Mistryl

Just a couple of questions

1) Where do you guys go when you want to install things like springs, shocks, etc.? Do you go to a Mazda dealership, even if the parts you install aren't Mazda parts? If you go to a dealership, which dealership?

2) Where do you guys go to on the weekends to get your fix of the road twisties? :D All I know of right now is hwy 24, near berkeley, but I don't bring my car up there all the time. Anywhere else?

Xyntax

I'd like to know these things also

May I add one more? Where do you guys do straightline runs up to 100+ safely? You know, a quiet deserted strip where you can just blast your 8 to butt-dyno after a mod. My CZ1 is coming and I wanna butt-dyno first. I hate doing it on highways coz I dont have a radar detector.

rx8spiritR

i don't know much in San jose...

sjt

1. No. I would NEVER trust my car w/aftermarket installs at a dealership... I'm not even sure they'd do it thinkin about it... considering they'd say it voids your warrenty on that part blah blah.

I haven't done any real mods on my 8 yet but when I've done stuff in the past to my old cars, I always took it to MPJ Performance in Hayward.
www.mpjperformance.com or www.mpjforums.com
The guys there are just plain bad ***.
For stereo work I go to Motormusic Inc. in Daly City.
www.motormusicinc.com
If you go there, talk to Ken & tell em Steve sent ya. They'll hook you up!

2. As for fun driving roads, I would have said Mt Hamilton Rd but seems that it's been on lock down lately due to EVERYONE finding that road & stupid asses keep crashing up there.
There's also my fave but VERY dangerous road. Try Calaveras Rd. from Milpitas to Fremont or vice versa. I would NOT recommend going alone if going at night merely cuz there's no cell reception behind the mountain & there are A LOT of blind turns where bad stuff can happen, especially in the wet. It's fun but just don't go ***** out cuz it's become more common knowledge as well so you'll see random commuters there along with bikers (both motor & bicycle) mixed in.

CryoMax

I don't know of any on the peninsula, outside of 280. I've found that 280 between 92 and Woodside tends to be relatively unoccupied on weekends, and while it's not "deserted", the average driver is up around 75, and it's not uncommon to get passed while doing 80. The cops do patrol it, but not that heavily, and there aren't too many good "hiding places" for them (I'm sure, to the chagrin of the CHP).

Heh, in fact, one day I was going north on 280 to work, and I noticed in my driver's side mirror (this was in my Aztek, admittedly), I saw two motorcycle cops coming up around on my left. I looked down and realized I was doing almost 80. I thought, "crap, this is going to be my first ticket". I let off the gas, but didn't hit the brakes. I was only down to 75 when they blew past me without a care. I stayed at 75 and a few minutes later, *four* motorcycle cops flew past me "in formation". No lights, no chase, just doing 85 themselves up 280 during early rush hour. Made me wonder why I was worried about doing 80.

...Paul

PUR NRG

I installed coilovers and sway bars myself. It's not difficult for DIYers. Having said that I like Custom Alignment in Mountain View for the level of work they do. It costs of course.

Since you're in San Jose have you tried Hwy 9 down to Santa Cruz? Some people complain about driving Hwy 17 even though it's relatively tame.

The ultimate in twisty driving has got to be autocross. It's a safe environment and a spinout won't result in damage to your car. Truly the best place to really test the limits of your car.
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LIST OF AMC TRANSMISSION APPLICATIONS

ivyrose

That's a fun place to go driving! I also like Highway 1, lots of curves and a fabulous view of the ocean to boot :D

Mistryl

cool, thanks guys. looking forward to hitting those spots once my MS coilovers arrive. PUR NRG, exactly what tools do you need to install coilovers as a DIY?

rxbears

I've written this before in another thread, but here is a great web-site for drives. Granted, it is a "motorcycle" site, but the rides are great, with maps and pictures.

http://www.pashnit.com/motoroads.htm

Also, did anyone out there attend the Infineon event last weekend? It was the Jaguar Wine and Art Festival with Historic and vintage racing. Great show, great racing and a lot of great cars, in the paddocks and in the parking lots. They waved me right up to Lot 3 and until I got there wasn't sure why. Then as I drove in, I saw a row of Miata's, and row upon row of other sprots cars in the same lot. The only negative was, later they sent in non-sports cars and somone parked too close to my 8 and left a mark on my door. No dent, but I'm still working on getting the mark out.

PUR NRG

To install coilovers you need a 1/2" socket wrench with appropriate sized sockets, philips screwdriver, jack, jack stands and access to a spring compressor. Swankmonkey has a great writeup on the process. Do a search and you'll find it.
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Medical Marijuana Doctor

winebrad

Lots of fun roads in the North Bay. I drive Oakville Grade once or twice a week from Hwy 12 to Oakville. Also Spring Mountain Road out of St. Helena to Calistoga Rd. There is also Dry Creek Road to Lake Sonoma then continue on Stewerts Point Rd to Hwy 1. Coleman Valley Rd from Occidental to Hwy 1 is really dramatic as well.

