Let's Clear Up Those Headlights

Three lifts and five cars. Let's get to work!

We interrupt my current electrical class (get it, "current" and "electrical") for a day in the shop to work on a few other projects. This was a good chance for all the class members to bring in their own cars and work on some issues and do some real work on real cars. By real people. With real tools and lifts! For Real! For what it's worth, after my current semester I'll still have the upcoming winter term and the fall 2025 term to finish all the automotive classes. After that, who knows. The school offers auto body, diesel, and welding classes too. There's always more to learn. 

On a 2013 VW GTI we checked out a rear window that didn't work all the time, and got to see how the insides of the regulator work. This car also had no coolant temperature reading on the dash. This posed the first question of "what is the problem?" because it might be either the temperature sensor wasn't sensing temperature, or it might be just the gauge in the dash wasn't working! It's like you've got to actually use your brainpower a bit to start addressing problems, kind of like real life! PRO TIP from our textbook, always verify the problem that the customer has. If you can't recreate it, you probably can't fix it. 

So, to cover all our bases we looked up the specs on the sensor in our shop resource and saw that there were 2 of these sensors on this car. One sensor on the output of the radiator, and one closer to the engine and the thermostat. Shoot, we even had a diagram telling us where the sensors were located. No problem! For the first one we just had to remove the air filter, intake hose and, uh, well, (looking all over), the sensor was NOT where the manual said it would be! Fast forward 24 hours, and we figured out that the manual had the wrong photo, because while info was for the Mark V GTI, and not the Mark VI GTI that we had in the shop. Bottom line, sometimes the book is wrong. 

We also did some work on a car that had another issue crop up, because in the middle of working on something with the car up on a lift, it turned out that one of the rear calipers was missing the two bolts that hold the caliper on. Uh, long story short, we had to order two bolts and fix that before we could do anything else. You really don't want someone's car leaving your shop when it's unsafe, even if it came in that way. 

Headlight cleaning supplies. 

Closer to home, the NMS Cayman rolled in and got a headlight cleaning, so the 15 year old plastic headlights now look way better than they did. One fact of life seems to be that plastic headlights get foggy over time as the plastic ages, so the good news is that with various strengths of sandpaper, cleaning with a degreaser, and then say 3 coats of clear coat, you can get these things looking great. I'd worked on these headlights at home with a headlight kit before, but the simple wet-sanding, clean, clear coat method I used this week looks way better.  

Passenger headlight, before picture #1. Looks used, old, foggy. 

I think we started with 600 grit wet sanding, then moved to 1,000 grit wet, and finally 2,000 grit wet. Grit, Grit, Grit. That is a LOT of GRITS! As Vincent LaGuardia Gambino (Joe Pesci) says in the movie My Cousin Vinny: "How do you cook your grits? Do you like them creamy, regular, or al dente?"

A work in progress, starting to look better. 

After wet sanding we cleaned up with a wax and grease remover, then let it dry, and finished with 3 clear coats, letting everything dry in between each coat. 

Driver side light when finished. Not perfect, but much improved. 

Motori Italiani Car Show

An awesome orange Lamborghini Miura. 
The Miura was built from 1966-1973, and as the first mid-engine two-seater basically kicked off the super car world of today. At the time it was the fastest production car and could hit 170mph. The Miura was followed by the Countach, see one below. 

For the second year in a row, I attended this event close to home in Rock Hill, this time on the campus of Winthrop University. There were some of the same cars as last year, and some new ones of course, as well as some unusual or seldom seen cars. Let's check out these Italians!

While the typical US model 308 was a 3.0-liter (ok, really 2.9 so they rounded up in the model's name) V8, in 1980-1981 there was a smaller 2.0L engine version sold in Italy, where taxes were based on engine size! This is one of those, with a turbo. One of only 140 built!

Ferrari Daytona. You need one. 

Ferrari Testarossa. I need one. 

Purple Lamborghini? Don't like it? How about the orange one next to it?

Lamborghini Countach. SPOILER ALERT!

Ferrari Dino. OK, I need one of these too. 

Speaking of the 308, (strike up the Magnum P.I. theme) did you know that early models were made of Vetroresina? Basically, a plastic body. Built from 1975-1977, they only made 808 of this material. 

Nothing like a line of Ferraris!

