Austin David

I grabbed one of these, it's good with my "signature" seats from 2021 (I assume pretty standard leather seat). I'm going to remove the straps, they're not needed. It just fits between the two side bolsters, and just resting against the seat is placed correctly. Not too fat either and has some compression. Hoping to get a few hours on it soon.

Aiming for "leaves" but I know it's hard to predict. I know it can be hard to navigate family stuff, that's what kept me home last year :/ Last time I mapped it out I was thinking to stay around Blowing Rock on day 1, but I think a lot of the BRP might still be closed between there and Asheville? I'm definitely game to run up the coast and catch you on the way.

I am off and SICK AND TIRED of not driving around way too much. Let's do leafs this year for reals. Who's in? I'd like to spend a lazy day heading up from Charleston, day 2 drive around at least a day, then back . During the week (IIRC) the rates and availability are better. I assume I'll need to pack my weather gear and a cover, both of which are like a 5-10 minute effort I will reluctantly undertake.

Drive it home!!

bonnet*

I usually ride around with very effective earplugs, which means the first ride w/o earplugs is a bit of "is that normal". I highly recommend taking a pre-ride before big changes to be sure you know what "normal" sounds like

I feel like you got a pretty solid deal on that ride. Enjoy the h*ck out of it!

The torque spec is in the arm of a skilled mechanic.

Ditto. I assume it was painted (coated?) to match the frame

mailin stuff

this

Congrats! That's a pretty car. Personally I'd put an aeroscreen near the front of the list, esp for day trips. Smaller wheels and stuff are great but until you get to know the car you may not know the difference. For me I'd prioritize the first trip, then work from there.

Congrats! You've got a lot of room to clean it up and still not* be horribly "underwater". Holler when you get it sorted, I'd love to get a group of Caroliners together for a lil run

Start or continue a build thread please! I plan to drive mine until I can prove it's open. Its been clunky from day 1

I'm at 17k and "fairly sensible", my 2021 diff (M1 housing + titan guts) seems fine if noisy. I have read that the expected life is a lot lower, but here we are. I'm not looking forward to fishing it back out when it's time to replace the internals tho

HAHAHA I can't use a GoPro on my roll bar, the audio is dominated by the clunking. That LSD is about 6" away from your ear and very firmly attached to a drum. It's supposed to be loud. "clutch funny" doesn't sound right, but the hydraulics is simple. FWIW "needs several thousand dollars" is probably always true. Welcome to the show. My boy-math would include something about the utility of having one to play with while you keep looking, and the fact that if you were able to buy it, you can also sell it. It's not an "investment" but it's probably a pretty solid rental. Tires, "maintenance" etc are all true no matter what you get. The fact that it needs different tires would also be true if it had 10-year-old ZZRs.

I've seen another of these here in Charleston! The first seven I'd seen. The color combo is pretty cool in person. I love that you have retractable seatbelts -- a better choice for a road car IMO

finally figured out how to park up top; the clearance is a challenge with the crossbracing. Likely coming back down tomorrow, had to bring out a Miata for some suspension work.

quick plug for route7.austindavid.com which can more-easily make routes and export to Beeline ... also that's genius. I never even looked at that stem. but I like mine close to the line-of-sight, just above my right hand.

I interpreted it as "stopping point".

also a backup miata

< 3". this is the back of the pan, which afaik is the lower part. And further behind the wheels, so more likely to caress the odd speed bump. Squirrels and such will catch the front, but for roadkill I worry more about the nosecone. Note that I once caught a bird on the left cycle wing; that was gross. Like hitting a waterballoon full of ketchup. Note also that the bell housing is not much higher than the pan; the bigger difference is that scraping the housing is less likely to drain out all your oil, but you will still scrape.

not pictured: picture

ah, this is a great place to start. there are a jillion resources and examples of people like me, even more clueless. As weird as they are, these cars are relatively simple

Josh is a great guy, you're in good hands. The wait is PAINFUL tho -- but at least you're not getting the COVID edition