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Something New:
The 10Dez

All chromoly construction
1.5x.120 wall main tubes
Rest is all .095 wall
Honda 1600 VTEC powered - makes about 170 hp, we can make lots more later. Reliability is the absolute must, though, so 170 for now....
Hopefully getting just at 20" of travel on all four corners.
Will have dual vented inboard rear rotors with four piston calipers, two piston calipers up front.
Roberto 8:1 box
930 CVs w/Super Cages - supposed to give 26 degrees of deflection (versus 23 stock) - we set the suspension up to get 25 degrees max
Fox Internal Bypass shocks on all four corners - 12" stroke
VW Wide 5 bolt pattern hubs (Gear One stuff) - gives me lots of options for wheels and tires. Probably gonna run 16" rims and 31's or 33's. - better ground clearance, plus with a taller tire, more ground clearance and more travel, I'll be able to set the car deeper into the suspension's droop - makes it all work better through the rough stuff.

(8/14/06)
We have seats, shocks, spindles & tranny now.

(10/16/06)
Finally got back out to Phoenix last week to start working on the new Dez. James had sent me some pix of the 12" shocks we're going to use up front in position and informed me that he wasn't going to be a part of putting those ugly shock towers on the front of the car. (James only does cool looking stuff...) I was going to be fully responsible for the new mounts. That was okay by me. We discussed how and where the mounts were going to end up and they became exactly what James said he envisioned - but he still wasn't responsible for them. (in case you haven't figure it out, this is an ongoing joke between the two of us)

With the new shock towers, we're getting 18.75" of travel (same on the rear also). At full compression the car will have right at five inches of ground clearance. This should be just about perfect and allowing for side wall flex, the bottom of the car should stay about two off the ground with one of the dreaded monster hits.

Another thing we're trying is a new rear axle and CV setup. The new CVs are non plunging, but they will allow up to 40 degrees of deflection (as opposed to 26). The drive axles are a plunging style that uses a new technology borrowed from the Range Rover utility vehicles. No pix yet, as we just ordered them today. They're made to our dimensions and requirements.

The pix are taken in order, more or less, of what was worked on. There are two of us working on the new car and we're both doing different things. There are also many different aspects of the build that need to be worked on, so we jump around a bit.

Battery Box - if the battery's in the driver's compartment, it must be fully enclosed.	James' work is second to none.	The brake pedal from hell - way too much time in this one...	The new front shock hoops. Tall, ugly, but functional.	This is what regular Tazcar front shock mounts look like.
Front view of the new towers	Stock front mounts
VTEC back view	VTEC drive side view		Flywheel in place	Flywheel and clutch adaptor
Dash layout	New Dash layout - GPS needed to be directly in front of the co-dog.	Electrical components	Radiator in position	Lower radiator mount
Upper radiator mount

It looks like we're going to give the Revolution Racing Shocks (now defunct) a try. After talking to a few people, they sound like they might be the hot ticket. They guy that makes them is way into racing and said that he'd be more than happy to help getting them dialed in. They plan on being at all the SCORE races for customer support. I've had a couple people say that I need to run 3.0's in back, as opposed to 2.5's (which is what will be run in front). What is said makes sense - a larger shock doesn't have to work as hard, and since it's the heavy end of the car, why not lessen the work load if possible? ATV Racing's been using the Fox 2.5 internal bypass shocks on all four corners w/no problems at all, but as Jay and I were discussing this morning - the dunes don't constantly pound the suspension like off roading does.

(10-28-06)
After being in Phoenix for two weeks, James and I have accomplished a lot:
Lots of stuff that needed to be ordered is on order or in and installed
Front shock towers - designed, installed
Shocks - Ordered. 12" stroke, 2.5 in front, 3.0 in rear
Fuel Tank - Sent off to Fuel Safe
Dash board is more or less figured out
Radiator mounted
Disc Brakes started getting installed
Exhaust system installed
Attention to detail items - started, figured out, etc.
Still lots more to do - bodywork, final welding, plumbing, brake lines, front spindles, finish up the wheels. Still, the DezII is coming along. Hopefully I'll get to go back out before Christmas and work on it for another week or so. I'll update when I know more.

(3/4/07)

I got a chance to work on the Dez II for a few days the middle of February.

A lot of the stuff we've been waiting on had arrived: The shocks from Revolution Racing Shocks came in, The plunging rear axles and CV setup arrived. We got springs for the shocks, front hubs, rotors & brakes along with a wiring harness for the car. I was able to get everything installed on the car and more welding up of tacked things was done.

Unfortunately, I managed to break my right collarbone while I was out in Phoenix this time so I didn't get much more done. James plans on getting the bodywork and a lot of the fabrication end of the car done in the next month to two months. I'll go out west, pick up both cars and a new chassis for the Old Deztaz and bring them all back to Ohio. I'll finish up the 10 Dez when it's here and then it'll be time to head back west, test and hopefully hit a race.

Front shock test fitting	Front shocks with springs installed	Rear shock test fitting	Rear shock with springs and axles installed	Left side view of the Dez II
Another left side view	Right rear view with shocks and axles installed	Left side view	Top of the shock. Lower Left is rebound control the other three knobs control the three compression damping zones. Just dial it in. I really hope these things work.	Dual rear calipers and the mounting cradle I made for them. The cradle clips onto the tranny and then calipers mount to the cradle.
Plunging axles and the stuff that comes with them.	Installed on the left side. They are smooth as glass and we can probably get another two inches of droop with them.	Installed CV with the boot ring in place.	Non-plunging 930 CVs. These puppies will allow a 40 degree axle angle. We're using about 25 right now	The boot rings. They fit on with a recessed flange that clears the CV's cage.
Of course we had to take one of the axles apart just to see what was inside.	Linear bearings ride in bearing grooves in both halves of the axles. Smooth and no slop. I hope they work...

6/19/07
Boy, it's been a while - 3/4 was the last date on this page.

I finally got to return to Phoenix the last week of May. I spent the first full week in Mexico, racing the Baja 500 with Pistol Pete in his Trophy Truck. I got home on Sunday and at 6:15 a.m., Monday morning, I was standing at the door of ATV Racing to work on the 10 Dez. Over the week, James and I put in 62 hours on the car. Even with that, the 10 Dez came back to Ohio only about 65% dones. It still had a lot of stuff to get done. James got most of the bodywork done - didn't get to the rear panels, I got a lot of finish up stuff, fabrication things and such done. I also got the tires mounted on the rims (my God, the rears were BEASTS!) and the car is now a roller.

