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52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
Thought I would update the thread. I finally got the battery installed in the car. I ended up making a temporary way to tie it to the floor but I'm going to need to make something better. I was trying to get it done before the last event of the season so I didn't get any pictures of the finished product.

Last weekend was the final event of the season. I had high hopes for it but just could seem to put it together this weekend. The car was doing okay I seemed to pick up a push in the front of the car. I've been working hard on getting better grip in the rear of the car that the car has a push now on corner entry. I made some changes to the shocks to get the car more on the nose. It helped but didn't solve the problem. I was so used to the car just going in the direction I wanted now I'm fighting it. Here's my fastest runs of the weekend. I was 7th out of the fastest 8 cars of the day but way off the 2 fastest cars in my class

Saturday


Sunday


The weekend was tough but I got to race with an awesome group of people that I had a great year of racing with. I'm looking forward to next year.

2023 Plans

I'm currently working on my plans 2023 plans for the car. I told myself I was going to keep it simple next year but I also like to lie to myself. I have parts that I haven't installed yet like the surge tank and a rear diffuser. I'm looking into getting an SLA for the front of the car but there isn't many options. I'm currently looking at Mod Squad garage since I could reuse my MM k-member and they have a option for MCS coilovers which would be nice since I'm currently running MCS in my car now. I've heard good things about them but haven't talked to anyone using their SLA currently. I tried to see if I could hunt down a used Agent 47 SLA but with no luck. Not sure about the Ridetech SLA since it's not available. The Ridetech one looks interesting but time will tell how good it is. I would also like to work on a splitter for the front of the car. So like I said I'm keeping it simple next year.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,424
8,349
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Thanks for letting many or us race vicariously with you and the site looks like a pretty good one for cone killing? I remember friends in SoCal said they used to run an old Naval Installation in the San Diego area, but not sure if this is the area or not? Regardless , it sounds like you had a fun year, the car sounds great, and it was fun watching you dance through the pylons.
Have a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season!
 
52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
Thanks for letting many or us race vicariously with you and the site looks like a pretty good one for cone killing? I remember friends in SoCal said they used to run an old Naval Installation in the San Diego area, but not sure if this is the area or not? Regardless , it sounds like you had a fun year, the car sounds great, and it was fun watching you dance through the pylons.
Have a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season!
I raced at the Naval training center a few times back in the late 90's. It was just after it closed and was in the middle of being redeveloped. I think we were running on the parade grounds if I remember correctly. We don't have anywhere to run in San Diego anymore I have to tow the car to either Lake Elsinore or to Fontana to Auto club speedway which is the place in most of my videos. Unfortunately NASCAR is taking over the track in February and it's being shutdown to events for the foreseeable future. But we still have Lake Elsinore, Angels stadium in Anaheim and a few others so I will be racing next year.
 
52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
Small update on the car. Since the last event I've mainly focused on getting the surge tank installed in the car. I also added a access panel so I could remove the in tank fuel pump from the car without dropping the tank. I decided to mount the surge tank right where the spare tire tied down to. This meant I had to move the Accusump back closer to the rear of the car. Which also meant I had to move the breather for the rear diff to the side to make room. Wasn't a big deal moving everything around since I didn't have to change any lines on the Accusump.

oNJ4rBFxBkkahaHP_q_WsTazs=w960-h1280-no?authuser=0.jpg

I ended up putting it to the test this weekend. I ran the car lower on fuel then I ever had on e85 and never had an issue with fuel delivery. Which leads me into this weekend. We had the final event at Auto club speedway Lot 6. It's sucks to see it go and were hoping this wasn't the last event at that lot but it's not looking good right now. The car felt good this weekend. I worked on the front of the car to get it to work better at this event and it did I was much happier with it. I was able to put down a good time on Saturday that put me really close to the top runners. I really need to work on my throttle control. I'm spinning the tires to much and loosing time. This is my fastest run from Saturday and you can see by the finish I was putting in to much throttle input.


Sunday was looking good with the car. My first set of runs were looking good but still needed to work on my throttle control because I know I'm loosing time. I was hoping to improve on my second set of runs but luck wasn't with me since it started to rain just before I was supposed to go out and made the course very slick. I ran the car in the wet anyways because I figured why not I wouldn't mind seeing what the car would do in the wet.


It was a good weekend looking forward to the next one with the SCCA in two weeks. It will be a tighter shorter course but my car works pretty well on those types of courses.
 
