1 Lucky Texan

Well, since the warden puts people on the track with space in between, as they say "God did not put that Elise on my @ss" ! (if we weren't doing lead-follow with instructors at that time [that Lotus was an instructor's car - he had 3-4 students behind him], I would've signalled the Lotus to pass at one of the next 'pass zones' .we had 3 that day allowable for passing). guys - there was no 'head to head' racing. It was about learning the track and what you can do with your car. Even when we had 'free' track time, there were 3 passing zones (long straitaways) and no more than 2 cars could pass you AFTER you signalled them to. There was some skidpad/cone drilles in the morning, classroom time, lead follow, in-car instruction and free track time - more in-car if you wanted it, etc. Very safe and sane. Your FM radio is tuned to hear instructions and track warnings. There's time to check the torque on your wheels and make air pressure adjustments if needed. You can leave to get gas at noon if needed (I used over a half tank!!!) I probably had close to 3 hours on the track and I was beat! If you guys have anything like this near where you live - take advantage of it. Stock suspension - for now.

MSR seems like a great facility to my inexperienced eyes. They have quite few events there and are expanding the track as well. My class was with Apex Driving Academy who uses MSR. It was in Jan. and fortunately we had outstanding weather! (though a little rain may have allowed me to pass the vette and VW lol!) IIRC you guys have a track in your area right? anyway - there is an Apex thread over at nasioc with a few comments about the day. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=896352&page=3&pp=25 and , if you wanna see the other vehicles, here's a link to some photos(click on the set numbers); http://www.hart-photography.com/2006/apex2006.htm here's Apex's link to the BYOC class; http://www.apexdrivingacademy.com/classes2.asp and MSR; http://www.motorsportranch.com/ You could grab a sandwich at Subway, drive in and sit on the upper deck at the 'classroom' building and just watch some amazing vehicles(including donorc - uh - motorcycles) pull up and run the track! Carl

I don't have a problem with it. To me, it always looked like a stylized Samurai warrior's face, like this helmet face;

fixed (oh, that explains SO much!)

Me and my wagon taking 70mph curves!

TC has a good idea. engine (not coolant) temp sensor. How's the temp gauge look? could be a thermostat stuck open I guess. (PLEASE search here or consult us before breaking open the cooling system!) Also, I just this week fixed a coworker's Toy paseo - incorrectly routed vacuum lines! never underestimate the ability of the last grease monkey to scr3w up your new car! $100 will BUY you your own OBDII scanner!

don't forget the Lubbock lights (oily duck belly's my @ss!) - and the FIRST reported UFO (uh - after Ezekiel's Wheel i guess) Don't you guys remember when we left the first earth cause it was gonna be destroyed and we all got on the big spaceships to come to THIS earth but they decided not to tell the really dumb people so they just gassed them an ...uh..... oh, never mind. ;^)

oh - did I mention the marsh gas and planet venus? (mt - chemical recreation much?..... I keeed I keeed!) ;^)

This is usually caused by a refelction of the light (or a nearby light) off the car windshield or other surface 'fooling' the photo-detector on the lamp into thinking 'dawn' has arrived. I had 2 lamps near my old house that did this fairly regularly when I drove my Civic wagon under them years ago. it is freaky! Carl

Others here will have direct experience with your pad/rotor question. In fact. I think you should starta new thread on the subject. Brembo is often mentioned as a good brand - I think, from reading 'technical' 'white' papers at http://www.stoptech.com that slotted rotors are ok BUT PERHAPS DRILLED ARE NOT APPRoPRIATE FOR 'NORMAL' USE. Mintex, Axxis, EBC and others get mentioned as 'upgraded' pads. The primary enemy of rotors is clamping down on the brakes after a hard stop - it holds the heat in one spot and causes that 'warped' feeling. Again, try the stoptech site for info.

