T-Minus 5 Days and Counting.....

It's been soooooo long since we've last been on a cruise! Finally we're heading out back to sea! We booked this cruise vacation two years ago!! but as Covid would have it, the cruise was canceled last year, so we had to wait until the coast was clear to cruise again. For the sake of safety, I completely understand I it's worth it to wait- I feel safer sailing now.

The original itinerary that we chose was departing from somewhere in Florida, while the highlights were stopping by the Grand Caymans, Cartagena, Columbia, Panama, and Costa Rica. It was such a rare itinerary- one that we had never seen offered before. But that cruise was canceled. Instead, if we chose not to get a refund with the cruise line, they offered a "similar" itinerary- Cartagena, Columbia, the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao), and the Grand Cayman (which later was changed to Nassau, Bahama, since Grand Cayman still doesn't allow cruise ships to dock there).

Well, my packing is almost complete and I'm ready to go!! This is going to be quite a different kind of cruise. The ship's capacity is only at 50% (maybe a little bit more). So it's going to be a lot less crowded than normal. I see it as having all the best parts of cruising without the worst parts of cruising. We will never witness this again. We're all set with a Veranda Stateroom cabin. We've got unlimited Internet and the Premium drink package! I lost 16 pounds in preparation of this trip, so I am planning on eating  and drinking everything in sight!

Stay tuned for pictures!

Holle- Back at It Again!!

Holy shit! After almost a 2 years hiatus on the BMW, I think I'm just about energized to get working on it again! I've been cleaning up and organizing the garages in preparation of getting Holle back on the road this upcoming Spring. But for some reason, last night in my dreams, I started thinking about working on getting that darned starter out.

I dug deep into my archives and found pictures of the last time I was working on her- mid-January 2020. I was a little worried, considering I've got random parts laying around from my last attempt. I went out on errands in the morning and found an array of wrenches at Lowes, wrenches that I returned before, but knowing that these were probably the most suited to do the trick. I got my thoughts organized and went to work on it.

I started by trying to reorient myself on what were the problems I had the last time I was in the engine bay. I spent a few minutes looking at forums on how to remove the started. All were convinced that the intake manifold does not need to be removed, perhaps just the oil dipstick tube and a bracket. I checked my previous work and found that I had removed those things.

There are only two bolts that hold the starter to the transmission bell housing and one of them was already loose. The back one was the problem where I lost my mind. I removed a couple of hoses to get more access for my wrenches. Miraculously, I was able to get the 17mm wrenches on both ends of the bolts fairly easily. I broke tension and was able to get the bolts out! Just like that! With a slight effort in navigating the starter through the space to the front of the engine bay, that broken beast found its way out! Oh my God!! I got it out in about 45 minutes! I didn't even bleed!

I went back to the computer to examine all the old pictures to make sure I got the wires back in the right places. Then I installed the new starter. I used red Loc-Tite on the bolts. I got the driver side bolt snugged up just fine, but the other bolt was a little more of a problem. Maybe the new starter mount is slightly thicker, but the bolt barely had any threads to hold on to. I decided that I'll just run to Home Depot tomorrow and find a longer bolt. No problem.

I hooked up some of the wires, but thought it might be nice to clean up the manifold sensor before installing it back in again. Half an hour later (and a lot of Brasso and elbow grease) it was looking almost good as new! I wrenched it back in and attached the wire. With any luck at all, tomorrow the car will start again! Wahoooooo!!!

Sparco Seat Installation

I had my eye on the Sparco Sprint seat. It's been around for many generations and with it's steel tube structure, it's been tried and true. I had considered getting the Momo Start seat again, but it's considerably more and I'm slightly superstitious- the first time I took it out for a track day, I got sent into a wall. The price of the Sparco was hovering around $360, but suddenly Amazon jumped the price all the way to $400! Then I found the seat on EliteRaceFab.com for $328 with free shipping! Ka-ching! I bought it right away!

I spent a night installing the old Hard Dog harness bar back in the car. When I bought the harness bar 5 years ago, it cost me $165 including shipping and tax. Now it sells for $50 more!

