Huge Camry Upgrade!

Guess what time it is?

Our 2011 Toyota Camry is a monster on the road, with a HUGE 4 cylinder engine, 4 tires, and 4 sets of brakes! That's as many tires and brakes as on a 1,000 horsepower Formula 1 car! Unlike the Formula 1 cars, the Camry has a cabin air filter, and according to the maintenance schedule, it was time for a new one.

Now I'll confess that I figured this cabin air filter business was a bunch of baloney. I mean, back in the old days (in the last century), we sure never needed a cabin air filter! Yeah, that's right! We liked breathing our air just like nature made it, chock full of dirt, pollen, insects, and what not. As the doctors tell us, you need approximately 450 liters of oxygen WITH what-not EVERY SINGLE DAY to maintain healthy living! I mean seriously, have you considered NOT taking in about 450 liters of oxygen each and every single day? ME NEITHER!

Seriously, the cabin air filter is probably the most exciting HIGH PERFORMANCE part you can put on your car, so I went down to my local Auto Zone today, chatted with the friendly guys there, said hi to the Mini Cooper guy that always asks about the Abarth, and then we looked up what Cabin Air Filters were available for the ol' Camry. Well, their system pulled up an STP one for about 15 bucks, and then two others. When asked which one I wanted, I said "gimme the cheap one, I like breathing air that's been filtered, but not filtered so much that I lose touch with the man on the street."

One of the other filters was from some air freshener company, and apparently had air freshener goop in it to make your ride smell like a pine tree air freshener. That one was 25 bucks, so I passed on that particular option. After doing my part to boost the economy, I headed home and installed the new filter.

Comes with instructions!

SHALL WE PLAY A GAME?

(If that didn't make you laugh, you need to go re-watch the old Matthew Broderick War Games movie. It's from the last century too, just like me and the air I like to breath.)

1: Take a look at the next photo.
2: Look REALLY close.
3. Guess which is the new white one, and which is the old dirty bug-encrusted used one!
4. Comment below on the blog and we'll see if you're correct!

Which is which? GOOD LUCK!

Just for fun I wanted to point out that the filter I purchased is the right size, even though the instructions (below) are written for a Toyota Yaris. As far as I can tell, you can buy just about any Toyota or Lexus (Yaris, Corolla, Camry, Avalon, etc.) and they all pretty much look the same, other than the Lexus grilles are STILL the ugliest car parts in the entire industry.

Instructions for Yaris, Camry, whatever!

Plum Crazy!

This weekend the Lemons team combined forces to bring the biggest impact update yet!

We dove in Saturday morning with another three hours of sanding as well as dismantling the front bumper, mirrors, and a few trim pieces still clinging to life outside the car.

While the car was getting a final sanding, we wanted to both get the front bumper out of the way to make painting easier, but also address the rust and install some metal screening to prevent any large debris front getting into the radiator during the race.

With the bumper off, we sanded down the rust and hit it with what turned out to not even be close to chrome paint.

From there, the screen was trimmed and fitted behind the grill, then painted black for final style points.

After a thorough wash, the team ganged up with some rolls of masking tape and paper and masked off all the bright work and interior before tucking it in for the night.

Sunday morning, we arrive bright and early to roll the car outside and get some paint flowing before it got too hot during the South Carolina summer.

A solid coat of non-sanding, high-build light grey primer sealed out the former Jamaican flag design and patchwork of other former colors.

Up next we whipped up the purple metallic single stage acrylic enamel and got the color flowing. Chuck manned the gun and we kept the paint mixed up in batches.  In total about 3/4 of a gallon of purple went on the car.

After some lunch and watching a little bit of IMSA endurance racing at Watkins Glen on TV, we revealed the final look.

We've got at least one more weekend of mechanical work to wrap up before our final test day with SCCA's Track Night in America at CMP in August.  Following that we'll finally be ready to add the final touches and vinyl graphics.

We'll take a break next weekend to visit Discovery Parts in Atlanta to get fitted for racing suits and safety gear!

Fantomworks, Jay Leno's Garage, Car Talk, and More!

NMS at Fantom Works

1. Not too long ago I blogged about visiting Fantom Works and told you about their free tours on Fridays! To update that information, I have good news and bad news. Good news: They've also added a Wednesday tour, and will add a Monday tour if there is demand for it. The bad news: Tours now cost $10, and will be limited to 40 people per day. To be honest, these guys are in business to work on cars, so I can understand that they want to offer tours to their fans as wells as make money. If you're a fan of the show, I'd still recommend taking the tour. If you're not a fan of the show and are looking for stuff to do in the Norfolk VA area, let me know and I'll share my secrets for only five bucks! Look at it this way, you save off the 10 dollar tour, I make 5 bucks, it's a win-win! WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER! Fantom Works Tour Update

2. Probably the biggest auto news that most folks have heard this week is that the classic radio show "Car Talk" will be stopping production this fall on National Public Radio (NPR). In a way this is not really news, because they've only been airing Car Talk's Greatest Hits for several years, but this fall will be the end of the line for the show from NPR. Your local radio station might even be playing it's last episode this coming Saturday. The good news is that the Car Talk website always has lots of cool car stuff on it, including recordings of the show. Let me recommend you check it out now! Car Talk
Here's the story from Road and Track magazine about the end of production: Road and Track Car Talk story


3. Speaking of car magazines, Motor Trend reports that the number 1 all time selling electric vehicle is one of these four:

-TESLA
-NISSAN LEAF
-CHEVY BOLT
-FIAT 500e

Yes, I'm a big fan of FIAT, but the top selling EV is the Nissan Leaf! Imagine that! Motor Trend Leaf

4. Germany has announced a new emissions test for vehicles, which unlike the current lab test, will take place on real roads! This sounds like a good idea to me, and is a way of saying that the VW engineers that had cheated and beat the current test (until folks at the University of West Virginia figured it out) have now failed after thinking they'd beaten the Star Trek Kobayashi Maru. NEWS

5. If you are a fan of European cars that are NOT sold in the US, then you've probably heard of Spain's SEAT. They are now a part of the VW group, but back in the earlier days, they often built FIATs and put the SEAT badge on them. Here's a very nice article with photos from a visit to the SEAT museum in Barcelona that I thought was great, courtesy of our friends at Jalopnik: Jalopnik SEAT

6. Also in auto news, and not political news as far as I'm concerned, Ford announced that they will stop making the Focus in the US. Last year they said they'd make them in Mexico, but the latest word is that Mexico is OUT, and China is IN! If you're shocked that an auto maker would be building in China and importing cars to the US, you need to catch up with this idea, because GM and Volvo are already doing this. I even remember seeing a Honda Civic at the Washington DC auto show earlier this year that was assembled in Great Britain. This article from the New York Times covers this story, and states that auto buyers really don't care where their car comes from or where it's built. That's probably true for most people, but not all I'd say! New York Times Ford Focus

7. Enough about magazines and foreign countries! What about good old all American car stuff and Television? Glad you asked! Today starts a new series of Jay Leno's Garage on CNBC, every Wednesday night at 9pm! We're still a few months away from the return of the Amazon Grand Tour (the old BBC Top Gear guys), and I haven't heard from Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee lately, so this is BIG NEWS! Seinfeld will return with more CICGC later this year on Netflix, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, catch Jay Leno TONIGHT!  CNBC Jay Leno