Getting There - Blood sacrifices to the car gods

So my car was by no means ready to throw around a race track. First there were basic safety concerns. GVC-BMWCCA was very clear about their requirements in this area.

I ended up having to finally replace my rotted out exhaust system (central NY salty winters tend to have this effect). I replaced it with a stock catalytic converter and a Pacesetter Monza system (very throaty growl without the obnoxious fart-can sound the rice boys seem to have an obscene fetish for).

I also had a nasty fuel leak in the filler neck. Another salt-rotted part, and hideously expensive to purchase a new replacement. I ended up finding one through salvage, fortunately, but it was a long search.

I also flushed the brake system with higher temp fluid, and replaced the front pads and rotors with high performance parts. Neither case was necessary for street use, but on the track I'd need the better quality. The rear brakes had been rebuilt new about 6 months prior, so I was good there.

Lastly, for whatever reason, Dodge had not felt that my Base model, despite having a 5 speed manual tranny, would need a tachometer. I'd wanted one for a long while, but never justified the effort. But with much higher revs looming in my near future, I wanted to once and for all see what the motor was turning. Like I said in my previous post, this car is 11 years old and a touch neglected. I would be keeping a very vigilant eye on the stresses I would be putting on the motor. This is, after all, my only vehicle, and I would still need to be able to drive this thing afterward. Anyway, I located a tach-equipped cluster for cheap in salvage and swapped it with my existing one. Bingo! Plug and play. Worked like a charm.

I didn't do anything about tires, as I had bought fresh rubber just a few months earlier. I upsized the rims from 14" to 15", but stayed with the generic black, stamped steel. Sporty cast/forged rims were just too expensive. And besides, I like the sleeper look they give the car (again, I just hate that whole rice-boy, fake racer look). I wrapped the rims in Hankook Ventus HRII's in 205/50 R15, which is a big jump from the 185/65 R14 that came stock. The difference was immediately noticeable in street driving. So in preparing for the school, I felt pretty good about the shoes my car was already wearing.

I did leave one item unattended, and that was a leaking rear strut. I hadn't noticed any change in the car's handling since I discovered the leak a month or so before, so I was hoping it would go unnoticed at inspection. There was simply no way I could afford, in both money and time, new struts on top of everything else I'd spent already. I'd just have to make do.

I did all the work myself, along with help from 2 indispensable people. I doubt I'd have gotten through the hurdles I faced without their assistance and camaraderie.

1. My dad is a long time car guy, and was just completing a restoration on a 1960 TR3A. I've frequently made use of his well stocked garage and his considerable experience in other maintenance jobs in the past. On this job, he added a third hand when I was wrestling with the fuel filler neck.
   
2. Ron Clark is a friend of mine from work. He's a former dirt modified racer, and mechanic/crew member on his bother Jeremy's NASCAR Nationwide-East car. Ron helped me the most on this project, particularly with the exhaust and the brakes. He also loaned me his helmet for the school.

And that is pretty much that. Many knuckles were busted. Blood was spilled. A knee cap was possibly chipped. The car gods were given their tributes. And the car felt healthier, even if it might have only been my perception. All that remained was getting to the school and putting it all in motion.