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Spent some time this weekend cleaning the intake and components up. Man they were filthy and look 100x better now. I need to get my head wrapped around the wiring and then it's time to decide on a cold air intake. It'd probably be wise to replace all the gaskets too while I'm at it.
It's been about 10 years or so since I've met up with a fellow AZine member, but that all changed this past Saturday when I got together with our very own @SaaBaaDoo to check the Tail of the Dragon off my bucket list.
It was everything I expected and so much more! The amount of turns, the speed you can carry into them, the sound of our exhausts in unison bouncing off of the surrounding forest... it was automotive petrelhead paradise! There were tons of people, amazing cars and motorcycles and we even witnessed police and rescue rushing to an accident that happened just seconds before we came across the scene (a Miata went off the road and down a ravine, praying the driver made it). Two other friends came along and we stuck together in various orders the entire way. Obviously Sapphire will never keep up with his Hellcat Daytona Wide Body in any circumstance, but it was fun to simply keep pace most of the way. Of course there was a time or two he decided to punch it and lose the three of us for a few curves, but who wouldn't with 717hp on tap ha ha. It was such an awesome experience and we'll definitely be meeting up again in the future.
Here are some photos from the day, the action shots courtesy of Killboy.com. I have a couple of them on order for the hi-res versions.
Awesome! Glad you were able to get out and enjoy the road. Good to hear it's also still worth the trip. That road is a bucket list item for me one day.
That is one place I was always pretty sure I'd rather be in my S2000 than the CTS-V. Once you got tail happy with all that weight it was hard to correct. And in that case, in those tight turns you are lucky if you're outside lane and you only fuck yourself up...every time we've gone there's someone over the edge, I'm surprised they haven't put up more guardrails or monitored speed more. My guess is it's keeping local business alive with cabin rentals and deals gap store and even the police and fire...
My girl's Dad lives in Maryville so only about 20 minutes from the end of the dragon to his house.
I've done it 3 times...
get this shit...
in a VW Routan
in a 2004 Yukon XL
and in a Honda Ody
one day I'll drive the S2000 up...or the S5. I actually picked it up from Hickory, NC but it was gonna be 4 hours out of the way
to get to it and it was a short trip to get back to work.
Anyway...super glad you had fun...awesome that you got to meet @SaaBaaDoo also. Sexy ass car and predictable big dick energy, I'm sure.
@SuperTrooper169 It was great to get to meet and hang out with you man! Love your car and especially how those wheels look on it!!! I was hoping more people from my group were going to make it, but with most of them being in the military and the travel bans the DOD has in place, everyone got screwed. That's okay though, there will be another one in the spring! Next time you'll have to come to Helen, GA for the Friday night shenanigans. Maybe next time we won't have two douchebags on Harleys doing 10 under the speed limit for miles on end with a line of traffic behind them. Jenn also mentioned if we didn't get Covid from the amount of people in that gift shop, we are probably all good! That's the busiest i've ever seen it!
@rockstar143 I can only imagine a S2000 on that road! I brought my old M3 up here (Maryville) when Hurricane Irma hit back home but didn't get to go run the dragon with it. Still regret that. Surprisingly though, the Hellcat handles great and still tons of fun on that road. Big dick energy
Spent Sunday hanging out around Pigeon Forge. The car got cat-called and yelled out too by several guys, one asked me to rev it then told me it gave him a chub. Even had a guy in a red GT-R slow down in traffic for me to catch up so he could tell me how much of a bad ass fuckin ride mine was. That was odd.
Bro, you're gonna get so much ass pussy in that thing!
Funny enough but I coined the term "boxer dropper" a long time ago when I was selling my RSX since not many chicks care unless it looks expensive.
Get out! We just spent a week in Murphy and drove through Helen...wayyy too touristy for us but we took the kinds to pan for gems even though it was really just
a bucket of sand with cheap gems for too much money for the sake of the experience. We drove to Ellijay for ice cream which was a cool little town...and went to some
small obscure falls too. Very cool place.
