Thad, welcome to the rotary world. The RRDI gets together the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month. Next Saturday is the second Saturday for September already. We'd love to have you drive up and join us. We have a member over at the Pope's Air Force Base there next door to Ft. Bragg. His name is Eric and his forum name is speedjunkie. I know there are several guys, mostly from the Jacksonville/Camp LeJeune area in eastern NC trying to start a rotary gathering for Eastern NC. I'm surprised you haven't heard from Eric already, but you will. He has a Montego Blue FD, 3rd Generation RX7 and has been working on it pretty heavily most of this summer but he usually keeps it road worthy.

You and Eric could caravan up to Raleigh on Saturday and meet a bunch of other NC rotorheads. We meet at the Char Grill Drive-In on Strickland Road in north Raleigh aroung 5:30 - 6:00 PM.

 

To quote Bob Hope, "Thanks for the memories". That was a great Rotary Rally and that was the first year we had started the Drive-Ins. With all we've got going on this fall, drives up to Oceana NAS in September for the Blue Angels, down to Seymour Johnson in October for the Thunderbirds and a rotary theme Drive-In for the 4th Saturday, in November down to Wilmington for the Brits & Battleship Car Show and up to VIR in December for Holiday Laps. I don't know when we can fit a Grand Rotary Rally in to the schedule.

Lee plan on joining us in November for the Brits & Battleship Car Show, as an old TR3 owner you'll really enjoy the show. Check out their website: http://www.bmccf.org/

 

Glad it worked out fairly well for you... didn't want your screwing sump'n up to be on account of me... ;)

The shorter the lip the harder to get to roll...

But you can roll the car back and forth... works best with help... actually I seem to remember that was the technique we used the most...

If your mallet was the regular relatively compliant rubber it's a lot harder than using a steel or hard poly mallet... a dead blow hammer should work real good... never had one of those back in the day cause they either didn't have them then or they cost too much...

Why not jes whack 'um or bat roll 'um some more...

Hope it continues to go well for ya...

 

I plan on being at the air show at SJ also. I'll look for you guys there.
Brits and Battleship looks like a major hoot. I may be able to make that. We have been traveling so much lately and have a load of other trips planned. I am sure that will not conflict.(Just got back from a med cruise.)
It reminds me of a trip we took to Cherokee acouple of years back. There were about 25 or 30 Jags of all vintages that gathered there for a meet. Cool thing was that this was a group from the UK and Europe that take atrip each year. The year prior, they shipped all the cars to South Africa and had a drive all over the country. I met several of them. They are very passionate about their cars as they should be.. Hope to see all of you guys soon. Lee

 

Man the GRR of NC. Reminiscing...

Stinas/David, the party was great. Thanks for inviting us. Came home and slept again haha. Hope you had fun in fayettnam.

 

I PMed Thadeous just now. I also met a couple other guys at Advance today. One has an RX-2 they're building to drag race I believe, and I think he has a 7 too. He was asking me if I was selling mine and I said "not a chance in hell" and he asked me when I do decide to sell it...and I replied "like I said, not a chance in hell" and he said "well I'm not trying to push you or anything, I'm just saying..." haha. And the other guy has an '86 GXL IIRC. I gave them my number and proposed they make the trip with me up to see you guys, and told them about trying to start a club here too. Always wonderful to meet more rotorheads. Oh, these guys are also Corvette owners and in 'Vette clubs too. I told them they're more than welcome to bring those along too, haha.

IMSA...it did turn out pretty well, and I'm not even sure I'll need to roll them any more, but I figure if they're getting a roller I might as well try to finish it up with that. I was showing the car to one of my old bosses this morning, and he was telling me he used the same technique you did, to roll the car back and forth. I didn't even think of that, DUH! Although for part of the time I was doing it by myself anyway.

Our whole squadron got recalled to the base theater this morning at 0900. One of the guys in my shop died in a car accident Friday morning at 0800. He was driving through the rain of Ernesto (he's the only death of the hurricane), on bald tires, no seatbelt, doing 85 and started hydroplaning, was ejected from the car and landed in the median, and the car landed in the southbound lane. He died on the scene. I found out about it yesterday morning but since we have to wait to notify next of kin, I couldn't really tell anyone. I wasn't even supposed to know yet. I didn't really know him all THAT well. I mean, we were kinda friends, but we never hung out. Mostly work acquaintances. Actually I think I might have told Stina about this last night, which was the reason I didn't make it up there, so you guys probably already know, haha.

