LocostUSA.com

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. As you said, you had forewarning, but in situations like this you're not "forearmed." Time is the only thing that heals. I hope the healing process will begin for you soon.

Best,

_________________
Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Thanks for the kind words guys. I'm headed out in a few minutes for the family viewing. Funeral is tomorrow afternoon.

My nephew has asked me to say a few words. I'm struggling

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Laugh. Love. Mourn. Reflect.

A funeral should be about life, not death.
Think of a story about her life that will make everyone laugh, or at least stifle a giggle.

My condolences, and may there be peace for all.

It's a struggle all around; viewing, funeral, and words. You have the sympathy of your many friends here.

_________________
Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles

Thanks for the support guys.
It was a beautiful service yesterday. I had all my notes prepared, but sitting there in the moment God spoke to me and said forget the notes, you have a message her kids and grandkids need to hear.

So I stepped up and spoke from the heart, cried some, choked back my tears, and continued.
I really couldn't tell you what I said other than shared part of my first conversation with Vickie when she told me about her cancer.
Cancer sucks. It's a horrible disease that destroys lives and tests families to their limits.
There is one good thing about cancer compared to a heart attack; time.
The only thing to do with time is mend fences, and really love the ones you love.
I loved my sister, but she had a mean streak a mile wide from our Mom. Her words would cut deep and leave horrible scars.

I told her to reach out to her grandkids and quit being mean and hateful. Tell them she loved them and was proud of all they'd accomplished, and all the potential in front of them.
I don't know if she took my advice, but she did sit there and cry and tell me she loved them and wanted it to be better.
That's what God told me they needed to hear.

I also got to see my Mom's boyfriend that I haven't seen in over 20 years. We were chatting and he told me I'd grown into a good man. I got the chance to say Thank You and tell him that he played a big part in that. He was there, took an interest, gave guidance, support, and gentle correction when I needed it. He was a buffer from Mom's sharp tongue.

It was a hard day. It was a good day.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

I just checked in to catch up on your build, wow, you've had quite a time lately. Thank you for sharing with us with. Sounds like your leadership in the family is strong, others will look to you. You can count on people on this forum to listen, I'm one.. feel feel to reach out. Being in the "middle" of family dynamic is really hard.

Hold your loved ones close.

_________________
build log http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2142

The A Mod got a little attention over the weekend.
Saturday was grunt day. Busted out the Horrible Fright manual tire changer as it was time to put the fresh rubber from John Berget Tire on the back.
Got some gently used R25B's in 22x10x13 for a fair price... unless you consider install labor that is.

Swapping tires was my project while the old lathe was running in the background. See tired old lathe post.

Sister and Borther in Law stopped by for a while and that was a nice break from scud work of swapping tires.

Sunday Wifey Dearest was at work, so I headed back to the garage to rework the brakes. I've never been totally happy with the brakes on the A Mod and even less so since I swapped on the Miata rear end, even in the short cruise around the neighborhood. Too much pedal movement, and too little grabby grabby for my taste. I bled the brakes a couple of times and no real change.

I swapped out the pair of Tilton master cylinders for a Miata dual circuit master.
That involved a little drilling, filing, clearancing since the Miata master has a bigger OD than the Tiltons. Pretty simpe work to make everything fit.
When it came time to assemble the rounded ball on the pushrod wouldn't fit down the bore of the master piston.
Good thing there's a lathe sitting in the corner of the garage.

All assembled, the vacuum bleeder and a fresh quart of fluid in hand it's time to bleed, and bleed, and bleed, and bleed. For the llife of me I couldn't get a good pedal.
Meanwhile Wifey Dearest comes home and fixes us some lunch.
With only mild begging on my part I convince her to pump the pedal while I bleed the brakes.
15 minutes later, all four corners done and a REALLY firm pedal.

Now Cyrano is back together and ready to do work


Test and tune and first autocross of the season coming up 2/29 and 3/1

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

COVID-19 has made a horrible mess of autocross this season. None of the local clubs car run events with more than 50 people. 50 people in 200 member clubs sells out instantly when an event is posted.

I've been starting the A Mod every couple of weeks to keep things in check. This week I decided to post it up for sale. I can't play with it and it's taking up valuable space.
Went out, fired it up, let it run and come up to temp, all was well. Wifey Dearest wasn't here, so I went up and down the street a couple of times.

Today a couple of guys show up to look it over and the damn thing won't start.
It ran perfectly 3 days ago.

Today no spark. I've gone over it from top to bottom. Checked every connection, even taken all the plugs apart, cleaned terminals and re-assembled.
Checked every wire. When I turn on power I get 12V to the coils, but I'm not getting a spark signal.