1969 Iso Grifo. The company lasted from 1965-1974, and this is one of only 330 Series 1's built. 

Seen any 1963 Maserati 3500 GTs lately? Here ya go!
Built from 1957-1964, 2226 were produced. 

Super light!

Track Laps for Hurricane Helene Relief

FIAT 500 Abarth photo-op from an autocross at Darlington years ago. 

If you are anywhere near Darlington SC this Thursday October 10th, why not head down to Darlington Speedway, donate $25 to Hurricane Helene relief, and then drive three laps on the NASCAR track that is TOO TOUGH TO TAME!!

Here's the view on track at Darlington.

I hope you aware of how huge of an area that was impacted by this storm, and how terrible all the damage is in North Carolina, Tennessee, and elsewhere. We'll be heading down to Darlington this Thursday for this charity event, which runs from 5-7PM.  For all the details, here's the website:

    Track Laps Hurricane Helene Relief LINK

I've already donated, and if you want to sign up or donate ahead of time, here's the link: 

    Registration LINK

Proceeds will go to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. 

Red Bull Non-Stock 600 Kickoff!

What's the name of this crazy event again?

After being selected to compete in the Red Bull Non-Stock 600 go-kart race, the NMS (AKA Bunch of Idiots, AKA Max Wiiings 33) squad headed up to Charlotte to attend the opening event kick-off and pick up the shell of the kart. While we had a fun evening and enjoyed the free food (our favorite flavor, "free") as well as a free beer, and got Project K back to the NMS garage, this means that the build-by-November-9th clock is now ticking. We have until November 8th to complete our modifications and decorate our kart to get ready for the race the following day. 

Hey, we got a free kart body!
Hey, we got a free tool kit!
Hey, we got a free screwdriver set!
Hey, we got a free 1/2-inch impact!
Hey, we got a free toolbox with gloves and safety gear!
Thanks to Northern Tools. 

Brian points out the kart shell, all 7.5 feet of it. 

When we arrived at the AvidXchange Music Factory in Charlotte, we knew we were in for a good evening because in addition to our Red Bull event, there was a big concert going on next door! The place was packed for the concert, but it was easy enough for us to get to where we needed to meet up with the Red Bull team. The race on November 9th will be held at this same location, so you can put it on your calendar now! We even got free parking instead of having to pay $45 like the concert folks paid! Thanks Red Bull!

Did I mention the FREE TOOLS?
Thanks to Northern Tools. 

In case you didn't know, Red Bull is kind of a big deal! They sponsor cool sports and adventure events around the world. Oh, and they make a little energy drink called Red Bull too! My main interest in Red Bull is that they own two Formula 1 race teams, and with driver Max Verstappen have won the last 3 championships. Heck, the Formula 1 race held in Austria takes place on the Red Bull Ring track!

You didn't forget the FREE TOOLS, did you?
Tools courtesy of Northern Tools. 

After we checked in, we looked over the karts, the free tools, and grabbed some free food and drinks! As teams arrived the DJ was playing music, and everyone was pretty happy just to be there. During the presentation of rules and teams, we learned that they had received about 53 applications and then narrowed it down to 20 teams to compete. It sounds like they got entries from several different states, so this is not just a Charlotte area thing. Since this is the first year for this event, the Red Bull folks hope to see it grow over time and become another one of their big annual events. 

Let's take this thing home!

The title Non-Stock 600 of course refers to Charlotte being the home of stock car NASCAR racing. While in real racing the 600 would tell you it's a 600-mile race, (like the Coca-Cola 600 held during Memorial Day in Charlotte) in this case it means a 600 second race. Yes, a grueling 10-minute kart race... In a goofy kart... On gravel... In a parking lot. 

The Kart at NMS-North.

On to the Announce Party!

What's an Announce Party?
Well, they had FREE FOOD! 
They had FREE DRINKS!
They had FREE TOOLS!
They had a FREE KART for each team!
They had a DJ!
I'd say that qualifies as a party!

If you've never driven a go-kart, trust me that a 10-minute race will be plenty. Besides, during the race each team has to change drivers once, so that should really mix things up a bit! Each team will have the same chassis, tires, and engine, so we think the actual racing will be very competitive. We've got our pit crew working on analyzing 10 gazillion Monte Carlo simulation pit stop strategies to figure out how to eke out a few more crucial seconds on the other 19 teams. Don't tell anyone, but we just might have Hannah Schmitz, who is the real Red Bull Racing F1 team's Principal Strategy Engineer, on speed-dial. 

