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EDIT: We're back, and we had the adventure of a lifetime! It was great meeting the fanatics that we could, and to who we didn't get to touch base with, next year we'll be back! Great meeting Jason (machrc), Raj (slblaksoldier) and Chad (stanc3). We also got to see a lot of the fanatics' cars in person, which was really cool even if we didn't meet the owners this time around. Socal is definitely an awesome place and we plan on making the trip again next year if possible. All in all, we could've flown to LA for the fest, but we could also rock CSL reps...
We're officially on the way! Over the last 3 days I drove up to Orlando from Miami and have been working endlessly with Zak (funkwagen), Julio (bluejeansonfire), and Chris on Zaks e36 trying to get it ready for the trip. We put in about 35hrs within two days of work on Saturday and Sunday putting in his new turbo setup (which we actually finished installing completely, new thread will be up soon for that in the FI section). Unfortunately there was a delay with the tuning portion of the kit and the car won't be making the journey with us this year. 24hrs before our scheduled departure we had gone 24hrs with no sleep, and were now down one car for the trip; life sucked. A few hours later after we got some sleep in the solution was clear. e30 goes westside.
Many thanks to AA for their continued support, and major props to PSI in Orlando for their help all along!!!
I'm posting this from my netbook and will continue to update. We're currently on I-10 just about to hit the FL border and cross in to Alabama. We'd like to make it to Houston tonight at least. I'll be updating as I can, it's hard because our connection is via iPhone tethering lol
Julio's place. Orlando, FL
My e46
The e30
First stop: Tallahassee, FL for gas and walkie talkies from Wal-Mart.
Rolling shots of one of 1985s finest machines :craig:
Rolling through TX
Fuelling up just outside of Tucson, AZ
the gradddaddy rootbeer!
Rolling in to CA finally
Zak's uncle manages an apartment building in downtown LA, so we were lucky enough to get one of the studio's there for a night. It was a pretty tight artsy place, definitely one of the coolest places to live IMO.
this wall was originally the outside of a building downtown. They added on to it and made it a series of rooms, but left the artwork on the wall still. Very neat.
The roof of the building had a driving cage, a half basketball court, and a cool little loft area with a bbq grill.
At the fest. I will start another thread with all my bfest pictures as well. We spent the Friday before the fest visiting AutoTalent, Gintani, and RMS. Met some really cool people, and we can't thank them enough for letting us tour the shops. Sam, Zolti, Alex, Arno and Osh, it was a pleasure meeting all of you!!
At Venice Beach. What a cool place. Probably nothing new to the socal guys, but it's nothing like south beach here in FL lol
Sunday afternoon we said peace to socal and started heading over to Las Vegas! It was surprisingly cool on the way there, with temps in the mid 50s. We found a little spot off of the hwy to take a few shots there as well.
We pulled in to Vegas just after the sun had set, and stayed at the New York, New York.
Not too many pics of this night... what happens in vegas stays in vegas! Although we had to snap some shots of Chris (eich) passed out on the floor in the hotel room
: WITH his shoes on :eeps:
Next stop was the Hoover Dam! There was a picture spot on the hwy on the way there, so we stopped and shot a few pics.
My "minuature" edit attempt of the Dam
A little later we made it to Grand Canyon as the sun was starting to set. We actually got pulled over for doing a 79 in a 65 on the way here. Luckily the officer was more interested in our cars than he was in ticketing us. He even popped the hood on his Impala to show us the V6 in it that he claimed took him up to 130mph :craig:
On the way to the canyon I was able to get a 5th gear pull in with the 2.93 diff installed. I ran out of room at just above 6k rpm, probably around 165mph. The car was still accelerating, and technically could've done 178 at 7k rpm!
The most amazing view and feeling...
After we left the canyon we experienced the biggest failure of our entire trip. While crusing on hwy40 just outside of Flagstaff, AZ., Zak was piloting the e30 ahead of me. With little lighting he came up on a truck winch that was laying in the road... Everything happened so quickly but it turned out for the better. The e30 hit it, and in an instant the exhaust was dragging on the floor, and fuel was spraying out of the tank at 70mph. The winch got caught on the tank and it propped the passenger side rear of the car up making the tail end loose and nearly uncontrollable. Zak pulled over with the exhaust sparking while what was left of the fuel leaked out. At this time the catalytic converter of the car was nearly on fire, and we were worried about the sparking exhaust igniting the fuel that was all over the road, fortunately that didn't happen! Chris's allstate insurance helped us out with a free tow back to Flagstaff where we stayed in a Ramada for the night. While Zak and Julio rode with the towtruck, Chris and I headed to the nearest 24hr walmart to pick up some JB waterweld and sandpaper to hopefully fix our leak. It was nearly 3am at this time, with our spirits crushed we called it a night and went to bed.
The huge holes in the tank. Fortunately the paint was also peeled off from the impact, leaving us with a clean surface.
Dropped off in this spot by the towtruck, at the Ramada in Flagstaff, AZ
Our walmart pickups, we figured a fire extinguisher would be a good thing to have
In the morning Julio was quick to d0 w0rk
One hole patched
All done
Exhaust held up by a hoseclamp now
The stupid winch we hit
Fueling up and hoping for the best.
To our expectations and satisfaction, the car started and held fuel perfectly! However, since the tank and exhaust had been bent from the impact, they were extremely close to floor, and were now rubbing on reflectors when switching lanes... we had to raise the car up.
We stopped and home depot and brainstormed for a bit. Eventually we found some PVC fittings that we figured would do the job just fine, and they did! This raised the car up a little over an inch in the rear, which helped gain some clearance for the newly bent gas tank.
The e30 at its new raised height
After that we headed off to Oklahoma City for the night, and on the way there I hit 231k miles!
