Rotary Specialist in CO? (Yeah, Another Thread)
- Saul_Good
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:14
- Location: Cerritos, CA (DW says i can't play here anymore...)
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There's also a guy named Darren Kidd who races his FD at the local autox's. I'm not sure if he does his own work (I think he does). It's very modded and makes multiple runs w/o issue. You guys should show up to one of the autox's even just to watch, that car is a beast and he's always in the top 5 in terms of raw time.
- speedjunkie
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:14
- Location: Colorado Springs
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Luis, for some reason your signature reminds me of "It's not how you stand by your car, it's how you race your car. Better learn that" lol.
Are you my long lost brother? lol I'm right there with you. I love installing parts and things like that. But troubleshooting issues (especially electrical)...screw that.
That sucks. I wish he was still here. We need all the help we can get. You should do that, ship it down there. I have a UHaul trailer but I need to fix a few things on it first. I've thought about taking my car down to RP to get it tuned, but I think I'll see if Steve Kahn can come up this summer or something. I've been meaning to contact him.
We used to have a tuner back in 2008 in C Springs that was a genius, sounds kinda like Jim. His name was Frank Reckenberg. He was retired from the Air Force, and I think he tuned aircraft for his job. He got the F22 flying when they had all kinds of problems with it. He took a stock Honda ECU and $20 worth of parts and built a better ECU than Spoon puts out. Right before he left he was tuning for MV Agusta and they set some records out at Bonneville with his tunes. Not to mention he was a great guy like Jim was. He had my car on his dyno for two weeks while I was waiting on parts and tuning in between time, and he only charged me like $250 for that whole time and the tune. Just a really awesome guy. But his wife got orders to near St Louis so he sold his business and all the stuff he had (one of which was a really nice AWD Mustang Dyno). He got burnt out with the car scene here because shops like Revvolution were scared of him and spread lies about him blowing engines when he had never blown even one engine. He would turn away customers if they had leaks or anything that seemed odd. Now he won't answer my emails when I try to contact him and I've tried to go see him when I go home to that area. I wish he'd come back lol.
PFC has been the most popular choice for years, but they are no longer in production and there are better, more advanced options out there now. I can't wait to get the Adaptronic all set up. I thought about getting AEM a few years ago but I couldn't find what I wanted in a plug and play setup.
That accident was at least a couple years ago I believe. It's been a while. I think he has a lot on his plate these days though. He's on this forum too. I'm hoping we get some meets together this summer.
White TII wrote:Yep, that's true. Until recently, like I said, I did practically everything to my car. I think once it's running normally I'd be more open to doing maintenance and stuff, I just hate troubleshooting gremlins and electronic issues.
Are you my long lost brother? lol I'm right there with you. I love installing parts and things like that. But troubleshooting issues (especially electrical)...screw that.
White TII wrote:You missed out; great guy, all around. He was the head mechanic at a little import shop here. Loads of integrity. Encyclopedia of rotary knowledge, and a hell of a driver too. He was the kind of guy that would invite you over to his house on the weekend and help you build your motor for a 6 pack. I miss him, he moved to Texas somewhere back around '06. He kinda took me under his wing, and I learned most of what I know from him. I'm not gonna lie, I've once or twice thought about shipping it to him down in Texas to get it sorted out.
That sucks. I wish he was still here. We need all the help we can get. You should do that, ship it down there. I have a UHaul trailer but I need to fix a few things on it first. I've thought about taking my car down to RP to get it tuned, but I think I'll see if Steve Kahn can come up this summer or something. I've been meaning to contact him.
We used to have a tuner back in 2008 in C Springs that was a genius, sounds kinda like Jim. His name was Frank Reckenberg. He was retired from the Air Force, and I think he tuned aircraft for his job. He got the F22 flying when they had all kinds of problems with it. He took a stock Honda ECU and $20 worth of parts and built a better ECU than Spoon puts out. Right before he left he was tuning for MV Agusta and they set some records out at Bonneville with his tunes. Not to mention he was a great guy like Jim was. He had my car on his dyno for two weeks while I was waiting on parts and tuning in between time, and he only charged me like $250 for that whole time and the tune. Just a really awesome guy. But his wife got orders to near St Louis so he sold his business and all the stuff he had (one of which was a really nice AWD Mustang Dyno). He got burnt out with the car scene here because shops like Revvolution were scared of him and spread lies about him blowing engines when he had never blown even one engine. He would turn away customers if they had leaks or anything that seemed odd. Now he won't answer my emails when I try to contact him and I've tried to go see him when I go home to that area. I wish he'd come back lol.
White TII wrote:From what I understand, PFC seems to be the way to go with most FD's. I like full standalone, but definitely a lot of plusses and minuses. It was really the best option I had to manage all my mods, but if I could go simpler, I would.
Dang! Crazy, I forgot he did that. His car was nuts, I'm glad he's resurrecting it.
PFC has been the most popular choice for years, but they are no longer in production and there are better, more advanced options out there now. I can't wait to get the Adaptronic all set up. I thought about getting AEM a few years ago but I couldn't find what I wanted in a plug and play setup.
That accident was at least a couple years ago I believe. It's been a while. I think he has a lot on his plate these days though. He's on this forum too. I'm hoping we get some meets together this summer.
- Saul_Good
- Senior Member
- Posts: 480
- Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:14
- Location: Cerritos, CA (DW says i can't play here anymore...)