Klutch 1/2-inch impact tool set.
Thank you very much!

To give you some more background on what in the wide-wide world of sports this is all about, here's the application we submitted to get accepted into this wacky event:

Please add the team name for your Red Bull Non-Stock 600 entry.

                THE “MAX WIIINGS #33” BUNCH OF IDIOTS (BOI) RACING TEAM

Please share a description of your Red Bull Non-Stock 600 entry.

                 The Max Wiiings #33 Bunch of Idiots (BOI) Racing Team Red Bull Non-Stock 600 Kart is truly a graphic and aerodynamic work of art. The body was developed in an alternate Earth timeline, where it appears that the Red Bull team and designers hit upon the theory that since “Red Bull Gives You Wiiings”, then MORE wiiings is better!

     Based on this assumption, the alternate timeline car does bear a slight resemblance to the Red Bull race car, but it now has more wiiings. As in, a LOT more wiiings! Like let's say 33 wings!! The visual impact of this incredible and all original automotive design combines the slickest graphics package in the Carolinas (North, South, East, West, whatever) with the instantly recognizable ZING of drinking your favorite Red Bull, which results in one titanic face melting engine-powered vehicle. With more wiiings per capita than a flock of flying monkeys, the “MAX WIIINGS #33” is sure to be a fan favorite in this timeline.

Please share a team biography for your Red Bull Non-Stock 600 entry.

The “MAX WIIINGS #33” team is made up of South Carolina residents who have competed in a variety of automotive events. Often driving under the alias “Bunch of Idiots,” the BOIs have a proven record of having fun and being competitive behind the wheel, and even sometimes on the track! Highlights from the current Earth timeline include winning the Lucky Dog race series with a Miata, as well as taking a Class C win in a 24 Hours of Lemons race in their wacky 1970s Dodge Coronet. The team has taken a pledge on a stack of speeding tickets to give 100% to the Red Bull Non-Stock 600.

                The varied skills and strengths of the “MAX WIIINGS #33” BOI team is anchored by the driving prowess of “Big Kyle” Ray-Smith, “Lucky Luke” O’Hara, “Iceman Brian” Nixon, and “Uncle Bob” Nixon.

Toolbox with safety glasses and gloves. 

Oh, and one final thing. Before the actual kart race, each team has to put on a short and hopefully entertaining skit. We're working on that and have a pretty basic outline, so that's just one more thing on the to-do list before getting to drive in the main event. Look for more updates on this story over the next month, including our unveiling of our car's design concept drawings. 

NMS Z Car Stable Grows

Subtitle: Look what followed me home!

NMS-South has been cranking away on the silver Nissan 350Z race car to prepare for Spec Z class racing in 2025, and, well, one thing led to another apparently. As in, one 350Z car led to another 350Z car! Added to the other 350Z in the NMS-stable, (let's do some math, 3 times 350 =...) does this equal a 1050Z? 

Presenting, a white 350Z with automatic transmission.

If you're in the racing business, sometimes you need a little thing called "spare parts" because things happen! Brian had a lead on this white 350Z that the owner didn't want anymore, words were exchanged, money changed hands, and the white 2004 350Z is now hanging out at NMS-South. 

Ready to trailer it home. 

This car has been overheating, so option #1 will be just turning it into spare parts that are still good. Option 2 is to make it a winter project to address the overheating, thereby resulting in a running 350Z. We'll turn this over to the NMS pit crew for further diagnosis, analysis, prognosis, budgeting, planning, and wrenching. Oh wait, that's the same as the two of us anyway. 

Hey, it's got an engine!
You might know that the Nissan 350Z has a 3.5-liter V6 engine. 

Who Says NMS Doesn't Know Jack?

Meet Jack.

Come on now, I bet you've told someone who was totally clueless that they "didn't know Jack." Well, just by chance, both NMS drivers were shopping for jacks on the same day at two different Harbor Freight stores! Figure the odds!

Meet Transmission Jack.

Down south, Brian needed a transmission jack to keep working on the Chevy Silverado tow truck, since he's smack in the middle of multiple projects on the truck. Up north, Bob was upgrading his little 2-ton jack to a 3-ton jack with long handle.  Nothing wrong with the two little jacks, well, other than on a recent job he noticed that a bolt that holds one of them together was missing in action. Key point here being that it was a great chance to snag a much better, longer handled, higher capacity jack. Oh, and Harbor Freight had a 40% off coupon that day! Shoot, even Formula 1 teams have to stay under the cost cap, just like us. Well, ok, their annual cost cap might be $150,000,000 or so, and ours is more like $150. 

