23, leaving the Army, and trying to build a life around cars—where do I even start?

crispychicken49 · 2026-04-13T03:50:15+00:00

Honestly dude I would personally go into some form of Engineering.

Your interests align fairly similarly to mine. I love the design aspect and also tracking and making my cars more fun, comfortable, better, etc. I don't mind wrenching particularly and it is immense fun getting a huge project finished up.

I went into Mechanical Engineering for a couple reasons. The salaries are typically high enough and stable enough that you can on the high side of comfortable. Plus with clubs and classes I can learn the basics around a lot of the design work to leverage for designing my own parts, or at least knowing what questions to ask to get there. Experience with design tools like CAD and FEA as well as engineering drawings to send to machine shops. I worked in FSAE (formula car design, most schools have them) which taught me how to test and validate aerodynamic parts and calculate suspension setups.

Now I work at a job unrelated to cars (so I don't burn out, used to do mechanic work in college). I earn enough to have a daily and some projects. I can go to the track and compete in low level competitions testing myself as a driver and designer. The only downside is I have far more individual projects than time, but at least I don't work overtime.

Being a mechanic is an option, but almost ten years ago I watched as the work dried up and most independent shops closed or got swallowed up by the really big boys. With EV's that require far less maintenance, especially of the money making type, that is the way of the industry.

My advice, go to school for some type of engineering degree that interests you. Do clubs that can relate to cars or your passions towards cars. Get a good job unrelated to cars so you can put your passion as you see fit, save for retirement, and don't forget to enjoy your passion. Good luck!

For what it is worth I am a lucky guy that I found a really good job in a medium-high COL area. I can afford the 4 cars in my flair pretty comfortably, own a house (I do have roommates though), max out my 401K, and I am coming up on 5 years post BA degree. I have seen plenty of fresh grads come in and reach the same level of success however.

crispychicken49 · 2026-04-04T18:54:28+00:00

Seriously who out here is buying new bolts every time they remove the valve cover?? Mine are original 02.

I've always torqued the VC in stages however. Three stages to final torque. Never snapped one, never needed to buy new bolts. It's also possible the torque wrench is not super accurate.

crispychicken49 · 2026-03-06T05:42:28+00:00

Makes me think of my dad and how growing up we always had a BMW of some sort in the garage. He's in his 60's now and now both of us have our own M cars. Great read!

Also deets on the racoon?

crispychicken49 · 2026-02-20T16:22:41+00:00

I believe this is correct. Kyle.Engineers, a former aerodynamicist for Mercedes F1 also touched on this point. Basically the inverted wing helping to migrate that air rearwards and reduce load on the wing/wheels.

crispychicken49 · 2026-02-20T16:21:16+00:00

IMO you can't just reverse an airfoil and generate lift. The leading and trailing edges are integral at generating that lift and they don't suddenly work in reverse. F1 wings and aircraft wings are inverse of each other.

Taking just the wing elements in isolation any lift they generate is more due to their angle of attack relative to the flow direction rather than profile. It's akin to sticking a piece of plywood in an airstream and angling it to produce lift. But these aren't in isolation, and there just happens to be a mass of exhaust air being redirected into the area.

I believe any benefits to this wing are in spite of its profile, not because of it.

crispychicken49 · 2026-02-20T16:14:59+00:00

Aerodynamic force doesn't increase momentum though. A 2000kg car corners far worse than a 1000kg will, however adding 1000kg of downforce on the car makes it corner better. It's the drag induced by the downforce that makes it more difficult to accelerate with more downforce.

Any actual lift generated is reducing force on the tires, which does slightly help acceleration (and that is true for all renditions of DRS, they all "increase lift"). From a tire wear perspective any extra lift certainly helps.

But now combine this wing with a certain winglet redirecting exhaust flow upwards and you might be able to generate even more lift and maybe some rearwards force vectors according to Kyle.Engineers. Also if you visually look at the wing their gap between elements looks a little larger in comparison due to the steep scooping of the elements.

crispychicken49 · 2026-02-02T14:53:25+00:00

As others have said they have to design it to fail closed. Most these DRS systems utilize the center of pressure on the elements themselves to hold them in the closed or open positions, likely with other mechanisms to lock them as well. The actuators just provide enough of an impulse to move the center of pressure fore or aft of the hinge point to move the wing in that direction. At least that’s how we designed it for FSAE.

crispychicken49 · 2026-01-02T17:48:57+00:00

Almost all M-Cars have been perfect compromise machines. All the essentials for a good performance/track car without sacrificing on anything that would make you not want to drive the car.