I was trying to figure out how I was going to mount the seat in the Miata. Last time, I did a fixed mount

with the Momo seat, which was fine, since I was only using the seat for track days. This time, I was thinking about leaving it in. But to get in and out of the car with the seat in a permanently fixed is going to be difficult, especially with the top up. So I did some brainstorming about putting the seat on rails. Sparco sells rails, but I would still need to mount them to side mounts first. Sounding expensive... But why can't I use my original rails? I guess the seat new holes don't exactly line up with the OEM rails. I did find some adapters on eBay for $59 (plus $12 shipping) coming from Lithuania. Then I stumbled across a very useful YouTube instructional video! I think I can do this myself! for a lot cheaper! I'm on it!

I ran down to my local Home Depot and found a 3-foot piece of flat steel for under $7 and I bought some new M8x1.25 bolts of different lengths. Lucky for me, I just happened to have all the tools necessary to do this DIY project! The video was extremely helpful, but it doesn't really address the bolt issue that you need to find tapered countersink bolts, so that the rail can sit flat (relatively) against the adapter- so that was a second trip to the hardware store. Other than that, the project went pretty straight forward. Just a lot of accurate measuring, not an easy task if you're gulping down wine! Regardless, the seat mounted to the floor and the sliders worked flawlessly! Thanks, CashedOutCars!

In my last post, I did mention that I was buying a used Simpson 5-point harness on eBay. So now was the time to get it mounted up. I bought my mounting hardware through IOPortRacing.com, same place as last time. Ken's store is about 25 miles down the road from me, so I just pick up the parts myself. I was able to mount the harness to the same points as last time with no issues. It works perfectly! But this time, I looped the OEM seat belt through a couple of the holes, so I could wear it when street driving instead of using the harness- just more user friendly and legal!

Mazdaspeed Love

Every day that I drive this car, I realize just why I bought it! and I am so happy that I decided to keep the car, not selling it to some hack that would not appreciate the vehicle for what it is.

I've spent the last couple of months really raking through some maintenance. I replaced the timing belt, water pump and radiator, while changing the accessory belts to Gates, keeping all else as OEM as I could. I changed the engine oil to Mobil 1 5W-20 synthetic. I changed the transmission and differential oils with Red Line oils. I recently had the tires rotated and balanced. And I finally bit the bullet and bought one of those nifty Miata Roadster long shift kits. I think the shifter is still breaking in, so I am only just feeling a modest gain in smoothness, but the added leverage and ball placement has improved for sure!

I am currently doing worksheets on how and what it would take for me to "compete" in the local SCCA autocross group. I've already emailed back and forth with one of the members of the chair to get a fix on my classification. With my transmission swap from the lousy OEM 6-speed to the 5-speed, and with the larger intercooler swap (probably my radiator fans too), he has pegged me at the SSM (Super Street Modified) category. Yikes!! That means I'll have to deal with extremely modified beasts in my class!! But since I'm running regular street tires and not racing specific tires, I could move to one of their local specialties- the Street tire Modified category. I could run 200 UTQG rated tires and hopefully my competition will be more palatable.

I can do upgrades and mods in stages. The first thing to get would really be new wheels and tires. Finding 12 lb. wheels would be ideal. I'll probably stay with 15X8. I'm undecided on the offset. I might try BFG Rival tires in 225/45/15R. Also in the first stage would be a new seat and harness. I've already found a used Simpson 5-point harness on eBay and a very nice price. I have to reinstall that harness bar and relocate the windblocker. The last reasonable upgrade for this stage would be a new exhaust. I'm looking at the Flyin' Miata MSM exhaust, since I already have their intake kit and downpipe. I just have to figure out if I already bought their midpipe. These mods should help me through the first year as a novice just fine.

The next stage would be way more serious. It would involve modifications to the ECU. Since the stock ECU can't be adjusted, unless doing a reflash (which is expensive and not adjustable), I am looking at a standalone solution, most likely a Megasquirt. The ECU and new bigger injectors would bump me up to close to 250hp. I would also need a wideband gauge/processor to help tune. That's going to run me around $2,000!!

Lastly in this stage would be aerodynamics, like a rear spoiler and a front splitter. Maybe I would do this before the engine management. It's certainly cheaper. I'm thinking about a small ducktail spoiler bolted to a spare trunk lid.

All in the name of fun. It's just money! And lots of it!

Sierra Trek 2021!!!

