Tomm, glad you can get a little time in between weather hits. It is nice to have real heat in a Speedy!
Just finished construction of an oil catch can for the 1.8t tonight. As opposed to the e-bay crap, this uses the full 19mm hose size and splits the tube between the PCV/VC vents and the pressure control valve on the turbo inlet pipe. I know, purchasing the 1/2 NPS tap, drill bits and chunks of aluminum was 2x the cost of a fully built unit, but I had fun on the Atlas lathe.
Roll cage is not in yet as I waited for Morro to be over before getting a firm schedule set with Henry for getting the car up to him for installation. This has not kept me from doing more performance driving though! In honor of the Morro tour, I went out Sunday for a 50 mile jaunt heading SE out of Olympia. Avoided yard work and had a great time!
Found I have a neighbor with a 911 and 3 original 356s in his garage. I gave him a ride in Jessica and he was impressed by both the workmanship (thanks Henry) and the performance saying it was clearly quicker than his 911.
Cheers,
Tomm
Roll cage is not in yet as I waited for Morro to be over before getting a firm schedule set with Henry for getting the car up to him for installation. This has not kept me from doing more performance driving though! In honor of the Morro tour, I went out Sunday for a 50 mile jaunt heading SE out of Olympia. Avoided yard work and had a great time!
Found I have a neighbor with a 911 and 3 original 356s in his garage. I gave him a ride in Jessica and he was impressed by both the workmanship (thanks Henry) and the performance saying it was clearly quicker than his 911.
Cheers,
Tomm
Tommy- It's a beautiful car, and with over 200 hp, it's probably the coolest mechanical thing in the northwest, if not the whole of the US. You picked the best person to build it, and I would have him build one for me too, if I had the cash. What scares me about all of you motorheads (and I have been posting and lurking here since 2000; I have owned these cars since before there was this website) is safety, safety, safety...
The designated specs (almost) never include airbags, collapsible steering columns, roll bar or uniframe passenger compartments, braking systems equal to the HP, crumple zones, and any number of safety features built into the modern cars that we are otherwise accustomed to (and therefore, probably dislike immensely...)
Still, be careful, careful, careful. You're driving a rocket ship, and there ain't much between you, the pavement, and the trees/telephone poles. Sixty years of automotive tort law is what brought us today's vehicles, and we may not like it, but the modern designs are the result of many fatal lessons. While there's a debate about the net safety gains of safety engineering (think "moral hazard" as a financial markets analogy for human behavior), at lawful speeds, it seems clear that there is a net gain from advanced safety designs, which means we have to be very CAREFUL in these cars. Henry's body's are better than a pan, but in a collision with most of the modern cars (to say nothing of trucks), WE lose...
The designated specs (almost) never include airbags, collapsible steering columns, roll bar or uniframe passenger compartments, braking systems equal to the HP, crumple zones, and any number of safety features built into the modern cars that we are otherwise accustomed to (and therefore, probably dislike immensely...)
Still, be careful, careful, careful. You're driving a rocket ship, and there ain't much between you, the pavement, and the trees/telephone poles. Sixty years of automotive tort law is what brought us today's vehicles, and we may not like it, but the modern designs are the result of many fatal lessons. While there's a debate about the net safety gains of safety engineering (think "moral hazard" as a financial markets analogy for human behavior), at lawful speeds, it seems clear that there is a net gain from advanced safety designs, which means we have to be very CAREFUL in these cars. Henry's body's are better than a pan, but in a collision with most of the modern cars (to say nothing of trucks), WE lose...
In that same vein...
IMHO- Safety features (like roll bars, 5-point safety harness, etc.) in a mega-powered plastic car 1/3 the size and 1/4 the weight of 90% of vehicles on the road is sorta like safety features for Sky-Diving...
hmmmm, this safety helmet has a face-guard. That should improve my chances of survival if my chute doesn't open after free-falling 15,000 feet!
oooohhhhh, but what a rush!!
IMHO- Safety features (like roll bars, 5-point safety harness, etc.) in a mega-powered plastic car 1/3 the size and 1/4 the weight of 90% of vehicles on the road is sorta like safety features for Sky-Diving...
hmmmm, this safety helmet has a face-guard. That should improve my chances of survival if my chute doesn't open after free-falling 15,000 feet!
oooohhhhh, but what a rush!!
Scott, you should never get a speedie, you'll give yourself an ulcer. Us old geezers have seen it all and have done it all and no longer care, we just live for the ride.
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Kinda like this, Jim?
I still have mine. Henry built me a sweet Roadster five or six years ago. I had a VS for years before that. The IM is on a second motor, and my wife is still not a fan, but I still love it. But, I do my best to keep a safety margin around the car, and stay aware. It takes a certain mind set to drive these cars, and you can't be shy about it. More than once, the nimbleness of the car has saved the day, but it's always good to keep in mind that it is a 1957 design, esp. when tooling up the power plant, torque and planning other power related features. Tomm is talking about roll bars, and he put in a good braking system, beefed up the suspension, and it sounds to me like he's a careful pilot, and is going for lessons. Still, it's a lot of power on a small & light sled. No lecture here, just a word of caution.
Ah, Scott, so you do have a speedie. Well I can only repeat what Dirty Harry said " A man has to know his limitations". So stay aware, watch out for the tight curves and don't worry about other drivers, they're ogling the car they wish they had.
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Nolan hit one of my thoughts...other people oogling our cars and not watching where the hell they are going. Many a time when noticing other drivers noticing me, I've listened for the squeal of brakes and an impact. Other than that, I drive like I'm on a bike, just a bit more aware of what's happening around me.
Thank God there have been very few incidents here with our cars and I suppose that percentages come into play with regards as to how much we really do drive them as opposed to our daily drivers.
~WB
Thank God there have been very few incidents here with our cars and I suppose that percentages come into play with regards as to how much we really do drive them as opposed to our daily drivers.
~WB
I just got my car back from Henry last weekend after getting my new car punch list sorted out. The major complaints which were really quite minor were all fixed to my satisfaction and the car is performing really well. Because I am not running a racing fuel cell, Henry retrofitted a really cool surge tank below the gas tank and I no longer get dry gas lines in hard corners on 1/4 tank of gas or less. I expect this will be standard on future 1.8t cars from IM unless they do run with a racing cell. IM's solution was very simple and effective. Some engine mount adjustments were done to remove coupled vibrations and transaxle to chassis interference under hard driving conditions. I can't express how smooth the car is now and how happy I am with Henry's work. It was superb before, now it is stunning.
Tomm
Tomm