Bro, you're gonna get so much ass pussy in that thing!
Funny enough but I coined the term "boxer dropper" a long time ago when I was selling my RSX since not many chicks care unless it looks expensive.
Get out! We just spent a week in Murphy and drove through Helen...wayyy too touristy for us but we took the kinds to pan for gems even though it was really just
a bucket of sand with cheap gems for too much money for the sake of the experience. We drove to Ellijay for ice cream which was a cool little town...and went to some
small obscure falls too. Very cool place.
Yeah man, if I ever decide to go gay, I'll be set with my current car!
It is touristy as hell, but they have a beer garden area so we just go get trashed and hang out. There's a nice scenic drive right outside Helen so it's a great starting point for a full day of Saturday driving. If you're talking about that panning place that's right outside of Helen, we've taken the kids there too!!!
@SuperTrooper169 It was great to get to meet and hang out with you man! Love your car and especially how those wheels look on it!!! I was hoping more people from my group were going to make it, but with most of them being in the military and the travel bans the DOD has in place, everyone got screwed. That's okay though, there will be another one in the spring! Next time you'll have to come to Helen, GA for the Friday night shenanigans. Maybe next time we won't have two douchebags on Harleys doing 10 under the speed limit for miles on end with a line of traffic behind them. Jenn also mentioned if we didn't get Covid from the amount of people in that gift shop, we are probably all good! That's the busiest i've ever seen it!
@rockstar143 I can only imagine a S2000 on that road! I brought my old M3 up here (Maryville) when Hurricane Irma hit back home but didn't get to go run the dragon with it. Still regret that. Surprisingly though, the Hellcat handles great and still tons of fun on that road. Big dick energy
Spent Sunday hanging out around Pigeon Forge. The car got cat-called and yelled out too by several guys, one asked me to rev it then told me it gave him a chub. Even had a guy in a red GT-R slow down in traffic for me to catch up so he could tell me how much of a bad ass fuckin ride mine was. That was odd.
@SaaBaaDoo I'm definitely down for Helen, GA next time! I wanted to go this time but with the little Trooper with me and the 'rona going on it wouldn't have been quite as fun. Next time I'll fly solo. I was watching the video's my little buddy took from the back seat and the majority of them were when we had the two Harleys in front of us or the other slow cars that we got behind lol. He did get video of the entire Dragon but he was flopping around, pointing the phone in all different directions or just at the back of my seat, and there's a ton of wind noise, so unfortunately not really good enough to share. That's what I get for letting a 9 year old be the videographer. I meant to bring my GoPro and mount but I totally forgot. Next time I'll get some quality video and sound.
Pigeon Forge is a trip. We actually stayed there Friday night just so we didn't have to drive 3+ hours Saturday morning. Just driving down the strip is like being in a different world. A very scary world ha ha.
@rockstar143 It must have been the big dick energy that keep the big boats hugging the curves so nicely. Ironically, the one car that went off the road that day (at least that we saw) was a Miata. I've never seen so many Miatas in my life. And quite a few of them where stripped of the body panels so it looks like a mutated Ariel Atom which looked insane. I bet the S2000 would be perfect for the Dragon. I'm actually surprised we didn't see any.
All the S2000's have already flown off the cliffs. None left.
I wish I were closer to y'all...
Speaking of touristy...holy fuck is Pigeon Forge...cool place...Dollywood was fun on a not busy day too...
we did the snow sledding place and thread ice at each other.
Yes, saabaa...that panning place up the road in GA with the family members that look like they all married their sisters.
Keep it in the family!
Ha ha my son was dying to go to one of those mining places but thankfully we didn't have enough time. I can only imagine (or maybe I can't) what the clientele is like.
I got the hi-res version of one of the photos. I did some slight retouching, but otherwise it was perfect. Love it!