52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
Another autocross in the books this weekend. This time with the San Diego SCCA region. It was a fun course pretty fast with a good flow. The one thing about this lot is the grip level is high and all the work I had done to the cat to get it to work at Lot 6 in Fontana didn't work very well at this event. The car had a big push in the front I was able to dial some of it out with turning up the compression setting on the rear shocks but didn't have a good feeling with the rear of the car all day. I also need to work on more of my driving I think a big part of my problem is I'm not hitting my marks very good. I might also need to look at the setup of the car. We spent the past 2 years getting it to work on a low grip surface but now trying to run it on a high grip surface and its really changed how the car works. I also need to get some confidence in the grip level of the car. I just wasn't feeling confident in the back of the car this weekend the front of the car was working really good once I got some of the push dialed out.


I have a few thing to work on with the car before the next event. The rear brakes are getting pretty chewed up and they need to be replaced. I might have a small oil leak from the back of the oil pan which sucks. I might also need to look at spring rates in the car. Since we have a made a lot of changes to the suspension I want to also check the bump steer in the front and rear of the car. I haven't checked it in a long time and it might be a good idea.
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
984
1,277
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
Run looks pretty good. Was the push happening more on corner entry or exit? A higher grip surface lets you brake later/harder as well, and that can either help with corner entry push by letting you trail brake and keep more weight transfer on the nose, or hurt by overwhelming the front tire grip. It also lets you pick up the throttle harder on exit, which may need a softening of rebound on the front. Increasing rear compression will reduce corner-entry push that happens after you turn in, but can increase corner-exit push.

I do not think I saw it in the video, but if you're used to a lot with less grip, you're probably used to braking earlier with less force. On a higher grip lot, you might still be braking where you're used to but then reach a higher threshold, so you end up over-slowing for a corner. As soon as you realize this, you come off the brakes to roll the corner at the higher apex speed the grip allows, but that "bounces" the nose of the car and you lose a chunk of front grip right when you need it the most - mid- to late-entry.

One thing I noticed in the video - you looked "late" in the walom (0:22). You were getting close to the first cone in each wall; I try to use the last cone in each wall as a target. Same idea of in a standard slalom, trying to hit the backside of each cone with the rear wheel.
 
52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
Run looks pretty good. Was the push happening more on corner entry or exit? A higher grip surface lets you brake later/harder as well, and that can either help with corner entry push by letting you trail brake and keep more weight transfer on the nose, or hurt by overwhelming the front tire grip. It also lets you pick up the throttle harder on exit, which may need a softening of rebound on the front. Increasing rear compression will reduce corner-entry push that happens after you turn in, but can increase corner-exit

I was getting corner entry push with the car. It had it really bad on the first run but after adding compression to the rear shocks it helped. But I did start to pick up more corner exit push which caught me out a couple of times. Nothing to much throttle couldn't solve which is another one of my issues. I really need to do something about the really floppy clunky throttle pedal in the car. Unfortunately no one makes one I like or even fits right.

I do not think I saw it in the video, but if you're used to a lot with less grip, you're probably used to braking earlier with less force. On a higher grip lot, you might still be braking where you're used to but then reach a higher threshold, so you end up over-slowing for a corner. As soon as you realize this, you come off the brakes to roll the corner at the higher apex speed the grip allows, but that "bounces" the nose of the car and you lose a chunk of front grip right when you need it the most - mid- to late-entry.

I was braking to early for the corners. There was a few times where I realized it lifted off the brakes trying to roll through the corner but would already be going so slow I would have to transition back to the gas to keep the cars momentum up. I'm also not trail braking enough with the car on this new surface. The last lot you had to be really careful with your trail braking.

One thing I noticed in the video - you looked "late" in the walom (0:22). You were getting close to the first cone in each wall; I try to use the last cone in each wall as a target. Same idea of in a standard slalom, trying to hit the backside of each cone with the rear wheel.

I didn't get the walom right on this run I had it better on a some of my first runs. The run in the video is a time only run for fun. You get 4 class runs then for $25 more you can get 4 fun runs for time only. I used those runs to experiment with corner entry and mid corner. The lap in the video at (0.40) I get onto the gas to much for the right turn and the front pushes out which kills my exit and puts me on the wrong side for the left into the finish.

I think there is a couple issues at play. The first one is my driving I really need to fine tune it. I keep making little mistakes against people that don't make mistakes which hurts. I need to work on getting the job done in 4 laps. I'm used to running in a series you had 9 laps spread out all day in 3 sessions of 3 laps. The next is working on the setup. The car has always struggled with putting the power down out of corners. I need to keep up as much speed into the corner and through the corner since I know the IRS won't grip as well out of the corner like a torque arm car. It also seemed to roll more which I'm sure is due to the higher grip levels.
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
984
1,277
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
With the increased roll, you may want to consider dialing in some more front camber. Take a look at the wear pattern on the shoulder.

