So, the major issue with this minivan is the front brakes are dragging. You really have to stomp on it to get it moving and it slows down to a stop as soon as you let off the throttle. So, I can either replace it with stock stuff from Autozone or I can 'upgrade' them. Right now it has 10in brakes with a 5X100 bolt pattern and drums on the rear. There was never a 4-wheel-disc mini in these days. So, my options...

1-Use my leftover brakes from that 88 Shelby Z. They are 11in rotors with a 5X100 bolt pattern. I would need to swap the whole steering knuckle over. It is a bolt up affair. The rotor is larger...but the piston in the caliper is smaller. Guys on TD.com say this might actually make the brakes less effective... thoughts?

2-Get fronts and rears from an 90 or older grand caravan (v6) with the 5X114.5 (or whatever it is) bolt pattern. These are 11in in the front and bigger drums in the back. But then I have no wheels that fit.

3-Get a K-frame from a 91+ van and use brakes off an R/T or GTC...espensive and hard to do...this would be better for down the road.

I like 1 the best. What do you all think about the smaller piston and the bigger rotor?

On an unrelated note, I just learned today from the guy I bought it from that he had just installed new KYB GR-2s on it. I know they are not the best, but they have to be better then stock. He also upgraded to the 180degree thremostat, colder plugs, and I noticed when I picked it up that it has the $100 magnacore plug wires on it :twisted:

I was thinking about riding up, tired of all the sausege fest parties at vt.

Fix the ones that are busted?

I need 3 for non-students - will do anything short of giving out sexual favors (OK, maybe a small sexual favor).

Yes, Michael.

Dunno if the source's source is credible, but interesting.

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Your daily motivational posters should all look like this

October 21st

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I was interested in picking a pair of these for my car. I'm pretty heavy into rally and love the motorsport (but dont own rally cars at the moment). These would be going on my '03 SVTF.

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A few people told me it woudn't be a good idea to put my last time on my car but I don't see how that could really be an issue. I bet 90% of people would be like what the fuck are those letters and flag. For a lot of ricey stuff people who don't know much about cars know its tacky. I assume most public people who have no clue what it means.

The few people that are into rally would appreciate it?

In anycase I'm trying to see whats everyone view on these.

Friends mr2.



I'd have my name and m. gronholm (#2 in WRC right now) as my co-driver

Ok here is my situation that I need some advice on. Last year I lived in a townhouse with two of my friends. We all moved out earlier this summer because the owners were selling the house. They then stuck us for a bill for repairs to the house that conveniently matches what our security deposit was. My question to you is ÔÇô Is it unreasonable to not split the charges equally and to split based on responsibility. The charges are as follows
General house cleaning: 180
Repaint one room: 225
Repair one bathroom: 1,035
Repair molding and handrail: 495

Now here is where it gets kind of tricky. I think itÔÇÖs obvious that all 3 of us split the general house cleaning, we all lived there and we all were responsible for cleaning it. The repainting of the bedroom is for my roommate ChrisÔÇÖ room; apparently he left some holes in the wall or something like that. That being said I donÔÇÖt feel that my other roommate or I should have to pay to repaint his room. The broken molding and handrail are from my other roommateÔÇÖs dog. I do remember him saying that he was going to pay for any damage the dog caused; however, IÔÇÖm certain he doesnÔÇÖt remember that. Basically the dog chewed the molding up, chewed on the handrail and then ripped it off the wall. Now the bathroom that basically needs to be completely redone is the one that my roommates shared, I had my own bathroom in my room. Given these circumstances I donÔÇÖt really think that I should lose my $600+ for damage that I didnÔÇÖt cause and had no control over. Is this completely irrational of me; is there some unspoken roommate code that I am breaking?

Yesterday was my day in court. I was facing two charges, "Failure to Obey a Highway Sign" and "Illegal Exhaust." I went in knowing I was guilty of one (exhaust) and NOT guilty on the other. Though I went in with pictures of my car with its shiny new stock exhaust hoping to get out of that ticket as well.

The judge started off by letting the police officer speak. He talked about how he could hear me 100 yards away, thats what made him aware of me... how he had to do 60 mph to catch me. how he used his in car radar to validate my speed, etc. When he pulled me over, it was a Sunday morning... I was on my way to church but i had to stop by my old house for a few things... and he bascially said "He said he was running late for church." which i found funny since i got a ticket at 8:24am and church starts at 10:30am. He also tried to bring up my past driving record at this time and was slammed by the judge... "Officer that is not relevant for the case at hand... please stick to what happend that morning."

When it was my turn to talk I submitted my church bulletin stating the start time of church and explained that the 2 hours i had was plenty of time to drive to woodbridge from Oakton, pick up the things i needed, and then drive the 20 mintues from woodbridge to lorton. I submitted the exhaust pictures, was denied submitting car performance stats from Car and Driver... not that i really needed them but if the judge didnt understand the "constants" arguement i was going to toss out there i might have needed them.

I started asking questions that i had typed up even before i went to court. "Where were you when you saw me?" "what were you doing when you saw me?" "what intersection did i get pulled over?" .... but for some reason when i asked "Were you inside of outside of your vehicle?" he kept responding with "i was going back to my car." I must have asked the question 5 or 6 times, pissing him off in the mean time and giving the judge a shit eating grin, before I asked the judge to explain the two answers he could give me.... he finally said "i was outside the car." I then asked him "what are the speed limits on 123 and Braddock road?" he answered that one fine... i wrapped up with this question "Do you always wear your seatbelt?" The judge asked me where i was going with all of this... and i told him i needed to know the sequence of events from the time he was outside the car to the time he got in the car... he allowed it... and the officer stated "No i dont always wear my seatbelt?" so i followed with "well that took an assumption out of my arguement... do you always wear it at work? or do you always wear it while in your personal car? or do you not wear it some times in both?" he stated "I dont always wear it, patrol car or personal car." all i ended with was "interesting."

I then submitted my final peice of evidence, a mapquest measurement of direction (dont ask why they let me submit it)... the intersection he left to the intersection i was pulled over was .27 miles. I then asked for a peice of chalk.

i went up to the chalk board and explained:
60mph = 1mile/min = 15sec to travel 1/4 mile... i wrote out more but whatever...

45mph (the speed limit) = 3/4mile/min = 20sec to travel 1/4 mile.

the judge understood the times and "constants"... so then i had to explain that if he was doing 60mph as a constant... and i was doing the speed limit... that gave the officer 5 seconds to enter his car, maybe put his seat belt on, accelerate to the constant speed of 60mph, and then when he catches me we both stop to 0mph instantly. after that explaination the judge cut me off to say....

"Mr. Canturk, I'm fairly confident you werent speeding. So i'm going to throw that out... but since you have prior exhaust tickets... i'm going to let that one stand."

all i could say was "Thank you, your honor." and start packing up my stuff.

while i was packing up the judge started to rip into the officer. something to the effect of "Officer you have disregaurded protocal... made a member of this commonwealth take time from work to defend himself against a claim you had very little evidence to back up... I'll be sending a letter to your supervisor that i will recommend be put in your permenent file."

i started walking out... nearly laughing... off to pay a $207 exhaust ticket... on my way out every lawyer in the place is giving me the thumbs up!