The two Dez's sitting next to each other	This give an idea how much taller the new 10 Dez is.	Here's a roof line comparison.	The front bumper on the Old Dez has proven to be the most bullet proof part of the car - no reason to change the design!	Not a bad copy, if I do say so myself!
	Nerf Bars were like the front bumper - a great piece to copy.			How's this??? The axle fell out of the suspension and dropped about 14-15". It SNAPPED!!!
The weld doesn't look like it penetrated at all.		Very strange heat marks.	The radiator and oil cooler are protected by a stainless steel screen.	It sits about 1/2" off the front of the radiator and oil cooler.
	23" of ground clearance in the rear, 26" in front. 20" of travel.	Rear bumper is a bit larger than the one on the old Dez.
2.5 lb. Fire Extinguisher in place.	On-board fire system. Four nozzles: One for each occupant, one over the fuel tank fill plate and one aimed at the fuel injection rail on the engine.	Fire Pull Lever - the filler neck will be to the right of the tube it's mounted to.	Front shield - to keep the dirt, rocks and water out from under the hood and off of us.
		Lower frame protectors - helps keep the rotors from getting knocked in or hit by rocks and such.	More shielding - all in an effort to keep the area under the hood and the passenger compartment cleaner and dryer.

Tomorrow we'll start working on the dash board. It's going to be carbon fiber. I've already made the plug for the dash and it's been prepped and is ready to use. A buddy of mine and I will lay up the dash, vacuum bag it and then hopefully I'll have a nice dash shell ready for install on Thursday. After we get the dash installed, we're going to make a hood for the car. It too will be carbon fiber. It's going to be a beast to make the plug for it.

Seats installed	Cut-away for the steering support	Another view of the cut-away	Lower left rear panel
Upper left rear pannel				Right side done too
Dash board plug - this is what we'll mold the dash around	Carbon fiber layers next to the plug	Test fit	This is where we spread the resin and worked it through the carbon cloth	Lay down a layer of resin
Lay down a layer of cloth (we did 5 layers of one type of cloth and one layer of another	Squeeze the resin through the cloth. Repeat for each layer	Put carbon on plug, then put release and wicking material on top	Seal up the vacuum bag	Put a vacuum on it
Make sure the bag stays sealed...	Here's the end result (oooh, aaahhh)	Close up of one end	Dash cut and installed	Back side view - 3 Duzs buttons
Hole time	Gauges and plate	Backing plate stiffener for the gauges	Backing plate in place
		Back side view of the dash	Foam sheet base for the spray foam	Spray foam - looks like aligator skin
Another view	Window Nets installed	Hippo Ears - a.k.a. Mirrors...	Rear brake & tail lights	Tail lights in action.
Chris helping me shape the hood	This stuff makes a major mess when sanding it. It's like fluffy snow, but not cold and sucks to get in your eyes	We covered the foam in aluminum foil to help release the fiberglass plug we're making	The foil helps fill in the holes and such. First thing down on it was a layer of resin, then the kitty hair matt.	The resin started kicking and we didn't get the second layer on very well.
Another view of the hood. I have a LOT of sanding to do tomorrow.	Lower half of the hood rough sanded - this stuff SUCKS.	Fresh air pumpers installed - I hope the panels can handle it.	Amber dust lights installed above the radiator.	Bondo ready for sanding
Another view	Fiberglass layer over the Bondo	The hood plug in all it's glory...	GPS in place	Another view of the dash
Jet Hot coated Exhaust System	I actually got my fuel tank!	Tank in place - headers are close	Business end of the tank	Quick Fill on the side panel
The Wire Nightmare Begins	Dash is Finished!!	Close up of the center of the dash	Two Way & Intercom down below	Wiring Nightmare
Close up of the wires	Carbon Fiber Hood!	Vacuum Bag for the hood	Almost done!!
The Hood is almost done	Fits like a glove	Still have to sand and clear coat it.	99.5% done!

(7/25/07)
little parking lot play:

I finally got to get the 10Dez out in the world and put some dirt under it's Yokohamas. What a blast, what a weekend - a very GOOD one with some minor setbacks for about 4/5ths of our group...

A group of guys from the website Minibuggy.net decided to get together in Mid-Western Michigan for a trail ride at a place called Baldwin. I've been jonesing to get out and play, my leg is to the point that it can survive a bit of use and I needed to get in the dirt badly. My blood needs a bit of grit rubbed in every now and then or I get punchy and more obnoxious than general. I decided that this would be a great chance for a shakedown of the 10Dez, so I said I'd join in on the fun with the guys from the site. For everyone's sake, I'm using their screen names in this little write up. I believe one of them may actually be a witness protection participant and I don't want him being found! (yeah, right - but it sounds good, doesn't it?)

I got to Bugpac's house on Friday night - backed the van into his driveway and set up for the night. Bug and his wife are killer people - thanks for the pizza and conversation. Enjoyed myself very much. I'm looking forward to Bug building another car and getting out and joining everyone IN four wheels instead of ON them.

Not quite bright, but early Saturday morning someone banged on the van's door - there were Odypilots and Bug standing on the porch. Time to head out for our drive to Baldwin. Bug in the lead in his van, Odypilots in the middle pulling his Pilot on a trailer and me bringing up the rear in the Unit (my gray van was finally named by a Canadian). We finally got close and started heading off down two lane roads that twisted, turned and seemed to lead to nowhere. I was starting to wonder if the two of them were just leading me out to some place that the authorities would never find my body... - I can hear the phone conversation between them as we're going down the road:
Bug - "Okay, I get the 10Dez, you get the van."
Oddy - "yeah, that should work. Where are we going to hid the van?"
A couple hours later we were at the trail head.

I noticed something along the roads out in front of some of the houses: these chicken wire covered boxes. Each box is about 4' wide, 3' tall and 3' deep. What the heck? Finally hit me - garbage containers that keep the wildlife out of the garbage? Bears? Wolverines? Venomous ducks? - what's up there in MI that eats garbage with a vengeance? I notice strange things when I drive I guess.

We got to the Tin Cup campground and the Protoguys were there waiting on us. Great to meet you two. The cars are really cool looking in person - pix don't do justice at all. They have a UFO look that's quite unique - especially from behind.

Not long after we get unloaded, Greasemnky, Jay and Jay's brother Dan (or is Dan Greasemnky's bro? - I was confused.) arrived and unloaded.

