HipMF

Attention all e30 owners: Never lift.
 

Hell yeah! Even with the M10 in my car, I had a blast. Was planning to do a lot more this year, but didn't get the car together soon enough. FVSCC has an event on the small track at Road America this weekend that I'm hoping to make it to. Should be a lot more fun now. I get TONS of body roll. Should really work on the suspension.... but turbo...
Need to get the car together by May next year instead of late July...

took some shots recently, and this one ended up pretty 'Wisconsin' so I'm throwing it in here.
 
took it in Kenosha County. great driving roads out there - not twisty, just straight and empty. for anyone curious, the yellow plants are the soybeans.
 
 



 

A man after my own heart, Mr. Viper404repiV1...
 

 
Never got into the later Baroness stuff...

Made it back to Wisconsin yesterday. Picked up a few things from storage and am staying in Madison now. I finally had some time to go through the pics on my camera, so here's what I've been up to:
 
Starting back at Arches; I did most of the tourist stuff, and then some. The whole Moab area has a surreal, otherworldly feel. Hardly anything about the landscape fits into your pre-concieved notions about what the landscape should look like.
 

 
The hike up to the Delicate Arch was relentlessly uphill, but it was worth it. My favorite though was the double arch.
 

 
After that was Canyonlands. Arches was over-run by tourist, but there wasn't nearly as much traffic here. Lot's of great hiking opportunities. The most difficult thing about "the west" to capture in pictures, is the scale of everything. A good vista covers miles of terrain. You can spend a lot of time just staring off, examining the details. This picture is of the Green River canyon, taken from the edge of the canyon. If you can see it, it shows a truck/jeep driving around the edge of the inner canyon. The truck is probably 4 or 5 miles away from where I took the pictures.
 

 
I believe I picked up a stow-away here. More on that later...
 
I was planning on stopping somewhere in-between, but the road went through the mountains, and it was cold up there. Bright side was that I got to see another awesome sunset.
 

 
After that was Bryce Canyon. A bit touristy, but I it was another cool, other-worldly landscape to take in.
 

 
The good thing is that they had showers and laundry facilities, which I was in need of.
 
Then I arrived at Great Basin National park, and realize that I forgot my laundry in the dryer at Bryce Canyon... shitdamnfuck. Anyways, they have bristlecone pines there, which (depending on your criteria) are the oldest living things on the planet. This particular specimen is about 3200 years old, and still living.
 

 
They also had a really cool cave, which I toured, but didn't take any pictures of.
 
From there I hauled ass across Nevada on "the loneliest road in America", which I think means any road that goes through Nevada. If you look closely, you might be able to see my car is parked in the middle of the road, probably an eighth of a mile away. It doesn't matter, because you can drive for an hour out there without seeing another car.
 

 
In an effort to make it to somewhere that wasn't Nevada, I decided to drive until I got too tired to drive anymore, and then stop a rest area and sleep in the car. While sleeping, I was awoken by the sound of the previously mentioned stow-away digging through my garbage can (an empty 1-gallon paint-can). I grabbed the can, opened the door, put it outside, and started to remove items from the can. Sure enough, half way down there was a mouse. Being the kind and gentle person that I am, I let him/her go, back out into the wild, and went back to sleep.
 
When I got up, i finished the drive to Yosemite and got a campsite. I had gotten a days rest while driving across Nevada, so I planned a pretty ambitious hike. 
 

 
While on said hike some judgement calls were made, as well as some navigational errors. In the end my ambitious hike turned into a 10+ hour death-march. I've never been so exhausted in my life. I was seriously concerned for my health, and was worried I wouldn't make it back to camp before dark. Somehow I did though. Ate an apple and some soup and went to bed. It was cold. When I finally got out of bed around 8:30 there was still frost on my windshield. Got up, saw the sights, and then headed for Sequoia.
 

 
I got to Sequoia later, and part of the park was closed due to wildfires. Got this pic while going through the park looking for a campsite:
 

 
No campsites available, ended up sleeping in the car again and realized that my stow-away was back when it crawled arcoss my leg in the middle of the night... In the morning I decided to hit up a little side-road that was on the park map. It was a steep, rough, winding road up into the hills. It was a bit sketchy, but I guess that's just my style sometimes.
 

