Everything in its Right Place

TAG E30 M3

Looks like a good place to do work

And a damn good song of the same title, from Radiohead, from their seminal album Kid A (and also found in “Vanilla Sky”, where the video clips are from….a damn good movie).

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Thou Shall Not Covet…..

Toda’s ITB Equipped Honda 3.2 liter V6

How To Paint a Supercar

a must see

Meanwhile, On the Other Side of the World

Surfing the car blogs is pretty cool, because you never know where you’ll end up. After hopping around for about 30 minutes, I stumbled across this neat blog out of Australia. The guys have sort of a ‘lifestyle’ concept to the shop, with clothing, accessories, and I think some labor being done too. Just a clean layout to the blog, and the fact that cars make these guys smile is evident.

http://blog.zengarage.com.au/

Late to the Party – The Cypher (Music Content)

Just discovered this on youtube….if you’re into hip hop and lyricism, this is too cool. 3 unbelievably talented artists together. Mos Def, Black Thought (The Roots), and Eminem.

Green Means Go!

And it’s off! The official start to the North American motorsport season is now upon us, with the Rolex 24 Hour Grand Am Race starting about an hour ago. This is the 51st running of the world famous race, and offers one of the most diverse fields in all of motorsports. This year, a new class debuts, called the GX class. While it’s only got 6 cars for it’s inaugural year, it is unique, and should become more prominent in the near future. It’s purpose is to basically feature technologies not currently utilized by the Prototype or GT class cars. To that end, alternative fuels are the initial technologies making their debut. But rumors are abound if we will see alternative chassis types (such as SUV’s!) in future events. Time will tell. This class sees Mazda’s competition debut of their SkyActiv twin turbo diesel engines installed into the new body, very attractive 6 series sedan. Mazda claims 63% of the engine parts are bone stock, production parts that will be identical to those in the street car when they hit the market later this year. The other are the Porsche Cayman. You can see the class rules for GX below:

daytonagxclassrules2013

We will do some features on a few of the cars in the GT and DP class throughout the race, which ends at 3:30 PM EST tomorrow

DIY 350Z/G35: Brake Lights Don’t Work (aka the Easiest Install You’ll Ever Do)

It’s no secret that as cars get older, stuff needs to be done. While driving recently someone stopped me to say my brake lights weren’t working. Definitely not cool and totally dangerous. What I came to discover was that in the daytime, they would not work at all. None of them, not even the third brake light at the top of the hatch. However at night, when you turn the headlights on, the top third light worked fine. Tail lights always worked too, they just didn’t get brighter like they should when you step on the brake pedal.

The culprit turned out to be a simple fix. The factory brake switch had gone bad. After 10 years its to be expected I guess. This switch is mounted to a bracket above the brake pedal, under the dash. Kneel on the ground with the door opened and its simple to see. The switch itself is around $36 at the dealer (we sell em for $18 if you need one). You will see two sets of plugs. The brown colored one is the ACSD switch which is for cruise control and some other functions. The black one above it is the brake switch. It’s a simple device. There is a pin in the center of the switch. Step on the brake, the pin is released, and the brake lights illuminate. Release the brake, the brake pin is depressed and the brake lights are off. Imagine how many times this pin has gone back and forth during its lifetime, and its no surprise that eventually it needs replacing.

While kneeling on the ground grab the switch with your hand and turn it counterclockwise 45 degrees. This will unlock the switch from its holder. Once removed, depress the tab on the top, and the switch is separated from the wiring harness. Plug the new switch in, insert into the plastic locking grommet in the bracket, turn 45 degrees clockwise and viola, you’re done. It literally takes 45 seconds to do.