At the requests of some other members on here I have decided to start a project log on my car. This first post will probably get a little wordy, because the history of the car is pretty interesting so I am going to start with that and then move into where the car was when I bought it, where it is now, and what I have in store for the future.

First the car:

Here is basically how she sits now. A low mileage (~45,000 miles) original paint Gold dust 84 GLH. I am the second owner of the car. I bought it from the basically as you see it from the family of the previous owner, as he had passed away. He had used it for a daily driver/weekend autocross car for the first few years of its life, then transformed it into a street prepared machine, and it was basically only used for racing from then on. I have been told that most of the miles that are on this car have been put on it in competition. If you autocrossed in the Midwest in the 90s, it seems there is a good chance you know this car. I live in central Iowa and have met people from Kansas, Chicago, and Minneapolis that remember the car well from back in the day. here are a pics I have been given/found of the car in the glory days of the previous owner.







Alright now for some info on what I know is done to the car. Lets start under the hood. The motor that is in the car is not the original motor. It is still an NA 2.2, but it has been worked over some. The SCCA class the car was built for doesn't allow a ton or work inside the motor or head. I know there are a set of Keith Black pistons in it, and I suspect it was bored out slightly, but only to negate wear, as according to class rules. It is still the stock cam and no more then some light port and polishing can be done. Intake, exhaust, and ignition are open in this class so it has the Mopar dual downdraft manifold with Weber 32/36 DGAVs on it.





The exhaust side is a Mopar 4-1 longtube header that goes basically straight into a muffler with a tip at the end. The class rules state that the exhaust must dump out the side or behind the driver, so in the interest of weight it does that and no more.



The ignition is a Mallory Unilite distributor and a MSD 6-AL box and blaster coil. I have also bought the launch control unit for the box but haven't had the time to get it installed. The box is under the seat and is kind of a mess so I would like to move it and make it more presentable. I work with wiring by trade, so having the wiring in this car messy and unlabeled doesn't sit well with me.





This combination is good for 120 whp and 134 wtq. Its not a ton, but with so much torque coming on so soon, and only 2,300lbs with driver, it is enough to embarrass much higher powered cars around the cones.



On to what holds the car up. I will post what suspension came on the car, but it is literally on stands with nothing under it right now, as I wait for new stuff I will talk about later. Up front the car had what I believe were Carrera coilovers with 425lb springs. It also has some home made "camber caster plates" up front that are not adjustable.








The rears are single adjustable Koni Reds on what appears to be a homemade coilover setup with 500lbs springs.







Here is the alignment as it sits now. Lots of toe in the front, which works well for what I use the car for. Not enough camber though, which I am working on. This was taken just to get a baseline.



The wheel and tire package is what really gets people when the first see the car. They are 13x9.25 wheels I believe made by a company called Duralite, that no longer exists. They weigh in right around the 10lbs mark each and are very light weight. I run a full slick on them. In the past they have been 13x9-20 but this year I am stepping up to at 22.5in tall hoosier. The hope is that the extra height will help me have to shift to third less often, which I was doing way too much thanks to extremely short gearing. The wheels are a little wide for the car and really give it an aggressive stance. I am not going to take home any awards at a local StanceNation show however.









I also have a set of 14in BBS basket weave wheels off of an E30 BMW to drive the car on the street with. The BBS logo is just a magnet as a joke, and I don't drive the car with it normally.



Interior is mostly stock up front. Everything behind the B pillar has been removed now, mostly to give me a place to put my slicks and tools when I go racing. There is also a 6 point bolt in cage in the car. I hung a fire extinguisher on it by the request of my grandma. Apparently they had a Horizon burn to the ground in the late 80s, and she was concerned for me. What is more racecar then a fire extinguisher though?







That is about all that has been done to the car. I will throw a few extra pics of interesting stuff and some action shots before I dive into what is to come.

Here is a sheet from getting my car corner balanced. Obviously the car is extremely nose heavy, but it is as close to perfect from corner to corner as the guy doing it had ever seen. this is with me in the driver seat and about half a tank of gas, which is what I usually autocross with.



Although the car isn't really setup for it I was talked into taking it to a drag strip once far a test and tune night. With spinning through all of the first 2 gears and missing 4th I was still able to stay ahead of my friends Miata, if only by a small margin. It was probably the slowest and closest race of the night!





Now for a few shots of the car in action on the course. People love seeing the car run because I am often on only three wheels around every corner. It is definitely a ride they don't forget when they ride with me.







The Ten Tenths watermark on the bottom of that picture is from a podcast that my friends and I do. I have to throw in a shameless plug for it, so check us out on iTunes and at www.tententhspodcast.com

I almost forgot my vanity plate. I can't claim being creative enough for coming up with it. It was on the car before I got it and I was able to transfer it to my name.



Continued in second post!