DIY - Custom short shift kit for TH8a or TH8rs shifter.

Here is another DIY mod, this time for the TH8a or TH8rs shifter from Thrustmaster. It is a short shift kit using cheap automotive grade universal shift knob. ****I did not come up with this, I used ideas from YipZone and from SethFrancis

Cost breakdown: (my total cost $17)
$12 - amazon shift knob (pick your own or use the same one) - Cheap Shift Knob

Roughly $5-$6 for a long M6 threaded bolt (m6-1.0 x 100mm) and six pack of M6-1.0 nuts (they did not have a m6 coupling nut so I am replacing that with 4 stacked m6 nuts jammed)

A pen - specific one chosen because I have it already - free.

Disclaimer - I can not be sure the shift knob you pick will work. I picked the one I did because it was cheap, had multiple inserts to fit different sizes and was silver. It also happened to be hollow so the bolt went all the way up inside.

Tools - drill with large drill bit (drill bit just smaller around than the m6 nuts at the tips) gloves, hammer, box cutter (or sharp blade or scissors to cut the pen), a crescent wrench, and two 10mm wrenches.



First you must remove the old shaft - it had a thread lock on it so it will be tight. Remove the shift knob then use a crescent wrench on the flat sides on the top of the old shaft to remove it. It has normal direction threads so turn left to remove.

Measure the height the bottom of the shift knob needs to be off the h plate by threading in just the bolt and holding the shift knob next to it. **IF YOUR SHIFT KNOB IS NOT HOLLOW LIKE MINE YOU WILL HAVE TO CUT THE BOLT LENGTH** Then compare how far in the insert will thread (got it wrong twice forgot to check 7th gear slot first time, then did not measure for the extra depth the insert threads into the shift knob the second) The location of the bottom of the plastic insert is where the bottom nut of the 4 jammed tightened nuts needs to be and marked with fine point sharpie. Again, make sure to measure based on how deep the plastic insert goes into the shift knob.



I had to drill out one of the plastic inserts to be slightly too small for the m6 nuts. This is what the glove is for to protect my hand while holding the insert as I drilled it out. *The plasic insert goes on the bolt then I thread the nuts on the bolt and jam locked them into place (jam locking is tightening them against each other with two wrenches). I then used a hammer and one of the 10mm wrenches to force the plastic insert onto the m6 nuts that were locked into place on the m6 bolt. *sorry no picture of this process* Put one of the extra nuts on the end of the bolt threads and thread it on to protect them, you do not want to hit the threads with a hammer. The M6 nut edges are sharp enough to cut into the insert so that it it solid and the insert does not turn - that is why the insert was only drilled out so far that the m6 nuts would only fit with brute force.





Cut the plastic pen tube to be too long for tightening down the bolt into the shifter. Then slip it on and tighten the bolt down into the shifter without the knob. Verify a good amount of threads are in, but do not bottom out the bolt in the shifter as you want some room for adjustment here. The bolt x-head top made it easy to tighten it down against the pen tube so it was snug.

Then remove the bolt(shaft) from the shifter, set the plastic pen tube aside, and jam the two extra nuts together on the end of the shaft and put a wrench on them so you can hold the bolt securely while tightening down the knob on the plastic insert. The knob should get tight but do not over force it, the insert is just plastic. *sorry no picture of this process* My shift knob goes pretty far over the plastic insert - that is were I messed up the measuring as the shift knob bottom edge would hit the h gate plate and I could not put it in 7th or reverse.


in this image it was actually my second time of not having enough thread length, as you can see there is only a single red line from the first measuring point. In the end there were two red lines sticking out

Now put the plastic pen tube back on the bolt (shaft) and thread it back into the shifter until it is snug against the pen - Tight enough that it won't turn from normal use but not so tight you smash the pen. If you care the orientation of the knob you can cut the pen tube shorter to get this correct.This is why I said to leave it a bit long as there is no need to completely bottom out the bolt into the shifter just get it threaded most of the way in.



Double check that you can get into 7th gear and reverse without the bottom of the shift knob hitting the H-Plate. Cut a new pen tube if you made it too short. Find the sweet spot pen tube length to get the knob strait and the bolt/shaft snug and you are all finished.