The 10Dez decided it doesn't like cold weather (after all, it's a DESERT car) and did not want to start. Oh sure, great way to debut. Bug climbed up in the back of the van and helped me pull the plugs. Wet and flooded. Drats. After screwing around with the plugs, discovering they're not that easy to changed - long story - the Dez breathed life and started it's usual rev try to die cycle for a few. Jay and Mnky are both Honda-Heads and gave me some good info to go look into - thanks guys, I'll probably be picking your brains a bit later. We got the car unloaded and let it sit and idle - which it does beautifully once it's warm.

We all started getting ready to go out. I asked Jay if his car was ready and his response was "Man, I'm ready for this! My buggy went three hours at The Mounds w/o any problems." - and the life of the car was 3 hours 2 minutes...

Jay, we should have welded that bracket back on the car or just run pre-mix, but alas, the "Toyota Incident" and our stomachs all realizing that they were empty as we sat in the parking lot waiting on you guys sort of put a damper on those ideas. I did see you guys driving towards Baldwin as I was headed home.

Off to the trails - Bug leading on his DS650, the Protoguys behind him, Ody behind them and me in the 10Dez picking up the rear - Jay and Mnky were just behind us and getting ready to leave the parking lot as we entered the trail. We went down a trail for about 4 miles or so and came to a power line road.

The trail was fun - whooped out and I watched all the guys in front of me bounce through the majority of the darn things. The 10Dez on the other hand is wide enough that it straddles the majority of the whoops. I had a nice smooth ride going. The car works pretty well. Throttle response is good, it seems to handle fairly well with over-full tires and no tuning yet. Brakes need to be either bedded in more or adjusted a bit - not enough front as of now. It's not as loud as I expected either. All in all, I was pretty stoked. The shocks are not dialed yet. Front end I believe is either slightly stiff on spring rates or the rear, being too soft, doesn't transfer anything up front. I blew through the rear travel over a couple of the larger whoops a couple times. No biggy - the car works well and has nothing to do but get better.

At the power line intersection we stopped and waited on Jay, Mnky and Dangerous Dan in the 4-Runner. I couldn't resist - the power line road was calling me. Time for some high speed runs. I went on down the road about half a mile at a decent speed then came back with the throttle buried. The car topped out at 75. Clutching's not dialed yet, but the big floating rises and falls down the road was a blast. Car seems very stable at speed too.

Jody had to give it a try also - man those little Proto-UFO's rip. The 600 Gixxer engine works beautifully.

After about 10 minutes or so, we decided to head on down the trail. Ody's Pilot decided to load up and that was the last time we saw him.... We went another 10 miles and stopped to wait on Ody. - I followed the Protoguys. Man, the pounding they took over the whoops was UGLY (and the water hole they found was funny!) The shocks need a bit more damping on both compression and rebound, so the back of the Protocars looked like yo-yos.

We waited another 20 minutes or so at this point and finally Dan and Jay showed up in the 4-Runner with Mnky in his buggy in the lead. Jay had this white-knuckled, sort of sick and bounced to death look on his face. I do believe he was happy to get out of the Toyota. Our group got the word that Ody had headed back to camp w/the fouling plugged Pilot, Jay's car broke. We decided to head on down the trail and work on finishing the loop.

Jay and I took a bit of time to get belted in so the rest of the guys took off - we watched Dan bounce on down the road in the 4-Runner with Jay making comments about how glad he was to get out of it.

I was able to open the Dez up a bit more on the trail now - nobody in front of me. I had to maintain a lot, as it was tight, I'm not really familiar with the car yet, but I am impressed with it's ability in a narrow trail. We cruised on down the trail a bit and then I heard it - pop, bang, bang, bang. The car wanted to turn to the right with throttle - I knew I'd broken something in the right rear drive train. We got to a road crossing, pulled over and hopped out. I told Jay what I thought was going on and his reaction pretty much confirmed my thoughts - he saw the axle first "OH SHIIT! - it's broken!"

Ah, screw it - it wasn't banging itself to death, it wasn't tearing anything up. We stayed on the road and headed back to the pits. The day was done for me. Even with one wheel drive, the cruise back to the pits was a breeze.

I'm not sure of the order of who came back first - Seems like Ody was at the pits, Jay and I arrived and then Bug and the Protoguys came in with Mnky. Jody's car decided to blow a shock seal, so his car had a front right that was hanging low. Mnky had appearantly discovered a tree and then a parked quad and doinked the front left corner of his car, I had a broken axle and there was a story of the 4-Runner trying to fight with a tree and not winning. The attrition was working well.

Mnky & Jay wandered back to Dan and the broken 4-Runner (because the keys to their vehicles were in the 4-Runner!) and the rest of us cruised around the pits and bs'd with each other. We loaded our stuff up and discussed what we could do to help the 4-Runner. After a while, our stomachs started to win the discussion, we left a note on Mnky's truck telling them we'd headed to food and that we'd be back to help in a bit. - there were more than a few people that had come down the trail saying "Oh man, that Toyota's screwed" and "There are vehicles helping them - they'll be back to the pits in a couple hours. Since we figured they had everything under control all would be good.

I'm looking forward to getting together with everyone again - it was a killer time even with the issues. I can't complain about the Dez - the axle has been suspect from the beginning (I sent BOTH of them back, they only fixed one and the one they didn't do anything to will now be repaired.*) Sure, it's a pain in the butt driving 16 hours round trip for about an hour of dirt time, but what the hell, I said this was a shake down run from the beginning.

Next time I'll have my Gen IV car - it should be a blast in the woods on those trails and I'll leave the Dez for out west. I wanted to go faster than I was, but, as Dan discovered, trees WIN when you play tag with them and I didn't want to play that game with the Dez.

Thanks for the great weekend guys - I'm ready to do it again as soon as it starts to warm up. That cold stuff sucks and forces me to wear shoes.

* Today I contacted the manufacturer of the axles. When I sent them in the first time I found it strange that the one was fixed and that the other didn't appear to have had anything done to it. While talking to Fred this afternoon, he informed me that he was under the impression that the had both been repaired, and I informed him that I thought he was wrong. He was very cool about the whole situation, took in what I was saying and asked me to send back the broken one. I'll get on it tomorrow. Fred obviously wants his product to work and so far has stood behind it well. I guess we'll see.

