Plans and projects for the 11-12 offseason? (Related to Road Racing/AutoX/Rally)

[snowborder714]

It's about that time again! Time to start thinking of plans for the offseason. What are your goals and plans for next season? What type of events are you planning on prepping for - road racing, TT, autoX, rallyX? What projects will you be working on in the cooler weather?

I've got a lot less on my list than last year, which I'll post up later. It seems this group has grown a lot since last year (in experience and in numbers), so I'm sure some of you have some great ideas in your head!

 

[dsmpat95]

I'm a bit new to the game. But I,m looking for better grip for the season. My goals are real simple, Seat time. Hoping to get as many autocross events in as I can.

 

[snowborder714]

That's a great goal to have. I wish I could do that as well!

-OEM wheel hubs with ARP extended studs
-front knuckle kit with new control arms
-possibly load front lateral arms with spherical bearings
-2gb rear knuckles (to gain a bit more clearance for tires)
-possibly 3g rear suspension components
-roll fenders
-Evo 9 OFH with external cooler (have parts)
-relocated Saturn alternator (have parts)
-duct work for FMIC/radiator
-2g N/T coolant overflow bottle (will work with SSAC FMIC and is 1L to meet NASA/SCCA rules)

 

[T is for TURBO]

I don't have any specific event I'm planning to build my car to. It will be a little bit of everything (autox/strip/street). But for me, my plans are:
AWD swap
New bushings front and rear
New rear wheel bearings
Roll fenders
Retire the FP T-28 for an FP Green
New radiator/fans

I've never gone to the stip nor autox'd before, but they both look like a blast and I want to build my car that can do both, while still being fun on the street. I don't want to be competative, I just want to have fun!

Edit: Snowboarder, whats the difference between the 2ga and 2gb rear knuckles?

 

[snowborder714]

The 2gb knuckles have a little more clearance to allow a bit wider tire to be ran.

 

[T is for TURBO]

The 2gb knuckles have a little more clearance to allow a bit wider tire to be ran.

Is there anyway of identifying them? I have a set of rear knuckles I got online, I just don't know what year they came off of.

 

[snowborder714]

There might be a 3 digit number on there that matches up with the last 3 of the part number. Other than that, the easiest way might be to just hold them up to your current set and visually inspect.

 

[T is for TURBO]

hmmm, current set is fwd. Ill have to look into this more. Thanks for the info!

 

[Scott McIntyre]

My 2012 plans are to do as little to the car as possible while driving it as much as possible. Gotta make up for lost time in 2011.

-possibly 3g rear suspension components
...
-2g N/T coolant overflow bottle (will work with SSAC FMIC and is 1L to meet NASA/SCCA rules)

Which 3G parts? My rear UCA's are cancer-ridden and I was thinking of going with the 3G replacements.

Also, any more info on the 2GNT coolant overflow? Where would you mount it? I have my original one mounted on the transmission.

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[snowborder714]

3g info - 3g rear control arms in 2g - Mitsu-Media

I'll PM Wes and have him post up a picture of the coolant bottle. At the NE DSM meet I saw what he had and my brother got to wondering if it'd fit. So we yanked it and test fit it in my car in the same area as the factory bottle goes. Worked great with the short route piping. Then we tested the holding amount and found it to be great there as well.

My original bottle is mounted under the sheet metal that the air filter is over. Not a good idea if it decides to leak/dump right in front of my front wheel. I think it may be illegal according to the rules as well.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

I was just starting to get competitive in ESP and now I'm moving up to SMF next season with just a Tial 50mm BOV and 38mm wastegate. I don't really have any plans for autox specific upgrades. If there is anything you guys would recommend that I can run in SMF, and would benefit me, I'm all ears. My mod list is up to date.

 

[snowborder714]

I'd have to go back and look at the rules, but sway bars is the first thing to pop into my head that I don't see on your list.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

I'd have to go back and look at the rules, but sway bars is the first thing to pop into my head that I don't see on your list.

I've looked into those but its just that the rear is sooo expensive! The only rear sway bar made for the 1g FWD is Suspension Techniques and its almost $400. It's cause the 1g FWD's didn't have a factory rear sway bar (just a track arm). And I wouldn't want to upgrade the front without doing the rear for fear of understeer.

What class are you in Brian?

 

[snowborder714]

Same as you. I bought my car with a small 16g on it, so that was an instant class bump.

