Yo wait, I meant to ask in Roda's thread, did your transmission go full catastrophic?

Funny you'd ask that, I was just experimenting with some stuff I had on hand this morning...

I wanted to get rid of the oxidization too, or at least minimize it enough to paint the block and not have anybody notice the texture underneath. My approach wasn't scientific, I have all sorts of fluids here so I took some educated guesses and threw some darts at the board.



The concoction: some knock off WD-40, foaming decarb/degreaser for induction systems and combustion chambers, carb cleaner, and a thrashed-*** steel wire brush.

I coated the head and block one side at a time in the "BAS-40" penetrating oil and let it soak in for 20 minutes, went to town with the brush, more penetrating oil, then soaked it in foaming degreaser for 20 more minutes (this stuff is really good at lifting grime and sludge too), then blasted all the residue off with the carb cleaner. Here's how the driver side of the engine came out after a couple lazy passes. Not perfect but pretty damn close! I think one more round of penetrating oil and scrubbing will leave it looking presentable.

 

I haven't used it yet, but after some googling, the Napa aluminum brightener seems to be well reviewed for this sort of thing. Before I try it, I need to do a basic degrease like you are though for sure.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/shop/p...aner/201806154

 

Looks clean AF! My threads overdue for an update but I've been busy with back to back trips.

And yeah the miracle 5 speed finally RIP'd.

 

Quick mini update. Been prepping the car for Buttonwillow since last week. I got some work done on it Saturday afternoon and took it for a rip in the mountains early Sunday morning. She's feeling great. I can't tell to what extent the longer front splitter is having on handling but I'm really excited to get the car on track this weekend and find out

I did, however, learn an important lesson on Sunday morning. The NC's gas gauge lags a bit if you're burning substantially more fuel than stock and driving the car in anger on the twisties. I got down the mountain with a quarter tank left on the gauge, was heading toward the freeway, and the car ran out of gas... Luckily, I did so in the best possible spot. I was able to coast the car into a Walmart parking lot, buy a gallon of water and walk only a half mile to the closest ethanol station. I've been pretty good about keeping fuel in the car during track days lately, as I've fuel starved it six or seven times in the past, costing me TT positions on multiple occasions. Guess I just haven't run into this issue until now, but good to know for the next track event. Outside of this situation, I've run the fuel gauge down to full empty on the street with no issue.



Finished prep on the car this week. Swapped the sticker set of RC1's on, replaced the rear brake pads which were down to 2mm, new rear rotors, oil and filter change, new transmission fluid, gravity bled the front brakes, and put a stick on fabric repair patch on my tearing driver's seat bolster (thanks for the rec, @SimBa). I also finally bought my own Aim Solo 2 so I could stop borrowing Frankie's. Set that up last night and configured all the tracks I usually make it to. Oh, and I pulled off the sweet new side skirts so I don't get protested/DQ'd at this race. She's as ready as she's gonna get!





Also pulled the head off of the new 2.5 this week to do some fun things to it. More on that to come. The pistons and combustion chambers were both coated in quite a bit of carbon but the cross hatching on the cylinders still looks great. A hint of rust at the top of the chambers but that shouldn't be a problem to remove. Currently soaking the pistons in ATF to make the carbon easier to dislodge

 

2nd post about those fabric patches today lol. Glad they worked for you.

 

Good stuff man. Good luck out there this weekend!

 

That cylinder crosshatching looks brand new. Definitely jealous of $500 motors that look that friggin fresh inside. That's been long gone from BP land.

 

Dude they’re magic. Fixing the seat tear made my car feel easily 10% less janky. I haven’t done anything to make my car feel less janky in ages!

Appreciate it dude, I’m gonna need it haha. Hopefully I’ll have a weekend report half as entertaining as your guys’ FMSC recaps!

I’m sure there are more than a few bad eggs out there and I just got lucky with this one, but yeah dude I feel you haha. Being able to toss in one of these motors with upgraded cams, springs, and a Fluidampr for the current entry cost of a BP is one of the top 3 reasons I chose this chassis. Knock on wood but my current motor seems to be handling the abuse so far. Hopefully the Fluidampr and oil pan baffles are really all that was needed to keep these things durable for track use.

Since we’re on topic, I pulled the rod caps for inspection today. Bearings look excellent too.