First off, let's discuss the axles. I now have two plunging axles that seem to be working correctly and well. After the second axle finally made it back I had a long talk with the actual engineer that designed them and it was decided to let them float fully in the CVs - no clips other than on the ends. Since the spines on each end of the axle shafts are pretty much just like the splines on a regular solid (or hollow) axle it will allow them to plunge in the CV inner stars and not hurt anything. The CV boots are stiff enough, they help keep everything in place too. The 10Dez is ready to go out west and get some testing and tuning done.

I put what I'm guessing is about 50 miles out in the dunes on the car - the axles survived so far. I did a lot of whoop pounding too.

I put about 1.5" of preload into the rear end (still need to add about .5" to .75") and after talking to Ronnie Ryerson from Revolution Racing Shocks the suspension came to life. My first run (in Michigan) had no preload on the rear end, so the car sat stinkbug. The shocks were fully closed on all settings and from what Ronnie can figure, this sent the shocks into sort of a bypass mode that let the shocks just blow through the travel.

After talking to Ronnie, I went out and set everything to the settings he gave me. Man what a difference! The suspension just floats over the rough stuff and takes the large hits very well. I was able to run along the canal at Gordon's Well (really whooped out) and get the car up to about 70 w/o any problems, scares or funky things happening. I never bottomed out the rear end at the transitions you find at the bottom of the dunes. It was really nice to have a car that doesn't slap the rear end anymore. Unfortunately, this was dune running, which is way different than out in the desert.

I did have an interesting night down at Gordon's Well... (and another nice little yellow piece of paper to add to the one I already have on my office wall.) I think it's something that just needs to go along with a Dez.

We were parked down about 1/4 mile from the entrance to Camping Flats and about 200 yards from the canal. Saturday night I decided to go out and test the light bar and the light bar's ability to move up and down (it's pretty cool!). At about 40 there's a bit of an issue, though - the four 10" lights make a pretty good air dam (they have the aerodynamics of a bill board) and they tend to roll back and point up all by themselves. I'm going to have to find a stronger actuator or some way to help the actuator (maybe a second one? - not sure yet). When it first happened I was a bit surprised. Hey, why are they starting to point up? - re-aim them, and they'd move up again. Hmmm.... this could make for some distracting driving and a sore thumb.

Anyhow, while testing the light bar I discovered something: Did you know that if you come ripping off the dune ridge then down across the camping flats and then back up on the whoops along the canal it makes Mr. Friendly unhappy to the tune of 75 bucks? I was staying at least 50' from any camp (there were about 10 out there) and I was making an effort to avoid any camp, but I guess Mr. Ranger didn't see it that way. Okay, maybe I did get within 50' of the one camp by the canal... I got nailed for going over 15 mph within 50' of a camper. The fine was only 50 bucks - which sucked enough, but the automatic 25 dollar processing fee added on??? Ouch.

Then, did you know that glass containers are not allowed at the dunes? I didn't. Neither did any of my buddies at the camp. I managed to bring Mr. Friendly with me to camp - I had no idea I was being chased until I stopped the car and saw the blue and red lights reflecting off the side of the truck.

Ossifer #1 started out by informing me the basics; why he pulled me over, what was I doing, where's my I.D., etc.. Then he asked "Have you had anything to drink today?" and then made some comment about the fact that my buddies were not going to like me because I managed to bring them to the camp and they saw, of all things, BEER IN BOTTLES! OH MY GOD!!! At that point Ossifer #2 proceeded to wander into camp (I hear we dodged another bullet by having a covered grill - whew!) and our one buddy Larry took the fall for the glass containers. His ticket also cost 50, plus the automatic 25 processing fee.

At this point Ossifer #1 then asked me again if I'd had anything to drink. I replied that I had done one shot of Jagermeister (yak!) about an hour and a half prior. He then asked me to take the dreaded sobriety test. "Follow my finger w/o twisting your head." Man, that was a pain - he'd move his finger waaaay past where I could see. I kept my head still and did his little dance with him and he declared me to be just fine and sober. DUH!!! I would not have been out if I had any feelings of that nasty crap left. I do NOT drive unless I'm stone sober.

He filled out his little yellow ticket/envelope thingy, handed it to me and told me that I should probably just sit back in camp and enjoy the evening. Okay by me.

Ossifer #2 finished his stuff with Larry, took about 8 or 9 COLD Bud Lites (interestingly enough he left the three cases of warm ones in the trailer...) and the two of them headed off into the desert night. For the record, I had one beer the entire week and it was out of a can. I really don't care for the taste at all.

I also experienced my first earth quake. Now that was COOL!!! I was sitting in my chair about a foot from the trailer. Anytime someone stepped into the trailer it rocks and some of the tie-downs that hang on the walls will beat against the sides. Suddenly the trailer started jingling, but nobody had stepped into it. Then it felt like my chair was moving with the trailer. I couldn't figure out why the trailer was hitting my chair - or how - I wasn't against it. Then it hit me "Hey, the ground's moving!" We all sat/stood there looking at each other and the ground like a bunch of idiots and when it finally sunk in what it was we were all like a bunch of school kids. "Do it again! Do it again!" It did a couple more times later in the day - I missed the big one that hit at night. I heard later that there had been a 4.something during the afternoon and then a 5.2(?) that evening in Mexicali - about 30 to 45 miles from where we were.

I am having engine issues (why I'm in Vegas at the moment. - Tuesday, Feb 19) Over the week, the engine ran worse with each run. I finally lost an injector and cylinder by the middle of the week. New injector seems to have helped. I don't believe the VTEC is actuating and the engine would only turn 6K on long, flat runs - it should be turning closer to 8K. The DUMB ASSSSSS that did the ECU wire harness and ECU has his head so far up his arse it's not funny - I don't know why ATV Racing uses this moron. After about a 5 minute conversation of frustration and blow off I actually told him to F.O. (not told someone that in a very long time either) and hung up the phone.

After a bunch of research I found a place in Las Vegas that has a lot of experience w/the Honda engines. The place that was recommended to me by Kroyer Racing (thanks BDKW1 for the lead!) is called Fast and Furious Performance. They're a drag racing crowd, but they're able to do really good, nice work. (as in they solder and heat shrink splices, pay attention to detail things, etc.) They know their stuff. On a quick look over the setup this evening they said that the fix was going to be quite easy, straight forward and I should end up with a solid 175 hp or so with good reliability. I'll have the car at the place tomorrow morning at 8:00. (besides, it sounds like a really good reason to go to Vegas! - yeah, I had to come here to get it fixed. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.)

