The Adventures of my Camaro in China - Page 10 - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

rocknroll_jeph · 10-13-2021, 01:32 AM

Lat week I went in for the yearly examination of my car. One day of taking parts off, one morning to get it inspected and then another day to put it back together. While putting it back together I checked all the connections and tightened up and fixed a few small things.

I've been getting more brave every time and this year I left on the strut bar, wheel spacers, ported throttle body and it still passed. Last year I had the blacked out taillight bezels and they were not too happy, and starting asking questions, but fortunately they got distracted and I continued on the inspection. I have two sets of bezels and the chrome set only goes on for inspection. This year there was an issue with the hand brake not holding strong enough but they passed me in the end after checking it again. The guy doing the test said that it was fine after all and I didn't need to adjust it.

With all the taking off and putting on parts the only time I hurt myself was while putting something in the trunk and I scratched some skin off my finger from a hidden edge inside the trunk. The other mistake I made was draining my battery from listening to music all day. After leaving it off for a while and using my wife's car to jump start its been fine after that. I'm pretty happy with the original battery still in the car. I wish my BMW's battery would last longer than a few years, and that car gets driven less as well.

This weekend there is a cars and coffee and a track day event, but also a music festival where I'm playing in three bands, so it looks like I'll have to wait for next year to get on the track as its already getting cold here. Its going to get below freezing this weekend. Beijing autumn is beautiful but far to short.

rocknroll_jeph · 11-22-2021, 12:54 AM

Its been a great month, went to cars and coffee a few weeks ago and another track day last weekend. This weekend's event was amazing. For November, the weather wasn't too bad, just a bit windy.

There was a car show, 2 sections open for drifting, and the track was open for cars to drive. The middle straightaway was set aside for drag racing. I did a few laps on the track just for fun but the main reason I went was to try drag racing. It was my first time being timed in a drag race and because we are not in the US everything is done in metric.

The race was 200m with is just about a quarter mile and they used a raceamerica tree and software. My best time was 10.735 which I have no idea is a good time for our cars (V6 and an automatic). I used the paddle shift in every race, I have no idea if it made a difference or not.

Nearly all of the cars there were either turbo or super-charged cars so I beat all the other cars off the line but only won a few races I participated in. It really isn't a good comparison but I had fun and my times were really consistent so I felt like I was driving was as good as it could be.

Anyway, it was a fun event with drifting, 1/8 mile drag racing and an open track as the cost was only around $15. There was an all you can eat buffet as well but I went home and had leftover Thanksgiving dinner with my wife

rocknroll_jeph · 11-22-2021, 01:09 AM

Cars and Coffee- picture sharing, there were some really unique cars there this time! And I finally managed to get some Camaro friends to show up too.

This will probably be the last car activity until the spring. It's going to hover around freezing until February and the Winter Olympics are being held in Beijing and they usually shut down the city when there are big events.

rocknroll_jeph · 12-13-2021, 12:34 AM

I thought that I wasn't going to do any more activities this year, but there was a free track day so I couldn't pass that up. The temps were just around freezing but there were still quite a few people there and it was pretty fun.

My friend in a highly modified 6th gen and I raced quite a bit down the drag strip and I was pretty happy that my 5th gen was still quicker in the 8th mile. Here are our times, you can practice your Chinese. My car is the top row, he had a better reaction time, but my reaction time was much improved from my first time as I am learning to anticipate the light.

My speed was higher than last time but my ET was down. Still, overall I was very consistent.

车型 RT ET RT+ET 尾速
银科迈罗 0.689 10.064 10.753 125.78
黄科迈罗 0.622 10.146 10.768 124.05

We also switched cars for the open track time and it was my first time to drive the 6th gen. I was pretty impressed, it immediately felt lighter, had better vision and the grip was pretty good too, but I still prefer my car overall. The newer car is just so busy looking and I like the more simple but brutalist design of my car.

As happy as I was to participate in a free track day (and do better than my friend in the yellow 6th gen) last week wasn't all that good. My wife tried to park by feel and took a chunk out of my splitter. I covered it in black tape to hide the shame, but a new splitter is on my Christmas wish list.

rocknroll_jeph · 02-23-2022, 01:40 AM

It truly is an addiction. Going weeks or months without putting new parts on my car is/was driving me crazy. And as I just finished up an online college course that I started in 2014 I thought I would treat myself to something new, and what I found was a new spoiler. The old one was faded, had some cracks and hazing so I thought a new shiny carbon fiber piece would be my reward, and I am extremely pleased with myself. I'm not sure it will give me downforce on the track, make the front end lighter or give me worse gas milage but I like the way it look and still have the original if I ever want to go back.

