Let me just preface this by saying I'm a retard..... now on with the tale!

We just got back to ATL from PA - 15 hour drive and we left a little bit after 6pm on Sunday.....

Let me recount my events in chronological order:

12/3/2002 - I crashed and totalled my '00 fbp itr with a dream catalog of goodies on it: https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=354415

4/2/2003 - I finally got the insurance $ and bought an '01 nbp itr in rough shape: https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=467729

4/7/2003 - On a whim, I purchased a driving expo spot from a member who couldn't make it. (Thanks EPGONZALEZ!): https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=467729

I then use the rest of the day to remove all of the parts from my old type R to go onto the new one:

- itr tranny with ATS 4.9 final drive

- TODA clutch and flywheel

- SPOON calipers with APP ss brake lines and ENDLESS NA-R front/ CC-X rear pads

- HYTECH header

- 2.5" custom mandrel bent exhaust to APEX-i N1 can (with custom y-pipe cutout)

- APEX-i N1 coilovers (99 spec)

- MUGEN pedal set

- PIVOT shift light

- APEX-i VAFC (plug and play thanks to kenji, so that's easy)

- CARBING oil catch can


4/8/2003 - Kengs lets me use his garage and I work there all night. I get TODA clutch, TODA flywheel, itr tranny with 4.9 final drive, and HYTECH header on the car. Damn those Energy Suspension motor mount inserts and shifter bushings! The motor mount inserts took me ******* forever! I drive home the morning of the 9th and feel a wobbling in the wheels! Great. Flat tire!? Nope. I was so tired, I forgot to torque down the lug nuts! Luckily they're still on, and I torque them and drive home. I'm runing open header b/c I didn't have time to do the catback, so I throw CEL 1 and 45.....

4/9/2003 - I spend the day pulling more stuff off my itr, and then go back over to Kengs house in the evening and work all night to install custom 2.5"/ Apex N1 exhaust, SPOON calipers, ENDLESS brake pads, APP ss brake lines, and Motul RBF600!

4/10/2003 - I drive home from Kengs' and take a nap from 11am to 3pm. I go meet upwith Pyromaster and borrow his brake bleeder kit, a couple bottles of motul, and his helmet. Then I go meet up with Jetydosa. He gives me 6 Azenis for the event. I go get the slicks taken off the te37's (cause they're almost dead), and mount the Azenis. Then I go back over to Kengs. I bleed brakes again, and remove most of the tools and other assorted crap that I left over there when working on the car - like the i/h/e, etc..... it is getting pretty late - like 11pm or so... I just head home and unload all the crap, but keep the tools in the car (just in case) and decide to install the apex n1 coilovers and aem cai when we get to the expo - since it's gonna rain for our whole trip there. I pack and take a shower and get ready to meet up with GeorgeY and crazykobe in a couple hours.....

4/11/2003 - GeorgeY and copilot crazykobe meet up with me at 3:30am to begin our trek from ATL to Charlotte, and then onto PA.....

Sometime that morning, I run over something in the road. GeorgeY thought he ran over a dead animal, and I must have too... but I also heard a metallic clanging..... :O:O We pull off to a rest stop and I can't shift gears! WTF!?? Wait, I can shift, but it feels sooo weird... wtf is wrong? We jack up the car and I see that the shifter stabilizer (2nd bar to the shift linkage) is dangling!!! No washers, no bolt... thankfully the bushing is still in there (it better be b/c it was a bitch to press in with my bare hands!!!).....

I don't know how to fix this one, so I just zip tie it to the shift linkage to hold it in place. I swear zip ties have saved me sooooo many times on this trip!!!!

We continue on towards Willard's, but my stupid *** was going to his house and GeorgeY had Cosworth on his cell phone saying don't get off - meet us on 77!!! I got off anyway cause I couldn't hear what they were saying over my exhaust noise... Oh well, I cost us more time.....

We eventually continue through VA and West VA, stopping to eat somewhere..... at another rest stop, I decide to check my oil... then I see bolts that have backed out of the tranny in two spots, and out of the passenger's side upper motor mount bracket!!! The tranny has a 1mm gap between it and the motor!!! I pull out the helms, and in the drizzle torque every bolt to spec and double-check. When I think of how many hills I came down behind GeorgeY on those POS roadstone tires at 90mph in the rain trying to keep up with him... and all the **** that was wrong with my car... Damn VA and West VA!!! And damn the rain!!! LOL

We continue on and eventually see Chad's hatchcrap and several cars go by our rest stop when we take a break. We jump in our cars and chase them down. We follow them to the hotel - eventually..... we register for expo, see a few familiar faces, and decide to go set up camp before it gets too late. Our trip took... 16 hours? 18 hours? We lost count...

We get to Beaverun, set up camp, and enjoy the revelry... campfires are already going, etc... But it is ******* FREEZING. Had to have been in the 20's. I am dead assed tired and can only think I've gotten very little sleep. I was literally hallucinating while we were driving. In broad daylight... it's like dreaming with your eyes open, and it's not fun when you have a nightmare and jerk the wheel. So we eat the sandwiches we got at the quickie mart, then hang out a bit, and I go get in my car and turn on the heater and pass the **** out. I am delirious, and several times during the night *think* I'm dreaming... what I can only describe as exhausted nightmares of fireworks, 1-minute rev-limit burnouts, etc..... Man, I must've been crazy tired. I slept leaning on my passenger's seat full of tools, clothes, etc. And it was the best night's sleep I'd gotten.

