The Adventures of my Camaro in China

[rocknroll_jeph]

Originally Posted by RichSS2006

Hey Jeph,
Thanks for your story. I have have a 3 hour commute to New York City. Great stories like yours make the train ride go by quicker. Really interesting. Keep it coming. Rich

Thanks for the positive feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed reading through all my ramblings.

[redcoats1976]

wow,its insane what you had to go through.i decided to get a new car on thursday night,shopped mustangs and camaros at two dealers in person and about 20 online,and drove my camaro home friday night...

[rocknroll_jeph]

Originally Posted by redcoats1976

wow,its insane what you had to go through.i decided to get a new car on thursday night,shopped mustangs and camaros at two dealers in person and about 20 online,and drove my camaro home friday night...

There are some nice aspects of living overseas, but buying a new car is not one of them. Still, the first car I bought in Beijing was in 2007. At that time it was much easier. Just like the states, call ahead, bring money to dealership, check out the car, sign papers and drive off.

Funny antidote, that first car I bought was also imported and I purchased it before the paperwork for it had arrived. They still said I could drive it home, I had it for a week unregistered, no license or insurance. During that week I made an illegal u-turn and a cop on the corner motioned for me to pull over. Knowing that Chinese police won't give chase and I was driving very illegally- especially with no license plates I just went on my way like I hadn't seen him.

[Sapper12b]

Jeph, you know your story reminds me of a certain science fiction book I read when I was in high school that got turned into a movie. The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy. Especially in all the bureaucracy that was necessary for you to attain your Camaro. It reminds me of the Volgon's, here's an excerpt from the book.

"They are one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy - not actually evil, but bad tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without an order, signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters. If you want to get a lift from a Vogon, forget it. They are vile and ill tempered. If you want to get a drink from a Vogon, stick your finger down his throat. If you want to annoy a Vogon, feed his grandmother to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal."

[rocknroll_jeph]

Originally Posted by Sapper12b

Jeph, you know your story reminds me of a certain science fiction book I read when I was in high school that got turned into a movie. The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy. Especially in all the bureaucracy that was necessary for you to attain your Camaro. It reminds me of the Volgon's, here's an excerpt from the book.

"They are one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy - not actually evil, but bad tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without an order, signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters. If you want to get a lift from a Vogon, forget it. They are vile and ill tempered. If you want to get a drink from a Vogon, stick your finger down his throat. If you want to annoy a Vogon, feed his grandmother to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal."

HAHAHA! Thank you so much for that quote. I absolutely love Hitchhikers Guide, and I love how you quoted the whole thing. You made my day!

[rocknroll_jeph]

My wife and I have a yearly pass to most of Beijing and the surrounding areas's national parks- there are 100's of scenic spots just outside of the city. Yesterday we drove up to the "old" great wall where there are hardly any tourists. It was a beautiful day. If you plan to visit Beijing, Late August to early October is the best time Here are some snapshots from the day- I'm vain so I posted more pictures of me than my car- sorry. The car drove well, but there was so much traffic i used brakes more than gas for the hour or so.

[Splat]

Very cool, been to china a few times...... mostly because of lay overs.

But next time I do plan on visiting the Great wall.

Love the Ferrari backpack.

[rocknroll_jeph]

Originally Posted by Splat

Very cool, been to china a few times...... mostly because of lay overs.

But next time I do plan on visiting the Great wall.

Love the Ferrari backpack.

There is so much to see. I have been here 16 years and have only scratched the surface. And the back pack was a present from my friend who is a driver on the Ford team in China- he also is a driving instructor for Ferrari. He often gives me cool stuff like that!

[rocknroll_jeph]

I haven't updated my journal in a while. Not much has been happening. I have put on EBC Yellow Stuff brake pads all around. With the 4 pot Brembo calipers up front and stainless steel lines brake lines on all disks I finally have the brake feel that I wanted all along.

I am still looking into ways to get an LSD differential into China. Ebay has some complete rear ends from an SS with the Brembo brakes and everything still attached for around 750-900$ which seems like a great deal, until I factor in shipping costs and customs which brings the total to around $4,400. I'll stick with the occasional one wheel peel for now.