Ashen 6.2 · 02-23-2022, 05:37 AM

Looks good!

rocknroll_jeph · 06-09-2022, 10:19 PM

Due to a covid outbreak (nearly 50 cases per day in Beijing) life has been shut down recently. The good thing is that I only have to teach 1.5 hours a day online, so I have the rest of the day to do whatever I want. My friends and I had a little outing to celebrate a birthday just as the restrictions were lifting.

With hardly anyone on the road there was no traffic and my friend in the Ferrari only got a few hours of sleep the night before so all of us were driving quite slow and carefully, and I ended up being quite economical in the gas consumption.

Because of no place to go and riding my bike to work I have only filled the tank once since early April. Like in the US, gas prices in China have gone up so its good to get some exercise and save money.

rocknroll_jeph · 07-11-2022, 08:33 PM

My car was recently featured on a Chinese car app, don't know if anyone can open it, but I thought it was a pretty cool little article.

https://m.dcdapp.com/motor/feoffline...08002094416395

rocknroll_jeph · 09-28-2022, 01:54 AM

I haven't updated recently. I've been riding my bike to work, trying to stay in shape and there haven't been many things happening. I did just change my spark plugs after 11 years the stock plugs looked fine, but after driving around I realized that they were very weak. It seems to have gained some HP and I put in stock style spark plugs. I wish I had changed earlier. The past few track days I went to I felt that the car wasn't pulling as well as it used to. I thought that the intake or valves were dirty. Happy to have a peppy car again! I took a few pictures to celebrate.

rocknroll_jeph · 01-09-2023, 08:53 PM

With the Covid restrictions that were in place, all of the track days and car meets planned for the fall of 2022 were canceled. When the restrictions were lifted in early December and China dismissed the Covid Zero policy it seems everyone one around me, including my wife and I got covid, so the middle of December for me was a blur.

After everyone recovered things starting getting back to normal. I went to a car show on December 24th, but I only took video, not pictures. I got the front splitter repaired after my wife used it as a battering ram in a parking spot (on accident, she is normally a great driver). I also am very bored at home because I am on vacation and no one else I know is so I used some faux carbon fiber to put some stripes back on the trunk lid.

The highlight of the year so far has been the first car show with a new club- Future Classic Car Club. They are all really humble and down to earth, unlike some of the other groups I am a part of in China where they are just trying to show off and look cool. This group genuinely cares about their cars, the history, culture and the guy who drives the Challenger always brings his grill and makes amazing burgers. They love to get out, drive and enjoy their cars.

So far this year is looking like it is going to be a good one for us.

morepowerjoe · 01-10-2023, 04:43 AM

Cool buddy I'm glad you're doing better. I got covid as well in the beginning of December, not fun. I didn't have any respiratory problems just a lot of fatigue and a fever that came and went it lasted for about a week. Wish me luck I'm going to attend my first autocross event here in Texas at the LS Festival this year as long as they have it. I've been preparing my car for about a year now. Always look forward to seeing what you're up to.

rocknroll_jeph · 01-10-2023, 07:58 AM

[QUOTE=morepowerjoe;11270779]Cool buddy I'm glad you're doing better. I got covid as well in the beginning of December, not fun. I didn't have any respiratory problems just a lot of fatigue and a fever that came and went it lasted for about a week. Wish me luck I'm going to attend my first autocross event here in Texas at the LS Festival this year as long as they have it. I've been preparing my car for about a year now. Always look forward to seeing what you're up to.[/

Big thanks for the reply! Sounds like we had the same symptoms at the same time. Sorry to hear that you go through it too. Hope to see some pictures from your event. As I haven’t been back to the US since 2019 sites like this and reading about what people are doing stateside really keeps my head in the right place.

The_bald_eagle_machine · 01-10-2023, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocknroll_jeph

With the Covid restrictions that were in place, all of the track days and car meets planned for the fall of 2022 were canceled. When the restrictions were lifted in early December and China dismissed the Covid Zero policy it seems everyone one around me, including my wife and I got covid, so the middle of December for me was a blur.

After everyone recovered things starting getting back to normal. I went to a car show on December 24th, but I only took video, not pictures. I got the front splitter repaired after my wife used it as a battering ram in a parking spot (on accident, she is normally a great driver). I also am very bored at home because I am on vacation and no one else I know is so I used some faux carbon fiber to put some stripes back on the trunk lid.

