RAGE RACER...
i been in the driveway alot recently now that im almost done preparing the little makeover for my mr2. and this blistering heat is KILLING ME.
its so muggy i could swim through the air. not too much is changing, defanately want wider wheels, and steel braded lines for EVERYthing hydrolic. i cant stand the hoses flexing. brakes and espescially clutch.
for new tires im going with the advan neova ad08.
just put in new shifter cables and replaced their fit grips with tighter ones so no little loose feelings on the short shifter. re-enameled the rotors and grinded over the calipers to redo them from scratch (bad pun)
new optima yellow top, since the stereo always used to make all the lights dim in time with the beat of the bass. new headlamps and cleaning out the engine bay a bit. doing the vacuum system over again for the umpteenth time, and relocating some electronics (engine management system and amps and such)
still lots more chores to do here and there but the best part is gonna be the new emblums to replace the toyota ones.

: spunky: made this for me as a birthday gift <3

she designed it, using reference from one of my favorite racing games growing up, "Rage Racer". part of the ridge racer series i obsessed over.
she then had : mechedragon: help her cut it out of alluminum with a high preasure water jet. then she painted it, painstakenly X.x
and covered it in clearcoat. id like to cover both the front and rear emblems with more clearcoat before installing. but this looks fantastic! <3
the emblum for the front will be the color one of course, and in the rear will be the silver one, ill be placing it over the "MR2" emblum :P

http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/rr1.jpg
http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/rr2.jpg
http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/rr3.jpg

on top of this she had badges made that i can sew onto a nice racing jacket, AND many decals for the car :D
fffffffucking awsome!






BLASTER MASTER...
the rock crawlers been just about finished for awhile now.
the winter blizzards we had in january were severe to everyone, but a complete joke to me. i spent it rescuing a couple people from ditches in accidents, and yanking a couple of police vehichles off the freeway, one of them a standard victoria, the other an suv.
i kicked old man winter in the FACE and LOVED it. how very sweet and theraputic <3
my sweet sweet revenge on winter.

ill probably end up driving the mr2 for a bit, starting soon, and then putting it away again when the first snow falls.

whats been done? first order of buisness was to remove all rust. the usual place on the unibody of an XJ is benath the driver seat, and this thing had an actual hole so you could p[ee on the freeway x.x
the doctor cut out the hole for me with a plasma cutter and got a brand new floor from jeep to replace with. welded it in, and covered the entire underbelly of the vehichle with a special spray on rubber coating, nice and thick, never to rust again.
he then put in a longer spline drive and slip yoke eliminator, rebuilding the transfer case. the custom tom woods drive shaft worried me a bit, wasnt sure it would fit right, but after i installed it, it was fine.

http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/rockbuild1.jpg
http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/rockbuild2.jpg
http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/rockbuild3.jpg
http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/rockbuild4.jpg
http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/rockbuild5.jpg


i rewired EVERYTHING and installed some new relays. because lets face it, wiring on american vehichles sucks, electrical problems constantly x.x
once that was done, optima yellow top battery (im a fan of overkill dammit). rewired the entire charging system with much thicker cable (1AWG), welding cable is a better conductor, finer strands and better current.
waterproofing steps: i installed the safari snorkel in my own way, didnt like the instructions telling me the hose is supposed to dip down behind the driver side headlight before it goes up to the intake box. when my driver side tiree jams up into the fender it would kiss the hose. thats bad. so i cut a hole higher in the inner fender, to let the hose get directly to the box, less bends means better airflow, and the tire can never meet the hose. then i caulked the crap out of it, along each seal and meet. disassembled the intake system and braught it indoors to custom cut my own entrance for it to fit the new hose position, and cover up the old entrance.

tested all the seals in a ghetto fashion, by filling the bathtub to the brim, and submerging the intake system into it, with snorkel attached.
not a single drop of leakage, so it was ready and i stuck it all back into the rock crawler, sealed every end with more caulking, and then theres MORE to do. (waterproofing has ALOT of steps)
i used rtv to seal the distributor AIR TIGHT and every return hose for the oil that was feeding on the vacuum system. theres little rings of orange rtv all over the engine at every hose end x.x


http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/rockbuild6.jpg
http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/rockbuild7.jpg
http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/rockbuild8.jpg

then i picked up lots of different lengths and thicknesses of fuel hoses, to increase the length of every vent hose on the vehichle. the front and rear axles, the transfer case, the transmission, the distributor cap, and the fuel tank. raising the hight of every vent hose to match the height of the snorkel. absolutely NO water can get in any of these points unless the vehichle is submerged below 7feet.
so at this point she can now run and drive up to that depth.
bring your divers air tank and goggles ;)

all the other stuff from before is still there, but cleaned and properly wired now.
theres a custom built tool box in the rear, i use it to carry some of the heavy duty stuff like tow straps and the thick jumper cables. my red tool box carries all my working tools. ratchets and cutters and so on. 4 hella floodlights on the roof, two deepwood lamps on the military skid style front bumper. the rock crawling rear bumper had two tow hook latches on it, two spotlights on the rear of the roof. the emergency strobe lights, amber and white, and the 9 thousand pound winch, which i cleaned and rewired though the quick disconnect battery switch.

the roof used to be dark forest green, the only part of the vehichle not covered in herculiner since the cage rack made it unecessary, but for appearance sake, ive now covered that in herculiner also.
replaced the bushings, in the extended arm articulation system, and the swaybars. replaced all the older bolts throughout the belly with brand new crisp clean ones, redid the brake lines so they wont be stretched during extreme flex, and installed a steering box brace from the passenger side front corner of the engine bay, to the steering box on the driver side, holding it in place so the leverage of the huge tires doesnt bend of break it from the body during steer and flex. while also going the extra mile and placing quarter inch thick c-rock steering box reinforcement on the driver side of the box, so the bolts CANNOT break while holding the steering box.
high preasure steering stabalizers help too but their main purpose is to keep maneuvering smooth on the freeway and prevent the "death wobble".
i dont think theres anything else im gonna do to it. other than skid plates, body armor, and axle truss's. all of which are fairly simple.
its just about done, its a rock crawler, waterfall crawler, monstrous snow kicker, and a good daily driver <3

still more work to do X.x

http://toonapalooza.net/ganny/jumbacrawler.jpg