New to Hondas. road racing, and IT

[boywonder]

Yeah, my neighbor has been pushing me to just paint it myself. I have a decent (?, this one) compressor I think, and the car was painted with rattle cans by the previous owner and didn't look too bad, so I think I could do it. My main concern is with the body work–it was rolled the last year it raced and while they did a decent job of pounding it out I don't want to run into some scrutineer on a power trip and fail on a neat/tidy note. Plus there is a decent amount of rust and I'd like to have that taken care of properly and never have to give it a second thought.

Dave: you're right, I already decided to stay away from fancy pants colors, no desire to be trying to match paint later in the year because I had an off. Good point on working with a body shop, maybe I'll just try to hook up with a paint shop instead.

Another thought I had was to try to partner with a vinyl shop and have the rear half wrapped as it's the "rough" part of the car. I think a nice wrap would hide a lot of the blemishes...

R2 Racing: thanks for the offer. Right now I'm shooting for the double school at Nelson Ledges (Apr 18-19), it's much closer to me and the rally that originally conflicted with those dates got moved up a few weeks! My hope is that everything goes well at that school, but if not I like the idea that the Blackhawk double school is still an option.

Jeff: I'm really hoping it's just condensation. Of course when I first looked at the oil and saw milkshake I immediately saw red and cursed your name thinking you tried to pull as fast one on me. The wiring and such isn't such a big deal but since I have the time, and that's really all it costs to re-do it, I figure why not? Plus then I can label everything and learn more about the car. Re: plastic bits–what about all those CRXs in Martin's yard? He has a CRX breeding ground there, are they the wrong gen?

Bill: I will definitely be giving you a call when I get a chance, thanks for your continual offers of help.

mc-integra111: That's the exact kind of experience I want to avoid. How was the situation resolved?

[jjjanos]

Jeff: I'm really hoping it's just condensation. Of course when I first looked at the oil and saw milkshake I immediately saw red and cursed your name thinking you tried to pull as fast one on me. The wiring and such isn't such a big deal but since I have the time, and that's really all it costs to re-do it, I figure why not? Plus then I can label everything and learn more about the car. Re: plastic bits–what about all those CRXs in Martin's yard? He has a CRX breeding ground there, are they the wrong gen?

I'm sticking with sitting in a field for 16 months. It did it in the 06-07 winter and that was only 5 months. Not certain why the dew problem hits this car worse than others, but that seems to be the case.

Those are the right generation. You'll need to talk to Martin about the plastic bits. I doubt he'll let any go as a bunch of those cars are spoken for as future race cars and the remainder have some of the last good condition plastic on them. I never asked him if they were for sale because my intent was to paint where the trim was missing. Let me know if you need his contact info. . One thing to consider is that you will need to modify the trim because of the way Kirk installed the cage - that's why the damn things kept breaking and finally got to the point that we couldn't save them.

[spnkzss]

I'm sticking with sitting in a field for 16 months. It did it in the 06-07 winter and that was only 5 months. Not certain why the dew problem hits this car worse than others, but that seems to be the case.

Those are the right generation. You'll need to talk to Martin about the plastic bits. I doubt he'll let any go as a bunch of those cars are spoken for as future race cars and the remainder have some of the last good condition plastic on them. I never asked him if they were for sale because my intent was to paint where the trim was missing. Let me know if you need his contact info. . One thing to consider is that you will need to modify the trim because of the way Kirk installed the cage - that's why the damn things kept breaking and finally got to the point that we couldn't save them.

I doubt Mr. Burke would allow any of that go.

[mc-integra111]

mc-integra111: That's the exact kind of experience I want to avoid. How was the situation resolved?

Unfortunately, the final resolution was me running the other side into a wall much worse than the previous damage, which forced me to get the whole car fixed right (I am actually picking it up from the body guy this weekend ).

The main message I try to convey to people is to be ready because the rule is subjective. From popular opinion (you can see from reading other racers' posts) my car was about 50/50 on whether it should be raced as is or be fixed.

[boywonder]

I guess I need to become more intimate with the rules but if I recall correctly...I'm allowed to remove all that rocker/trim plastic, yes? And does that include all the trim on the doors? That would be awesome from a "not having to replace stuff all the time" aspect, but I suspect the car would look a bit odd with all of that removed.

[jjjanos]

I guess I need to become more intimate with the rules but if I recall correctly...I'm allowed to remove all that rocker/trim plastic, yes? And does that include all the trim on the doors? That would be awesome from a "not having to replace stuff all the time" aspect, but I suspect the car would look a bit odd with all of that removed.

"Body side moldings, rocker panel moldings and wheel opening trim pieces (not stock flares) may be removed. Resulting holes may be filled."
- GCR Page 340

[boywonder]

Sweet. Why didn't you ever just rip that stuff off then and run w/o it?

I was impressed by your zip-tie craftsmanship though.

[R2 Racing]

Ryan, here is the link to a .pdf version of the GCR. Download it to your computer so you always have it.
http://cms.scca.com/documents/Club%2...CR/2009GCR.pdf

If you haven't got a hard copy of the GCR, you'll need to do that too before you go to any events. To order one, call SCCA Merchandise at 888-267-2187.

[boywonder]

I received my hard copy in the mail earlier this week but I'm at work. Forgot about being able to dl the pdf, duh.

[Ed Funk]

"Body side moldings, rocker panel moldings and wheel opening trim pieces (not stock flares) may be removed. Resulting holes may be filled."
- GCR Page 340

I know it doesn't specify in the GCR, but IMHO molding and cladding are two different animals. I hate reading the GCR between the lines, but molding is going to be those chrome strips around fenders and under doors, and in the case of the 1st gen CRX that red trim that goes all the way around the car, ~1 1/2 cm wide. Cladding is the big chunks of plastic on the doors, bumpers, rocker panels etc. I don't think you can remove those. Hell, if it was OK to remove the plastic from a CRX, you'd have to run in some open wheel class.

[jjjanos]

Sweet. Why didn't you ever just rip that stuff off then and run w/o it?

I was impressed by your zip-tie craftsmanship though.

Until the car got parked, there was enough of the stuff to hold together with zip ties.

I know it doesn't specify in the GCR, but IMHO molding and cladding are two different animals. I hate reading the GCR between the lines, but molding is going to be those chrome strips around fenders and under doors, and in the case of the 1st gen CRX that red trim that goes all the way around the car, ~1 1/2 cm wide. Cladding is the big chunks of plastic on the doors, bumpers, rocker panels etc. I don't think you can remove those. Hell, if it was OK to remove the plastic from a CRX, you'd have to run in some open wheel class.

Perhaps true, but the rule doesn't say fenders... it specifically refers to rocker panels, etc.

Besides, there's this -

"Body repair shall be performed using every reasonable effort to maintain stock body contours, lips, etc."

AFAIK, the parts aren't available through ANY retail supply source and people who have spares and a 1st gen would required handing over a testicle and your teenage daughter in exchange for the bits that maintain the stock body look. They aren't structural - they are cosmetic. In my mind, that makes putting these back on if you don't have 'em firmly in the unreasonable effort to maintain the stock body contour category.

[Ed Funk]

But the stuff is still available, if you look. Hard to get is not the same as impossible to get.