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1999 GSX Black Betty

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So I climbed under the car on Saturday and noticed that one of my exhaust hangers was hitting one of my rear subframe mounts. It was pretty crappy out and it was my mother birthday so I just wrapped the very end of the hanger with some taped and it stopped making noise as a quick fix for Sunday's autocross.

Autocross day! I wake up and it's raining. That put a huge smile on my face because I love autocrossing in the rain. Drive to the event and start working on setting up the course with a few other regulars and they decided to run the day like a pro solo would be run. You get 3 runs in the morning break to reverse the course and you get 3 more. You then add your fastest times from each segment together and that's your end result. I didn't think it was a bad idea seeming how it was our last event of the year and by now, if you showed up to even half of the events, you should have some sort of clue as to navigating a course and starting to get a feel for your car.

So we finish up setting the course up and I walk back over to Betty to start emptying her out and to start really preparing her for the day and the ground was nothing but a rainbow oil slick the entire way around the car.. checked my and it wasn't low. Perfect level, right where I put it. So I said screw it and went and finished up getting her ready. As I was getting her ready, it came to me that I hardly drove her in the rain on the way back from the shootout and was having a small oil drip a few weeks back. This was the first time since the in the rain since then too so I kept an eye on my oil level the rest of the day and I didn't notice a loss in oil.

On to the racing! The car felt strong but, I still need a lot of work with my driver mod in Betty. First run I spun out because I tried pushing a little to hard coming out of a sweeping left hand turn into a slalom. Second run was a low 42 and my 3rd was a 41.6 putting me in 2nd. First had a 41 flat and 3rd had a 41.7 so it was gonna be a crap shoot on the reverse course.

After we swapped the course we were launching downhill (I hate that BTW) and still wasn't fully used to launching on the new setup. Launches weren't all that great but my first run was a low 41. The next two were both 40.9's and I knew there was still plenty for me to work on to get better on that course but, unfortunately that was it for my second half of the day. The other two cars I was competing against put down a 40.7 and a 40 flat but at the end of the day I was only .8 off the leader after my second event of the year with her and still on a safe/conservative tune. Driver mod is needed badly as we had fun runs after the event and on local was trying to give me pointers as he noticed I was taking a counter too tight. I got it down to a 40.6 but still knew it was me messing up and not tyebcar. On the safe tune, I'd say the car with a better driver had a 39.5ish capability.

All in all, it was a fun day racing and I know that next year will be even better as she will be mostly a designated racecar going to e85, which I'm planning on doing this Friday. Saturday a friend and I are going to battle it out at the local 1/4 mile. He's running a procharged 05 GTO the runs 12.3 but capable of more. I'm hoping to beat him with the tune but I haven't drag raced in awhile either.
 
Nice job man. Autocross is super fun.

Autocross a stock turbo, stock motor car and stop having all these problems. My car is quick and the whole engine bay is almost stock!
 
Nice job man. Autocross is super fun.

Autocross a stock turbo, stock motor car and stop having all these problems. My car is quick and the whole engine bay is almost stock!

I ran a t28 for a few seasons and not one problem and loved it. I'll get this setup figured out better on Friday after Aaron tunes the car and see how next year goes. If it's not very good (which I think it will be because the turbo hits right at 3500 with 6* of timing) I have a smaller setup at the house I can use. My region has some very competitive higher hp cars running in my class so a stock t25 won't cut it. A lot of our courses are designed by those same people so they try to make it favor their car over others with less power. A lot of long sweeping turns, drag strip starts and stops. Stuff like that so it would be very hard to be competitive. Like I said, next year will dictate a lot with Betty but, the only problem I have now with the car is the exhaust rattle. I really can't complain too much about her. We'll see how she takes e85 and what she does and then I'm done modifying, or at least buying parts for her for a long time. The goal for the car is for it to put a smile on my face and it does that. If I seemed like I've been frustrated with the car since the shootout, I truly haven't been. I love driving it every day and haven't had to pop the hood much since the shootout.
 
I ran a t28 for a few seasons and not one problem and loved it. I'll get this setup figured out better on Friday after Aaron tunes the car and see how next year goes. If it's not very good (which I think it will be because the turbo hits right at 3500 with 6* of timing) I have a smaller setup at the house I can use. My region has some very competitive higher hp cars running in my class so a stock t25 won't cut it. A lot of our courses are designed by those same people so they try to make it favor their car over others with less power. A lot of long sweeping turns, drag strip starts and stops. Stuff like that so it would be very hard to be competitive. Like I said, next year will dictate a lot with Betty but, the only problem I have now with the car is the exhaust rattle. I really can't complain too much about her. We'll see how she takes e85 and what she does and then I'm done modifying, or at least buying parts for her for a long time. The goal for the car is for it to put a smile on my face and it does that. If I seemed like I've been frustrated with the car since the shootout, I truly haven't been. I love driving it every day and haven't had to pop the hood much since the shootout.


