heinzboehmer's 2002 Topaz 6MT Coupe

[jet_dogg]

Ah yeah the trigger behavior is annoying. I added a latching switch in parallel with the trigger so now I can just press it and walk away. Makes using it a lot more pleasant.

The M18 tire inflator is super nice, but a good bit bulkier. Plus I have mostly Makita stuff so yeah. I have been wanting the Milwaukee electric ratchets and their higher powered impacts for a while though...

Do you mind sharing a pic of what you did with the switch? I'm probably just going to get rid of it at this point and get the milwaukee.

The m18 is bulky and heavy but at least it's a joy to use and easy on the eyes though I balked at its size at first. For diy and home use the high speed ratchets are great as are the impacts, but it is dumb how the 3/8 and 1/2 use the same internals. Nice thing about the makita ratchet is you can swap anvils that can't do with milwaukee's greedy ass.

[heinzboehmer]

I have to hold the fucking trigger the whole time like an idiot and the oring tore after a few uses not to mention it's ugly. The m12 inflator is on par with this lxt 18v inflator but the m18 inflator blows everything away. Insanely fast, screw on chuck and set/forget walk away. If I were going to the track that's the one I'd take but I understand if you're on another battery platform.

The 20v dewalt is 2nd in terms of power but it's hideous.

Ah yeah the trigger behavior is annoying. I added a latching switch in parallel with the trigger so now I can just press it and walk away. Makes using it a lot more pleasant.

The M18 tire inflator is super nice, but a good bit bulkier. Plus I have mostly Makita stuff so yeah. I have been wanting the Milwaukee electric ratchets and their higher powered impacts for a while though...

[jet_dogg]

Eh it's fine. Its portability makes up for its downsides. But definitely not the best thing makita has put out. That shop vac is another story though.

I have to hold the fucking trigger the whole time like an idiot and the oring tore after a few uses not to mention it's ugly. The m12 inflator is on par with this lxt 18v inflator but the m18 inflator blows everything away. Insanely fast, screw on chuck and set/forget walk away. If I were going to the track that's the one I'd take but I understand if you're on another battery platform.

The 20v dewalt is 2nd in terms of power but it's hideous.

[heinzboehmer]

Man that inflator is garbage and I'm a makita guy.

Eh it's fine. Its portability makes up for its downsides. But definitely not the best thing makita has put out. That shop vac is another story though.

[jet_dogg]

Man that inflator is garbage and I'm a makita guy.

[heinzboehmer]

Track day was some time ago, but it went great. Felt awesome to be back at Thunderhill on 200 tw tires.

First two sessions were wet (first time ever on a track in the wet!) and the RE71R had absolutely zero grip. To the point where it wasn't exactly fun to drive out. Wish I had had the 4Ss on. Managed to stay on track throughout both sessions though.

Next track day is in two weeks and I'm running low on both brake pads and tires. Have two sets of mostly worn track pads that I want to eat through so that I am finally motivated to get the 996 calipers on the car. Track tires will likely die that day, so need to bring my street tires to get back home. Will be interesting fitting all that into the car. This is what the trunk looks like now:



Will need to figure out how to get the street tires into the back seat with the nogaros installed. Bought a set of tire totes in anticipation of this, but probably still not going to be very fun.

[heinzboehmer]

I'd like to do this. What connectors did you buy?

For which project? I've bought a ridiculous amount of connectors lately

I have done that once with my keys for the ZHP and it still worked.

I wish mine still did. Oh well

[BADCLOWN]

Today I left my key in the pocket of my jeans and put them in the washing machine. Key still works lol

I have done that once with my keys for the ZHP and it still worked.

[Obergoose]

I'd like to do this. What connectors did you buy?

[heinzboehmer]

I got ECS ones as Turner was out of stock for a while. the adjusters are in the center which is not as good as at the wheel, but better than at the subframe/above the exhaust.

Give the wagon a shot, you should be able to feel the difference in toe on initial turn in, but it might be tough to differentiate from the rebuilt rack at this point. Really good change IMO

I'll take you up on that offer, also want to feel that new rack. Now that I have the MK60 in the car, I'll probably look into swapping racks.

[Bry5on]

I got ECS ones as Turner was out of stock for a while. the adjusters are in the center which is not as good as at the wheel, but better than at the subframe/above the exhaust.

Give the wagon a shot, you should be able to feel the difference in toe on initial turn in, but it might be tough to differentiate from the rebuilt rack at this point. Really good change IMO

[heinzboehmer]

You should’ve gone with CSL rear toe specs! Also, you want my ground control spherical lower control arms?

I thought about it, but didn't want to mess too much with toe before a track day. I've learned that toe really impacts how much I enjoy driving the car and decided I'd rather stick with something that I know is fine, rather than spend the whole track day annoyed because I didn't end up liking the change. Will probably mess around with it when I do the camber arms though.

Did you end up getting the turner ones instead?

[Bry5on]

You should’ve gone with CSL rear toe specs! Also, you want my ground control spherical lower control arms?

[heinzboehmer]

Track day tomorrow, so got the car ready for that.

Clock spring replaced with a new one:



Then got an alignment:



Rear camber is maxed out. I really need some camber arms, but I'm dreading the install. I did order some E36 diff bushings to replace the poly ones I have, so maybe that'll finally get me to do it.

I also bought a rear dashcam for the car. I decided to tap into the existing parking mode power module and run a long USB cable to the rear. Soldered some stuff and ended up with two output wires from the module:




Also added a connector for the long cable for easier servicing:



Now onto routing the cable. Easy choice would have been to route it along the seam between the headliner and the door, but I really didn't want to have it interfere with the side airbags, so I did it a bit differently.

Here's the output out front:



Connected the long cable and routed it back towards the sunroof:



I then routed the wire along the perimeter of the sunroof, this definitely keeps it far enough from the airbag:



Pulled it out through the alarm ultrasonic sensor hole (just as a middle stop cause feeding it all the way to the rear was not easy):



Fed it through to the third brake light area:



And out the passenger C pillar:



Still had some wire left, so I zip tied that out of the way:



Trim back on and done:



I did rip some of the fabric off of the pillar trim when reinstalling, so I reglued that real quick, no big deal. Pretty happy with the end result and install was a lot less painful than I expected.

[heinzboehmer]

Never mind it died
Oh well, back to using the worse looking key