Return from Brief Hiatus & Brief Update on Automotive Escapades

 November 22, 2023

As of today, it has been nearly four months since my last post on the Cannonball Run Part 2 (Cannonball Run Part 3 post is about 90% complete). A number of things have occurred since my last post causing the delay in my writing. Thank you for my patience while I get everything back on track!

Below are the reasons causing my delays with some context as to what's going on:

  1. Lexus LX570 Suspension Failure
    • My reliable Lexus LX570 suffered it's second suspension-related failure in my 3 years of ownership. For those unfamiliar, the Lexus LX570 uses a hydraulic (not air) Adjustable Height Control (AHC) system. The picture above was taken when I arrived home riding on bump stops...
    • While the conventional approach would be to repair what is broken, I decided to replace the AHC system (what I now consider to be an expensive Achilles heel of the LX) with a conventional suspension
    • I will be providing an updated post that goes in detail to the suspension change that my LX underwent, what exactly failed on my stock system, the parts needed for a Land Cruiser 200 Series conversion, and the cost associated with a swap
    • For context on timeline, this happened 3 days after arriving back home from the Cannonball Run...


  2. Mazda Miata Clutch Failure
    • Within 1 week of the LX570 failure, the clutch on my 2006 Mazda MX-5 decided to fail at 160,000 miles. This was the picture when the Miata was getting loaded on the tow truck after waiting 4+ hours...
    • Similar to the LX570 repair, I have decided to go a much more aggressive direction and my car is actively with a mechanic that specializes in Mazda Miata's in Tennessee undergoing an engine swap and a TON of additional work. I will provide an update on what my experience with the clutch failure was, the new parts list of what is going in, why I am doing the engine replacement, and experience with the mechanic performing the install


  3. Work/Personal Travel
    • Contrary to popular belief, I do have a job. At times, my job requires quite a bit of time and leaves me with reduced time to write (especially when travel is involved). Over the past 3 months, I have traveled 8 of those weeks
    • The picture above was for my personal trip to Tuscaloosa, AL for the Tennessee versus Alabama football game. To make it to this game, I flew home from Las Vegas, VN on a redeye (arriving home at 6:00AM EST), showered and changed for work, worked until 5:00PM, and then drove to Tuscaloosa (3 hours) before finally going to sleep.
      • For those that don't know, I am a huge Alabama football fan! Roll tide!


  4. Other Projects
    • While I may have limited time to write, that has not prevented me from continuing to buy, sell, and work on different cars allowing me to continue my automotive escapades
    • Since my last post, I have worked on a variety of other vehicles which I have information to guides and info to provide on each!
As you can tell, while I have been quiet it has not been due to a lack of staying busy. There's a lot of escapades to catchup on here and my goal is to be completely caught up by end of the year!

My upcoming post will be the finale of the Cannonball Run from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles!



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