GSX AutoX Street Mod

[shellhouse]

That's awesome, I'm jealous. People won't understand how fun these are until they ride in one. Something raw about them also, especially compression lock on downshifts.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

I saw one down the road from the tire shop i use. I think they do bodywork as they got a few cars out the front but just happen to all be nissans , skylines or pulsar gtir etc

 

[96dsmftw]

Back again and will keep getting the build caught up to current day.

(June 2021)
I had bought my TIG welder and got acquainted with it. I got the PrimeWeld 225X. Capable of DC and AC TIG which I learned I needed AC for aluminum. It wasn't that expensive and I believe it is worth the money and I haven't tried aluminum yet.

The autocross season had been going on and I had been co-driving my buddies car.

It's a street tire build for now as he starts getting it built up. Of course he has it easy because he can just ask me for the answers. He still needs to work on his driving though .

(August 2021)
Almost forgot the best part. I made it to my first Shootout along with 2 of my buddies. We put his car (above) on a trailer and drove up from central KY. It was a great weekend. We wound up competing in the autocross only event. We strapped my coilovers (with higher spring rates) onto his car before we left and brought a set of my slicks along. We were going to run my slick/coilover setup until we found out there wasn't really anything for slicks. This meant we were stuck with very high spring rates and 245 street tires. A lot of understeer was had but we were both able to put down fast times. With not alot of people signing up for autocross and the short course we were almost hot lapping as a 2 driver car. The clutch made it abundantly clear it didn't like hot lapping launches and digs from tight corners so I didn't take my last run to not toast the clutch (the car isn't mine after all). The good news though, I did win the Autocross DSM class. There were only a few in the class but I will take it. What I was surprised about is I finished 2nd or 3rd overall which was very nice to see considering the mismatch of suspension and tire.

Me, killing it in my Mitsubishi team racing shirt or whatever you call them (Its technically Ralliart but who cares). Notice the accent of oily fingerprints to the primer gray and blue painters tape to complete the undercover autocross DSM project picture.

For anyone out there who does attend the shootout, I recommend bringing a canopy. They are lifesavers when hanging out in the stands all day.

As for my build, it entered another hiatus as I had been fighting with the fuel cell install welding. I'm sure I had done some small stuff during the fall season but it wasn't much. Mostly swapping over little things in the engine bay and suspension components. Early January this year is when I really started getting back into it.

(January 2022)
The welding for the fuel cell mounts is finally completed. The fuel cell fits in there nicely and isn't going anywhere. The new problem that arose is I realized the fuel cell alone would most likely cause me to have fuel delivery issues. It only had a small area for accumulation and a sponge type thing in the bottom to help with fuel sloshing around. After doing some research I learned what surge tanks are and now needed one. I ordered one from RTM Racing deciding on the AEM 50-1005 for the surge tank fuel pump. I ordered a Walbro 255 as the feed from the fuel cell to the surge tank. I made an amazing drawing to make sure I didn't forget anything.

I ordered 30ft of -6AN hose and all of the needed fittings. Some pieces such as the fuel filter and hose from rail to AFPR were re-used. All the hoses I now needed had to be made.
I now needed a place for the surge tank to be mounted. Luckily this isn't that hard when the stock fuel tank isn't there anymore. I used my new welding skills to fab a frame the surge tank could bolt to. This frame then bolts underneath the car, accessing bolts from inside the car. Pics of the surge tank progression below.

Decided to go with studs since it would be easier to get to and I wanted to try welding them.

Got 2 out of 3 mounts on. Welding the nuts on proved harder than I thought on the backside of the 45 degree.

And its final resting place. This is on the passenger side by the rear subframe. The lines from the fuel cell run over the subframe where the stock filler neck did. From the surge tank they go to the front about where the stock fuel lines go. It clears the rear diff mount and I have space for the control arm bolt.

While I have space for the lines and fittings, it is unable to be serviced if I welded it all in hence the bolt on method.

At this point it is roughly the end of January 2022. I will make one more post and I should be all caught up.

 

[96dsmftw]

More past due updates. Almost up to speed.

