DSM Forums - Blogs http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blog.php DSM tech forums for performance enthusiasts. en Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:14:31 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg DSM Forums - Blogs http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blog.php My DSM House http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/sp1ke/297-my-dsm-house.html Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:14:20 GMT Just thought I'd post up my collection.

White car: originally my buddys, awd, too rotted to put on road.


http://img105.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_463lo.jpg

Black one in the shed: fwd parts car, came with my one black car I was driving. Nice shape body, no ownership.
http://img184.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_207lo.jpg

Black car outside: I have been driving this car for 3 summers, I fixed it all up, budget car that I was doing 13.3's with.
http://img246.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_106lo.jpg

Green car: awd, bought for parts, its goood shape, i dunno what to do with it.
http://img174.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_873lo.jpg

My new baby original paint no rust. I'm transferring all my parts over to it. To make a kickass car. Previous Owner rust proofed the crap outta it. petro gel along every weld. I've never seen one like this before in Canada.
http://img126.imagevenue.com/img.php...122_1188lo.jpg
http://img246.imagevenue.com/img.php...6_122_97lo.jpg
http://img153.imagevenue.com/img.php...122_1187lo.jpg
http://img224.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_138lo.jpg
http://img221.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_152lo.jpg
This isnt showing wheel gap, its showing the inner fenders how nice they are, the whole friggen underside is like that.
http://img140.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_915lo.jpg ]]> Sp1kE http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/sp1ke/297-my-dsm-house.html Wow What a Crazy Day! http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/4motion4g63/296-wow-what-crazy-day.html Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:52:42 GMT Well It started off Like crap to start.......

My wife Left the 10lb home made lasagna sitting on the counter before she went to bed..... It was so good, and it was suppost to be my lunch and dinner for today..... What a waste of Damn good food. :notgood:

Work was SLOW and BORING! We found out that someone had a burned up BCM on a 08 GMC and it was our techs falt because a wire ran behind a vent that shorted it out after it was open....:notgood:

On my way home some crazy asshole in a Piece of *)#@ 80's Monti carlo with Side pipes and Cragers Pulls in front of me when i was moving at 45mph and he was less than 20 yards away! I slam on my breaks so hard sliding I flat spotted EVERY tire a good 1/16 of an inch! Then he sitting there looking at me and without saying anything just takes off....

I came home and it was all good, Till My buddie calls me up to go ride bmx bikes downtown.... We meet up and end up just sitting on our bikes on a sidewalk just talking about the old days.... Even saw a Cop JUMP a cross street and get like 1foot of air.....When about 20 min later a couple of cops drive by and Fly up to us like we just shot at them.. Jumps out and starts yelling at us asking if we have Reflectors, flashers, Lights, and if our bikes are Registered with the city.... He gets all ROBO cop and starts acting all bad ass asking if we are gonna start some shit bla bla bla..... he tells us to walk home and almost arrest my friend because he put his hand in his pocket to call for a ride with his cell phone...

After that I was FLAMING :mad:, That guy talked to me like i was a 2nd class Person or scum, For sitting on a bike talking to my buddies on a sidewalk.... I drove to the police station that was 2 blocks away and who did i walk in front of when I was walking into the station to file a formal complaint the same robo cop! I even pointed at him and called him a meathead! ;) :thumb:

Made my day better and the supervisor told me that If he ever does that again esp to me he can be suspended ..Made me happy after all... ]]> 4Motion4g63 http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/4motion4g63/296-wow-what-crazy-day.html Woot DS-Map http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/airmail96/295-woot-ds-map.html Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:53:47 GMT Welp got my ecu back from being socketed today and installed my ostrich, loaded up ds-map and uploaded to it. Car started, died shortyl there after adjusted my hard ve got a nice steady idle, of course I had to test the rev studder box so sexy. But now onto the long road of tuning ve. Tomorrow will be a busy day with work and soldering my wb signal into my o2 signal and figuring out why my pc won't log. ]]> airmail96 http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/airmail96/295-woot-ds-map.html RM Solo Event #10 http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/jordanbutter/293-rm-solo-event-10.html Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:39:33 GMT Well there is a "No Show" policy on videos and pictures taken from this weekend, I was waiting to see if it would be lifted but it hasn't so sorry no pictures this time. Its some weird thing because of the site we raced at.