From what I understood, they should be able to get the engine management system installed/repaired/dialed in in one day. I'm thinking if they get it done early enough I may have to do some Las Vegas desert play - head out to the Henderson track and run a little bit.

Thursday, Feb 21th - Well crap. The car has more issues that I imagined. The place doing the work - Fast & Furious - discovered quite a few issues with the engine, the ECU wire harness and the ECU/flashed chip. I left Vegas with plans to come back early the next week.

I headed back to Vegas on Tuesday the 26th. The 10Dez spent more than a few days in Vegas getting fixed.

The throttle body assembly had issues - replaced it.
The fuel rail was replaced with a unit that allows me to regulate the pressure.
The wire harness was redone correctly. There were more than a few issues with it.
The IAC control unit (cold idle control) was replaced.
The Mugen chip and stock brain box were replaced with a Hondata unit. I can now completely control the engine via a laptop and a USB cord.
I replaced the primary clutch weights with lighter (from 185 to 173 gram arms)

The results speak for themselves:
The car starts easily and idles smoothly now.
The fuel pump does not run continuously when the ignition's turned on now. I comes up to pressure and shuts off like it's SUPPOSED to do.
The engine will hit 7.5K with ease.

I was able to get in a few miles of test running after the guys at F&F got the engine management and tuning done. At first there was an issue with the throttle response. I feather the throttle a lot as I drive - usually from about 1/4 to 3/4. The engine tuning had the VTEC set up to turn on at 4200 rpm AND 35% throttle. As I'd feather, the engine would drop out of VTEC (fall on it's face) and then go rich when I'd nail it again. Basically bouncing between throttle settings and VTEC would load up the engine and make it go mushy until I let it rev out for a couple seconds.

We went back and reset the throttle settings - now it comes on at 5% and the lag/go rich issue has been resolved. I still need to lean out the jetting a bit, though, as it's rich across the board. The guys at F&F are drag racers, so they do most of their tuning WFO. Once I finally got them to understand how a CVT setup works and that I use the entire engine's RPM spectrum, they agreed that it needs to be leaned out. My first adjustment for this problem will be to drop the fuel rail pressure by two to three lbs. (this is their recommendation). By limiting the pressure to the injectors, it effectively leans out the system a tad. Hopefully that's just what the system needs.

Originally we were going to chassis dyno the drive train, but alas, the 10Dez ended up being about 4" too wide to fit on the rollers. banghead There are two dynos locally that I know of - need to see if the car fits on either of them.

Clutching - it's better than it was, but I still have quite a bit of room for improvement.
First off the engine should zip up to about 8K. I'm getting about 7.5k. Also, as the speed picks up, the engine starts to drop in RPM. The rear clutch is upshifting too quickly. I have the steepest (or shallowest, depending on how you look at it) helix I can get in the Team, so it looks like I need to go to a stiffer spring to help combat the upshift. It will also increase belt pressure and should help with belt life.

Nail the throttle and the engine climbs right up to 7.5K rpm and once the car gets to about 35 or 40 mph, the engine rpm starts to drop back to about 6.5 - 6.8K until the clutches are fully upshifted and then the engine rpm starts to climb again. The fastest run I was able to get was just over 86 mph. The car should pull right at 100 (w/o the light bar.)

In the little amount of desert running I got to do after we got the engine tuned (did this just south of the Vegas Speedway- F&F is in the buildings there at the speedway, just around the corner from Shelby's shop), I was able to get an idea of where to go. My rebound's too quick on both the front and rear. The car feels like it wants to float up too quickly and looses it's planted feeling. The rear compression settings need to be tightened a bit on what I'm guessing are the middle two settings. I want to get cross over collars on the shocks to see if my main spring rate is high enough - will help "catch" the car better on G-outs and also make the body roll a bit less in the corners. Right now going around a corner where I have traction (asphalt), the car squats and picks up the inside front wheel about a foot or more off the ground. Looks cool, doesn't steer worth a crap when it's doing this, though.

March 3, 2008

I have a small list of things that need to get finished up before the BITD race at Primm, NV on 4/20.
Need new hose end and helmet plug for the driver's side (discovered that it's just long enough to land on top of the header when I unplug and let it hang)
Need to make an access hatch on the fire wall for the dip stick.
Need to get a new actuator for my light bar - the one I have now doesn't have any holding power and is too quick in movement.
Need to get the fuel gauge dialed in. - empty the tank, set the gauge's lower limit, fill the tank (find out just how much the car holds), set the upper limit.
Need to finish the wire harness - wrap it in some spots, get it mounted a bit better.
Need to address the way the CV boots are held on. - need to find some good stainless, very low profile, bands. There's a small clearance issue with a regular band on the trailing arm end of the axles and even though I've had safety wire hold well, I don't really trust it.
Need to make another storage box that sits between the passenger seat and the side panel. I did one on my side and it seems to work pretty well.
Need to re-wire the GPS and a couple of dash lights.
Need to mount the onboard camera setup. - it's mobile so I can move it from car to car w/just a couple Dzus fasteners and a couple small screws
Need to permanently wire in a USB cord so I can manage the engine via a laptop.
Need to find a steering damper setup. My right thumb nail got popped really hard by a big wheel jerk (and no, I didn't have my thumbs in the steering wheel - I know better than that!). Pulled off my glove and discovered that I was leaking blood all over my hand from underneath the nail. Man that crap hurts!
Need to add at least 1/2" if not closer to 3/4" of preload on the rear springs.
Need to call Ronnie and see if he has cross over collars for the shocks too.
Need to look into my brake setup. Pedal has a very long, vague feeling throw. Locks all four wheels up, but the initial bite is funky (almost non-existent) and then as I get on the binders harder they come around, but there's no feeling in the pedal. I may consider going to a larger piston diameter on the front master cylinder to bring up the pedal force and drop the throw distance. My balance bar on the master cylinder is biased completely forward - so I need to change something in the system...
Need to look into a thermostat switch that turns on the fan at 185 instead of 215.
Need to shim and adjust the starter so it quits dragging on the flywheel. (God, what a terrible noise it makes!)
Need to get the engine tuning dialed in a bit more - it's close and works well, but there's room for improvement.
Need to get the clutching dialed in. It upshifts too quickly still. I believe I need to go with a stiffer spring in the Team driven and probably end up having to screw around with the weight arms in the primary a bit more.

