Project EF Civic Racecar: Improving the Interior
The interior of our Civic racecar is not the most pleasant place to be. When we bought the car it was still using the original steering wheel and shifter. We…
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Dave Zipf
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Project EF Civic Racecar: Making it Stop
We’ve refreshed the suspension of our 1991 Civic racecar and now it’s time to upgrade the brakes. All of that fresh suspension will mean nothing if we can’t stop on…
Project EF Civic Racecar: Refurbishing the Rear Suspension
It’s part 2 of our Civic’s suspension overhaul. Today we are looking at the multilink rear suspension of our 1991 Civic racecar and giving it a thorough overhaul replacing all…
Project EF Civic Racecar: Fixing the Front Suspension
So far we’ve only been picking at the edges of our 1991 Honda Civic Improved Touring racecar. It has been fun to autocross but before we take it to the…
Project Cappuccino: Upgrading the Fuel System
A few months ago we found that we were starting to lose power and boost at higher RPM in our 1992 Suzuki Cappucino. We weren’t 100% sure what the issue…
Project EF Civic Racecar: Witchcraft & Wizardry
We already documented that on our first shakedown, we found a massive oil leak. Our second shakedown went better as we were at least able to complete two whole days…
Project EF Civic Racecar: Dusting off the Cobwebs
In our last installment we introduced you to our newest racecar, a 1991 Honda Civic CX that had been turned into a racecar for SCCA Improved Touring class racing. When…
Project Cappuccino: Installing an AOS
Catch cans and air/oil separators are needed for any performance car, but especially turbocharged cars. We were seeing so much oil in our intercooler piping we thought our turbocharger seals…
Project Cappuccino: Nuts & Bolts Are Wheely Cool
While doing some routine maintenance on our Suzuki Cappuccino, we noticed that the wheel nuts were not always spinning on and off smoothly. Some nuts would stick slightly as we…
Project Cappuccino: Upgrading the Suspension
While our Cappuccino has been a lot of fun to fling around on back roads, there are some serious shortcomings in the suspension department. The lowering springs (or Down Suspension…
Project EF Civic Racecar: Redheaded Stepchild
Around a decade ago, Clint Boisdeau bought a 1990 Honda Civic to use in the former MotoIQ Pacific Touring Car Championship. That car had a wonderful, revvy B18C engine, a…
Sneak Peek: Indoor Auto Racing 600cc Micro Sprints
It’s winter which means that pretty much every major racing series in the Northern Hemisphere has shut down for the year (even Formula 1 is finally in their increasingly short…
Project Cappuccino: Driveline Love with Monster Sport Bushings
As of 2023, every single Cappuccino ever made is a quarter century old. In that time, rubber will harden, degrade, and fail. This includes the bushings in all of the…
Project Cappuccino: DIY Lithium Battery Installation
One of the easiest, simplest upgrades an owner of any sportscar can make is to upgrade the battery from a fat, heavy lead acid battery, to a light and compact…
Project Cappuccino: Testing the Kei Sport USA PNP ECU
The 25 year laws in the US have had a funny effect on JDM cars: the value of Skyline GT-Rs has shot through the roof and so many owners want…
Project Cappuccino: A Wee Bit O’ Power
Project Cappuccino is wonderful: The combination of light, well-balanced chassis, responsive turbocharged engine, and inoffensive body with convertible roof make for the ultimate toy. It’s an incredibly fun car and…
Project Cappuccino: Clutches, Oil Leaks, and Kei Car Oddities
Last summer we noticed a whining noise coming from Project Cappuccino while sitting at stop lights. The moment we put the clutch in to grab a gear, that noise went…
Squirrel Power: Making a Minibear Part 2
Our 1982 Suzuki FA50 is a pretty fun little machine. It turns heads and is a great little around-town runabout, perfect for parts store runs and other short errands. However,…
Project Cappuccino: A Terrifying Problem
Do you know what sound you never want to hear coming from your engine? Banshee screams. Anything that sounds like the squeal of an unholy demon spawn coming from your…
Dan Wheldon: Ten Years Later
Sunday October 16, 2011 was always going to be a historic day for IndyCar. 2011 was both an experimental and transitional year for America’s premier open wheel racing series: New…
Project Cappuccino: Modern Tires, Ancient Car
Our 1992 Suzuki Cappuccino has been an absolute performance bargain. Poking around under the skin, we’ve found a number of smart aftermarket upgrades under the car. The previous owner of…
Project Cappuccino: Better Braking with Project Mu
One of the biggest goals with our 1992 Suzuki Cappuccino is to improve on the fun factor of our tiny little Kei roadster: preserving a balance of stopping, handling, and…
Project Cappuccino: Blitz DTT and Wrapping Up The Interior
While taking apart most of the entire interior to diagnose and repair a wiring short, we realized there were a few items we should install to improve our Cappuccino. So…
Project Cappuccino: Witchcraft and Wizardry
To most home mechanics, wiring is pure witchcraft. Voltage, amperage, DC vs AC, resistance, impedance, high vs low side switching, relaying, analog vs digital…all engineers get a crash course in…
Taco Con Carnes: Adding More Meat to a 2017 Tacoma
Taco Con Carnes: Adding More Meat to a 2017 Tacoma by: David Zipf The midsize truck segment is incredibly hot right now. The rebirth of this segment started in…
The Last Hoosier Hundred
We’ve already covered the official IndyCar sanctioned events that lead up to the Indianapolis 500, but if you instead look at the USAC calendar, you’ll find out that there’s a…
Event Coverage: 2019 Indianapolis 500
The Month of May is always an especially crazy period for the NTT Data IndyCar Series: two races at the same track in three weeks, with two weeks of practice,…
Event Coverage: 2019 IndyCar Grand Prix
It’s our fifth Month of May! Of course that means we’re back at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, covering the month’s events. As always, we’ll be starting with the…
Coast to Coast in Five Days (in a Suzuki Cappuccino): Part 2
Welcome back to Part 2 of our epic Summer roadtrip! If you missed Part 1, you can go read it here. The quick and dirty summary is this: we sold…
Coast to Coast in Five Days (in a Suzuki Cappuccino): Part 1
If you’re a fan of our Project VehiCross, you might remember that around 2 years ago, we installed a towing hitch for the sole purpose of towing a 240SX to…
Project VehiCross Goes Gambling
Project VehiCross Goes Gambling by: David Zipf Photo Credits: David Zipf & Jon Bradley Regular MotoIQ readers will be very familiar with the 24 Hours of Lemons. Hell, most car…
Curly’s Corner: 2018 Canadian & French Grand Prixs
Welcome back to our post-race breakdown of Formula 1! MotoIQ is bringing you its own particular nerdtastic take on the latest news and developments in F1. Impress your neighbors, stun…