I decided long ago those guys are not real car photog guys...they don't leave the shutter open long enough to make it look like a rolling shot.
How's this for a business model...
pay a drone operator to make a 4K video of your entire run from outside the car for $100 per car.
I really should put my IQ to use.
Went on a road trip with the wife to Blue Ridge, GA for a long weekend. Man it was amazing and so much fun going up, over and down the twisty mountain roads. We did some hikes and the roads leading to the trail heads were 3-5 miles of gravel, ruts and rocks. Sapphire didn't like that very much, but she was able to get through both of them. The funniest part was getting to the trail head and seeing just 4x4s and SUVs parked there and here we come in a lowered Charger going 10mph and cringing every time she scraped lol. It was so much fun!
Thanks man! Our cabin was the bomb. AirBnB for the win.
Oh and HBD @Flipster23 !
I’ve been looking at checking out an Air BNB for next month while the kids are off track, but I’ve put way too much into the house and need to recover. Have always wanted to stay in a cabin.
I spent the majority of this weekend on my back underneath the car doing maintenance that I've been putting off for months, shoot, years. I did a transmission drain, filter and gasket change and fill. Much easier than I was expecting and long over due at 115,500 miles.
I also finally replaced the driveshaft center carrier bearing that was the culprit for my slight vibration issue I've had since swapping rear diffs. What a difference it made. The car feels so smooth now, no more feeling like a tire is slightly out of balance. I should have done it 2+ years ago but life/laziness got the better of me. It was a giant PITA because I had to drop the catback, which to Corsa's credit they make a very well fitting catback, but it's a beeoch to get off and back on. Next I need to tackle the front suspension rebuild, then finally onto the 6.4 intake manifold install.
So true, Aman. It's not sexy but it sure does give you a nice sense of security when you drive the car and know those issues/potential future issues are sorted.
The fluid was more brown than red, so it definitely was time. The drain got about 4.25 qts out (the transmission holds 13 qts) so it's only replacing about 1/3 of the total fluid, so I may do another one next year just to get more fresh fluid in there. Doing a flush is a big no-no on the NAG1 5spd autos in these cars, so that's why I just did the drain/fill procedure.
What in the actual fuck...
Tranny fluid requires a pan drop and only gets out a third of what's in there?
Thanks Dodge...
Great work, man...
nice to know your carrier bearing is made in Turkey.
Thanks goodness we buy American products to support American manufacturing. Global Marketplace.
Glad to see you are still loving the one you're with
I didn't notice it was Made in Turkey until I posted the photo.
Engine made in Mexico, transmission made in Germany, the car is assembled in Canada, carrier bearing made in Turkey, and most importantly the giant balls and mullet required to drive the car, born in 'Merica baby. Hells yeah (Eagle screeching in distance)
I didn't notice it was Made in Turkey until I posted the photo.
Engine made in Mexico, transmission made in Germany, the car is assembled in Canada, carrier bearing made in Turkey, and most importantly the giant balls and mullet required to drive the car, born in 'Merica baby. Hells yeah (Eagle screeching in distance)
Welp that was a beeoch of a job, but the 6.4 intake manifold is on. Just so much wiring involved. I also had to spend extra time cleaning the intake ports on the heads since they were caked pretty good with carbon/oil build up, which I hear is common with most engines now-a-days. Even with an oil catch can the majority of the engines life it was ugly under there. I also found out that my stock 5.7 intake was leaking a bit around the ports, so it ended up being preventative maintenance as a bonus. The butt dyno tells me I picked up some low to mid range torque, which is where this intake manifold is supposed to shine, so I'm a happy camper now that it's done.
Looks great under the hood. How did you clean out the buildup? I'm surprised there was some carbon on the ports. I know DI cars get it worse since the cleaning agents in fuel don't go through the intake manifold/head. A little afraid to see what my car looks like there.
06-29-2020, 02:47 PM
Thought you already knew.
