Holy Back Order, Batman.

Currently listening to: Orange Island - A Punch in the Face

So when I ordered my Short Shifter from AWE Tuning on July 7th (read: almost two months ago) I also ordered these Performance Pedals. They're aluminum with rubber knobs to give me better grip than my current all rubber ones. My feet slip often on these (especially if it's raining out and my shoes are still wet) and I think these will help a lot. Plus, they're pretty snazzy looking and I think will offer some nice contrasting looks to the interior of the S4.

HOWEVER! While the SS came right away, I never received the pedals. I called to find out what was wrong and the guy said "a couple of weeks". Well, a couple of weeks put me at about the start of August, so, I called about a month ago and talk to another guy. He told me again "a couple of weeks". Holy crap people, just give me a realistic date, I'm a big boy, I can handle a long lead time if that's the truth, just let me know so I can plan stuff out.

Either way, I'll have them soon despite my extreme displeasure with the company at this point. And the thing is, I want to order more stuff from them in the near future, so, these things better kick ass to lighten my purchasing mood.

Short Shifter Installation

Currently listening to: The Beastie Boys - Remote Control

This is a follow up to yesterday's post that I meant to include before.

If you're considering installing a SS in your manual car, you might be asking yourself "how long will this take, what tools do I need, and how hard is it?". Well, here are your answers:

Time - This took me about 2 hours total. That includes time that I spent taking before/after pictures to record the event as I do with all upgrades, time that I spent walking to the nearest hardware store to buy the torx wrench that I needed which was conveniently the only size torx wrench I didn't own, and clean up. If you're smart and double check that you have every single tool before you begin (remember, once you start, you won't be able to just drive to the store, so, think this one out. I was thankfully within 5 minutes walking distance of a store!), you'll probably be fine and get it closer to 1 hour of actual work.

Tools - You'll need a set of metric allen wrenches, some torx wrenches (size will probably vary per car, but I needed a T10 and a T15), a Phillips head screw driver, and a arbor press. You can substitute the press with a hammer and a few good hits if you don't have one. Also, a decent supply of rags. Everything has white grease on it and you'll make a mess of your car if you don't have some to rest your parts/tools on. Remember, you're doing all of the work from inside of your car, so be nice to your seats/floor.

Difficulty - The process isn't really that hard, it's mainly time consuming. After you pop up your shift boot and cover plate, there's maybe 20-25 bolts to remove, a few nuts and spacers to pull out, and then you have to carefully shimmy the shift-linkage-assembly out to do some disassembly-reassembly work to it outside. Anyone with the tools listed above should be able to do this fine.

Short Shifter

Currently listening to: Dispatch - Carry You

One of the other upgrades that I've been considering for a while for the S4 was a Short Shifter. A short shifter modifies the linkage ratios in the transmission (stick end, you don't even touch the actual transmission) to decrease the amount that your hand moves during shifts. This allows the user to shift from gear to gear more quickly and easily.

After reading through the S4 Forums and researching several brands, I decided on the B&M Short Shifter from AWE Tuning. For the price, performance, and over-all recommendation from other S4 drivers, this one seemed was the winner.

I installed it about a month ago now and have been driving with it ever since. I'm very happy with the change. Before I had a total throw of about 6 inches (if you measure from two extremes such as 1st to 2nd), and now I have about 3.5 inches. While driving, your hand barely moves, it's similar to playing a racing arcade game. Shifting is effortless and quick compared to before.

If you've been considering installing one, I highly recommend it.

Victory!

Currently listening to: Eisley - One Day I Slowly Floated Away

Victory is upon us, fellow supporters of the Big 8. No longer shall the condescending glares of the so-called "planet pluto" be upon us. It has officially be demoted.

Take that you POS rock and ice!

Brilliant

Currently listening to: A New Found Glory - It's Not Your Fault

Dear members of A New Found Glory,
please give a raise to whoever came up with the idea for the video "It's Not Your Fault".

That is all.

Pluto, the Poseur

Currently listening to: Dane Cook - Someone Shit on the Coats

I've always thought of Pluto as the biggest (or tiniest) poseur of them all, and I'm glad that some people finally agree with me. Pluto thinks it's soooo cool, hanging out in the background of our galaxy not doing any real work. All of the other planets are closer to the sun, spinning around in faster orbits of the core while lazy ass Pluto just sits out there.

And it doesn't even have a normal orbit. Ooooh, look at me, I'm eliptical. What an ass.

Good Idea, Bad Idea

Currently listening to: Coheed & Cambria -A Favor House Atlantic

Good Idea - trying to clean out your snack drawer by using up old condiments and sauces

Bad Idea - squeezing an entire hot sauce packet from Taco Bell onto one chicken nugget and then eating it in one bite.

Tattoo

Currently listening to: Sublime - Jailhouse

So I finally got the tattoo. As seen below, it's on my back right shoulder and it's about 5"x5". If you're not familiar with the symbol, it's from the Bag.Online.Adventures, the graphic novels that Claudio Sanchez is publishing to go along with the Coheed & Cambria story line. It's called "the keywork".

As far as the actual procedure went, it wasn't as bad as I expected. The outlining needle that he used to go around everything is very fine and very sharp. It felt like he was dragging a vibrating Xacto knife across my back. Thankfully though, that only took about 15 minutes. The filling-in operation, which was about 1 hour 15 minutes, was far less painful and felt like a hair-buzzer was being dragged across my skin with minimal pain.

Living up to my words

Currently listening to: Coheed and Cambria: In keeping Secrets of Silent Earth

Almost one year ago I made a promise to do two things to overcome fears of mine: heights and needles. These are both goals that I've had for a long time and any faithful friends/readers out there will know what I'm talking about.

On the first weekend day that is nice and we're all free, three of my cousins and I will plunge out of a plane from 30,000 feet.

The second goal will be accomplished in the next few weeks after I work out a few more details. Pictures will follow.