I hear ya. I just dynoed my car and it makes less than 200whp. The NY/NJ/CT area is littered with national champs and trophy winners. Its tough, but seat time is king, and racing with these guys really forces me to up my game. I run with two local groups and one does not follow SCCA rules. My car is very competitive there as cars are classed by a base class plus mod points. Its a good system and encourages competition amongst many brands of cars. I could never compete in SM with the SCCA NNJR. Unless you have $10,000 penske coilovers, 315 wide slicks, and 400+whp, you aren't winning. My region has a Road Tire SM class (same SM but no slicks allowed) and I do OK there. Sitting in 2nd place for the year with one more event left.

I plan on getting a T28 next season and run it on E. How would you compare the spool with the stock turbo?
 
I hear ya. I just dynoed my car and it makes less than 200whp. The NY/NJ/CT area is littered with national champs and trophy winners. Its tough, but seat time is king, and racing with these guys really forces me to up my game. I run with two local groups and one does not follow SCCA rules. My car is very competitive there as cars are classed by a base class plus mod points. Its a good system and encourages competition amongst many brands of cars. I could never compete in SM with the SCCA NNJR. Unless you have $10,000 penske coilovers, 315 wide slicks, and 400+whp, you aren't winning. My region has a Road Tire SM class (same SM but no slicks allowed) and I do OK there. Sitting in 2nd place for the year with one more event left.

I plan on getting a T28 next season and run it on E. How would you compare the spool with the stock turbo?

I loved the t28 and still consider going back every once in awhile. I think you'll love it. I'd say the spool is no more than 500 RPMs slower but it's worth it because it doesn't start falling off as much as the t25. I found a 17psi wastegate I got cheap because it was broke, cut the spring part off and welded a holset on. Preloaded the spring and it would hit 25psi by 3k and slowly fall to 22-23 psi at redline and would strongly recommend a wastegate upgrade. It packed one hell of a punch. I put cams in it and only could run 6* of timing after that on pump but, it still put down 320. I can't imagine the whiplash a t28 would make on e85. The only advantage of e85 would be how far you could advance the timing. Any time I touched the boost controller to go above 25 psi, it would compressor surge pretty good. I wanted to try it when I had it but, for some stupid reason, I put the 20g on and bent a rod testing it out. Now with this new 20g I built, it should only spool 200-300 RPMs slower and have 100 more awhp and that's why I'm trying it.
 
That sounds awesome. Get your stroker back together!


Got any pics of that wastegate? I'd have to rig one together. I want to Run E on the t28 more so because it helps with spoolup. I'd be fine with 300whp honestly. That's 120 more than I have now.
 
Nice job man. Autocross is super fun.

Autocross a stock turbo, stock motor car and stop having all these problems. My car is quick and the whole engine bay is almost stock!

Stock? that's no fun!

But I agree. I know where you are coming from. My old evo was stock turbo and bolt on's and some HKS 264s. Made 350 and was more then enough power for the auto x. Matched up with some BFG rivals it was a seriously fun car. Compaired to my budies evo 8 that was FP black making 450Plus. I was way faster then him, because he was having issues getting the power to the ground. Only time I thought being stock was great.
 
I hear ya. I just dynoed my car and it makes less than 200whp. The NY/NJ/CT area is littered with national champs and trophy winners. Its tough, but seat time is king, and racing with these guys really forces me to up my game. I run with two local groups and one does not follow SCCA rules. My car is very competitive there as cars are classed by a base class plus mod points. Its a good system and encourages competition amongst many brands of cars. I could never compete in SM with the SCCA NNJR. Unless you have $10,000 penske coilovers, 315 wide slicks, and 400+whp, you aren't winning. My region has a Road Tire SM class (same SM but no slicks allowed) and I do OK there. Sitting in 2nd place for the year with one more event left.

This is very much the truth down here in WDCR Mid-Atlantic SCCA. Everyone in SM have big wallets. 8k MCS 3 way coilvoers. Tires sizes that start with a 3.Forward facing turbos etc. Unfortunately I was in this class with my basically stock evo because of my cams. I never placed well. Very competitive. And I don't have that kind of money. My Friend competes in SM with his STI. But he has at least 100K in it.
 
