Ludachris
Founder & Zookeeper
- 8,831
- 4,642
- Nov 12, 2001
-
Newcastle,
California
So there was a local NASA event this past weekend in La Junta Raceway in southeastern Colorado. I knew the car was not completely ready to compete but it was a good venue to test the new setup. Since the car last saw the track it has received some new hardware. A few things that have been added/changed so far:
1. New Forced Performance FP3150 dual ball bearing turbo setup with FP Race exhaust manifold and Tial 44mm external wastegate. This setup replaced the old PTE6152E internally gated turbo and DNP manifold in an effort to improve spool times and throttle response for road racing circuits.
2. New RRE Camber Plates, stiffer spring rates for the Ground Control setup, and new 17x9 Team Dynamics wheels with 255x40x17 Toyo RA1 tires.
3. PWR radiator with a Carbontrix hood vent for better cooling.
4. Some weight savings.
5. A oil temp and water temp gauge for better monitoring.
Now this is still a work in progress at this point. It was a lot of work to throw the car back together and get it ready for the event. I could have just went to an open test and tune day at a nearly empty track but I figured it would be better to go to a NASA event where there would be plenty of people around in case I needed help - and it's a good thing I did.
The week before the event -
I was scrambling trying to get all the necessary fittings to install the turbo installed correctly. Since I'm going from a turbo that didn't require water cooling to one that does it caused a little bit of headache. I no longer have the factory coolant lines and I'm now running a non-turbo water pipe and have converted from a sandwich oil cooler to an external oil cooler, which means the water lines would have to be custom. I had to order a few fittings from ATPturbo.com at the last second to make it work, along with some AN fittings from a local shop here in town.
The Tial wastegate sits right where the dipstick tube resides, which means I had to do a little bending. I just pulled it toward the radiator some.
I also didn't realize I would have to modify my front motor mount to allow the turbo oil drain line to clear. Got the grinder out and started removing as little material as I could while still allowing it to clear.
When I dropped the car down off the jackstands with the new springs and wheels/tires I found that 8" springs in the rear were a little long. The car had a lot of room between the fender and the tire and was at its lowest possible perch setting. I didn't want to get it aligned before putting in some 7" springs in the back. Had to put in a last second order at Ground Control and get the springs put on in time for an alignment.
The Day Before We Leave:
I still have to tighten up the water lines for the turbo, swap the rear springs, change the oil filter, add oil and coolant, start the car and check for leaks. Brent and Grant stopped by and helped out and also dropped off an extra harness for the car since I threw away my seatbelts in anticipation of the new roll bar that didn't get done in time. I got Steven (biglady112 here on the site) to help me tune the car that night. We did some freeway pulls since I didn't have time for a dyno and had to do it without the wideband working, since I found that all of my gauge wiring was wrong
Anyway, we finished up at about midnight and he took off to go get ready for his 5am flight the next morning. I started packing my stuff before I went to bed. I get to sleep around 2am. I still need to get the car aligned and fix some water leaks.
The Day We Leave:
Isabella woke up at 5am wanting to eat
I gave her a bottle and tried to get another half hour of sleep before I had to get up and get the car ready to go to the alignment shop.
Once the car is at the alignment shop I run over to the parts store to get some more electrical connectors to get the gauges wired up right. I'm pressed for time at this point. Once I get the car home I have to load it up and hurry down to a friend's house who will be trailering the car to the event for me. I don't want to hold him up. I got down there just in time to load the car and head down to the track.
At the Track - Day Before Track Event:
I realized that with my 3.5 hours of sleep I some how only loaded 3 of the 4 race tires/wheels in the car
What a dumb ass I am! Luckily I'm able to call a friend who hadn't left yet and had him stop by the house and pick it up for me. In the meantime I'm tearing out all my gauges and am starting the wiring from scratch. Then it's on to the coolant leak at one of the fittings I tapped on the t-stat housing. Then I still have to swap in some new brake pads. And before I go to sleep for the night I still realize I have a boost control issue. I run to the gas station, fill up and go back to the track and crash out in my friend's motor home.
First Day of the Track Event:
I wake up early and start working on the car. I try a few different vacuum line tests and a couple boost controllers and can't get the controllers to work. I move on to the coolant leak. Backed out the plug and put on some more thread sealant. Fixed. My friend shows up with my tire and I put them all on. Up until my first session I'm playing with boost controllers and finally just pulled the controllers out and went off wastegate pressure at 18 psi. Problem solved.
