Bye bye Bimmer!

Soooo, I sold the bimmer lol!!! It was almost 3 years, almost! I bought it for $6500, sold it for $3900. I always like to evaluate how I came out on the financial side of things with my cars. I have a very tight budget and so I'm conscious of where my money goes. I have typically lost about $2000/year on all my cars. Let’s see how the bimmer fared.
I replaced the radiator fan for $200, control arms and poly bushings for like $350, Konig Hypergram wheels and Acellera (who?haha) tires for like $1200. I did sell the BMW wheels for $450 so that makes the wheels/tires about $750.

The bimmus 330ci at work with the "winter mode" wheel/tire setup. Doesn't look half bad but its much more sedate than the Konig Hypergrams

$6500 - $1300 (major maintenance and mods) + $3900 = $3900. Divide $3900 by 3 years and that's about $1300 cost of ownership per year. That's really good actually. Huh...All said I really enjoyed BMW ownership. The car was a ton of fun to drive and own. When washed up it was good lookin' fo sure.

I was originally going to write about the new car I bought (1999 Honda Civic DX Hatchback in Roma Red) but I have too many things to say to close out the ownership of the bimmer including why I sold it. So, the new car post will be a separate one.
So, after reading my December 2017 update, there isn't a whole lot to update on. :) 2 main things I did with the bimmer was take it to Bonneville Speedweek in August 2018. I drove out to the Salt Flats on the Friday night, camped out at Lands End and enjoyed checking out the hot rods and racecars on the Great White Dyno on Saturday.

BMW 330ci at the Bonneville Salt Flats next to the SCTA trailer!

Here are the pics I put up on my KSL.com classifieds ad. Didn't end up needing the ksl as Pantera Corey's brother/niece ended up buying it! Very happy its staying in the family! Hope to see it out autocrossing soon!

Konig Hypergram 18" wheels on Accelera PHI-R tires and H&R Cup Kit

Tan Leather Premium Package, it grew on me. I love the heated seats in the winder. 

UUC short shifter an knob. Loved this set up. Very direct and had a quality feel.

Tan leather was easy to keep clean an stayed much cooler in the summer heat than black

Then a couple months later I was invited by Pantera Corey to try AutoX with him and his brother/sis-n-law/niece/nephew here in Farmington at the Legacy Events Center.

Utah SCCA Legacy Events Center OktoberFast Event-330ci and my first AutoX. Pantera Corey's Mazda6 is in the background 

 The Utah SCCA makes it very affordable (was like $35 for your first time) and lets you borrow a helmet. Had to go with lucky #78!

Can't remember who took the photos and shared them on Facebook but thank you bro! Here's the 330ci dodging cones!

I've done multiple longer trips in the bimmer. I went to St. George twice this year for baseball tournaments plus last fall for an Electric R/C flyin with my dad and bro. Heading out to Bonneville is fairly quick and easy. Not much to see though.  I took a cool picture of the bimmer in front of the SCTA trailer. I love the flats!

The AutoX event was so much fun! It was super helpful to have a friend who knew what they were doing as well. I think I had 6 runs between 2 sessions. I got faster on each run as I learned the course and as I pushed the car harder. One of the most interesting things was I learned from an experience driver guiding me along that I as I went slower in I was able to go faster out. The bimmer and the Accelera tires performed great. It was late October in Utah so it was like 60 degrees, perfect for not stressing out my equipment.
I really enjoyed seeing a ton of cool cars go hard at the cones. I loved hearing the engines and screeching tires. There was a white EG civic sedan that was gutted with some 15" meats and it was FAST. The Miatas were also fun to watch. They were able to carry so much speed through the turns.

