Well this has little to do with autocross or road racing but at the same time it's a plight we must all go through at one time or another.

About two months ago I planned a 29 hour round trip from my home in Wyoming to my brothers in Washington State to attend a two day event autocross put on by the Sand and Sage Sports Car Club Sssca.

Its the local club he's been with this year (his first year in autox) and these lucky guys get to run on a 1/2 mile oval with the center all paved in...yeah so you get to use the entire track, oval and all.

My quest begins with getting my buddy to talk his wife into letting him take his car as well...he gets the ok. My wife understands Im a bit crazy about pretty much any car event so I get the green flag as well.

So now the ***** rolling...whoopee! I want to get a few things done to the car so I start off researching through h-t and find some great sources. To protect the innocent I wont say who I went through but just know I think I got some great service.

I order some bling-bling in...probably my first mistake. The hood on my car is the worst part of the car (black si hatch) cracks in the paint and what not. So I decide to order in a C/F hood and after talking to the guy thats selling them I decide to get the duckbill as well.

Now to some function parts. I order the Momo trek steering wheel and a set of Ebc brake pads after reading praises from Crxlee on this brand (I know lots of folks dont like them but hey its Crxlee)

And what the heck time to update my old car alarm (locking the doors) with a viper alarm from a friend of mine with a stereo shop...deal I couldn't refuse.

Now my buddy and myself are fortunate enough to have our own business but this presents another problem...making sure the employees can handle not one but both of us being gone for 5 days. Well after some juggling and extra training were set there as well.

So far so good.

Famous last words.

The payment for the C/f hoods wont go through so after trying for a couple days we wire money to guy. It doesn't get there for an additional two days. Precious time ticking away.

The order for the new steering wheels and pads looks good so far.

Zero hour is coming around and yeah the hoods and d/bill arrives. Overjoyed we open the boxes up and the first hood has two big spider web type cracks in it. I make the decision to take that hood...my buddy has a really crappy hood after helping out my nephew by trading hoods with him before he went to Florida for his second year of college knowing that he was getting the c/f hood.

Pop open the d/bill box and one really deep scratch in the finish and one corner just chipped off...fairly large chip as chips go. Well that sucked also. Now Im the type of guy that has always felt blessed with whatever comes my way as long as my family is in good health and safe...so I tried not to get wildy upset about this...you know material items.

Well I still had that Momo Trek on it way and was looking forward to that now more than ever. So we get the shipment in. By this time the retailer has allready alerted me to the brake pads not being there before the race...again disapointed but hey Momo steering wheel is going to be awesome.

Back to the shipment. We open the box and the first wheel is just great a brand spanking new Momo top power wheel. Wow thats beautiful. My buds very happy with it. Second box gets opened and what do you know a very ghey imo Momo jet wheel with fake c/f built right in to the wheel...even if its real c/f the thing looks horrid.

But wait...thats my wheel. So now Im bumming a little. But hey going autoxing for two straight days...gotta keep an eye on the light at the end of the tunnel.

Retailer is so nice about the mistake he sends another wheel to my brothers address next day air. Which is pretty nice becuase hey I got the other wheel still.

As were prepping both cars...oil changes, tire changes, some detail work and of course last minute running around. My buds going to change the oil on the cars while I dick around doing the tire change overs.

Well I never seen it happen but when he changes my oil the rubber gasket on the filter somehow sticks to the motor and the filter is tossed and the other one put on.

So we get everything else pretty much done not knowing that disaster is right around the corner. I bid farewell and start up the car and pull out of the driveway with my bud yelling whoooh stop.

Yeah oil pretty much everywhere...so thats what 4.5 quarts of Castrol looks like on the garage floor

Run to Walmart (only place open at this hour) and get another filter. Well by now were 2 hours behind scedule and Im hungry as heck so we go to the local Taco Hell. Two customers in front of us and I order three hard shells and a mexi melt...easy enough right?

Well I get to the house and yeah wrong order...but how? Three customers, me being the last and they couldn't get it right. The old adage comes to mind "they always screw you at the drive-thru.

Btw everything in the bag has sour cream on it...barf.

So now Im a little punch drunk and my buds picking up the pace by finishing up with the Valdez oil spill and wham slips on the oil and lands on his shoulder...hard.

At this point I throw in the towel on the whole idea of going to a dream weekend of racing (well dream weekend for autoxers )

But hey I got a new alarm for the trip Im not going on

So am I jinxed?




Modified by RangerDan at 4:40 AM 8/21/2003

 

All I can say is... Ouch.

But here's a little tip that'll prevent the oil spill from ever happening again: You should alway wipe down the oil filter seating surface to remove the old oil/dirt before installing the new filter. Do that every time and you'll definitely notice if the old gasket is still there. It's saved me more than once.

 

Worse things could happen. Everytime I turn the key on my racecar, something on my house breaks. Something expensive. Like the roof. It's actually quite annoying.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by madhatter &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Worse things could happen. Everytime I turn the key on my racecar, something on my house breaks. Something expensive. Like the roof. It's actually quite annoying.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats easy, just leave the car running never touch the key again.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RangerDan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Well I never seen it happen but when he changes my oil the rubber gasket on the filter somehow sticks to the motor and the filter is tossed and the other one put on.

So we get everything else pretty much done not knowing that disaster is right around the corner. I bid farewell and start up the car and pull out of the driveway with my bud yelling whoooh stop.</TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL that happened to me. I changed the oil, then ran upstairs, took a shower, got dressed to go out for the night... I was supposed to meet some friends. I run out, start the car up, and I hear what sounds like a garden hose spraying on the ground. I look over, and a guy is washing his car about 15 feet away (apartment complex) and so my mind plays the sound off as that... I start to drive away, and notice the sound is following me... I get out and I've left a trail across the parking lot of about 3 quarts, not to mention the bottom of my car is covered in oil

 

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

and I hear what sounds like a garden hose spraying on the ground. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Its funny you say that, my buddy said he heard a strange noise when I pulled out of the driveway. Said it sounded like a water hose spraying on the ground.

Back in the day when I was a Jet mechanic we always double checked even the smallest job. Something I preach to kids that I helpout with their cars....but an oil change? Just about the most innocent mistake a person could make I think.

And luckily everytime I turn the key nothing in the house breaks