Well to sum it all up.... it sucked, the end. I drove very bad the problem was I couldn't really find where it was that I was messing up. Unfortunately that seems to be more common for me now. Its like the more I do this the worse I get, scary.

Anyways, once again the day before I'm changing something on the car with Clark. This time we were putting on the new Tanabe GF210s I got and putting in some Super Blue brake fluid. Well we got the GF210s on and I just shook my head, sure enough the car is lower than with the Tokico Blues on. However the car rides a lot better on the street with the full size springs. However the two finger gap means sure enough its only about an inch of space when the race tires are on. Therefore the fenders are hitting and destroying the tires! So pissed. Oh and I found out a strut is leaking just a small bit which means yay time to save some money, and get a second job!

But enough with the ranting. The site we got to had not been used in years and actually just opened we were the first to get out there and use it which is nice. The lot is long and very grippy but there is lots of sand and gravel on it and sure enough I'm running first heat. :rolleyes: I had trouble on the course walk figuring stuff out so I walked a pretty general line, i think this is where all the problems started.

First run I went probably 3/4 full speed because of all the rocks out on course. I went after about 4 the faster cars and still turned in the fastest time! Untill the next car came in, but that shows just how slow everyone was going. Second run I took my father for a ride since he, my mom and my fiancee came down to watch. About halfway through the car started to spin and I recovered before it did. I only hit two cones which is amazing considering there was 8 cones on each side of the car. Third run I finally had an ok feeling run, I still wasn't happy with it though. Final run I ran a 68.547, good enough for 8th at the time dropping to 9th out of 14, lame.

Positive notes. Well once again it felt like crap but I still had my highest points day of 874, 5 points better than the previous. I finished 16th out of 42 novice drivers and was actually number 1 for novice drivers in my class. I currently sit 17th out of all novices for the season and 64th in the top 100 in the region. Also I did the slalom very very well, so well in fact the announcer was commenting about it.

I look forward to the next race more for redemption than anything and because its at the location I seem to do best. We'll see what happens.

- Jordan Butterfield :dsm: ]]> Jordanbutter http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/jordanbutter/293-rm-solo-event-10.html <![CDATA[you know it's time to get a new car when....]]> http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/blueninteytwo/292-you-know-its-time-get-new-car-when.html Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:47:07 GMT kinda frustrated today....

went to get new front tires and a wheel bearing and it was a nightmare...

my local autozone can't even get me a front wheel bearing... they don't stock them anymore. luckily advance auto parts can order them.

lol, order them. noone stocks parts for these cars anymore.


so i go to replace my Goodyear Eagle GT-HR tires that i bought the car with (because it's AWD mixing and matching tires isn't a hot idea) and Goodyear no longer makes the tires for my car. great. now i have to replace 2 perfectly good tires which i'd rather not or have 2 Bridgestone Protenzas on the front and 2 Goodyear Eagle GT-HR's on the back.

i guess in the scheme of things it's not a huge deal, but it made my day quite frustrating. i'll deal because i love the car to death, but it made my day a mess. ]]> blueninteytwo http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/blueninteytwo/292-you-know-its-time-get-new-car-when.html Jaw Wideband Enclosure http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/airmail96/291-jaw-wideband-enclosure.html Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:17:13 GMT So I decided to go with the JAW wideband unit which doesn't come with its own enclosure so being the dsm'r I am I got creative. Went to the dollar store and picked up a tuperware set then went to town with a steak knife and a lighter. I will be mounting it under the driver side seat with the fan facing the rear here's the finished product.


]]> airmail96 http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/airmail96/291-jaw-wideband-enclosure.html What to do 1g and 2g http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/awd_dsm08/290-what-do-1g-2g.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:11:32 GMT Well I finally got all the bugs work out on my 2g awd got the car as a roller with trans for 200 bucks. Did a 97 conversion front rear and trunk lid just needs paint. Full 6 bolt swap with all the bolt ons. A week ago the brand new turbo I had with 400 miles decided it was gonna trash its self and the motor. In the mean time I picked up a 1990 eclipse gst mint roller new paint perfect inter. Im planning on rebuilding the motor at the time I was thinking about stock 2.0 rebuild and a evo3 on the fwd. Then built 2.0 on the awd. The past couple days Ive been wondering if I should ditch the fwd or if it would be a fun car. I was thinking about trading or trying to trade it for a 1g awd shell but idk. I have the awd 2g so maybe the 1g would be fun. I also have a 98 Camaro Z28 witch has been my project forever. But anyway you think a fwd with drag radials would make a decent street car? opions needed post your thought Well I finally got all the bugs work out on my 2g awd got the car as a roller with trans for 200 bucks. Did a 97 conversion front rear and trunk lid just needs paint. Full 6 bolt swap with all the bolt ons. A week ago the brand new turbo I had with 400 miles decided it was gonna trash its self and the motor. In the mean time I picked up a 1990 eclipse gst mint roller new paint perfect inter. Im planning on rebuilding the motor at the time I was thinking about stock 2.0 rebuild and a evo3 on the fwd. Then built 2.0 on the awd. The past couple days Ive been wondering if I should ditch the fwd or if it would be a fun car. I was thinking about trading or trying to trade it for a 1g awd shell but idk. I have the awd 2g so maybe the 1g would be fun. I also have a 98 Camaro Z28 witch has been my project forever.