OK, so the bimmer was #goodtimes but I was itching to move on. It has been about 3 years anyway. :) The reason I sold it was to get into a car that I could afford to modify. Modifying is the part of this hobby that I enjoy the most. I hit the limit with the BMW. There was really nothing I could have done to the engine to really boost power significantly. Sure, I could have spent a $100+ on an intake kit and gotten another 5hp. There are no headers that are smog legal since the catalytic converter is in the exhaust manifold. I could have done coilovers but it already had H&R springs and shocks. Plus it had 157k miles with some minor things that were bugging me. The car is heavy per my specifications. It's 3300+ lbs and only 225hp stock. Its a great cruiser. I just wasn't inspired by it anymore.
Every time I start getting the itch to sell and buy something different, I always start looking at 90's Hondas and Mustangs. In my past I've already had 2 Civics and a Fit. I just enjoy the lightweight, nimble character of Hondas. I enjoy the practicality and affordability. I commute 72 miles per day (20k/year) so having a commuter that I can call my project is also the best use of my dollars, the best fun per dollar.
The problem with Honda is the only ones I like are from 1988-2000. These are the lightest best handling Civics with the biggest aftermarket. The 2000 and newer Civics are heavier, bigger and they lost their 4 wheel double-wishbone suspension design. :( Booooo! Progress is not always better.

"Where'd Whoooo Gooooo?!"

Wow, 2010, that's the last blog post in here.  Serious crickets.  Doesn't mean tons haven't been going on.  This will be long... and I can't even promise that many photos. :)  Who am I even writing this to.  Probably just myself and those close to me who will get a link in a text or email from me saying, "Hey, I put a new blog up, go check it out, see what you think."  I'm super rusty with blogs.  Do people even do blogs still?  I used to follow blogs a lot more.  Well, let me catch us up for the last 3.5 years or so haha. 

So, I bought a 2002 Subaru WRX in April 2010.  Here's a photo of it about 6 months or so after I bought it.  It was a factory wingless car and I bought it from the 2nd owner as you see here except I had the axle back exhaust added.  Well, I just sold it last week.  But, I did take it to Bonneville twice, the second time I rode out with my pop and broseph to catch some racing action and cruise the pits looking at hot rods and race cars.  I had added a custom straight pipe to add some loudness to the suby's rumble.  One of my favorite mods.  Shoot, the straight pipe will live on to see another suby, or be cut up and turned into an axle back for my 2011 Honda Fit.  Woops, spilled those beans a little early.
Here's a photo above that I took on my trip to Bonneville in 2010. This is a memorable photo.  I had a blast with the subyrod.  I fixed it up quite a bit, every time something would wear or go bad, I'd get it addressed.  Last year I upgraded the brakes with the StopTech Sport brake kit with SS lines and blue fluid along with BC coilovers, Whiteline roll center adjusters and an aggressive street alignment and cornerbalance at Innovative Garage. 

  I went totally solo so I had to take a "selfie" with my cell phone haha.

I actually took it to Miller Motorsports Park last April, my first track experience.  It wasn't a full on HDPE or anything, but one of their "Wide Open Wednesday" events.  It handled really well.  It was well balanced and made it through the track event reliably for having 170,000 miles or so.  Yikes!  I sold it just last week with 188,000 miles, on the original motor, trans and turbo. 

The last couple years has been crazy busy with coaching and attending youth baseball games for my boys.  We haven't made it to too many car shows unfortunately.  I did put my suby in a cruise-in at Station Park in October, kind of its last hurrah I guess.  Sad face. 