Give me your thoughts please.
I'm thinking either cam sensor, crank sensor, or CDI box.

For reference it's a 2003 Honda CBR600RR.
Like I said it was perfect 3 days ago and today no spark.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

With all the futzing I'm doing on the CBR1000RR motor/wiring, I'm afraid I may fatigue break some wire and won't notice, or a connector will wear out/break. Dirt bike just did the same thing, it ran a week ago, now it won't start, fuel issue.

Good luck, check all the "kill" circuits that shut it down. The 1000 has 3 or 4 green/red wires that need to be grounded properly.

_________________
"It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble, it’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so."
"Sometimes I sits and thinks, sometimes I just sits." - Satchel Paige

Thanks. I'll check my grounds. It could be a simple corrosion issue impacting ground and it thinks it's tipped over, or the kickstand it down, or the kill switch it flipped.
I hate computer vehicles. Give me distributor, points, and a carb and I can make it sing.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

Well, I figured it out.... eventually.
It's a bad Zener diode in the ignition circuit. One of Honda's anti-theft features. They bury a zener in the ignition circuit to drop voltage from 12.xx to 9.something to the control wire to the ECM.

After taking every ground loose again, checking every connection and plug multiple times, I finally checked the supply voltage to the ECM. Instead of 9. something volts it was at 11.9

I cut out the zener and wired in a 9V battery to test it.
Hit the button and VROOOM fired to life on the 4th revolution.

Since there are no more Radio Shack or small hobbyist electronics shops, I head to fleabay. There should be a 10 pack of diodes here in 2 weeks.

I guess since I have the loom totally unwrapped and blown apart, I might as well go through and finish deleting unneeded wires before I bundle it back up.
This time it will be simple.
Power to the starter relay
power to the run relay - it powers the fuel pump and gives the 9V signal to the ECM
Power to the fan
neutral light on the dash

I'm deleting every wire that would normally go to the cluster and everything associated with lights, horn, signals, etc.

There won't be anything left but the sensors to make the motor run and the charging circuit.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

A Mod went to a new home yesterday. I had it advertised on FarceBook Marketplace for about 2 weeks before getting 4 serious potential buyers.
During that two weeks there were about:
400 "Is this available" messages with no follow up
200+ Would you take stupid low, insultingly low offers of the "I've got $xxx right now, CASH". My response to all of those was Good for you, let me know when you get the balance and we'll talk.
200+ Would you trade for "Insert name of shitbox here"
1 "hey Dude, I'll trade you my Miata Kart. Only the best in building it. Going to need cash on your end, I know what I got.
Reality: 250,000 miles 1.6. $150 set of 4 ebay coilovers. roll cage from hardware store pipe and fence posts.

It went to a good home, for reasonable $$$, leaving him room in his budget to make some mods and improvements that I simply didn't care about.

On to the next chapter

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

That should cover the 3d printer and assorted filaments quite handsomely.

Should also fund the next car build when I'm done with the Locost and Spitfire.
Right now in my storage building of car goodies I have:
Miata front and rear hubs and brakes
Miata Torsen LSD with 4.1 gears
New in box Miata LSD center section
4 Keizer wheels
Miata shocks
Have to look, but I think there's a steering rack down there
150 feet of 1" square tube
30 feet of 1 1/2" .120 wall DOM
Most likely for sale a complete and running early 70's Triumph 1300 w/ trans
pair of headlights
fuel pumps, coils, new sets of plugs and wires, Smiths gauges, tons of Brit doodads that came with the Spitfire that aren't needed for the Spitfire.

And the real fun starts tomorrow. I have a meeting with a non-profit that wants me to build a kit car for street use for advertising.
They've had it sitting in a warehouse for ages. Kit was originally designed around 1st gen MR2. Not a bad plan in the 80's maybe not so good a plan now.
We'll see what tomorrow brings.

_________________
Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216

....Too bad you passed on that clown's Miata kart- many of your stashed goodies would have taken that 1/4-million mile monster to the next level

Good catch on that ignition diode... That's the type of problem that keeps me up at night..

..and btw... how does one get a sweet lead like this:? .."I have a meeting with a non-profit that wants me to build a kit car for street use for advertising."

--ccrunner

_________________
Dean

1972 Honda N600 Restomod "ccrunner's N600 VFR800 repower"

1963 Volvo P1800 Restomod
http://locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=16309

1959 Berkeley SE492 Restomod...
viewtopic.php?f=36&t=19397

"ccrunner's 1960 MGA coupe Restomod" found on MGExp.com