Work to be Done

sounds good to me. Are there any tools that I should bring into town or just my basics?

so as it turns out the scrap metal places are closed on weekends. at this point I will just cut the miata up into smaller pieces and throw it in the back of a friends truck.

What time tomorrow? 10am?

sure

I have the email to James May 95% complete, but I can't find an email address for him.

I am scouring the internet for one right now.

Car work this weekend. What days work for you guys?

Sunday is best for me. I won't be getting into sac until saturday and then I have to fix my moms car.

Sunday works for me

10am?

Cass, are you taking care of the hotel again?

Alan, did you order the tires yet? We should get those ready to go earlier rather than later in case of any setbacks. Also, how does 10am sound on Saturday?

I'll have to order the tires next week.

10 works for me

I will book the room this week. What else do we need for the fueling?

I think we just need to get the cans. I won't be in Sac this weekend, but I can get them in a couple of weeks. Alan and I finished up the fluids, besides the coolant, and started painting the hood. I left after one coat, so I sure hope that it improved after the 2nd.

Alan,

Has there been additional work done on the paint?

paint huh? uh, not yet

The room has been booked. Same place as last year except that now it is America's Best Value Inn.

What's the game plan for this weekend? Which day(s) do you guys want to work? I can pick up the gas cans this weekend. We need to order the tires still, do the trans bushing, coolant flush, and paint.

I got all $52.80 worth of the miata body out of the garage so I just need to do a little cleaning and move the jag in.

I'm not coming up with anything else we need to do, other than what you listed and either day is works for me.

We can't forget to order the walkie talkies.

I will probably not be available on Saturday till mid afternoon, but I should be all day Sunday. I say we work both days. It is getting into crunch time and I am starting to get nervous.

Alan and I can get started cleaning and prepping the garage on Saturday morning and then Cass can join in when he gets there. I'm surprised that you only got $52 for the Miata. Talk about depreciation. I can stop by Tognotti's on my way into town to grab the cans.

I talked to Mike at Tinyvette and got the info on the communications set up they use.

"Our radios are Midland GXT-1000's. They cost $80-90 a pair. We've got 8 now, enough for the whole crew plus extras. Lots of channels, so you won't have a problem finding a clear one at the races. Range is good, too.

These radios come with rechargeable batteries, but they also take AA's, or is it AAA's, which is nice in case you forget to recharge.

You can get the radios at REI.

The ear buds that come with the radios work fine but they are delicate.

One-by-one our guys are investing in the Sampson helmet kits. They work great and hooking them up is easy. Having the PTT button on the wheel is real nice. But ... $$. The LeMons forum has discussed lots of cheaper alternatives, but by the time you get all the hardware and assemble it, there might not be much savings going that route. Sampson also sells radio kits, so if you want to go with their headsets their kit price might be a deal.

Check out the Sampson site anyway. They offer other radios as well so that will give you an idea of what else works.

If going for the Sampson helmet kit, we use the IMSA style (4-conductor) connector, in case you want to be compatible with us. ;)

I also bring a pair of standard stereo headsets to races. Mine has a 1/8" phone plug that I can plug into the radio and it sounds fine. More comfortable than ear buds in the paddock, and since they block most paddock sounds you can hear better, and you don't have to pull your radio out of your pocket and ask the speaker to repeat what they said."

We need to get everything wrapped up this weekend. The to do list includes:

Finish painting the passenger side of the car.
Eric, I don't think that you need to worry about the racing numbers. I picked up a roll of leopard-print duct tape that we could use for the numbers in the gumballs.
We need to paint our names on the car attache the photos of food and apply any decals.
We need to test the headsets and walkie talkies that we have to make sure that our new communications plan will work. Eric, does your dad have the radios?
We should fill up one of the fuel jugs and time how long it takes to fill the Jag.
We need to let the Jag get up to temperature and then do some runs up and down the street to see if there are any mechanical issues.
We need to clean, rainex and fogex the windshield.
We need to torque everything down.
We need to organize the tools that we plan on bringing.

We need to price and make final decisions on our epic meal. This includes; food, heat, tools and pans, along with a way to keep all of the food warm until we are ready to present it.

I will print off the pictures of the food and get clear packaging tape to attach them with. I have the walkie talkies and have a headset in transit to my condo right now. It unfortunately will not be here until Monday. Cass, you can come over Monday night and we can test them. Also, I have been thinking about getting a costco membership, so I/we can do all of the grocery shopping sometime next week. If we are cooking at the track, I will need a big ice chest from Sac to transport the food to the track and recommend bringing a bbq that we can use to keep the waffles warm and to cook the other food with. If I am going to be cooking at my house (which will probably be much easier but less tantalizing to everyone around us), I will need some way to transport all of the food. If Jenny is driving with you guys on Friday morning, she can help me cook at my place too.

I will talk to Jenny, but I don't expect she will be coming with us on Friday. She hasn't been working at her job long enough to take vacation yet.

Also, I won't be able to come over till Tuesday night. I have welding class Monday night. I have some ideas about how to keep the food warm, namely those catering trays that sit raised above those lit fuel cans.