But anyway you think a fwd with drag radials would make a decent street car? opions needed post your thought ]]> AWD_DSM08 http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/awd_dsm08/290-what-do-1g-2g.html God Damn Transmission mount http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/crimsondragon/289-god-damn-transmission-mount.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:56:20 GMT On my quest to eliminate wheel hop and have stiffer motor mounts, I have been trying to finish my install of Prothanes. I did the driver side and front about a year ago. Those went in and out quickly. I started up again recently and did my rear mount last weekend. It was a pain considering the inserts totally did not fit and I had to burn the rubber out and fill it with construction grade polyurethane. Very stiff though. The tranny mount has given me the most trouble so far. I am not able to clear those god damn studs at all. My engine has bottomed out to the cross member so no way the tranny can move down further. So I decided the only thing left to do is cut the damn studs.

The farthest one in the back worked great. It clears the stud and there's plenty of thread left. This is most likely due to the room from removing the battery. However, the two inner ones are blocked by the fuse box and the harness. I had to squeeze my dremel in between to get it. And even then I only cut it halfway before my cutting wheel snapped off. Put on another one and that snapped off too. :|

So now here I sit thinking how to do this. It's pissing me off slowly. I need to make a trip to the hardware store. ]]> crimsondragon http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/crimsondragon/289-god-damn-transmission-mount.html trade it in or keep it http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/dc90ms/288-trade-keep.html Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:57:42 GMT well it all started in April when i got my 99 gsx for 3000k no motor real nice body n fully suspension fuel pump trans ect. so i had my 6 bolt that i got in Nov that i got for $150 and i took it apart and they had it rebuilt so i thought my luck was all good. well it wasn't. i dropped the motor in and that took a week. and went to start it up and it starts and dies. took a month and half to find that i had too small injectors in it. so i got it drivable and took it to my friends house to do the body work and the turbo went out. then i got a new one and it came with some free goodies. a fuel rail and a j pipe. well then i thought ok well this should be the end of these problems. nope then i was driving and the ball joint broke. messed up my fender. wow. so got a new control arm and took it to work and painted. so after i got it painted took it out. turned on the lights no parking lights. found out fuses box was rusty no connections with fuse. fixed that and then the leaks came. with out knowing drove the car 2 weeks with low low oil. then i went to change it and came out like a quart. of it. wtf. so i found the leak oil filter housing and oil return. fixed that and the lifters started to tick or i thought it was them but nope. changed the lifters with a set of 3gs. the ticking was still there. so now i guess the rod bearings are shot so tommarrow going to change them and get a new car or keep the gsx. what do u guys think. :cry: ]]> dc90ms http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/dc90ms/288-trade-keep.html Road Atlanta Testing Days http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/tsiboosted/287-road-atlanta-testing-days.html Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:27:07 GMT Well, over the past weekend we headed up to Road Atlanta for a PCA Event/Testing Session. I was very excited about this as the new engine is fresh in the car and there is almsot no better track in North America better than Road Atlanta (IMHO). The last time I was at this track I had the T-25 setup and it just lacked the power to keep up with the Turbo 911's, BMWS etc. So I was very anxious to see what the new 16G setup was going to do there.

Friday morning 7:00 a.m I pull out of the driveway heading north to Raod Atlanta. I always get allot of looks on the freeway as I have an open trailor and most people are curious about the car and always get the stares and thumbs up. I even had one girl take a picture of the car going down the freeway :D

We get to Atlanta around 1:00 p.m. or so and get something to eat, check into the hotel and had off to registration and pit setup at the track. Setting up the pits takes a while as we have 2 EZ Ups, one is 10 x 20 and thother is 12 x 12. Then we have the tool box, air compressor, air tools, etc. etc. It takes around an hour to get everything the way I need it to be.