 

[knochgoon24]

I've been in SM every since I started autoxing. I had already modded the car before I even knew what autox was.

Here's the 2gNT coolant bottle. It can also be found on 7th and 8th gen Galants, IIRC. You can see the end of the mounting tab near the bottom left of the bottle.

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Here's how I mounted it.

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I mounted it with a small piece of 1.5" wide, 3/32" thick, 90* aluminum stock through a bolt hole on the coolant bottle. It's mounted to the car through a whole that's already threaded for a M8x1.25 bolt.

You can almost see it here.

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I'll try to get better photos of it when I find my camera again.


Brian spotted the bottle on my car at the NE DSM meet. After little discussion, I busted out the tool box and unbolted it so we could measure it. It holds a tiny bit more than 1L. We then mocked it up on Brian's car, and it clears hit FMIC piping. It also clears the stock radiator fan. I want to make a bracket that supports the coolant bottle better on the radiator side. I've been using that zip tie for 6 months now without a problem. It's one with a small hole through it to mount it.

(Do I need to make a mini Tech Article on this? )

As far as my plans,

I need a hood, front fenders, front bumper, and a new hood. Since I need fenders, I'm not stopping there. That would be too easy.

I'm going to try to find some bolt on ABS plastic 280z fender flares. I'm selling my Evo 8 wheels and almost brand new Star Specs (in the classifieds right now, hint, hint. ) and I'm going wider. Right now, I'm thinking about getting a set of 17x10.5" 03 Cobra wheels. Then I'll run 275 or 285 wide tires. I might get 2 sets of Cobra wheels, since they are 17x9 in the front, and use those for DD tires and the 10.5s for track tires... finally. I have friends in the drift crowd who will be helping me clearance the fenders.

I need to address some cracking seam sealer ASAP.

I'd like to build a 2.4L, but I'm not sure that's going to happen any time soon. I just priced out the build I'd like to do on MAP's site, and I'm looking at $2200 + getting a block.

I'm still working on a HE351VGT setup, but that's on hold until I can scrape up some money to buy one to start testing. I already bought an Arduino to start messing with. I hope to run a secondary set of sensors to the Arduino so it can display things like oil pressure, boost, EGT, IAT, coolant temp, and more. If I get that to work, I want to make it so I can log those values through the Openport 2.0 aux input. The Arduino will control the the VGT stepper motor for the vanes. We'll see if I can beat casuprock to getting one on the car. I really want to build the 2.4 so I can have oodles of torque. Should be insane with an auto.

I may mess with programming the Arduino to control the auto transmission. It has 54 I/O ports. Otherwise, I see an EPROM TCU in my future.

I also need an aluminum radiator. Mine must be clogging. Even with 3 fans, it still got a tad hot a few times this summer.

I'll also want to switch to a VRSF FMIC if I get the HE351 on.


I like those 3g rear control arms. Mine are starting to show signs of severe cancer too. There's a 3g or two in the local junk yard I could pull those from.

I saw this the other day too. Make adjustable rear toe arms from Intrepid parts?
2g adjustable rear toe arms


Otherwise, I'm not changing anything else for next season.

(If I even get through half that list, I'll be happy.)



So, this may be an odd request, but could we start up a list of parts from other cars that are useful/upgrades to DSMs? If I would have known about the 3g rear arms, I would have swapped to them when I did my rear bushings. Seems like there are quite a few nice bits to swap off other cars.

 

[snowborder714]

Thanks Wes for those pictures and that info!

Well, if we're getting into stuff we want to do but probably won't get to, I can go on for a while A 2.4 build has been on my list for 3+ years now. I just find I need to spend my money on other stuff. One big purchase that's towards the top of my list that'll prevent me from doing that build is racing seats. And possibly an HX35 install Again, this is all on the "Wish list that may happen if I have enough time and money" list.

One thing I'm waiting on is Paul to get his butt in gear and get the Cleo electro-hydraulic power steering pump mounted and hooked up. This is one thing I'd like to do, but want to know more about hooking it up. Then I'll need to compare this to the MR2 pump and any other options (I think there's 1 more). Hopefully he'll get this done and a tech article written up this winter/spring.

What's the offset on those Mustang wheels?

 

[knochgoon24]

I didn't look into it too much further, but a quick search said something in the area of 20-30.
One guy had posted that he had 17x9 +26 rims, but I don't know if that's the OEM offset.

