Progress smiles on the beholder

Hot Fuzz is amazing. So damn amazing.

Daft Punk is pretty nifty too. I've heard a lot of good things about them over the last year or so... finally decided to get a hold of some of their work. Still working my way through Homework, but so far so good. :)

The 240SX is going well; it has an engine in it now.



It's been in place since November... I just haven't had the time to get it going because of school. The good news is it's Christmas break and I'll have some time to get some quality work in.

Reflections on Sophomore Year, Belton High

Maybe writing this will make me a better person. Or, decrease the likelihood of testicular cancer. Either way, I win.

...

First Period
Mrs. Holmes
Pre-AP Chemistry

This class was irritating. It consisted of Mrs. Holmes saying something, no one listening, and said non-listening people failing the tests. Which, of course, were always over what we had learned four weeks ago and were no longer working on. Then someone would say, "Balls." Or, "That's bullshit." Honestly, what the hell? Then they'd be like, "Oh dear, I have a 63 in this class!! Mrs. Holmes is a shitty teacher! OMG!" Then I said something sarcastic and no one cared. It was brutal.

Second Period
Mrs. Kaufman
BCIS I

This class was easy. I didn't do anything but log on to Texas Nissans, Zilvia, and Ziptied. That and Tetris. I always got the feeling Kaufman was trying to 'cut a deal' with us, the class. I guess that's what coaches do. But she was a cheerleading coach...? Maybe those girls have it hard after all. Hope they don't lose, then they'll need a new coach. Oh wait. Nobody cares about cheerleading. Let's go hire a new football coach instead. Pwned.

Third Period
Mr. Killingsworth
Concert Band

Y'know, I like concert band. I get a chance to do nothing and have the honor of being in the Marching 100. OMG!

Fourth Period
Mrs. Ramirez
Pre-AP English II

This class was a challenge, because I had the task of trying to maintain the same level of sarcastic bitchiness throughout a full 180+ days of school. But I did it. :] When we actually did work, it wasn't bad, really. Stupid movies were entertaining too. Homies! Mimicking the teacher was cool. I did that for about half the period once. I guess she just thought ignoring me was the best plan of action.

Lunch
Commons/Large Practice Room

We had a table in the commons, but one day we went to sit down and it wasn't there. Fcuk. So we went into the "drumline room," a.k.a. the large practice room. It was always entertaining, and Collin's Gatorade caps created a legend.

Fifth Period
Mrs. MacEntire
Pre-AP Algebra II

I HATE THIS CLASS. All we did was do easy work. Then the fags in the class would whine about shit. LAME.

Sixth Period
Mrs. Brooks
Pre-AP World History

Everyone made this class out to be difficult. It really wasn't. It was enlightening to a certain extent, at least. I liked it when we did discussions, mainly because the irritating kids knew that if they tried to say anything they'd be laughed at. So they shut up. I really hated the presentations, however. I always got stuck with a moron and got an ugly grade. I also never prepared for any of it so I improvised and looked like a fool. Still ended the year with an A though!

Seventh Period
Mrs. Hunter
Spanish II

Sooooooo easy. I never really had to think at all.

...

So my year was irritating but relatively easy. It started out much better than it ended up in many ways but vice versa in some cases. Life is like that.

Anyway, that was a waste of time.

Taking one for the team.

Hah, haven't done this little deal in a while. My official explanation is that I'm busy, but others would have to say I'm pretending to be busy. Hey, it's summer. I get up at one and stare at my car for a while then go right back to sleep. What else is there?



Speaking of that, the CA18 is actually getting rebuilt. The block is off at the machine shop right now. I'm planning on bringing the head in soon. Hopefully the car will be running soon. I'm getting anxious to drive the damn thing. In August, I'll have had the thing for a year. And I've spent more time in the engine bay and underneath than I have in the driver's seat.

The sole exception is when I was installing the brake booster. I spent about an hour laying under the steering column trying to turn a box wrench 1/8 of a turn at a time. Maybe it's time to get some ratching wrenches? Hah, no. That would be far too easy, am I right?

I'm also beginning to question my part choices right now. My car is going to be GAY, hahahaha. Oooh, quiet exhaust! A-pillar guages! Side mount intercooler! Meh. Form over function is just so much more badass. Maybe my shit'll be more ghetto after driving it a while, like it should be. A clean S-chassis is like a V6 Stang--where the hell is the fun in that? Come on!

But I'm ranting. Apologies all around. Maybe when I get shitty fitting aero and an SSAC fmic I'll be cool again. Until then, I'm a gay high school 'tard who plays e-thug.

Represent!

p.s. Sport Max's??!?! THREE INCH LIPPPPPPP

hahahahahahagagagaghahagaah

One good reason for no updates:

Nothing's really changed.

The car is going along fine. We painted the engine bay with Rustoleum, no drama there. Been busy reinstalling all the crap we took out of the thing. Spring break we accomplished a lot of things, but we're still pretty far away. I want to have the car running by May at the latest, so things have to start happening pretty quick now.

School is interesting, to say the least. It'll do I suppose.

David

Quitting's for quitters.

I honestly haven't been up to much lately. Kidding, kidding.

As you all know, the motor is out of the 240SX. I've been squeezing in some work time here and there, but not too much has happened since we pulled the motor.

First off, I removed the CA18DET's exhaust manifold to take a look at the turbo. I had noticed earlier that it appeared to have not been clocked as it should have been. (When running the SR20DET T25 on the CA, the compressor housing must be clocked to clear the exhaust manifold). The guy in Japan who installed it just cut off one of the outlet holes entirely, as you can see here:



And he butchered the hot side outlet:



He also cut up the inlet for the air intake tube. The replacement from the blown turbo is pictured for comparison.



So, I opted to buy a blown turbo for the parts that were damaged and replace them.

The blown turbo:



Last night (Friday) I spent a good two hours making a tool to release the snap ring that holds the compressor portion of the turbo to the center section. Tomorrow, I should be able to release the damn thing and get it apart. The tool I made was originally a crappy pair of needle-nose pliers—I cut off the tips, bent then to make "claws," and then used part of an old bed frame to make extensions for the handles. Now, I didn't have any power tools at my disposal (hack saw FTW) so I'm extremely sore. But worth it? Yes. I did buy a set of snap-ring pliers from O'Reilly Auto earlier this week, but they're too weaksauce to take apart a turbo. :(

Last Saturday, one week ago, I went to Budget Pick-N-Pull in Belton. While at the junkyard I was able to get some good deals.

Uncracked dash (which was a pain to remove)—$15:



Electric radiator fan—$10:



I picked up some other random stuff there too. But all in all, I did well. Now to find some power steering lines and a gauge cluster...

And this is what the CA18DET looks like right now... it's awaiting more parts:



My dad's house also made progress and is looking pretty good:









I've got Solo & Ensemble for band next weekend, which I'm honestly not looking forward to. Ensemble? Check. Solo? Not so check. But we shall see.

Thanks for reading.

The motor is out.

Pictures can be seen here.

240SX Overview

Small changes I suppose.

In case you didn't notice, I changed the title of the site and domain name. I didn't like the name I had before, so I apologize if it was bookmarked and the new name threw you off. I made a few changes to the template; let me know if the fonts are too small or anything like that.

David