2012-02-23T17:13:38Z http://blog.redricer.com/atom.aspx Quick Blogcast tag:blog.redricer.com,2011-09-05:1ce933cc-739b-49bf-b165-dc6c0272fcd2 Greg 2011-09-06T02:06:04Z 2011-09-06T02:06:04Z Well, according to the blog manager, it has been 311 days since my last post, which was about painting the Ricer.&nbsp; It has been a busy year at work deploying a new network and at home in the middle of a large home remodel.&nbsp; It looks like I'm going to have a little time to mess with the car, so I decided to turn the car into a track day type car with a roll cage and as much weight removed as possible.&nbsp; What this means is that it will no longer be driven on the road and will be dedicated to track days, autocrosses and hill climbs (new adventure).&nbsp; My first real activity will be to install an eBay header onto the ZC SOHC.&nbsp; I don't expect any real power gains, but hope to take some weight off of the car.<br> tag:blog.redricer.com,2010-10-29:a923947a-6415-4715-887c-8e04b9f2eba3 Greg 2010-10-30T00:59:00Z 2010-10-30T00:59:00Z The Ricer is red!!!  It has been a few years since I primered the car and looked forward to the day that I would get the car painted.  I do have a couple pictures and will post them in the next couple days, but I'm pretty happy with the results.  The car's body was pretty beat up when I bought it and since it will spend a lot of time on track, I didn't spend a lot of time on the body work.  I hoped for a 20x20 paint job - looks good at 20mph at 20 feet - and I definitely meet that goal. <div><br /> </div> <div>I bought the paint at a local shop and they were very helpful in selecting the correct products.  They mixed the Honda Rio Red (code R63) and supplied the correct hardner and reducer for the weather conditions.  I started in the morning and it was on the cold side, so I warmed up the garage a little; however, the first two coats took a long time to dry due to the cold temps.  As the went on, the later coats went on well and dried normally.</div> <div><br /> </div> <div>I let the paint dry for a week; then, I taped off the lower portion and painted the area black to match the factory paint scheme.  This little bit did a good job of making the car look complete. </div> <div><br /> </div> <div>Pics to follow...</div> tag:blog.redricer.com,2010-08-26:06b0cf8a-3d97-4f98-bbe5-0d0827810540 Greg 2010-08-27T01:02:00Z 2010-08-27T01:02:00Z I got a little bored, so I thought I would give Lexan rear windows a shot.  i decided to replace the sail windows and the hatch window with Lexan.  I have never messed with Lexan, so it was a good chance to learn something new. <div><br /> </div> <div>The sail windows were my first venture and they were a lot more time consuming.  To prevent wasting an expensive piece of Lexan, i bought a piece of much cheaper plexigalss to build the templates.  The first step was to remove the sail windows, without breaking them, and using them as the template.  Once the windows were removed, I traced their outline onto the plexiglass and used a jigsaw to cut the plexiglass.  The cut plexiglass fit very well and only required a small amount of tweaking to get the correct fit. I used the Plexiglass cut outs and repeated the process on a piece of Lexan and it worked out very well, which means I didn't waste any Lexan.</div> <div><br /> </div> <div>For the hatch window, I skipped the Plexiglass template and went straight to the Lexan.  I took my time and get it correct without ruining the Lexan sheet.  To add additional support to the hatch window, I installed two aluminum strips on the top of the Lexan running front to rear.  These strips should help on holding the Lexan in place and prevent it from blowing out.</div> <div><br /> </div> <div>The three Lexan windows are in place and still require my to paint a black edge around the windows.  This black edge will be wide enough to cover the sheet metal under the windows and they will be about 2 inches wide.  I weighed the glass and Lexan and the Lexan is about 20lbs lighter.  It doesn't sound like a lot, but the whole car weighs about 2000lbs and the glass is high on the car, so it will assist in lowering the cg.</div> <div><br /> </div> <div><br /> </div> tag:blog.redricer.com,2010-08-04:d8cb2023-e502-4d84-a8fb-8c8ce89d7eff Greg 2010-08-04T12:25:00Z 2010-08-04T12:25:00Z Besides having a cheap track car, I also bought the CRX to try out different things, so this past weekend I made up Lexan panels to replace the rear side windows.&nbsp; Once I had the window removed, I traced the outline onto a piece of cheap Plexiglas from Lowe's.&nbsp; The shape was cut out using a jigsaw with a 18 tooth/inch blade.&nbsp; Once the Plexiglas was cut, I made fine adjustments with sandpaper until I was happy with the fitment.&nbsp; Now that the template was completed, I bought a sheet of Lexan, at Lowe's and basically complete the same steps - traced the template, cut out with jigsaw and make final tweaks with sandpaper. <br /> <br /> Before I secured the Lexan panels, I had some other work.&nbsp; There were four holes that were used for clips that were welded closed and I sanded, primered, and painted the area where the panels are secured.&nbsp; When the paint dried, I lined up the panels, drilled holes and secured them with screws and nuts.&nbsp; <br /> &nbsp;<br /> I still need to mask off a border area on the outside of the panels and this area will be painted black.&nbsp; This will clean up the look of the panels and create a finished look.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> So far, I am happy with the way the panels turned out and learned some stuff for next time, which will be the rear hatch glass.&nbsp; As a side benefit, the new panels weigh five pounds less than the side glass panels.