Here is a little promotion for my friend, he didn't ask me to, and he does't know about this journal but I feel like it would be a nice thing to do. Anyway, along with his wife, the three of us went hiking last weekend in the mountains just outside of Beijing city, of course we took my car... He is an author and has a travel blog, pod cast and photography website. He took some great pictures of our day out and my car made it onto his web page. You can see it here http://1000daysbetween.com/photos/?i...6size%3Dresize

If you are interested in travel check out his site at http://1000daysbetween.com

I also have to add that his book is a fantastic read. It is a travel book but also more than that, it reads almost like an adventure novel but but it is all non-fiction. It also often features his Corvette as an important plot point, which I particularly liked.

So if anyone is coming to Beijing maybe you can bring me differential parts and we can do this Johnny Cash style and get bring in over one piece at a time.

[rocknroll_jeph]

I am thinking of changing up my taillights but I am not sure if the harness for my export model Camaro is the same as the one used in the US. Here is a snapshot I took of the harness. Sorry about the dirt and grime. Beijing is a dirty place.

[Z/28Dan]

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

[rocknroll_jeph]

Its been a while since I have updated my journal. Not much has been going on until recently. For my birthday I bought myself a carbon fiber hood. As it was made in China it only costs around $500 and $40 in labor to put it on. If anyone is interested they will ship to the states and sell many carbon fiber parts for all kinds of cars.

Now I need some feedback. I have a few ideas:

1. I was planning on getting a carbon fiber trunk lid (~$400) and painting them both silver to make it look like the car is now, leaving the black of the carbon fiber weave where the stripes originally were. Basically the car would look the same or it may look like I have fake carbon fiber stripes?

Or

2. I can leave the hood all black. And if I don't paint the hood the stripes I have on the trunk look out of place? Maybe? This is the way it currently is.

Or

3. Should I leave the hood alone and take the black vinyl off the deck lid and have a naked trunk?

All of these choices! What are your thought?

[rocknroll_jeph]

So after hearing and reading stories about the hood popping up due to a weak latch I installed hood pins on the day old hood. I didn't want the cables to be so dangly so I purposely brought them in a bit. The cables are wrapped in a soft clear plastic or rubber so I'm not worried about the paint. Right after installing them I was off to the race track. Unfortunately not to participate but to watch.

It was the first practice weekend of China GT. This is China's second year to have a GT3 series and first for GT4. My friend will be on the Aston Martin GT4 team. I am very impressed with the crew, for a first year they seem to be very organized, however, many drivers in China have more money that talent. That is evident in the fact that the first driver in the Aston Martin V8 Vanquish they were racing couldn't reach the lap time of my V6 Camaro on factory tires and brakes. 1:25.xx for me 1.27.xx for race car. The second driver put it into a wall on his second lap. My friend didn't get to drive that session and I don't think that the car will be back on the track any time soon. Otherwise, it was a great day to be out and up close to the cars. I loved the anger and brutality of the Bentleys exhaust note, it had such a full sound, Lambo's were just high pitched loud and annoying, Porsches were too quiet except at idle and the Ferrari 458 sounded pretty good to me. I'm trying to get to be a volunteer for race in a few weeks. I'll get free tickets from my friend anyway, but it may be nice to actual do something helpful rather than hang out in the pits and get in everyone's way.

[rocknroll_jeph]

Beijing is a notoriously dirty city. With spring here there is a lot of stuff floating around and falling off the trees. I noticed that a lot of this debris was falling into the vents of my new hood and sticking to my air filter. I was also worried about what would happen if it were to rain because the air filter sits right under the vent. For the past few weeks I have kept the car covered most of the time, and when I washed the car I just put a plastic bag over the filter to keep it dry. The whole time my though was to make some sort of cover for the filter and today I finally got around to making it happen.

In China we don't go to a hardware store for something, we go to the hardware market. Its the same for car parts, clothes, vegetables, etc. All of these markets are usually most of a city block and every store specializes in one thing. I guess that helps keep competition to a minimum. So after strolling around the market I found the family that sells all kinds of glass/ plexiglass. After going back and forth on a price I got a piece of thin plexiglass to cover the filter but also allow for ventilation. They cut it to my measurements and it fit perfectly the first time. I only had some green tape to cover the edges, and will think of something more permeant in the future, but for now I am satisfied. If anyone has done a DIY cover for the K&N Typhoon air intake, I'd love to hear some thoughts about my mod.