Your right. you overheated them. the compound is breaking down, and leaving itself on the rotor. your brake coolers should help. i would switch up to a higher tq pad too.

 

Alright- Finally got the new brakes in and dialed... Had some issues with fitment that I had to work through.

As seen in previous posts, the front rotors were hitting the outer tie rod ball joint when I installed them, so I lightly grinded the ball joints and finished installing the brakes. When I drove around to break in the pads there was a horrible grinding noise when the car would hit bumps and when I was turning the wheel. After getting the car back in the garage I realized I didn't clearance enough room for the ball joints as the suspension moved and when the steering wheel was turned. I gouged the **** out of my rotors.

I talked to Emilio and he'd never seen this issue, so I'm not sure what the problem was. Anyways- bought new ball joints and rotors, installed them and they had better clearance, but still required grinding. I cut an old one apart to make sure there is some material there so I don't rip the ball joint apart while driving.

Seems meaty enough:


Made a cowl CAI thing- I'll see if this works, then maybe finish boxing in the filter if I find some more aluminum:


Got an alignment and washed the car (this is not my plantation home )



Headed to pueblo motorsports park tomorrow. Excited to try these brakes on track.

 

New brakes are AWESOME


Pueblo Motorsports Park is fun- a little narrow, but good mix of corners and some elevation change. The track was recently resurfaced, so it is in good shape and pretty smooth. Will definitely be going back.


Managed to run a 1.47.85 which I think is on the same second as the SM record.


Driving comments are always welcome.

 

Try to stay on the blacktop would be my only comment!

Car looks fast!

 

haha. Thanks- it was my first time out at this track, so some off-roading is expected.



QUESTION:

I get some weird chatter/vibration from the front wheels when understeering in certain corners... My front hubs feel tight, and I just rebuilt/replaced a bunch of steering rack stuff. Anything else to check for?

 

whoops



I almost rear-ended a guy in a Saturn Sky on hoosiers who braked a lot harder and earlier than I expected. Luckily I avoided contact, although my poor tires had to be sacrificed. I think I can now justify purchasing some 225/45 Toyo RR's.


Lots of fast cars going slow. Ran a 2:09.1 which is my personal best, but I feel like I could have done a high 2:07 with a few more sessions. The tire thing cut my day pretty short. Oh well.

Video:

 

Gee . . . I've never done that! LOL.

Maxxis RC-1s are out in that size now too. More of a street compound, so might last longer and be better in cold weather.

Didn't see the Sky in your vid. Did I miss it?

 

Haha, this is my first time ruining a tire by flat-spotting, so I'm not doing too bad. I've been looking at those Maxxis and NT-01's, but I want to go faster. Seems like I need *just* a little more to really harass the fast cars at the track, and even if I burn through twice as many RR's as I would Maxxis (or whatever 100 tw tire) I don't track enough times per year to really care about the money savings.


The incident with the Sky was a different session and I was filming backwards off the roof. Video isn't very good.

 

Nice man. After i burn away these Rivals I may just try that RC1 in 225/45/15. I have 15x9s that they should fit on nicely.

 

Back working on the car & I have a question- I'm putting a new cam in a 99' head and am working on checking/shimming the valves.

I found this on another forum:
Clearance for the valves according to MAZDA:
Intake: .008-.009
Exhaust: .011-.012

Is the above info correct? Pretty much ALL of my valves would be out of adjustment if that is correct. My intake valves range from .004-.006 and exhaust valves range from .006-.009.

This head hasn't been run in a long time and I'm curious if I should run it for a little while (and break in the new cam), then re-check the clearances once it's been run for a little while? Bad idea?



I've relocated to the laundry room since it's 10 degrees in the garage :(

 

The clearances are correct. It sounds like you've got a used head with fairly normal valve/seat wear. It was due for a reshim job anyway. I'd go ahead and do it. You need a caliper or micrometer to measure your existing shims. Once you're done swapping things around, you'll probably only need to buy a couple of shims to complete the job.

 

Coors light?

 

Sounds good- thanks for the info. Digital calipers good enough?


I try to support my local micro-brew. lol

 

That's what I used.

 

Coors light - his location says Colorado. Geography-based exemption approved.

 

I like cheap beer.


There I said it.

 

Bud Light Lime for me!

 

I have a lot of respect for both of you guys... but I lost just a little bit of it with these posts. No harm no foul, you're still in the "a lot" category lol.

 

Well, I gotta' tell ya', when you're wrenching in 110F TX heat, there really is nothing like an ice cold BLL.

I keep digging my hole!

 

Got out for the HPR customer appreciation day... basically if you'd paid for a HPDE in 2014 they let you on for free. Track was crowded- more like a California track day- lots of Porsches and Corvettes.


Almost hit a spec 944 at 13:33 in the video.



I ran a personal best 2:06.83 on new NT-01's (225 wide) with a little water on track. I think my new goal is sub 2:00 after I get all my new stuff installed.


My BP4W head is shimmed and ready to go in the car and most of my stuff has arrived. Teardown has begun!

Going on the car soon:
-Ported head
-949 BGK
-15x9 6UL and Hoosiers
-Trackspeed oil cooler