c25ahatch

The NW Alfa Romeo Club is hosting a track day at Pacific Raceway on the 18th. A really great bunch of folks, and any brand of car is welcome. Previous track experience is required. For details check out this link. The links on that page should answer any other questions. Hope to see a few of you there!

Every time one of these is up for sale, or mentioned, there seems to be quite an interest in having replicas made. I recently procured one from another RPR member that is in spectacular shape. Given its age, I would say 9 out of ten. I also happen to know of a small local company that specializes in fiberglass reproductions of '32 Ford roadsters and coupes. I intend on taking the spoiler down and getting a price worked out to do a run of these. Anyone interested?

FWIW, I also know of a carbon fiber place that could do the job also. The big problem there is that they are not located near me. I figure it would be marginally cheaper to do fg anyway, which should be more appealing to the masses. Either way, it should come out much lighter than the stock piece's rather portly 20 lbs.

I was at the Portland Historic races over the weekend and came across a vendor selling rare and out of print books related to cars and motorsports. I asked if he had anything Honda. He produced a Motorbooks Ltd book (I am sure you all have seen them before, usually titled "How To ________").

At first, I figured it was one of the commonly availible editions you can find at any bookstore with information alsmost strictly relating to 92+ models. I quickly realized my mistake as I perused the pages. S800's, 1st-4th Gen Civics, CRXs, early Preludes, and more! I flipped to the inside front cover and checked the date. Sure enough, 1990! I told him I would take it.

He was about to ring it up when he noticed a post-it stuck inside. Apparently it is extremely hard to find, and the post-it was a reminder of this along with a price; $50.00. He put it on hold for me and is going to double check on the rarity. I am looking forward to hearing from him!

How many of the half dozen 1g CRXs and 3g Civics are board members? I have seen numerous mentions of GRM $200* Challenge cars under construction, but do not know the status of them. Just call it curiousity. There were also four 2g/4gs. All the above finished in the top two thirds of the field.

Since purchasing my Civic it has had a strong raw fuel smell. It was bad enough that I could not park it in the garage or the kitchen and living room would reek of gas by morning. (Don't worry, I bought a car cover so it has not been exposed to the elements) Obviously fuel leaks are a very bad thing, especially when your fuel tank is in the front and the engine is in the rear.

I perfer to do work on my vehicles myself, but in this case I felt better entrusting the repairs to someone more experienced. I was hoping it was just a bad fuel line or the like, but it turns out it was a little more involved than that. To make a long story short, the tank was beyond saving.

Being as the tank was hand made, the new one was not cheap. Considering the amount of work that went into building the car, I definately feel it was justified spending the money. The fact that I no longer have to worry about the car catching on fire is a huge load off my mind as well. I look forward to picking it up and getting to drive it again! I am having withdrawals.

(For those that follow the link, don't let the name fool you. They work on everything, not just 4x4's. They are one of the few shops I would trust to touch any vehicle of mine.)