About a month ago I purchased a 3D printer. I have an Ender 5 Plus. I chose this one mostly for the price point but also the 350mm x 350mm x 400mm print volume. I started off with PLA and made some test prints to dial in the quality. I would recommend printing some gussets for the frame to strengthen it up. During faster print speeds it seemed as if it was shaking slightly, quality of outer walls did seem slightly better. Also, a silent motor driver main board is a must. The machine is loud enough you know its there and the new board makes it so you only hear the fans.
The first print right out of the box. Not bad for the small model (roughly 3" long) and the probably sub par PLA it comes with.

I finally had finished up the fuel system. Fuel cell, fuel pump, surge tank, fuel filter, and all lines are complete. I just need to figure what to do about the fuel cell vent.

From here the lift pump delivers fuel through the spare tire well and over top of the rear subframe to the surge tank. From the surge tank mounted in front of the rear subframe to the fuel filter mounted near the passenger seat area and then up to the engine bay. The return AN line is run in the same area as the stock fuel/brake lines run. Rather than trying to bolt some bracket to underneath the car, I decided to make a piece that replaced the holder of the stock brake/fuel lines on my new 3D printer. Below is what we have before. Eventhough this car only has 50k miles on it, the rubber is still old and brittle (and has nowhere for -6AN lines)

And after. I made this so the outer edges hug the bracket. Then when you bolt it all to the car it holds together even more. The 3D printed insert is nice and snug so it stays put with nothing holding it.

Unfortunately, I also had this idea after deciding to run the feed line on the other side from the stock location. It works really well but it is made out of PLA still so will require me to come back to it as PLA probably will melt here. I am acquiring parts for my 3D printer so I can start making things out of ABS/ASA.

With fuel done for now, I moved on to moving parts from the old red car to the new one. Not much is left to move over at this point. I had a joyous time trying to remove the rear diff from the red car as every time you hit the under side of the car with a wrench rust falls from somewhere. I took the driveshaft out and set it aside. It had been years since the rear diff had been out. When I took it out last I must have forgot the part where the rear subframe bolts for the diff don't slide out all the way. Best part about the red car being a junk roller now is I can just cut access holes wherever I want.

Nice and neat. Mmmm look at that rusty subframe. I also hated everything about removing the front diff bracket. The 3 bolts that go directly to the diff were easy. The one that holds the front diff mount to the subframe was a giant pain. It fought me all the way off but I was victorious. On the black car, to avoid the rear diff rear bolts being a pain I made access holes for them through the spare tire well. This definitely had nothing to do with the fact I had put the rear subframe in the black car already, forgetting about the bolt to spare tire well issue, and refused to take it out again. My solution was 2 holes where I could fit the bolts through and also a socket to tighten them.

This definitely made things easier and faster. I cover the holes with some plastic hole plugs. The last solid mount for the rear I had was the one for the front mount of the rear diff. Melt, cut, press. That was the last of the VOLK solid bushings I had and it was just as easy as the rest. The rear diff was a bit snug with all solid mounts but I just tightened up each bolt in stages and it all came together.

I bolted up the driveshaft and that was all the rear drivetrain swapped over. So much room to work with when a stock fuel tank isn't in the way. I also have all the suspension back on the car minus the coilovers. I need to send them out to Feal for a once over and to add extensions to the reservoirs. We don't have enough space as it is and I don't want to have to worry about ripping a shock reservoir off because I stuffed it in there. Now I basically have a roller that is missing some gauges/small stuff, an engine, the transmission, and transfer case. Progress. Next update should be about engine stuff.

 

[96dsmftw]

Well, I have forgotten to continue updating this again. So a quick, very important update, I believe I am ready to get the car started tomorrow and take it on a quick break in run. Eventually I will go back and finish the updates...maybe.

Confirmed oil flow to the head when it was on the engine stand. Took the plugs out and cranked it yesterday. It had oil pressure and oil made it to the rockers so there is that.

Oil cooler for the 90 OFH.

Just keeping the hose and cooler closed. Eventhough a bluetooth oil cooler would be cool. This cooler has the fan that will be controlled by an inline thermostat. Incoming oil temp goes up, fan comes on.

Too thick radiator installed.

All of my gauges. The upper pod and radiator delete pods are of my own creation, then 3D printed in ABS.