That's it really for the photos. After Oklahoma City we drove 21hrs straight back to Orlando since we were behind schedule with the e30 mishap. This was most definitely the experience of a lifetime, and we genuinely intend on making it back next year!!
We're officially on the way! Over the last 3 days I drove up to Orlando from Miami and have been working endlessly with Zak (funkwagen), Julio (bluejeansonfire), and Chris on Zaks e36 trying to get it ready for the trip. We put in about 35hrs within two days of work on Saturday and Sunday putting in his new turbo setup (which we actually finished installing completely, new thread will be up soon for that in the FI section). Unfortunately there was a delay with the tuning portion of the kit and the car won't be making the journey with us this year. 24hrs before our scheduled departure we had gone 24hrs with no sleep, and were now down one car for the trip; life sucked. A few hours later after we got some sleep in the solution was clear. e30 goes westside.
Many thanks to AA for their continued support, and major props to PSI in Orlando for their help all along!!!
I'm posting this from my netbook and will continue to update. We're currently on I-10 just about to hit the FL border and cross in to Alabama. We'd like to make it to Houston tonight at least. I'll be updating as I can, it's hard because our connection is via iPhone tethering lol
Julio's place. Orlando, FL
My e46
The e30
First stop: Tallahassee, FL for gas and walkie talkies from Wal-Mart.
Rolling shots of one of 1985s finest machines :craig:
Rolling through TX
Fuelling up just outside of Tucson, AZ
the gradddaddy rootbeer!
Rolling in to CA finally
Zak's uncle manages an apartment building in downtown LA, so we were lucky enough to get one of the studio's there for a night. It was a pretty tight artsy place, definitely one of the coolest places to live IMO.
this wall was originally the outside of a building downtown. They added on to it and made it a series of rooms, but left the artwork on the wall still. Very neat.
The roof of the building had a driving cage, a half basketball court, and a cool little loft area with a bbq grill.
At the fest. I will start another thread with all my bfest pictures as well. We spent the Friday before the fest visiting AutoTalent, Gintani, and RMS. Met some really cool people, and we can't thank them enough for letting us tour the shops. Sam, Zolti, Alex, Arno and Osh, it was a pleasure meeting all of you!!
At Venice Beach. What a cool place. Probably nothing new to the socal guys, but it's nothing like south beach here in FL lol
Sunday afternoon we said peace to socal and started heading over to Las Vegas! It was surprisingly cool on the way there, with temps in the mid 50s. We found a little spot off of the hwy to take a few shots there as well.
We pulled in to Vegas just after the sun had set, and stayed at the New York, New York.
Not too many pics of this night... what happens in vegas stays in vegas! Although we had to snap some shots of Chris (eich) passed out on the floor in the hotel room
: WITH his shoes on :eeps:Next stop was the Hoover Dam! There was a picture spot on the hwy on the way there, so we stopped and shot a few pics.
My "minuature" edit attempt of the Dam
A little later we made it to Grand Canyon as the sun was starting to set. We actually got pulled over for doing a 79 in a 65 on the way here. Luckily the officer was more interested in our cars than he was in ticketing us. He even popped the hood on his Impala to show us the V6 in it that he claimed took him up to 130mph :craig:
On the way to the canyon I was able to get a 5th gear pull in with the 2.93 diff installed. I ran out of room at just above 6k rpm, probably around 165mph. The car was still accelerating, and technically could've done 178 at 7k rpm!
The most amazing view and feeling...
After we left the canyon we experienced the biggest failure of our entire trip. While crusing on hwy40 just outside of Flagstaff, AZ., Zak was piloting the e30 ahead of me. With little lighting he came up on a truck winch that was laying in the road... Everything happened so quickly but it turned out for the better. The e30 hit it, and in an instant the exhaust was dragging on the floor, and fuel was spraying out of the tank at 70mph. The winch got caught on the tank and it propped the passenger side rear of the car up making the tail end loose and nearly uncontrollable. Zak pulled over with the exhaust sparking while what was left of the fuel leaked out. At this time the catalytic converter of the car was nearly on fire, and we were worried about the sparking exhaust igniting the fuel that was all over the road, fortunately that didn't happen! Chris's allstate insurance helped us out with a free tow back to Flagstaff where we stayed in a Ramada for the night. While Zak and Julio rode with the towtruck, Chris and I headed to the nearest 24hr walmart to pick up some JB waterweld and sandpaper to hopefully fix our leak. It was nearly 3am at this time, with our spirits crushed we called it a night and went to bed.
The huge holes in the tank. Fortunately the paint was also peeled off from the impact, leaving us with a clean surface.
Dropped off in this spot by the towtruck, at the Ramada in Flagstaff, AZ
Our walmart pickups, we figured a fire extinguisher would be a good thing to have
In the morning Julio was quick to d0 w0rk
One hole patched
All done
Exhaust held up by a hoseclamp now
The stupid winch we hit
Fueling up and hoping for the best.
To our expectations and satisfaction, the car started and held fuel perfectly! However, since the tank and exhaust had been bent from the impact, they were extremely close to floor, and were now rubbing on reflectors when switching lanes... we had to raise the car up.
We stopped and home depot and brainstormed for a bit. Eventually we found some PVC fittings that we figured would do the job just fine, and they did! This raised the car up a little over an inch in the rear, which helped gain some clearance for the newly bent gas tank.
The e30 at its new raised height
After that we headed off to Oklahoma City for the night, and on the way there I hit 231k miles!
That's it really for the photos. After Oklahoma City we drove 21hrs straight back to Orlando since we were behind schedule with the e30 mishap. This was most definitely the experience of a lifetime, and we genuinely intend on making it back next year!!
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