finally.

ive been busy moving into my new apartment in SJ, so I havent been able to update, excited for the party house. my room sucks though but ive gotten over it.
So anyway -

toyota red chalk, i love it. bought the whole new 4.778 set from OJ (BATTLESWING) on thursday. He was super nice to sell it to me since he had it lying around and it was decently cheap for toyota oem too.
Dropped it on saturday morning off my diff for the 3rd time over at nikki's to get it installed, and picked it up at night, thanks to nikki's quick work.
On monday night after moving more stuff to my apartment and coming back from kung fu, I started installing the 3rd member to the car. Today I test drove it.
It was beautiful. No noise. I knew I could count on Nikki's skill, unlike a certain vendor thinking it was Nikki's fault this entire time..
I can actually enjoy the 4.778 now and i love the way it accelerates. Just have a few random things to do to the car and hopefully ill be back out on a drift event again. Summer is over, but im still having a grand time. Time to party party.

Summer Ends

Time flys when your busy and I really can't believe summer is really coming to an end.

School is about to start this Wednesday and I'm really looking forward to seeing my friends since I was caught up working full time at the family Auto Body Shop.

The thing that I'm really excited for and really looking forward to the most, is being able to see my lady 5 days a week now. I really missed her a lot during the Summer.

Summer Recap:

Didn't get to drift as much as I wanted to this Summer, but Drifting isn't going anywhere. I really can't wait to get back out there on the track.

Been working on the car during the summer, came a long way and I'm very pleased about it.

Finally painted my rear bumper


As she sits:






I also held a Donation for Darryl last Friday. Raised $114 for Darryl's family. I'm really glad about the turn out. I want to thank everyone for the Donations.



I also attended Darryl's Home Going Celebration. Rest in Paradise Bro. We miss you man.





I want to end this post with a picture of Grady killin it out there! Representing Team Jameson for us! We plan to possibly attend an event together so stay tune.



Late!

This is what I get for not having a muffler

After my event at Thunderhill, I noticed there was this weird object hanging below my rear bumper, blocking the little hole where the muffler would normally point outwards. To find out what it was, the bumper needed to come off.

The heat from the exhaust apparently melted the right side of this giant plastic. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it being the bumper support would be my first guess.

I ended up using a hacksaw to cut this portion off, in order to clear out this area where the muffler would go. Sorry for not taking a "before" picture; it might seem a little confusing without it.

Now that the area is all clear, I guess it's about time for me to get a new muffler, or even a full cat-back--great.

Bogs from Grady Tong on Vimeo.

(A lot of bogging haha)

Mashup

Starting with Limitless,

(Snagged from here)

The Course

The North pad was pretty lame. I actually thought it was going to be a mixed layout of some kind, but it was just a circle. On a brighter note, I guess it was probably a good idea overall; the less experienced drivers would have more time to learn without having to wait in line for so long.

The East (or left) pad was the usual figure-eight pattern, with walls surrounding the entire area. The walls were relatively new to me because they weren't there the last time I had an event here. To my surprise though, it wasn't scary at all.

My overall experience was... "ehh"

This was the first time I went out to a track alone, and HOLY SHIT did it make a whole world of difference. I was lucky enough to tag along with Darius on our way there, but while Darius was signed up for full-track drifting, I wasn't.

Unless your buddies are there with you, I definitely think drifting IS NOT as fun just as it can be. Of course it was cool to have Darius and Joseph around from time to time, but they've got to do their own thing as well. DAMN YOU JOHN AND ADRIAN FOR BAILING! I was actually bored the entire time up until lunch break, when my friend Daniel arrived to watch and keep me company.

Camera

I borrowed this Creative Vado from my friend Roger.

The camera's image quality came out just fine; the buttons, however, were HORRIBLE. One of the reasons why I wasn't able to film anything was because I didn't actually "hit" the record button when I thought I did.

Meanwhile, my runs also weren't so consistent enough to get anything good on camera either.

