M3…
I’ve had sloppy shifter in this car for a long time. I finally got the time and energy to try to sort it.
I also had to fix a few other small issues like a loose oil cooler, exhaust leak, missing sideskirt hardware, loose, oil change, right front suspension, and a pollen full engine bay.
I didn’t take many pictures because I was under the car trying to reach things I could barely see.
The shifter is now better but still sloppy. I need to get this pack from Garageistic.
Tired…
My relationship with tire shops is as old as my time playing with cars. I’ve slowly become more independent with modifications and repairs as my skill and tools have grown. The one thing I’ve not become independent with is mounting and balancing tires. I just have never had the space for it. The style of modification I am particular to involves tire stretching which limits the places I can go for the service. The best deals and most flexibility are at small owned shops in the hood.
On the east coast most of these shops are Latin owned, specifically Mexican or Dominican. The relationship between Black folk and Latin folk on this side of the country is interesting. For the most part we get along but in some instances there is a clear seperation, sometimes condescention boardering on bigotry. I was not aware of the latter until after years of patronizing these types of businesses.
In drifting keeping extra wheels makes your life much easier. I like wheels so I started to accumulate many. I noticed as I came back more and more with nicer and nicer things the attitude of the people got colder, Spanish was spoken more in my presence, and the prices increased. So I started to move around and use multiple shops. Sometimes when I would show up I would be ignored, or they would put other customers ahead of me, or even hold my wheels for days. I always paid cash and tipped. Was very respectful and friendly so I was unsure of what was happening.
It got so bad I started to go to friends who worked at dealerships or chains after hours, waiting til a Club Loose day to use the tire machines, or even mounting tires by hand in my living room.
Then I met a black shop owner Collins. We became friends and I used him for all my tires and even some other mechanical things I would normally do myself. Eventuality he closed his shop and moved to Ghana so I was back to square 1.
I moved down south for a job opportunity and was able to start over again. I hoped things would be more relaxed than in Philly. I quickly found the hood and my go to tire shop. But the same things started to happen again, but this time even faster. At this point I had a truck and could take the wheels to the shop and leave the car at home.
I eventually found a shop owned and run by a Japanese guy who was super friendly. He was far but he was great at not scratching wheels and had reasonable prices, and I could text him to find good times to drop off. I started taking him all my wheels. This lasted for a few years then I started to feel a shift in our interactions. I thought maybe it was his personal life or the stress of the shop. But then there was less and less eye contact and small talk. My texts started to go unanswered. I would show up for pickup and find my wheels and tires untouched, wheels stated to get damaged, and of course prices started to go up.
So I started to use a Mexican owned spot about a mile from my house. However my truck was hit by a bus and I had to start driving my cars until it was fixed or replaced. I took the G35 with wheels and tires to be mounted and I saw a major shift in how I was recieved. A LOT of Spanish was spoken around me some, of which I recognized as derogatory and the price doubled. But for having to only travel a mile I was willing to suck it up.
I had taken 3 sets of brand new wheels and tires to the Japanese shop a while back and discovered instead of being balanced, a whole row of weights were just put on one spot of the wheel. The front of the SC was vibrating so bad the tires with less than 80 miles on them had about 3mm of cupping. I could not drive over 80mph.
So this weekend I drove the SC to the tire shop. Big mistake. When I pulled up the workers all stopped and stared but no one came to speak. I took the front bumper off, jacked the car up and put it on jack stands, removed the front wheels and rolled them into the tire shop. I asked only for balancing. They spoke in spanish for about 2 minutes before informing me the cost would be $20 per tire. High I thought but I agreed. I was 4th in line, but the head tech walked past everyone ahead of me to look at my wheels. He studied the back, front, tire size, read the manufacturer labels on the barrells and then rubbed his hands over the tire.
He finally stood up and said “Who tire?”