I head out on the track and get my first taste of the new setup. Car has great power and fast spool (thank you FP!!!). The tires are gripping damn good. I'm out there for 3 laps before the NASA officials wave a red flag and then a black flag - out session is over
Great! I later found out that it was a drill.
So the next session comes up and I go out again. This track is an old converted landing strip. Not much to it. Seven turns total and only one left hander:
I'm hitting about 115-120 on the main straight. After about 5 laps I'm getting used to the new setup and am starting to try out some lines. I get by an Integra before turn 1 and find that I'm going a bit fast going through 1 and 2. I try to trail brake a little and the ass end starts coming around. Instead of getting back on the gas like I should have I let off the brake and try to steer through it. I end up going all the way around and come to a stop facing the wrong way. At least I didn't go off the track into the dirt, and nobody hit me. What a noob! I go into the pits and have a NASA official check the car and then go back out for a lap before the session is over.
The third session comes up I have our regional director along for a ride. We get a yellow first lap and then as they give us the green I notice the car rev like crazy when the turbo spools - clutch is slipping. I ease off and go again, clutch slips badly again. So I baby it around the first lap trying to see if I can get the clutch to warm up. As I hit the straight I get on it again and I hear a pop and the car starts slowing... intercooler pipe popped off. I'm able to make my way off track and out of harms way. We then have to sit there for nearly 20 minutes until the session is over just to have the tow truck come out and tow us back in to the paddock. At least I knew what the problem was. But with the clutch slipping as bad as it was I knew the day was pretty much over.
The Second Day at the Track Event:
I took the car out for a short run just to see if I could run it at half throttle so that the clutch wouldn't slip much. It didn't work out all that well but I still had fun. The BOV was making all kinds of noise and I was able to concentrate on the suspension setup a little to see where I might want to make changes. I still was able to run a lap time that was only about 4 seconds slower than an Ariel Atom that was tearing up the track. Not bad for half throttle and very little track time. I had just put the transponder on the car before the clutch started slipping so I didn't get a good gauge of what kind of lap times I was putting down when the car was strong. Oh well. It wasn't all that important.
All in all it was a very trying event. A lot of hard work only to have a limited amount of track time. That's fine though. It showed me what issues need to be worked out for the next test and tune day. I'll be working to get the car ready for the next NASA event in July. We'll see if we can't make some improvements to put down some fast laps.
1. New Forced Performance FP3150 dual ball bearing turbo setup with FP Race exhaust manifold and Tial 44mm external wastegate. This setup replaced the old PTE6152E internally gated turbo and DNP manifold in an effort to improve spool times and throttle response for road racing circuits.
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2. New RRE Camber Plates, stiffer spring rates for the Ground Control setup, and new 17x9 Team Dynamics wheels with 255x40x17 Toyo RA1 tires.
3. PWR radiator with a Carbontrix hood vent for better cooling.
4. Some weight savings.
5. A oil temp and water temp gauge for better monitoring.
Now this is still a work in progress at this point. It was a lot of work to throw the car back together and get it ready for the event. I could have just went to an open test and tune day at a nearly empty track but I figured it would be better to go to a NASA event where there would be plenty of people around in case I needed help - and it's a good thing I did.
The week before the event -
I was scrambling trying to get all the necessary fittings to install the turbo installed correctly. Since I'm going from a turbo that didn't require water cooling to one that does it caused a little bit of headache. I no longer have the factory coolant lines and I'm now running a non-turbo water pipe and have converted from a sandwich oil cooler to an external oil cooler, which means the water lines would have to be custom. I had to order a few fittings from ATPturbo.com at the last second to make it work, along with some AN fittings from a local shop here in town.
The Tial wastegate sits right where the dipstick tube resides, which means I had to do a little bending. I just pulled it toward the radiator some.
I also didn't realize I would have to modify my front motor mount to allow the turbo oil drain line to clear. Got the grinder out and started removing as little material as I could while still allowing it to clear.
When I dropped the car down off the jackstands with the new springs and wheels/tires I found that 8" springs in the rear were a little long. The car had a lot of room between the fender and the tire and was at its lowest possible perch setting. I didn't want to get it aligned before putting in some 7" springs in the back. Had to put in a last second order at Ground Control and get the springs put on in time for an alignment.