I think my first lap was probably my best lap (which I don't conveniently have a video of), while each consecutive lap afterwards turned out more and more retarded. Darius actually ended up giving me some advice later on the day, telling me that I should just eat something and walk it off, and so I did.

I ended up driving SO MUCH BETTER afterwards that I pulled out my camera again after 4 or 5 good runs. Sadly, I lost my momentum when the camera finally went back on, and I thought to myself, "Man, it wasn't meant to be." Oh well, better luck next time.

Spinnn from Grady Tong on Vimeo.

(Hope you didn't mind all the spins!)

Case in point, I learned three things from this event that I should take note of:

1) Must eat full meals (for better drifting AND TO HAVE FUN).

2) Bring friends (for better drifting AND TO HAVE FUN).

3) Get a better camera with buttons that work (to catch better drifting), and maybe to have fun with editing software later on.

Decals

In other news, Team Jameson officially has decals! Thanks goes to Danny.

(They sort of messed up though because they were out in the sun all day -- damn!)

Android Toy

I got a little something in the mail today:

I know, I'm such a kid hahaha.

Thanks for reading.

Event starts in 8 hours

This isn't anything special, but it'll be my first time doing this.

Many thanks goes to Jason (for the idea), Mike, and Roger; for lending me the helmet, gps, camcorder, and tri-pod.

Hope I sleep tonight...

R.I.P. Darryl A. Gainer

You'll always be remembered Bro. We had great times and I'm glad I met you in my life time.

We had a little Memorial and Prayer at Quickly's for Darryl. Many showed up from all over the bay that knew him. His family surprisingly showed up too.

R.I.P Darryl A. Gainer


Decals are in process:

Red in Miata font a tribute for Darryl.





100% of the money will be given to Darryl's Family.

I already have 55 requests. They will be $2 each.

You can reach me through email: artemio624@yahoo.com

They will be available on Friday August 20th 9PM @ Quikly's in Milpitas Square.



You will be missed man.

bawww

new ring and pinion has manufacturer defect. backlash set to .008 in, but varies between .007-.011 inches in different spots. also has .004 inches runout.

cusco LSD/carrier has 0 runout. ring IS seated properly @ 71 ft/lbs.

it has to be the ring and pinion.
I will be getting my money back this time. I have the choice of exchange but will not be taking it. I will just buy a TRD ring and pinion now. I will most likely be missing the Limitless Drift event on tuesday. Hopefully Alex is nice enough to give me my prereg money back but if not I understand how that goes.

Im not one to start shit on forums like club4ag but Ill post it here. DO NOT go to Weir Performance for anything. There are plenty of people I knew that had problems with him setting up their diffs, my cousin Wes (drivesan89caravan from club4ag) included. I will not mention the other people out of respect, they can shoutout on their own if they want. The only reason I bought the ring and pinion was because I thought the actual product would be fine. Many people on club4ag say they have no problems. So maybe yeah this one is just a rare occurrence, but I am no longer going to take these chances. I just don't want to deal with it anymore. I just wasted another 150 dollars on install. Weir told me to just run the new ring and pinion and to trust him that .004 variance is fine. But I don't trust his setup advice. I called Rear End Specialties in Santa Clara, Performance Options in Oakland, and most importantly, *Technosquare in socal* and they all agreed that the variance is too large and is most likely a manufacturer defect.

By the way, the used ring and pinion I bought was originally a Weir product and was first installed to the guys car by Weir as well. My suspicion is that the dude ended up taking it out cause it crapped out on him from being poorly setup/manufacturer defect. That would explain the quick uneven wear it received despite being only 6 months old.