So we did it!! King, my friend, Dave, and me!! And it certainly was an adventure!! Last year's Sierra Trek was cancelled due to the Covid situation, so it made this year's 54th Sierra Trek all that much sweeter! Sierra Trek is hosted by Cal4Wheel, a non-profit off-road organization that lobbies on the behalf of 4-wheelers in California. This is their biggest fundraiser of the calendar year. One of the major draws to this event is the Fordyce Trail run. The Fordyce Creek Trail is known to be THE most difficult 4x4 trail in Northern California. The rocks are big and loose. The hills are steep. There are 5 particular hills that are named Winch Hills #1-5 (plus there's a couple of x.5 Winch Hills in there too.) There are 6 creek crossings and normally they would be more than 3 feet deep (which can certainly wash your vehicle downstream)- PG$E operates a hydroelectric dam at the top of trail, but Cal4Wheel has a friendly relationship with PG$E, so only for the Sierra Trek events, they turn down the spigot, which makes the crossings much more doable. And with the help of volunteer trail guides and winch equipped vehicles sitting at the tops of each of the Winch Hills, your chances of completing this extreme trail are very high! This trail is so technical and hard that most 4x4 clubs that do this trail take 2 days to do it. Sierra Trek goes wheels up at 0630 and the group keeps going until we make it back to camp (the end of the trail).

I literally registered for the event the first day that we were able. Originally, it was going to be Emily and me. I was somehow able to convince her to camp out for 3 nights, since they actually have showers. So I signed up for two of the easier runs, leaving the Fordyce Trail on my hit list for next year. But as the trip grew nearer, she elected to stay home with the dog and let my good friend, Dave, take her place instead. It actually worked out better this way, since Dave is very handy and has excellent knowledge of all things mechanical. That also gave me the chance to change up my trail run selection to the Fordyce Creek Trail. There's no way that Emily would've been game to do such a technical trail, but Dave is always game for whatever. But with this change of plans, suddenly I was in a hurry to find some more underside skid plate armor! (That was part of next year's budget plan!)

One of the big bonuses of this trip were that unlike "overlanding" trips which pack up and go every morning, we just had to set up camp once and there we stayed for the next three nights :)  Additionally, Sierra Trek provided all the breakfasts and dinners while we were there. That was awesome, because that meant that I had less planning to do and NO cooking!! On the trail runs, there were experienced wheelers in the vehicles, as well as Sierra Trek volunteer staff. Along the runs in the more difficult areas, able volunteers were there to help to guide us through the treacherous terrain.

We left really early on Thursday morning. We shoved off from Brentwood just after 8a and were driving into Truckee around 11:00. After a quick bite to eat at a local taqueria, we hit the road for the campgrounds. I had downloaded the google maps for the route the night before, since I figured there probably wouldn't be a good cell signal, but the route that it gave me took us through a seriously thick  and undriven trail. We had doubts as we were making our way, but we could see that it was [barely] a trail. But we were following the blue line on the map, so we knew that we were absolutely following the directions correctly!! There was no room to turn around, so we forged on being scratched by thistles and the manzanita trees. At points, the trail was so narrow at some points, we had to squeeze between two trees, knocking my mirrors back. In another instance, I actually had to run over a small tree just to go forward. Eventually we popped out onto a main highway and just circled back to the nearest town, where we could get a signal and come up with a new plan. We were able to get a new and better route, which got us there safely, albeit 45 minutes later that I had forecasted. Not too bad.

We had just enough time to register, set up camp and enjoy a nice meal before heading to bed. Our run on Friday morning, staging at the trail head at 5:30a!! And from the campgrounds, it was going to take two hours to get there, which meant getting up at 2:45a! Yikes! Thank God we were able to find some nice flat areas to set up our tents! I got everything packed in the Jeep that night before hitting the sack.

Friday morning came too soon. I made some coffee with the Whisperlite stove that I brought. We headed out of camp and made it to the muster just before 5:30, after fueling up one last time. There, they fed us packaged pastries and freeze-dried coffee, while we listened to the drivers meeting. There were about 50 rigs all lined up. Most people brought Jeeps- 4-door Wranglers. I think I might have seen 3 vehicles there that weren't Jeeps. There were five lines. We were in the third line, just about right in the middle, suggesting that we were starting right about in the middle of this run group. I was a little nervous (of course) being that this was the FORDYCE CREEK TRAIL. There were some seriously over-built rigs, but most were moderately equipped. I always seem to show up with the smallest least (minimally) equipped rig to these things. My King is a true daily driver, not some trail-dedicated trailer queen. Its main job is to drive me to work and around town with maybe 3% duty to crawl. So people are often surprised when they see how capable this little beast really is. It's not going to have the suspension or clearance like some of the other rigs, but it can certainly get the job done.

