My oil pan stripped out tonight while doing a simple oil change. 180º thread segments were coming out with the oil. We couldn’t get the drain plug to thread… and when I finally did – that wrench just kept turning and turning and turning and turning.

I’m frustrated because I didn’t HAVE to change the oil. It was probably fine. I just wanted to make sure the car was in top shape before the event at Turner. No drifting for me this weekend.

Ugh.

I just stumbled on this old Jtuned snap from FD Atlanta in 2005. This was a big day, as it was the first time I would qualify to drive in the professional arena – and what better place to do it, than on my home turf in front of friends and family. It is crazy to think how insanely stock the car was. It has come a LONG way since then. I suppose I have likely evolved as a driver as well.

This was a very memorable day for me. Drifting was fun, and still so pure. The professional element was all new and exciting.
Good times indeed.
<3

I am behind the times, I know… I still do not have an Xbox 360, which means I am also not privvy all the cool stuff in Forza Motorsport 3. My buddy Marlow showed me this replica of my car in it’s 2006 livery with Batlground on the door. If you recall, Casey (cobratuner) made an amazing replica of my car in it’s 2007 livery for Forza 2. I think this version of the car was made by “AoG | Kevbo” on the forzamotorsport.net forum. I’m definitely flattered to see people take the time to make my car’s likeness. It is really, really awesome, so THANK YOU!!!

The electronic complexity that lies beneath my car’s tattered metal has plagued and taunted me since I started drifting it. After a bigger headache than I ever thought possible with this car, I was FINALLY able to completely, 110% without a doubt disable the ABS/DSC without throwing the car into limp-mode. BUT HOW?!

I pulled one teeny tiny li’l wheel speed sensor from the rear of the car. That’s it. I’ve been told that pulling all four sensors works on E36 cars, but the E46 models have a stricter set of electronics, so when the car doesn’t get a speed reading, it declares that as a problem worthy of limp-mode. I encountered the same issue when I pulled both of the rear sensors (leaving the fronts). The trick here, is to only pull one. That way the car still pulls a reading from the other side, and just registers the pulled sensor as a fault… keeping the car revving like a champ.

I did hours and hours of research on this subject, and found many people asking how to fully disable ABS/DSC, but never got a straight answer on how to do it. People seemed more content ridiculing those asking the question than pondering a useful solution. Hopefully this trick will help those that need to disable it, but keep in mind – I am not liable for any action taken based on this post. I needed to do this for my track car, and I would not recommend this for ANY street car. In fact, if I could have kept ABS functioning, and still keep use of my hydraulic e-brake, I would have done so. ABS has saved my ass quite a few times – even on the track.

This effectively closes the chapter on my lengthy saga on this subject. I can now use my hydraulic e-brake free and clear of limp-mode. The e-brake works AMAZING. It will take some acclimation to driving without ABS, but I’m sure I will get used to it. One thing is for sure… I can’t wait to use this e-brake at Road Atlanta in the spring!

I walked away from Southeast Drift’s Land of the Great at Gresham Motorsports Park unscathed and uneasy.

Newly poured asphalt adorns the raceway, as Gresham itself is a freshly renovated facility. I don’t know if they have some sort of compound additive in the pavement, but the track has an immense amount of grip… making is VERY difficult for a 180hp tank to break loose. I was attempting to initiate faster than I have ever initiated… only to have the car set and hug the bank like I was going for a better lap time. The few occasions I could snap the car loose on the bank, it sucked the power dry from my rear wheels, pulling me right down toward the inner-wall. Fast.

I (somehow) managed to qualify seventh, and was paired up with my buddy Dennis Mertzanis for the tandem comp. I didn’t feel comfortable running solo – let alone tandem, so I told Dennis to steer clear of me… that I was basically going to forfeit the run to him. Dennis went on to take home 2nd place.

A fairly big-name in Atlanta’s drift scene approached me at the end of the day, and told me ‘this is the next level for drifting here’, and ‘that drivers are going to have to step it up if they want to participate’. This bothered me for several reasons… the biggest being FOR WHAT? This is grassroots drifting… it is supposed to be about having fun. What fun is wadding your car up into a wall, and having to sit the next season out because you ’stepped it up’? For the majority of us who actually have an emotional stake in our cars – totaling it out trying to be a g-roots hero would be devastating. DEVASTATING.

I probably will not be back to drive at Gresham. The risk just isn’t worth it to me… especially when I (and the rest of Atlanta, really) have nothing to prove. Drifting already has it’s superstars. I just want to have fun with my friends.

I came across some old silk Metallica wall-hangings I had in storage, and decided to have a go at wrapping the back cushions for my Sparco Evos. I wrapped the driver-side cushion with a Pushead piece. It was the only one I didn’t mind slicing up, because I couldn’t stand the (newer sans-serif) Metallica logo on it. Because I didn’t want to cut up any of my other Pushead wall-hangings, the passenger-side wound up with the electric chair from Ride the Lightning.

I almost got the e46 impounded this evening while I was following the break-in procedure for the new differential in the empty parking lot across the street from my neighborhood. I guess a black car driving around (NOT DRIFTING) in a figure eight for 30 minutes just seemed down-right illegal to several concerned citizens, who called me in to the police. Thankfully, the officer let me off with a severe warning, and allowed me to go park the car back in my garage… where it stays 99% of the time (the other 1% being when it goes on the trailer to be taken to the track).

I was pretty upset that people felt like I was doing something wrong, and called the police about it. I mean… in the grand scheme of things, that car was on it’s best behavior compared to what it is normally doing. Ol’ girl is capable far worse things that would probably give those ‘concerned citizens’ seizures and heart-attacks. Driving between 5-10mph in a figure eight hardly fits the bill to be worthy of concern.

Such a team effort here. Austin Lawless sourced the new pumpkin via Stricktly German… Matt Foerst got the old unit disassembled, and re-shimmed & installed in the new housing… and David Jones & Wes Pitts dropped by to help get the pumpkin bolted back up to the rear subframe! Mega MEGA thanks to all that helped get this mess sorted out! It is too awesome to have this diff back in the car!!!

I drained and cracked open the diff assembly… sure enough – shattered ring and pinion. The KAAZ looks/seems fine… both output flanges still lock when turned. One of the carrier bearings looks like it could be replaced. The ring gear is consistently shattered all the way around.

I managed to fish out a solid bit of metal chunks, slivers, and shavings from the pumpkin.
Have I ever mentioned how bad differential gear oil smells?
Seriously. DISGUSTING.

Charlie turned me onto a killer bit of software that I’ve been tinkering with. Here are some screen caps using a clip that Will shot last November. If I can get this to do what I waaaant it to do… it will open a new door to create some killer work.