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And here's what I threw together quick tonight.

Had this playing while watching. Good stuff.

Haha, awesome!

So is there a point system for throwing snow balls into hood scoops/sunroofs?

Also, that UAV is fucking awsome!

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This post has been edited by Mazda ina Ford guy on Mar 29 2014, 02:25 PM

If there is there should also be a point system for how many pounds of snow you scrape off your back seat and rear windscreen deck!

The quadcopter is a DJI Phantom II, they're pretty damn expensive but are awesome, the Gopro is on a gimbal mount!

Speaking of things that're pretty damn expensive, I just bolted up some sexiness! It's going to be 60 degrees tomorrow so I figured what the hell, it's not like I have to drive it every day to care if the summers are on.

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60 Degrees today, it's coming back out! I have an appointment on the 15th to have the cracked windshield replaced, too.

So, right now, my list of necessities between now and season start is pretty short:

Brake pads, Hawk HP+ (picking up tomorrow)
Boost controller (picking up tomorrow)
Brake master cylinder brace (picking up tomorrow)
Wally 255 fuel pump that's sitting in the basement
Tune (before the end of the month, shakedown is May 2nd)
Front lip

Spring rate adjustment I'll address after a shakedown, but I need to measure them to see where they're at right now so I can get some "napkin math" done to see if I can go stiffer and keep the same balance, etc. The front is soft but it's definitely got plenty of grip, the rear is what I'd want to mess with to start, hard on-throttle off-camber corners get it hopping pretty good, though it doesn't break loose. I can also stand on the brake pedal mid-corner, and as long as it's not too cold for competition tires, it won't let go. When it is too cold (36 degrees when tested) it breaks away smoothly and predictably, definitely can be caught with plenty of leeway (Grappler and I are still alive, anyway. ), even when it's clearly tripodding.

This is going to be a fun season, since I'm going to be learning suspension setup while trying to be class competitive at the same time. I'm gunning for hardware at Proving Grounds!

Hurah for errand day!

Oh, and harnesses happened too.

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Schroth Rallye 4s with the ASM strap. And I know that a few people will jump on me for a lack of harness bar, and the harness is simply not designed to be used with one. These are DOT approved as currently installed.

The car itself is washed and back in my own garage, and I'll be trying to get the master cylinder brace installed tomorrow. Pads will be installed when I get them so they can be bedded in.

Are those 4 or 5 point harnesses?

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4-point. With the Anti-SubMarining strap, that's just fine. They had to be crash tested to pass the DOT cert and obviously passed. As I said, I expect the skepticism, but I bought these from my previous tuner, who ran them for years at the track, and were recommended to me by one of the most talented and active drivers I personally know. People wouldn't recommend and run these, nor would there be a DOT cert number on the strap if they weren't safe.

On another note, I installed the master cylinder brace today, but have yet to drive the car more than 4 feet with it to know how much of a difference in feel it makes.

I also may have scored a co-driver for Proving Grounds who will lend a set of Raybestos ST43 track pads in exchange for the drive, which will match quite nicely with the Motul RBF600 racing fluid I picked up yesterday.

Nice choice on the 4 point, my buddy deleted the crotch strap on his 5 points in his Meyers Manx, no point in living after your junk is junked.

Also, Chevrolet Cobalts were DOT certified, = good luck with that. :/ not to rip on your crash harnesses, just to love to rip on GM.

Also also, master cylinder brace, wahhh? Necessary? What kind of G-forces are you achieving in the corners, or is the factory unit held in place with duct tape, zip ties and good intentions?