Wheels up at 6:30. The trail was dry and dusty. It seemed like the first 4 miles were pretty easy- nothing really to write home about. Then stuff got harder. I hit this one steep incline step and it was so sandy and gritty, but I just couldn't get enough bite to get up it. Someone came to my rescue and threw a couple of rocks in my problem hole, which took care of the trick.

Later there were a few bypasses that were pretty scary. Even though they avoided the serious crawling portion of the trail, they were still no joke. I made it through all the "winch hill" sections without winching. Some took multiple tries, but eventually I found lines that worked. Only once did I need to get winched and it was a self-winch, as I got my rear pumpkin hung up on a big rock, exactly the same as the rig right in front of me. Other than that, King muscled and bounced his way through the whole trail! We did get backed up on the trail a couple of times, as this one rig kept having problems starting (the same fucking truck twice!). Why this guy didn't just let everyone pass by, we'll never know. Total time wasted was definitely over an hour! But still, we topped out of the trail at 5:30p (the trail ends up at the Meadow Lake campground), so we were easily there in time for dinner! (The night before, that group didn't get back to camp until 8:30p. We've heard that sometimes the groups don't make it back until 10p or later!) That dinner was very satisfying, as we definitely felt blessed!

My Jeep did take on a few bumps and bruises. I tagged the driver rear fender pretty good, the rock rails got ridden on fairly hard and the rear bumper got dumped on some rocks really hard. The sides of the Jeep were all scratched from bushwhacking to camp the first day. And the tie rod got bent upwards quite a bit, which also rotated the steering stabilizer mount. That caused a problem on the trail, because the stabilizer mount would impede the tie rod from making full right turns! (I was able to correct the steering issue the next morning, but it will still need to be replaced.)

Saturday morning came and we decided to skip the River Run. When I signed up for it, I didn't realize that it was just doing the Fordyce Trail in reverse starting from the top, going about halfway down. Why did I need to do that again? I was feeling lucky enough that we escaped with as little damage as we did already! No need to tempt death a second time. Instead, we stayed in camp and got a real hot breakfast. (Hey, we paid for that, right? I couldn't take any more freeze-dried coffee and pre-packaged pastries, calling that breakfast.) We drove up to the town's cemetery and walked around there for a bit. We were going to take a quick trip into Truckee to do some window shopping, but the bumpy road out of camp revealed that the rear bumper was making sporadic contact with the drivers side rear tub. So we opted to try and fix that instead.

Soon enough it was time for dinner. Afterwards we hung around for the awards ceremony and bonfire. Dave decided to grab a shower and I thought I was tired (plus I forgot my jacket, so I was cold), so I headed back to our campsite to go to bed. After I got there, I could hear the band playing and everyone sounded like they were all having a good time. I got my jacket and headed back to the bonfire. I ran into one of the guys from the Fordyce run and he offered to buy me a couple of beers- his partner headed to bed and fortunately for me, he was stuck with some money tickets to burn. The fire was great, the band was fantastic, and we had good conversation. What more could I want. Oh, yeah- another beer, please!

We slept in on Sunday morning. We grabbed some breakfast then broke camp at a leisurely pace. After we packed the Jeep, we headed to Truckee to visit some friends of mine on our way out of town. The perfect ending to a fabulous trip!

In summary, as nervous as I was, everything went according to the plan. I installed the right armor in just the right places- the front and rear lower control arms were protected, both pumpkins had cast iron covers, and the new oil pan and transfer case skids did their jobs. I installed rock rings on the AEV Borahs and they got some really nice scrapes, but they protected the wheels just like they were supposed to do! And the lockers performed awesomely and were always at the ready! 

