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Spent the weekend fiddling with the car. Got the camber in that recommended -3.2 range front, -2.8 rear. Toe is 0 in the front, 1/16 in the rear. Caster is yes, it has caster. Was really struggling with measuring it accurately, so will call it "4-5 degrees". Caster is pretty much maxed out so I can dial some out if needed. Rake ended up 0 on right side and 1/8" on left side, hovering in/around that 5-5.25" pinchweld height. The 7" front springs I think are hindering my ability to get into the 4's, but will run it as is and then if I need more low will swap out to 6" front springs and rescale when I put in the 1.8. Plenty of adjustment on the rear I can get it into the 4's for pinchweld height.
Fiddled for hours but got it dialed in enough to see how I like this. 2,341 lbs with driver and full tank of fuel.
Plenty of clearance for the brake ducts. Same clearance on other side. Needs a tune and a bath.
Next step: Load base tune that is properly configured, set base timing, make sure it starts and revs. Then register for an autocross next Sunday for shakedown, first track event available to me with my schedule is in June
Well I was going to autocross..... Upon bedding the brakes noticed weird brake feels after a few applications. Then pedal pressure went to hell. Came back from test drive and found fluid low in reservoir (brake light came on) and RR had fluid in the wheel. Pulled it apart as I already gutted these for the ebrake delete. Need to pull the snap ring but can't determine where the fluid is coming from. Will pull the snap ring to ensure the o ring is in there. If so no idea why it's leaking. Is it possible to put the caliper piston seal upside down? Maybe this core isn't any good, but it didn't leak before I pulled it apart....
Overall a bit stumped. Will inspect further today but probably just order a new caliper if I can't find anything conclusive.
Car drove straight and steering effort was really light on the street. Tune is close, bit rich up top at wot but roughed in for certain. Seems to follow the road, not sure if I need to tighten up the steering resistance a bit in the rack, dial out some caster, or just drive it a bit more and see if it's the loose nut behind the wheel; probably the later. And...that's the issue right there.
Oof! Bummer about that o-ring, but better for it to happen now than while racing. And especially before the track next month.
Glad everything else seems to be working well. FWIW, I never felt the need to add steering resistance to the race after fully depowering mine. The car definitely takes a bit more effort to fight tramlining though because.. well, no power steering lol.
Oof! Bummer about that o-ring, but better for it to happen now than while racing. And especially before the track next month.
Glad everything else seems to be working well. FWIW, I never felt the need to add steering resistance to the race after fully depowering mine. The car definitely takes a bit more effort to fight tramlining though because.. well, no power steering lol.
Yeah I wasn't expecting steering input to be so "free and light". I have to pay attention now on my shitty back roads. I still don't know how I munched the o-ring, but should have it back on the road this weekend.
Also got to diagnose a faulty coolant fan relay. Nothing like a 34 year old car.
FYI, the first flap on the hood vents should be vertical to act as a gurney flap. It should help create a low pressure zone above the vents to improve flow through them
FYI, the first flap on the hood vents should be vertical to act as a gurney flap. It should help create a low pressure zone above the vents to improve flow through them
Good point, trying to figure out how best to deal with the 3/8" rule for class height for NASA. Think it is better to cut it down and have it at 3/8" high and a 90 degree or keep it at an angle?
Autocross was a success. I didn't take any photos but had fun re-learning the car. No breaks or issues, other than cage fitment is still a Pita. Trying to get ahold of advanced autosport to see the dimensions of their nascar bars as I think that'll fix the egress issue.
Glad to hear it was a successful weekend. Always nice when nothing breaks.
I'm in and out of my car constantly at autocross. I can imagine navigating around a cage would be a pain.
Thanks! Yeah in and out of the cage was a chore and made the autocross experience less fun. Also gutted race car on street tires = excessive and poor PAX; but it was fun for shakedown testing and some seat time.
Got some seat time in this past Tuesday at an afternoon session. Nearly 1 hour on track and zero issues; glad I got this thing sorted mechanically enough to finish an event (without suspension cutting tires, fuel leaking, swaybars knocking).
Made a quick video of my top 4 (1 per session) of the 40 laps I got in. Still need to work on the nut behind the wheel, but feeling better with this chassis.