 
At the end of the road were some serious alpine trails, so I headed back down to the lower campsite and took a trail from there. This turned out to be the perfect trail for me. A good hike, and a chance to see the sequoia redwoods growing out in the forest without the noise and distraction of a bunch of tourists. On the 7.4 mile round-trip I only saw other people once on the way back down.
 

 
Then I went back down to the main park to see the tourist stuff. It was labor-day weekend and the place was over-run. Had to park so far away that I had to take a shuttle to a place where I could take another shuttle to see the biggest tree in the world:
 

 
Bet you can't guess which part of the park I enjoyed more...
 
From Sequoia, I went to Highway 1. Got to the south end bright and early.
 

 
Spent a good portion of the day driving up. It was different than I thought it would be, but there were some great driving sections. I'd consider it more of a couples destination. Lots of amazing beaches, art galleries, wine tastings, little shops and cafes. It's easy to get into the relaxed sea-side vibe out there. Pro-tip: start at the north end and drive south. You'll be on the ocean side of the road, rather than the land side, and your passenger will get a better view. At the north end of the highway, south of Legget, there are a couple long sections that are very similar to tail of the dragon, so this is my new favorite road.
 

 

 
Stayed at Humboldt state in norcal to see the costal redwoods. Wasn't impressed with the hiking trails, but it was fine otherwise. From there, I hauled ass towards Yellowstone.
 
Just realized I didn't transfer any of the pics from the last couple days to my phone, so that's it for now. I spent 2 days at Yellowstone, saw lots of buffalo, elk, pronghorn deer, and even a black bear. After that I just drove back to Wisconsin. Definitely felt wierd being back in Menasha, but I didn't stay long. Hopefully things work out for me here in Madison.

Made it back to Wisconsin yesterday. Picked up a few things from storage and am staying in Madison now. I finally had some time to go through the pics on my camera, so here's what I've been up to:
 
Starting back at Arches; I did most of the tourist stuff, and then some. The whole Moab area has a surreal, otherworldly feel. Hardly anything about the landscape fits into your pre-concieved notions about what the landscape should look like.
 

 
The hike up to the Delicate Arch was relentlessly uphill, but it was worth it. My favorite though was the double arch.
 

 
After that was Canyonlands. Arches was over-run by tourist, but there wasn't nearly as much traffic here. Lot's of great hiking opportunities. The most difficult thing about "the west" to capture in pictures, is the scale of everything. A good vista covers miles of terrain. You can spend a lot of time just staring off, examining the details. This picture is of the Green River canyon, taken from the edge of the canyon. If you can see it, it shows a truck/jeep driving around the edge of the inner canyon. The truck is probably 4 or 5 miles away from where I took the pictures.
 

 
I believe I picked up a stow-away here. More on that later...
 
I was planning on stopping somewhere in-between, but the road went through the mountains, and it was cold up there. Bright side was that I got to see another awesome sunset.
 

 
After that was Bryce Canyon. A bit touristy, but I it was another cool, other-worldly landscape to take in.
 

 
The good thing is that they had showers and laundry facilities, which I was in need of.
 
Then I arrived at Great Basin National park, and realize that I forgot my laundry in the dryer at Bryce Canyon... shitdamnfuck. Anyways, they have bristlecone pines there, which (depending on your criteria) are the oldest living things on the planet. This particular specimen is about 3200 years old, and still living.
 

 
They also had a really cool cave, which I toured, but didn't take any pictures of.
 
From there I hauled ass across Nevada on "the loneliest road in America", which I think means any road that goes through Nevada. If you look closely, you might be able to see my car is parked in the middle of the road, probably an eighth of a mile away. It doesn't matter, because you can drive for an hour out there without seeing another car.
 