We start tomorrow!! (Disclaimer: Unless the couple things I have left to do prevent that. I also still have to clean the garage up a bit to get the car out so that might take a while.)

 

[96dsmftw]

And now for the best update! I actually started the car on Thursday. It was a little weird getting it to idle on the 2.3 with S2 cams on first start up. But once it warmed up a bit it was ok. I got a rough idle tune going and drove the car after it warmed up. I beat on it for 11 hard miles, lots of boost(13lbs) and vacuum. It ran great. I didn't even really touch fuel setting as they were pretty close since I was on the same injectors as before. At WOT the RC1000s were showing 73% duty cycle at 13psi, so I will have to add injectors to the upgrade list. The 2.3 makes a HUGE difference. I am "borrowing" my buddies V2 68HTA and using a stock intake/exhaust manifold. He had the V2 in his car with stock cams and it was way more laggy than it should have been. On my car with the 2.3 it spools up right away. It is pretty quick right now and will definitely jam on higher boost. It looks rough but its just the exterior paint. All the pain covered by a panel is perfect as it should be for 53k miles. There is an autocross event this Sunday and am debating if its a good idea to take it or not.

 

[godschylde777]

Well, I have forgotten to continue updating this again. So a quick, very important update, I believe I am ready to get the car started tomorrow and take it on a quick break in run. Eventually I will go back and finish the updates...maybe.
View attachment 666451
Confirmed oil flow to the head when it was on the engine stand. Took the plugs out and cranked it yesterday. It had oil pressure and oil made it to the rockers so there is that.

View attachment 666458
Oil cooler for the 90 OFH.

View attachment 666457

View attachment 666456
Just keeping the hose and cooler closed. Eventhough a bluetooth oil cooler would be cool. This cooler has the fan that will be controlled by an inline thermostat. Incoming oil temp goes up, fan comes on.

View attachment 666453
Too thick radiator installed.

View attachment 666454

View attachment 666452
All of my gauges. The upper pod and radiator delete pods are of my own creation, then 3D printed in ABS.

We start tomorrow!! (Disclaimer: Unless the couple things I have left to do prevent that. I also still have to clean the garage up a bit to get the car out so that might take a while.)

Hello. Very awesome. Do you have a part # for that oil cooler fan?

 

[96dsmftw]

Hello. Very awesome. Do you have a part # for that oil cooler fan?

It came with this kit. Derale 15850, is the P/N for the kit on summit racing. I don't see where they tell you the fan P/N.

 

[96dsmftw]

Another great news update.
I didn't wind up taking the car to the autocross a couple of weeks ago and it was for the best. It wasn't quite ready and there was no point in rushing it. I put some more miles on it and got the total new miles to a whopping 95. Everything was ok. Still left it on low boost and conservative timing. Just fixed 2 small oil leaks.

Last week was spent finishing up the fuel cell bulkhead aka cover, to keep it separated from the passenger compartment.

I finally got around to using my fancy top I had drawn up and got water jetted out. I have learned of a quite large metal supply store near me so I went out and got 3 6'x5" aluminum 1/8" flat stock to make the outer edges of the fuel cover. This raises the cover up above the fittings since the fuel cell doesn't sit far enough down to make it flush mount.

I also learned some key differences in aluminum grades. I just got the flat stock in 6061 because that's what I normally get from Lowe's for small bent brackets and such. Bending is easy for small Lowe's purchased metal, however 5" wide 1/8" plate doesn't want to work with you. I have learned of other grades that are better for bending into shapes. But with a little creativity, a ton of C-clamps, some wheel spacers, and some heat I made it work.

A couple c clamps to hold the spacers to the top and the others were used to pull the sheet around the corner as I warmed it up with a torch. These smaller radius bends were a little tougher.

And the final welded product

With that part done, I still needed an access hatch for filling the tank. I bought one on Summit and got the rivet gun some use. I also added a rubber seal around the bottom edge to make for a really good seal all the way around. I welded a few 1" long aluminum 90s around the edges to have a way to bolt it down.

Once I wired up the fuel level sender in the fuel cell, I bolted the whole thing in for good. I had to re-do the battery hold down a little bit but other than that it all worked.