Saturday mroning we get the track nice and early at 6:30 a.m. and go over the cars to make sure everything is in good order. Drivers meeting at 7:30 and my group; Group 5, is up at 9:10. First run of the weeknd coupled with the first "real" run on the new engine setup and I was grinning ear to ear as we pulled out onto the 2.54 mile circuit. Scrubbing in the tires I see loads of 911's, a few BMW's, a Lotus and 3 Vettes. Green flag and I we are off. Getting a feel for the new power already and I am loving every second of it. We get to the first short shoot straight away and I rocket around 2 911's and a Boxter S (turbo). Heading down the long back straight, I pass 1 of the Vettes and BMW M3. Nothing too exciting really happened in the session, but what was VERY kewl was the fact that I was able to do almost 140 mph down the back straight. That is almost 30 mph more than on the old T-25 setup. Man that got me pumped up for the rest of the weekend. After the first session, one of the 911's followed me back over to our pit area and we talked for about 5 minutes. He was saying he was very impressed with the way my car looked on the track. After I had passed him early in the session, he stuck with me and we had some fun out there. He was saying he didnt expect that out of my car and just kept saying how impressed he was with the "little" 4 banger :D

After an uneventfull 2nd & 3rd session, we came to last session for me of the day. I was still verypumped up with the way the new setup was running and actually how I was driving. On the grid, about 4 cars back there was a 350Z I was talking to at lunch. After about 4 laps, he was right behind me and we were pushing each other to drive faster and harder the whole session. We were passing everything on the track it seemed every other lap. We started close to the back, but after about 15 minutes of a 25 minute session, we were strating to catch the guys who started up front. He never got closer than 1.5 car lengths, but our cars were so evenlly matched it was ALLOT fo fun racing around with him. I actually had someone taking our lap times thst session and was very pleased to learn I was turning 1:47 lap times out therre that session. That was a new perosnal best for me at Road Atlanta. That night in the hotel room, I checked the pro touring car guys lap times from the last event there and they were running high 1:30's. So I was not really all that far off what the pro guys were doing there. I know 10 seconds is an eternity on the track. But these guys also drive their cars every day here and I have not been to Road Atlanta in over a year. So I was really stoked about those times.

All and all the weekend was a GREAT success for me and the engine setup is AWESOME !!! I cant wait for the Grand Bayou Race Series to begin in October and see what have for those guys this year. Nothing bad went wrong with the car or me, everything went well except for some brake rotor issues that we'll get ironed out before October, I couldnt have asked for a better testing run there at Road Atlanta. Great preperation for the upcoming series.

