Tech Day at 234

It's been over 6 years since I've taken Bumblestook to Tony's house (a.k.a. 234) for a Tech Day mostly because for most of that time she was stored outside of NY and trailered only. When Tony told me he was going to do a tech day so we could work on his dad's S2000, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to head out there, hang out and take care of few issues I've been noticing with Bumblestook the past few weeks.

Tech Day at 234 - 6-29-2019

Today was particularly hot, certainly the hottest day we've had this year and I got stuck in pretty heavy traffic so it took me almost 2 hours to get there. As soon as I pulled in and shut the car off, I realized I lost all power. I couldn't unlock my trunk and the dash wouldn't light up when I turned the key. We measured the voltage across the battery and it was over 14V but it was hot and there was slight deformation on the side facing the header. I suspected that perhaps the battery had gone into thermal shutdown and sure enough after letting it cool in the shade for 20 minutes, I was able to start the car again. This is unacceptable. A battery designed to be used in automotive applications should be able to handle the heat from an engine bay (and mine isn't even that hot since I have vents). I could've been stranded if I had stopped somewhere midway like a gas station. I ended up going to Autozone and picking up a Deka EXT14 battery which I've used several times in the past on both Bumblestook and Lupa and popped that in for now while I contact Antigravity about this issue. I didn't want to get stranded getting home and the last thing I need is a Lithium battery catching fire in the engine bay. I'm glad this issue surfaced where it did though.

Failed Antigravity ATX-30 Battery - 6-29-2019

Next I got under the car to try and figure out a weird rattle I was getting from the back of the car and got the shock of my life. The bottom bolt holding my driver side rear damper had almost fully backed out with the lock nut just barely clinging on.That could've ended up in a really bad situation if that bolt decided to eject itself at the wrong time so I'm glad I caught it. There's still a slight knocking sound I hear when I reverse slowly which I think is play in the diff. I might have to put in my backup diff soon but for now I'll just keep an eye on it since the car is generally driving just fine. 

Source of the rattle - 6-29-2019

Next, I wanted to address the slight tire rubbing in the rear after I switched to the wider 255 Advan A052. A dremmel and some quick work to take off about 1/4" from the overfender and bumper tab and she was good to go. 

Creating clearance for rear tires - 6-29-2019

I also started chasing around random rattles inside the cabin wrapping a lot of stuff in foam tape. I got most of the annoying noises out but I still have a few left to find. We finished up installing Eibach prokit springs on Tony's dad's car, put in a test pipe and fixed the stumbling idle caused by a sticky IACV, something I experienced myself early last year. It now looks great and drives like a champ. Of course, it wouldn't be a proper 234 tech day without Tony feeding us so much meat was consumed.

It was definitely good to see everyone again. Probably the best thing about S2000 ownership is the friends I've made throughout the years because of it. Big thanks to Tony and Jose for helping me out. Knowing that Bumblestook is back to normal and uncovering a fatal flaw in the Antigravity battery that could've bitten me hard at NJMP next month is icing on the cake.