The highlight of the year so far has been the first car show with a new club- Future Classic Car Club. They are all really humble and down to earth, unlike some of the other groups I am a part of in China where they are just trying to show off and look cool. This group genuinely cares about their cars, the history, culture and the guy who drives the Challenger always brings his grill and makes amazing burgers. They love to get out, drive and enjoy their cars.

So far this year is looking like it is going to be a good one for us.

I would love a local car meet like that with a small group of diverse car guys to go to. Down here in south Florida any and all car shows turn into these massive events that regular guys like me can't even get into.

rocknroll_jeph · 01-10-2023, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_bald_eagle_machine

I would love a local car meet like that with a small group of diverse car guys to go to. Down here in south Florida any and all car shows turn into these massive events that regular guys like me can't even get into.

There are some big car shows here too where everything is high end and most are showing off their wealth, and even my car looks ordinary (for China) in the parking lot, but through networking I've been able to join some of these smaller groups.

The community is really tight nit here, and connections are an important part of living in China. For every event that I have been to it is due to people knowing the owner of the cafe or business and let us use their space to hang out (and they get more customers too). That being said, Lake Park Cafe, which hosted Saturday's event wasn't charging us for anything on the menu.

I'd say that it works for us well because we have some talented people in our group, from photographers to mobile cooks as well as people in marketing so we pool our knowledge and talents for our meets. When the weather gets better I'll bring some musical equipment and set up a Cars and Guitars event, and I make a v-log of each meet up for everyone to share on social media.

Social media also has a lot to do with the recent success of car related activities here. There are a few apps that are geared towards cars that host some events and you can search out people that may have the same interests as you do, which is how I found the most recent group. Additionally, WeChat has a some excellent functions that make big groups easy to manage and is vital for us setting up meets.

As for South Florida, I'd say just set up your own event, get some friends and friends of friends and find a nice spot to enjoy each other's company and nice cars. From my time there, I can see that the car community is vibrant and car culture is strong. Next time I road trip that far south in the US, I'll be expecting a meet up!

10-13-2021, 01:32 AM	#127
rocknroll_jeph Drives: 11 Camaro V6 RS, 03 BMW Z4 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Beijing & Michigan Posts: 476 View My Garage	Lat week I went in for the yearly examination of my car. One day of taking parts off, one morning to get it inspected and then another day to put it back together. While putting it back together I checked all the connections and tightened up and fixed a few small things. I've been getting more brave every time and this year I left on the strut bar, wheel spacers, ported throttle body and it still passed. Last year I had the blacked out taillight bezels and they were not too happy, and starting asking questions, but fortunately they got distracted and I continued on the inspection. I have two sets of bezels and the chrome set only goes on for inspection. This year there was an issue with the hand brake not holding strong enough but they passed me in the end after checking it again. The guy doing the test said that it was fine after all and I didn't need to adjust it. With all the taking off and putting on parts the only time I hurt myself was while putting something in the trunk and I scratched some skin off my finger from a hidden edge inside the trunk. The other mistake I made was draining my battery from listening to music all day. After leaving it off for a while and using my wife's car to jump start its been fine after that. I'm pretty happy with the original battery still in the car. I wish my BMW's battery would last longer than a few years, and that car gets driven less as well. This weekend there is a cars and coffee and a track day event, but also a music festival where I'm playing in three bands, so it looks like I'll have to wait for next year to get on the track as its already getting cold here. Its going to get below freezing this weekend. Beijing autumn is beautiful but far to short. Attached Images

11-22-2021, 12:54 AM	#128
rocknroll_jeph Drives: 11 Camaro V6 RS, 03 BMW Z4 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Beijing & Michigan Posts: 476 View My Garage	Its been a great month, went to cars and coffee a few weeks ago and another track day last weekend. This weekend's event was amazing. For November, the weather wasn't too bad, just a bit windy. There was a car show, 2 sections open for drifting, and the track was open for cars to drive. The middle straightaway was set aside for drag racing. I did a few laps on the track just for fun but the main reason I went was to try drag racing. It was my first time being timed in a drag race and because we are not in the US everything is done in metric. The race was 200m with is just about a quarter mile and they used a raceamerica tree and software. My best time was 10.735 which I have no idea is a good time for our cars (V6 and an automatic). I used the paddle shift in every race, I have no idea if it made a difference or not. Nearly all of the cars there were either turbo or super-charged cars so I beat all the other cars off the line but only won a few races I participated in. It really isn't a good comparison but I had fun and my times were really consistent so I felt like I was driving was as good as it could be. Anyway, it was a fun event with drifting, 1/8 mile drag racing and an open track as the cost was only around $15. There was an all you can eat buffet as well but I went home and had leftover Thanksgiving dinner with my wife Attached Images