The only improvement I need for mine, the pen tube I chose is a little soft. You can see in the very first picture of the completed kit, the bottom is starting to flair out inside the shifter. I raced with it for a good while this morning and it did not budge so for now it seems to be working fine.

Have at it and enjoy a better shifting feeling and a beer..

Sim Racing Stuff -RMA'd T300 & Added Shifter with 3 Pedal Set

Yes this is a geek, boring post about my Sim Racing Equipment - or yes if you must expensive race car video game stuff.

So my new T300rs wheel from Thrustmaster started to make light grinding noises not long after I got it, then after about 40 days it started to clunk or click when turning back and forth around the center. A few emails back and forth, a video, and proof of purchase later my wheel was in the mail and it took about 18 days before my replacement arrived. Yeah they are having some reliability issues over there at Thrustmaster, but I still really think the T300 is a great wheel.



Before I RMA'd my wheel I ordered a TH8a shifter and T3PA-Pro pedals. The shifter arrived before I sent my wheel it was fun to use as a sequential but the H pattern cried for a clutch. The pedals arrived while my wheel was gone, so for about 2 weeks they were a funny looking paper weight. But now... these things are pretty awesome. The pedals come with a "conical brake mod" which is a fancy way to say a rubber cone that simulates real resistance in the brake pedal. Of course at first all these new inputs did slow me down as I got used to proper three pedal H pattern racing (clutch action, switching right/left foot braking, heal-toeing) and just in general getting used to them compared to what it is like in a real car. I was doing some research and found advice that adding a wider brake pedal really finished them off nicely, and the pedal plates can be found on Amazon for between $10-15 depending on if you get them new, used, and/or if you get the 3 pedal set. Shown in the image above, I got the 2 pedal set because I wanted the wider brake pedal and did not see the need for a larger clutch pedal.



Now with the 3 pedal set and the TH8a shifter I have all the components I need.. over the next month or so I will be moving and then will be able to get the modifications done to my stand to get everything mounted. Currently I am still using the old home depot special stand to hold my shifter and keyboard, so I have not completely replaced it wit the wheel stand pro, yet.



All this was over three times the cost of my old budget DIY setup (ps3, DFGT, home depot stand) but man oh man is it worth it. Racing games / Sim Racing has really come alive for console users with the introduction of this type of equipment and of course the game Project Cars. In case you are wondering.. PS4 = $400, T300rs Wheel = $400, TH8a Shifter = $130, T3PA-Pro Pedals = $150, Wheel Stand Pro = $190. Still compared to the two gaming PCs I built before I got into consoles ($1,500 a build with no peripherals), it really is not all that expensive considering the quality and amount of enjoyment I get from it.

But just more fancy gaming stuff to realize that
yeah.. I am not that good. -CC

More Sim Racing - PS4 - T300 and Project CARS - Sold the Spitfire

So I am back at it.. (sim racing that is) with new equipment and a new title... but more importantly my father and I made the joint decision to sell the Team Sex Pistons Triumph Spitfire LeMons race car. It had been sitting in the garage untouched since December 2013 so it was time. A group of younger more enthusiastic guys bought it and I am glad it will continue to be abused and thrashed as we intended. Not going to get sentimental, but I was a bit sad. We had a lot of fun and that was the point.


Good Bye you awesome British hunk of tin scrap - it was fun while it lasted

With the Spitfire sold, there was some extra cash for sim racing stuff... I have a new wheel stand, a TH8a shifter, and new T3PA-Pro pedals on the way. Once they are all setup I will eventually take some pictures and write proper reviews. For now I have to say Project CARS with the T300 wheel is an absolute blast. It is the most realistic racing title to ever be on a console. - Quick clip of me trying to drive the Formula A (Formula 1) car on the famous Spa track..LINK TO VIDEO

Anyways.. life is good.


Wife and I in Sequoia

The rest of the funds normally spent on racing will go towards travel for my wife and I. We recently took a weekend up at the Sequoia National Park, will be going to visit friends in the Cali Bay Area soon, shortly after a trip to visit some family in Colorado, then a cruise to Alaska. All before October this year. Bonus note from Sequoia - we saw some bears and I took a pretty OK photo of one between freaking out..



More to come later!

