The UberBird Flies the Coop!

Yup, after almost exactly two years at Chez Mad_Science, the UberBird’s relocating to new base of operations in San Diego. Before you get all “awwww” on me, trust me: this is a good move. Like I said earlier, I’ve got enough on my plate these days, so former roommates and gearheads extraordinaire Graham and Aaron are taking over management of the car, and they don’t have three other project vehicles to worry about, just Graham’s 2ZZ-swapped MR2 and fleet of motorcycles and Aaron’s MegaSquirt-ed 2002tii. With a bit more time and less burnout, they’ve got plans to spruce things up a bit…

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24 Hours of LeMons Buttonwillow Arse-Freeze-apalooza

If things have been a bit slow this week and last, it’s because Der UberBird and LeMons were in full control of all available free time. In case you missed it, last weekend was The 24 Hours of LeMons Arse-Freeze-apalooza at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, in scenic Buttonwillow, CA, about 2.5 hours north of Hooniverse HQ.

In typical fashion, we scrambled to get get out the door, had semi-major breakage in Friday’s practice session, abandoned sleep to get it fixed, kept it going all weekend, but retired a little earlier than we’d hoped. As always, a mind-blowingly great time was had by all. Jump for the story.

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The Uberbird Has Landed!

Yep, it’s that time of year again where we get to live vicariously through the eyes of our Grand Imperial Poobah as he bashes his knuckles and spend most of his weekend swapping out broken car parts races ‘ol one-fo-three around the track in an attempt to take home all the cash nickels.  Check back throughout the weekend for more updates.  Good luck Tim!

thanks to Nick Gregson for the photo

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The Horror! The Carnage!

If you recall, Der Überbird ended its last LeMons stint with a motor dead from unknown causes. Sure, there was water in the oil, we had a stuck valve and no compression in the number one cylinder, but beyond that it wasn’t obvious what had killed it. Now we know.

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At Least Four People Will Want to Kill Me if I Buy this Car

In case you didn’t catch the updates from last weekend, the Uberbird needs a new motor. Funny thing about the BMW M30, the motors tend to outlast and out-value the cars they’re stuck in. Thus, buying a running but beat-to-Hell 5-, 6-, or 7-series can be cheaper than just buying a used motor. This is doubly true for the 745i. Don’t let the numbers fool you, the 745i gets its extra liter over a 735i in the form of forced induction.

In one corner I’ve got a “race car” with a blown motor, in the other a kinda-sorta good turbocharged version of the same motor making over 50hp more…it’s just stuck in a $600 clapped out full size luxo barge. This is the point where my friends and family usually intervene.

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Thunderhill 2010 – Day 2 Update

We started Sunday pretty confident in our newly swapped motor. Overnight we’d fixed a few minor things: a vacuum line and CV shaft swap. Our biggest problem was a nasty exhaust leak due to a completely stripped hole in the head for the exhaust manifold stud. Obviously not good, but it’s not like we had the time/energy/supplies to drill it and helicoil it.

Not long into Fast Guy Ryan’s first shift he came in complaining that the car was cutting out/shutting down on him. Obviously not good. We checked a bunch of in-engine sensors and the like, and couldn’t find anything. When we went to jump it (our alternator is basically shot) and got nothing out of the starter switch, we knew we had a problem. Turns out, it was the wiring on the interior switch panel. The crimp connection on the main ignition switch was bad. We’ll probably solder that next time. With that switched, he was back on for a nice fast stint, which ended with a minor black flag. … Continue Reading

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Hooniverse Weekend Edition: Mad_Science’ Big Adventure

and that's a good thing...

As you may well know, Hooniverse bossman Mad_Science and his daddy-o spent the last 24 48 all damn weekend at the racetrack working on racing the all-mighty überbird in an attempt to win all the nickels.  But all has not gone as smoothly as could be hoped for.  When life gives you lemons, go racing right?  (warning, autostart mp3 but I could not resist) … Continue Reading

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The Name’s Petty…Mr. Science_Petty

Father to Mad_Science, Mr_Science is clearly ready to win him some LeMons…

Also, I NEED one of those shirts. We might have to turn that into merch.

(psst, Amber…turn that into merch please)

[Photo stolen from Murliee's Jalopnik Gallery]

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German Warning Icon May Well Be Our New Logo

Simply put: how awesome is this warning icon?
“No normal people. Mechanics only” is likely a single 97 letter word in German, so it was much simpler for Lemförder (the source of our latest Überbird guibos) to stick with this. I might just get this logo as a tattoo.

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The Uberbird Readies for Flight

While our Corvair drivin’ man Jim slogs it out at Stafford (there’s no WiFi at the track, so hit Jalopnik for what few updates there are), we were getting our slog on at Der Science Haus. Actually, the day got started with a visit to the Early Rodders with our man in Washington, Alex Kierstein, but due to a freak forgot-to-grab-my-camera-batter-off-the-charger accident, there will be no pictures.  Anyway, on to the wrenching: our last work weekend turned into a bit of a bust due to some wrong parts showing up, this time around, it was us who managed to get a few things wrong.

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