Haven't Forgotten

Yes I am still here and kicking, but it's been a busy several months and the military having moved me to Kingston, than to Petawawa a week later, than back to Kingston before Christmas to get my military drivers's license, than home for the (and a very busy) holidays, than back to Kingston for 2 weeks before sending me to Alberta for my soldier's qualification course, than back to Kingston for a few days before them sending me back to Petawawa. It's nice to be somewhat settled and actually have a desk to sit at to actually do some work online...too bad my new laptop's been crashing or shutting down me for the last month and a half. I can do alright, just can't overload it. Definitely a hardware issue, part of it is that it's overheating so I can't run it in "Performance" mode, but she'll do OK until HP figured out what's wrong with it themselves. I know it'll need to me replaced or physically repaired, but I gotta run through the motions with them. It's an HP TX2-1360ca tablet PC I picked up in June. Awesome little machine and does games quite safisfactory; fortunately since it's the only tablet PC with an actual decent video card, but it doesn't have the build quality of my old LG.

Last year was a year just to stay afloat, but I did manage to pick up a new car. Found a 2004 Mazda Rx-8. I actually was trying to find something 2006 and up, but this thing is MINT, never winter driven and owned by a Mazda Tech so it's got all the upgrades done. The only thing it needs is a new set of tires. I picked her up on Thanksgiving weekend, enjoyed it for that weekend, than immediately put her away for the winter and am anxiously waiting for spring! I will say I did miss having a car and it was nice to be back behind the wheel of something quick and nimble. The Rx-8 has it's own page in the "Projects" section now as well. It's all stock, but that will of course change in time. :D


The truck is sticking around forsure. Did some off roading, including swamping a bit of the truck and broke her water-cherry. Broke 1 starter and 2 alternators last year, as well as stripped some wheel lugs. I've got a flashing SRS light from the water because it damaged the pre-tensioner in the passenger front seat belt since it was submerged in water, but it'll get fixed once Nissan eventually gets the part. The water incident also took out my 1200w inverter, so it was upgraded to a 1750w inverter showhorned under the passenger seat. Advernture Weekend was awsome, but cold and rainy, especially for in September, but we made the best of it. Picked up a few recovery items before the winter, but so far haven't recovered anyone at all, but I did use the winch several times off-roading, and it works great. Even wired in some in-cabin controls; those were very convinient.


Although the year did start great, I have encounted a roadbump, but it's one I can overcome, just sets me back financially. This year, the Rx-8 needs tires before it comes on the road in spring. I'm also looking at going to goneMOAB this year, especially since I can't take any vacation time between May 30th and September 30th, so might as well take one hell of a trip. Only with that, the truck needs some upgrades. High on the list for that is full skids, I want to throw in a locker in there too since it's recommended so that I don't have to "bump" obstacles, and upgraded tie rods since I haven't done that yet. The Grassroots4x4 so far has done an amazing job, but I'd feel more comfortable eliminating one more weak link in the steering system. Truck will more likely need an exhaust system too, and I'd really want to put headers in there while I'm at it, but I'll have to play that one by ear. I got my 1-year pay raise on the 25th, and just in time to make 2011 enjoyable!

Overdue Updates

I probably should inform that I am still very much alive. What ended up happening is a week after my last post is that I actually got a call and got sworn in for the Canadian Forces than only had 3 weeks to get ready to go, which included totally cleaning up my grandmothers garage like I was never in there (with a small section of parts that I'm keeping, including some Xterra parts) and prep the Mx-3 to go to the wreckers. She's still in there sitting on jack stands, but I told my parents that if my grandmother really wanted it gone, that it's ready to go and they can call it in to get flatbeded away, but she's good with it and said we can deal with it until I get back since she only uses her car and a half garage for her lawnmower anyway.

Also in the rush of getting things gone before I left was to fabricate and mount the winch in my truck. The one thing about working with my dad that it's hard to get your own idea across when he had one in his head too, but it came out quite well. He also made some front shackle mounts on it. Those will affect my approach angle just a tad, but once I eventually put on a (modified) brush guard, it'll sit about that distance anyway, so I don't see any problems there, especially since it's about 1/2" off of how an actual winch bumper would sit anyway. It's made with a 1/2" steel for the base plate and 3/8" sides for mounting, so it's strong as hell; the frame with break before this mount does.

