My 60k-Mile Track Rental BAT Scud Project!

Thanks for the kind words!

@DOWORKFCAR, I'm ashamed to admit I'm not quite at 70k miles yet (almost though...69,200). So, about 9k miles in just over three years!

@IcedAmericano I did have those small stress cracks and it was not confined to the paint, as the cracks emanated from the fiberglass. I did not buy a new bumper. My body guy ground them out both along the crack and then "through" the main crack line (like a football laces stitch pattern) and filled it with epoxy. That's the way to fix them so they don't come back. He showed me pictures but didn't send them to me (I've asked him to text them to me so you can visualize what he did). He also told me he used a super strong 3m seam sealer type adhesive to fix the cracks at the front vent "louver" and left extra material on the back side for additional reinforcement. The original design was just too flimsy to withstand any type of load from a curb, rock, etc... I'm super pleased with the results. No reason this stuff can't be fixed on a cost-effective basis.

Love this car. Will trouble shoot the micro switch over the next coming days. Those little window switch lights are now illuminated 24/7 and I know they were not like that before I removed the door panel. I can't hear the switch clicking when I activate the outer driver's side door handle, so I bet that is the culprit. The other side does click so something is definitely off on the driver's side.

 

That's weird....I didn't see anything like that!

 

Gotcha. Didn’t really take note of that part. Everything seemed solid in there. Thanks for the heads up though. I’ll now know what is going on if I detect any looseness in the future.

and here is a pic of “stitching” the bumper. As long as I don’t have any additional “curb” incidents” I’m sure it will hold up well!
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So happy with the stripe! IMHO, these need a stripe!
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One little udpate. The other day I went into the garage and noticed that the little lights on the window switches were illuminated even though it had been days since I had driven the car. Did some research on F-chat and found out that this usually indicates a door lock/handle microswitch issue. So I did a little exploration and realized that when I slightly pulled up on the passenger side exterior door handle, I could hear a little "click" like a microswitch engaging. But no such sound on the driver's side handle, so I was pretty sure I found my culprit. So I removed the door panel, removed the exterior door handle cover, undid the wiring to the switch, removed the two bolts holding the external door handle assembly to the door, pull the door handle assembly out through the hole in the door, and examined the microswitch assembly to see what was going on.

Pretty clear what had happened. Switch still activated when pressed directly, but the little "nub" (see yellow arrow) as well as the part of the handle assembly that contacts that nub (see red arrow) had both worn down a bit, creating a little gap between the two parts that prevented activation when the handle is at rest. The solution was really easy. I just pulled out the switch, slightly modified the "locating holes" in the handle assembly so that I could move the entire switch forward a bit (in the direction of the blue arrow), and then re-installed everything with a bit of glue to keep it in position. This took up the gap and now everything works as it should. And bonus, my driver's side window had always acted weird and always did a little "up and then down" thing, followed by a 10 second pause, at which point it would go to the full up position. Well, its not doing that anymore so I'm sure the switch had been wonky for a long time! Anyway, just thought I'd document this little repair in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation! Glad I didn't have to buy a new switch so I can put that money towards my sport cats fund!

I really need to pull the dash to replace the defroster vents, but I'm enjoying the car too much right now and don't want to embark on another big project that will make the care inoperable for a couple weeks (I'm a slow worker and tackle this stuff bit by bit when I have time to sneak away to the garage!)
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Man, of all the mods I've done on this car, the latest may be my favorite. The stripes totally change the look of the car. Plus, imho, a scud just needs the dual stripes. Sourced these from a member who sourced them from fchat member @rumen1 . Just for reference, I'm 100% pleased with the look, feel, and quality of the stripes he sells (you can buy them on ebay). 90% of the install time consisted of all the measuring and reference mark making (I'm ocd and would not have been able to live with crooked or miss-placed stripes). Once that was done it was a breeze. I installed on top of the recently applied ppf on the hood. Just use water during the application so you can reposition them to your liking to line up with all the references marks you previously made. Then squeegee out the water and let them set up (suggest wrapping any squeegee tool you use with a microfiber cloth to avoid scratching the decals...the one that came was a little hard). I took great care to install in the correct spots and roll/tuck the edges underneath seals and into body panels. Looks so good and I'm happy. Just need to respray the front fender and side skirts and I'll actually not be hesitant to call this sucker "clean"!

 

Awesome guys! Love the variety of cars we all get to enjoy!

 

Alright, two small updates! First off, finally hit 70k miles a few weeks back! This has got to be the highest mile scud out there! But it sure runs great, and I'm getting close to a spot where most of the problem areas/wear item have been addressed: new actuator and f1 system, new water/oil pump, new mafs, all new o2's, new throttle bodies, new tires, Capistro headers, rebuilt calipers, new pads, lightly used ccb rotors, all new suspension bushings, all lower ball joints, valve cover gaskets, motor mounts, transmission mount, rear speakers (and the list goes on).

With the Capistro headers and the Kline valved exhaust, I just had one more exhaust component in order to bring the exhaust system totally up to snuff: the cats. I have never had any cat-related codes, problems, or cel's, but the number of hard heat cycles on the exhaust components had definitely taken its toll cosmetically, and the integral heat shields on the oem cats were starting to fail and eject the powdered white insulation material that degrades over time, so I knew I wanted to replace them soon. Found a great deal on fchat (in the Netherlands) on a pair of lightly used 200 cell sport cats with blankets (either Capistro or Kline...not sure which brand lol), and pulled the trigger.

Probably the best performance modification I have done to date! Car seems much more responsive and eager. Seems smoother shifting as well (up and down). Exhaust volume is a touch higher, but not obnoxiously so (especially with the valved rear muffler box). In fact, if you were contemplating sport cats for the volume increase alone, I'd wager to say you might be disappointed! Sound is also very "clean" and smooth...not raspy or "agricultural" as I feared it might be. I love them. With the blankets heat is reduced as well. Also, these dropped about 10lbs off the rear of the car, so that feels good too. At the end of the day, if its performance you are after, I can whole-heartedly endorse a set of well-designed sport cats. Got about 100 miles on the install and no CEL either.

Just need to do a little more paint work to address front chips on the front clip (since hood and bumper are done), paint the side skirts, install my new billet dash vents, and then maybe the clutch this summer (don't want to tempt fate and let the clutch wear down too much), and this car will be very close to fully sorted!


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