Now that the last safety thing stopping me from running was complete it was ready to race. Next on the list was fender flares. For the front I just swapped the old fenders over. For the rear, I took a few measurements from the old car and started hacking the rear quarters away on the new one.

Cut, grind, bend, weld, and repeat.

This past weekend was a lot of small things that had to get done quickly before the race on Sunday. I wound up with a car as minimally ready to go as possible at midnight on Saturday.

 

[godschylde777]

It came with this kit. Derale 15850, is the P/N for the kit on summit racing. I don't see where they tell you the fan P/N.

View attachment 667516

Thank you.

 

[96dsmftw]

Now for the best update of them all.

Sunday was about as good as you could ask for for shaking down a car. Started off the day driving the car 20 mins to the event and ended the event driving it 20 mins home. I even had a co-driver (which I had never done in the old car) and everything went OK.

Sunday morning I woke up after 5ish hours of sleep and off to Autocross I went. The day was overcast with a threat of rain around 1pm. I set SM to run in the morning so at least the runs were dry. The original plan was to basically be kind of easy on the car, 7/10ths type of driving. At this point the car had 95 miles on the new rebuild. I took the 1st run so if my co-driver broke the car on his first run, at least I got to drive it haha. The first run was a nice easy going 5/10ths to make sure nothing was going to fall apart. I get through the finish line and the shifter is really stiff and I can't really move it around in neutral or get it in gear. Pop the hood and the intake tube had fallen off blocking the counterweight on the shifter assembly. The V2 68hta has some bastard size for an intake ring and the coupler doesn't quite fit so we ran the hose clamp on with an impact and it stayed on the rest of the day. There were 5 runs instead of the normal 6 because of the threat of rain. The first 2 runs were ramping it up to 8/10ths. The Hoosiers on the car are the same ones from 2019 so they are pretty hard. I lowered the pressures to try and get them to grip and heat up but there is only so much they could do being so old. The 3rd thru 5th runs were actual attempts to put a time down. I couldn't hold back giving it the beans. The car gets up on the 2 step much faster at the same rpm with the 2.3, I didn't see what the launch boost was. The raw FTD to beat was a 36.864. My 4th and 5th run would have beaten it and got me FTD except I hit a cone on both runs.
4th run --> 38.758(1) (would have been a 36.758)
5th run --> 38.505(1) (would have been a 36.505)

I am very happy. This means that the car in its current state is basically just a bit slower than the old car was in its prime. I almost got FTD right out of the box. That's wild to think about. The tires are from 2019 and have been basically outside. The "alignment" I did was putting a long piece of metal on the wheels and seeing that toe was somewhat ok in the rear. I didn't even check the front because it drove straight so I called it good. When we pulled the camber gauge out for the rear real quick, one side was -1.5 the other was -2. Alignment is definitely not right. The tune has timing turned down everywhere and boost creeps up to only 19psi at 7k. I don't have the hatch with the wing on, no splitter, etc. I may actually have a PAX capable Street Mod car now. We shall see.

Here are a few pics and I forgot to get the GoPros charged so only have an exterior video.

 

[96dsmftw]

Another week, another successful Autocross weekend.

I didn't do too many things to the car last week. I did however get it a real alignment. Also, did some other small odds and ends. Got the boost controller hooked up again. The plan was turn the boost up to 20 and leave it there for now. Before it was creeping from 14psi to about 19psi. Figured I would set it to right above the creep point. I had been running on a tune where I turned timing down most places but a bit more down in the lower rpms to be easy on the drive train for the last event (1st event). Now it was time for the 2nd event. That means crank boost to 20psi and add all that timing back in. Took the car out on a tuning session on Saturday afternoon. Talk about waking up a car. The added boost down low plus the timing made a bigger difference than I was expecting. It has all the torque down low and feels like it just keeps pulling to 7.5k. I am however out of injector at 90% on RC 1000s. With the alignment sorted and tuning done, the car went on the trailer ready to travel the next morning.