Not dead.. just have not done much.

Just in case anyone actually reads this blog.. I did not die or quit the blog. Just have not done much recently relative to the blog.

Racing wise... nothing

Photography .. again nothing..

Video games I am still crack'n out on Destiny and waiting for Project Cars to be released and get my racing sim setup going again.

On a bit of a health kick lately but there is enough of that all over the internet so won't bother with it either.

Things that are coming soon:

Plan to pull the rotting Spitfire back out of the garage and see if I can get it going. Then take it down the the SCCA solos to give it some use.

Going to Colorado in February will bring the camera along and see what comes up...

Otherwise not a damn thing.. life is life.. need to find a Southern California motorsport for 2015 and go see some racing.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - New game (not a review)

It has been quite some time since I played a Call of Duty game (Black Ops 1), but before then I played them all. The game series just got stale, nothing got better or really different, and my interest was lost. Now on a new console, backed by positive reviews, I decided to throw my free Dell credit down (big spender) and order COD: Advanced Warfare.

So far so good - everything works well, there are new aspects to the game, and it is pretty (1080p 60FPS). Basically they took the old COD recipe and threw in an Exo suit to allow you to move faster, jump higher, carry a shield, go invisible, etc etc.. Hell, they even hired Kevin Spacey to play a main character in the story. Yeah, I actually am playing the single player part of a COD game, go figure.

Now if Destiny will just loosen it's grasp on my interest long enough for me to play the game, I can see what it is really all about then report back. Shit, I still have Metro Redux and some Assasin's Creed game laying around unfinished... Oh well forget them, that is the past and COD AW is now.

Is it 5'o clock yet? I want a beer or three....

Destiny - My review (now that I have completed the raid and I'm almost level 30)

Well honestly I had become completely addicted to this game. Since purchased, it is the only video game that has run on my PS4. I have a level 29 Warlock that has completed the raid on normal winning 2 pieces of raid armor, and a level 26 Titan. For those who don't play the game, that is about 4-5 days (96-120) of play time, or 130 hours at my pace. $60 for that much enjoyment is easily worth the cost 4 times over. This review is based on Destiny as of November 6th 2014, before any later patches or any DLC. It does not include video and only 2 screen shots of my characters because you can find that stuff all over the internet. Hell, I don't even know why I am writing this review as that same point could apply against even making this effort.. oh well here goes anyways.



Straight out lets get to the point, I give the game 9/10. It is awesome, kicks ass, shits rainbows, all of that jazz.. Considering there is no monthly fee for the game (PS+ is required but I had that anyway) there is no other game out there that has given me as much enjoyment for so little money other than Gran Turismo series. There is no reason to say the game isn't great or I would be some kind of video game masochist with over 120 hours of time put into it. The cross between PVE (playing with others against the game) and PVP (playing against other players) has been done so well in Destiny. Bungie, well done sirs... but nothing is perfect.

There are a few things I could say need improvement and they are the same from my original post about the game. Basically improve the community features. Note: this only really matters because otherwise the game is so good, if the game was bad no one would care.

1. Give us the option to use voice chat all over the game, not just in private fire teams.

2. Improve the clan features by showing a clan list in the game and allowing clans to communicate in the game via some sort of clan message board.

3. Give us a better way to find groups for the harder events, Bungie and Activision were completely lazy with this and the player community had to create their own ways. So I have to go on a forum or social media site to communicate. There should be some way to easily find others looking to do the harder parts of the game, in the actual game.

There are also a lot of complaints about the story but meh, it is not really something much of a concern for me, this is one thing I don't mind having to read about using the grimoire cards on the bungie website or cell phone app. Some of it being a mystery is also fun to me. Knowing the full story right away would kinda kill it.

So there you have it... Destiny rules. Hopefully when the DLC comes out in December it will continue and only improve.

Laters, I'm out!

Fleet Week - Coronado Speed Festival- September 20th-21st 2014

Each year in September the Armed forces celebrates with Fleet Week and though I am not in the military, many people I know have or currently are. Just so happens in San Diego, on the beautiful Coronado Island, they hold the Coronado Speed Festival. On the Naval Station North Island base they set up a race track on the airstrip and hold this special event. Since it has cars and supports the Armed Forces it is a feel good excuse to have a corn dog, a beer, and watch some classic race machines do their thing. There are also a good many show cars to drool over as well.