I also installed the heated seat pads in the rear seats and wired all that up. I had gotten my second set of Pathfinder switches in from eBay so I figured might as well. They were in great condition and not only were the light bulbs still intact and working, but they worked exactly how they are suppose to with the way I have them wired up to work with aftermarket pads. I put those switches up front of course, and moved my other set to the rear. The only thing is that my rear passenger side pads don't heat up, but I think that just a connector issue; the pins don't like to line up in the connector 100% sometimes, If not it's a dead controller. I just need some time o sort that out

Also before I left, I got some LONG overdue maintenance done on the truck; timing belt, power steering belts, new steering rack (leaking), water pump, tensioner, A/C sealing & recharge, installed my Grassroots4x4 upgraded idler arm, serviced the clutch/brake system and the parking brake was sticking. Also did an oil change and an alignment. We also put on the sending unit for the oil pressure gauge with the adapters I got but I never got around to actually running the wires to the gauge itself yet. Ironically after doing all that, my alternator decided to fail so we ended up putting in a 165amp marine alternator and replaced my trucks original battery with a dual post D35 Optima Yellow Top. She should be good to go for a while now. I'm just happy that it's all done, despite the money spent, some was service that was way overdue that I just couldn't afford to. I was highly recommended by a friend to bring my truck with me (and I'm so glad I did) to BMQ so I wanted my truck to be reliable for the long drive up, but also since I'll be mechanic-less for 3 months.

Anyway, Basic Training (ie: Boot Camp) had been interesting, good but tough, but sets better as time goes on. Currently starting week 9 of 13. The problem is that we only get our electronics on the weekend, and there's no internet access. We're stuck in an indoctrination period for the first 5 weeks, so we weren't even allowed outside the base for that time. On week 5, I went out and picked up a Rogers Rocket Stick, however after a week of work, come the weekends, you just want to GTFO, so it easilly get distracted and just go out and enjoy my freedom as best as I can for 72 hours, especially they will only allow weekend leave if we've performed/behaved well that week. Last week we we're the duty platoon, which means we had extra responsibilities around the base, mostly cleaning, and that week, we weren't allowed out when we're assigned as the duty platoon, so this week, time to enjoy ourselves!

Winch, Heated Seats & Breaking Stuff

Hmm, I'm actually surprised that the last update was done before Christmas. Weeks fly by seamlessly. Since, I've actually unemployed, again, for the last few weeks. Still waiting word on the army, they seem to be taking their time, but it seems at least they are doing stuff. A few people got e-mails this week to fill out an online form for being my references. Heading to a job fair this weekend anyway for other options, but I'm actually leaning considerably towards the forces. I was told that there's a hiring freeze until April by a friend so I decided to give them a call just to make sure and that is indeed true.

Considering that I haven't done an update after Christmas, one thing that I haven't mentioned is that my parents surprised me and got me a winch as a gift. Ideally I wanted a Titan Winch, but this will definitely do. Well, if you've noticed on the Xterra, I don't have a winch bumper, and I don't plan on getting on either. With the body lift, there's plenty of room for a custom winch mount. Mind you, even without the body lift, it actually could fit, probably with some trimming of the bumper in that case. Regardless, my dad just needs to make a mount for the winch, which we've been working on this week. Did some test-fitting and some tweaking and the mount should be close to being bolted in. Next step is to remove the bumper and drill the holes in the frame. Last step is to modify the front crossbar to put the fairlead on it and weld that to the mount. Than to finish it off, to paint it using my process. My yellow top ended up going into my aunts van temporarily. Once I get that back, I'll be put into the Xterra, and hopefully coincide with wiring up the winch.