The Day Before We Leave:
I still have to tighten up the water lines for the turbo, swap the rear springs, change the oil filter, add oil and coolant, start the car and check for leaks. Brent and Grant stopped by and helped out and also dropped off an extra harness for the car since I threw away my seatbelts in anticipation of the new roll bar that didn't get done in time. I got Steven (biglady112 here on the site) to help me tune the car that night. We did some freeway pulls since I didn't have time for a dyno and had to do it without the wideband working, since I found that all of my gauge wiring was wrong
Anyway, we finished up at about midnight and he took off to go get ready for his 5am flight the next morning. I started packing my stuff before I went to bed. I get to sleep around 2am. I still need to get the car aligned and fix some water leaks. The Day We Leave:
Isabella woke up at 5am wanting to eat
I gave her a bottle and tried to get another half hour of sleep before I had to get up and get the car ready to go to the alignment shop. Once the car is at the alignment shop I run over to the parts store to get some more electrical connectors to get the gauges wired up right. I'm pressed for time at this point. Once I get the car home I have to load it up and hurry down to a friend's house who will be trailering the car to the event for me. I don't want to hold him up. I got down there just in time to load the car and head down to the track.
At the Track - Day Before Track Event:
I realized that with my 3.5 hours of sleep I some how only loaded 3 of the 4 race tires/wheels in the car
What a dumb ass I am! Luckily I'm able to call a friend who hadn't left yet and had him stop by the house and pick it up for me. In the meantime I'm tearing out all my gauges and am starting the wiring from scratch. Then it's on to the coolant leak at one of the fittings I tapped on the t-stat housing. Then I still have to swap in some new brake pads. And before I go to sleep for the night I still realize I have a boost control issue. I run to the gas station, fill up and go back to the track and crash out in my friend's motor home. First Day of the Track Event:
I wake up early and start working on the car. I try a few different vacuum line tests and a couple boost controllers and can't get the controllers to work. I move on to the coolant leak. Backed out the plug and put on some more thread sealant. Fixed. My friend shows up with my tire and I put them all on. Up until my first session I'm playing with boost controllers and finally just pulled the controllers out and went off wastegate pressure at 18 psi. Problem solved.
I head out on the track and get my first taste of the new setup. Car has great power and fast spool (thank you FP!!!). The tires are gripping damn good. I'm out there for 3 laps before the NASA officials wave a red flag and then a black flag - out session is over
Great! I later found out that it was a drill. So the next session comes up and I go out again. This track is an old converted landing strip. Not much to it. Seven turns total and only one left hander:
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
I'm hitting about 115-120 on the main straight. After about 5 laps I'm getting used to the new setup and am starting to try out some lines. I get by an Integra before turn 1 and find that I'm going a bit fast going through 1 and 2. I try to trail brake a little and the ass end starts coming around. Instead of getting back on the gas like I should have I let off the brake and try to steer through it. I end up going all the way around and come to a stop facing the wrong way. At least I didn't go off the track into the dirt, and nobody hit me. What a noob! I go into the pits and have a NASA official check the car and then go back out for a lap before the session is over.
The third session comes up I have our regional director along for a ride. We get a yellow first lap and then as they give us the green I notice the car rev like crazy when the turbo spools - clutch is slipping. I ease off and go again, clutch slips badly again. So I baby it around the first lap trying to see if I can get the clutch to warm up. As I hit the straight I get on it again and I hear a pop and the car starts slowing... intercooler pipe popped off. I'm able to make my way off track and out of harms way. We then have to sit there for nearly 20 minutes until the session is over just to have the tow truck come out and tow us back in to the paddock. At least I knew what the problem was. But with the clutch slipping as bad as it was I knew the day was pretty much over.
The Second Day at the Track Event:
I took the car out for a short run just to see if I could run it at half throttle so that the clutch wouldn't slip much. It didn't work out all that well but I still had fun. The BOV was making all kinds of noise and I was able to concentrate on the suspension setup a little to see where I might want to make changes. I still was able to run a lap time that was only about 4 seconds slower than an Ariel Atom that was tearing up the track. Not bad for half throttle and very little track time. I had just put the transponder on the car before the clutch started slipping so I didn't get a good gauge of what kind of lap times I was putting down when the car was strong. Oh well. It wasn't all that important.
All in all it was a very trying event. A lot of hard work only to have a limited amount of track time. That's fine though. It showed me what issues need to be worked out for the next test and tune day. I'll be working to get the car ready for the next NASA event in July. We'll see if we can't make some improvements to put down some fast laps.
Last edited:
Glad I've got a set too, can't wait to get them on! 