 
In an effort to make it to somewhere that wasn't Nevada, I decided to drive until I got too tired to drive anymore, and then stop a rest area and sleep in the car. While sleeping, I was awoken by the sound of the previously mentioned stow-away digging through my garbage can (an empty 1-gallon paint-can). I grabbed the can, opened the door, put it outside, and started to remove items from the can. Sure enough, half way down there was a mouse. Being the kind and gentle person that I am, I let him/her go, back out into the wild, and went back to sleep.
 
When I got up, i finished the drive to Yosemite and got a campsite. I had gotten a days rest while driving across Nevada, so I planned a pretty ambitious hike. 
 

 
While on said hike some judgement calls were made, as well as some navigational errors. In the end my ambitious hike turned into a 10+ hour death-march. I've never been so exhausted in my life. I was seriously concerned for my health, and was worried I wouldn't make it back to camp before dark. Somehow I did though. Ate an apple and some soup and went to bed. It was cold. When I finally got out of bed around 8:30 there was still frost on my windshield. Got up, saw the sights, and then headed for Sequoia.
 

 
I got to Sequoia later, and part of the park was closed due to wildfires. Got this pic while going through the park looking for a campsite:
 

 
No campsites available, ended up sleeping in the car again and realized that my stow-away was back when it crawled arcoss my leg in the middle of the night... In the morning I decided to hit up a little side-road that was on the park map. It was a steep, rough, winding road up into the hills. It was a bit sketchy, but I guess that's just my style sometimes.
 

 
At the end of the road were some serious alpine trails, so I headed back down to the lower campsite and took a trail from there. This turned out to be the perfect trail for me. A good hike, and a chance to see the sequoia redwoods growing out in the forest without the noise and distraction of a bunch of tourists. On the 7.4 mile round-trip I only saw other people once on the way back down.
 

 
Then I went back down to the main park to see the tourist stuff. It was labor-day weekend and the place was over-run. Had to park so far away that I had to take a shuttle to a place where I could take another shuttle to see the biggest tree in the world:
 

 
Bet you can't guess which part of the park I enjoyed more...
 
From Sequoia, I went to Highway 1. Got to the south end bright and early.
 

 
Spent a good portion of the day driving up. It was different than I thought it would be, but there were some great driving sections. I'd consider it more of a couples destination. Lots of amazing beaches, art galleries, wine tastings, little shops and cafes. It's easy to get into the relaxed sea-side vibe out there. Pro-tip: start at the north end and drive south. You'll be on the ocean side of the road, rather than the land side, and your passenger will get a better view. At the north end of the highway, south of Legget, there are a couple long sections that are very similar to tail of the dragon, so this is my new favorite road.
 

 

 
Stayed at Humboldt state in norcal to see the costal redwoods. Wasn't impressed with the hiking trails, but it was fine otherwise. From there, I hauled ass towards Yellowstone.
 
Just realized I didn't transfer any of the pics from the last couple days to my phone, so that's it for now. I spent 2 days at Yellowstone, saw lots of buffalo, elk, pronghorn deer, and even a black bear. After that I just drove back to Wisconsin. Definitely felt wierd being back in Menasha, but I didn't stay long. Hopefully things work out for me here in Madison.

Made it back to Wisconsin yesterday. Picked up a few things from storage and am staying in Madison now. I finally had some time to go through the pics on my camera, so here's what I've been up to:
 
Starting back at Arches; I did most of the tourist stuff, and then some. The whole Moab area has a surreal, otherworldly feel. Hardly anything about the landscape fits into your pre-concieved notions about what the landscape should look like.
 

 
The hike up to the Delicate Arch was relentlessly uphill, but it was worth it. My favorite though was the double arch.
 

 
After that was Canyonlands. Arches was over-run by tourist, but there wasn't nearly as much traffic here. Lot's of great hiking opportunities. The most difficult thing about "the west" to capture in pictures, is the scale of everything. A good vista covers miles of terrain. You can spend a lot of time just staring off, examining the details. This picture is of the Green River canyon, taken from the edge of the canyon. If you can see it, it shows a truck/jeep driving around the edge of the inner canyon. The truck is probably 4 or 5 miles away from where I took the pictures.
 

 
I believe I picked up a stow-away here. More on that later...
 
I was planning on stopping somewhere in-between, but the road went through the mountains, and it was cold up there. Bright side was that I got to see another awesome sunset.
 