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Ok did the research. Mark Mauro Jr of Autohaus of Boulder works/races rotaries. He is the co-driver of the jetplane FD. They/he might be another good source.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/darren-kidd-rx7-2-ernie-echols.html
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/darren-kidd-rx7-2-ernie-echols.html
Saul_Good wrote:Ok did the research. Mark Mauro Jr of Autohaus of Boulder works/races rotaries. He is the co-driver of the jetplane FD. They/he might be another good source.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/darren-kidd-rx7-2-ernie-echols.html
He used to own that car, then sold it to Darren after winning a national title or two. The only rotary he works on is that car.
Saul_Good wrote:There's also a guy named Darren Kidd who races his FD at the local autox's. I'm not sure if he does his own work (I think he does). It's very modded and makes multiple runs w/o issue. You guys should show up to one of the autox's even just to watch, that car is a beast and he's always in the top 5 in terms of raw time.
When's the next AutoX? Can you post a link to the schedule?
- Saul_Good
- Senior Member
- Posts: 480
- Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:14
- Location: Cerritos, CA (DW says i can't play here anymore...)
- Contact:
FDEEZ wrote:When's the next AutoX? Can you post a link to the schedule?
Here's the schedule: http://www.rmsolo.org/schedule.php
Next one is this Saturday 10 May, at Front Range Airport (~ 20miles S.East of DIA). Looks like the FD is registered for that event -- both the owner and co-driver/mechanic. The next one after tomorrow is Sunday May 18th at PPIR parking lot.
FDEEZ wrote:Cool, thanks! Looks like a competitive crowd. Can't make this Sat, but I'll try to make the next one.
How strict is tech inspection?
Remove anything loose, make sure the battery is strapped down, your wheel bearings are not shot, your pedals return when pressed/released, and you have all of your lug nuts.
Ouch!!! I'm pretty sure my cabin noise exceeds that just at idle...so you can forget about being below that decibel limit at WOT outside the car. I'll hook up a decibel meter to validate though (hopefully there's an app for that).
Thanks for the info...you saved me a trip to/from my house to the next event.
Thanks for the info...you saved me a trip to/from my house to the next event.
Ha, maybe. But yeah, definitely in the same boat. After I spent like 4 days trying to troubleshoot my broken heater, I decided I pretty much never wanted to work on electronics again, haha.speedjunkie wrote:Are you my long lost brother? lol I'm right there with you. I love installing parts and things like that. But troubleshooting issues (especially electrical)...screw that.
Sounds like an impressive dude, too bad he skipped town! And it's lame you can't get a hold of him...We used to have a tuner back in 2008 in C Springs that was a genius, sounds kinda like Jim. His name was Frank Reckenberg.
Well, if I have a functioning car, I'd be there.I'm hoping we get some meets together this summer.
Nice! Thanks for looking into it. I'm assuming this is their site? http://autohausboulder.com/ Is Mark a tech there? Would I just ask for him directly?Saul_Good wrote:Ok did the research. Mark Mauro Jr of Autohaus of Boulder works/races rotaries. He is the co-driver of the jetplane FD. They/he might be another good source.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/d...ie-echols.html
So are you saying he only works on that one FD, but he won't work on other rotaries too?Brigdh wrote:He used to own that car, then sold it to Darren after winning a national title or two. The only rotary he works on is that car.
SOLD: '90 Mazda RX-7 S5 FC Turbo II - Heavily Modified: V-Mount, Big Turbo, AEM Standalone, etc - Mods
Daily Driver: 2000 GC6 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Sedan. Stock, Blue Ridge Pearl.
Daily Driver: 2000 GC6 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Sedan. Stock, Blue Ridge Pearl.
White TII wrote:Nice! Thanks for looking into it. I'm assuming this is their site? http://autohausboulder.com/ Is Mark a tech there? Would I just ask for him directly?
So are you saying he only works on that one FD, but he won't work on other rotaries too?
Mark co-owns autohaus. As far as engine work goes, he was unreceptive to working on any rotary but that specific FD when I asked a year or so ago. I suppose you could ask (again) to see if he changed his mind.
Interesting, thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind.Brigdh wrote:Mark co-owns autohaus. As far as engine work goes, he was unreceptive to working on any rotary but that specific FD when I asked a year or so ago. I suppose you could ask (again) to see if he changed his mind.
SOLD: '90 Mazda RX-7 S5 FC Turbo II - Heavily Modified: V-Mount, Big Turbo, AEM Standalone, etc - Mods
Daily Driver: 2000 GC6 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Sedan. Stock, Blue Ridge Pearl.
Daily Driver: 2000 GC6 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Sedan. Stock, Blue Ridge Pearl.
millertime wrote:7club is a joke anymore. Get in touch with Don (D Walker), he's got my FD right now. Here's his website:
http://www.grid1motorsport.com/
sorry to resurrect this thread, at least it's not toooo old! Also thanks for having me here, I wish I knew about this club the past 8 year's I've owned my 8 haha.
Anyways, I've heard horror stories regarding Don, law suits, just being overall shady. Seemed like a nice guy and a perfect solution for my situation. However, hearing about his past with Horsepower Research and Development makes me want to stay far away from him.
Has he changed his ways as of late? You guys all seem to have nothing but good things to say about him, which the whooole rest of the internet doesn't lol..
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