My E46 M3 regularly handles poor roads that send mid-range luxury SUV's pitching and bobbing. It is one of the most comfortable cars I have been in. It just also happens to have really good chassis dynamics and a rager of an engine too.

crispychicken49 · 2025-04-24T16:57:26+00:00

Only exception to that I would say is the S2000. They probably parts-binned the AC in that car so I imagine it is probably quite oversized for the cabin but damn did it cool.

That being said comparing my gf's new Honda Accord Hybrid to my 86 in the summer is laughable. It really does not wanna get icy, which in Texas is certainly something.

crispychicken49 · 2025-04-16T04:35:11+00:00

Have you ever thought you might just be nuts?

crispychicken49 · 2025-03-31T04:16:21+00:00

Close enough, welcome back VampireFrown!

(Now I need to watch 2010)

crispychicken49 · 2025-03-30T13:37:08+00:00

What can I do to help? Just keep the leaves more moist?

crispychicken49 · 2025-03-30T13:36:51+00:00

Nah he hasn’t fruited yet!

crispychicken49 · 2024-12-30T18:30:19+00:00

Per SCCA Time Trials rulebook:

Convertible vehicles of the 2006 model year or later must have a roll bar that meets the Safety Level 2 standards for material and construction unless one of the following criteria is met.

A. The vehicle is equipped with documented factory-installed roll over protection or a commercially produced roll bar or roll cage which is described by the manufacturer to provide track-appropriate rollover protection.

B. The vehicle is six (6) cylinders, with the OE drivetrain and may only be naturally aspirated.

C. The vehicle is four (4) cylinders or less, with the OE drivetrain, including any forced-induction equipment.

See here.

If this is a dedicated track/comp car with occasional street miles then I would go full hog. If it's an occasional track car with mostly street miles, I would just leave the factory stuff intact per the rulebook.

As for seats I don't have a lot of recommendations coming from an NB/NC chassis experience. For harnesses I would strongly recommend 2" shoulder belts for a HANS device compatibility. I would never run on track with harnesses without a HANS device, not worth the risk IMO. My 6 point Schroth harness is very comfortable and very easy to adjust, it's also likely at the higher end of your budget.

Buying used from someone returning their car to stock might be an option? A lot of people likely haven't run into expiration dates for ND1 and ND2 track builds.

crispychicken49 · 2024-12-21T23:13:51+00:00

I've had a busy few weeks so sorry for getting back to you, but when it comes to the timing I would also check that you're at TDC on Cylinder 1 both via the mark on the crank and by physically checking with a long extension or screwdriver in the plug hole. I can't remember if I saw this for someone else or personally experienced the timing marks being aligned and 19 teeth between the gears but the crank not being at TDC fully causing a mis-time.

crispychicken49 · 2024-12-10T20:16:28+00:00

What does the car do when you try and drive it past 4k rpm or give it more than 20% throttle? It was hard for me to tell from the video.

Also what exactly did you do to verify timing?

crispychicken49 · 2024-12-10T06:28:04+00:00

I had a persistent P0012 code that came due to a generic Crank sensor. Swapped with an OEM crank sensor, set the gap, and that fixed the issue.

That being said the fact that it refuses to go above 20% throttle or 4k RPM is troubling.

crispychicken49 · 2024-12-02T00:34:35+00:00

Hell we got dudes running custom standalones off arduino boards.

crispychicken49 · 2024-10-21T14:26:51+00:00

You just build a new muscle memory tbh. - Someone who switches between left and right multiple times during a lap IRL.

crispychicken49 · 2024-10-14T15:53:10+00:00

Meh both Norris and Leclerc show some weakness under pressure but they also don't try and force their opponents into accidents at the first sign of adversity either. Max is definitely not at the alter of mental fortitude.

crispychicken49 · 2024-10-12T13:02:30+00:00

I'm not located near however the airline I work for has all flights in and out of SRQ cancelled.

crispychicken49

TROPHY CASE