The weather here in Ohio SUCKS right now. Nothing but wet. I won't be able to get any engine/clutch tuning done around here for a little while - I am going to approach a local church that has a huge parking lot and see if they'll let me go rip back and forth. I already know the answer, but hey, it can't hurt to ask, right? If I can find a dyno that the car fits on, I'll work on getting tuning done that way first. I need to get some clutch tuning stuff first.

If nothing else, I'll get testing done in AZ when I head back out in April.

The 10Dez is coming around and looks like it's going to be very promising.

12/6/2008 - waaaaayyyyy too long since I updated!

This laziness on updating is partially because I have been keeping the car's log on a web site called MBN.
I'm going to cheat and cut/paste a bunch of the info from there to here. (being lazy!)

4/4/08 - I am finally, after two years, going to get to race! (behind the wheel, not navigating).

Spent the last few days prepping the 10Dez for the Terrible's 250 in Primm, NV on the 20th.

I've done a few things since I had it out in the dunes.

It was over sprung in the rear very badly. Had 300/400 springs. After a lot of measuring and many phone calls to Ronnie of Revolution Racing Shocks, I dropped the springs down to 225/250. What a difference! It now sits about 40% into the travel with the correct amount of pre-load (1.5") The chassis is supple and moves all over the place in the suspension.

It's pretty funny in the parking lot - picks up the inside front about 6" off the ground in the corners, then the weight transfer is enough to make the other wheel loose traction - almost a wheelie. The way the chassis reacts now is really similar to the old Deztaz, which worked quite well.

I got the majority of the stuff on my list done. I'm not going to worry about power steering yet. (Oh what a mistake this was, in rhetrospect!) No need to worry about the light bar actuator yet either - it's a day time race....

I'm waiting on the damper I ordered from Australia to show up and get it mounted. I'll do that next weekend out in Phoenix.

Going to head out west the end of next week. Spend the next few days getting the engine, clutching and suspension dialed in and then head on up to Vegas on Wed. the 16th.

I don't expect a lot out of this race. Pre-running is on Thursday the 17th - not sure if I'll do it in the 10Dez or the Jeep. Either way, I want to make one lap and get an idea of what we'll be up against. The race is on Sunday the 20th.

The race is called the Terrible's 250, yet they say we're doing 4 laps of 80 to 90 miles. That doesn't add up at all.

My plan is pretty simple for my first "real" race - finish ONE lap. If all goes well during that lap, the car seems solid and James and I are happy, well then we'll attempt TWO laps. If that works, what the heck, we'll shoot for lap three. My entire goal for the race is to NOT WALK HOME.

From what I'm hearing I picked the wrong race to debut myself in BITD. This one sounds pretty brutal and has one of the larger entry numbers. Oh well, I've been in over my head more than once.

I put a few stickers on the car - logos, number backgrounds and we painted the hood this evening. I'll take a few pix in the next couple of days and post them. It's amazing how much just a few stickers add to the look.

5/8/2008
The 10Dez does it's first Desert Race! - This link not valid yet, so don't click on it.

9/11/08

The power steering rack is installed.

Bolt in, yeah, right. Sure it was! Two of the six aligned. Had to make a new mounting plate, had to modify tie rods, had to do all sorts of stuff.

Now I'm under the back end of the car. Howe sent me a power steering pump mount that "Bolts right in" - really? It does??? WHERE??? ARGH!!

Not only do the bolt holes not line up, but the mount puts the pump right in the middle of the bottom of the alternator. Looks like I'll spend the next couple days making a new lower alt mount that integrates the upper pump mount into it. I've spent quite a bit of time sitting there holding things where they're supposed to be and, well I had to walk away and work on another project for a while.

Still have two tubes to cope in and weld in place to finish the spare tire mount.

Hopefully I'll have everything fab'd by tomorrow or Monday.

I'm planning on getting this thing up and running so I can head out to Phoenix the end of Oct and do a bit of dirt throwing. I need to work on shaking this thing down so it works at the next race.

Too many projects...

10/10/08

I'm taking the 10Dez out west the last week of Oct (plan on spending Halloween at Glamis) and doing a bunch of testing, shake down work, thrashing and such. It's time to get the machine finished and dialed in. Weather should be nice, so spending an afternoon (or 10) out in the desert, tinkering and such shouldn't be too terribly bad.

Anyhow, the first thing I've done is install POWER STEERING!! (yeah!) I'm still waiting on hoses from Howe, but the components are all installed... Once the hoses and ends get here, I'll finish plumbing in the system. I didn't take pix of the oil res or cooler - sorry about that.

I had to make a new mounting plate and then adapt it to the plate that was already there. The good ol' CNC mill makes nice, precisely located holes.

Rack in place on the mount and the control valve that's located on the back side of the rack. It's nice to have it all in one neat, tidy unit.

I also had to make a mount for the steering damper (it's an adjustable damper from Australia - cool unit!) When I made the mount I incorporated a hard stop to avoid over travel of the hydraulic ram. I did a simple collar spacer on the other side.

Here's the power supply end of things - reverse rotation high volume pump, just for the Honda powerplant.

Of course NOTHING went in like it's supposed to. I ordered a mount that was supposed (there's that word again) to just bolt right up. yeah, sure it does. It put the pump right in the middle of the lower alternator mount, it's holes didn't line up with the bosses in the engine case and there was an extra hole (4 of them instead of 4) in the plate. Sure, bolt in. My ass!

So, I had to get creative and make a new mount that integrated both the lower alternator mount and the power steering pump mount into one unit.

It all lined up really well.

I also got the spare tire mount made.

I now have the axles out and have modified the trailing arms slightly for some clearance issues I was having with boot band clamps. I'm also installing leather over boots to help keep the regular rubber boots alive.

I still have to mount the IriTrack system and it's two antennae. It's a GPS system that also has communications w/race control. Cool unit that will send info like major G hits, allow us to contact help, send for help if needed, etc. They're required by BITD and SCORE now. You can also track any racer that has an IriTrack in their car during a race on your computer. Cool stuff!

Let's see... What else?

Straighten the right rear side panel where I stopped a Class 8 truck (oops) during the race. (you can see the bent panel in the side view of the spare tire mount pic)

Find the funky static issue in the intercom system.

Find the gremlin that shuts the car down after something gets warm/hot. I think it's an electrical component that's not playing nice.

Build a longer intake tract and move the filter up a bit higher.

Align the front end.

