So I thought this was for newbz. I guess I join the "look at me, look at me" party in here. My name is Jeff Morrison, I joined MM in my second year at JMU. I was the Treasurer last year, and PR/Secretary the year prior. I come from an automotive background and work at the family Chrysler and Dodge dealership in Woodstock, VA. I started in MM driving a v6 Chrysler Sebring convertible. Nothing to exciting. Then I got into turbo FWD Mopars. My vehicle for the second half of college was a 5-speed turbocharged Dodge Caravan SE running 14psi. Now that Real LifeÔäó has taken over I don't have as much time and money to toss at car projects.

That being said...my new project!



The idea being to do it up for wheelin' on a budget. <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.mmsports.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8698">viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8698</a><!-- l -->

Hey guys, I'm Steve, and I'm a sophomore at JMU. I drive a flamenco black 1999 Acura 2.3CL. Its a 5spd, mostly stock. The mods I do have include (in order) 5% tints on the back 3 windows (I'm from New Jersey, completely legal there), debadged drunk, painted calipers (red) and grille (gloss black), and a semi-LED swap. The next 3 mods I want include a short ram intake, an Acura MDX wood steering wheel, and 6000k HIDs. I'm completely in love with this car, I get so many complements on it. Its my 4th vehicle, the others included a 94 Toyota Camry, 94 Buick Century wagon and a 98 Toyota Avalon. I'm an active member of Acurazine.com.

My car at the last meet i went to in South Jersey


LEDs in the gauges



The interior


Enjoy! Can't wait to be a part of the club.

-Steve

I'm Channing Preston, graduated in '00/'01. Did 2.5 years at JMU in ISAT after 3 years at VA Tech. Helped start MM since I was working in the Madison Medialab, didn't like doing much of my schoolwork, and had some extra time on my hands. I hope to never go back to school. Real life, marriage, homeownership, kids and all that stuff has turned out to be a great idea! Who knew?!

I had a 240SX in college, totaled it twice, punished myself with an old MX6. FWD *shudder*. :vomit: Found that autocrossing and track days seemed like a much healthier outlet for my aggression than the street. Here's my first track car:



I've only been overseas once, so I had to make the most of it! Here's me representing with Elegance at the Nurburgring a couple years ago:

http://mmsports.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4183


My BMW problem started after JMU, working for Bimmerworld. Got an E36 325, then it all went down hill from there. It was too nice apparently. So I had a few E30 BMWs (83-91 3 series). Here's probably my favorite one, it was very mechanically awesome, crude, and ugly. Ideal. I wish I hadn't sold it, but I don't stay entertained by any one car for very long. Though WAY longer than RJ.



Here's Jess (my wife, also present 2 pics up, possibly throwing me the shocker) and Nathan (my boy) about 6 mo ago on my first motorcycle and track machine of the last 2 years, complete with super awesome mid-engine, boosted, whistle-tip'd, AWD tow vehicle* in the background. We got married, moved to ATL for 3 years for her to goto law school, and I'm so glad we got out of there. I can't imagine living in NOVA either.



But really, back to you damn kids getting off my lawn. I like old tech. I don't understand the "horsepower war", and I think "street performance" is an oxymoron. The REAL M3 was a 4cyl, it was awesome, and they should have stopped there. A motorcycle is supposed to be carbureted and air cooled. And I'm thinking about going back to E30s soon, I miss them. Though mid-engine is perfection, so maybe an MR2 Spyder for a change?

I used to be a computer geek (and die hard mac user) long ago, but they lost me after OS 9 and HTML and I don't know WTF I would ever need a Facebook or Twitter account for. When there was discussion of moving from an email list to this forum idea, I was like, "why?!". :lol: I can admit mistakes. But not after a couple RB&Vs... then you might get stabbed. My most recent found hobby is plotting against (ok, really just whining about) the, err.... glorious government and exercising my 2nd amendment rights. I hope I can afford to keep Nathan out of government schools.

Didn't we used to have a "member section" where we could post bio stuff like this? Is this that now? Here's a fun link if a new member wants to do some catching up, the "MM Blast From the Past" thread:

http://mmsports.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8316
In fact, if you don't read through this and all posts made by any members marked "OG", you can't be in the club. :bootyshake: :beer:

My posts are way too long and I will edit them to death.

*Burritos not included

Well, it's that time of the year again when everyone is back into the routine of school (for some of you it's the beginnings of real life ) I have decided to host a cookout for all current members here at JMU as well the potential new faces of MM we may have the pleasure of meeting at SON. So come out this Friday, September 4th @ 6 p.m. to my house at 161 W. Wolfe street. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Harrisonburg&state=VA&address=161+West+Wolfe+Street&zipcode=22802">http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Harrisonburg&state=VA&address=161+West+Wolfe+Street&zipcode=22802</a><!-- m -->
There will be burgers and dogs on the grill, chips, and drinks. All other drinks will have to be BYOB, so use your best judgement. There is plenty of parking directly behind my house if anybody may have some wrenching to do or just park. For newer members without a car, we will be organizing rides from the campus Bookstore to my house and back to campus. Hope to see yall out there.