Had a bit of .002-.006” plastigage on hand as well so I used some on the rod journals just for the hell of it. The FSM specifies .001-.002” clearance to be within spec. All four rod bearing clearances measured under .002”. Not the optimal size plastigage but I’m not at all worried given how good the bearings look. I was mostly just entertaining myself with the little exercise lol.



Car’s loaded up and ready to miss top spot by three tenths of a second again tomorrow!

 

Give 'em hell out there this weekend! Who knows, if you drive well maybe you'll only lose by two tenths

 

Enjoy the weekend! Looking forward to the report (and vids!) as always.

 

Well f*ck me, that went better than expected.





P1 both days. Just by the skin of my teeth yesterday, then by a better margin today. First time running Buttonwillow CCW in two years today. It's rough and SCARY! Best lap today was set during session 2 due to the rising heat later in the day. It was a little sloppy, and I didn’t have the course layout fully dialed in yet, but the lap got us top spot! Couple vids below, full recap later this week.

 

Holy hell you were flying there bro! That third party view of you reeling in the 'vette was awesome. I can really see the xidas at work.

Are you just powershifting it? You are like a ****** ninja my trans would have blown up years ago if I were doing that

 

Ya awesome result and nice driving Zak! You're moving in that thing and that's cool to see BW CCW. I've seen it so many times CW in vids but running it the opposite way must be a lot of fun.

 

Congrats! Great driving and great result.

Off to see if I have Buttonwillow CCW on the sim...

 

Congrats on the win x2!

 

Hell yeah dude, you were rippin! Congrats on the win! How do you like having the Aim? Game changer or just a nice to have? I've been wanting to upgrade from Harry's...

 

Thanks all! It's been awesome watching this car become a bit of a "threat" in its class after spending 2023/2024 coming to these races just trying not to get last place. I've got a lot to learn still, but I feel like the car and I are jiving pretty well right now.

Man, I'm a bit of a neanderthal but not that bad! Hahhaa I have flat shift enabled on my current tune and will use it if I feel like I'm on a hero lap. For some reason, it sounds like I'm banging the engine off the limiter on camera but in reality, the ECU's cutting fuel at WOT/clutch in and kinda just holding revs in place until I clutch out. For sure it's still straining the trans a bit more than regular shifting, but it doesn't feel jarring in the slightest. I'll probably turn it off when this car gets more power and the transmission is already under heavy strain lol.

Thanks dude! Aim's a game changer for sure, but to be honest I've never used any other lap timers before this, so take that for what it's worth. Just having a lap timer in general was the game changer for me mostly and being able to see the predictive time on screen is huge when driving in a TT format. The main selling point for me is the ability to run the Aim data through their RaceStudio app on a computer. It's incredibly helpful in figuring out where you're making and losing time, even if you're just scratching the surface with basic functions like speed & time. I thought it would be time consuming and unenjoyable to dig through, but it's pretty straightforward and a lot of fun. Bonus points if your buddies have them too, you can overlay your laps with each other and see who sucked the hardest that day and where

 

That's a great result, a good reward for all the work on the car, and no doubt learnings from the data analysis.

Look forward to more!!

 

+1. The single best way to get faster is to have someone set a reference time in your car on your data logging equipment and then be able to directly compare your laps with his. AIM is far more than just a lap timer.

--Ian

 

Alright, weekend recap here we go.


(Edit: I just looked at my lap timer on the screen and realized this was the lap after my fastest of the session. 0.9 seconds off the 1:57 lap. Oops. Too late, we're gonna roll with it).

I was originally super excited to see the driver list last week. There were five or six drivers in TT5 class as of Tuesday, myself and two of my buddies making up part of that list. The two TT5 heavyweights around here, Team Mick Blue and Team Rotary Heads, were not on the signup sheet. That would be a good thing for me. Team Mick Blue fields a Spec E46 that they also race W2W in. The car fits into TT5 class, usually runs a few sessions in TT, and generally dominates. They put over a second and a half into me at Chuckwalla back in February, so if they show up I'm usually out of contention for a W. Then you have Team Rotary Heads, which consists of one of the NASA HPDE officials and one or two other solid drivers. They field an E85/aero-equipped NB2 on Hoosiers that's really quick as well. I think I heard they're pushing 155whp but you wouldn't think that by looking at their lap times. Back when I was running my NA8 at 210whp in TT4, these guys were running circles around me. This year, I've been pretty neck and neck with them, losing to them by 0.07 seconds at Chuckwalla, but beating them by a couple seconds at Willow Springs where ***** get you further than technical ability.