EstonRX

Rick at Rick's Rotary Performance is definitely one of the most trustworthy and knowledgeable guys in the bay area. He's in Pleasanton, so it might be a long drive from south bay or peninsula, but well worth it for anything not warranty/factory related. The only stuff I would do at a dealership is stuff like flywheel or other Mazdaspeed performance stuff for which I want to ensure I keep everything warrantied. Body kits or non-Mazda authorized aftermarket mods I will go to Rick (though he is a service/maintenance oriented guy, he's done body kit work for me so far). The other great thing about going to him is that he doesn't charge huge markups for parts he gets for you. I got my Mazdaspeed front end at significantly below the cost of what the big websites sell them at. (www.ricksrotary.com)

My favorite twisty drive I would say is the drive from Milpitas to Sunol. I forget all of the road names/numbers, but if you take Calaveras straight up into the hills and make a left at the fork, you'll be on a one lane mega-twisty road for the next half hour until you hit Sunol. At that point you can either hit 680 back or continue on 84 (either up Pigeon Pass towards Livermore or down Niles Canyon to Mission Blvd in Fremont). Being one lane means you have to take blind corners very slow because traffic goes both ways and if you bounce off of another car you'll be on a one way trip down a canyon, but on the open turns it's really fun to gun it as there's many 90-180 degree turns. It's also a pretty drive for what it's worth.

As far as nice deserted straights to get speed up on, I don't know of any in the area that haven't become popular for 1/4 mile street racers and hence popular for cops. Heck, a few streets in Fremont even get shut down between 2-4AM because of this. If anybody knows of any that are totally out of the way or even some local public drag strips that aren't expensive to get on I'd love to know where.

Mistryl

cool, but maybe a bit far....only thing that i need that's non-mazda would be some sort of electronic retuning once the MS FI kit comes out....can Rick do that?

alex

couple of friends own a shop in downtown San Jose, its called Apex Autobody ... they're all good guys, they own FD's and they're all really cool guys. If you're nice, they'll prioritize your car above all the daily insurance jobs they get.

alex

Equis

1] I would suggest to you Motorsport Technique in Hayward to do clean installs, expensive though but worth it. Also I thought there was tons of places in San Jose for that or at least in the surrounding areas.

2] I would suggest Niles Canyon Road, Fremont, do so only if you want to die though. It is a long way down if you miss a turn or slide off.

Xyntax

I love driving Highway 17 going to Santa Cruz, especially when there's not much cars running there.

As for straightline, there are possible strips at San Tomas expressway. There are about 2 or 3 not-so-straight strips there that are quite long enough for a 3rd gear 9K rpm pull and slow down to a stop before another traffic light comes up. I see econobox racers run there most of the time.

Another one that I know of is northbound 87 entrance from Capitol, there is a long entrance strip before the lanes merge, so you dont encounter running cars. I think it is a 1/4 mile strip.

Mistryl

Wow, never knew there were so many places to drive around here. This is great!

IZoomZoomI

hey xynthax where's that ramp you're mentioning never came across it...

sjt

but police presence has skyrocketed recently so if you're gonna be stupid PLEASE DON'T DO IT ON PUBLIC ROADS!!!

Take it to the track. On several other boards I visit, the Bay Area is getting A LOT of attention from the police.

I've had a friend lose it with his engine swapped 2000 Subaru Impreza RS. One of the most beautiful Impreza's I've ever seen in real life, but he somehow lost it over a short cliff on HWY 17(said it felt like one of the rear brakes locked up but it has ABS). He & his single passenger got JACKED UP pretty bad. They're ok now for the most part but if AWD couldn't help him(and he's a good driver, seen him at Laguna Seca), then I'm not sure how helpful DSC/TCS is gonna be.

Just be safe out there. I just psychologically cannot bring myself to drive 10/10ths out on public streets... just too dangerous... too many What if's out there.

Xyntax

I'm just going to tell you where it is, but I have to warn you "Do not blitz on that ramp before 1:00am or ever". Too many cars running on 87.

If you go through Capitol auto mall, there are 2 entrances for 87: northbound is located directly from Capitol auto mall (that's not the ramp I'm talking about) and the other is found by going straight ahead and taking a left at the next intersection. I forgot what the road's name is but it is where there's like a preschool or something.

Anyways, after turning left, straight ahead you should see an 87 entrance on the left side of the road: it's an uphill ramp curving to the right. After that curve is a 1/4 mile straight merging lane. I have blasted 3rd gear beep up there and scared the **** out of my cousin who was with me that time. I had the urge to take it to 4th and beep again but I figured it wasn't that long for something like that. I did this before I got the M flash and so the 4K pull and 7K pull was what scared my cousin :D

I haven't done that with my M flashed 8. I have no plans of doing it again and that is why I asked the forum for some deserted and safe straight road that we can do acceleration tests for our cars. Anyone rich enough here that could build something like that for us? :D

btw, sjt is right. Do not do it on public roads. Take a visit to a towyard once and ask for a guide. The guide should be able to tell you stories about the messed up cars you'll see there. I did that trip to get better respect for high speed situations. Pretty scary once you see what really happens if you trip.

IZoomZoomI

o yea that ramp i live just by there. somehow i thought u were mentioning another ramp. yea street racing is a no no. i had my fair share though. where are the tracks by here?

Mistryl

Laguna Seca? I've been there once...it's fuuuuuuuuun

sjt

Sears point .... errr excuse me... uhm Infinieon Raceway...

Xyntax

Both raceways are so far from San Jose though. I wish there was one for the Southbay. North ones get all the fun, and SoCal too

Mistryl

yea, they are...
on the other hand, get a couple of friends to go with you in their cars, and you've got a great activity for the day...and i have yet to hear of ppl complaining that they have to drive FARTHER in their 8's