My local club also does a lot of runs (6 - 9), but other clubs I go to often only do 4 runs, and national events are only 3. I've got a few things that help me. First, treat every event as if it only has 3 runs and evaluate the results using the best of your first 3 runs - think of the rest as fun runs. Second, drive 110% on your first run; you easily can back off a bit on your second run, but you might find that you understimated how hard you drive some elements. With only 3-4 runs, it's easier to overdrive and then back off, than it is to try to creep up on your best run.

Third, and most important, make sure you know the course like the back of your hand. Walk it, walk it again, draw it, walk it another time, and try not to be distracted by others. For each major element, come up with a game plan of where you want to position the car on entry, apex, and exit, determine which way the car is pointed for each (early or late apex, are you rotating the car more or less to line up the next element, etc.), and where you want to be looking (roughly, at entry you want to be looking at the exit, and at apex you want to be looking at the entry for the next element). As you finish the course walk, try to play a mental movie in your head of what the run will look like and what kinds of inputs you'll be making. If you watch downhill skiing, you'll see them do the same thing outside the start hut - eyes closed, rocking side to side as they imagine their run through each gate. In my head, I usually run the movie at around 4x speed, so a 60-second course plays in my head in 15-20 seconds; I'm not sure, but that may help me "slow time down" when I actually drive the course so it seems like I have more time to think about what's happening and make corrections. As you sit in line before your first run, play that mental movie again a couple times. Then right after each run, analyze where the run was different from what you imagined and adjust for the next run. Before each run, play the adjusted mental movie again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
 
52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
With the increased roll, you may want to consider dialing in some more front camber. Take a look at the wear pattern on the shoulder.
The wear looks good on the front tires. The rear is rolling over a bit. Unfortunately I can't get more than -1.5 camber in the rear of the car.

My local club also does a lot of runs (6 - 9), but other clubs I go to often only do 4 runs, and national events are only 3. I've got a few things that help me. First, treat every event as if it only has 3 runs and evaluate the results using the best of your first 3 runs - think of the rest as fun runs. Second, drive 110% on your first run; you easily can back off a bit on your second run, but you might find that you understimated how hard you drive some elements. With only 3-4 runs, it's easier to overdrive and then back off, than it is to try to creep up on your best run.
We get 4 competition runs and 4 fun runs. I do use a similar method I try and get it done in my first 3 runs with my 4th run is almost a bonus run. My normal approach to my first run is to do about 90-95% to figure out my line then second run turn it up to 110%. Then I try and take what I learned from the line in run one and what I learned from pushing the car in run two and put them together for run 3. The one issue I have always had is I'm a creature habit. If I hit a bad line I really have to focus to break myself of it. When I ran the NMCA events and you had 3 sessions of 3 runs you had a break between run groups so it was easier to break myself of bad habits. The fun runs I use to try other things like lines or pushing the car further into corners. I started to really push on the car during the fun runs trying to figure out how much grip the lot has. I dropped close to a second during my fun runs.

Third, and most important, make sure you know the course like the back of your hand. Walk it, walk it again, draw it, walk it another time, and try not to be distracted by others. For each major element, come up with a game plan of where you want to position the car on entry, apex, and exit, determine which way the car is pointed for each (early or late apex, are you rotating the car more or less to line up the next element, etc.), and where you want to be looking (roughly, at entry you want to be looking at the exit, and at apex you want to be looking at the entry for the next element). As you finish the course walk, try to play a mental movie in your head of what the run will look like and what kinds of inputs you'll be making. If you watch downhill skiing, you'll see them do the same thing outside the start hut - eyes closed, rocking side to side as they imagine their run through each gate. In my head, I usually run the movie at around 4x speed, so a 60-second course plays in my head in 15-20 seconds; I'm not sure, but that may help me "slow time down" when I actually drive the course so it seems like I have more time to think about what's happening and make corrections. As you sit in line before your first run, play that mental movie again a couple times. Then right after each run, analyze where the run was different from what you imagined and adjust for the next run. Before each run, play the adjusted mental movie again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I normally walk the course 3 times sometimes more if I can fit it in. The issue sometimes is focus talking with people and realizing you just walked a third of the course and didn't pay close enough attention. I like to get a walk in alone and with people that I know are trying to focus on the course and car placement. They also do a novice and advanced course walk which I like to do since the course is normally clear. I went on the advanced course walk this event since Tom Berry was the instructor. I've done a few autocross course walks with Tom and I've learned a lot. He is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to autocrossing so it is always good to get his take on a course. When I'm in grid before my first run I try and visualize the course from when I walked it while I'm sitting in my car. Just play the run out in my head with my hands on the wheel. The thing I need to get back into the habit of doing is analyzing my run when I get back into the grid while sitting in the car after my run. I need to get my consistency back that I've lost the past couple years. Some of the people I race with have told me they always have to keep an eye on me each run because I will come out of nowhere with a really fast run.

