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98 TSi awd - Autocross Build

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@Black95TSIawd let us know how that battery performs. I run a deka etx14. It works great in the summer, it does struggle a bit in the cold but it always starts. I also don't drive the car much in the winter so not a huge deal.

Were you spraying down the side mount in between runs? I guess the t25 is pumping out a lot of hot air
 
@Black95TSIawd let us know how that battery performs. I run a deka etx14. It works great in the summer, it does struggle a bit in the cold but it always starts. I also don't drive the car much in the winter so not a huge deal.

Were you spraying down the side mount in between runs? I guess the t25 is pumping out a lot of hot air

Well, I kept on cranking and cranking yesterday trying to get the motor to start and everything went well. (before I realized I needed and did not have my V3 cable.) So far so good. The car sits on a trickle charger whenever its in the garage otherwise.

The last time I autocrossed this car, it had a Greddy 24v front mount intercooler. I would check the core from time to time, but the cool side never really god too hot so no reason to spray.
 
You can balance rotating assemblies and bore out to .047

read the rulebook grasshopper :p

Unfortunately, you can't remove the balance shafts until SM and up classes. SP requires a stock, untouched motor. :cry:
 
Getting quite a few things buttoned up now. Should have the car back on the road within the week.

Motor is all buttoned up at this point. Flushed the oil and coolant, did a boost leak test, and wired in the factory BCS with a .025 restrictor to run ECU boost control. Once the car is on the road and running smoothly, I'll start on a Speed Density tune and work on building a true cold air intake.
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Took the interior apart to remove the headliner for repair. The fabric started to sag about 2 years ago and at this point, had all but fallen. Ordered some black fabric and glue from Amazon and will be tackling this on my own. I also bolted the rear seat belt assemblies back into the car. I took them out for weight savings, but the SCCA SP ruleset does not allow removal so back in they go.
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This also gave me the chance to run the new wiring for the back-up camera, wideband, and switches for the intercooler fan and accusump. Yes, I said back-up camera. I'm not sure if you've ever seen an SP style spoiler, but they completely suck for rear vision out of the car. Think nascar style, but 10 inches tall and at 60 degrees from the trunk lid. Its not typical, but I had this camera laying around since 2012 so might as well put it to good use. Install came out pretty good I think. Doesn't look too gaudy like most aftermarket camera mounting solutions.

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Mounted 2 3-prong light up switches for the accusump and fan. Easy to reach and the red light will let me know, at a glance, if I left anything on or off. Originally, I was going to drill and mount below the radio, right in front of the shifter, but I quickly changed my mind once I realized I'd be drilling into my black center console. The kick panel is easy to replace should I have to. Gauges are mounted in my favorite spot, right on top of the steering column.

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What really started getting me excited is when the seat bolted in. I sat in, grabbed the shifter and steering wheel, and immediately felt a rush. I can't wait to get this thing back on course!

Buddy Club P1 Limited Edition seat. A friend had this style seat in his 240sx a few years ago and I remember how comfortable they were, even on trips greater than 1 hour. Sitting in one a few years later confirmed what I remembered. Glad I got one. Using side brackets, it bolted right up to the Corbeau slider and mount I already had on the car. The Corbeau seat on the passenger side will stay for now until I can grab another P-1.
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Few other tid bits.... My father stopped by my house last weekend so I had him sit in the car and pump some pedals for me. Brakes and Clutch are now flushed with fresh Pentosin Super DOT4 brake fluid. With a 500+ degree dry boiling point, this is pretty good stuff considering its available at any autozone.

Next week I'll work on the headliner and spacing for the wheels. Car should be back on the road once I have all that sorted out. First event to test on is tentatively scheduled with the NEPA SCCA at Mohegan on July 28th. Can't wait!
 
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A little foreshadowing with this post, but found this gem for sale in Canada.

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Quaife center LSD for DSM/Evo 3. This particular unit has never been used, and has been deburred, REM, and Cryo treated. I know these things have a bad reputation, but my car is not tailored for drag racing nor does it make a lot of power. I'm willing to take the risk. I'll get this thing on over winter for the 2020 season. (Unless i'm really bored one weekend this year and have time on my hand. :p ROFL)
 
And we have touchdown!

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These set of wheels are 18x10.5 with an offset of +30. 10.5 is gooood... +30 offset is baaaad. I think they might fit in the front, but absolutely not in the rear. In talking to Bobby Gould and a few OG autocrossers, I settled at 17mm spacer in the rear and 23mm spacer in the front. This gives me an effective rear offset of 13. I can just about squeeze my pinky in-between the tire and knuckle arm. The 23mm spacer up front gives me an effective offset of 7. This was done for 2 reasons. 1 - I had that size spacer laying around. :p 2 - I wanted the front track width to be wider anyway. Why? Because AWD cars understeer. The wider front track should make this easier to manage.