The only issue for me at this event is the restriction they have on camera lenses. (No longer than 100mm unless you get press access). So I just throw on my 35mm prime and spend less time with my camera and enjoy the lovely day with my wife. We also have a couple friends who were participating in this event who run MGBs so we wandered by their pits and harassed them for awhile. Always good to know fellow racers even if they race prettier cars then me.



Overall was a great day and money well spent.. an event that supports our Armed Forces, has the sites and sounds of classic race machines, in the company family and friends, what more could you ask for?

Spank the Builder - 24 Hour of LeMons - Thunderhill Race - September 13th-14th 2014

What an awesome weekend! The Moke ran great and everyone loved Mike's (Spank) theme based on the Bob the Builder children's show. It was wonderful to be back at a 24 hour of LeMons race again and being on this team just made it all the sweeter. Thunderhill is a really fun track, and the new section bringing it to over 5 miles per lap just added to the enjoyment. On top of all that, there was also something quiet special going on at this race...


Starting Grid Photo - Judge Phil (AKA Murilee Martin)



This event had so many cars start that it was officially a world record attempt for the most cars in an endurance race! As long as the data is accepted it will soon become official. There were some 222 cars in the picture above, but the recorded number was 217 as a handful of cars broke down before the green flag dropped. So many fantastic piles of junk...





In the typical 24 hour of LeMons event fashion, there were lots of great themes and things to see.. but damn it was hot so I did not spend much time away taking pictures. There was one team (besides ours) that really stood out beyond all the rest...




Limping around Peugeot Photo - Judge Phil (AKA Murilee Martin)

The Peugeot Daddy 1963 Peugeot 404 sedan - this team was horrible in all the right ways.. slow awesome car, annoying yet well done theme, and they even played french music out of the car all weekend. Man did that car look awesome racing limping around the track. Word is their fastest lap time was actually under full course caution! Congrats to this team for completely dominating...


ZomBee Hauling Ass Photo - Judge Phil (AKA Murilee Martin)

Just because I like the car and the team so much.. it was great to see the ZomBees back on track whom, by the way, got a rebuilt motor put in and ran some amazingly fast laps for a little british car. Shout out to ZomBee Nation! Sadly though, with all this greatness there were a few bad moments of the weekend..


Damaged Volvo 1800 Photo - Judge Phil (AKA Murilee Martin)

The guys who run a Volo 1800 put their car into the wall, but thankfully no one was hurt. The car had a well built cage by the Evil Genius Racing shop that stood up to the hard impact. Hopefully the team will shake it off and return with an equally sexy ride. Also a VW rabbit flipped and I heard a lady crashed her quad in the pits.. Yikes!


Tractor on track Photo - Judge Phil (AKA Murilee Martin)

Now back to the grand team I was a part of.. we were told many times over how sweet the tractor looked going around the track and course we all agreed. The theme came together nicely, Spank's Moke ran great all weekend, and was so damn much fun to drive. I remember clearly the first 15mins of my last stint on Sunday just smiling and laughing while racing the Moke Tractor side by side with the other cars.. it was surprisingly quick and handled pretty nicely to boot! Well and would't you just know it....?



We won an award!!! The highly desired "Organizer's Choice". This basically means you're team & car put smiles on the faces of the event organizers and kept out of trouble.. from all the positive feedback, it was not just the organizers that were smiling, many others at the event got a lot of childhood joy seeing a tractor go around the race track. I am just glad I was apart of it and that people liked my Spud the Scarecrow costume head.

Ah what a weekend but for now it is.. back to the cubicle.

Destiny - The Game - PS4

OK so I lied, one more post before my race.. I picked up a copy of Destiny for the PS4 and it is lots of fun.. stayed up late last night with a few beers and played until I realized I had to be at work in 8 hours. Yes I like it and highly recommend it. I won't do a full review of this game other than a few points because the only way to understand is to play it. Besides, there is way more info out on the interwebs than you need to make up your mind if you will buy it. If you game, more than likely someone you know is playing it right now, so you could also ask them.