11-22-2021, 01:09 AM	#129
rocknroll_jeph Drives: 11 Camaro V6 RS, 03 BMW Z4 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Beijing & Michigan Posts: 476 View My Garage	Cars and Coffee- picture sharing, there were some really unique cars there this time! And I finally managed to get some Camaro friends to show up too. This will probably be the last car activity until the spring. It's going to hover around freezing until February and the Winter Olympics are being held in Beijing and they usually shut down the city when there are big events. Attached Images

12-13-2021, 12:34 AM	#130
rocknroll_jeph Drives: 11 Camaro V6 RS, 03 BMW Z4 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Beijing & Michigan Posts: 476 View My Garage	I thought that I wasn't going to do any more activities this year, but there was a free track day so I couldn't pass that up. The temps were just around freezing but there were still quite a few people there and it was pretty fun. My friend in a highly modified 6th gen and I raced quite a bit down the drag strip and I was pretty happy that my 5th gen was still quicker in the 8th mile. Here are our times, you can practice your Chinese. My car is the top row, he had a better reaction time, but my reaction time was much improved from my first time as I am learning to anticipate the light. My speed was higher than last time but my ET was down. Still, overall I was very consistent. 车型 RT ET RT+ET 尾速银科迈罗 0.689 10.064 10.753 125.78 黄科迈罗 0.622 10.146 10.768 124.05 We also switched cars for the open track time and it was my first time to drive the 6th gen. I was pretty impressed, it immediately felt lighter, had better vision and the grip was pretty good too, but I still prefer my car overall. The newer car is just so busy looking and I like the more simple but brutalist design of my car. As happy as I was to participate in a free track day (and do better than my friend in the yellow 6th gen) last week wasn't all that good. My wife tried to park by feel and took a chunk out of my splitter. I covered it in black tape to hide the shame, but a new splitter is on my Christmas wish list. Attached Images

02-23-2022, 01:40 AM	#131
rocknroll_jeph Drives: 11 Camaro V6 RS, 03 BMW Z4 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Beijing & Michigan Posts: 476 View My Garage	It truly is an addiction. Going weeks or months without putting new parts on my car is/was driving me crazy. And as I just finished up an online college course that I started in 2014 I thought I would treat myself to something new, and what I found was a new spoiler. The old one was faded, had some cracks and hazing so I thought a new shiny carbon fiber piece would be my reward, and I am extremely pleased with myself. I'm not sure it will give me downforce on the track, make the front end lighter or give me worse gas milage but I like the way it look and still have the original if I ever want to go back. Attached Images

02-23-2022, 05:37 AM	#132
Ashen 6.2 Drives: 2014 Camaro Z/SS Join Date: May 2014 Location: NW Arkansas Posts: 1,998 View My Garage	Looks good! __________________ 2014 Camaro SS L99, Ashen Grey w/Black Leather - Build thread - http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=491561 Mods - GPI 416 w/Custom Grind Cam, Ported Heads & Tuned by Ben, Holley Dominator ECU, Mag Heartbeat, ZL1 Fuel Pump & DSX Aux Pump, NW 103 TB, FIC 1650's, Alky Meth, Circle D 3600 Triple Disc, Kooks Headers, Viking Coil Overs & all the BMR Goodies in the rear, Zl1 3.23 Diff, DSS Axles, Gulfcoast Driveshaft, Hendrix Offset Diff Bushings, AFE Solid Subframe Bushings, 875HP/843TQ 5FDP

06-09-2022, 10:19 PM	#133
rocknroll_jeph Drives: 11 Camaro V6 RS, 03 BMW Z4 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Beijing & Michigan Posts: 476 View My Garage	Due to a covid outbreak (nearly 50 cases per day in Beijing) life has been shut down recently. The good thing is that I only have to teach 1.5 hours a day online, so I have the rest of the day to do whatever I want. My friends and I had a little outing to celebrate a birthday just as the restrictions were lifting. With hardly anyone on the road there was no traffic and my friend in the Ferrari only got a few hours of sleep the night before so all of us were driving quite slow and carefully, and I ended up being quite economical in the gas consumption. Because of no place to go and riding my bike to work I have only filled the tank once since early April. Like in the US, gas prices in China have gone up so its good to get some exercise and save money. Attached Images