 
After that was Bryce Canyon. A bit touristy, but I it was another cool, other-worldly landscape to take in.
 

 
The good thing is that they had showers and laundry facilities, which I was in need of.
 
Then I arrived at Great Basin National park, and realize that I forgot my laundry in the dryer at Bryce Canyon... shitdamnfuck. Anyways, they have bristlecone pines there, which (depending on your criteria) are the oldest living things on the planet. This particular specimen is about 3200 years old, and still living.
 

 
They also had a really cool cave, which I toured, but didn't take any pictures of.
 
From there I hauled ass across Nevada on "the loneliest road in America", which I think means any road that goes through Nevada. If you look closely, you might be able to see my car is parked in the middle of the road, probably an eighth of a mile away. It doesn't matter, because you can drive for an hour out there without seeing another car.
 

 
In an effort to make it to somewhere that wasn't Nevada, I decided to drive until I got too tired to drive anymore, and then stop a rest area and sleep in the car. While sleeping, I was awoken by the sound of the previously mentioned stow-away digging through my garbage can (an empty 1-gallon paint-can). I grabbed the can, opened the door, put it outside, and started to remove items from the can. Sure enough, half way down there was a mouse. Being the kind and gentle person that I am, I let him/her go, back out into the wild, and went back to sleep.
 
When I got up, i finished the drive to Yosemite and got a campsite. I had gotten a days rest while driving across Nevada, so I planned a pretty ambitious hike. 
 

 
While on said hike some judgement calls were made, as well as some navigational errors. In the end my ambitious hike turned into a 10+ hour death-march. I've never been so exhausted in my life. I was seriously concerned for my health, and was worried I wouldn't make it back to camp before dark. Somehow I did though. Ate an apple and some soup and went to bed. It was cold. When I finally got out of bed around 8:30 there was still frost on my windshield. Got up, saw the sights, and then headed for Sequoia.
 

 
I got to Sequoia later, and part of the park was closed due to wildfires. Got this pic while going through the park looking for a campsite:
 

 
No campsites available, ended up sleeping in the car again and realized that my stow-away was back when it crawled arcoss my leg in the middle of the night... In the morning I decided to hit up a little side-road that was on the park map. It was a steep, rough, winding road up into the hills. It was a bit sketchy, but I guess that's just my style sometimes.
 

 
At the end of the road were some serious alpine trails, so I headed back down to the lower campsite and took a trail from there. This turned out to be the perfect trail for me. A good hike, and a chance to see the sequoia redwoods growing out in the forest without the noise and distraction of a bunch of tourists. On the 7.4 mile round-trip I only saw other people once on the way back down.
 

 
Then I went back down to the main park to see the tourist stuff. It was labor-day weekend and the place was over-run. Had to park so far away that I had to take a shuttle to a place where I could take another shuttle to see the biggest tree in the world:
 

 
Bet you can't guess which part of the park I enjoyed more...
 
From Sequoia, I went to Highway 1. Got to the south end bright and early.
 

 
Spent a good portion of the day driving up. It was different than I thought it would be, but there were some great driving sections. I'd consider it more of a couples destination. Lots of amazing beaches, art galleries, wine tastings, little shops and cafes. It's easy to get into the relaxed sea-side vibe out there. Pro-tip: start at the north end and drive south. You'll be on the ocean side of the road, rather than the land side, and your passenger will get a better view. At the north end of the highway, south of Legget, there are a couple long sections that are very similar to tail of the dragon, so this is my new favorite road.
 

 

 
Stayed at Humboldt state in norcal to see the costal redwoods. Wasn't impressed with the hiking trails, but it was fine otherwise. From there, I hauled ass towards Yellowstone.
 
Just realized I didn't transfer any of the pics from the last couple days to my phone, so that's it for now. I spent 2 days at Yellowstone, saw lots of buffalo, elk, pronghorn deer, and even a black bear. After that I just drove back to Wisconsin. Definitely felt wierd being back in Menasha, but I didn't stay long. Hopefully things work out for me here in Madison.

