-March – The end of March happened.
-April – Lots of work, another car, some car facts, racing
-Early April – Not a whole lot went on in the beginning of
April except Susan and I worked a lot. I
had quarter-end to deal with along with surveys and other annual filings. Susan’s coworker Amy who was recently hired
ended up failing miserably at her job functions and caused a lot of extra work
for Susan and her boss. Eventually Amy was
let go but the cleanup took weeks to get through and they weren’t able to find
a replacement until late May.
-April 20 – After looking for a short time we bought another
WRX. This is our 3rd and
hopefully our one last for awhile.
It is a 2006 which was sort of a magical year for a few Japanese performance cars. I’ll elaborate because I feel like I should. In the year 2006 all the Japanese car manufactures changed their methodology for measuring horsepower (HP) from the factory. This new and better method would have caused HP numbers to drop for many a sporty car so several models not-so-coincidentally had upgraded engines or generation changes in 2006. Some examples of this include: the Nissan 350Z got a more powerful “high-rev” motor, the Mazda Miata went to a new generation with a more powerful engine, the Mitsubishi Evolution VIII became the IX and got a variable intake which increased power, and the Subaru WRX’s engine got more displacement (2.0 liters to 2.5 liters) which yielded more power.
It is a 2006 which was sort of a magical year for a few Japanese performance cars. I’ll elaborate because I feel like I should. In the year 2006 all the Japanese car manufactures changed their methodology for measuring horsepower (HP) from the factory. This new and better method would have caused HP numbers to drop for many a sporty car so several models not-so-coincidentally had upgraded engines or generation changes in 2006. Some examples of this include: the Nissan 350Z got a more powerful “high-rev” motor, the Mazda Miata went to a new generation with a more powerful engine, the Mitsubishi Evolution VIII became the IX and got a variable intake which increased power, and the Subaru WRX’s engine got more displacement (2.0 liters to 2.5 liters) which yielded more power.
The effect was that the advertised HP went up a little for
most of the cars but the HP as measured from a dynamometer (wheel horsepower or
WHP) went up quite a bit more. The
difference in HP measured from the factory and WHP measured from a dyno is
attributed to drivetrain losses (usually 15-20%) and different atmospheric
conditions (temperature and elevation are the biggest factors here). For the WRX the advertized HP actually
dropped slightly (227 to 224) but the dyno’d WHP jumped dramatically (170 to
195). These 2006 changes are actually
why we bought our 2006 Evo IX two years ago and why I sought out and bought a
2006 WRX (our old red WRX was a 2004).
Some Japanese cars were left unchanged in 2006 and their advertised
factory HP subsequently dropped. For
example in 2006: all Toyotas with the 3.0 liter V6 dropped from 210 to 190 HP and
the Acura TL Type-S (the sporty version) dropped from 270 to 258 HP. Interesting stuff.
Obtaining the WRX meant we now owed six running vehicles and
two trailers. As this was just on the
wrong side of acceptable the plan became to sell the black Miata and the
smaller car trailer.
-April 23 – We attended a rallycross at the US Truck Driving
School (USTDS). The event had been delayed
a week due to rain which caused a lower turnout which, in turn, led to us
struggling to find enough workers to chase cones on the course. It was a day for mechanical problems with a
Dodge Neon’s steel wheel sheering off its hub and an Acura Integra breaking a
ball joint. We planned on trailering the
Integra home until our car ran into its own problems. On one of Susan’s afternoon runs the Evo
stalled on a turn and would not restart.
We pushed it off course and eventually had it towed back to the
paddock. We didn’t know what was going
on so had to unload the Integra from our trailer and tow up the Evo. After we got home a fellow Evo owner asked us
to check a fuse that had broken on his car the week before. Sure enough that same 11 cent fuse broke on
our car which caused our race to end early as it disabled the fuel pump. Now we pack a dozen or so 10 amp fuses along with
our racing stuff. Live and learn! Besides the various mechanical issues the
event went well.
-May – Car problems, pug problems, Mom visits, more car
stuff
-WRX woes – I had checked the oil on the WRX when I first
picked it up and then again after arriving home later that day. I found that it dropped from a normal level
to off the dip stick in around 40 miles.
This was concerning so we parked it in the garage until we had time to
figure out the issue. I took it to a
dealer to get a list of all the places it was leaking oil and to have a
compression test done on the cylinders.
It turned out that one of the cylinders wasn’t holding much pressure at
all which meant that the engine was shot (it also leaked oil from several
places). As you might imagine I wasn’t
pleased but all is not lost as the plan is to now pull the engine and do a
rebuild or simply replace the short block.
Bummer but buying from a private party always includes some risk.
-Sophie was still virile – We took Sophie to the vet for a
ultrasound (she was in heat for over two months which was a record for her) and
it was discovered that she was not spayed 4 years ago. This came as a shock to everyone as we actually
met the vet that said he performed the surgery (his story at the time was that
some remnant of her reproductive organs must have been left behind). Legally the Colorado Pug Rescue cannot adopt
out animals that aren’t spayed/neutered so they ended up covering the cost of
having Sophie spayed a week later.
-Satchel woes – Satchel had several seizures starting Friday,
May 6th and continuing throughout the weekend. It was all very traumatic for our little pug
and the prognosis was that she had a tumor pressing against her brain. She promptly started taking new medications
and she seemed to be getting better.
