challange question

I am concidering turning a 325is that i just bought into a challange car what is the best way to document all the goodies on the car as purchased ,drilled and slotted rotors tokico shocks all the way around boxes in trunck new set of brake pads in trunck and that is what I noticed without lifting the car up .

by the wat does anyone know the lug bolt patter for 4 lug ?

stan

pictures.

Gotta start with some pictures.

Maybe then, take a few pictures.

Oh, and before I forget, take a couple of pictures.

Yes, pictures and notes.

4x100 for a four-lug 3-series.

cool thanks it will start( my started with this) file

Stan

A build thread here in the forum will document the car, and build interest in it.

Good Luck with the Build!

Or solve all your problems by dragging it down to Evansville and giving it to me!

sanyarcosean wrote: A build thread here in the forum will document the car, and build interest in it. Good Luck with the Build!

Actually, a build thread in Readers Rides will be even better.

I realize the reader's rides build threads is the way you would like it, but I don't believe the threads are read much when put in that location.

I can think of several people (sanyarcosean, Mr. Joshua, Wheels777) who made the effort to maintain build threads in the general forums, and virtually became heros before they ever got to the Challenge (because of those threads).

I'll bet your traffic on those reader's rides build threads is significantly less (I know I don't use them very much at all)

I'd be willing to try to do better, but the format of this site seems to lend itself to posting these type of threads in the open forums, and the whole point of a build thread is to get responses from folks in advance. The reader's rides simply don't have the same exposure.

Maybe something like a prominent link in each forum post to the member's build thread (with a little picture) would help.

SVreX wrote: I realize the reader's rides build threads is the way you would like it, but I don't believe the threads are read much when put in that location.

Not true. There's a lot of traffic there. An awful lot

I can think of several people (sanyarcosean, Mr. Joshua, Wheels777) who made the effort to maintain build threads in the general forums, and virtually became heros before they ever got to the Challenge (because of those threads).

As they should. But adding it to Reader Rides is an altogether better way of doing it. Especially if you want your ride connected to you. Putting it there means the system knows its your car, and for a challenger it can attach both you and the car to the event.

I'd be willing to try to do better, but the format of this site seems to lend itself to posting these type of threads in the open forums, and the whole point of a build thread is to get responses from folks in advance. The reader's rides simply don't have the same exposure.

Again, that's just not the case. It gets just as much traffic as the old Reader Rides forum ever did, and is growing much faster.

Maybe something like a prominent link in each forum post to the member's build thread (with a little picture) would help.

Maybe like an avatar that links to their profile and shows all their rides?

Tim Baxter wrote: Maybe like an avatar that links to their profile and shows all their rides?

No, like a separate link indicating they actually HAVE a build thread. I'm not going to spend too much time searching through everyone's profiles to see if they've got a build thread.

I'm sure you are correct on the traffic question. I cannot, however, recall a single person from any of the last several Challenges that became a "hero" prior to the event because people had seen the details of their build in their profile. It's not until there is an open discussion of it that anyone even knows about it.

Well, the Reader Rides section has only been around for one Challenge.

And you don't have to search everyone's profile. The goal, as last year, is to show challenge entrants on the challenge page, and if they've got a build going, link to it. You can't really do that with a board post.

And of course the Rides section is WAY easier to find things in than the old forum ever was.

If you--or anyone--has suggestions for improving the Rides section, I'm all ears. SInce it launched there's been quite a few improvements made, many of them based on feedback from ya'll. And I'm sure there will be many more.

Really, though, there's a lot to the site besides the board. I think people forget that.

Okeey Dokeey

OK, so I'm back.

My apologies for chasing this rabbit.

Tim, the Reader's Rides area is very nice. It's significantly more info than I want to peruse, and I couldn't find any Challengers with any ease (I didn't find any, but I only spent a few minutes on it). Might be great for folks who want to surf vast quantities of cars, but if I can't find what I am looking for quickly, I am probably done.

The Challengers are what I am most interested in. As is, I probably won't spend much time in Reader's Rides.

A separate Challenger area would make a big difference. Or perhaps listing Challengers as a separate "vehicle make". Searchable would also help.

You said you wanted suggestions. Sorry for the threadjack.

Thanks. The plan is to connect challengers to the Challenge as they get signed up, and so the Challenge page would show the people, with links to their rides. It'll be pretty easy to break them out that way, and the challenge page is pretty intuitive place to look for 'em.

We did that last year, and it worked OK, although there were definitely some things that could have been done better. I think it'll be even better this year.

A link on the left hand sidebar to the Challenge page would also be quite useful.

It'll be there as the event gets closer. Maybe sooner.

I tend to log on-click on latest topics-read. I prefer build threads. Activity keeps them current, inactivity and they fade. I also understand a readers ride section appeals to some because of easier organization, searching, etc... Maybe we could bring back readers rides forum and have the threads linked from the readers ride area of the board.

You're welcome to have a build thread. I'm not going to stop you. But you'll be missing out.

How exactly? (I realize that comes across as snide-but to readers like me a build thread off the message board is invisible)

Because a message board thread is a generic container. There's no way for the system to know it's related to a car, and more particularly, that the car is related to you.

Because you won't be considered for IHROTM.

Because your board thread will quickly die off, while your Reader Ride will stay firmly in place not only in the Reader Ride section, but also with your car brand in the car directory, with you in your profile, and in some cases with the things you do (like going to the Challenge).

That's off the top of my head. Board posts by their nature are ephemeral and generic. It's their strength, but also their weakness. And again, there's a LOT more to the site than the board,

But if you put it in readers rides nobody will know it's there. Its a tradeoff. The problem with readers rides is that we all have a bunch of vehicles, and we can all put all our vehicles in there, but only a small precentage of them are actively being built and pages updated, and there is no good way to see exactly what is worth checking out periodically to see what's new. At least with a thread the good stuff stays near the top and gets viewed based on ether active updates or member discussion.

Josh wrote: But if you put it in readers rides nobody will know it's there. Its a tradeoff.

False. The Readers Ride section gets just as much traffic as the forum ever did. AND your ride is attached to your profile AND it can show up as the featured ride. There's no tradeoff. There's MUCH more visibility for your build with the Readers Ride section.

The problem with readers rides is that we all have a bunch of vehicles, and we can all put all our vehicles in there, but only a small precentage of them are actively being built and pages updated, and there is no good way to see exactly what is worth checking out periodically to see what's new.

Unlike a forum, you can sort the Readers Ride section by most recently updated, by "most interesting", by most comments, and by make. If you you want to see what's new, it's there.

At least with a thread the good stuff stays near the top and gets viewed based on ether active updates or member discussion.

And so do the Readers' Rides.