A friend asked me to go test drive some BMW cars while he was getting the oil changed in his 528. I ended up driving the only car they had on the lot with a manual transmission, a 328 with no options whatsoever. I knew right away this car was not for me. granted, it was the base model, with the less-powerful engine, but I also didn’t like the seating position or the shifter.

The headlight is working again. After taking off the front bumper and removing the driver’s side headlight, I had to completely disassemble the headlight itself to change out the ballast. The ballast itself was accessible via a panel on the bottom of the headlight, but the part which plugged in to the bulb wouldn’t fit between the reflector and the body of the headlight. I needed to remove the lens off the front, which was mainly secured by silicone sealant.

After leaving the Phoenix International Auto Show, the RX-8 wouldn’t start! We went and had lunch, then bought jumper cables. When we went to hook up the jumper cables, we realized the negative battery cable was loose! I didn’t do a good job re-tightening it after trying to fix the headlight. I returned the jumper cables. I’d like to buy a trickle charger someday.

The driver’s side headlight stopped working. Oddly, for a brief time it worked sometimes but not others. Without stopping to think, I ordered new headlight bulbs. Once they arrived, I removed the driver’s side wheelwell and reached in to change the bulb. [caption id=“attachment_19298” align=“alignnone” width=“224” caption=“reaching in through the wheelwell”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_19299” align=“alignnone” width=“224” caption=“I disconnected the battery before starting this.”][/caption] [caption id=“attachment_19300” align=“alignnone” width=“224” caption=“Behind the warning panel: The plug with the NASA-looking cable is connected to the now-infamous ballast”][/caption]

The SCCA club brought a set of scales to the last autocross. The car had a full tank of gas and also had the spare tire and jack in the trunk. left front right 926 1880 954 Total: 3324 722 1445 723 left rear right

We went camping in the woods near sedona (yes, in the mustang).

The big sand dunes west of Yuma in eastern California