-Mom visited Colorado – On May 12th I picked Mom up
from airport to begin her 11 day stay at our home. We had a fun week doing many different
activities together. On Sunday the 15th
she came out to take rides in our Evo as we participated in a rallycross (I
couldn’t convince her to drive). This
was especially fun as the course was designed in such a way that our top speeds
were much higher than normal. We went
out to eat most days (often times with Marshall when we’d sometimes play
dominos). On Monday and again on Friday
we attended painting classes where we created magnificent works of art. We also painted two paintings each at home
(these were especially fun as we found our inspiration using Google Images). We ordered up some new movies from Amazon to
watch at home and also went to the Alamo Drafthouse with Marshall to watch the
new Captain America movie. Mom visited with her Colorado granddaughters
Karla and Cayle a couple of times which she enjoyed immensely. The trip absolutely flew by and it was hard
to say goodbye when I dropped Mom off at the airport.
-Memorial Day weekend – I swapped the better differential
out of the black Miata (Debbie) into the red Miata (Tia) since we’re selling
Debbie. Susan installed new belts on
both cars and new headlights in Tia. We
cleaned up Debbie and finally got her listed on craigslist. The small racing trailer had been on
craigslist for a couple of weeks when a nice couple came out and took it off
our hands.
-June – engine fun, birthdays, Satchel sadness, more racing
-First weekend in June – We picked up a engine hoist and
engine stand from a friend earlier in the week and found out he didn’t have any
plans for his 30th birthday.
We decided to have a little get-together for him on Saturday. In the morning I mowed the backyard for the
first time this year (all according to plan) and cut down some dead and damaged
branches from our tree. I made pulled
pork for the small gathering and we provided lots of other food stuffs and
drinks. Mostly we just talked but after
the majority of attendees left we played Cabo (Susan won on the last round by
hitting 100). The next day we took
Marshall to lunch for his 33rd birthday. We had a nice time and perused a used music
store before bringing him back home. We
were going to start working on pulling the WRX’s engine that afternoon but
instead cleaned and organized the garage in preparation of the work and then
took a nap on the couch (we were soooo tired).
-On June 9th we took Satchel to the vet to be
euthanized. She had two more seizures
since her first bout of them and didn’t recover from the final one the day
before. It was difficult to let our
little puppy go but we know it was the right thing to do.
Today we had to make the tough decision to say goodbye to our little Satchel. She was the best first puppy anyone could ever ask for and more. She was everything a pug is supposed to be: stubborn, cute, bossy, cuddly, mischievous, crazy, weird and fuzzy. From tiny 2.5 pound puppy to 13.5 year old tongue-out old lady, we've loved her every moment, no matter how much of a turd she was or how scary, messy or expensive things were. I'll never forget how she sat on my lap staring up at me as to ask "Are you my new mommy?" when we first drove her home. Max and I have many great memories that include Satchel: senior year in college, having our wedding photographer's assistant go to our apartment to feed her so we wouldn't have to take a break from our celebration, road trips, a car race or two, airplane trip, cuddling on the couch every evening and sleeping in bed together at nights, attending pugs in the park and Satchel getting on the news cuz she was so stinking cute in the pouch I was wearing for her, there's too many to list, 13.5 years creates a ton of memories. We'll miss you little puppy Satchel.
-June 11th weekend – We attended a rallycross on
upper course at CORE. It was the first
event with hot weather and I sweated off my sun screen repeatedly throughout
the day (my skin was red for the next week).
We were a bit short on workers so I got to work a corner for the first
time in some time. After lunch I was the
first driver out on a new course.
Towards the end of my run I plowed through an unseen rise in the ground
which bent the skid guard back on itself.
The bend was so far back that I couldn’t access all the attachment points to remove the guard. We ended up jacking up the front of the car and I backed up while still on the jack. This bent the skid guard enough that we could remove it. The racing stopped while the course was modified but not long enough for Susan to get her first run and she got a DNS (did not start) penalty which effectively put her in last place for the day (huge bummer). Somehow after all that drama and hitting more cones than normal I pulled off my first victory of the season. After the event was over and we’d picked up all the cones we had dinner at Chili’s with our friend Dan Hipwood to talk about this and that. The next day we worked on some car stuff and finally sold the 3rd row seat from the Suburban. We had a lot of apparent interest since it was listed but all those who had reached out eventually flaked on us. The family that ended up picking up the seat seemed nice and, by their numbers, definitely needed it. The only thing left to sell now is Debbie (the black Miata).
The bend was so far back that I couldn’t access all the attachment points to remove the guard. We ended up jacking up the front of the car and I backed up while still on the jack. This bent the skid guard enough that we could remove it. The racing stopped while the course was modified but not long enough for Susan to get her first run and she got a DNS (did not start) penalty which effectively put her in last place for the day (huge bummer). Somehow after all that drama and hitting more cones than normal I pulled off my first victory of the season. After the event was over and we’d picked up all the cones we had dinner at Chili’s with our friend Dan Hipwood to talk about this and that. The next day we worked on some car stuff and finally sold the 3rd row seat from the Suburban. We had a lot of apparent interest since it was listed but all those who had reached out eventually flaked on us. The family that ended up picking up the seat seemed nice and, by their numbers, definitely needed it. The only thing left to sell now is Debbie (the black Miata).
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