Made it back to Wisconsin yesterday. Picked up a few things from storage and am staying in Madison now. I finally had some time to go through the pics on my camera, so here's what I've been up to:
 
Starting back at Arches; I did most of the tourist stuff, and then some. The whole Moab area has a surreal, otherworldly feel. Hardly anything about the landscape fits into your pre-concieved notions about what the landscape should look like.
 

 
The hike up to the Delicate Arch was relentlessly uphill, but it was worth it. My favorite though was the double arch.
 

 
After that was Canyonlands. Arches was over-run by tourist, but there wasn't nearly as much traffic here. Lot's of great hiking opportunities. The most difficult thing about "the west" to capture in pictures, is the scale of everything. A good vista covers miles of terrain. You can spend a lot of time just staring off, examining the details. This picture is of the Green River canyon, taken from the edge of the canyon. If you can see it, it shows a truck/jeep driving around the edge of the inner canyon. The truck is probably 4 or 5 miles away from where I took the pictures.
 

 
I believe I picked up a stow-away here. More on that later...
 
I was planning on stopping somewhere in-between, but the road went through the mountains, and it was cold up there. Bright side was that I got to see another awesome sunset.
 

 
After that was Bryce Canyon. A bit touristy, but I it was another cool, other-worldly landscape to take in.
 

 
The good thing is that they had showers and laundry facilities, which I was in need of.
 
Then I arrived at Great Basin National park, and realize that I forgot my laundry in the dryer at Bryce Canyon... shitdamnfuck. Anyways, they have bristlecone pines there, which (depending on your criteria) are the oldest living things on the planet. This particular specimen is about 3200 years old, and still living.
 

 
They also had a really cool cave, which I toured, but didn't take any pictures of.
 
From there I hauled ass across Nevada on "the loneliest road in America", which I think means any road that goes through Nevada. If you look closely, you might be able to see my car is parked in the middle of the road, probably an eighth of a mile away. It doesn't matter, because you can drive for an hour out there without seeing another car.
 

 
In an effort to make it to somewhere that wasn't Nevada, I decided to drive until I got too tired to drive anymore, and then stop a rest area and sleep in the car. While sleeping, I was awoken by the sound of the previously mentioned stow-away digging through my garbage can (an empty 1-gallon paint-can). I grabbed the can, opened the door, put it outside, and started to remove items from the can. Sure enough, half way down there was a mouse. Being the kind and gentle person that I am, I let him/her go, back out into the wild, and went back to sleep.
 
When I got up, i finished the drive to Yosemite and got a campsite. I had gotten a days rest while driving across Nevada, so I planned a pretty ambitious hike. 
 

 
While on said hike some judgement calls were made, as well as some navigational errors. In the end my ambitious hike turned into a 10+ hour death-march. I've never been so exhausted in my life. I was seriously concerned for my health, and was worried I wouldn't make it back to camp before dark. Somehow I did though. Ate an apple and some soup and went to bed. It was cold. When I finally got out of bed around 8:30 there was still frost on my windshield. Got up, saw the sights, and then headed for Sequoia.
 

 
I got to Sequoia later, and part of the park was closed due to wildfires. Got this pic while going through the park looking for a campsite:
 

 
No campsites available, ended up sleeping in the car again and realized that my stow-away was back when it crawled arcoss my leg in the middle of the night... In the morning I decided to hit up a little side-road that was on the park map. It was a steep, rough, winding road up into the hills. It was a bit sketchy, but I guess that's just my style sometimes.
 

 
At the end of the road were some serious alpine trails, so I headed back down to the lower campsite and took a trail from there. This turned out to be the perfect trail for me. A good hike, and a chance to see the sequoia redwoods growing out in the forest without the noise and distraction of a bunch of tourists. On the 7.4 mile round-trip I only saw other people once on the way back down.
 

 
Then I went back down to the main park to see the tourist stuff. It was labor-day weekend and the place was over-run. Had to park so far away that I had to take a shuttle to a place where I could take another shuttle to see the biggest tree in the world:
 

 
Bet you can't guess which part of the park I enjoyed more...
 