Cabell

Anyone down?

Anyone have an attorney they would suggest in Harrisonburg for alcohol related cases?

Got picked up about 100 meters from my apartment on port republic saturday night. Im not sure of my charges exactly because they gave me conflicting papers. The first one says I was being charged with underage consumption and public intox. The second one when I left only had public intox listed and he said this was the only charge. Either way Im going to get an attorney because I want to try my hardest to get it off my record due to being in the military and it fucking with my clearance...

So far I only found this guy.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bobkeeferlaw.com/">http://www.bobkeeferlaw.com/</a><!-- m -->

I declined the breathalyzer when they confronted me and they never performed a field sobriety test. So it sounds like I have a chance at beating it. I figured there are a lot of upperclassmen/people who graduated on here who probably have experience with this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've already made up my mind, but I'm going to throw this poll up anyway. I'm just curious what some of the rest of you would do, especially given the security clearance question.

Would you take an 8% effective pay cut?

Consider the following pluses:

Much smaller company (10 employees vs. 500+).
Results-only work environment (no set hours, work from CVille Downtown Mall office or anywhere).
100% health care and gym membership for Jess and I (and family). Paid short/long-term disability insurance for me.
Very short commute (10 minute walk, <5 minute bike ride vs. a 30 minute drive to the current job).

And the following minuses:

Less perceived stability (commercial vs. govt).
Company has a single large client in a single niche of the healthcare market, starting to diversify, but hasn't happened yet.
Eventual loss of high-level security clearance (after holding it for 10 years).

It seems like every time there is a "What should I buy" thread my ideas of what makes a good DD are at complete odds with what most other people in the club consider good criteria. I wanted to start this thread so that people can debate what features and traits make a car a good daily driver to them. I also want people to include their commuting distance, average annual mileage, and what mix of back road / highway / bumper to bumper (city) traffic time is included.

Commute: 20 to 30 miles each way, 5 days a week.
Annual Mileage: ~30k miles
Back Road / Highway / B2B&City: 20% / 60% / 20%

Handling / Ride Comfort: I don't find handling characteristics that important when looking at a DD. I don't usually push any car past 6 or 7 10ths on a public road anymore. After my experiences paying out the ass for summer tires and lowering the SHO, I found that I really liked driving the car more before it was a PITA taking it over any small bump and wearing out tires every 10k miles. Having a car that doesn't slam me around on the highway (where I spend most of my time) is way more important to me than being able to go 10mph quicker around a corner.

Power: I like having a car that will get out of its own way. I have really become accustomed to using power as an "out" of many situations that arise on the road. Whenever I drive something that is slower than I am used to, I tend to get into trouble (or beat the shit out of it trying to get out of trouble).

Size: I like the presence of driving a larger (not huge) car. People don't try and run you off of the road as often, they hold a lot more stuff and I'm not cramped beyond belief (I'm 6'3"). Driving the Talon for more than 1hr is torture for me.

2 vs 4 doors: 4 for me - I like the 2 door look better but also like to be able to throw stuff in the back seat without having to climb everywhere.

Fuel Economy: Important, but not over power.

Automatic vs Manual: Automatic all the way. I love unwinding the SHO or Talon on a back road, but I'm on highways about 80% of the time, and considerable portion of that is done at 15mph or less. Going from 1st -> 2nd -> 0mph in a clutch got really old after a while.

Looks: Not all that important to me. I care a lot more about how a car performs than impressing people with what I drive.

Slushbox lag is annoying, and turbo spool is annoying (but at least with good payoff) is the combination of the two = massive fail?

hello there everyone.

my wife Jen on the right. my beard has increased in size and power since that picture was taken.


This is my subaru. don't get excited, its only an RS - but it does have STi struts/springs, 20mm RSB, braces, header/catback, some intake work, short shifter, and a few other modz, yo, so it does pretty well unless drag racing is involved.

i'm really looking forward to putting some decent meat on some steamroller wheels and getting some more camber up front. after that, probably some better dampers and maybe a stiffer front bar. by then i'll probably be ready to move onto something V8 or roadsterish. here's how it sounds.

i joined MM in 2001 as a sophomore. i was excited and amazed that the club existed because i had never heard of a college having an actual motorsports club. car club, cruise club, enthusiast club...yeah, but not one that actually did real motorsports stuff as well as all the other cool car club stuff. at the time we were a much smaller club and the forum didn't even exist yet - so you can imagine how cool it has been to see the club flourish and become so well regarded. i had the privelege of hanging out with many of the club's OG officers and core guys, many of which i'm still very good friends with to this day and stay in touch with. I donÔÇÖt think thatÔÇÖs very common in a lot of collegiate clubs, regardless of the clubÔÇÖs theme. In 2003 I became club secretary and held it until 2005 when I graduated.