Add a bit more preload to the rear shocks and start dialing in more damping - especially in the last quarter of the travel. It blows through too easily right now and has almost no bump stop action.

Add second return spring on the throttle body - The only thing the car didn't pass in Tech - not bad for a first check, only have one issue and it was minor and they let me run w/o the spring! "Have one on the car for the next race."

I'm waiting on the correct leather boot covers for the CV stuff - 1 of the 5 that I ordered ended up being the correct unit. Small mix up from McKenzie's.

I should be able to get everything done in a couple weeks. Most of it's minor, nit-picky stuff that just needs attention to fix or get set up.

Easy enough!

10/15/08

The 10Dez is a happy camper again - well, it's running...

The power steering is FANTASTIC!!! It's so easy to steer!

I still have some electrical issues to chase down - static in the intercom (BDK - I'll be checking the ground to the radio idea, as they don't appear to be grounded together), still need to find the phantom reason the car dies - but that requires driving it for a while. (bring your camel back, tow strap and walking shoes?)

The added rear end preload and damping showed up almost immediately on my little laps around the shop. Back end feels much more planted and controlled. Can't wait to get it into the dirt.

I did discover one thing (again?). Lots of suspension travel, a soft, squishy suspension, sticky tires and an asphalt parking lot tend to make the car pick up the front wheels really easily and it will also scare the snot out of you when it hooks up and then decides it's going to just drive on two wheels - the left side wheels, to be more exact...

A slow tight(ish) turn followed by addition of throttle picks up the inside tire about 2'. The weight transfers back, the wheel still on the ground begins to protest and the car starts pushing really badly. It will actually pick up both wheels (outside one about an inch) then as the weight fully gets transfered to the back, then it sets them down. Makes for some interesting cornering in the parking lot.

What's even worse, though is when you throttle off from one of these little "wheel unloading maneauvers" and it decides to pick up both the right side tires about three or four feet! YIKES!!!

My buddy that works in the shop thought I was headed on over. (Unfortunately) I've been in this position enough that I had the presence of mind to steady out the throttle and turn the wheel to the left - which was really easy w/the power steering. It set down nice and easy and I took it inside and promptly parked it so I could put the rest of the body panels, the hood and front bumper on.

Tomorrow I'll get my truck cleaned up and prepped and put the 10Dez in it's traveling garage, ready to head west next week.

I can't wait to get back out in the desert and throw some dirt around. It's been too long.

10/30/08

Ah the adventure continues.

First off - Great to meet bc124 (off MBN). Killer guy, nice as can be and, fortunately, willing to help.

He was running around in a Triple EEE car that looks like it's one of the old stadium racers. He appeared to have a good time and he was able to drive back up on his trailer (and had fun informing me of this too...)

Alice and I, on the other hand, had a fun little two mile walk out of the desert after the 10Dez came to a grinding halt in the dirt. That wasn't the bad part, though...

Oh, real quick, I have to say this is probably the first time that things didn't go wrong "as far away from camp" as possible. It waited until about a mile after I turned around and I was able to limp about 6 or 7 of the 8 or 9 miles we had to go.

Engine's still being pissy. It doesn't want to rev up past about 6K (should be 7500) and as the day went on, it slowly lost top end and would only spin about 5K. It finally died in the spot that I got stuck.- and of course, started right back up after the rescue effort got back to the 10Dez.

Anyhow, Alice and I are having a blast running down a major whooped out road - I was suspension testing - did a bunch of dialing in on the rear end before I took Alice out with me. It's coming around really nicely. I'm impressed at how easily you can change the settings on the shocks and how much they respond to the changes. It still needs more dialing, but that's going to have to wait.

Where was I? - ah, yeah, we were running back towards the parking area down a fun whooped out road, probably 55-60ish mph. It's a killer one because it has some nice launches in it that let you float down and over a bunch of rough stuff. Great roller coaster of a section, if you will.

So we launch off one good one, the car lands nice and smoothly, rise up over the next little set of whoops and as the front end compresses, there's a loud bang and the front right wheel is suddenly very high and looking very loose and funky.

WTF?

I still have steering and it seems to work, but the wheel's sort of playing flag along side the car and the front end's feeling really weird.

I also don't have brakes, so it's cruise along and wait for things to come to a stop as there's gravel and dirt being thrown up beside the car.

The car's leaning over very badly towards the front right.

I get out, take a look and there's only half a lower a-arm, half a shock (just the body) and a bunch of mangled looking tubes. I'd shattered the lower arm. DOH!!! The shock shaft snapped nicely too.

I can't believe it - I've snapped a lower a-arm right by the shock mounting section. This sucks!

I realize that there's a missing piece of a-arm and the springs and spacer are gone too. Time for a little walk. About a quarter mile down the road I find all four pieces sitting nicely together. I pick them up, head back to the car and assess the damage a bit more.

So, no front right suspension, wheel still attached via the upper mount and tie rod. Guess it's time to get in and drive. I am NOT walking 7 or 8 miles.

Surprisingly the car drove very well (at 3 to 5 mph). The wheel would occasionally start into this funky bounce/rattle/jump, but I'd either roll to a stop or rub it up against a berm or bump and it would fall back in place and roll along.

That worked well for about 5 miles or so. I finally got into a section where the wheel would not behave and the upper spindle bolt broke. Now the wheel's flapping in the breeze. I was able to unscrew the (very bent) tie rod, throw the wheel up on the spare and drive again.

Alice and I drove right up to two miles from where we were parked. There's a was crossing that makes a sharp drop, left, then right and the nerf bar dug into the dirt as we tried to drop into the wash. About that same time, my little Engine Gremlin showed it's ugly head and killed the power plant.

Looks like it's walk time.

I called my buddy James and explained we needed a bit of rescuing after I tried to call bc124 (I'd lost him not too long after we headed out into the desert).

While Alice and I walked back towards the truck, we talked to James a couple more times and bc called us back. He saved us about a 1/2 mile walk by coming down the fence line road and picking us up.

James and his girlfriend arrived about the same time we got back to the truck - we all headed down to the next entrance into the riding area, dropped the truck off, got in the Jeep and went to the Dead Dez.

Of course, the car started right up. Gremlin must have been done with it's little session, I guess. James helped me get the nerf bar unstuck and I started the long, slow drive back to the truck.

We got back, we worked on loading the the car into the truck - come-a-long and ratchet straps and went on our merry way.

