We're picking up a new car.

[daytime dave]

That's a nice car. The tires and wheels will go nicely with it. Congratulations.

[BrokenolMarine]

Enjoy the new car, just be careful of the small wildlife that might run across in front of you in Central VA. It won't pass harmlessly under the car and pop out the back unharmed like it does with the truck.

I was considering a Nissan 370z series when we still lived in Cumberland County. Our salesman warned me what a Groundhog does to the undercarriage and the ground effects. (We had purchases five vehicles from him over the years.)

We stuck with the trucks since I was still driving to VSP HQ in Richmond every day. An hour's drive each way on the rural two lane most of the way. Deer, fox, possums, groundhogs, rabbits.... even cougars weren't a rare sight...

[Hatchdog]

Congratulations, that’s one fine looking car.

[Coach]

You need to put some Racing Stripes on it!!!

[Mags]

No stripes. Looks good as is.

[DsGrouse]

I am not big on stripes and wings.

If i do an extend3d warranty, i'll probably not even tune it.

[DsGrouse]

The tint goes on today; I put another 350 miles on it yesterday after its first oil change. I'm more than halfway to 1500 miles. Averaged 28.5 mpg on Virginia's back roads.

Here it is with the winter rims and tires.

[DsGrouse]

Got it washed yesterday. It's at the shop getting its 1k oil change. I've another to do at 1500, and then it should be GTG for spirited driving.
The Wife's RS gets a wash today.

[Mags]

... then it should be GTG for spirited driving.
...

Dukes of Hazard style....... Got the color, put a 01 on side and let'r rip

[Sir Henry]

Don’t forget to weld the doors closed.

[DsGrouse]

... then it should be GTG for spirited driving.
...

Dukes of Hazard style....... Got the color, put a 01 on side and let'r rip

Yeah, no.... I get the sentiment. But, that would get me shot here in VA.

So, last night after a long day, the puppers demanded their cheese tax.




I installed my phone mount. This is my second one. I have the same mount and wireless charger in my F150.


What is love? Washing the wife's 400hp rollerskate car in the rain. It's also on its winter wheels. It will probably remain that way until the local roads get some patch work.


I've ordered some dyna mat material for the rear trunk. The STI axle back drone needs to be toned down. That will be here mid-week next week.

It had its second oil change yesterday. I've got one more coming up early next week. After that, the break-in is done, and I'll be at 3000-mile oil changes.

[Mags]

...What is love? Washing the wife's 400hp rollerskate car in the rain. ...

That and you might have let the rain do the rinse for you. Less work

[Sir Henry]

Cheese tax!

[DsGrouse]

Welp, the break-in period is over. It is dirty as all get out. We made a run up to D.C. to pick up my son from the train station.

It is his last ride down from Vermont. He has a return trip up; where have the last 4 years gone? I remember dropping off the 17-year-old kid like it was yesterday. Soon, he graduates with degrees in physics and engineering, plus the degrees associated with the Corps of Cadets. Time has flown by.

We got in around 1 am, and were up at 5:50. We left the house for VB speed skating practice. We hit 1510 miles about halfway there. Somehow, we did another 250 miles on top of that yesterday.

Salted roads and damp weather have the exterior a mess. I'll need to rewash the car today once it warms up.

[daytime dave]

Salted roads and damp weather have the exterior a mess. I'll need to rewash the car today once it warms up.

The Northeast is hell on cars..... a friend of mine who owns his own car dealership said that. I happen to agree.
Congratulations to your son.

[Redthies]

It looks great with the gold wheels. I just refinished some wheels for my red Tacoma in a bronze color. It looks great too.

I’m sorry, but THREE oil changes in the first 1500 miles? Is that a Subaru thing? Or an OCD thing? That seems really excessive. I support an early change but my new Land Cruiser with the twin turbo engine only requires 5,000 miles for break in, and then every 10,000 after that. I’ll probably do a change around 2,000 as extra insurance. (A photo since someone will ask)


I put 33” Toyo RT Trails on it on day two, and the 2” suspension lift arrives tomorrow. Hope to find time to install it soon.

[Hatchdog]

^^^^^^^

A conversation about a new Land cruiser without a photo is totally unacceptable. Glad you complied!

Great looking rig.

[DsGrouse]

Subaru says 1k for a break-in oil change while not exceeding 4k rpm.

