Its worth a drive. Its a great car, totally different from my mostly stock own car. But my car takes a pretty savage beating and lives outside. So his is very nice and much more powerful by comparison. I nearly saved up for the supercharger because of that drive... but then decided to be responsible and hold onto the money for a rainy day... or the day the RX9 comes out, if its raining. But it was a close one. I wouldnt drive his car if you tend to have feelings of inadequacy in case its better than yours.

What kinda mileage you got on yours again? I was looking at that used pettit... but i got 30k on mine and need some body repairs and plug replacement, maybe a respray too in the near future... and not sure how good a idea it is to boost a 30k old car.

38,650ish. It had 17,783 when I backed the car out of Pettit's garage and drove it home, so I'm almost at 21,000 Pettit miles :rock:

BTW, I'm about to swap my ignition coils to the MSD 8247s, and ordering some new spark plugs. I'm really looking forward to getting those in. I was actually getting some misfires cruising at 90mph last week (after about 9000 miles on the coils). I think it might be the whole problem Charles/BHR reported with the dwell settings on the Yukon coils being off by a bit. I only paid $20 new for each of these coils so it's not too painful swapping them out.

so? how bout it? this sunday i go fast?

My family and I are invited to a barbecue in Orlando on Sunday, so we're taking the Mazda5 again. Plus, with these iffy coils, I don't know if I trust my foot on the accelerator right now.

If I get those coils in by the next weekend, definitely then. Even if I have to drive up there on a Saturday :)

minivan weekend again? boooo! lol. okay. have fun at the bbq.

looking forward to next weekend. get those coils!

nicest blue 8 ive seen. how fast is 0-60 on your 8 with the sc?

Haven't really been on much as I've been planning/executing a trip to Japan. I'm actually over here now, and I'm loving Tokyo. We'll be here until this weekend when we move over Mount Fuji on to Kyoto where we'll stay until the middle of next week.

This is a really beautiful country, and the people are extremely friendly.

Here are a few pictures of our experiences so far:

Pictures from Shinjuku Gyoen:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3368/...742530a4_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3645/...247c3c79_b.jpg

I've been married to this woman for 10 years (Friday is our anniversary). Time flies when you're having fun:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3359/...519f86ee_b.jpg

Small shrine in Shinjuku:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3305/...78c19988_b.jpg

Me outside said shrine:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3304/...df41a32c_b.jpg

I have six more days over here, so I'll post more pictures as I take them and get to my hotel room. I've only seen a single RX-8 since I've been here, but I did manage to buy a 1/59 scale model RX-8 in velocity red, and another in police car trim. (white and black). I also bought a pull-back mini-RX-7 toy. I'm done shopping for my son, just have the daughter and their grandparents to go.

We spent Thursday/Friday exploring several areas in Tokyo, and then we spent Saturday (by choice) and Sunday (not by choice) on Mount Fuji. It's been a great few days, and only have one night left after tonight before we head back home.

Anyway, here are the pictures!

Imperial Palace Courtyard in Tokyo:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/...cb81e422_b.jpg

Ninomaru Garden in the Imperial Palace East Gardens:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3299/...654c2b14_b.jpg

Hazy central Tokyo:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3586/...00f710c2_b.jpg

starting the difficult part of a climb up a cloud-covered Mount Fuji:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3557/...980d23c5_b.jpg

We were finally out of the clouds, and the summit is only 300-400 meters away. Unfortunately, the clouds started to chase us, and it was !@#$ing cold up there so we quickly moved up under the platform of the 8th station to prepare to camp for the night.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3391/...696ee514_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3404/...e2acb30b_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/...19df4132_b.jpg

The third person in our party was not wearing adequate clothing for spending the night on this mountain, and my wife's socks got a little wet, so we decided to head back down when the clouds cleared (2 hours later).
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3310/...d67ef469_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2442/...273f1b60_b.jpg

It was still !@#$ing cold at the 5th station at 2AM when we arrived, but probably 10-15 degrees warmer (not below freezing). We toughed it out there until the 4:30AM sunrise and bought a few hot drinks from the vending machines. The crappy thing is that 30 minutes later we found out that they were closing the road up the mountain because of a bicycle race, so no buses or taxies would be permitted to come up the mountain. We were stuck there until after the race was over. It sucked really hard, because we basically lost 6 hours of time we could have spent enjoying Kyoto (our next stop), but (sarcasm warning) my lifelong dream to see thousands of Japanese men in spandex was finally realized! Anyway, here we are safely back at the 5th station:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/...91aea757_b.jpg

Once we got off the mountain, it was about a 3 hour trip (1.5 by bus, 1.5 by bullet train) to Kyoto.

Here's what a bullet train feels like when it passes you at a train station:
[embed]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tb_U9tf77ko&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tb_U9tf77ko&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/embed]

some great shots there bastage . That train looked quick - do they slow down for the station ?

nope... the japanese actually teleport onto the train as it passes...

cmon you knew the technology in japan was far superior!

wow, great pictures. That looks like an amazing trip. I would love to go one day.

You wife is beautiful. You definitely married up, lol.

I'm surprised you havent seen more 8's there? How about 7's?

I don't think so, at least I didn't feel any slowing when we would go through a station that was not a stop.

:yelrotflm

I saw a WWP RX-8 yesterday, and 3 3rd-gen RX-7's on the bus trip from Kawaguchiko to Shin-Fuji. RX-8's appear to have the same unicorn-like status here as they do in the U.S. I've only seen 3 total in a week of being in Japan.

Well, we've been married 10 years, so it's more like I've gotten fatter as she's gotten more beautiful, but she still thinks I'm hot stuff, so that's all that matters

:lol2:

We had a really fun time in Kyoto, I can't believe our trip is over and we're coming home tomorrow...

My wife had a great time playing dress up:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3398/...49fdd92c_o.jpg

Awesome dude! BTW I did not have time to gas up your car but I left $5 dollars in the glove box. The car is running good although you might notice a bit of clutch smell inside the cabin. I cracked the windows to let the smell out. :eyetwitch

/\ with freinds like that ................

We made it back home safe, although 9 hours later than planned.

Here are a few more pictures:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3400/...a9c23666_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3622/...22e0e0b4_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3370/...d7db4729_b.jpg

If I had another week over there I would have explored both Tokyo, and Kyoto more fully, and checked out Osaka and Hiroshima (and the Mazda factory ;) )

The trip was not a vacation, it was an adventure. If you have the means, visit Japan. There is a lot worth seeing there.

Awesome pics "G" (nice hat! :lol:). Look me up when you have time!
I am finally in my new house after my buyers bank delayed the closing on my old one 5 freaking times! Argh!
Been busy with closing on two houses and moving, setting new one up, etc.