 

Eric, those wheels look great on that car and can't wait to see how the fender rolling went using a bat. What is the preferred manufacturer of bat? Louisville Slugger or do yo use an off brand?

Sorry to hear about your squadron mate but driving 85 in hard rain on bald tires is just asking for things to go really bad, really fast. Just glad no one else was hurt or killed in the accident. Bring a crowd up with you to the next RRDI you make. Are you still planning on joining Gary and Nic up at Fontana Village?

 

hey im station at bragg too and im planning to go to the next meet with eric he lives down the street from me. im pm you my cell number

 

Damn Eric, sorry for you shops loss. Brings me back to my last shop...we lost one of our young Airman nearly the same way, pretty sad really.

I'll give you a call tomorrow, ya know since we're off and all!

 

Hey Bert (wow, that takes me back to my Sesame Street days!), actually it WAS a Louisville Slugger! Inacio kept looking at me like I was crazy for using a LS to do it, HAHA. "You are using a Louisville Slugger! You are using a LOUISVILLE SLUGGER number 251!" HAHA. I was like yeah, and? Lol. Yeah I'm still planning on going to DG with Nic and Gary. I figured more of us would be going this time too, it's just the three of us?? Oh well, more curvy goodness for the rest of us! I can't wait to test the new setup. Inacio is supposed to be going with me too but he said he's gonna have to get some motion sickness pills...or I'd have to let him drive. I told him he could probably get the pills at the CVS just down the street, hahaha.

Yeah it's a sad thing to lose a young troop like that. His common sense definitely failed him on this one. And his family most likely won't be getting the $400k or so that we're getting now cause he wasn't wearing his seatbelt. Not that it's important to them, but it would be nice.

Hey Victor, as of right now I'm not planning on being at this upcoming weekend's meet. I WILL be at the next one though, on the 23rd.

 

Looking for an excuse to take a great weekend drive? There will be some great cars on VIR-South course Sept. 23,24 & 25. On the roster aside from a couple of RX-7's (my fd and Bill Rankin's FC):

Many various Porsches
'Vette's & 'Stangs
2005 Ferrari 430
2003 Mitsubishi Evo VIII
1999 Ferrari 355F1
2005 Lotus Elise

Feel free to come up and check out the fun. You could some up Saturday and still make it to the Drive In or the other two days. Monday we'll be running full course.

 

That sounds like fun Matt. Might have to give it a whirl.

I forgot to mention, one of the guys I met at Advance yesterday, he said he's the original owner of his FC, picked it up for $26k (I think he said) in '86! Rodney, you have some competition, haha. He's trying to get the rear end rebuilt right now though.

 

OK... I haven't been on here since Thursday... but I wanted to thank y'all for the Birthday wishes!

Also, thanks SO much to those of you who made it to the party... and to ALL of you who contributed to my gifts!

I won't have the springs til the end of this month... otherwise I'd have it installed by this weekend, and probably pull a last-minute trip to Deal's Gap with you guys. Unfortunately, this weekend is David's Active Reserves weekend anyway, so we can't make it anyway.

I'll be installing the new PD and fuel lines asap... so she should be running right... but she will still handle like a minivan until the springs arrive.

We will be doing a drive in October so I can test the new suspension!

I can't wait!! DGRR is gonna be HEAVEN!! Not to mention our next trip to VIR!

 

Perky, glad you guys had a great party and sorry I didn't make it. After David called I felt something coming on that afternoon. By the time I got home I was sick as hell, been laid out on the couch since then. Should have known I was gonna catch something, had a student come in Friday coughing like crazy to the point I was like go to the doctor dude! Never was close to him but looks like that's where it came from. I hate it when people who are sick as hell go to public places and pass that **** around. Anyways, grats on the bday and gifts. I really do hate I missed it, was looking forward to it.

