Cagalli Yula - 60 Month Service Fluids

I still do not have regular access to a garage and therefor am still having the car serviced. Cagalli Yula, my 2014 Subaru BRZ Limited, is hitting her 60 month birthday. She only has 45,000 miles. According to the owners manual it is therefore time to drain and swap: engine oil, transmission oil, brake fluid, and rear differential fluid. Engine air filter, cabin air filter, and oil filter will be changed as well. These changes are recommended for 6 months or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first.
A point of caution: It is not uncommon for dealerships to provide different service recommendations than those in your vehicle's owner's manual or to attempt to up-sell service that you do not need. Keep in mind that the owner's manual is the source of truth for what the engineers of your vehicle thought was required maintenance wise for your vehicle.

Penske Ford F-350 16' Truck

We finally emptied out our Public Storage Unit. We drove from Glen Mills, PA to Chicago, IL in a Penske Ford F-350 16' moving truck. We liked it a lot more than most of the moving trucks we have rented. We moved a lot of parts for Nausicaa, our 1993 Honda Prelude project.
Basically, captain's chairs and cruise control plus a suspension that is not ridiculously bouncy makes for a much better driving experience. We had no problems at all and were as comfortable as we have ever been in a moving truck.

I found this one rather easy to maneuver (going forward or backward). I think I am starting to get used to driving things this big. I am not sure if I like that...

Nausicaa - Project Update - Parts Ordered (and Delivered)

Update on Nausicaa, our 1993 Honda Prelude project car. We rented a truck and emptied our storage unit of stuff, including a lot of Honda Prelude parts, primarily from my old Prelude, Ceras Victoria. This is not an exhaustive list of the parts for the car, but a list of the parts ordered so far.
I am providing links to the parts but I do not guarantee that these links will continue working. I am listing the parts in the chronological order of when purchased. All prices are USD and do not include shipping costs (though shipping was free on some parts).
I do not have photos for all the parts, some were delivered directly to the shop doing work on the vehicle, P&L Motorsports. Also, I left the parts wrapped as the car will not be worked on until January 2019.

In terms of the scope of the project right now:
We are having a K24A swapped in and doing a lot of suspension work. A NASA compliant roll cage is being installed (safety first). The plan is to have the car setup so that we can take it to HPDE events and then as we get better to track days. Once Holly and I are comfortable pushing the car to its limits on a stock K24A we will then look at upgrading the engine and transmission.
Whether we do the 5-lug conversion now or later and a better brakes is not yet determined yet.

Parts Ordered (so far):

Mishimoto:
Honda Accord Performance Aluminum Fan Shroud Kit, 1994-1997 - $185.50 (link)

Honda Prelude Racing Thermostat, 1992-1996 - $48.00 (link)

Extended Test Drive 2019 Ford Mustang Ecoboost

We took a trip to Atlanta by way of PHL flying into ATL. We rented a manual transmission Ford Mustange EcoBoost from Budget. It is unusual but very nice when we are able to rent a manual transmission; they are especially uncommon to rent in the US.
This was an interesting car for us. The EcoBoost Mustang, which uses a 2.3L turbocharged four cylinder engine, has received a lot of compliments and accolades from car reviewers about its improved handling. Their rationale is that Ford has improved the handling in general and that the reduced weight over the front axle (200+ fewer pounds) supposedly greatly increases steering feel and responsiveness. There have been reports that this brings the Ford Mustang EcoBoost closer to being a true sports-car (sporty handling) instead of just a pony car (fast in a straight line). We were therefore rather enthused to get a chance to try it in manual form as this is something we would consider cross-shopping in the future or if Subaru kills the BRZ.

One thing we were surprised by was how large it was. It is a two door coupe. It is not small.
We did not feel small in this car compared to other cars on the road.

U-Haul Ford F-350 15' Truck

We rented a U-Haul Ford F-350 15' Truck to move stuff from our storage unit to our apartment. It was less bouncy than the International TerraStar 22' Truck we drove as our last moving truck.

A 15' truck was more than we needed, but it was not too unwieldy / drive-able.

Test Drive 2018 Toyota Yaris iA

Both of my siblings have bought the Scion iA and the Toyota Yaris iA (both the same car, when Toyota rolled Scion up it brought the iA in as the Yaris iA). I strongly recommended this car to both of them because it is a rebadged Mazda Mazda2, comes with a manual transmission (what my immediate family drives), and because one of the best cars in a price and size category above this is the Mazda Mazda3. So far both siblings are happy with the purchase.
I apologize for the photos on this, we were facing west down a street in the late afternoon.

Styling:

Vermont Route 14: Barre, VT to White River Junction, VT

Being autumn I took my Subaru BRZ, Cagalli Yula, to get Krown treatment at Davis Auto and Trailer in White River Junction, VT.
My wife had a rental car (Hyundai Elantra), and since the process was going to take a while and the part of Vermont Route 14 we had been on so far looked rather pretty so we decided to take the road north.
We wound up turning around at Barre, VT when we got a call that the car was ready.
The video is a compilation of clips of some of the prettier sections of the road.

Overall, this is my first time playing around with video editing.

Ceras Victoria, 1994 Honda Prelude Si, Ownership by Numbers

My 1994 Honda Prelude Si, named Ceras Victoria, has been gone for over three years now.
But, in preparation for a long term ownership review of my 2014 Subaru BRZ, Cagalli Yula, which is long overdue now, I thought I would try my best at incorporating spreadsheets into a Blogger post. This is a first for me.

The car back in happier days when I only owned a properly crappy cell phone with a not very good camera...
As follows are some of the spreadsheets I keep for each of my vehicles.

Extended Test Drive 2017 Ford Focus Titanium

While traveling for a friend's wedding we got a 2017 Ford Focus Titanium as a rental.
We got to drive this car on both highways and some more fun curvy roads. My ultimate conclusion for this driving experience is that it would be good to drive a Ford Focus ST or a Ford Focus RS to see if the handling capabilities are similar or better but with more communication, feedback, and feel.

Now, I will admit, my review of this car may be more positive than it perhaps would be if we did not get to drive it on the roads on and around Mount Penn in Reading, PA.

GrimmSpeed Front License Plate Relocation Kit

Now that I live in a state that requires both front and rear license plates (a first for my Subaru BRZ) I needed a way to mount the front license plate.

The problem for me is that Subaru's solution is to drill holes into the bumper.