Now for the technical more exciting stuff!
At EE Pheonix, I clipped the apex while battling with @Ruxx
Beleive it or not, I got back on and rode it across the line like that.
Super fortunately, @MoeStooge was there an had a spare hanger that I could buy off him. Before I could even recover from the race he had it switched out 
I spent wayyy too much time trying to make a pretty puck shell.
I modified the PPB shell design into the PPPP shell, adding a little pinkie holder. Relevant thread here;
To manifest it, I wanted to use some dual-color filament. When sanded, they give a cool effect, like a petina. The only stuff I could find was in PLA, so PLA is what I used.
However, I had so many issues with layer adhesion. Something about my printer? idk. I spent weeks of time and hundreds of grams of filament trying to get a functional print.
Ended up asking a friend to print a couple for me with his fancy new Bambu. It turned out fantastic.
I started at 80 grit and worked all the way to 7000. It took forever, but was totally worth it for how it catches the light. Just PLA here, no clearcoat or paint.
So smooth that it was grippy.
Until it fell out of my pocket and got run over by a car. 
Probably for the best… the PLA was really brittle. The internals were already starting to crack apart.
I printed a replacement shell with my material of choice(PC) and gave it the same sanding treatment. Also did the same for my backup pucks.
Masked and painted my armor with Team ARD Teal
May 19th, Tire Change
Just the rears.
Look at all that dust
Went pretty quick with his help
May 31st, Bushing Grinding
I race without a binding. Because of this, I’m very sensitive to bushing setups. I wanted my bushings to be lighter on the extremes of travel, but didn’t want to loosen them more then there were (which would cause me to loose the center)
TLDR; I wanted to remove the “cup” from the bushing nut.
To prototype this idea, I did this very carefully with a dremal.
Left done, Right to go.
Wasn’t perfect, but instantly made a HUGE difference. It dug into the bushings and would be a medium-term problem, but I knew I was moving in the right direction. This is what it looked like after some track time;
Some EE Long Beach pics
June 9th
Changing out another two tires, I noticed something odd. Looked like one of the bolts was bent?
Oh… 
Then I touched it and this happened
So… that suboptimal.
Contacted Moe about this, and he said (basically) this can happen if the nut isn’t engaged onto the part of the bolt that doesn’t have the hex head.
The hubs of Wide BRPs are slightly thicker, so this became an issue when I switched to them. It pushed the nut just enough to start fatiguing the bolt.
Moe sent me some replacement bolts
I swapped out all of the bolts in my hubs, I haven’t had issues since.
June 15th
Forgot my skate shoes, so I zip tied my shoes together. Worked way better then it ever should.
Adding stickers to the bottom of my board was such a great decision
Mandatory Cat Intermission
Catermission?
June 20th
Someone broke into my car and stole all of my safety gear.
Helmet, armor, kneepads, gloves, etc.
Fortunately It was mostly covered under insurance and I had some money saved, so the loss was mostly sentimental.
I really liked my bionic action v2 functionally and aesthetically
Great photo from @Lyfe_Of_Jimmy
…so I bought a new one. Had to go through the process of painting it… again.
My partner in CADime CATime crime
July 27th
@MoeStooge Hosted a bunch of us racers at his place for some FIRE BBQ and do boardwork. Was a ton of fun! Looking forward to the next one.
On the docket for me was making Nothing Fancy’s steel corner plates and swapping over Ankle Wreacher’s bushings and nuts.
Thanks Brent and @gtonthat for the help swapping these over. Much appreciated.
Swapping over the bushings was an ordeal and a half. This is the second time I’ve done it.
The result was worth it. Upgraded to locknuts and flat washers. I CANNOT understate how big of a difference this made to the board.
After a built Nothing Fancy, I stopped bringing Ankle Wreacher to track nights. It just wasn’t fun to ride in comparison. After this change, I wanted to ride it again. It’s more stable, predictable, and controllable into a turn. So. Good.
While we were changing the bushings and nuts, I also added an extra collar on the axles, as you can see in the picture. They’re for… future expansion 
Aug 8th
Another month, another two tires.
The two new tires were in the front. After riding them, the board was nearly unridable. The front was on a railroad but the rear was more slidy (worn tires)
I swapped the fronts and rears, and this went away. Super interesting phenomenon.
Somewhere around this time I solved an issue with the power delivery. It had a “drag brake” at low throttle(like 0%~8%). It made moving through the transition between braking and throttle uneasy, and feathering around the corner very risky. Usually wasn’t much of an issue at race-pace tho, so I had just been dealing with it.
At a track night I played with some vesc settings, and it completely disappeared. HUZZAH! What a difference. Like getting a rock out of your shoe.
Aug 14th
To test out an upcoming project for this board, I made myself one of @Tomblarom’s CAN adaptors! Tested it by plugging it into the plug for my Megan. Super cool.
Got a Racebox Micro on the board now! Conveniently still have a plug with a 5v output where my brake light used to get power from. Easy. Couldn’t have been an easier install.
It feels weird to have this be part of the board, as it’s kind of redundant with my MEGAN. Both devices have high-frequency GPS and onboard logging. However, the MEGAN’s software doesn’t support setting a track and timing laps like Racebox does.
@janpom I’d love if the MEGAN was able to do the job of a racebox
EE San Fran
Finishing Saturday’s Pro final was wild. Jack caught up to me on the final lap and literally jump scared me.
For the last lap, I was struggling to make the corners. I was scared so bad that I thought it was just nerves, but one of the linkage collars had come loose. Re-locktited all my collars that night.
September 15th
FINALLY installed the zBMS I bought from @Skyart ages ago. Kinda embarrassed it took me so long and that it took me getting covid to finish them.
I’m so tired of dealing with my dsub balance plugs. I built half of the harnesses months ago, and they’ve been sitting unfinished on my workbench since.
Tada. Finished balance harness
Upon double checking my work with a continuity checks, I wired literally every single plug reversed polarity. 
Had to chop them all off and re-crimp.
Look at that. An hour of work and you can’t even tell the difference
Two more harnesses. An extension to the external charge port;
and one to connect to the power bus (Rear G300 terminals)
The only space that the zBMS will fit is between my batteries and the frame. It’s tight, but it fits!
I’m a little worries about the bundle of wires straining the zBMS JST-ph connectors (causing the wires to fray and short), so I tied the bundle to the neighboring battery to alleviate strain.
Incredibly happy with the result.
Stole Snagged a Pelican 1770 case for $100 of facebook marketplace. Fits the board with literally mms to spare.
Strongly considering shipping my board and going to EE New York. TBD.
And that catches us up to the present day! (Might do a grammar pass on this post later).
Whew. Thanks for spending your time scrolling through, I love documenting and sharing the history of this board with y’all.
I’ve got some super exciting stuff in the works that I’m excited to share…