This Sundays event was hosted by our neighboring region, KYSCCA. It is a 2.5 hour drive away to the NCM road course where they use a parking lot paved with "extra" asphalt from the road course. Wake up at 4:45am, hook the trailer up, and we were on our way. The day was very hot with 90+ degree temps. The attendance was a little low for this event and it meant 7 runs instead of 6. Also, I was co driving with a friend. 14 runs, low turnout, and a co driver meant only 3-5 mins between runs. This was concerning as I wasn't sure how the car would take the heat. We had a sprayer with cold water and ice in it to help. The coolant temps did stay pretty steady, spraying between runs and not turning the car off. However, the clutch did not appreciate it and by the 7th runs was starting to slip. Also, the exhaust is going to need some good heat shielding. It is heating up the spare tire well and therefore the fuel cell and its surroundings. This I will have to try and resolve. The 3 year old tires did manage to get some grip however because it was so hot.

And results:
1st Overall RAW time
2nd Overall PAX time
1st Street Mod class

You're seeing that right, almost a full second ahead of 2nd place raw.

Outstanding result on a large open course with some serious competition. I was ecstatic. The car is wicked now. The alignment means actual grip. The tuning changes means it pulls out of corners like a banshee. It would power oversteer which is something the previous iteration could not do (maybe the old tires but still). I can confidently say the car now is faster than its predecessor at its prime. I ordered a 6 bolt baffled pan from Buschurs before I starve the engine, hopefully it can make it this week or the next. I also ordered some new Hoosier A7s.
And I didn't really drive it that well. Super jerky getting used to the speed/grip.

 

[96dsmftw]

With no autocross this weekend, I have some time to get some items sorted out.

-Fuel cell heating up
I basically have no heat shielding for the exhaust from the downpipe to the muffler. There is one stock heat shield by the muffler but it only shields the floor of the trunk. I didn't realize how close the muffler and exhaust piping sits next to the spare tire well. This is where the fuel cell is located. That means my fuel cell and E85 is getting very warm. This has to be fixed. I ordered some 12"x24" Aluminized heat barrier. It sticks on and I'm going to start at the back and go as far forward as I have material as it also get very hot in the car.

-Fuel Cell Vent Relocation
At last event, I noticed a small amount of fuel that was coming out of the breather filter of the vent. The sloshing in the fuel cell and the vent being in the corner of the fuel cell meant more was coming out of the ce than just vapors. I did some research and came upon a video about rock crawlers and venting fuel cells. The vent should be in the middle of the fuel cell. Any fuel sloshing will be to the outsides and can't get into the vent (unless you fill the cell up all the way). You also run the vent hose around the top perimeter of the cell and down and out of the car. It makes it so large amounts of fuel can't get out of the tank, even if the whole cell is upside down. Starts at the 5 min mark in the video below, worth the watch.


-Fixing the world's worst power steering
I was having more power steering issues last event. The classic "Oh you're going fast? I'm going to go to manual mode". I have tried mods, the stock unit just can't handle it and I'm tired of losing time not being able to steer. I have decided to try the volvo power steering unit. It pulls less amps than the MR2 pump and can be had for cheaper. The reservoir is attached to the pump. It requires 12v power, switched 12v signal, and is can bus controlled. Luckily for me, someone has reverse engineered the can bus protocol and put it on an arduino. The potentiometer knob adjusts the "speed" of the car. Slower "speed" more assist. This extra controller also gives full 100% pump operation whereas if you only hook up power, you get roughly 75% pump flow.

The video below shows the controller in action and the pump having no internal faults.


- Buschur 6 bolt baffled oil pan
This is something I didn't have on the last car, just the accusump. Got it ordered and it should be here before next event.

-NEW TIRES
I ordered new 275 Hoosiers on Monday and they should be here today. Should knock off another second on the Autocross course.

I will keep this updated as I modify these things.

 

[96dsmftw]

Update:

New tires got here this week, will get them mounted before next event. Also, the volvo power steering pump showed up. It is bigger than I thought it was going to be.

Exhaust wrapping and spare tire well insulation:
Basically just exhaust wrapped about 6 feet from the muffler to the front of the car. I thought about wrapping the muffler but not sure if it would ruin it somehow. The 12"x24" sheets I got stuck on there well and formed pretty easy. Also put a bit on the bottom of the fuel cell where it hangs out of the spare tire well. This should help keep the heat away, it can't hurt anyway. I need to get a fuel cooler.