My first character is a Exo Warlock because I enjoyed the warlock class the most in the beta. I picked the Exo race because well.. the humans and aliens just look too emo and prissy for my liking (no options for beards WTF?)



The graphics look great and the controls are well designed.. the world(s) are fun to explore. Bungie made this game available on last gen (PS3 & Xbox 360) and current gen (PS4 and Xbox One) consoles. Also if you get the digital copy on last gens console, you have the option to upgrade your copy of Destiny to the same company's current gen console for free. Your account, characters created, and loot all carries over. So don't wait if you are saving up for the new console, get it on the one you have and upgrade later when you get a chance.



If you have not heard about this game then likely A. you are not a gamer (or only play a tight niche on PC) B. you live under a rock, or C. -I am too tired to think of another reason-. You likely have seen an advertisement for this game somewhere and not known what it was. This is based on the fact that $500M was spent by Bungie & Activision on this game, a majority of which was on marketing. Seems well spent as there were so many people talking about it, the hype was huge, and now so many people are playing it.



My only complaints so far: I don't have enough time right now to play as much as I would like, and the in-game communication and community features are lacking. The only way to communicate with people in game is to use the PSN/XBL network messaging system which requires you to switch over the the console interface, be in a private party (also provided by the console's network), or to join in a fireteam (group) with other players in-game so you can use voice chat to talk to them. There are no text chat or area voice chat options provided by the game itself. As for the in game community features, you can join a clan (but that requires going on a computer and using a website) but you can't even see an active clan list in game to join up with your clan mates. You have to use the console's network and add them as a friend anyways.. So all the clan gives you basically is a label. Hopefully Bungie will improve on those limiting features. None of this keeps me from enjoying the game though.

Now back to the cubicle .. (would rather be playing Destiny)

More LeMons Race Prep - Mini Moke for Thunderhill

It was a hot weekend - lots of wrenching and sweat on Saturday. We got the better seat in to be more comfortable, some brake work done, had pizza, a few beers, and lots more bull shitting around.



The car was running, the brakes worked, and was basically ready for tech.. but then I decided to start taking the cooling system off the car because Mike/Spank had a better radiator to put on. But, well... I did not get very far, it is only half mounted, and the hoses are not hooked up yet. It won't take much more to get it running again. Hopefully Mike can get more done this week, but we always have Friday night at the track. The theme work has not been started yet on the car either... so there is still that. Speaking of theme work, I finally got started on mine.



It began with me reading up on how to make a mascot costume head and the main parts where a cheap hard hat and stiff insulation foam board.. so I bought the foam insulation board, the hard hat, and opted for duct tape over glue because LeMons. I figured, how hard could it really be?



Well I got to work and what a mess.. I did not have the proper tool to cut the foam, which would be an electric hot knife, and used a small hand saw to cut the starting shape. The head of my character is basically big and round.



I knew that the center and widest part of the head needed to be just above my eye level so the hard hat would have to go above it. I cut a hole in the center to fit my head. Following, with absolute detailed precision, I cut some arches to make a frame for the top.



As I started to duct tape the hard hat in place, I thought it would be smart to use some stick shaped objects to hold things in place better.. really not needed but figured, this shit is serious so might as well. It all was then cleanly secured with duct tape.





With the top frame complete, I cut out some more pieces for the bottom and also, with my amazing handy work, securely attached them. Now the frame was done. Mind you this was hours later in humid hot weather, I believed getting to this point would only be 30-45mins.. haha no.





Using the high quality materials at my disposal, whatever scrap was laying around in my father's garage and some more duct tape, the top of the head took form. Things were coming along so nicely, I was in awe of my artistic abilities. (At this point, my back hurt and I was sweating and needed a beer. It was a Lagunitas IPA, which was damn good too. There went 15mins.)



Once stuffed, it was sealed up using exactly measured and placed strips of duct tape.. just look at it.. are you impressed yet? I had to give it a test ride to see how it would work..



Totally freaking rad, am I right? Damn I'm sexy... It takes time and effort to achieve such greatness, but of course it is not complete. The details of the face must be applied and are to be finished over the next few nights after work. To see the costume completed, you will have to check back next week as this is my last post until after the race. Only a few days left!

For now, it's back to the cubicle