Colour Tech South was there taking pictures of the whole event. I bought a CD from them and it should be here in a few weeks. When it comes, I will be posting them for everyone to see. There are some great pics on there from the event :thumb::thumb: ]]> tsiboosted http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/tsiboosted/287-road-atlanta-testing-days.html Set backs....nothing but set backs http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/lowandsleekdsm/286-set-backs-nothing-but-set-backs.html Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:23:43 GMT Well as most of you know and most of my friends know, ive been rebuilding my motor in my car lately....well lately means months.....and months and months. I started at the beginning of the year and im still not done! Set backs after set backs have dont nothing to improve my progress. Everything from getting 3 bad cv joints (all brand new....just simply the wrong ones - thanx AutoZone - you f*cks!) ,to replacing my upper suspension arm due to my ignorance, to just tearing my timing belt assembly so many times, i could do it in my sleep! (and im not happy about it too) and along with other small stupid sh*t things happening. Not to mention, my father...MY OWN FATHER ruined the f*cking nut that holds on the oil pump drive pulley with an impact gun to prime the oil pump. After this stroke of genius wreaked havoc on my car, the oil pump shaft becomes stripped. everything down the ####ing drain, and not to mention this was all sparked by low oil pressure - did everything from take the head off to inspect things to dropping the oil pan to again inspect everything. Now for the billionth time, I not my father...I have to take everything apart and fix his f*ck up! And also on top of that.....he`s telling me to take my time, but get this car fixed because its been sitting here for too long. (REALLY????!!!!!) Its kinda hard to do all this with little to no money and on top of all this happening, ive been trying to find a new job to make more money and to find my own place to live (yes i`m living with my parents still - pathetic I KNOW!) Im soooooo pissed about all this. I know it doesnt really sound like it, but my fustration with everything thats happening with my life and this f*cking car its all just f*cking set backs im tired of it. :mad: Well as most of you know and most of my friends know, ive been rebuilding my motor in my car lately....well lately means months.....and months and months. I started at the beginning of the year and im still not done! Set backs after set backs have dont nothing to improve my progress. Everything from getting 3 bad cv joints (all brand new....just simply the wrong ones - thanx AutoZone - you f*cks!) ,to replacing my upper suspension arm due to my ignorance, to just tearing my timing belt assembly so many times, i could do it in my sleep! (and im not happy about it too) and along with other small stupid sh*t things happening. Not to mention, my father...MY OWN FATHER ruined the f*cking nut that holds on the oil pump drive pulley with an impact gun to prime the oil pump. After this stroke of genius wreaked havoc on my car, the oil pump shaft becomes stripped. everything down the ####ing drain, and not to mention this was all sparked by low oil pressure - did everything from take the head off to inspect things to dropping the oil pan to again inspect everything. Now for the billionth time, I not my father...I have to take everything apart and fix his f*ck up! And also on top of that.....he`s telling me to take my time, but get this car fixed because its been sitting here for too long. (REALLY????!!!!!) Its kinda hard to do all this with little to no money and on top of all this happening, ive been trying to find a new job to make more money and to find my own place to live (yes i`m living with my parents still - pathetic I KNOW!) Im soooooo pissed about all this. I know it doesnt really sound like it, but my fustration with everything thats happening with my life and this f*cking car its all just f*cking set backs im tired of it. :mad: ]]> lowandsleekDSM http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/lowandsleekdsm/286-set-backs-nothing-but-set-backs.html Just A Pure F###ing Rant... http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/beating4g63s/285-just-pure-f-ing-rant.html Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:44:14 GMT omg what a past few weeks, so after my car going threw 2 heads in less then a week, first head my fault completely, second one wasn't really my tensioner slipped and bam bent valves havn't touched it and it's a miracle I have 1 more head that will work, don't ask me where it came from but I'm glad I have it, anyways so I've been helping a friend swap a 89 6 bolt into his 2g which sucks donkey ass truely I'm about to give him my screen name so he can beat his 4g63, omg we got it to start but it seemed like it had cams and it's stock, so I recheck the timing I believed it was off and didn't want to start it and wanted to pull the timing belt, well I was out voted and we tried to start the car and guess what his tensioner slipped (I DIDN"T DO HIS TIMING BELT NOR BLAMING ANYONE) just dumb luck I guess, so I pull the timing apart, so spin the crank reset the gears try and retime it cause we really doubt we bent any valves the car barely even cranked if anything when the timing belt slipped, and it was a pain in the ass about 3 hours to put the belt on and everything and I realize what the hell is going on his tensioner are is a ####ing 2g, and per some write up I randomly memorized he needs the 1g which I have about a 45 minute drive from his house, oh yeah, then yesterday f####kkkkkk, was driving around looking for a valve spring compressor, my daily breaks down wouldn't start so I walk home because I was literally right behind my apartment call my dad he comes give me a jump start great car starts runs drives turns off/on, so I figure pull battery hook it up to the charger swap the corroded terminals, put the battery back in after a full charge and ####ing piece won't start again, and after 30 minutes of jacking with it I quit decided I'll just deal with it tomorrow, close the door go in the house, and get ready to drop a friend of with my dads car I borrowed, and realized I ####ing locked my keys in the car at this time I'm beyond pissed, I'm 1 second away from breaking the window to get them out, I promise you if there was a brick or something close to grab I would have done it with out hesitation at all, so I call pop alock 47 bucks later they get my keys out and I go back to jacking with the car it's 1 oclock in the morning and have to go to work at 6 so wake up at 5, swap terminals in the dark mind you, still same problem ajdljdajklfajjkl;sdfajksdfldfjkl;...... sooooo pull the battery again put it on the charger again and bam sob is dead completely hasn't even touched the terminals to the car but for maybe 2 seconds to check the display I doubt it's anything but the battery now, and when I wake up this morning my daily thats dead now has a flat.. when will it end come on. ]]> beating4g63s http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/beating4g63s/285-just-pure-f-ing-rant.html 8/8/08 Ennis 1/4 Mile http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/boosted98gsx/284-8-8-08-ennis-1-4-mile.html Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:50:35 GMT Went back to the 1/4 last friday (8-8-08) on 5 gals of VP c16 and ~5 gals of 93 octane. Got the boost to 28 psi, but first gear is now useless, and a 1.8 60 foot was all I could muster, bringing the car to an 11.69 at 125mph. Still on the OEM non-lsd rear end, and an open 4 spider center diff. Time for an investment in some M/T QTP slicks and cheap drag wheels.