That sounds awesome. Get your stroker back together!


Got any pics of that wastegate? I'd have to rig one together. I want to Run E on the t28 more so because it helps with spoolup. I'd be fine with 300whp honestly. That's 120 more than I have now.

On e, I don't see why you couldn't get closer to 325-350 with stock internals. I would also do cams if you ever feel like maybe doing them. My 264/272 combo changed the car for the better in every aspect (besides knock an e will take care of that). Driving it on the streets at lower RPMs is much smoother and didn't loose any spool. Made the power delivery more smooth and a little more drivable/predictable if that makes sense. I'll take pictures of the wastegate when I get home a PM you.
 
On e, I don't see why you couldn't get closer to 325-350 with stock internals. I would also do cams if you ever feel like maybe doing them. My 264/272 combo changed the car for the better in every aspect (besides knock an e will take care of that). Driving it on the streets at lower RPMs is much smoother and didn't loose any spool. Made the power delivery more smooth and a little more drivable/predictable if that makes sense. I'll take pictures of the wastegate when I get home a PM you.

Thank you.
 
Quite a few pictures from Sunday's event!

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Your car looks really good on those Enkeis. Thumbs up*

Thank you :D

I lowered it a little bit last night and today I'm dropping it off to get my rear adjustable toe arms installed and an alignment. The camber will be where it is now (not sure but it was 2.3 in the front and 1.7 in the rear before lowering it) but, there will be no toe. I'll post pictures when I get time to wash her.
 
Update. Picked the car up and drove it to Ohio. Car drove fine but it's a little stiffer of a ride because I lowered the car more. The tuning didn't go as planned as I was getting some misfires here along with a lot of knock. We couldn't get rid of the knock because it was still getting several counts at -1* of timing. So we decided to put e85 in it and see if we have the same problem. Turns out we did. Same timing table, we were still getting the same numbers so we contributed it to phantom or the misfire. So we said let's turn the psi up just a little bit and see what happens. The car started pulling great and then all of a sudden the car misfires, stubbles and shuts off along with the tach jumping all over the place like a 5 year old all jacked up on Mountain Dew and had candy for dinner. Pulled the car over and popped the hood to see if there was any damage or sensors unplugged. We couldn't find anything so we sat there for a little bit scratching our heads and Aaron told me to try and start it just to see what it does... it starts up like nothing happened. We get back in it and start driving her home. I decided when we were closer to try it again to see if it was a fluke and guess what, It wasn't. Pulled into a driveway and sat there. Tried starting it and nothing. Checked everything again and waited. Finally I tried to start it again and it worked. Drove it back to
A A Ron's @GofaST4life and decided to put pump back in it until I can figure out this problem. Got the car home and haven't even had time to mess with it but from my research, it looks like the power transistor is bad. I'm gonna swap it out when I have time and report back.
 
Holy shit, your car is niceee as hell but honestly does the thing ever run nicely for quite a while ? Seems like it keeps having problem constantly
 
Holy sh**, your car is niceee as hell but honestly does the thing ever run nicely for quite a while ? Seems like it keeps having problem constantly

It does. I think the cars at the point in its life where things are just getting old and and things are starting to need replaced. She has 140k on her so that's about when a lot of things start going on cars. Working out the bugs and she'll stop giving me problems. If not I'll go back to a close to stock setup
 
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Sorry it's been awhile. I've been extremely busy with work that I haven't had much time for anything. A little update but nothing serious. I bought a new rear wheel bearing because towards the end of last season, I started hearing it make noise in the right rear when I took a turn. Last week I got it and started to tear into her. Good news is that the axle is not seized. Bad news is I'm not sure I can pull it out. The puller I have wasn't doing the job but I'll take another crack at it when it gets a little warmer. Also the car was having a starting issue at the end of the year so I pulled the starter and had it tested. It's bad, so I'm gonna have a local shop rebuild it. Hopefully drop that off this weekend. I've only bought one upgrade this offseason. My injen intake wasn't doing the job anymore feeding the 20g. I wasn't planning on upgrading because of what I plan to do this season, but I found a killer deal on a FP recirculated intake. I picked it up and when I switch to SD this year, I won't loose any money when I go to sell it. Plans for the car this year are

1. Fix the knocking issue if I already haven't.

2. Get a good pump gas tune in her.

3. Go SD

4. E85

5. Seat time. We have several events this season (11) and I plan on making all but 2. Hopefully I'll be able to make them up by going to other regions
 
First race of the season is on Sunday in Pittsburgh! It's not a real points event for our region, but I need as much seat time as I can get. I just have a few things to do before then. I took the car around the block today, and the breaks weren't what they were last year so I'm gonna bleed them and go from there. Also I have to put the tie down for the battery back on with the strut bar. She ran perfect otherwise for the 3 minutes I was behind the wheel.
 