From Sequoia, I went to Highway 1. Got to the south end bright and early.
 

 
Spent a good portion of the day driving up. It was different than I thought it would be, but there were some great driving sections. I'd consider it more of a couples destination. Lots of amazing beaches, art galleries, wine tastings, little shops and cafes. It's easy to get into the relaxed sea-side vibe out there. Pro-tip: start at the north end and drive south. You'll be on the ocean side of the road, rather than the land side, and your passenger will get a better view. At the north end of the highway, south of Legget, there are a couple long sections that are very similar to tail of the dragon, so this is my new favorite road.
 

 

 
Stayed at Humboldt state in norcal to see the costal redwoods. Wasn't impressed with the hiking trails, but it was fine otherwise. From there, I hauled ass towards Yellowstone.
 
Just realized I didn't transfer any of the pics from the last couple days to my phone, so that's it for now. I spent 2 days at Yellowstone, saw lots of buffalo, elk, pronghorn deer, and even a black bear. After that I just drove back to Wisconsin. Definitely felt wierd being back in Menasha, but I didn't stay long. Hopefully things work out for me here in Madison.

Taking forever to get through Utah. There's just too much too do and see. I did Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Bryce Canyon. The terrain surreal and otherworldly and it changes constantly as you travel through it. Tons of great pics on my camera, but not much on my phone. Here's a couple quick snaps from two of the campsites I stayed at:
 

 

Tail of the dragon was epic. Best road I've ever driven. This little car is a real hoot when you start blasting through turns at 5000 rpms in 2nd gear.

The Snake was awesome. If you can dream it, you can do it.  
   
 
 
 
   
 
Edit: Here's the link to the chit-chat post from back in May for anyone who is totally confused by this post:   

The Snake was awesome. If you can dream it, you can do it.  
   
 
 
 
   
 
Edit: Here's the link to the chit-chat post from back in May for anyone who is totally confused by this post:   

Congrats! That car is going to be a blast.
 
I gave mine a quick wash at the pay-n-spray when I first got it running, but I could still read where I had written "Spray bombs 4 life" in dust on the windshield. Finally got the "air leak" before my fuel pump fixed (actually cavitation... neat), so today I took it home and gave it a proper wash. Sure feels good to have a legitimate car again instead of a pile of parts.

Went out and drove it tonight.
Ticking is gone (there is still 20years of top end noise, but nothing even close to worrying)
Got the gas leak by the tank fixed tonight as well.
The VANOS could probably be replaced. There's some noise there, nothing toooooo terrible, but still annoying.
Other than getting a working coolant temp gauge & breaking in the clutch, this thing hauls decent ass.
I'm being fairly easy on it, and it scoots pretty good. (Granted I haven't driven a vehicle in the last 5 months lol)
Once clutch is broken in. I promise burnouts. Because really that's all that matters

Thanks Earl.
 
It's back together now. No more leaking fluids that I can see. I also got the resonator installed and the exhaust sound a helluva lot better now. There are still a couple small issues that I need to track down, and some things that need to be buttoned up, but it's a runner and a driver now. I haven't gotten on it too hard yet, but the M42 definitely pulls harder than the M10. It's been so long since I've seen it with a hood on, it actually makes me double take when I walk past it. Hopefully I won't have to take it back off again for a while.
 

Saw this car there too. Was curious what the "Supercharged" stickers were all about. Never got a chance to see what was under the hood...
 
 
As a 90s child, this makes my pants tight....even if it is a convertible...

Mad science, brah.
 
- or -
 
Why you should put fluid in your trans before you put it in the car.
 

some of it certainly is. don't ask me which parts though... i had 3 of them.
also, saftey first kids. slicing your finger open on a rusty piece of sheet metal is no fun.

what job? haven't worked since june 12th. loving it. car's nearly done.

oh god, accidentally turned on the close captions.
 
"let me the flag rights"
"100 very nommy easy right"
"government here"
"an email at"
"if you're on a budget like"
"sleighs ride"
"fibbing"

This year 

double-dry-hand-facepalm
 

Work is so boring... Can't believe there's still 4 hours to go ;_;