TRD ring and pinion and broke-ness here I come.

rear ends stuffs again.

ok. went to the 8/6 meet. the howling and whining from the ring and pinion on the freeway was unbearable. forget it. we have a few pics of that meet but havent recieved yet from my cousin. for now ill just leave this:
picture credit goes to terence from norcaldrift. real cool shot i think...

anyway so i bought a new 4.778 ring and pinion today from spence weir at weir performance.

then dropped the third member from the rear end immediately. this is the 3rd time i took it out it in a month. its really annoying now.
this is just one of the shavings i had stuck onto the drain bolt magnet. good thing i got a new one.

so the whole ring and pinion and old third member was also dropped off at nikki's today to get put back in. hes also working on a friends car, putting in a built 16v. im crossing my fingers the diff gets done before tuesdays event otherwise i paid prereg for nothing...


and yeah, the guy who sold me the used 4.7 never responded to me. fuck it.

but on the cool side, my friend derryl gave me 1 free pretty much brand new 185/60/14 sumitomo htr200 as a drift spare in exchange for a headlight switch. saved me 50 bucks. thanks man.

8/6/10

ill also be here tomorrow! if youve got a corolla and are in norcal, better show up!
gotta few things to do to get ready for this meet and for the drift event coming up, so back to work..

August 17th

Adrian and I will be there.

John won't =(

Update 08/13/2010: Adrian will NOT be there--that asshole!

Just kidding on the asshole part haha.

rear end woes

sorry i didnt update like i said i was going to.

i did finish the last job, test drove it and everything was fine...here it is sitting afterwards.

back up to pull the diff:

old 4.3 out and everything..

now, for the nightmare. my plan was to put in the 6 month used 4.778 with all new koyo bearings. this is a long story. skip the text enclosed by stars for a too long; didnt read version below.

***********************************************************************

just recieved it back here from nikki hes a great guy that ive known for a while and he really knows his stuff when it comes to setting up diffs, he did my cousin's and friend's before and they are perfect..

i was pretty excited. but i shouldnt have been. as soon as i take it out for a VERY QUICK test drive...its HOWLING like crazy! I pull back into my garage almost immediately. FUCK! i was so frustrated. the howling was so bad it wasn't simply something you can live with in a track car. i immediately knew it was the ring and pinion. but just to be sure, i took it on over to weir performance in american canyon.
i talked to spence for a bit and he told me that it was most likely the ring and pinion...i was calm and let the guy who sold it to me know. he was responsive and so i was happy about that. spence told me that i could keep it as a track only car, but theres no way i wanted to do that, the howling was just way too bad.
i called up nikki and let him know, and he also agreed that i could keep it as a track car, but he could take it back in one more time to be absolutely sure that it wasnt a setup problem.

Took it back to nikki, and he vigorously tested the ring and pinion setup and checked over his work. yup, everything within spec. backlash was set to .006in in multiple spots, 13 inch lbs preload on the rear pinion bearing, and good gear mesh. gears didnt look great though so he double checked the runout and the backlash...no good! the r&p was infact bad. it was worn unevenly! nikki fixed a little bit of the runout, and set backlash back to .007in still within fsm spec to maybe have it be less loud.
***********************************************************************


TL;DR VERSION: 3rd member recieved back, hows like crazy. r&p suspected to be bad. return to have the setup double checked and it checks out good, the problem is in fact the r&p, diff re-setup to looser specs but still within factory limits.


i tried this new setup today, it still howls pretty bad but i can see it being liveable as a track car. but thats not what i wanted however. i bought a r&p that was supposedly only 6 months old and 'didnt howl or whine at all'. not happy with this setup at all, but buying a new r&p and paying second installation is going to run me 455 dollars. going to be very hard to afford. i have asked the guy for my money back for the r&p, and ill be waiting to see if he will come through. hopefully he does as he is a nice guy and has been responsive so far. but i dropped the question finally just a few minutes ago now that i know for sure it was the r&p, and you never can really know how people will act once you want your money back.


if the guy gives me back my money, i will buy a new r&p, and have it re-set up.
if he does not, i will RUNIT the way it is. according to nikki, it is possible that the uneven wear will fix itself with these new settings, but unlikely, the most will probably happen is the howling will slightly be reduced. if i hear the gears getting worse, i will pull it and buy a new ring and pinion asap.

i will keep people updated on what the guy says. lesson learned. just buy new when it comes to important things like this.

so yeah thats what ive been doing for those past days i didnt post. dealing with that nightmare of a rear end...