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Coast Steve

Hi my Name's Steve and I miss a Smart

26 posts in this topic

I live on B'C's Sunshine Coast's winding highway and once owned a nice little black 450 diesel Smart ("THE GT")

I have been having the shakes and some bad dreams of late not having a good little smart close to me.

There's a silly little plastic model of a smart on my workshop shelf and I smile when I see it.

There were many fun drives and experiences in my old Smart, and it made me feel like no other car ever did.

BTW, This new website layout looks really well done, very impressive work !

Club Smart Car was always a great thing for me at the end of a long day.

My name's Steve and I think I'm a Smartaholic. :lookaround:

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Withdraw problems steve? It's like a drug cut it out of your life completely or give in again get another one ;)

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I live on B'C's Sunshine Coast's winding highway and once owned a nice little black 450 diesel Smart ("THE GT")

I have been having the shakes and some bad dreams of late not having a good little smart close to me.

There's a silly little plastic model of a smart on my workshop shelf and I smile when I see it.

There were many fun drives and experiences in my old Smart, and it made me feel like no other car ever did.

BTW, This new website layout looks really well done, very impressive work !

Club Smart Car was always a great thing for me at the end of a long day.

My name's Steve and I think I'm a Smartaholic. :lookaround:

I'm still lovin' my GT exhaust system !!!! :lover:

Edited by lebikerboy

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Why not pick up a nightrun, install OE heated seats and then you're halfway there with a cool model to begin with!

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Now, just slow down, Mike! smarts are pretty addictive. You know some people can and some can't handle it.

Although Steve is a perfectly nice guy perhaps he's better off the dragon? If a long commute and a promise to keep it stock comes forth from Steve it might be OK, but don't encourage the guy!

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Maybe a Smarkzuki this time...

or a rotary powered Smart.....

Or maybe an electric Smart....

I'm hanging on to the wagon, but if I loose hold...go ahead arrest me.

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Edited by Coast Steve

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The drive from the nearest dealer to his place would probably just about drain the battery....especially considering the speed he drives at!

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Alex, you and I both know "stock" just isn't one of my things.

Mike, ... I seem to remember a few years back a certain (B class Mercedes I think it was?) flying around a tight little mission race course?

Funny how that driver looked like you.

Here's a couple pics for you Rick:

(It may have been a while since you had your valance off)

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Edited by Coast Steve

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Mike, ... I seem to remember a few years back a certain (B class Mercedes I think it was?) flying around a tight little mission race course?

Funny how that driver looked like you.

I was only third fastest in the B 200 - beaten by two smarts!

We need to organise another driving event for 2015.

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Smarts always find a way to win Mike, you know that.

But yea that was for sure a super fun driving event and meet.

Everyone had so much fun from first to last place.

We all got to challenge ourselves with that course.

I still remember the cheesy and excited smile on Bil Gladstone's face in that lineup getting ready to go.

But First I need a car, I've been driving a 10,000lb crane truck for the last 2 years and have no other car. :lookaround:

Oh....Is THIS what you were looking for Mike? LOL, Sorry hate to rub salt.

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Edited by Coast Steve

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I think (but not 100% sure) it was "LTD" on this site and he had a very fast and modified red 450... with big chrome rims.

A friendly asian guy, maybe from the Philippines ? just can't remember his name.

I think I have a picture of his car in my Smart file somewhere. i'll look for it.

He let me drive his car on the course, and he drove mine.

When he came in from the run he said to me: "damn that cars fast" just as I was in the middle of saying: "your car feels faster than mine"

then we both just looked at each other.

So we will never know if it was the driving or the cars....

I think "Mike T" on the other hand has driven more than his share of very expensive and fast sports cars over the years.........to bad they're all French though, (jab, jab jab)

But that big Benz he had that day couldn't deal with the super small, tight course like it would a little bigger and open track.

Edited by Coast Steve

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Here it is:

He's the red car in 6th. The one with the rims sticking out.

And the GT under very hard braking after my run.

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Yeah baby that's the one. I would just love to do that again. And I am glad the blue barge didn't win, because it was a smart event, after all!

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Mazda R100? That's that rotary engine weirdo relative of the early small car that became the 323/Protege, right? That would be a fun little thing to not keep stock indeed, but I'm not sure the financials work out any better than a smart.

Hey everyone! Steve has officially leapt eagerly off the the wagon, albeit in a direction one needs quantum physics to describe. :joker: And tip seals annually. :icon_sad:

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Steve's new Dragon, after enough rainy weeks on the Sunshine Coast :hotrod:: (Link)

Edited by Alex

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Alex, mine's a piston model but the car's the same, just the motor and brake lights are different.

It comes with a brand new long block from Japan and everything has been stored for 21 years.

Cool find.

I'll put the 1300cc crate motor in it but later put in a13B bridge ported rotary.

Iv'e done this before with an RX2 ,and it was fun.

I've had a few rx2's in the past but never this first Mazda model and I have always wanted to find one

It's so small at only 12 feet long bumper to bumper and 4.5 feet wide. !

Here's a fun couple of links of fast ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt0RLKPhecg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyroXOcmuyg

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Edited by Coast Steve

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Well a little update here,

The bad news:

#1 The stock motor is toast (1200cc 4cyl)

Someone let it sit for many years after a blown head gasket and the water inside screwed up lots of stuff.

Not worth the time and money for me to rebuild it all again.

#2 That brand new 1300cc 4 cyl crate motor that came with the car isn't even close to fitting up with anything.

so I would need a new transmission, water pump, starter, intake, carb linkage, ignition, exhaust manifold and piping, etc, etc.

Now the good news:

I just put a deposit on a 240hp Fully bridgeported 12A rotary motor with all sorts of racing goodies inside.

Stock for my car is 67hp .. so 240 should be fun.!

It should do mid to high 13's in the 1/4 mile ....or about the same as a "Smartzuki"...or maybe just a tad slower.

Here's the basic motor:

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Edited by Coast Steve

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I'm updating a few pics of my little 71 Rotary Mazda part time project.

Finally have my R100 dash in.!

Also the 5 speed with performance pressure plate and clutch is in. Along with the 1200cc rotary.

This took extensive reworking of the engine and transmission mounts. The biggest challenge was to have the stick shift come out in the hole in the dash inside the car.

This motor has ceramic apex racing seals and heavy porting of the intake and exhaust ports ("bridgeporting" ), so it will make very strong power to 9500rpm.

Racing Beat in California tells me I should have 230hp with this setup I'm running, we have gone through everything so they know this setup well.

This is actually a full race motor I'm running on the street so will have to be very carefull.

The car is only 1700 lbs

Trying to get it ready for the Japanese car show in Victoria this summer.

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Edited by Coast Steve

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