When we first got to the Sierra Trek, I was a little apprehensive, as there were probably about 500 participants there and I was the ONLY Asian person there! After a couple of days of looking around, we finally identified ONE African-American male in the crowd. Yes, this seemed like a Trump rally setting. And I'm not really very squeamish about prejudice that comes my way, as I'm an American-born Chinese, born and raised in California. So I don't really come across being very non-Caucasian. Just like I had figured, as long as you can drive, you're just one of the boys. Everyone treated me with the highest respect, not looking at my race, but connecting with me based on our common interests.

There was a group of older guys out of Truckee that were razzing me just a little bit on the trail, asking me if I had skid plates on that thing, and pointing out sections that I will probably want to be ready to get winched. But when we got back to camp, they had the nicest things to say about me, my Jeep and my abilities. That warmed my heart.

I had been considering doing the Sierra Trek for a couple of years now. I had a wonderful time and I am so glad that I did it! I was able to conquer the notorious Fordyce Creek Trail and met some really nice people along the way! Would I do it again? Heck yeah, I would!

Musical Chairs

It's getting to be the middle of May. Things are heating up quite nicely in the Bay Area. I took a little drive this morning and it was 85°F at 10:30a!! That being said, I am in total top down mode right now!

I've been getting that Miata in pretty decent working shape lately. I adjusted the ride heights at each corner, dialed in the shocks, got the tires balanced and rotated for the first time ever on this set (after having to order a replacement key for the wheel locks, since Maaco lost my key), changed the oil and did  a little reinstallation of the front tupperware parts. Best of all, I filled that hole in my dash with a new stereo system!! I decided to go a little bigger than the first time around with this car. This time, I bought a Sony Android capable head unit, I reinstalled that OEM windblocker and replaced the speakers, found some nice Infinity component drivers for the door and got a small Alpine subwoofer that fit behind my seat. The sound is amazing! It even sounds better than the sound system in the Jeep!

I did a little garage cleanup and peeled the top off the Jeep, as I get ready for a soon approaching camping trip to Yosemite. I decided to park the Miata in the small garage this time, that way I have more room for the Harley in back of it. The Jeep will have to live outside for a while.

After a lot of trouble, I was able to replace the rear tire on the Harley with a brand new Michelin Commander III tire. I was able to remove it with no problem, but when it came time to peel the old tire off the wheel, the first thing I did was puncture the old tube, so I just took the loose wheel down to my LBS to do the installation/balance. When I went to pick it up, the owner of the shop told me that they went through three inner tubes trying to get my tire installed! They had to buy some more from their vendor! Finally it was ready for pickup. I took it home and installed it on the bike. When I tried to check the air pressure, it was flat! and it wouldn't hold air! So I had to take it back. And they weren't glad to see me. A week later, I picked it up again and this time it was good. It felt great getting back on that bike again!

This coming weekend, I'll be doing an easy trip with one of the factions of the Overland Bound group. We'll all be camping on a member's private ranch land in Mariposa, then the next day doing some fire roads that will take us up into Yosemite. We'll be doing mostly paved park roads, but it will be nice just to be driving around in the Valley, as Yosemite is one of my very favorite places on this Earth! Since I will be camping solo for this trip, I decided to try going topless. It's only a 2-hour drive to Mariposa, so even if the crosswinds are killing me, I think I should be able to put up with it. Doing an off-road adventure with the top off is something I've been wanting to try for some time now.

Major Shift in Priorities in Eddy's Shop of Horrors!!!

Okay, so now the snow is melting and the sun has come out to play. Here in California, we're getting a teaser of what Summer is going to be looking like- hot and dry! I've packed up the skis and it's time to shift gears to the next activities.

So I've got this long neglected and nearly forgotten Mazdaspeed Miata that's been sitting in my driveway under a cover- it's been there in that condition for over two and a half years. I told my wife that I would sell the car after I picked a different project car. Back 2018, I paid the registration, then I needed to get the car smogged. The battery needed charging, so I charged it and tried to get it running to clear the smog monitors, but the battery would die after 2 days. The I would have to start the process all over again! I got behind schedule, so I would have to be driving the car with outdated tags! Eventually, I just gave up on it. Meanwhile, I would get interested parties asking me about the car. No one ever panned out. My good friend, John, gave me an extra Miata battery that he had, so I put it on a trickle charger. There it sat for 6 months...