Wound up shredding another alternator belt. Bought a new gates alt belt + cheap PS belt (it was damaged) and found my PS pulley damaged. Took that off, and fixed the damage. Alt belt only shreds during high rev applications, so there is something not aligned, or something is nudging it off.

We'll see how she does when this next drivetrain upgrade is finished. ]]> Boosted98gsx http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/boosted98gsx/284-8-8-08-ennis-1-4-mile.html RMSolo Event #9 http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/jordanbutter/283-rmsolo-event-9.html Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:17:29 GMT Hey sorry it took so long to get this one up, its been a busy couple of days.

Anyway I really think I was more excited about this race than the first one I ever did. The reason... I got some race tires! Kumho V700s, a bit used but still have the rest of the season left in them. They are 265/45/16's! How does that work? Well they are mounted on ~14lb FD RX-7 wheels! My friend (Clark Peach, 95GSTpeach), who also has a 98 GSX, bought the wheels, I got the 25mm spacers that we need to run the wheels and so we share the wheels, when I autocross, and when he drags/shows.

Now on to the race, we showed up in the lot at Dicks Sporting Goods Park in Denver, CO around 7. Clark got going on the wheel changing while I ran over to regestration. I picked up a map of the course and just looked at it like WTF. After getting the wheels all setup and just being in aw of how cool they look, I went over to walk the course. This was the first one where I got out on the course and actually had to stop and watch someone else do it. You see the course started out with a little right-left jog over start an then a right turn into a 4 cone slalom. after that there was a right hand loop that confused everyone in the walk. But we figured it out. You basically drove halfway up the straight right turn around this looping slalom and then proceed to go all the way through the straight into a long right had sweeper, into a two cone slalom, sharp righthand into a 3 cone slalom into a 180* turn that was a slalom, into a 120* right turn over finish. Overall as you can see the theme of the day was slaloms.

My first run I went out there with some cold tires and started drifting around the slalom loop and happened to miss a gate, DNF. The second one out I ran a 46.705 which would have been my fastest time but I hit a cone, and for whatever reason it was scored a DNF. Well I was really upset they messed that one up and ran around trying to get it fixed and kind of lost my focus. My thrid run I ran a CLEAN 47.337, which was good but not great. On the final run I ran 46.909, good enough for 8th place out of 18. The good news is I beat 2 of the 3 guys I wanted to beat and was only .150 off of the other guys time. I got a 869 points score which is 29 more than my previous best.

I have a lot to work on with these race tires. My brake points were still pretty conservative as if I was still on the street tires. But I did realize I also made a few mistakes that the race tires were able to bail me out of, which is nice but I know I could have been faster with out the mistakes. Also the race tires overshadowed the new Fidanza short shifter I put in the night before which really helped but I was still getting used to it and kind of threw me off when racing.

I had Clark order some Super Blue Brake fluid that we'll put in before the next race in the brakes and clutch and hopefully that will help the braking points. I'm going to shoot for a 900 point day and a top 3 finish, which shouldn't be to far off this next race.

If I can say anything to new autocrossers it is that, yes tires make all the difference in the world! But it was good to start on streets so I could easily see here I messed up. On the R-compounds I really had to think about what I did wrong.

- Jordan Butterfield :dsm:

Heres some Pic's but they were taken on my really bad camera, so sorry for the low quality.
Attached Images
     
]]> Jordanbutter http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/jordanbutter/283-rmsolo-event-9.html NASA Racing Road America 2008 http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/dave532/282-nasa-racing-road-america-2008.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:07:07 GMT NASA Pro Race Elkhart Lake, WI
August 2,3 2008

Pre-Race: By this time I had 2 decent Hooisers, 2 decent Toyos, 1 worn out Toyo and 1 Toyo with a blister. The race car needed some new shoes. I ordered 4 new Toyos to be picked up at the track. This is also the first event I wear a HANS device. I was going to be a hot weekend and I had a bit of concern over the potentioal brake, water and oil temps.