 

Heads up, this is longer than I planned lol

Glad you enjoyed and glad you could make it...all of you. As for Fayettenam...didn't make it Finished cleaning up from the party around 2pm and by that point we were exhausted. Went back to the house with Phil and tried to trouble shoot his problem while Stina got some sleep...no luck with that Got some ideas, but it was too hot and mosquito ridden to get far. Thanks for everyone who helped me with the gift idea for Stina!!! We will still be a little short(since I used a part of the money for the Pulse dampener) but with my newfound job(that should be set in stone over the next couple weeks) I should be able to have the cash for that before you know it. Thank you all again SOOOO much!!! I know some people haven't had a chance to get ahold of me about the gift, but I'll be in touch. Thank you all sooo much for your contributions. Dang...that was longer than planned. Sorry.

 

^^^ dang... my head hurts after trying to read that.

 

Just wanted to remind everyone that this coming weekend we have a road trip scheduled to go up to Oceana NAS for the Air Show and Blue Angels performances. The show starts on Saturday and Sunday at 10:00 AM and the Blue Angels are scheduled to fly at 3:00 PM so we should be able to make it back for the RRDI Saturday night. They will also be doing a repeat show on Sunday for those that can't make it up on Saturday. I have invited the Hampton Roads/Norfolk/Va. Beach rotary group to join us but haven't seen a reply or gotten a PM from anyone.

Anyone want to step up for the Sunday road trip up there? It is about a 3 - 3.5 hour drive up to Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

Also have an RRDI this Saturday evening at the Char Grill. I've missed the last two meets so I'm really looking forward to this weekend.

 

Damn, I wish I was gonna be here for this Bert. The Dragon is calling though. I can feel the beat in my feet and hands, haha.

 

WHY CANT I HAVE A RUNNING CAR TO GO TO THESE EVENTS!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!!!!

okay i am done.

 

As I have already told Josh, Deal's Gap may not happen this weekend after all. My driver's side door won't even open now. I'm not sure what exactly happened but I think it's the lock. It will not open from the outside OR inside. I was thinking of still going, but I'm not sure I want to deal with the hassle of getting in from the passenger side (easier than I thought it would be) or trying to "Dukes of Hazzard" my way out of it. THAT is tough. I can't even get my upper body through the window first so I had to stick my legs out first, then pull myself out so I was sandwiched in there and trying to squeeze my way out, with my shoulders touching my knees. I've come to the conclusion that my *** is too big.

Oh yeah, and I spotted an orange FD in my buddy's shop yesterday so I stopped to check it out. He has alot done...water injection, fuel cell, single turbo (Garrett, looks like a GT35 or 40), and the STOCK AST!!!!! I was like "uh, this guy is gonna need to change this AST...soon...like now...right now." My friend didn't even pay attention to me, like I didn't know what I was talking about, but he was pretty busy with the wiring under the driver's side so I just said I'd talk to him later. He said they're gonna try to get 520hp from it. I guess that's possible, it did look pretty strong...I'll be watching for this car to be for sale wrecked sometime soon. He said either the guy just got it, just got it from New York, or the guy just came from NY, one of those three. Can't remember, haha. It also has a C-West body kit and SSR wheels.

 

are you guys meeting up with ppl from the hampton roads area? maybe we can show you guys around, heres the website and links.

http://rx7.meetup.com/55/boards/

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...page=425&pp=15

hope to meet some of you guys this saturday. I will be at this dyno tuning session for a while on saturday so just try to set something up.

http://www.vadriven.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151325

 

That is really cool Eric. I like the idea of going with the jet fighter look. No doors, just a sliding canopy and you step out over the fuselage. That will look way better than those stupid lambo doors and you can just pop the canopy when you want to go vert.

May I suggest trying to find an A-6 Intruder canopy since the Pilot and Bombardier sat side by side. You should be able to order one thru any Army-Navy Surplus stores.

 

It's actually pretty funny to try picturing someone of your height maneuvering himself through the window like that... however, I don't think I could even get through the window of the FD, either... without breaking ME or the car.

 

Almost like the Jetsons, haha. That would be kinda cool though.

Yeah Perky, it was kinda tough. My thighs sure took a beating from the window. I'm gonna get it again on video though, haha.

 

Well, it's official...I have a new house on base!!! I move in next weekend. I guess we'll see everyone at the next next meet. Does anyone want anything from the Gap??? Cuz, I'll see what I can do.