đź‘‹ INTRO Ok ok so a little late...

OmniGLH

Regular
Apr 24, 2013
142
166
Huntley
I don't post here all that often, tho my first post was back in ~2013?

Know a handful of guys here already. Was really active with the MFBA, had a 2001 Z06 way back in 2001-2002 and got connected with those guys as my roommate had a WS6 and the Corvette guys back then were all these douchey grey haired old dudes (which I guess now *I* am one of them lol).

Also on FB in the "Sunday Morning Cars and Coffee" group - of which I guess there's a bit of crossover here with TCG.

Anyways... name's Jim. Been in Chicago most of my life save for a 3 year hiatus to Seattle. Out in Huntley area now, commute to the Loop every day. Essentially do software engineering for a large online digital marketing company.

Was a motorcycle guy for a long time, started racing when I was ~12-13, did some pro racing for a few years there, moved to Seattle for a job, got married, inherited a (very young at the time) stepson (who I am now going through the process to adopt), had to hang up some of the more dangerous stuff. Do a lot of driver coaching now, run a driver's clinic with the Chicago Region Porsche club every spring, run their "novice" classrooms for their Blackhawk Farms events. Was always a "car guy" first anyways - bikes were just a lot more accessible. Also into racing simulators so if anybody has any questions about building them, hit me up. Was about to start a company last winter building them but ran into some legal issues with the wife's ex-husband and had to put it on pause for a bit. (There is a special place in hell for deadbeat dads...)

Been a Porsche nerd since I was about 4 years old, tho I've owned a variety of stuff... couple hotrod turbocharged Dodge Omni's, Z06 Corvette, Eagle Talon TSi, couple Audis, couple VW GTI's. Owned a 944 Turbo for 8 years... big turbo, short gears, coilovers... fun car, put over 80k on it, mostly track and autocross use. Traditionally always did the work myself, enabled me to afford what I had. Have a POS Cayman now that's dismantled in the garage to unfuck it from the shop I paid to build it as a splurge to myself. Was at one point a M97-based 3.6L (that blew up before the shop delivered it to me), then a M97-based 4.0L (that blew up a few hundred miles later), now it's a stock 9A1-based 3.4L (only about 1000 miles on it but so far so good lol). Tarett Engineering monoball suspension parts (camber plates, caster correction, control arm ends, etc), Tarett sway bars and end links, GT3 control arms, JRZ's (on order), rollbar, seats, harnesses, etc. Doing a complete chassis overhaul this winter, finding and fixing all kinds of F'ed up stuff on the car and essentially just don't trust it until I go through it now. It'll be a little rough on the street but once I get it sorted should be a riot for track and AX use. Stock 9A1 3.4L is about as quick as the old M97 4.0L (go figure!) over 4000rpm (based on log data) just not quite as much torque (the 4.0 felt like an LS1! In fact if anybody here happens to know of a guy with a ~2013-era CTS-V, who also happened to be rolling up Randall Rd. one night over the summer of 2016.... he may remember a silver Cayman that sat door-to-door with him... he caught me during that heavenly 1-week period where I'd finally gotten the car back with a proper tune put in it, before it let go at Autobahn the following Monday...)

So I used to work on my shit myself because I couldn't afford to pay somebody to do it. Land a promotion and decide to pay somebody to do something for me for once and it blows up in my face. Now I work on my shit myself because I don't trust anyone else to actually do it right. Go figure. Grateful I was blessed with mechanical ability and a salary large enough to afford to buy tools to support it.

Anyways... that good enough? :)
 

OmniGLH

Regular
Apr 24, 2013
142
166
Huntley
The old Z06, next to my buddy's FRC, circa 2001 (nice gas prices...)
tcg_three.jpg


The old 944 under the POS
tcg_seven.jpg


Wifes summer car under the POS (sold the 944 for it...)
tcg_two.jpg


The POS
tcg_five.jpg


POS action shot
tcg_one.jpg



POS as it sits today
tcg_four.jpg


Me doing some trackside support work at RA
tcg_six.jpg



Starting to get pretty good at working on cars after all these years.... not bad for a computer nerd.
 

OmniGLH

Regular
Apr 24, 2013
142
166
Huntley
Thanks guys :)

Just a few MFBA'ers here. It's pretty cool how there are a number of us that go back 15-20 years as friends after being "automotive acquaintances". We're now the old guys that are supposed to guide and teach the younger car generation. So of course we are grumpy old men! :D

No kidding huh? I certainly don't FEEL any older. Well maybe when I wake up in the morning and it takes me a few seconds to straighten out my back lol.


This guy has been holding out on us for years!


Great collection, any omni pics?

Man that was back before the days of the digital camera. I have a small handful of scans of photos but they're buried on the NAS box at home. I had a blue one and a gold one. Blue one was mostly stock aside from a MP computer. The Blue one met it's demise when my little sister turned 16 and needed a car. I bought a Shelby Daytona and my dad gave my blue one to my sister. A few months in, she gave it to her step-dad (she lived with mom, she got remarried), he spray painted it yellow and took it to Rockford Speedway where it got destroyed.