Thanks Dave for talking the time to respond to my thread. It's always good to hear how someone else's process for an autocross weekend. You've given me some things to try at the next event.
 
52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
I decided before the next event on March 12th I was going to make a couple changes to the rear suspension on the car. It's nothing rally major just a small ride height adjustment since the rear of the car is sitting to high based on my measurements and a toe change. The car has been running a ton of toe in for a long time. When I first installed the IRS we went with a small amount of toe in but it increased during the first year I had the IRS in the car. I was told and it made sense due to the mounting of the IRS cradle it will move under load. The fact the lower control arm is mounted so low verses where the cradle mounts to the frame there was a lot of leverage on the rear of the cradle making move under hard cornering. This movement can cause the outside tire to toe out and the inside tire to toe in kind of like rear steering. One way to fix this is adding toe in to the car so the outside tire won't toe out under load. During last year I decided to address this issue with the cradle mounting. I didn't hard tail mount it but added some bracing.

First was the "Mathis brace" named after the guy who came up with it.

hJxCcNSQ9UWWKilA4roCqYstH=w768-h1024-no?authuser=0.jpg

The next was reinforcing the upper mounting bracket.

KE1DVnfc9_6uPZy9cvCRCWMsP=w819-h1024-no?authuser=0.jpg

We also welded the two spot welded pieces together and boxed in the open end of the bracket. I also have delrin bushings for the cradle just haven't installed them yet. The car had around 1/4 inch toe in on each side. Normally you would want around a 1/16 to an 1/8 each side. So I decided to get out my string alignment tool and set the toe in to 1/16 on each side.

k6CtrH25hUcmyj9NEyhfcTgFo=w1280-h960-no?authuser=0.jpg

Part of the reason for the toe in is the last time it was on an alignment rack they couldn't get the car to toe out at all. I decided to check the toe first before making any adjustments to the car to verify where it was before I took the toe links out to see why they wouldn't adjust in any further. Once I had the base measurements I took the toe links out. That's when I noticed an issue. The driver side toe link was snugged down but not torqued on the cradle side. When I got the toe link out you could tell it had been moving around. The spacers were marked up like they had been rubbing together. How much it was moving not sure. It would explain the way the car would feel on corner entry especially under heavy load. When I first installed the IRS I did a couple track days and the car was fine. I'm not sure if this is something that loosened over time or what all I know is it wasn't torqued down.

After I got the toe links out I took them apart and shortened them up as much as possible. Then reinstalled them into the car. Then I got it back on it's wheels and ride height and now the car has toe out. I left the toe link jam nuts loose and set the toe to 1/16. I guess we will find out how it works at the next event.
 
52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
Another autocross weekend in the books. It was a mixed weekend. The changes I made to the car worked really good. I made the changes to the toe in and ride height in the rear for the SCCA event that ended up getting cancelled. I decided for this event since really it was a test event for me to run higher spring rates in the car to try out. The grip at Las Vegas motor speedway is very similar to the lot we run at with the SCCA. So what I learned this weekend so carry over to SCCA events when it comes to the handling of the car. The added spring rates in the front and the rear really made the car neutral. It had a small hint of push right at the apex. It really didn't mess me up at all since it was so small and right at the point I was moving back to the gas which caused the car to start to rotate around the corner.

The next part I wanted to work on was my driving. I wanted to push myself to trail brake more but didn't have the confidence in the car or myself to do it. The first direction we ran the course had a lot of decreasing radius corners which you can see from the first video. I was trail braking hard into this corners and the car was working really well which boosted my confidence in myself and the car. The end result was a really good final lap putting me in the mix with the fastest guys, Unfortunately when I was exiting the bus stop at the beginning of the run you can hear a bump that was me hitting a cone. This was my fastest run on Friday under the lights which I have never done before. I ended the day in 4th which I was happy with.


