I am sure will be a snap.  Well maybe not a snap, but some bolts with a little drilling into the car.  And we need to put in the kill switch.  I guess in case we need to kill the car, like it is not going to do that on it's own.

At any rate Big Worm took out the entire interior of the car while we where not looking (not looking for like 2 weeks).  Oh and he replaced the long throw stick shifter with a shorter skull head.

 

What we got done...

- Inside of the car is stripped and installed a skull head stick shifter (thanks again Worm for getting this done ahead of time)

- racing seat installed.  We had to get an adjustable one, because some of us are only knee high to a grasshopper.

- radiator hoses replaced

- cylinder compression checked

- drained coolant and replace with race safe coolant

- oil and filter changed

- transmission fluid change

- rear differential fluid changed

- driver side window down (trickier than you might think)

- changed the spark plugs

- power steering fluid 1/2 flushed (this is a work in progress)

 

And I am sure there are several other things that I forgot.   But can you believe after all of that the car still runs, still loud as ever; that reminds me we still need to get a muffler.  And I will leave you with a video of my first lap.

http://qik.com/video/915877

 

Here are some other videos from the day.  And as always you can see all of the videos @ http://qik.com/sshiffman

 

Seat is installed.  I want one of these for my daily drive now...  I hope that we fit with our helmets

http://qik.com/video/915776

 

Rear differential fluid draining.  You can't tell from the video but it was the first time that day that a fluid drain plug did not end up in the drain pan.  I rock so hard...  ha

http://qik.com/video/915757

 

Dirk wanted to check the compression of the engine.  Why you ask? "because the spark plugs where out".  It is a long one so enjoy.

http://qik.com/video/915511

 

Transmission fluid needs to come out...  Wish I had a video of the oil coming out.  that stuff looked like chocolate milk gone bad.

http://qik.com/video/915166

 

Oh wait I do have a video of the oil change.  In case you don't know oil should not be that color.

http://qik.com/video/914747

.

Changing of the coolant fluid.  Yes it should be that color.  And the good news is that Alper and Dirk did get their racing suits ordered if you where wondering.

http://qik.com/video/914701.

Things & Stuff

I don't feel very prolific tonight. So here are some videos. If a picture says a thousand words, these videos at least say tens of words. But all in all a good night of building. Turkish thanks for coming up, I know it is a long drive.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! BIG Productive 1st Build!

All four members of the PBR Team got together this morning to replace the drive shaft (or as one BMW manual called it the propeller shaft). We believed that this was the only part standing between us and a car that would move under it's own power. Worm had to push the beast into his garage, and Flintstones foot power is no way to ride in style.

The first thing that we had to do was take apart the old broken shaft (1/2 of the shaft was still good), and replace the broken side. It being Sunday morning and I was a little slow to getting to Worm's, and hit some bad traffic on the way. So I was a little late getting there and miss the disassembling step, but with a little pounding with a "mullet" it seemed to go back together. "Mullet" you ask? Dirk is German, and English is not his first language. And seeing that my language skills are well, I am an American and we speak English so we don't have to learn other languages; that is a job for people in other countries. At any rate Dirk kept calling the rubber mallet a mullet. I think that he should race in a mullet wig, not enough time before race day for him to grow one.


To get the shaft on we had to jack the car up and put it on four stands. All very safe, I am sure. But it did give us easy access to the car's underside. But four guys under a car might be too many cooks... All very safe.




This shaft thing is hard to install...



A quick run to the auto parts store, and Alper was able to score a power steering belt, and a 16mm wrench needed to tighten up the back shaft bolts. Not sure why or how none of us had a 16mm wrench but we didn't. A 17mm wrench will get you most of the way there but I would not suggest for racing. But with the right sized wrench and little more pounding with the "mullet"... Success!



With the propeller shaft seemingly properly installed, the hopes of the team raised on the idea that we might actually see the Beemer's maiden voyage today. Our thoughts quickly went to, what was the likelyhood that we could stop the car if we got it rolling???? An inspection of the breaks found an abandon home of a snail. Yup that is right, this car's front break disk had a snail shell stuck to it. Did not give me high hopes that the breaks would be in working order.



With most things in "working" order, it was time to get this baby out of the garge, gassed up, and on the road. The first question; who would be the first to drive the car? I mean how much damage could a propeller shaft flying off cause, and what are all these extra bolts for? All very safe, I am sure. And after a bit of discussion, it was decided that Dirk would be the best candidate, because he would be able to recognize by sound what broke on the car's first journey.



