I've had this White 2003 since 25 February 2014 and from then until now it's covered 3189 miles, most of which has been to and from events. It's the first time I've owned a turbo, or any car that is this far from stock.
At present it has a built engine courtesy of the previous owner (Arias pistons 8.5:1, Carrillo H beam rods), and an AVO turbo kit (2560). It is running solely on e85 with ID1000s and a Haltech at 256hp.

The more I learn, the more I find holes into which at least $1000 can be stuffed. In 2016, I cracked a PPF, and destroyed a torsen (I suspect) through wheel hop (later discovered it was an OBX center that eats itself anyway), and set out on a quest to improve that and eliminate some of the engine movement that seemed to be a contributing factor in the death of the death of the PPF, and possibly the wheel hop that helped the OBX devour its belleville washers. 2017 is here, I'm poorer, and I still have wheel hop, and I'd like more power.

My most recent change to the car was fitting a set of the ELBJ's and having the car re-aligned accordingly. It now sports camber: -4/-3 (F/R); toe 0/+3 (F/R) and at 4 1/3 / 4 1/2 at the pinchwelds (F/R). The next event I'm planning to attend is at Mount Panorama (Bathurst) for a two-day hillclimb event - a 1300 mile round trip from where I live.

Hopefully this thread ultimately provides some entertainment value as I seek to plug some of those $1000 holes, find more power, and drive my little NB at as many events as I can afford.

 

 

 

The last year of events was a lot of fun, but a few things broke, I think largely as a result of the launches required at the start of each sprint, combined with wheel hop and reasonably sticky tires (medium compound semi-slicks). The first thing to fail was the powerplant frame, which cracked around the bolt holes at the diff.


The second was the diff center (which turned out to be an OBX helical).


After replacing the PPF and the diff with another 3.6 with T2, I started working through a few things that might limit wind-up in the PPF which I thought may have been contributing to the wheel hop, PPF cracks and probably the early failure of the OBX.

A set of Energy Suspension diff bushings went in with the new diff:


Followed by a set of Super Miata engine mounts:


And...I still have wheel hop, unless I launch with loads of wheelspin....


There will probably be some Delrin in my near future - the Aussie dollar is tantalizingly high relative to the greenback at the moment...

 

Try these:
https://v8roadsters.com/product/rear...-control-arms/

 

They are on the list - waiting to hear Savington's feedback

 

You mention sourcing another 3.6. Got any links to yards/suppliers?

 

No particular sources - there is a local fellow who has diffs built to specs. 3.6 gears are pretty common and you can pick them up cheap from time to time. There's a complete 3.6 for $150 on a local classifieds page right now. I think the shipping would be the obstacle.

 

Any chance for a contact info for the gentleman that Builds them?

 

I think the only way to solve the horrible wheel hop is to brace the middle of the PPF to the frame rails.

 

Pm'ed

 

https://flic.kr/p/SjxvcH

 

Looks right

 

Wheel hop is almost always attributed to bushing deflection, right? The stiffer the bushing, in my head, the less chances of a wheel hop. So a spherical mount would probably eliminate it almost completely, but transfer a lot more energy into the chassis, i.e. vibration and noise. Next best thing might be a spherical mount on the outside and then a poly/derlin on the chassis part of the mount. Or stiffer poly and such. Just my take on it. RUCA would probably solve your issue by being stiffer unit and stiffer mounts.

 

I believe stiffer bushing material will help, but not necessarily cure the wheel hop. As I mentioned above, Savington was going to try a set of replacement RUCA's - will be curious to see the results.

Im going to stick with Delrin and poly - not interested in spherical at this point.

 

After a rather long break and a few modifications, I drove down to Bathurst on the weekend for round 1 and 2 of the CAMS NSW Hillclimb Championship.

I left early on Thursday morning and had decided to travel the Newell Highway as my tow car is not exactly powerful and I wanted to avoid the towns and hills of the New England highway (and the coastal route is a good hour longer than either inland route)



After grabbing a coffee in Toowoomba, the next stop was Goondiwindi…



…followed by lunch in Moree…



A quick stretch in Coonabarabran…



…and finally, dinner at the hotel in Mendooran.



Just about every building in Mendooran has mural on some part of it, and once I’d unrolled my swag in one of the covered rest areas, I went for a wander around the town.









The following morning, I made for Bathurst and almost got caught out when I discovered that none of the smaller towns that I’d planned to refuel at had diesel. After a rather long detour, I was able to refuel and make my way into Bathurst. By lunch time, I had pitched camp in McPhillamy Park on top of Mount Panorama.



Good facilities, hot showers and toilets, and the toilet paper didn’t run out until Sunday morning.

Tony had contacted me via the forum and offered to show me some lines for both hill climb courses on Friday afternoon – I gladly took him up on this offer! This was a tremendous help, particularly for the Mountain Straight course, which requires some careful positioning and a bit of nerve to get right.

Friday night ended up being a bit wet, which set the scene for competition the following morning.



Scrutineering kicked off at 7am followed by the drivers briefing.



First runs up the hill began around 9am. ‘The Esses’ hillclimb runs in the reverse direction to the usual use of the track and starts before Forest Elbow and finishes at Skyline. I drove most of it in third gear. There are a few corners that require very late apexes and you cannot see around them to the apex thanks to the walls and the steepness. With practice, I am certain I could carry more speed, and in particular could make better use of the braking assistance that comes from the steepness of the grade.

This clip is my first run up 'The Esses' on Saturday morning while the track was cold and still damp:



This clip was my last and best attempt at 30.77:


Tony was able to break the class record on one of his runs. This is his track prepared SE (in which I could not catch him!)



Keith Hammond was also there with his NA8 and produced some impressive times



As usual there were a host of other interesting machines. This Rx7 made all the right noises…





Day two began cool and damp, but warmed quickly into very good conditions.



The course for day two runs up the other side of the mountain and is called ‘Mountain Straight’. It’s easily the fastest hillclimb I’ve done, ending in 5th gear over the finish line. Because of the lines you have to take to set up for the last corner, I found this course to be genuinely frightening across the top of the mountain. My best attempt was a 54.97.


The class I had entered was the ‘Road registered, non-log booked, rear wheel drive, 2500cc and over’. There were 23 entries in this class, and I placed 13th and 9th for the two courses respectively.

After this experience, I am pretty sure I will be back at some point for another attempt.



After the last run on Sunday afternoon, I left almost immediately and made my way to the New England Highway. I stopped at the Burning Mountain rest area near Wingen, north of Scone and about an hour south of Tamworth. I unrolled my swag in a covered area complete with red backs and roosting swallows and slept like a log.

I stopped in a foggy Tamworth for a coffee and breakfast in the morning…



…and was back in QLD by midday…



… and home in Brisbane by 2:30pm

 

Work commitments have completely upended my years' motorsport plans, and I've ended up stuck in taxis, planes and hotels. The car is still on the trailer since I parked it in March.

The only thing I can do while stuck in a hotel somewhere is buy parts, right?

 

I've had no spare time to really drive it, but I've managed to tick a few items of the safety gear list.

A two layer suit:



...and a 20 degree HANS device:



My helmet does not accept HNR posts, so I will be on the hunt for a helmet as well before the next event.

 

I can't recall if it were the helmet of HNR instructions, but they said to drill a hole in the helmet, and use the provided anchors. Provided Hans provides anchors like Schroth does.

 

Unfortunately, this invalidates the helmet under the rules of the Australian motorsport governing body.