I'm a paranoid OCD dude who's been in the car world for a long time. Any time you have a turdblow car. You need the proper oil and oil change regimen.

In reality, 1k and a second at 2k would have been fine. I also took the car to the shop for other things, like mounting the gold rims, state inspection, and mudflaps. Since it was there, the simplicity of doing additional oil changes didn't bother me.

For turbos, you need to have some caution. US EPA regs require some gas mileage ranges. So Subaru of America is saying, in this wrx, for instance, 0-20 synthetic oil. That's great for gas mileage but complete crap for the engine. You'll have blowby at start-up and burn a fair amount of it when at temp. Since it is so thin, you'll also have it build up carbon on the intake valves.

For my WRX, Japan, Australia, etc., use a 5-30 spec oil and 5-40 spec. So, I swapped to that. It solves most of the US/Canada thin oil problems.

I've done many Blackstone samples on oil change intervals. With turbo cars, I don't push my oil past 4,000 miles. I usually get them into the shop around 3000 to 3500 miles. Even the best synthetic oils break down, especially in turbo engines. Swapping them out earlier stops blowby, slows carbon buildup, and nearly eliminates sludge buildup in the turbos.

I see comments all the time, "oh, i change my turbo car's oil every 4k, 5k, 6k, etc.. And never had any problem." That's anecdotal. Do some Blackstone or other oil particulate tests. Get oil at 1k, 2k, 3k, 4k, 5k, 6k. and watch where the oil starts it's break down. For me, in the last four cars, that's been around 3,500 to 4,000 miles. If I do auto x, spirited driving, or long trips on back roads (Blue Ridge Parkway), that number falls significantly.

Car manuals say "10k oil changes," then a bit lower, and in smaller print, they will say something like "Unless driving in adverse conditions: stop and go traffic, constant RPM range driving, excessive freeway driving while in cruise control, cold starts, start-up on hot days..." Which basically is every car driven.

Final caution about owner's manual service recommendations. Those recommendations are the minimum to keep your car's warranty. The car manufacturer couldn't give two chits about the car after warranty. If you want your car to last or you drive a lot of miles, cut the maintenance recommendations in half, at least, for all fluids and belts.


I'll get off my high horse...

[markiver54]

It would seem to me, (OCD or not), that you cannot really over-maintain a vehicle unless it becomes a strain on your bank account.

[DsGrouse]

I picked this up off eBay. The spousal unit says that I need to paint the wheels gold.




New dash mat and magnetic phone charger. I don't have a garage, and VA sun is terrible on the vehicle dash.


The perils of living down 1.5 miles of dirt road. The car gets dusty before I can drive it. In this case, we had that dirt rain come up from Texas and dump it all over the cars.



Our turbo pocket rockets, I'm setting up to give them a bath. The puppers wanted to help.


The STI performance axle back exhaust is throaty. It has a bit of a drone at certain RPM ranges. 2k, 2.5k, and 3k. It is only there for about 100 rpm, but it is a bit loud. I picked up some Butyl Tape sound deadening and applied it to the rear seat area and trunk. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the finished rear seat area. This eliminated about 75% of the drone noise. I used Siless 120-mill tape, and I have a box of 80-mill tape that I can use if I want to add a second layer.









This weekend we were down in Virginia Beach for a big inline skate meet. My wife did quite well. She earned 9 medals across all the types of races.
Here is my wife and (stache,), her mixed relay partner for quad stakes (roller skates.) They took Bronze last year at nationals for their class. They took gold this past weekend at this regional meet.

Another relay partner

inline skate relay partners

She's tired, sore and happy.

Silver in another mixed inline relay

Inline race

She works between 70 and 90 hours a week so she can have the time to do things like this. The smile...





During the week she skates with an old derby buddy at a school's parking lot. Here is the old barn next to the school.

The sunset from that night.


My son home from college during spring break. Hard to believe he's got six weeks left. He's graduating with a degree in physics and a degree in general engineering.



My Daughter. This is the most relaxed I've seen her in 3.5years. She's married and lives a couple of hours south of me. She finished College a semester early in December, her degrees are in Economics and Public Health. She's always had a mind for disasters and emergency situations and I think that's the direction she wants to apply those degrees. No, they are not twins, they are 15 months apart. They compete with each other like none I've ever heard of.