Two weeks ago, I woke up with a renewed energy to get that car started and to get it registered again. I uncovered the car and popped that battery in the trunk. The car started easily! I gave her a quick washie washie, pumped up the tires and took her for a spin. Man! I forgot how much I loved to drive that car! The trick was that now I had to drive enough miles to clear all the monitors to ready the car for smog. I drove it to work and every chance I could get. Every day, I would stick the bluetooth OBD2 device in the port and check how the car was doing. Finally, the car was ready! I went to my local AAA and paid all my fees (and late fees), then got the car smogged. (It took two tries- the first place failed me, because he couldn't find a CARB sticker on my cat.) Then I ran back to AAA to get my registration and current sticker! All in one day!!

It didn't take long for me to realize that I really didn't want to sell the car. The car was purchased in cash. The insurance on the car is less than $300/year. And I have recently dumped SO much money into the car! I'll never get that kind of money back again. It just got a new paint job- $2800. The engine had starting problems. $600 for a CPS. It had a persistent CEL and that cost me $800 to get fixed, since my local Miata "specialist" didn't know that this particular model has TWO solenoids in the evap system!! The Michelin Pilot Sport tires are practically brand new (I just had them rotated and balanced for the first time today). And it cost me $400 to create a second key for the car!

This Miata is special, because it's actually a Mazdaspeed Miata. Only in 2004 and 2005 did Mazda put in factory turbos into the MX-5. Only about 5400 cars were every produced. But selling the car is problematic because it has racing suspension and to return it to stock would take so much work, plus I would have to spend $100 to get an alignment afterwards. It also has a roll bar, which isn't stock, so it could bring down the value of the car. But I really didn't feel like ripping it out.

Now, I'm on a mission to return the car back to how it was before I was going to sell it. That means I have to re-buy all those go-fast parts that I sold off! I also have to buy another stereo system, since I stole it and put it in my Jeep. Today I was able to get Costco to balance and rotate my tires. Just by doing that, it took away the small steering shake that I was feeling. I spent some time getting the suspension ride height to where I wanted it. Just driving the car reminded me of when I first bought the car eight years ago- I would look for any excuse just to get in the car and take it for a drive. For me, the ergonomics of the Miata fit me exactly perfectly. All the controls are just a comfortable arm's length away. It's like the car was designed for me!

I'll post updates on the work that I'm doing to the car. I'm actually considering autocrossing this car! There's a regional event happening at the beginning of May. I'll go check it out to see what it's like- I'll just be an observer.

Big Frickin' Update!!

 It's been long overdue, so here we go- there's so much to download!

The Winter here in Northern California has been pretty great! A little late, but even so, there's been plenty to keep me busy. Last season, I bought an Epic Pass and the season was cut short, due to the pandemic. But since Vail gave me such a generous refund, I opted to purchase a season pass for this year and take my chances. So far, I've been able to punch in thirteen days on the slopes! The pass allows me to choose between going to Northstar, Kirkwood or Heavenly Valley with just a few restrictions- no skiing at Northstar or Kirkwood on Sundays, plus there are four separate blackout periods. Still a tremendous bargain, since it typically costs about $150/day to ski at Northstar this season.

Now that I've had some time to break in and evaluate my new ski equipment, I can more accurately assess whether or not I bought the right stuff. Boots- the Dalbello DS 100! The BEST thing I bought! I've been skiing them all season and not until just my last day did I ever experience any cold toes. (I did purchase some Superfeet Redhot insoles to give my feet more support, while the reflective material under the toes help keep my toes warm. Well, I can say that they definitely made a difference! My feet felt steady, stable and strong.) The boots are a traditional 4-buckle overlapping construction (because it works), fortified with the Dalbello Power Cage. The boots never gave me any hot spots or wet feet. My heels didn't lift and only once did I experience cold toes, but it was 25°F outside that day. They're very responsive and can easily be stiffened up by cranking on that strap! I'm a happy camper!

The Salomon QST 92 skis are pretty damned phenomenal! I was a little be leery about how fast they could transition edge-to-edge, since they are fatter than I was once used to. It didn't take more than three days out before I was really starting to find my groove with these sticks! They love to be rode HARD! The more energy and bounce you put into your turns, the better they respond. They are very playful and love to edge. No problem doing quick swishy turns- they're certainly quick enough! And they can take speed. One day at Heavenly, I was just cruising along, when I decided to put the pedal down. I slowly eased into doing 55 mph without even trying! The skis felt incredibly stable!