But on to bigger and better, err... smaller and lighter.  I picked up a 2011 Honda Fit Sport with the 5 speed transmission in Polished Metal Metallic (aka Dark Gray).  Totally stock for now, but its a Certified Honda used car with only 27,000 miles, so it even came with a 12,000 mile warranty and the 100,000 mile powertrain warranty.  Stoked! 
Here's the basic specs: 2,489lbs, 117hp from a 1.5L SOHC i-vtec, FWD and comes with a rear sway bar for the Sport model.  So far I'm getting 40mpg in the 2 tanks.
When I got serious about looking for a car once I decided to put the suby up for sale, I originally went to go look at a 2010 Fit base in white.  When I got there (Stockton 12 dealership) the salesman and I couldn't find the car. I walked around the entire lot in the freezing cold while he checked his info and came back out and so, "Oops, the car is at a different lot being sold right now."  Crap!!!  So, when I didn't see any Fits with my price/miles/5speed requirements I started looking at newer Civics.  Of course, that was after driving a 1995 Civic LX sedan with 5 sped and 130,000 miles for $3000.  After driving that 18 year old POC, I knew right then that I needed to go newer.  I spent some time researching newer sedans, cars like the Ford Focus, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord and Civic, Mazda 3 and 6, it came down to what was I going to really enjoy owning.  My wife was really concerned that I didn't get a "grandma" sedan and then in 6 months hate life and want to get something different.  So, being a small car kinda guy, I found another Fit to go check out.  To this point, I had never driven a fit.  I sat in one at Willey Honda like 4 years earlier, but it was an automatic and I didn't want to get a bad taste in my mouth of the Fit by driving a slushbox.  So, I found a 2010 dark blue base model with 5 speed and took it for a long test drive home to show the wife and kids.  I really liked it.  It had 48,000 miles and they were asking $11,850.  Not bad.  Pretty low miles and I liked the blue color and didn't mind the base model's appearance.  But, it didn't have cruise control and no arm rest.  I wasn't too worried about the steelies and hubcaps because obviously those will become winter wheels or go up for sale.  I returned to the dealership (Ken Garff in SLC) and I offered $10,717, which was the kbb.com Exellent Condition retail price.  They declined, saying that they'd lose money at that price.  So, we agreed to disagree.  The car had been on the lot for 2 months already.  So, I think they were asking too much.  I went home, a little bummed, but with the intent of talking it over with my wife.  I was willing to go up to about $11,400 or so.  Well, on my drive to work, I was feeling disappointed and not sure what to do.  Was really feeling the Fit.  I postponed calling "Fast Eddie" at Garff and my wife and I went back to ksl.com classifieds looking for more Fits.  It just so happened that Garff had this gray Fit Sport with less miles for $2k more.  Plus it was certified!  On my way to Garff to take it for a spin, I swung by Henry Day Ford in WVC to ook at a 2010 Fit Sport in black for $12,900.  It was clean and drove great, but I saw some scratches on the body and some gaps in the front bumper and fender that I was weary about.  I got to Garff and "Fast Eddie" said they just sold the gray one over the phone.  I was pretty bummed, but figured the dark blue one was a good pick up too.  Well, "Fast Eddie" went on the prowl and told me he was going to ask around and find out if he could unsell it and sell it to me since I was on site.  The dude pulled it off somehow.  So, I took a drive in "Lil' Gray" with Brandon and came back and said "I'll take it!".  2.5 hours later we were driving away in my new Fit.  Long story, but now its recorded for posterity.  :)

I can't leave well enough alone so I've got some "JDM Yellow" fog light vinyl coming in the mail and picked up a can of black Plastidip.  The plan is to black out the emblems, maybe a rear bumper guard by the hatch and maybe do the rear lower valance/diffuser in black too.  First time using Plastidip so I'll see how that goes and probably put up a separate blog post.

Volk Bros' Racing 1929 Street Roadster Project

Here's some pics I took on Thursday at Larry Volk's garage. It's a '55 Hemi with later model hemi heads (instead of the stock Poly heads) and an Hillborn Injection system mocked up, Halibrand Quick Change and Brookville steel body. Will run on wire wheels and dirt tracks. This is just a teaser, full story coming to MyRideisMe.com next week.

Hechtspeed

World of Speed 2007 at Bonneville Salt Flats

3 Generations of Hecht's attended the 2007 World of Speed event on Friday at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Jacob, me and my dad. What a cool place! It's like another planet of its own. It is as bright as snow and there's plenty of it. It was a fun day and made for a good memory. Enjoy!