Saturday I went into it with confidence. The car was feeling good and working well. I knew Saturday was going to be harder the course was going in reverse which made the corners slow in and fast out. My car doesn't bite as good as torque arm car out of corners plus it was going up hill. I decided it would be a good time to work on my throttle control which I know nothing about. by the end of the day I was able to work the gas really well and happy with the progress i made. I was also finding when entering the corners I could tap the brake which would set the nose of the car and drive it to the apex which I could never really do before. I was right on the heels of the fastest guys and my final lap was going really well until I made a mistake into the bus stop spinning the car. I asked a little to much from the rear of the car and paid for it. This is the video of my fastest run from Saturday. It has some mistakes in it but it was my fastest. I didn't post the run i spun in. I watched it and you can see it was shaping up to be a good run I was at 1000rpms more when entering the bus stop on the run I spun than this run I posted. I ended the day in 5th.


Sunday we ran the course the same direction as Saturday. Which I was happy with it gave me more chances to work on throttle control. I did pretty much the same thing as Saturday just working on throttle control. I was getting really good not lighting up the rears really bad getting a good even pull up the hills. Unfortunately I did the same thing on my fastest run. It looks great right up until I enter the bus stop. I didn't spin this time but lost the rear tried to catch it then the rear caught and went off course. I was really bummed on myself after that. I made two costly mistakes in the same corner both days. i noticed both times I was carrying way more speed into the bus stop than I had on previous laps. I ended up 4th on the day which wasn't to bad. Here's the fastest from Sunday which I think was less than a hundredth away from my time on Saturday.


The take a way from the weekend is the car is working good right now. I'm feeling more confidence in the car and myself. Thank you Dave for the pointers you gave me in your posts. I put them to use and it helped. Even after 26 years of autocross I'm still learning which is the only way to get faster. I was really disappointed in the mistakes I made this weekend. They were costly but I leaned from them. All in all the weekend was good. I was getting to race so how bad could it be. The major take away from the event is the car is working good. Normally if I wanted to be close to the fast guys I would have to be on new tires and they would have to be on old tires. This event I ran tires I had a lot of runs on from last year. I wanted to run an old set of tires since this event was for fun plus I didn't want a good tire masking issues with the car. I finished close to the fastest runners even with old tires. I was the highest placing car that wasn't backed by the event title sponsor TCI.

I have a few things to look over on the car over this week. it has a bit of an oil leak from the rear of the pan from what I can tell it's really small but needs to be addressed. The plan is to run it again with the SCCA this Sunday. I have work to do before I load it on a trailer Saturday.
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
984
1,277
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
Those were some really nice runs. You're looking ahead really well - on the sharp turns you're looking out the passwnger side window. And your shuffle-steering technique looks good. On both the Sat. & Sun. runs, it looks like you're trying to accelerate too much where I think you're calling the bus stop. It's a sharp left, a slightly longer arc right, then a sharp left. You're never really straight through the whole thing, but right in the middle it sounds like you're hard on the gas and you make a correction as the back end steps out. I think that's one of those "you can't make up time, but you can sure lose it" types of elements. You may just need to give it "speed maintenance" throttle through that right-hand arc in the middle.

Going back to what we both talked about earlier, that's something you could identify in a post-run analysis. Where did the car get loose, why did it do that, and what do I change on the next run?

Overall, though, really nice runs. Good to hear how well you placed even on worn tires, and that the car is working well. Congratulations!
 
52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
Those were some really nice runs. You're looking ahead really well - on the sharp turns you're looking out the passwnger side window. And your shuffle-steering technique looks good. On both the Sat. & Sun. runs, it looks like you're trying to accelerate too much where I think you're calling the bus stop. It's a sharp left, a slightly longer arc right, then a sharp left. You're never really straight through the whole thing, but right in the middle it sounds like you're hard on the gas and you make a correction as the back end steps out. I think that's one of those "you can't make up time, but you can sure lose it" types of elements. You may just need to give it "speed maintenance" throttle through that right-hand arc in the middle.
It was definitely a part of the course where being patient would pay off better. It was close to the end of the lap and sometimes I can catch my self pushing to hard like I'm going to make up sometime in the last few corners when I need to relax and hit my marks.

Going back to what we both talked about earlier, that's something you could identify in a post-run analysis. Where did the car get loose, why did it do that, and what do I change on the next run?
I've made progress in this area but not enough. I need to focus on reviewing my previous runs and adapting my driving based on what the car was doing. I have an SCCA event this weekend to do more work on that part.