Tire diameter and width play a large role in deciding which rear offset can fit. I'm currently on 265/35 tires. They are about 25.3 inches in diameter with 9.7 inches of contact patch. (This is about the tallest tire you'd want on a DSM.) When it comes time to squeeze on the 285 or 295 tires, I'll have to revisit the spacing. (I want the 295's to fit, damnit!)

As mentioned above, the current tires are 25.3 inches in diameter. It does rub ever so lightly in the front. This is with about 100 miles of driving on NJ roads. (used tape as its a fresh surface for the tire to rub into)
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I can live with that. But, I'll be paying much more attention to this at the next autocross as it that should stress the suspension into more movement than simple road driving can do. Why is this important to me? Well, this test will make a big determination on which size slick I can run with. 295's also have a 25.3 diameter and this is what I want. But, If these tires rub too much, I'll have to settle for the smaller 285's which are 24.9 inches in diameter and much easier to fit on our cars.
 
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Every year during the SCCA Solo Nationals, Koni USA sets up camp as a vendor and rebuilds/revalves any koni shock or strut for free. All we have to pay for are parts. When I went last year in my Evo, I took the Talon's shocks with me. I explained to Lee what the car is for and he did his best to give the shocks the best valving. TBH, I almost forgot about this. When I first started driving the car, I was wondering what I did to it to make it drive so well. There is very little bounce and the bumps in the road are absorbed just about perfectly for a car with such high spring rates. Then I remembered that Koni had worked on the shocks. I honestly could not be happier. As a comparison to my Evo, that was on JRZ RS2 coilovers, the Talon drives much, much smoother. Very happy about that. We'll find out this Sunday how it feels on course. :hellyeah:
 
What spring rates are you currently on?

800/550 and running both front and rear RM bars. I have a theory that these rates are much too high for small street tires, but my experience with them have been with pinched 285’s on 9.5in wheels. (Pinched tires are a no no unless you’re ready to drive around the lack of feel and response). The 265’s on 10.5inches felt great on the Evo so hoping the same for the Talon.

I asked Lee at Koni what rates the rear shocks should be good for now and he said to use whatever I want.
 
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Welcome to the rubbing club LOL just make sure its not going to get your shock spring as i mentioned.
That offset wouod not of even fit in front as i only just got them in and thats with the lightly ground down knuckles. (I know you know this but this is mainky for others reading im saying again) just be safe with spacers as they are not the strongest things to use and the loads you will likely put on them might cause a fail so just keeo an eye on them, last thing we want is you to break something over spacers
 
Welcome to the rubbing club LOL just make sure its not going to get your shock spring as i mentioned.
That offset wouod not of even fit in front as i only just got them in and thats with the lightly ground down knuckles. (I know you know this but this is mainky for others reading im saying again) just be safe with spacers as they are not the strongest things to use and the loads you will likely put on them might cause a fail so just keeo an eye on them, last thing we want is you to break something over spacers

I haven't noticed any tire touching of the shock/spring or knuckle, but I'll double check. Have you noticed your front tires getting damaged from the rub?

What do you mean about the spacers? I have ARP extended studs and spacers, not the bolt-on type. Its very common to see cars in grid with extended studs and aluminum spacers. The important thing is to make sure you either have the proper hub bore rings or use conical type lug nuts which center the wheel when tightening.
 
I haven't noticed any tire touching of the shock/spring or knuckle, but I'll double check. Have you noticed your front tires getting damaged from the rub?

What do you mean about the spacers? I have ARP extended studs and spacers, not the bolt-on type. Its very common to see cars in grid with extended studs and aluminum spacers. The important thing is to make sure you either have the proper hub bore rings or use conical type lug nuts which center the wheel when tightening.
i got a few marks yes on the tires, if i had not ground my knuckle down a smidge previously i would have hit being ET25 only a few mm but it is tight now but safe enough i am happy with, infact here is a little write up i did about it (I forgot i did this till just now) https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/w...tire-yes-it-has-some-clearance-issues.520016/

as for the spacers i ment if you bolt them in and then use the other bolts pushed into the spacer they are an issue strength wise they tent to pull out of the spacer over time when removing the nut and heat etc, yours is a different story, length of spacer your using vs extended studs means your putting all that force on the outer length of the shaft and its the weak link, closer to the hub the better ideally so just be cautious, what you are doing is adding stresses and bending forces within that stud and if it was at hub area those forces wont be seen so in this instance i personally would run bolt on spacers over your setup if it was my car.
 
Started tuning and very surprised at how the turbo is responding to the smaller intercooler and the stock BCS.

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15.1psi at 7500rpm with the little T25? I verified that my sensor is the OMNI 4 bar and set the correct altitude in the logger. I didn't believe it at first, and still a little skeptical, but otherwise this is great. I didn't think the little booger could do it.