I also foolishly decided to tackle the sending unit for the oil pressure gauge. I knew it was going to happen and it did; I snapped the OEM sensor trying to take off the connector. I called Nissan and they wanted $130 for a new one. It's cheaper that I thought but it would still hurt right now, so I called my mechanic and he got me a price on a new aftermarket sensor; less than $20, so I was happy. As you can see, we actually didn't use the last NPT-BSPT fitting. We did it for a few reasons; 1) leass leverage/stress on the OEM mounting point, especially if mud gets pushed up in there and 2) there's a piece off the motor what would of been in the way of the aftermarket sending unit. The thing with MPT and BPST is that the difference is only 1-thread-per-inch, so you can make them fit if you want. The adapter is ideal to not ruin the OEM threads, but with the new aftermarket OEM sensor and the fitting costing $25, it really not an issue if they need to be replaced in the future. We also used a liquid sealant rather than the Teflon tape because the OEM sensor is a 1-wire and grounds through the chassis. The Teflon tape could actually insulate the sensor, causing it to not work. I still need to run wires from the sending unit to the gauge, but that's all that's left.

The heated seats have been working great. On my last week of work, the rep came in and I picked up a few sets of pads from him. One pair was suppose to be for a fellow CNTC member, but he hasn't set a date for the installation yet. It's about 3-5 hours worth of work. The other set I got was for anyone potentially for anyone else, but no one seems interested, but also the rep said that there's a possibility that he won't be carrying them anymore, so I decided to do what I also wanted to do and put heated seats in the rear. To say the least, putting them in the rear is actually ALOT harder than the fronts. I plan on getting another set of Pathfinder switches and they'll be mounted on each side of the 12 volt outlet behind the center console. Well see how soon I can get some Pathfinder switches, but I think the round switches that come with the pads are narrower, so I can use those in the meantime until I get the switches I want, but we'll see.

A-Pillar, PAC & Bandwidth

Just a few small updates. I got the heated seats completed and man are they nice to have this time of the year. I've also got in my A-pillar gauge pod in last week. I moved the boost gauge over to it but it left that empty spot in the cash, so I picked up a voltmeter to go there and also got an oil pressure gauge, but they're not hooked up yet. The volt gauge should be easy, just mostly time and weather related. I'm just not sure what's requierd with the oil pressure gauge.

For site updates, I put up the instructions for installing a PAC steering wheel control interface. It's for the SWI-PS, but should apply to their other models as well. Also, I've got an e-mail yesterday saying that I will probably exceed my monthly bandwitdh before the end of the month. I was surprised, that'll be 2 months in a row. I guess that's a good thing and wish I could upgrade my hosting; so just a warning, get what you need and save it just in case...

Some Upgrades

Wow, time flies. Well, looks like my website exeded it's max monthly traffic allowance. That's not a bad thing forsure, but we're going to have to deal with that unfortunately since I can't afford to upgrade my hosting at the moment.

Well things have been slow but at least some progress. One of the local guys had a "fluid swap" day at his place, so everything but the coolant was changed, and man did they need to be changed. At the same time, I put in a rear diff breather, removing the factory capped vent with the Nissan 38323-C6010 fitting and used rubber tubing follow the factory lines to up being the tail light and into the body through one of the capped holes. Also after waiting for 2 months, I was finally able to get my heated seats pads in. They're installed in the seats and they're very straight forward to tie into Pathfinder/Maxima heated seat switches. So far they're just running on a cigarette lighter adapter, but when I get a chance, they'll be hard wired to a switched power source that runs with the remote starter. Unfortunately I broke my digital camera a few week ago by keeping it in my back pocket and sitting on it, but the replacement screen I got for it off of eBay for $30 should be in any day now. I also just got my A-pillar gauge pod in today as well. I've only got a boost gauge to go in there, and I need to pick up a volt gauge to put in the spot where the boost gauge was.

Save Dunnville, Fort Erie (Auto) Race Track, Centrafuse & Pesky Knock Sensor.

Well, although it's apparently been known for a bit now, but it's news to me, it seems that the Dunnville Autodrome is being forced to shut down. Apparently the problem is with noise generated by it's use, which is ironic for the fact that it's at an airport. That location is host to many lapping and drift days, racing schools, press events and even uses for tests in the car review show "Motoring". I was fortunate enough to be invited to a Mazda press event a few years ago to showcase their performance cars and their MazdaSpeed upgrades. I've been looking forward to heading back to that track; it's a technical short track that's quite fun. If you wish you know more about it's closure, you can see the press release here and you can sign the online petition at http://www.nyspeed.com/savedunnville/index.php.