Before

After:

Volvo Power Steering:
I have got the pump mounted in a position where everything should work. I will be keeping the stock steering rack hard lines that run across the strut tower. **IMPORTANT: This particular model "Volvo" pump is a Ford made part. It would seem ford has made a few of these and sold to other auto manufacturers. The one I got has the high neck section for the reservoir. I had to do make a clearance hole on the underneath of my hood to make it work. However, there are models of the same pump that belong in different model cars where the filler cap is flush with the main tank of the reservoir. This removes 1"-2" in height and should make it sit below the fender line making it work with any hood.**

I will be mounting mine where the current power steering reservoir sits. There is room to put it in there a few different ways, just remember where the frame rail sits for interference. I got mine off ebay and it came with all the mounting brackets and wiring plugs/harnesses. I would suggest making sure you get one with the pigtails as I am sure they aren't that easy to find. There is one plug with 2 large gauge wires, main power and ground. There is another smaller plug with 3 small gauge wires, one for switched 12v and the other 2 for canbus control(will discuss later). If you just wire up the main power, main ground, and switched 12v signal wire the pump will operate in a "safe mode" and always output roughly 75% of its max capacity. There is a company that makes an Arduino Can Bus kit for talking to this pump, a knob controls the "speed" of the car which changes the operation of the pump.
For mounting, I transferred the shape of the metal housing onto a piece of cardboard for a template. I do not have ABS and will be sinking the pump into the driver side wheel well.

The left side of the cut out sits almost up against the frame rail. I had to space my oil cooler forward as the pump was hitting the fan. Trace the shape into the paint and then use what seemed like every cutting tool I had to make the shape as it is a weird area to access. This way points the feed/return ports where they will be easy to get to. You can rotate the pump 180 degrees and get it to work with the right fittings as well.

I finally got the hole cut and got the pump to sit all the way down on the rubber isolators.

I cleaned up the hole once I got the pump sitting where I wanted. Then onto the next issue, the hood. This version of the volvo/ford power steering pump has the taller filler cap location. This caused the hood to hit with only 1"-2" left to go before closing. I just ground into the fiberglass and made it fit. I am sure the other style reservoir pump would clear without issue.

Sitting all the way in its final resting place. The hoses and plugs will be easy to get to all while using the stock hard lines. The return is easy as its just low pressure power steering hose. The feed I will need to make and will post with the fittings/hose I used, going to figure that out today. The 2 mounting holes on the fender side will be normal bolts but the mount over the frame rail will probably be a self tapper because I wont be able to get a nut in there.

Can bus control of the power steering pump will come from brunosteering.com. It comes with a pre-programmed Arduino that outputs the needed Can signals for the pump. The potentiometer knob is tricking the speed input that would be coming from the car. Turn the "vehicle speed" down and the pump assist goes up. Turn the "vehicle speed" up and the pump assist goes down. If you wire up the pump with main power and the switched 12v only, the pump failsafes at 75% pump output. The canbus signals are needed so the pump does not fault and will allow 100% pump operation. Below is a video from brunosteering.



The controller will get here tomorrow and I will get it wired up while waiting for the pressure side hoses. Also, this will require a bigger alternator as my electrical load will probably double. I currently have the 90A galant alternator and will try and get a 160 amp 1-wire alternator from motorcityreman.com if they can get it to me before next weekend. All of this needs to be completed before the event next weekend.....

 

[96dsmftw]

Got the power steering line stuff ordered today. I am just re-doing the stock pressure line to 6an, it's going to be easier.

Being in Street Mod, the rules basically say all the stock trim inside has to be there. You can slightly modify if needed but interior is really only rear seats and belts can be removed. I took some time today and got those back in. The only cutting I did was for the battery. I had to move the fuel cell cap as far forward as it would go and everything is in.

I could put a piece of carpet over the aluminum and with a quick glance probably wouldn't notice anything, to the untrained eye anyway

 

[96dsmftw]

Forgot to update but had another successful Autocross weekend last weekend. The electric power steering pump worked wonders. I had no issues on brand new hoosiers with steering. No cut out what so ever, it's a miracle! I didn't even crank the pump all the way up to full assist. There were a few areas the steering got a bit heavier but I still had steering power, might have to turn the pump up for concrete. Didn't get the tire pressures down where they need to be, about 0.5-1" of unused tire on front and back.

