11/18/08 - Lotus: Third time is the charm. We tried to buy a Lotus two different times in the past (Elise and Esprit) and it didn't work out. Last weekend, the third try succeeded. Say hello to our new 2008 Isotope Green Lotus Exige S240. Besides the paint color, the only option we added was the limited slip diff. It's the quickest street car Lotus has ever built (0-60 in 4.0 seconds), and on the way home from San Diego, we averaged over 26 mpg! It's tiny, fast and nimble and comes from the factory with race compound tires. It feels very much like driving a go-cart on the street. Extremely fun to drive.

11/09/08 - ????: Five months ago Jaime and I ordered a new car. Today, we picked it up. Very, very cool. More pictures and details soon!

10/11/08 -Hot Rod Reunion (click here for all the pics)- Once again Jaime and I got up Saturday morning and headed out to a fantastic car event. This time it was up near Bakersfield, California to Famoso Raceway for the 2008 Hot Rod Reunion. NHRA Vintage Drag Racing with open pits, Hot Rod car show, swap meet and huge vendor area made this a show to put on your calandar every year. Awesome event. We'll definitely go again next year, but this time we'll be more prepared for the cold evening and pine bench bleacher seating.

Some highlights of the show below: Jaime getting into the MoonEyes Dragster, Four engines and All Wheel Drive!, Front Engine Dragsters running through the quarter mile in 5.6 seconds!, awesome nostalgia muscle car dragsters!

09/20/08 - Pantera: Finished putting custom air vents into our new carbon fiber hood that we purchase from Panteras by Wilkinson. The hood is super nice and fits great. It came without vents, and that actually worked out nicely because we didn't want to install the traditional Pantera hood vents. They're very rectangular, and the straight metal grill really makes them look dated. We wanted something with more shape, made from a more modern material. And since we're running the radiator in a more laid down position, we were able to make the vents taller to help vent more hot air.

First I had to come up with the design. I designed the vents to mimic the shape of the gap between the back of the radiator and the front of the trunk. Had to leave room for the hood support beams on the sides and in the center. I rounded the corners using a small paint can cap, and adjusted the front most line to have the same curve as the front of the hood (instead of the straight line of the radiator). Jaime found the steel mesh material from an on-line computer store. Comes in flat sheets. Once we had the design and metal mesh, we needed a way to shape the mesh. Made a trip to Low's for a couple planks of wood and some router bits. Traced the pattern onto the wood and made a positive and negative shape for each vent. Inserted the mesh, fit the wood pieces together and clamped them down, pressing the mesh into the proper shape. Primed and painted the vents semi-gloss black with rattle cans.

Next, I traced the design onto the back side of the hood so that I could see the vent position relative to the hood supports. Remember how I used a small plastic cap as a guide to draw the rounded corners of the vents? I drew the circle at each corner, marked the center of each circle, and drilled a small hole through the hood at each mark. These were used as registration marks so I could then transfer the vent pattern to the front side of the hood. I used a metal cutting disk on the dremel and cut from the front side of the hood to make sure that all of the lines were perfect. This is the most carefully I've ever cut anything! Ya! nothing like cutting up a $1600 hood! All the lines came out perfect. Once the holes were cut, I hand sanded the edges and test fit both vents.

Now it was time to finish off the newly cut edge. Using 1/4" pinstriping tape, I followed around each vent hole to make a guide line. Then I outlined the guide tape with a second piece of tape, and removed the original guide line tape. This gave me a perfect 1/4" piece of exposed carbon fiber around each vent hole. Jaime finished masking off the rest of the hood and I scuffed the carbon fiber resin lightly to help the new paint stick. This time I painted with glossy black. Once the paint was dry I installed each vent using a bead of black silicone sealant on the back side of the hood.

Once the silicone was dried we re-installed the hood. Pardon the dust on the rest of the car. We're getting there, one piece at a time!

08/31/08 - Pantera: Jaime and I spent all weekend on the Pantera. I installed some electronic bits and Jaime installed some new carpet..

First, I installed Pantera Electronic's LED Front Signal Lights Conversion. These things are bright! In the first pic you can see the new LED panel installed into the original Pantera housing. This is an awesome install. Much easier than I expected. No modifications are made to the factory housing, just open it up and insert the LED's. Run the wires through and put connectors on them. They plug right into the factory harness. The only other thing left to do is install an electronic signal flasher. Pantera Electronics also makes a nifty flasher. It has a Green LED that lights up letting you know that the flasher has power and is operating correctly, plus it makes an electronic "di-doo" flasher sound. The flasher sound is quite loud, great for people with loud engines. It was a litte too loud for me though, so I put a little strip of foam tape over the speaker hole and now it's pefect! Did I mention that these are bright?

Second, I installed Pantera Electronic's Headlight Motor Controller (Jon does incredible work.) The Panteras are getting on in their years now, and one of the things that people are having problems with is the pop-up headlight operation. Not only does Jon's controller make the headlights reliable, it addresses a ton of other issues with the factory set up. You ready for this?

• Permits reliable operation of the headlight lift motor. Modern reliable semiconductor design, no relays to fail. Works in Pre-L and L Model Panteras.
• Preserves headlight switch life by removing heavy electrical load from the headlights switch on the console.
• Preserves dimmer switch by removing heavy electrical load from the headlight high/low dimmer switch on the steering column.
• Preserves headlight limit switches by removing heavy electrical load from the headlight lift mechanism limit switches.
• Minimizes electrical load of the headlight operation by proper sequencing motor and headlight operation.
• Automatically turns off parking and headlights when ignition is turned off, regardless of headlight switch position (no more coming back to a dead battery because you left your lights on. I've even managed to have the headlights stay on while they were in the down position!)
• LED's on controller indication proper switch operation and well as aid in trouble shooting (this is true, because of the LED indicators, I discovered that I had some wires in the wrong positions on the fuse block, been that way for a while, ooops.)

While I was messing with the electrical stuff, Jaime got to work on the loop style carpet. She made patterns out of paper first, then cut out the carpet and sewed various pieces together, essentially creating a "moulded carpet" look, only better. The fit is stunning. I'm totally amazed. Not a wrinkle or bare edge to be seen. Fanstastic!