But with a newly charged battery, a new drive shaft, and power steering belt installed the car would not fire up. I thought that it sounded like it was not getting gas, the foreigners thought it might not be getting spark. So Dirk took off one of the spark plug wires jammed a screwdriver in the wire where the spark plug should be and laid it on the car. You know to see if sparks would fly. They did fly and gas finally got to the engine and the thing fired up on 5 cylinders. Kill the engine, reattach the spark plug, and it was time for the Beemer's maiden journey.



Now it was time for Alper to take his first lap. The big question in everyone's mind was "Where is reverse?". All a bit nervous on if Alper was going to be able to handle this finely tuned POS, we thought that it would be best if he had Dirk as his navigator. Just like the rally races. After safely pushing him out of the drive way, he did end up finding reverse, and was off.



Worm and I fearing a lack of gas (you heard the car, any guesses on what kind of MPG it gets?), sat out today's trial runs. But I have no worries, as there will be many more opportunities to get some time in behind the wheel before race day.

Next on to flushing the fluids, which with any luck will make the power steering work and other bonuses. Replacing the spark plugs. Taking out the AC fan. Roll Cage. Installing a muffler, which should make the neighbors happy (or at least happier). Replacing the Radiator hose. Rubber boots for the steering rack. The list goes on and on. All very safe, I am sure. Until next time drive safe and buckle up.

Announcing Prison Break Racing

A lot can happen in a week. We have a team name "Prison Break Racing". And a PBR beer stylized logo. Get it...

And more importantly. We have been accepted to race in the
HOUSTON GATOR-O-RAMA (2009)
Date: February 28-March 1, 2009
Track: MSR Houston, Angleton TX - The Mercedes-Benz of Sugar Land Road Course (Houston), Angleton TX; 1.3-mile road course (North Track)

Here is what the track looks like from above


Now we just need to get our butts in gear, and make the beemer go fast!

There is Hope

And to help prove the very basic marketing theory on Sex Sells I present the following. And because I was so kindly warned, I will pass along the warning the links are NSFW. That is unless your work environment is cool with that Hooter Calendar you so desperately want to hang in your cube.

Arizona why are you so far away from me...









[It is on CBS news so it has to be news. Right?]
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4632991n

[Flickr Pics]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mountainbikeray/sets/72157600078474218/

[And the "Restaurant's" web site]
http://www.heartattackgrill.com/

Want more? Do your own googling...

What is in a name?

Why is it that regardless of how complicated or simple a new project is, if there is more than one opinion (read person) picking a name is the most difficult and arduous process. I guess because this is my first blog entry I should give a little background on my "new" project. I say new because I have been part of a team of 3 other guys that is planning, no trying, no, will be entering in the 24 Hours of LeMons race.

http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/ - "Each LeMons race is for cars purchased, fixed up, and track-prepped for a total of 500 dollars or less. "

Well on to the subject of the post. So the team has been going back and forth on a team name and concept. And for (let's call it) two months we have been trying to come up with a name, to no avail. I have Pick Name Fatigue, so the other three guys are allegedly getting together today in a couple of hours to pick a name. I have my fingers crossed but we will see as the names have been all over the board (see the names in the hat below).

So here is the amazing thing. We have not been able to pick a name, but we have been able to find, buy, and tow (yeah that's right the car is not even drivable. YET), a 1987 BMW 325i. This should be interesting.

- Introducing the "KILLER new-Bs" - NOW with Rasta flavor!
- International car of mystery (ICM)
- International lime of mystery (ILM)
- International junk of mystery (IJM)
- Trash-Atlantic Invaders
- Trash-Atlantic Bombers
- Trash-Atlantic Virgins
- Trash-Atlantic Newbees
- Trash-Atlantic Death Racers
- Trash-Atlantic Trashers
- Trash-Atlantic Drinkers
- bee movie (yellow black stripes)
- beemoved
- movbee
- bailout beemer
- beem me up
- beezarre
- beezar
- Slow and Sober: Pretty good but I think we would need "Fast and Furious" either struck thru or "Slow and Sober" painted over it.
- Met in Prison - could be funny because we could paint the car "Prison Orange" and all wear black and white stripes
- Geek Squad - could be funny because we could dress up like the best buy guys or whatever. Better if we had bought a bug.
- The Recessions
-TARP funded racing
- Bailout BMW
- Big Money Wasted (BMW)
- Blasphemous Motorized Wreck (BMW)
- Combobulated Racing