I figure extended lugs/thin spacers should still be ok. I even though about having the spacers tacked to the back of the wheel if they're thin enough.

EDIT:

Quick search yeilded 18x9 +25 and 18x10 +30 for the offsets on Saleen wheels.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AUTHENTIC-S...Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item3cbe7b0270

Still looking for Cobra sizes.
Maybe 17x10.5 with a +27mm offset? I'm finding a lot of replica wheels in that size.

There are lots of offset options in that general size due to the number of Mustang guys buying wheels.

 

[snowborder714]

Might be scratching the OEM hubs for some loaded with ceramic bearings. Not sure on if it'll be worth the extra cost.

I might also be upgrading parts of my fuel system earlier than planned. This is the 3rd fuel rail that I've pulled the threads out of for the feed line. I'm getting sick of it and might just switch everything to AN lines and fittings.

Also, my brother and I have been talking and trying to come up with a good idea for replacing the front bumper. This is mainly so we have a place to mount a tow hook too, but hopefully also might save a bit of weight over the stock piece. Here's a Solidworks image of what my brother came up with after taking some measurements and crunching numbers.

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[Pipnorcali]

I need to see if i can rebuild my CO's / corner balance / some sort of brake bias contr. ( keep locking up my front left) and lots of seat time

 

[aDee]

I'm planning to resurrect this guy

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using that guy

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as there are some scratches on rear quarter, core support, both frames, shell kinda bent in half..

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[9!'clipseDOHC]

I'm planning to resurrect this guy

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Picture isn't working. I'd like to see more pics of the car in your avatar though

Another thing I should add to my short list is replacing the sway bar end links. I already replaced the actual sway bar bushings with polyurethane which stiffened it up quite a bit but the 20 year old end links are shot.

 

[knochgoon24]

I think I got the wheels I want picked out.

VarrsToen ES 2.2.1
Essentially a Volk TE37 knock-off, and Rota Grids aren't wide enough
18x10.5" +15mm
Approx. 24lb ea.

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They're a bit heavy, but I can't drop $2500+ on wheels right now. I can get a set of these for $900 shipped new with lugs, hub centric rings, and blingy aluminum valve stems. If I get another set of wheels for R-comps down the road, then I'll look at lightweight wheels. Still no decision on the tires, but they won't be R-comps. I'm thinking 275/35/18 for the size. I'll have a few tire options in that size, so I don't know yet.

I also priced out the VGT setup. Looks like it's going to be about $8-900 for those parts. I think I'm going to give a Honda half radiator a shot at the same time for another $200. Well within a doable budget for this year. Things will get real exciting ones I start ordering parts for that. That includes almost $200 in sensors.

Sensors that I'm looking to have:
-Pre compressor pressure
-Pre compressor temperature
-Post compressor / pre IC pressure
-Post compressor / pre IC temperature
-Intake manifold pressure
-Intake manifold temperature
-Pre turbine pressure
-Pre turbine EGT
-Post turbine pressure
-Post turbine EGT
-3-axis accelerometer (for kicks)

This will allow me to calculate compressor, intercooler, and turbine efficiencies. It will also allow me to monitor back pressure. Add the turbo's built in shaft speed sensor and I can plot my exact path on compressor maps. I'll probably slap most of the sensors on my car beforehand so I can get some baseline numbers. I'll do all that datalogging through the Arduino. Shouldn't be too hard to match that data up with data from my ECU.

So who wants to get their name/company logo spray painted on the underside of my hood in exchange for a monetary donation that gets the ball rolling? Hell, I'll even spray it on the top of my hood for now. Say $10/inch height OBO?

 

[danielsl1999gsx]

What are you planning on doing to run those rims? Will that offset work on these cars?

 

[knochgoon24]

That width and offset will poke almost 2.5". I'm going to try running some bolt on 280z fender flares. If those don't work, I'll have to weld some sort of flare on. They won't fit with the fenders intact unless I raise the ride height and stiffen the springs. Plus, to be legal in PA, there needs to be a flare the width of the tire if it pokes.

 

[snowborder714]

Holy hell those are heavy, Wes! But for the price compared to a real racing rim, it doesn't look like you can really beat it.

That is a crap load of sensors. I can't even imaging seeing all of those in an engine bay, let alone wiring them all up. I see a mess when I look at that list. But I'm definitely interested in seeing how the VGT setup works for you and what types of good data you get from this