The beginning of the ski season started slow with not too many storms that came in. I skied all three of the local Vail resorts from the start of the season. Kirkwood was absolutely horrible, which was a little bit of a surprise, since Kirkwood is generally known to get the most snow on the lake! Northstar was just okay early on, having three lifts running. But Heavenly was pretty awesome right out of the starting gate! They were blowing the best and most snow out all three resorts! Much of the backside (Nevada) was already open! There, I could put together some nice long runs, where the coverage was great with not many rocks or wood showing. As the season went on, Heavenly just got better and better! Northstar got pretty fantastic too! For the first time in my life, I was able to explore Lookout Mountain! Seems like in the past when I would got to NS, there wasn't enough snow to even open Lookout Mt. since it's the steepest stuff that the resort has to offer. It's fast and steep with not a lot of bump runs, so if carving hard is your thing, this is where you want to be! Kirkwood eventually fully opened- it took eons for them to the Wagonwheel lift running, as there wasn't enough coverage on the Wall. I'm thinking that I should hit Kirkwood one more time this season just to get in some GOOD runs.

At the same time, I've been putting some time into King, my Jeep. I knew that 2021 was the year that I was going to need new tires and I had been planning on moving up to 35". Bigger tires means a heavier setup. Typically a wheel/tire combo weighs around 100 pounds each! I'm just getting too old to do a 5-tire rotation with a setup this heavy. For the past three years, I've been cheating with my setup on the 33" using 1.5" wheel spacers to set the backspacing correct. The problem is that Wheelworks will not work on a wheel setup like this. So it was time to bite the bullet and buy aftermarket wheels. I was particularly interested in a wheel that came with a protective ring. Somewhat similar to a beadlock ring, a protective ring just protects the wheel from rock damage, while the tire bead is conventionally mounted. Method wheels are popular and have that beadlock look, but their rings are not removable/replaceable if they get all mangled.

I had been considering the AEV Borah wheels for a while now. They checked all the boxes, except they were kind of pricey. But hey, they're quality. I started browsing the web to find that AEV was blowing them out with a huge sale of 30% off! So I pulled the trigger and bought five of them. The next task was a little tougher, trying to find the BF Goodrich K02's in 315 at a decent price. I went online and worked all the different pricing models, trying to find rebates, looking for the best bang-for-the-buck installation. In the end, I went back to Wheelworks (where I already have a lifetime wheel alignment for the Jeep) and put the thumbscrews on them. I bought in a couple of quotes and they were able to meet my threshold- I paid $1500 for five tires installed and mounted on King with lifetime balance and rotation. Not too shabby!

Now that I have the bigger and better (heavier) wheel setup, I needed stronger axles- don't want to twist or break an axle out on the trail. After weeks of shopping, I found some Revolution Gear chromoly axles front and rear for a good price. I just need to find a warm day to do the installations.

Big tires need stronger brakes. Rather than going with a big brake kit, I elected to buy better brake pads. I bought a full set of Power Stop pads. They have very good reviews and the forum community seems to believe that brake pads are really all you need. No fancy discs. Stainless steel lines are not necessary. I flushed my brake system and swapped out all the pads. They feel great! Less than $100 on Amazon and I have stopping power again!

One thing I said I would do this winter is get my ham license. Well, I started studying for it and I'm nearly there. With this Covid thing going on, I can take the test online for $15! I've just got to finish it up now. But that didn't stop me from buying a mobile unit for King! It's my first radio, so I didn't want to break the bank on it- used would be fine. I found one on eBay from a local SF seller. I ended up winning the auction on this Yaesu FT-7800R dual band unit. It came with a Vertex external speaker and all the fixings to run the remote faceplate installation. I paired it with a Larsen NMO2/70SH dual band antenna. I installed the main unit under the passenger seat and mounted the faceplate low at the front of the console. I couldn't find exactly the mount that I wanted, so I took some leftover sheet metal and fabricated my own mount.

The installation seems sturdy, but will it put up with trail abuse? I guess we'll find out, as we're signed up to do this year's Cal4Wheel Sierra Trek. I decided NOT to do the Fordyce Trail this time around, but rather a couple of other "intermediate" runs. King's definitely getting there, but for Fordyce, I think it will still need some under armor protection and maybe an aluminum tie rod. That will have to be next year's budget.