TireSmoke.org

I bought a cheap accessory for the Jaguar, a Bluetooth cassette tape adapter that allows me to play music from my phone through the car stereo. It works surprisingly well. I wouldn’t describe the sound quality as great, but I don’t think the phone delivers great sound quality to my other cars ...

47,226 miles (catching up to the Jaguar)
35.2 mpg total average fuel economy

Today I changed the oil and the limited slip differential fluid. The LSD was probably slightly overdue, but the fluid looked clean. It was a bit of an awkward job, but some YouTube videos had me reasonably well prepared ...

The Honda had its first road trip. We drove it to Ohio this time instead of the VW. It was nice to have more room to move around on long days of driving. My last few road trips in the VW have felt a little like torture. The VW is a comfortable vehicle, but there isn’t much room for changing ...

I have a squeak that repeats proportional to vehicle speed. It sounds a little like a cricket. The squeak vanishes with just the lightest touch of the brake pedal. It isn’t always there, but it is annoying when it shows up. Yesterday, I pulled each front and inspected the brakes because I thought ...

My touchup kit arrived today, and I spent an hour fixing my mistakes from last week and touching up a few other edges. I also did a little more polishing. The best approach appears to be wet sanding with 1500 and then using polishing compound. At this point, the couple of spots that I originally ...

I participated in my first car show ever. It was an amusing experience. The show was in Centennial Park, which is a couple hundred yards from my home (as the crow flies), right along the river in downtown Hot Springs. Saturday afternoon was a convenient time for me as we volunteer at Wind Cave ...

I am not really sure what possessed me to take a closer look at this. I have never really figured out the history of the paint on the car. Some panels look like a full repaint while some look original. There are also a number of imperfections. The ugliest spot is on top of the passenger fender. I ...

That is surprisingly accurate. It seems like it is accounting for the roughly 2-foot rollout. I am quite surprised at how well that data correlates to the track position sensors. That is a really cool data set. Definitely a cool device to have.

2.7 seconds is almost exactly 1G for 0-60, depending ...

I have been driving the car a bit more. I drove to Custer for a doctor's appointment (70 mile round trip) and we took it to dinner last night here in town. I am completely thrilled with the outcome. The car is handling extremely well, and it sounds and feels so much more put together without the ...

Might be interesting to put a tape on it and see how much it drops in the next six months.

-BP


I don’t know that I care, but it is a fun suggestion. Currently sitting in the garage with about ¾ tank of gas, I measure 22.5” from the ground to the point on center of the rear bumper where it ...

What is the factory spec for camber ...?


That was a good thought. It was a concern of mine during this project. The only alignment adjustment is for camber. One interesting thing about the Jaguar IRS is that the individual axle shafts are one of the links in the suspension. The adjustment for ...

On the road again.

https://take4digital.com/jag32.jpg

Finishing was easier than I expected. Yesterday, my dashboard was lit up with brake warning lights, but reading the procedures for bleeding the brakes explained what the two warning lights mean. The first thing I did this morning was just ...

While in North Carolina visiting my family last week, I ordered some new brake lines. I found a supplier who had short sections of “British” brake line with bubble flares on both ends and the correct 3/8-inch threads on the fittings. I bought two 12” lines to replace my crossovers on each caliper. I ...

I am not done yet. Yesterday’s work started well, but before getting to work I was buying more tools. As I contemplated the tasks ahead of me, I realized that tightening the radius arm rear bolt was going to require a tool I did not have, an 11/16 box end wrench. I took it apart with an open-end ...

The car is sitting on its own wheels right now, although the wheels will be coming off for the final steps. Everything went really well this afternoon. I fabricated the last brake line and then stood there wondering what else needed to be done. I greased a couple of fittings, but then decided it was ...