Saturday:

Practice: I started out on my worn combination of tires and give the car a general shakedown. It feels slower than last year but everything appears to be performing OK. I do notice the volt meter is showing only 12 volts.
After practice I notice the LF brake rotor has a large crack in it. I must not have warmed the brakes up enough before using them. Luckily I have a spare set but I can't let this happen again as I doubt any other racecar in the Paddock uses my rotors.
I also meter the battery and see that it is 13.8 volts...the voltmeter on my dash must be bad.

Qualifying: I have only one hour before Qualifying. I have to replace the rotors, bleed the brakes and mount the new tires. Everything is complete with 15 minutes of Qual left. I post a 2:46...not a very good time...understandable with the brand new tires. They should have more grip as the weekend progresses. Once again I am the only car in my class so qualifying is not very important.

Race: NASA puts the GTS, Spec 944 and PTA cars ahead of me even though I post a better time than most of them. That is their policy and I have to live with it. The race goes on. The green flag drops and I make damn sure my brakes and tires are warmed up before I push too hard. After 3 laps I start catching some slower traffic...I am passing a GTS Mercedes in Turn when I notice a local yellow flag...I lock up all four making sure I don't pass under yellow and almost slide into him. No harm, no foul and I pass the Mercedes later after the Kink.
A GTS M3 goes off and comes back on behind me. We appear to be pretty evenly matched and I have a good tussle with him for a couple laps but I seem to be luckier handling traffic than he is and I eventually pull away. Pass a few PTA cars including the class leader with a broken header. I claw my way up through the 944s and GTS cars until the checkered flag. Decent race but I had more fun last year. Looking over the car the brake rotors and tires are still good but I appear to have developed a large intake gasket leak. I don't have an A/F gauge with me so I tune the AFC controller and richen the fuel mixture until I get the vacuum reading I want...and pray. The good news was the water and oil temps were cooler than I thought they would be.

Sunday:

Practice: I skip this practice trying to take it easy on the equipment. I also rotate the tires and bleed the brakes again.

Qualifying: I try a new set of tire pressures to experiment and eventually find I hate it. Because of this, Qual was frustrating except for the last lap when I got an excellent draft on a 911 on the front straight where I set my best time. Couldn't stay with him in the corners though. While shifting into 4th for the Carousel, a 944 suddenly slides wide across my nose and for a split second my left foot is confused on what to do...so I left foot brake WHILE shifting into 4th...gears grind and I recover quickly. However, the damage is done and I have hurt the 4th gear synchros. It grinds on every high RPM 4th gear shift from now on. The M3 I was having a good fight yesterday with loses his brakes in 5 and pancakes the wall hard. No one was hurt but the car is severely damaged.

Race: I start basically in the same spot. I am passing a 944 in 12 when the double caution comes out. Once again I slam on the brakes making sure I don't pass under yellow. Apparently a gaggle of Miatas catapulted themselves onto the beach in Turn 1 while a 944 blew oil on the track between 11 and 12. We spend 3 laps and 10 minutes under caution. Because of my vantage point I see the green flag drop while others can't (because of the hill) and I pass 2 or 3 cars before turn 1. I am back with the familiar PTA cars again. I have a good fight with a Thunder Roadster similar to last year. I am stronger between 1 and 8 while he is stronger between 9 and 14. I navigate the traffic a little better and pass the PTA leader again. I finish the race only 1 second ahead of the PTA leader and the Thunder Roadster. Since there were no other cars in PTC, I sorta adopted PTA as my competition for fun. I qualified 15th and finished 12th.

Alot of carnage over the whole weekend...cars off and into the tires. Observed a couple of ABD's (Air Bag Deployments) from the HPDE cars hitting the walls hard. Concentration is paramount at Road America because of the high speeds...mistakes are often very costly.
The car felt slower all weekend and my times reflected this. In hindsight I probably should have stiffened the rebound settings in the dampers due to the higher speeds. The car felt softer than I remember from last year. This is still my favorite track however. Once I get this intake leak fixed the car should be back on form. This is most likely the last race of the year for me but I never say never. ]]> Dave532 http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/blogs/dave532/282-nasa-racing-road-america-2008.html