ridethecliche

iTrader: (2)

Hay OP.

Is today your burfday?

icantlearn

It is! How did you know?

codrus

The NSA told him.

--Ian

icantlearn

Miataman00 is not registered with the NSA. He must be stalking me.

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

Not that they would tell you you were registered.

codrus

"register" with the NSA. bwahahahahahah.

Want to know if you have a government file? Write them and ask. If you didn't before, you do now.

--Ian

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

You don't even have to write to them. Just ask

icantlearn

Lots of progress on the car the past 4 days. Not quite done tho. Been way too bust working to get any pics. Ive kinda been rushing. I leave tomorrow afternoon for the track so I need to get everything squared away.

Ill make a big post tomorrow night or something to catch everyone up. Some surprises are happening. Stay tuned.

ridethecliche

iTrader: (2)

Haha, main page of the forum posts birthdays!

icantlearn

OK! Update Time.

Lets start off with explaining the whole cone spacer thing. When I did the timing belt, I had to remove the sway bar, and I guess when I reinstalled it, I must have not tightened the nut on the end link. So I was cruising on the highway right after I finished the car, and I heard something underneath the car, I though it was rocks or something, but I was paranoid so I pulled over to check everything out. Looked fine.

Now when I was prepping the car for the track last weekend I got underneath it do do a visual and saw this...


You guys know how that tuned out.

Random photo of prepping the car


This was the point where I just had to stop screwing around and get stuff done. So no more photos of me working on the car. I was in a huge rush due to my schedule and there was so much that needed to be done.

I received/installed the new oil temp gauge (did I say what happened with the old one?). Installed the 6pt harness, and installed the front splitter and wing. Now here is the surprise I hinted at earlier....I mounted hoosier sm7s

I got them for $100 for the set in like new condition. I couldnt pass the deal up. And boy am I glad I got them. More on this later.

Here is the car "done".




Right after I took these pics we put the car on the trailer I rented and took off for the track (7:30pm). We ended up getting to the track by 12 but it was SO FREAKING HOT that I could not go to sleep until about 2am. I ended up sleeping outside at the gate of the track on a patch of grass.

The next morning we rolled in and claimed our spot. I had arranged for Andrew to bring the brake ducts to the track so I could install them before my first session. Well, Andrew didn't arrive till just before the drivers meeting so I had about 45min to install everything. I ran into some issues and I ended up having to skip my first two or three sessions. The passenger side went in with generally no issues but the last bolt on the drivers side dust shield would not come out. I would have surely snapped it if I would have kept going. So I said **** this and put the car back together so I could just drive it. GOD DAMNIT! That was super frustrating. This is in no way Andrews fault. I should have ordered them earlier so i would have had time to install them at home.

Now, as I roll the car into grid I can hear something rubbing on the front right. So I take that one lap super slow to get the car back into the paddock so I can see whats going on. Turns out the bottom of the singular dust shield needs to be cut to fit on the BBK properly. It was rubbing on the rotor. So I cut the part that was rubbing off and more more rubbing.

So now I'm finally able to get my *** on track. It was so sick. The downforce....the grip...it was...glorious. I have never experienced that amount of grip in my life. It was simply mind boggling. I was struggling to keep my legs apart when cornering. I must have hit like 1.6g or something. I loved it.

Here are pics of the car in the paddock



Hoosiers


The 5 mile track is awesome. Its so much fun, you have the high speed of the east track with the tight, technical sections of the west track. I do think I like the west track more tho. Just more corners.

Things that I noticed that need attention:
1. My downpipe is rattling on something. Im pretty sure its the collar that joins the upper and lower downpipe was loose. My *** got hot.
2. My brakes (pads) were still fading and my pedal is being weird. Its hard to explain. But it feels like I'm getting pad kickback or something. Basically, there is a whole lot of zero pedal pressure/travel before anything happens. There is no air in the system, I checked. 3 times.
3. Power. I want more.
4. The Junk 2 TB was sticking making downshifts jerky. Im returning it.
Here are pics of the car on track. They are a little too pricey for me to want to buy.
00

Cant wait for my next track day. It should be at laguna. Hoping for a 1:45 or better.

I have video, but it turned out horrible, the go pro just makes 110mph look like 30. I need to change some settings. Unless you guys REALLY want to see the footage. I don't think I'm going to post it.

codrus

Glad you enjoyed the 5-mile track. Personally, I like both the east and west sides separately, but I'm not a big fan of gluing them together.

Which Laguna day are you going to? I just signed up for 5/26.

--Ian

icantlearn

Im planning on June 8th with Speed SF. They are my favorite organization so far.

Here is a short clip of the track day. Listen for the weird rattle. Must be the downpipe right? You can also see how the brakes (pads) were fading pretty bad.

iDizzle

Looks like a whole lot of fun.

icantlearn

Ya it was awesome. definitely the most fun I've had in a very long time.

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

What fluid and pads?

Easy solution to fading brakes, use them less

icantlearn

ATE 200 and Gloc r12 all round. Pads were fading. Pedal only got soft once. It honestly surprised me a lot considering how aggressive the pads are supposed to be. And I wasn't braking that hard very often. I just expected more. I honestly feel that the Hawk HPS pads lasted longer before they started to fade. And that was at laguna too. So, not sure whats going on but its not right.

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

Umm. You added aero and hoosiers...thats like...a lot more brake load.

icantlearn

well, yes. But the pads still only lasted like... a half lap before fading. And that still seems odd.

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

I'd guess air in the system or too much braking.

Did you bleed both sides of the calipers?

icantlearn

I bled both sides of the caliper multiple times. No air bubbles.

My rear rotors turned blue. so I might be braking too much. Or braking too late? idk. I need to figure out the pad kickback first tho. that was one of the bigger issues with the brakes.