And results!

Overall a good day. Me and my co-driver got the 1-2 raw time finish! I still beat my co-driver by 0.9 sec so he has some work to do (he will read this haha). The pesky pax 1st is still out of reach as I only finished 7th pax. We have very good local drivers for pax that will be hard to beat in a 75% Street Mod build. No issues on race day. I feel insulating the fuel cell/muffler worked for the most part.

Still gets real hot in the car so I will wrap the whole exhaust and maybe some stick on insulation in the tunnel.

The alternator upgrade worked well. However, upon inspection after getting back home, my small bracket for the Saturn upgrade broke and the alternator was being held down by the stock curved adjustment bracket. Oops.

It just snapped the aluminum which is strange, I must have overtightened it from the start. This, hopefully, was the reason the belt shifted over as well.

I have also decided to go to Autocross Nationals in Lincoln, NE again this year. The event is labor day week and we will be heading out the weekend before. The car will also be getting co-driven so it should be a good test for reliability.

Upcoming events:
- CKR Local event - 8/21
- Autocross Nats - 9/3-9/10
- KY Local event - 9/18
- The Shootout - 9/29-10/2

I would like to get the splitter on before Nats. No major mods between now and then though, just cooling, etc. to make the car reliable as possible. Don't need any small things causing big issues.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

looking awesome and slides nicely and controlled! way to go on the win and power steering resolve!

 

[96dsmftw]

We are out here in Lincoln, NE for Autocross Nationals. We have successfully finished 8 Test and Tune runs. Tomorrow and Wednesday are race days. The car will have 1 driver running in the XA class and my buddy and I will be running it in SM. You can check times Over Here.
Here is a video from Test and Tune practice.

 

[Imback]

Very cool build and good info on the volvo pump i'll see if i can snag one up over the weekend for a winter project.

 

[96dsmftw]

I still haven't made a video for how Autocross Nationals went. I have been racing the car alot lately, and made it to the Shootout this year in my own car! Unfortunately, couldn't use the slicks so had to find some old street tires quickly. They were only 255 so stretched on the 10" wheel. Old tires + stiff suspension = sketchy slow autocross runs. I did Max Effort this year and got 2nd place. 2nd place in the autocross portion and 2nd in the drag strip portion. 11.81 @ 121mph

 

[96dsmftw]

Man, I suck at updating this. Updates will come soon for what I have been up to.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

Great job with the car!

Switching to redline fluid remedied all my power steering cut issues.

 

[96dsmftw]

Great job with the car!

Switching to redline fluid remedied all my power steering cut issues.

Well that is interesting. Is it their power steering fluid or still some kind of ATF? I will gladly add it into the electric pump.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

Well that is interesting. Is it their power steering fluid or still some kind of ATF? I will gladly add it into the electric pump.

Redline Power Steering Fluid

Power Steering Fluid Improved wear protection, resists thermal breakdown, evaporation and foaming Provides continued high pump output, suitable for most power steering units Lightweight fluid avoids power losses 50% greater high-temp viscosity and 1/5 of the high-temp evaporation...

www.extremepsi.com

"RED LINE POWER STEERING FLUID satisfies the service fill requirements of most auto manufacturers and can be used where the manufacturer calls for any automatic transmission fluid"

 

[96dsmftw]

Redline Power Steering Fluid

Power Steering Fluid Improved wear protection, resists thermal breakdown, evaporation and foaming Provides continued high pump output, suitable for most power steering units Lightweight fluid avoids power losses 50% greater high-temp viscosity and 1/5 of the high-temp evaporation...

www.extremepsi.com

"RED LINE POWER STEERING FLUID satisfies the service fill requirements of most auto manufacturers and can be used where the manufacturer calls for any automatic transmission fluid"

Sweet, I'll grab some. I have a buddy who is also jumping to big slicks this season. I will have him use it in his with the stock power steering pump and see what happens (read as Guinea Pig)