[Showdown]

Without a big project to work on I have been tackling smaller things. I changed my AFR table from the pig-rich get-it-started one that I had previously to something that more resembles a car complete with fuel economy where necessary and a Saudi-like disregard for everything at WOT. Suffice it to say the car runs and performs much better. Tuning continues and at this point it’s little refinements that are kind of fun to chase down; a bit more tip in at this RPM, a slight stumble at that RPM…. Now that I’m comfortable reading data logs and understand all of the levers to pull, it’s a joy to diagnose and solve an issue in a matter of minutes rather than days. Eventually I’ll take the car to a dyno again just to see, but I don’t feel like I need to at this point.

I also bought a mini lathe and now everything looks like a turning project. To wit, I made some door lock pulls to replace the plastic ones. I’ll be deleting the round knob when I do the door cards and these are taller allowing the door to be unlocked and locked without the use of the round knob, which I find ugly and redundant.





I also made a shifter extension. It’s only about 2” but it’s all in how you use it… isn’t that what she said? It’s a simple piece modeled after the bicycle compression stems I use on my road bike; a shaft with a flare at the bottom and a bolt that pulls a wedge into the shaft and expands the flare thus locking it into place. Eventually the whole shifter will get dressed in leather and the extension covered.







Speaking of leather, I practiced my leathercraft on the strut brace for a clean bespoke look, just like everyone else. This is how I'll wrap my steering wheel and shifter.





And since my fuse box cover tabs were broken, it received a leather strap with snap to hold it in place. Leathercraft is really fun and if my day job doesn’t work out, I guess I can make BDSM leather goods…?