The gold one was more my "baby". I think my car made it around the SDAC-Chicago guys quite a bit before likely meeting it's demise. Custom T3 turbo built by Hahn Racecraft (before they left IL), intercooled, big brake kit off a RAM (cool thing about all the old Dodge crap was everything was parts bin), MP shocks/springs, custom ND Performance computer. I'd hand-painted the gauges white (with hobby-shop decals for the numbers), made my own short-shift kit out of go-kart tie rod ends.

Was a really fun car BUT it ran 2 months out of the year before something major broke. A few years of that, and the trans exploded one day on my way to work (diff failed, chunks of spider gear fell out, wedged against the case, popped the case apart...) Sent an email to the Shelby-Dodge Mailing List... and it sold later that day.

I recently reconnected with a few of those guys and they ALL knew my old car lol.

Makes me miss my Turbo! Any Cayenne pics?

FLoXIXs.jpg

Nice! Late offset car.... certainly makes for easier brake changes, more wheel options, etc. Mine was an 86 and still had all the early offset stuff.

Here's the Pepper:
carmela.jpg


Carmine Red, diesel. 35+mpg, comfortable, relatively fun to drive. Also made out like a bandit with the #dieselgate settlement :)
 

bimmer4life

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Feb 18, 2008
5,263
8,332
Wheaton, Illinois
Thanks guys :)



No kidding huh? I certainly don't FEEL any older. Well maybe when I wake up in the morning and it takes me a few seconds to straighten out my back lol.




Man that was back before the days of the digital camera. I have a small handful of scans of photos but they're buried on the NAS box at home. I had a blue one and a gold one. Blue one was mostly stock aside from a MP computer. The Blue one met it's demise when my little sister turned 16 and needed a car. I bought a Shelby Daytona and my dad gave my blue one to my sister. A few months in, she gave it to her step-dad (she lived with mom, she got remarried), he spray painted it yellow and took it to Rockford Speedway where it got destroyed.

The gold one was more my "baby". I think my car made it around the SDAC-Chicago guys quite a bit before likely meeting it's demise. Custom T3 turbo built by Hahn Racecraft (before they left IL), intercooled, big brake kit off a RAM (cool thing about all the old Dodge crap was everything was parts bin), MP shocks/springs, custom ND Performance computer. I'd hand-painted the gauges white (with hobby-shop decals for the numbers), made my own short-shift kit out of go-kart tie rod ends.

Was a really fun car BUT it ran 2 months out of the year before something major broke. A few years of that, and the trans exploded one day on my way to work (diff failed, chunks of spider gear fell out, wedged against the case, popped the case apart...) Sent an email to the Shelby-Dodge Mailing List... and it sold later that day.

I recently reconnected with a few of those guys and they ALL knew my old car lol.



Nice! Late offset car.... certainly makes for easier brake changes, more wheel options, etc. Mine was an 86 and still had all the early offset stuff.

Here's the Pepper:
carmela.jpg


Carmine Red, diesel. 35+mpg, comfortable, relatively fun to drive. Also made out like a bandit with the #dieselgate settlement :)


Nice!!! I was seriously shopping diesel Cayennes before I picked up the X5M. I really liked my Cayenne turbo and was looking for something newer. The ones I had found locally the pricing did not work out. You running a tune on that Cayenne?
 

OmniGLH

Regular
Apr 24, 2013
142
166
Huntley
Nice!!! I was seriously shopping diesel Cayennes before I picked up the X5M. I really liked my Cayenne turbo and was looking for something newer. The ones I had found locally the pricing did not work out. You running a tune on that Cayenne?

Thanks :)

No tune. Under warranty to 120k thanks to #dieselgate. These things are expensive enough I'm not going to mess with mods and risk warranty problems. Still have leftover PTSD thanks to GM with my old Z06 and my old Silverado Duramax in past years w/warranty problems because of mods.

Cayenne Turbo's are frickin hilarious. So much power in an SUV. Tons of fun. I'd love one BUT I daily my current Cayenne and drive 30k a year so fuel economy is a factor for me. My buddy had a Cayenne Turbo S and couldn't break 20mpg with it. I know I'd be at least as bad because I'd have my foot in it the whole time.

Diesels are a bit of a hot commodity right now. Values are holding steady and the government just lifted the stop-sale so dealers have some kicking around... some are loaners, some are brand new.

I heavily considered trading mine in on a "new" one but IMO the dealers aren't discounting enough. 15-20% off MSRP is the going rate and I don't think 20% off is enough for what's already a 2 year old (or 3 year old if you find an unsold 2015) vehicle. Mine's missing 1-2 options I really wish I had, I went so far as to look at a brand new '16 at the Exchange a few weeks ago. Carmine red like mine, but black interior (so so so wish I'd gotten the black interior) and cooled seats (which I miss from the GMC Sierra I traded in...) They wouldn't budge from 15% off MSRP so I passed. Porsche North Houston has a bunch of new '16s for 20% off... still not enough IMO.

In the end I just couldn't convince myself to do it.
 

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