I hesitated because he knew they were mine. I had never seen anyone else with anything like this in the shop. “Mine I said. “
“These can’t be balanced.” He said barely looking at me. “Too bumpy. “
Confused I looked at the tires. They had such little cupping you could barely see or feel it. I had balanced way worse and driven the tires smooth. I tried to explain to him the tires were brand new and the previous shop had not balanced them properly, but he just got angry and walked away. I was shocked. They had put a 225 on an 11j and balanced it for me with no issue before. This was literally the easiest thing I was asking of them. But I wasn’t going to force them to take my money. Obviously they didn’t want my business. So I took my wheels, put the car back together, and left.
I had met a guy who had just gotten into drifting and was running a corperate lube and tire place, so I decided to try him. I pulled up and saw 4 black guys and one white. They all stopped working just like the Mexican cats did at the last spot. But they came out and got a closer look at the car and spoke and joked around with me. I showed them the front tires and pointed out the cupping and asked if they could balance them. The manager said “Yeah that’s no problem but we can’t get your car in the air. Its too low. I told him I would get the tires off myself. I just need them balanced.
“Oh! Then I won’t even ring you up!”
I took the bumper off again and the techs came and took them from me before I could even roll them in the shop. I asked the guys what they were drinking. Someone shouted Don Julio 1800 and everyone started laughing. I walked next door to the supermarket and bought a few cases of Corona. By the time I got back the wheels were bolted to my car.
I handed the beer to the manager, dapped him and the tech who did my wheels, and thanked everyone. We cracked a few more jokes and put my car together and left.
It seems that with other “minorities” if a black person has more than they think they should or seem to be prospering beyond themselves the relationship sours even if professional.
The car now rides smooth over 100mph.
Heart of the sunrise…
For years I’ve been wanting to make a video to one of my favorite Prog Rock songs by Yes called Heart of the Sunrise. This version of the SC I felt would be worth the video.
I ran the idea by my two homies Dru and Milton who are great with videography. I laid out he shots I planned and sent them the song to listen to and they both saw the vision. We initially spoke in December and planned for April 23.
FFWD to today and we meet up on the early morning before the sun rose and began filming.
Multiple locations and light conditions.
The raw footage looks so promising. Now comes the hard work of editing.
After we wrapped up the last shot we went to Cars and Coffee and met up with my man Ray
He was kind enough to capture stills.
There were some heat at the meet.
Dru test fitting a guys bucket.
From here we went to get food and review footage.
We were gassed. We made a preview of the longer video then split. I’ll link that on a seperate post.
Hashtag Blessed…
They aren’t the greatest slabs and they are far from perfect, but 8 year old me would be proud.
Got the tire rebeaded. There is slight damage to the bead unfortunately but its holding air. I also flipped the tires on the Equips and put them back on the G.
Skid test…
Street session ended with a debeaded tire.
As my phone was dying I called my lady to bring me a wheel and a jack.
She showed up with an unmounted 18″ Kenda. Even if I could mount it by hand and bead it with my hot breath, the wheels on the SC are 19″.
She returned with a rear Equip with a flat tire. So I just limped it home.
Tag…
Finally found a solution better than double sided tape to mount my plate.
I also had to adjust rear toe. The car suddenly started tracking off this morning. Need to do a more through nut and bolt check. Also getting smoke through the trans tunnel. Need to get some freon in the system asap as well.
Time Extended…
Yesterday I took the SC for an extended drive, about 2.5 hours. I found two issues. There a leak at the steering rack. It may be the variable speed solenoid. Then I had some clipping the last few miles home. The power was cutting out every 2 seconds. When I made it home I restarted the car and it went away. Not sure what that was about. No fuses blew.
Test Drive 2
Popped two intercooler pipes and lost one t bolt clamp. After sorting that the breaking up went away and the car feels healthy.
Recap…
Life been lifing. I have been off the internet for a while and its been a pleasure. Doing this for the enjoyment.
I am very happy with how the car is turning out. I still have a short somewhere blowing my tail light and radio fuses, need to wrap the roof, add a few more stickers and graphics, and I am supposed to be getting a GT wing for my spare trunk.