Testing of the 10Dez is done for the moment. As James said after Primm - "Those a-arms need to be boxed in." Looks like I'll be designing and making new a-arms and, probably, trailing arms.

Overall? Ah, I'm actually pretty happy. The suspension's coming around really well. I can't believe how smooth and supple it is. There's still room for improvement too (I think I need to go stiffer on the tender by 50 or 75 lbs), and I still need to screw with the damping knobs, but it's so easy to adjust the shocks, that won't take long at all to get done.

Clutching - odd. But, I think it's more engine issues than clutching at this point.

I need to get the engine working correctly first. I'm thinking it's time to pull the engine and take it to a place that has a dyno. I'll start looking into that stuff when I get back to Cincy.

It really sucks that the car ate itself on the first day of testing, but hey, that sort of crap does happen. There's always tomorrow.

Thanks to James and bc124 for helping me out and I really have to pat Alice on the back for being a total trooper. She seemed to enjoy the whole crap fest for the adventure that it was and not once did she complain or say "this sucks". She just smiled along side me and took the right attitude about it all.

Nobody got hurt, nobody suffered (okay, I did get a blister on my foot from walking, but ah, what ever) and nobody was stressed. Overall it was just another one of my interesting adventures.

I'll get pix of the damage when I get back to Cincy. For some reason I can't get my laptop to talk to the internet here at the house, so no pix for now.

I still have a motocross bike available to me and a lot of sand dunage this weekend, so it's not any sort of loss at all.

11/11/08

Back home in lovely (yeah, right) Ohio.

Went from warm weather: shorts, tank top, flip flops to 38 degrees of cold, gray gloom. Ah the great Mid-West of America in Fall...

Anyhow I got the 10Dez unloaded and up on a jack to start really evaluating the damage, the repair and just where I'm going to take the suspension on the car so it can deal with the abuse I'll put it through.

Best I can tell is that the leading leg of the lower a-arm snapped first. Not sure why...
As soon as it did, the wheel proceeded rearward, pulling the rear leg around, snapping the shock shaft off right at the shock body (which will be on it's way back to Revolution by the end of the week for repair), snapped the lower spindle bolt and then the lower arm went ahead and separated into two pieces. This is all sort of speculation from the marks on the upper arm, the shape of some of the broken stuff and such.

The leading tube of the lower arm also went ahead and bent back against the support brace in the arm. (pix below will make this make more sense).

The 10Dez w/a broken leg, just after unloading it. You should try driving a vehicle like this for a few miles in the desert... (I LOVE POWER STEERING!!!)	What's left of the lower a-arm	The pieces that played Elvis (and left the building)	Better view of the shock shaft	This went here
This stuff is really hard on shock components	Interesting how it snapped right there by the weld...	The torn tube is almost conical in shape where it let go	The lower leading edge of the chassis took some brutal abuse from rocks (mainly those stuck in the ground) on the trip back to the pit area. I'll have to cut out the tubing and put in new stuff. That's going to be a major challenge too.

I've already been in contact w our local mini-buggy.net desert fab guru (bdkw1) about getting some boxed arms designed for the front lowers. When the Baja 1000 is done, he and I will start working away on them.

We're also going to redo the trailing arms. They'll become boxed units and I'm moving the inboard brakes off the tranny and out to the wheels. There's going to be a lot of stuff on the back end that gets changed - I'll get into explaining that a bit later, though.

11/29/08

Slowly getting things in order.
I pulled the front end off the car, got the shock shipped out and started figuring out the game plan for replacement/upgrading of the front end of the 10Dez.

After a few pms between myself and bdkw1, it's been decided to go with 1.5 x .125 chrome for the tubing - well, unfortunately I don't have any .125 wall in stock and I'm not willing to pay $16+ per foot for any either. I do have a bunch of .095 wall, though, so that's what's going to get used.

I've been trying to figure out how to make a mirrored set of jigs Most shops I've been in use two separate jigs that are, hopefully, close in dimension. At first I was resigned to making a pair of jigs and as I started drilling holes and setting things up, it hit me - hey, just use the other side!

Since all my tubes have been drilled in a mill, I've been able to copy hole patterns pretty precisely. Everything is centered in the tube and all the holes are exactly 1.000" apart. Makes it nice and easy to move things around and have everything fit everywhere. Just drill through both sides of the tube and "tada" a mirror image jig.

I machined aluminum blocks to accept the tubing and hold it in place when welding. The tube sits .1" below the top of the blocks, just to make sure it's held nice and tightly.

All of the blocks are exactly the same, so I can use them in any position needed.

I'll also make an upper a-arm jig in the same manner and it will use the same blocks, so that's just one thing less to worry about having to make or set up.

Here's the "good" a-arm in the jig. I've had to sort of find the locations of a few key items. The spacing between the mounts to the chassis are a bit off on this arm, but the arm that was so torn up still had good spacing. So the end mounts got located from the torn up unit.

This arm's bent back quite a bit. I had to figure out the placement of the ball joint. I still have to make the pad that will hold the ball cup in the correct position and I also still have to make the shock mount location jig. Both of them will be bolt on and reversible.

Here you can see just how far back the arm was bent. I've not looked hard for cracks yet, but I'll bet that it wouldn't have lasted much longer than the other one.

This shows how close and tight the saddles hold the tubing.

The saddles are held in with 3/8 bolts (should have tapped them 3/8-20, not 3/8-16, but oh well - didn't have a fine thread tap)

The bung holder. This is set up so that the center of the heim is located over the (visible in the pic) bolt farthest away from the face that the bung goes against.

12/05/08

The two lower arms are tacked together and test fitted.

Getting the pieces coped to fit nice and tight was a lesson in patience. Grind a tad, check fit, grind, check. Take lots of notes in the process. I made sure I wrote all the dimensions and angles right on the jig. I figure that's the best place to keep the notes.

I still have to figure out just where the ball cup is going to sit and at what angle and I have to do the shock mounts too.

I'm really pleased w/the jigs. They hold the pieces exceptionally well (to the point of having to use a dead blow and a pry bar to seat/pull the pieces).

I've run into a clearance problem on the front of the arms to the steering rack. I need to do a bit of grinder clearancing on the plate that the rack attaches to. It's just a webbing area that's not really doing anything (other than get in the way!).

Now I have to go back and study the Yoshi Cad drawings that bdkw1's sent me and decipher how to mount the shock mounts and where we're going to put in webbing and boxing.

These things should be tough when done.

The 10Dez is coming around and looks like it's going to be very promising.

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