Ordered some of the "Volvo" springs for my 1.8 build, going to finally get that motor together and possibly installed before my next track day (11/3). Then it's starting to get the car even closer to ST6/TT6 ready, from what I'm reading a 15x9 with a 225 series tire will work well or a 15x8.5 with a 205 hoosier.
Well I pulled down that motor...Cylinders #1 and #2 are toast. Looks like foreign material got in there and mucked up the pistons and cylinder walls. Thankfully the maring you can feel with a finger but can't catch so 1mm over pistons should be just fine. Guess I'm going forged rotating on the 1.8. 1 (far) through 4 (near)
Well because I like to party, fixing the motor the only way I know how...overkill. Weisco 9.0:1 84mm slugs, Manley rods, arp mains. ARP head studs come next week.
Just your typical GT2560R + kracken top mount +3" vband elbow combo.
Went and did some wet track driving. Less point bys given and even earned a few in intermediate HPDE which was nice catching guys with nannies (S2k, BRZ, M3). Learned a lot on letting it track out and adding throttle earlier which dropped a ton of time and reduced driver effort.
Overall I'm just not happy with how this car is handling. It just seems to be missing grip everywhere. Maybe I'm expecting to much. Maybe its the loose nut between the steering wheel and the seat....
It is predictible. If I charge in way to hot it'll understeer. If I add to much throttle it'll oversteer, snap off throttle it'll spin. But it just feels like I'm on ice. Now either I found the limit of this combo really quickly or I need to change tires. 225/45/15 on a 15x7.5 "spec" miata wheel, RS4's with a 2/21 date code. I've done 8-20 minute track sessions and 12 autocross runs on them; tires were used for lapping from previous owner before I got them. Nice blue ring on the tread blocks. Filling someones mirrors and then having to wait for them to park it in corners again to 'catch' them is already getting old. Having to watch my mirror for every straightaway to give a point by is getting old. I'm consistant but can find that corner limit usually the 2nd or 3rd approach through it. Sometimes changing entry/exit gets me some more time; loving the catalyst for that aspect already.
Current setup:
DIY Billies. NA shocks, Hypercoil 700/400, extended rear top hats. Spec swaybars (probably need to change that too). Torrington bearings and new bump stops as I was there. The 7" front spring doesn't allow me to get as low as I should be and I've got a bit of rake dialed in. Thinking I might bump the rear down 1/2 a turn on each to see if I can get more rear grip as that seems to go away first in my driving style. Corner balance showed 50% wedge with a 50.7/49.3 weight distribution with driver; but I'm only as good as my tools I could be way off.
WWYD?
Toss on new wheels and tires (225's on the 7.5's also isn't ideal, it's what I got with the car) I think is probably the next step. Double check alignment, maybe lower the bit a rear, I'll have to double check pinch weld measurements to validate rake.
Also picked up a used nine lives big **** Sunday! Doesn't have the wedges though, anyone install one without those?
No word from machine shop on block. They are slower than slow, I"ll call them next Monday to ask as I can't do anything on it this weekend.
Lastly, ordered a tig machine. Time to start to play with aluminum in preperation for intercooler piping
Hey that turbo setup looks familiar! And it looks like it's going to be able to flex its muscles with that built bottom end haha.
Lots of things to consider with your setup. For me, the 225 on 7.5" wheels would be the first thing I'd address. I dropped four and a half seconds on a 1:40 course by going from 205s on 7's to 225s on 9's after I turbo'd my car, with no other changes. I gotta imagine you're not only losing grip with the 7.5s, but the sidewall flex and roll is probably making the car less stable than it could be too. All conjecture on my part, but that was one big thing I noticed going from the narrower wheels to a wheel/tire setup with a "square" profile.
What are your ride heights and how much total rake are you running?
Hey that turbo setup looks familiar! And it looks like it's going to be able to flex its muscles with that built bottom end haha.
Lots of things to consider with your setup. For me, the 225 on 7.5" wheels would be the first thing I'd address. I dropped four and a half seconds on a 1:40 course by going from 205s on 7's to 225s on 9's after I turbo'd my car, with no other changes. I gotta imagine you're not only losing grip with the 7.5s, but the sidewall flex and roll is probably making the car less stable than it could be too. All conjecture on my part, but that was one big thing I noticed going from the narrower wheels to a wheel/tire setup with a "square" profile.
What are your ride heights and how much total rake are you running?
05-13-2024 | 03:02 PM
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