07-11-2022, 08:33 PM	#134
rocknroll_jeph Drives: 11 Camaro V6 RS, 03 BMW Z4 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Beijing & Michigan Posts: 476 View My Garage	My car was recently featured on a Chinese car app, don't know if anyone can open it, but I thought it was a pretty cool little article. https://m.dcdapp.com/motor/feoffline...08002094416395

09-28-2022, 01:54 AM	#135
rocknroll_jeph Drives: 11 Camaro V6 RS, 03 BMW Z4 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Beijing & Michigan Posts: 476 View My Garage	I haven't updated recently. I've been riding my bike to work, trying to stay in shape and there haven't been many things happening. I did just change my spark plugs after 11 years the stock plugs looked fine, but after driving around I realized that they were very weak. It seems to have gained some HP and I put in stock style spark plugs. I wish I had changed earlier. The past few track days I went to I felt that the car wasn't pulling as well as it used to. I thought that the intake or valves were dirty. Happy to have a peppy car again! I took a few pictures to celebrate. Attached Images

01-09-2023, 08:53 PM	#136
rocknroll_jeph Drives: 11 Camaro V6 RS, 03 BMW Z4 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Beijing & Michigan Posts: 476 View My Garage	With the Covid restrictions that were in place, all of the track days and car meets planned for the fall of 2022 were canceled. When the restrictions were lifted in early December and China dismissed the Covid Zero policy it seems everyone one around me, including my wife and I got covid, so the middle of December for me was a blur. After everyone recovered things starting getting back to normal. I went to a car show on December 24th, but I only took video, not pictures. I got the front splitter repaired after my wife used it as a battering ram in a parking spot (on accident, she is normally a great driver). I also am very bored at home because I am on vacation and no one else I know is so I used some faux carbon fiber to put some stripes back on the trunk lid. The highlight of the year so far has been the first car show with a new club- Future Classic Car Club. They are all really humble and down to earth, unlike some of the other groups I am a part of in China where they are just trying to show off and look cool. This group genuinely cares about their cars, the history, culture and the guy who drives the Challenger always brings his grill and makes amazing burgers. They love to get out, drive and enjoy their cars. So far this year is looking like it is going to be a good one for us. Attached Images

01-10-2023, 04:43 AM	#137
morepowerjoe Drives: 2012 Chevrolet Camaro l99 Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 2,105	Cool buddy I'm glad you're doing better. I got covid as well in the beginning of December, not fun. I didn't have any respiratory problems just a lot of fatigue and a fever that came and went it lasted for about a week. Wish me luck I'm going to attend my first autocross event here in Texas at the LS Festival this year as long as they have it. I've been preparing my car for about a year now. Always look forward to seeing what you're up to. __________________ DSS FX Forged Pistons, Eagle ESP L19 Forged Rods, ARP Head and Main Studs, TSP PRC 260 CNC Ported Heads milled .030, Cometic .040 Head Gaskets, GPI SS3 VVT Camshaft, GM Performance Racing Lifters, CHE Trunnions , Molly Pushrods, Melling 10355HV Oil Pump, Cold Air Inductions CAI, Fast LSXR Intake Manifold, Nick Williams 103 TB, TSP 1 7/8" Longtubes with 3" TSP Exhaust, ZL1 Fuel Pump, Mishimoto Radiator, Mishimoto Oil Cooler, Tru Cool 40k Tranny Cooler, 3600 Circle D Converter, Fluid Dynamics Balancer Build Thread https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=609817

01-10-2023, 07:58 AM	#138
rocknroll_jeph Drives: 11 Camaro V6 RS, 03 BMW Z4 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Beijing & Michigan Posts: 476 View My Garage	[QUOTE=morepowerjoe;11270779]Cool buddy I'm glad you're doing better. I got covid as well in the beginning of December, not fun. I didn't have any respiratory problems just a lot of fatigue and a fever that came and went it lasted for about a week. Wish me luck I'm going to attend my first autocross event here in Texas at the LS Festival this year as long as they have it. I've been preparing my car for about a year now. Always look forward to seeing what you're up to.[/ Big thanks for the reply! Sounds like we had the same symptoms at the same time. Sorry to hear that you go through it too. Hope to see some pictures from your event. As I haven’t been back to the US since 2019 sites like this and reading about what people are doing stateside really keeps my head in the right place.