On a possibly related note, and a positive one, is that they're going through with building a race track in Fort Erie! It plans to open for 2011, so I've got some time to get a new car and race ready, but I'm definitely excited to have a race track only 20min from my doorstep! You can see the track at it's official site, http://www.cdnmotorspeedway.com/. It's going to have all kind of facilities for racing as well:

• Canada’s first and only professional class 1 mile oval course


• 2.6 mile FIA Certified road course which exits and enters through tunnels…never seen before in North America


• Drifting Circuit, Moto Cross Tracks & Test track & Driver Club Circuits
  
• The most popular forms of racing on a single site: Open Wheel, Stock Car, Mixed Configuration, Motorcycle, Drifting, Moto Cross / Off Road, Electric Vehicle Racing and much much more…..

The Xterra's PC got reformatted today. Installed a version of XP Lite and I decided to move away from RoadRunner and give Centrafuse a try. So far it's only installed, I still need to install some hardware drivers to get the system running so that I can use it, but so far I think I'm going to prefer Centrafuse. My only gripe at the moment is that XP Lite doesn't have the Hibernate option, so I'll have to look more into that when I get a chance.

Also with the Xterra, I found that my sub wiring was wrong. I wired it according to Mitchell OnDemand's diagram, but the polarity for the one set of output running to the sub listed for the "3.3" is actually wrong, and on my truck it's the same as they have for the "2.4", so I'll be making note of that in my instructions when I get a chance.

One last thing, and ya I've been busy with the Xterra, but I've been having issues with it retarding the timing again, so I've actually unbolted the knock sensor, wrapped it in foam and taped it to part of the harness so that it would be extremely desensitised, and it's still managing to act up. Mind you, not nearly as much as before I did the plugs, and there's little different between not and how it was acting post-new-plugs, but just to say that it's still doing it, but I do suspect it's somewhat related to the weather, mostly warmer days. When I get the chance, and when the weather cooperates, I'm going to replace the knock sensor with a 560K (560'000) ohm resistor and go from there.

And to finish, on a personal note, I'll be starting to work as an installer at Base Electronics come Monday. I'll be helping them out until the (hopefully) air force position goes through and I would start basic training in January. I was planing on taking a leave of absence from the valet job for that since I don't know how long I will actually be needed there, but that seems to be a bit of a hassle, and I was asked to just work one day a week to keep that going, so I may just do that and see how it goes. The irony is that on my first day back from my medical leave, and I wake up at 4am from pain in my right arm; I got buritis in my right elbow....I swear that job doesn't agree with me.

Crazy Times

Wow, it's been that long since I've updated here, but things were just that crazy. The valet job was consuming all of my time, working 6 and 7 days a week, 8, 9 and 10 hour shifts. Basically I had 3 days off in 2 months time, not fun. I've actually been off for the last week on a medical leave since I was just exhausted and in pain; my body didn't get any time to rest, that I still have to squeeze in the other things I needed to do too.

On the long weekend I went away with CDN-NTC club to Minden for camping and off-roading. It was exactly what I needed; great times! The truck got a few upgrades, including a 2" body lift, a PML (poor mans lift - cranked torsion bars and rear shackles) and 32"x11.5 Goodyear MT/R with Kevlar sidewalls. It performed exceptionally well. I've also received my Grassroots4x4 steering upgrade last week, so that still needs to get installed. I've also got Shrockwork sliders ordered, should arrive in another 4-6 weeks.

This past weekend I installed the PAC steering wheel control unit to allow my factory steering wheel controls to work with my Pioneer 980BT head unit. It was much simpler than expected, and works great too. I also hard wired my CB since having it on ignition is inconvenient, and I mounted heated seat switches from a Pathfinder I got a while back and put them in the center shifter trim, looks great. I also found out that my local car/home audio place, Base Electronics, can get the heated seat pads! They just never got into it because of the time involved, it's not worth it because of how time consuming that it would be, and in turn, how expensive it would be for the customer. I think I may be doing this next, and hopefully quite soon, especially since my truck won't (or shouldn't be able to) fit in the garage anymore from the lift. I'll have to see what the cost of the pads are.

On a personal note, the job hunt continues, but I'm going through the process of applying to the Air Force; I just need to drop off my transcripts, but that doesn't start until January.