Anyways, I thought I was in for some easy contingency rewards, but Friday night I checked the registration list again and saw both names on there. F*ck.



Saturday would be the "easy" day. We were running layout CW14a, a very similar layout to the CW13 layout that 99% of events here are run on. We did this layout back in October at the last NASA event. It adds one longer section that replaces the usual T2 with two 90* corners, and eliminates the "Bus Stop" section on the back straight, making for a very high speed back section. That day, my car would end up peaking at 118mph before taking the following sweeper at just over 100. Fun and a little sketchy haha. We were treated to six sessions per day this event if we so desired. One practice session first thing in the morning, which also served as a qualifier and set grid positions. Then four timed sessions and a bonus fun run in the evening if you wanted to burn more tire up. I've been burned and stuck in traffic due to grid positioning before, so I usually try to stay out for the entire practice session and set a decent lap at the end once people start to pull off the track. This ended up working really well for me on Saturday. I pulled a 1:59.95 by the end of the session, 7th of 31 on grid. Traffic was no longer an excuse if I blew it on the next session.

Session one starts and I'm in a great position, right in the middle of a bunch of Mustangs and 'Vettes, most of whom I'm familiar with by now. I know the guys (and girl) in front of me are definitely going to put a gap into me, and the ones behind me aren't going to need a point by after we get past the first couple straights. I get zero traffic the whole session, picking up the pace and eventually setting a 1:57.68. I didn't realize this but that was solidly the fastest TT5 time for session one. Had I known, I probably would've pitted to secure it. Instead, I went for two more hot laps and blew the braking zone into the final hairpin, sending my car four wheels off into the dirt at the corner entry. DQ for that session. Woo!

You Tube

Looking at the results for session one, I saw Mick Blue had set a 1:58.59. Gah! I would've had him! Session two was basically going to be last chance. It didn't get past 85* out all weekend, but weather was still substantially cooler in the morning resulting in better lap times. The third session would be 15-20* hotter than the first, and I anticipated everyone was going to be slower no matter how much better we ended up driving. I went out for session two, got a few hot laps in, then saw the Aim flash a 1:58.30 and immediately pitted before I could do anything stupid. That was good for 1st place on day one! And good enough for my car to get audited by the officials. Our TT director, John, is a cool dude, but very thorough. He came over to chat after the third or fourth session and told me I'd have to put my car on the scales to confirm weight. I'd also told him about the e85 conversion I'd done since the last event and they wanted to get my car on the dyno as well. As it sits with the e85 conversion, my car should still be 5-7ish whp under the 191 peak whp limit for its current weight. As a bonus, if the required dyno run is due to an audit by officials, you don't have to pay for it. Unfortunately the on-site dyno broke down on Saturday afternoon and wasn't up and running on Sunday either, so I didn't get to see what the car was making. The car weighed in at 2,630lbs with myself and a full tank in it, though, safely above my minimum weight limit of 2,589lbs.

The rest of Saturday was pretty good outside of racing as well. Three of my buddies came out and and were all instructing too. This event, we were given free reign over who we wanted to jump in the car with. First timers and the Toyota GR experience group (also first timers) were all placed in the same run group and were all given instructors. I've instructed in the Toyota GR group more than a few times now but have never ridden in the new Supra, so I hopped in with a guy driving one of those on Saturday. As expected, the car was seriously impressive in bone stock form. The driver was super cool and responsive. We got him confident and driving much more competently by the end of the day. After his last session, I gave him a ride along in my car to illustrate some of the things I was trying to show him (and just for outright fun). It's always fun telling people you just drive a Miata then getting a positive reaction when you show up in an abomination of a track car

The guys and I wrapped up Saturday night by driving to The Habit for dinner, then heading back to the track for a little beer garden thanks to the event organizers. None of us had any energy left by the time the sun went down and we were all in bed by 10. The next day would be no less exciting.




Saturday night. Absolutely torched from the day and staring off into space, both literally and figuratively.

Sunday recap TBC.