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Recap of my Sunday!

With the brakes bled the night before, work wanted me to come in all day Sunday, but I told them I had plans to race so we compromised and I worked 3am-7am while another coworker picked up the rest of it. I woke up a little after 1am to make sure I had everything packed again before I hit the road for my hour long trip to work with Betty. The good thing about my work is that it's half way between Erie and Pitt Race, which made the trip a little easier on the car. I work the 4 longest hours I've worked in a very long time because I was so hyped to really get some seat time in the the still new setup. I show up and the course layout is pretty fast and not the most technical. Myself and a few other drivers that came from the Erie region are training to be Safety Stewart's so we stuck together and walked the track as if we were the acting Safety Stewart's. Myself and one other member were aloud to be deputies for the event. I need one more, which I'm hoping to get at NEOHIO's test and tune in less than two weeks, and I'll be a certified SS before my region's first event on May 6th and 7th.

We got a total of 6 runs. Keep in mind, the car is still on low boost for the turbo I'm running (19-20), and a very safe tune.

First run, I was just trying to get a good line through the course and the car felt pretty solid, but I had a lot of rust on the driver mod. I pulled in a 52.XX, which I felt ok with, because most cars were running around 50-54 sec times on their first run.

Second run, I decided I was going to push it. That wasn't the best idea because the very first straight away with a hard turn, I over drive the car and locked up the tires, hitting a cone wall, ruining my run.

Run number three, I cooled back down and just tried to get the feel of the car again, and the best line. Came in at another 52.XX.

I was pretty far behind most cars in my class so on break, I talked to a few people to help me realize I'm still figuring the car out and it's been a long time since the car has seen the track a long with me getting back into AWD.

Fourth run, I tried to be much more smooth and work on getting the car to rotate a little more. Pulled in a 50.9 which helped me breath and relax a little more.

Fifth run I ran a 50.5, which was good enough to put me 4th in SM.

Run number six, being almost completely relaxed, but still working on driver mod, I let her rip. Rotating the car perfect beside a two spots, and braking early in two spots, it felt by far like my best run. I got a little more aggressive with the steering input and it paid off. Crossed the finish line and the display lights up a 48.5! Good enough to finish 3rd in SM. Only .135 behind 2nd place and 5.5 seconds behind 1st. Knowing not one person got faster than a 44.1 (he won nationals last year), there's no way someone ran a 43.0.

Ill take the results knowing I still could improve on that course. I have three more test and tune days before the points start rolling in. Plenty of time to get more rust knocked off and work on tuning a little more. So excited for this year to begin.

Like I said, next test and tune is in NEOHIO's region on the 22nd and 23rd. This event Aaron @GofaST4life is planning on being there and helping with the tune. I'm not sure what the plans are just yet but I'll keep this updated.

Things to do before the next event!!!

Wash the car! I have not washed the car yet this year and she is getting really bad, especially after the long trip yesterday.

Check and regap the plugs. On the way home I noticed a slight hesitation going through the RPM's but no check engine light wasn't coming on for knock.

Check the knock sensor. I still can't raise the boost without getting phantom knock after swapping a few sensors out. I'm going to make sure it didn't rattle loose and retorque it because of the BS delete this motor has and the polyurethane motor mounts.

Recheck all fluid and another BLT
 
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I picked up a few knock sensors so I swapped out mine out. I'm still getting the hesitation, but I believe that's from the spark plug gaps. I only saw the knock light come on once, but that could have been because the tune still needs a little work for the boost level I'm at. I'm turning it back down till Friday night when I head to Ohio for the weekend.
 
Over the weekend I regapped my plugs to .028 and swapped out the coil packs because I had some laying around. Still have a missfire so I did a boost leak test right after work yesterday. I have a slight leak at the biss screw, but as soon as the system was pressurized to about 20-22 psi, the BOV would crack and release air. That's right where I'm having my missfire issue. I took it all apart and everything still looks good so I'm going to mess with it a little more tonight after work. Try to adjust it from the top screw so there's more pressure on the springs inside to hold it closed longer.
 
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