Overall, though, really nice runs. Good to hear how well you placed even on worn tires, and that the car is working well. Congratulations!
Thanks this was a fun event for me. The car was working a lot better than it has for awhile. I think it's partly aided by the fact the lot has really good grip. The lot I'm racing at this weekend has a very similar grip level so it should be good.
 
52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
Got in another day of racing this Sunday with the San Diego Region SCCA. The course was fun and pretty challenging. I ended up finishing second out of 5 cars which I was happy with considering how my first and third runs went. I started off my first run with a spin. The car felt like it could grip better but I was wrong. The second run I was good enough to take the lead in class. The third run I dropped another 4 tenths but hit a cone the forth run I just wanted to get a good clean solid run. I got a good run clean dropping another 2 tenths but got beat by 4 tenths. We all struggled with grip I thought I had done enough but it wasn't. I ran my 4 extra runs after and was able to set a time that would have won the class but to little to late. It feels like the grip level is far better than I was used to but not as good as Las Vegas. I might have to try dropping the rear spring rate a tiny bit to get that neutral feeling again. This was my fastest run of the weekend. Still need to work on getting fastest quicker.


I don't have another event until April 16 so I have a bit of a break. I do have somethings to go over in the car so this will give me a chance to work on it.
 
52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
Another event in the books this weekend finished third yesterday but had a good time racing with friends. It was another weekend where I set a time in my time only runs that would have won the class but 4 runs to late. It's nice to know the car is fast enough to win but I'm not making it happen fast enough. My first run was rough and got a DNF right at the end. The finish sucked you in and if you didn't pay close enough attention you could easily over shoot it and go off course. I probably could have made the finish but I would have whipped out 4 cones and I didn't want to do that to the course works. I felt bad for the people that had to work that part of the course because it was getting hit hard. The car felt pretty good this weekend we made some changes to the front shocks with the nitrogen to increase the spring lift and it made the front better. I was still fighting the rear of the car for corner exit grip but that might have been me just getting on the gas to hard. I did make a change to the front and rear shock settings which helped probably should have done that during my comp runs. The next event isn't for another month so I have a few maintenance items to look into and I was going to check the bump steer on the car since I have been playing with the ride height.

 
52
109
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
San Diego
Since I haven't posted in awhile I thought it was time to share an update on the car. I haven't really been doing much work on the car for awhile. I did pull the upper intake off to put new gaskets on the valve covers since we believe that is where the oil leak is coming from. The driver side gasket was popping out a bit and might have caused the leak. It was really boring work so I didn't post about it. I have been work on a plan for some summer updates to the car. My last event before the summer break is June 11 after that I won't have another event until Sept 30-June 1 so I have a pretty big break. I'm going to need every bit of it. Since I'm not the smartest person I'm going to replace most of the wiring in the car. This includes the EFI system installed in the car now.

After a lot of thought I'm going to replace all the fuses and relays in the car with a pair of these.

x2RRxs2Q9qi8l2KhQWdeWQS=w1024-h768-s-no?authuser=1.jpg

I have one that will control things that have to do with the engine and the other will control the body functions such as lights and signals. I'm also going to remove all the gauges in the car and move to this dash.

oY_lsWR9Izm4KcSpiSq4jxZ=w1024-h768-s-no?authuser=1.jpg

Its the AEM CD-7L which will work with the new EFI system. It will also be able to data log the EFI system plus has a module that will data log the pitch, roll, yaw and G loads on the car. As for the EFI system I did go a little overboard for my car considering it's a NA 347 but it also has a lot of expansion and would give me the ability to pretty much any engine combo I could want in the car. I decided to go with the Holley Dominator. It has a lot of functions that would be nice to have like the ability to run speed sensors shock travel sensors and plenty of other things I'm not thinking of right now. I'm going to run it with 2 NTK wideband sensors that will work better with E85. I also like the fact it can data log without having a laptop in the car. It's going to be a pretty big change for the car and take a lot of time to make it work. It's also going to be challenging my abilities at wiring. I'm really good at wiring but I haven't taken on a project of this size before but looking forward to the challenge. I'm not going to have much updates until after the June 11th event but once I get the install started I'm going to try my best to keep this thread updated.
 
34
43
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
Soddy Daisy, TN
Damn Peter! If I had the time, skills, and more importantly, money I would build pretty much this exact car. The only thing I would probably be doing different would be either staying with the 418/427w and having a nice, quality stereo for long distance drives.
The quality of work you have done and are doing is exceptional!
 

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