pay attention to what radio stations are assigned to the buttons. If its stations only listenend to by the under 25 crowd - yeah, shop somewhere else. Or just ask to talk to the guy who owned and find out if its a kid an older guy, what. And 22K is WAY too much. But, after they come down to a more reasonable price THEN voice you concerns about abuse/projected longevity issues and suggest they throw in a GREATLY extended drivetrain warranty. there's better deals out there - including an '06 TR. Carl

I think a compression test or 2 shouyld tell you if there's a major malfunction. maybe track it after a coupla months of driving. I dunno Carl

Some individuals as well as http://www.boxer4racing.com are putting Konis inside their old Impreza struts. There are on line instructions for that too. But I dunno what the application would be for a legacy. Probably doable. Carl

does it have rear drum brakes? I've seen some weird movement from some kinda torque held in place by warped drums when brakes are released. It was on a '90 maxima though. I dunno weird

Would it worth checking for a code? maybe you have a speed sensor going bad or some trash between one and the tone ring? I dunno

If you could find and afford an SVX it would probably never lose value.

In the states, at least my whole life, we always used the term 'backfire' for 'explosions' taking place in the exhaust system as heard from the tailpipe. We would qualify the term as 'backfire through the carburetor' for - well - that type of situation. When I was much younger, I had a '51 Chevy while driving to night school. A section of the trip called for going through a tunnel under the airport runway. I would switch off the ignition for a second or so and switch it back on creating a very loud POW! . I stopped after I saw someone swerve vary badly and nearly crash. Lucky also I never destroyed the muffler/exhaust system!

Lower the windows and squeeze/'pinch' the black triangular 'gusset' at the front. Use your palms and push inward on the mirror area part and outward on the 'tweeter' area on the inside. If that doeas not reduce the noise enough, there may be an adjustment from inside the door. Train your self to close the door by pusing on the metal - not the glass. Try a search on this issue - quite common. If that does NOT help, you may need to beging placig pieces of tape in different areas to pinpoint the problem. If the windshield or wiper blades/arms have ever been replaced, they could cause wind noise too.

Cool info. If you send the H6's 3K oil in for analysis - um, could you post it for us?

My first inclination was to mention valves, but I didn't feel confident enough. Your idea of an over-rich mixture could lead to excessive carbon buildup too. That could prevent a valve from closing completely. Might be interesting to pull the plugs to examine general condition and for comparison with each other. maybe a 'Seafoam' type treatment and , as you suggested, a coolant temp sensor or other air/fuel sensor replacemnt is in order. edit; wait, you need to read or have the ECU code read. The CEL light may point to an emmissions sensor that is bad. Autozone or a 'friendly' mechanic will have a scanner to read that.

If the problem is corrosion on the slides, perhaps 'upgrading' to 2 pots - or 4 pot front/2pot rear, woiuld be a good idea. You might search/ask this on the appropriate forum at www.nasioc.com also.

Possibly the moly is in some assembly greases/coatings. I dunno. Anyway, I can find no soob schedule that doesn't show the first change at 3K.

I pulled the factory oil outta my '06 WRX at 2200. My wife's OBW I think git changed at about 1600. I think, if you look around at the schedules at www.cars101.com , they show 3K for the initial change and 7500 after that UNLESS severe service is encountered. Since the rings may not seal well in a brand new engine, the original oil will lilkely contain more dissolved combustion byproducts from blowby. It will likely have the highest readings of other stuff (metals, silicon,etc.) as any oil analysis done for the next 100,000 miles . you might enjoy reading more about oil at www.bobistheoilguy.com .

Toe probably, camber - well, you could max out both sides - but you wouldn't really KNOW they were the same. Better have a shop do it - they can inspect for damaged parts/loose bushings while they're at it. just my $0.02

Yep - toe. Likely aggressive driving as well. If you continue to drive agressively, try a pound or 2 more pressure and increase negative camber - then set the toe as said, near 0. There's some good reading at www.nasioc.com in the 'sticky' or threads of note in the steering suspension forum. Plus, sometimes tires are made poorly - but most name brands are quite good nowadays. Manufacturers have been forced to reduce the use of VOCs and I've heard rumors it has led to increased likelihood of tread seperation as tires age - I dunno.