4/12/2003 - We wake up and I unload my car, attend the driver's meeting, and change wheels. I take too long and miss my first run. We enjoy 2 more runs throughout the day, then spend the time after the banquet installing the apex n1 coilovers on my car, then the wee hours of the morning working in the COLD ******* WEATHER (after borrowing Tweakmeister's propane lamp) to bleed brakes for GeorgeY and install brake pads courtesy of Cobalt Technologies. I think we went to sleep at ~4am?

4/13/2003 - We wake up and I realize that since we installed my coilovers, the car is dumped! I jack it up and try to make the car closer to stock height... miss my first run of the day again. I enjoy the 2nd run although it's like learning the car all over again. And the 3rd run of the day was the best! Dropspeed was like: "you wanna take it out by yourself?" me= "uhhhhhh..... ok?!"

I come in from my last run, and GeorgeY comments that my car is really loud. I didn't think it was *that* loud... I look under the car b/c I hear a "ting ting ting" rattling kind of sound... heat shield hitting the exhaust maybe? Nope! 2 of the 3 bolts that connect the axle-back to the b-pipe have fallen out. The 3rd bolt is in there, and the gasket is hanging, but no nut for the bolt. I pull forward, and it falls out... I put zip ties through the 3 holes and leave a 1/2" gap in the axle-back connection. Good thing I brought earplugs... the trip home is gonna be a blast.

We start to pack everything up, change back to street wheels, meet up with LanceH for directions, and roll out in caravan with Asahi and Cosworth. Right after we start, I notice a wobbling from my left side again. Cosworth says it looks ok over the walkie talkie, so we continue on for another 100 miles or so... then I check my lug nuts at the gas station..... LOOSE in the left rear! Luckily they're all still on there... so someone loans me a tq wrench (mine's buried in my car somewhere), and we make the rest of the trip home pretty uneventfully.....

I'm now dead-assed tired again. We made it in 15 hours or less..... I never got the vafc, pedals, or catch can installed... they wouldn't have helped anyways!

Moral of the story: torque everything to spec. And triple-check!

The expo was a blast. Great time meeting everyone. I'll post more later, when I'm coherent...

I'm going to bed.

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz......................

*Special thank you's to everyone who attended, and a few names I want to drop because you helped me out so much - I wouldn't have been able to attend without you:

Jetydosa - for the 6 azenis!

Pyromaster - for the brake bleeder, 2 bottles of motul, and the loaner helmet.

Cosworth - for the on-site support and encouragement on the ride home.

GeorgeY - for driving slow enough I could keep up (both on track and off ).

CrazyKobe - for helping me change wheels, suspension, etc, and for being a great driver while I passed the **** out on the way back.

Tweakmeister - for the use of his propane lamp!

Kengs - for letting me use his garage, tools, and intake.

Asahi - for putting this whole thing together, and for letting me use his walkie talkie.

AssPenny, DaveROR (or whatever his name is now), RealTypeR, and all the we-todd's from NC/ FL, etc - for encouraging me to go to the expo, and for keeping that campfire going so we didn't freeze during breaks from working on our cars...

EPGONZALEZ - for selling me his Expo3 spot.

Dropspeed - for being a patient instructor. "TAKE YOUR FOOT OFF THE CLUTCH!!!"

Yasu and rodney - for the ATS final drive!

Everybody I met in person - it was great to finally put a name and face together...

[edit] Content added, typo's removed, and thank-you's added...[edit]



Modified by Black R at 10:23 AM 4/15/2003

 

WOW!
What a story.
I guess loc-tite should be your friend, since most of your car fell apart.

Great story, get some sleep.

-Kamil, who's off to read more stories.

 

It's nice to hear the Full Story than just seeing your 'Smiley' Face all the time Ken!..

I wouldn't be able to smile if I had that much problem..
but 4 you

it is Nice to finally meet the GA crew..

 

Good god Ken...at least nothing happend bad on the track, and nothing seriously went wrong. I'll have to catch up with you sometime soon.

Austin

 

damn that is a story of a lifetime
a great ht read

 

It took you 16 hours to get from where to ATL Ken. Geez I thought I had bad luck.

 

and I thought I got alot accomplished.. WOW

the expo was great

 

Glad you were able to make it so you could get rolled by me

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RealTypeR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Glad you were able to make it so you could get rolled by me </TD></TR></TABLE>


hrm..... the evidence suggests otherwise:


http://bustedshocks.com/Events...9.htm

 

Ken - that ain't me. No front plates in Florida y0!!


Modified by RealTypeR at 10:00 PM 4/15/2003

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Apex i ITR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It took you 16 hours to get from where to ATL Ken. Geez I thought I had bad luck.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Apex i ITR,

Why didn't you come?

Sorry Black R, I had no idea you were there or I would have said hello.

 

wow, sounds like bad luck, good thing you had a good time...

Post some pics of the new car, i remember the old storys and pics , good thing your sorta back on your feet

 

nice meeting you man!

 

haha. its ok Rocker. i have pics of the whole trip and hopefully they will be up soon. pics with his story. but i had an awsome time with all you guys up there. next time get some tires without horsey's on the side so we can drive alittle faster. George who is suprise Ken is not deaf from his loud *** exhaust. big thanks for the guy who let us use his lamp. no way we could have installed my brakes and Ken coils in the freakind dark paddock at 20 degrees outside without it.

 

tweak didn't know that i lent you that lantern. IT was really nice meeting you.

 

Kenny Boy - glad your POS didn't fall apart. Mine almost did too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Black R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


hrm..... the evidence suggests otherwise:


http://bustedshocks.com/Events...9.htm


</TD></TR></TABLE>

just wait till Marc hits the 'Go Baby Go!' button....

 

.....nah, that wasn't Marc. I think his # was 120..... he was probably way ahead of the pack!

 

pics of the tranny adventure.....

http://aolsvc.pictures.aol.com...mails