Don't mind the knock... still working on the timing map.
 
NEPA SCCA solo @ Mohegan Sun Arena - 7/28/2019

Packed the car up the night before, got some fresh fuel, and wiped it down to give it a little shine. I was so excited to autocross the Talon that I could barely fall asleep the night before.

This site is about 100 miles from my home so heading out early (5:30am) is a must. Got there at 7:30am and unloaded the car. Put my new class decals on the doors and proceeded to go to tech. I wasn't running until 4th heat so the car sat all of the morning and most of the early afternoon. Unfortunately, an STR miata driver lost control and totaled his co-driver's car on course which added some time for heat 2. Ended up hitting the course around 3pm. I couldn't sit still all day long! haha

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Grabbed my helmet and headed out to grid. 1st run starts and i'm super focused. Car feels a little down on power, but it could just be me as the last few cars I've autocrossed have an insane amount of power. Whats exciting is that the car is handling amazingly. Hard left after the start followed by a 5 cone slalom. Wow, the car is very composed through the slalom. A little juke to the right followed by a left/right offset. Brakes are a little touchy. I don't think I like it. Need pads with a little less bite. Here comes the off camber to on camber banked right hander. Wow, the car has an insane amount of grip. Into a 3 cone slalom.... uh oh, whats that? Check engine light is flashing. Motor doesn't sound too happy. Finish out the rest of run 1 at 50%.

I pulled into grid and a few friends notified me of a lot of smoke coming out the tailpipe. I pull back into paddock to do a quick inspection. Initially, I thought my T25 gave up. Pulled the intake pipe. Little bit of oil in here, but nothing terrible. Grabbed the compressor wheel and the shaft play is fine. Ok... WTF is going on? Opened up the laptop and turned the boost allll the way down and pulled 1 degree of timing out across the board. The car is going to be a turd, but hopefully nothing catastrophic happens.

I ended up doing 3 more runs, putting down faster times after every run. After my 4th and last run, I was relatively happy with the time, and completely stoked at how well the chassis behaved so I called it quits as not to risk anything else. Video below. You can tell that the motor has no guts, but I was more excited at how well it went otherwise.




Went to pack the car up and noticed my accusump is at 20psi. (Its in the trunk) That's low and pretty much just air pressure at this point. Did I forget it on while the car was idling to cool off? Hmm... no I didn't. Lets try to refill. Ok, that didn't work. But, I just did 3.5 runs? Motor is seemingly working fine considering the circumstances. Whatever, lets just get out of here. The car sat off for about 20 minutes before I head out. The drive to the gas station was about 2 miles and in those two miles the motor developed some noises and vibrations. I didn't want to risk it and just called a tow truck.

:cry:
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The motor does start up, but its not happy. I'm sure the 7.5 quarts of oil that is in the pan is not helping. What is going on? Why did my accusump dump all its reserve in the motor? Is my oil pump dead? The factor oil pressure light is not on so what gives?

I'm getting married in 3 weeks and also preparing for Solo Nationals the first week of Sept so no time yet to get into it. Regardless, I'm a little stumped at what the problem is and have a strange feeling that its something related to my original motor failure 2 years ago. For now, back to sleep in the garage it goes. :|
 
Sorry to hear that - I'm hoping it's nothing serious!

I plan on doing some testing with the accusump removed from the motor. An oil pressure test should tell me a bunch and will also send the oil out to get tested by blackstone labs.

In the meantime, i’m searching for 7 bolt shortblocks. Having a spare seems to be a good idea at this point.
 
That sucks about the car. I wonder if you foamed the oil from having the pan overfilled. It doesn't sound like you have a way to read or log oil pressure.

The course looks like a lot of fun. You sure have a nice lot to run in.
 
Ok... weird.

Instead of having low or no oil pressure, I have too much.

Cold start - jumped to 80 and settled to 60. Dropped to 25psi. 25min idle at 900rpm.

3k - 50psi
4k - 80psi
5k - 90psi
5.5k - 95psi (hit 2-step)




This motor is stock, with only a kiggly HLA.
 
Continued with some testing at the head as well as swapping relief springs in the OFH and oil pressure is seemingly fine. However, the weird noise and vibration is still constant and gets worse as RPM increases. I'm a little baffled at what the issue is.

I've been pretty idle with working on the car since I got married, but will soon start digging into it again. Going to pull the motor and swap in a used shortblock. Searching for "JDM" engine shops has been a bust as these motors have increased in value over the years and I'm not paying $2800 for a used motor. Hopefully can source something from a partout in the north east.
 
I've thoroughly enjoyed reading through this thread, and it's really made me appreciate the fun that can be had in a low power, mostly stock car with drivetrain and suspension upgrades. Thanks for revamping my modifications plan.

Hopefully you've sorted out what's going on with the engine?
 
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