:(
Brake shoes are literally the dumbest invention ever. Putting them together is ridiculously hard and fiddly. Zero pictures of the progress but after 1.5 hours the car has new brakes shoes. These were definitely original to the car. Getting them separated from the car took WD40 and a hammer. The old caliper pins look like the were in the ocean. Even the ebc pads I installed are looking rough. Braking and the hydro gotta improve.
I tried to do some carbon overlay of a few parts. I’m not confident it’s going to come out great but we will see in the morning.
Hopefully they clean up when dry and trimmed.
I dunno…
I did stuff.
Trunk trim, hung the ps lines, welded the broken seatbelt nut, seam sealed the qp, installed the radio, seperated the mounts from the sun visors and installed them in the roof to fix the corners of the headliner sagging, painted the bottom of the qp’s, and fixed the broken ps plug.
Up next is cleaning and welding the new diff, tint if the weather warms up, brake shoes, change and bleed brake fluid, interior back in minus seats, and refiberglassing the door cards.
The intakes should be delivered in 2 more weeks. I’m very hype about this upgrade. There is dyno info showing the increase in tq and power but more importantly, the sound is amazing. Not crazy about the color but…
Some of the last few items to finish the car. Picked up a 4.27 diff to swap in place of the 4.08 in order to make the car more tandem friendly. The rest of the line and some holders. Also a new drier for the AC system.
I lied…
Couldn’t help but put the brakes on. Which is dumb because they have to come back off to fit the shoes when they come. But wouldja look at thayat?? Just look at it…
The Brakes…
All the parts came in except the new shoes. I’m headed out for the weekend so I won’t be able to assemble everything for a few. Rounding the last few corners.
Plastic repair…
I broke my shifter bezel trying to polish it. I also broke my fan shroud. These parts have gotten stupid expensive. So instead of replacing them I’m going to do a carbon overlay.
Started with the shroud.
These staples work amazing. Its just hard to know when you’re at the right depth. This plus the epoxy hopefully makes a strong bond.
Shift bezel was a bit easier.
Carbon overlay tonight.
More..
The Supra calipers came. These were on a national backorder and I didn’t expect them for a good while. The dealership was actually going to cancel my order but the price was so good I asked them to just hold the money till they could fill the order. So when I got a tracking number I was pleasantly surprises and they made it to me in 2 days. I ordered new shoes, rotors, Motul fluid, and pads that will be here mid week. I’ll trim the dust shields and install then.
I finished spraying the trunk. It didn’t come out as great as I would have liked but I wasn’t going to spend as much time on it as I did the engine bay.
I split some hose to protect the lines entering the trunk. I want to find a way to seal off the extra gap I had to make to fit the AN fittings through but in a way I can still remove them if I need to.
I ran the power line through the firewall with the under dash harness and tucked it under the carpet.
Then routed the ps lines above the subframe.
I also cleaned and undercoat the wheel wells. There was overspray EVERYWHERE.
Drivers side rear quartet was replaced badly. Some of the spot welds broke or were missing all together. The trunk filled with rubber dirt and started to rust. So I sanded, cut out the rust, and started a patch job.
The metal I had on hand was too thick so controlling the heat was a pain. It was either too cold to penetrate the patch panel or blew through the factory sheet metal. Needles to say I’ll be skipping a few photos.
This is where I stopped. I got news my sister was in the hospital at this point so concentration was lacking. Praying she turns around.
Trunk Junk…
This trunk was so junky. Rusty and the spare wheel well was all beat and dented from me backing into a bank turn 1 E-town. So I prepped it as best I could and patchwelded some holes. I also cut two holes for the ps lines. I wanted to remove the vents but all the screws were stripped.
While that dried I moved on to the rear wheel well which was full of overspray. Even my coils. I used goof off to scrub them down and sprayed undercoating.
Midnight Purp up next. Supra rear calipers are on their way. My factory ones are done for. The pins are completely corroded and the hydro is sluggish as a result.
#joyofpoo 
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