Brodified

1989 Autocross Honda Civic SI

I recently bought a 1989 Honda Civic SI.  The car weigh's around 2085 pounds according to the previous owner.  The car's suspention has been heavily modified for Autocross events.  The engine is stock but has a freshly rebuilt head, a cold air intake and a DC header.  The civic also came with several sets of rims and tires as well as a bunch of other spares. 

This is how the car looks as of today.  The rims and tires on it are for street use, I have about a million tires and rims in my garage that will be used during events.

My plans have changed! Big surprise! I am no longer the proud owner of this fun little car.

Here is an early pic of the car just after it was purchased by Charlie Davis of Burlingame CA.  Basically a stock 1989 Honda Civic SI.

The car was then painted this dark grey/silver color.  Charlie didnt like the paint and apparently it was poorly done so the color was changed.

The car in action in it's grey/silver paint sporting the Rota boost wheels.

This is Charlie Davis (background) and Ed Runnion.  They co-drove the car for the past 3 years in various events including the Nationals which take place in Lincoln Nebraska.

This looks like the Oracle stadium during a S.F. SCCA event.

My plan is to drive the car in the Sacramento Chapter events this year at both Mather Field and the San Joaquin fairgrounds here in Stockton.

But like all good things my ownership of "The Rat" has come to an end.  I needed room in my garage and between the car, tires and parts I had for the car I had no room.  The car was sold to a very nice guy from Seattle Washington who flew down and drove the car back up to Seattle.  He is a driving instructor and knew the car from competing against it at the Auto X nationals.  I hope he enjoys it!

A few of my favorite things... wheeler dealers.

Just a quick note, if you have never watched the T.V. show Wheeler Dealers and you are a car nut (as I am) then you need to check it out.  The easiest way to watch it is on Youtube.com.  Many of the episodes have been uploaded onto Youtube and can be watched in several parts.  The show is a bit 'cheeky' and made in Brittain (hence my cheeky comment).  The two hosts are like night and day although the goofyness of the host "Mike' is definitely rubbing off on the mechanic Ed.  The two blokes (dudes) buy cars and fix them up to sell for a profit.  The show is VERY British and proud of it and thats one of the reasons I love it.  The difference in speech, slang, customs are all very intersting as well as the difference in cars.  Did you know ford made an AWESOME 4 door turbo charged bad ass sedan in the 80's and 90's when they teamed up with the Forumla One engine company Cosworth? I did but that's because I'm more wordly then you dear reader and I had a british friend who told me about such awesome cars that he reffered to as 'Cossie's'.  They also teamed up with Mercedes to produce another great little 4 door sports sedan.  Anyway thats the type of car they feature.  British, Japanese, German, Italian and even U.S. cars are bought, fixed up and sold on.  I'll add more later but you should be clicking on Youtube right now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuZfRgCWVdQ

My Black 1964 VW bug "La Cucaracha"

A month ago I saw a neat looking bug on craigslist in Tracy.  They seller was asking what I felt was too much and was 'firm' on price according to the advertisement.  I liked the car but wasn't interested in  it at that price.  I was browsing Craigslist again a week or so ago and there was the same car at a more reasonable but still to high of a price.  But it was in the ballpark.  I called the seller and went to look at the car.  The seller claimed the car had recently developed a noise that sounded like the throw out bearing going out.  I agreed with that assessment.  I was able to talk the seller way down on price and we came to an agreeable price.  I drove the car home.  I took it to Bob's German the following Monday to have the throw out bearing changed out.  To my dismay Bob's diagnosed the problem as being a much more serious crank issue and informed me that I needed to rebuild the ENTIRE engine.  I purchased a rebuilt long block from Bob's and had them rebuild the engine.  Here are pics of the day I bought it, the drive home through the back roads of Tracy and a few other pics I took. Enjoy!

And its sold!

What happened to September?

September came and went faster then the blink of an eye.  My school is going well with a few riot's here and there but that's to be expected right?  I've spent a lot of time taking pictures and video of my students as my video class continues to develop.  Brody is doing very well although yesterday he got bit my a mosquito on his eye! I have a picture I'll post in here.  Jacelyn is doingOverall it's been a very productive few weeks but extremely busy.  I hope you are all doing well!  I attended a trip to South Lake Tahoe with my students that is where the balloon photos were taken.  No we did not get to ride on the balloon but I did take pics of it as they made for an interesting photograph.   Enjoy the pics!

 Brody's big bulgy eye.

 Pope beach, balloon take off.

 Pope beach 7 A.M.

Taken on the western side of Tahoe during a hike
at the Sugar Pine state park.

My mug.

Keep it movin...

It's early on Saturday morning and everyone is asleep so I have a few minutes to blab endlessly about myself and my ridiculous interests and hobbies. The first major development since the last time I blogged was I was REALLY sick at the beginning of the school year, so much so that I missed the big premiere of my film I made at the S.F. Digital film school! That was disappointing but I'm glad to just be healthy again!

Being sick made for a terrible first week of school but everything is running smoothly now.  As smoothly as a court community school can run anyway.  Lots of drama but that's another story.  My newest hobby is Auto-cross or Auto-X (the X is supposed to be a cross I guess).

My friend Andy and I have competed (participated really since neither of us are any good) in the past several events here in Stockton.  The events are put on by the S.F. SCCA region but really most of these guys are from Sacramento.  Overall I have been very happy with the events aside from one incident when 4 different drivers were all co-driving the same car and this ONE car took a good 20-30 minutes to complete all 4 runs for each driver.  The rest of the group had finished but this one car had all of these co-drivers and EVERY lap they would bring it in and spray down the tires, open the hood and what not.  The sun was BEATING down on all the flag Marshall's so it made for a LOOOONG 20 or so minutes.  Other then that I've had a blast beating Andy at both events.  Next weekend is the last event in Stockton this season and is an 'enduro' event.  The enduro part means we'll be doing 2 consecutive laps and then a 5 lap turn at the end. 

What I like most about Auto-cross is that if you already have a car it's cheap and easy to get into.  I've sold off all my Karts (and the Stockton Motorplex Kart track is currently without an owner, but hopefully Scott Conway takes the reigns and get's it going again out there) and I am currently street bike less.  So the Auto-cross has filled the ever persistent itch to go fast.  If you like driving fast but want to do it in a safe and friendly environment I highly recommend you check out an event in Stockton or Sacramento.  You can literally auto-cross ANY car.

Here are a few pics of me and Andy attempting to drive fast around cones! Enjoy.

The San Francisco School of Digital Film (SFSDF)

 My school district asked if I were interested in attending a summer workshop at the San Francisco School of Digital Film for a 5 week workshop.  We are currently in week 3 of the 5 and I have learned sooooo much it's a little overwhelming.  The class has been extremely interesting and exciting, I wish I could say the same about the commute.




Waiting for the train at the Dublin Bart station.













On the train headed for S.F.

This is the first thing I see when I come up the escalator at the Powell Street station in S.F.

Some days for lunch a bunch of trucks pull into the alley behind the building.  It's called 'off the grid' and its awesome.

 

Learning how to do 'Rembrandt lighting'.