Very little assembly required.

One thing you really don't want to be cheap on is safety, so that's why it's important to have reliable jacks, jack stands, and other safety gear. 

Project K Update

The NMS team held a brief press conference today, and formally announced their latest effort, Project K. No, it's nothing like Special K the cereal, or vitamin K, or the mineral Potassium (atomic symbol K) either. 

Director of NMS Future Projects Brian Nixon stated that the K in Project K stands for Kart, as in a Go-Kart. He went on to explain that the Bunch of Idiots (BOI) Racing Team has been accepted to compete in the Red Bull Non-Stock 600 kart race! Under further questioning, we learned that this is a real event sponsored by Red Bull Energy Drink, and that they engage with their customers around the world with all kinds of competitive events that range from building flying machines, to soap box derby, breaking, mountain biking, to you name it. Here's the link to the event: 

    Red Bull Non-Stock 600

This event will be held on November 9th, 2024, at The Music Factory in Charlotte, where the 20 teams selected to build karts will race in qualifying heats, and then the final race lasting 600 seconds around a gravel oval. All the teams will have the exact same engine and chassis. Nixon filled us in with the rest of the details: 

        "Each team receives identical fiberglass kart shells, and then can modify, decorate, paint, or design them in a creative theme in an effort to have the most inspiring or funny themed machine. Once the five weeks building phase is complete, each team brings their shell to Charlotte to attach it to the chassis, and then each team's entry is judged along with performing a short skit before the real racing begins."

According to Red Bull, the winning team of four members will win a trip to the 2026 Formula 1 race in Miami Florida. 

At this point the Bunch of Idiots team had to depart, promising to keep us updated on their progress with the actual build, and that they would give us the full details on the theme of this crazy project. 

    

Fundamentals of Electric Class Done!

Snap-On circuit board and DMM for training. 

This week finished the first of three consecutive electrical classes, and I really got a charge out of it! It's important to be positive, and not negative when learning about electricity. Yes, that might be shocking to some people, but if you're well-grounded, it's good stuff!

Magnets inside a starter. 
Windings and commutator on the right.

In addition to a lot of classroom time learning about the electrical and starting systems, we managed to take apart a starter AND put it back together! Usually, a bad starter is just replaced with a new one, but there just might be some cases where you could repair the old one. We learned a lot about different types of batteries, how to take care of them, how to diagnose them, and how to blow them up if you do something wrong! One funny part of this was the book answer that you should recharge a battery and not jump start it, so after stating that guidance, the book then explained step-by-step how to jump start a battery the right way! OK, makes sense! 

Got a Snap-On DMM? There’s an app for that!

An essential tool for diagnosing electrical systems is the digital multi-meter (DMM) and I can now announce that I am CERTIFIED in using a Snap-On DMM! Honest, I had to pass a grueling test of living off the wilderness in Siberia for ten days, armed with nothing but a cup of water and a DMM! Wait, that wasn't me! Our test was 35 multiple choice questions, and I passed it on the first try! I thought for sure I'd fail it, and then learn from that and pass on a retake (since you're allowed to test three times) but I just barely passed the first time! I was SHOCKED!

The NMS hybrid on the lift. 

One skill we started developing is using the reference material and learning to read the wiring diagrams for the entire car. Wow. You might have seen some diagrams or seen a video of someone working on a wiring harness for a car, and all I can say is that there are a LOT of little wires all over your car. It made me think that this kind of work is like in old WWII movies, or James Bond Goldfinger, when to defuse the bomb the hero has to cut the red wire...I mean the green wire...NO WAIT, cut the black wire, and save the world! Easy to make a mistake with stuff like that! 

So, what good is this info? Well, here's some cool car electricity trivia tidbits you might be able to toss out and sound like you know something!

1: Yes, you can blow up a car battery if you over-charge it or jump it the wrong way. 

2: Yes, a car battery can freeze. If this happens, don't fast charge it, or #1 will happen. 

3: With so much wiring in your car, there are circuits that power more than one thing, so this is why (for example) your buddies in the garage might play a joke on you and wire your horn to blow whenever you hit the brakes!

