Flock it!

The first real work that we did on the car was to flock the dashboard. This is done to reduce glare from the dashboard, and allow the driver to focus on the road. It's easy to do when the dash is out.

We started with a kit from Donjer. It worked awesome. You basically paint on some glue over the entire surface, and then you blow on a very fine "dust" of flocking material. When it dries, it feels like suede. The whole process took less than an hour, plus several days curing time.

Dash before...


Dash after... It feels like a Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear.

Searching for parts

Even though the new project came with a lot of stuff, it still needs a lot to be finished.

Some key things that the car needs:
- Intake/Throttle Body
- Intercooler
- Radiator and fans
- Exhaust
- Nuckles/wheel bearings that aren't shot
- Fenders & front bumper cover
- Matching locks & ignition switch

Since the car already needs some bodywork that we have to buy, we decided to change the bodywork so that car looks like a 2007 model, instead of a 2002. This might make it easier to find sponsors to help pay for everything, and the car will be worth more when we're done.

Finding all of these parts can be difficult and expensive. Luckily, we've found a local salvage yard that specializes in Subarus, and we found almost everything we need there. This place is exactly what you think of when you think of a salvage yard- Cars and parts everywhere, and a cat named Boots living in the cars. The owner, John, is super friendly and offers excellent customer service.

Here's a photo of the yard...



2007 model year fenders...


Every rally car needs a wing (and STI taillights)!

This mass of rubber and trim surrounds the doors and windows of the car to keep dust out- kind of important on a rally car. It took Dan two hours to pull all of this crap.

Brakes... This was a lucky find. John had some 2007 WRX brakes, front and back. We already have a set of fronts, but were happy to buy a full set from John- We'll use the ones we have as spares eventually. At the top is another lucky find- A set of dba two-piece brake rotors. We found these at the RalliTek garage sale and got an awesome deal on them. Hopefully, we'll never need another set of brakes!

Pix of new project

Dan and I started racing the RX-7 in 2003. We've had a ton of fun in that car, it's time to try something new.

We bought a rally car-in-progress from a local racer.

The car is a 2002 Subaru WRX. It has a great cage built by Judd Weld (great name for a guy who welds things!). The car comes with a brand new motor, brand new transmission, new brakes, rally seats, rally computer, rally intercom- pretty much everything. But none of it is assembled. It's going to take a lot of work to finish this car.

The car is at RalliTek in Portland, and luckily the owner of RalliTek is interested in helping us finish the car in exchange for some exposure for his business.

We still have to gather many parts for this car, as the shell is very bare. It had been a theft recovery and was completely stripped.

The hope is to have the car finished by the spring of 2010- for the Doo Wops race, which was also our first race in the RX-7.

Future posts will include parts gathering, fabbing, installation, and dirt slinging.

Mt. Hood Rally is here

The Mt Hood Rally is this Saturday, October 18th. This is the only rally that we do that allows 2 pass recce, which means we get to make our own notes from scratch.

Gabe West will be navigating for me this year- the first time he's co-driven at Mt. Hood.

The only other car registered in Group 5 is Charles Buren in his Impreza. We're looking forward to a good battle with Charles, as well as some of the other 2WD folks like Cody Crane in his CRX.

We want to beat the 2WD stage record for the Gilhouley stage, which stands at 6 minutes, 37 seconds (held by Cody). Last year, we ran 6 minutes, 38 seconds. This year, we're only running the stage "up", so it may be more difficult to get the record.

Check out the Mt. Hood website here.

AND, the event should have live scoring updates here: SCORES.

I'll post an update after the rally.

2008 Wild West Video

Here's some video from the Wild West Rally. This was a really tough hairpin on the Skyhawk Stage. On the first running, Dan was on the wrong page in the routebook, and we were a little frazzled because we were a bit rushed at the start line. On the first pass, there's a car in the ditch on the outside of the hairpin- We nearly join him when I can't find reverse and the car rolls forward.

On the second running, we made the turn a bit better!

2008 Wild West

The Wild West Rally was September 27-28, in Pomeroy, Wa.

We had a fun rally! The weather was nearly perfect, and the roads were in great shape.

There were three cars in our class- John Lane in a 1976 Volvo, and Charles Buren in a 1995 Impreza (FWD) rounded out the field. Lane was expected to win, and he did.

Dan drove on Saturday. We were having an excellent rally until Stage 5, when we drove JUST BARELY off the road on a tought uphill hairpin that was covered in deep silt. We got stuck there and lost 15 minutes waiting for Sweep to pull us out. We did finish, 3rd in class and 16/21 overall. Lane took 1st in Group 5, as well as 1st overall. Buren took 2nd place, but was losing a lot of time due to broken power steering.

Saturday, I drove. My goal was to beat Buren. Lane is just too fast. We beat Charles on four of the seven stages and had a 29 second lead after two stages. On the third stage, I nearly blew it. We came into a tough hairpin turn (with spectators!) and almost put the car into the ditch, where Mark Tabor's WRX was. We lost 10 seconds to Charles here. Then, on stage 5, I had a half-spin, losing another 10 seconds. Charles was driving well, especially without power steering. But, there just were not enough stage miles left, and we took 2nd place in class (Lane 1st, Buren 3rd). We also took 8th overall, and were the 3rd fastest two-wheel drive car. Cody Crane in a Group 2 CRX managed 6th overall with an excellent drive. Lane took 1st overall, AGAIN. What a great drive.

We had a blast and had a great service crew in Ron, Bryce, Jessica, and Dave. Luckily, they didn't have too much to do as the car was pretty solid. In fact, the crew had to work more on the van this weekend, which suffered another alternator failure.

Full Results are here: http://www.wildwestrally.org/results.html

Some Youtube video here:(We are the last car in the video - Not our best driving moment...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKXrvZd94JQ



Next race is Mt. Hood rally on October 18th. This is going to be a fun race, since motorcycles will be joining us for the first time. The rally already has 25 cars and 31 bikes on the entry list!! We're looking forward to another good battle with Charles.

John Lane's FAST 500HP Volvo:

The T-Rex RX-7 leaving a dusty legacy...

Charles Buren's sharp looking Impreza:

Olympus Results

So how did we finish up at Olympus? Well, it could have been better!

At the end of the first regional Rally, we held 2nd place in G5, 3rd place among 2WD cars, and were 9th out of 22 overall. Dan took the helm for the 2nd regional rally and things were going well. We had a nice battle with Lou Beck in his Focus and the Zedril's in their Lancer. However, on the second to the last stage, our RX-7's differential failed and we coasted to a stop on stage. We still had a blast and we were still smiling when we pushed the car onto the trailer.

We've since traced the failure to a defective pinion gear in the differential. We're having everything rebuilt and will be ready for the next rally soon.

Some great video of us was put on YouTube by Mike Schmeling. Click here.

In the National Rally, Ken Block won overall.

Here's a photo of the broken pinion gear... note the missing teeth.


Here's a photo of the red Impreza passing us on the side of the road. Look close to see me holding the "OK" sign.


Here's a photo of me placing a triangle to warn oncoming rally cars that we are stopped here.
Here's a photo of me taking the car into a tight, downhill right hand turn.

Travis Pastrana took 2nd place in the National rally...


John Lane took 1st in two-wheel drive in this 500+HP Volvo.