4:  If the wrong weight motor oil is used, an engine may crank very slowly or may not start in cold weather. That’s what the textbook says anyway.

5: Poor or incomplete diagnosis accounts for the fact that nearly 80 percent of starters returned as defective on warranty claims work perfectly when tested. Stuff like this happens if you don’t really understand automotive electric systems. 

TOP SECRET: PROJECT "K"

Could this be Project K?

An anonymous source, deep within the NMS team, has revealed the existence of what is being called "Project K." Little is known about this project, nor the exact significance of the use of the letter "K." Given what we know about the NMS team in general, (also known as the Bunch of Idiots) we have to assume that these people don't even know how to spell. This opens up the possibility that this secret project actually involves a word starting with the letter "C." Our leading theory at this time is that it has something to do with what scientists call a "Car," which 9 out of 10 dentists recommend starts with the letter "C" and not the letter "K." Actually a "CAR" doesn't start with a "C" because it starts with the starter motor getting the crank going until the combustion cycle fires up! Hey, this reminds me of one of my favorite trivia questions:

    Q: What do you call the person that graduates last in their Medical School class?

    A: "Doctor"

I'm not seeing any letter "K" clues here...

While we're still very early in the development of this story, one other totally believable working theory is that the NMS team has already failed at multiple Projects A through J. That leads this reporter to the hypothesis that whatever Project "K" might be, it is sure to be another failure. 

Does it stand for Kryptonite Krank Arms and Pistons?

We've speculated in the past that one of the NMS team drivers might advance to Formula 1, but we currently don't know of anything related to that racing series that uses the letter K. This new project then might be related to other automotive endeavors using the letter K, such as an Evil Knievel style motorcycle jump. With no other sources or background at this time, let's go with that as an option. If you don't know about Evil Knievel, check it out. 

Could it be braKe rotors or a K member?

Our only other clue about Project K is that one of the secretly leaked early milestones is coming up on September 22nd, so maybe there will be more to report in the near future. For now, we're keeping our eye on automotive news in the Carolinas that might give us more information on Project K. 

Spec Z Car Update: Dry Ice, Hummingbird, Etc.

Brian mixes up the TOP SECRET X-30!
Chevy AVEO not included, your mileage may vary. 

NMS-South has been making progress on the Spec Z (Nissan 350Z) build for next year, so here's a few tidbits of recent activity. Our immediate goal is to have the car on track at Watkins Glen in October, with both of us taking turns driving. This car is attracting so much attention, one day we had a hummingbird fly into the garage to check it out. Like the kids on the Internet say: "Pictures or it didn't happen!" So, let's go to the Hummingbird CAM: 

Real work wise, Brian completed a clutch bleed with yours truly serving as the pedal pumper, which of course is the highly skilled part of this job! 

After that, we made a custom seat insert for the shorter one of us, because apparently Brian is so tall that I can't reach the pedals from where his driver seat is mounted. This was a fun science experiment as much as anything else, because we got some Tap X-30 expanding foam. You just mix the two fluids together and put it in a big garbage bag. Once the reaction starts and it is expanding a bit, you can place the bag in the seat, sit on it, and the material will form exactly to the seat and your body. We did a bottom section and a lower back section, and then got some twin bed mattress foam to put behind my back. If you watch the IMSA and Le Mans drivers, you'll see some of them carrying their own little custom seat cushion like this when they change drivers. You really want the seat permanently mounted, so having a little booster seat for the short drivers is the way to go!

The X-30 stuff comes in different sizes and is used in boats because it floats! Here's the link: 

    TAP PLASTICS X-30

Then, the crew chief wanted to remove some more of the sound-deadening material from the trunk floor, so using the 3 part process, we 

        

    PART 1) Bought some dry ice

Here's some other ideas for fun with dry ice!

    PART 2) Put the dry ice on the trunk floor to freeze the black material and make it brittle. 

The darker area is what we will scrape off.

    PART 3) Used a hammer and a scraper to remove the material. 

OK, let's go to the SCRAPER CAM!

AFTER: A lot of the material has been removed. 
According to Einstein, or was it Graham Chapman? A Lighter Car = Faster Car!

The next step on this area is to wire-wheel off the tiny bits left, then spray paint the floor to make it look better. Total weight removed on this job was maybe half a pound, so that's easily worth probably a second a lap! And if you believe that one, stay tuned, we're just getting warmed up!