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This post has been edited by Mazda ina Ford guy on Apr 9 2014, 08:31 PM

Nah, its not about the g-forces Its more to do with how much force is exerted on the firewall when you use the brakes hard, and how much the firewall deflects because of those forces- Which (can) results in exaggerated braking effort. Older cars can easily see a good half an inch or more of deflection depending on how flexy things are. Bracing the master cylinder to reduce this deflection can reduce the amount of push you need on the pedal for a given amount of braking, and increase "pedal feel" (make it a bit more firm, less squishy, get a bit more feedback on the pedal when using the brakes, etc)

Is it "necessary"? Eennhhh, on modern street cars with power brakes? Imo- Not in the slightest. The "pedal feel" difference on any car id classify as being "semi decent" was little more than nil (Though it can be nice on some older "flexy" cars.. kind of makes me wonder how my Z is honestly lol). But race cars? It can be quite nice. Biggest difference though, is its not uncommon for a race car to delete the power assist, and just run straight up manual brakes, with multiple cylinders (one for the front, one for the rear). These require a *lot* of braking effort in comparison to a car with a brake booster, and the amount of flex you can see on these setups is startling.

Just for reference: Brz/Frs?Gt86 master cylinder flex

Thats about a 1/3rd of an inch of flex, and thats on a new car with a fairly decent chassis.

My MR2's firewall flexes like mad. You can see it flexing.

But sadly, they don't still make any stoppers for cars with ABS (the pump and hoses are in the way) any more... So it's either convert to manual brakes (my ABS doesn't work anyway) or have a custom brace made.

I installed teflon hoses and that make a huge difference, but it still leaves a bit to be desired.

The change in feel is equivalent to adding stainless lines, but unfortunately I have no good benchmark since the pads that are on this car are parts store specials right now (came with the car) and I can get them pretty stinky after a single hard triple digit stop. I should have a better idea once I get a proper set of pads on it, but I do feel like there's a little less pedal travel to get to the lockup point.

I don't think much of that harness design, but plenty of E36 M3 drivers use them on the track. Schroth is a good company. I'd rather risk my nads with a 5 point than use a 4, though. My MG has a 4 point from Corbeau, I don't care much for it.

Don't buy a five-point. It's only one more hole to install a six-point and they are VASTLY safer than five-points. It's been proven.

I did steel braided brake lines on my legacy, I wasnt too impressed as it didnt really help the pedal feel but once I did the Grimmspeed master cylinder brace it was night and day difference.

The brace with the Hawk pads was amazing. I've driven Evos with HP+ pads without the brace, and this feels way better. The pedal is rock solid all the way through the travel range and is very confidence inspiring, on top of the ridiculous limits the tires and suspension are already giving the car.

I'll go ahead and say it: I need to clear off some shelf space, because this car will bring home hardware.

Now, onto the bad... After bedding the pads in, I did a U-turn at the end of the street (necessary to keep from scraping at the end of the driveway), and as I approached steering lock that car got really tough to move, started jerking and bucking, and I could hear a tire scuffing pretty bad. So I checked the brakes and all seemed fine, figured something in the driveline was binding. So yesterday I borrowed my dad and drove circles around him. Sure as shit, the rear inside tire, no matter which way I turn, locks and scuffs. So either the rear diff fluid is shot or the diff itself is done for. I'm going outside right now to drain the fluid and we'll see where that leads.

^Shitty, hope it's just fluid, but given the history of the car I wouldn't be surprised if it's internal diff issues (assuming it's never been replaced).

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Diff has 97k, fluid had 20k including the 3k of 1000hp.

The fluid change didn't fix it, and I'm left a bit more confused. The fluid was clearly old, but didn't seem to be in terrible shape. There was some glitter in it, but for 20k fluid that's pretty normal. The drain plug had very little metal on it. However, I did notice the front left area clicking under right hand turns, but the rear is clearly what is scuffing the tires. I'm pretty lost, so I'm going to take it down to my tuner tomorrow morning and have him at least go for a ride to see what he thinks. I almost want to see if he'll be willing to roll it onto the dyno and see how it behaves with the rollers unlocked front to rear, see if there are clues there. Maybe the whole rear axle or the prop shaft is binding? Who knows at this point.

IIRC, mechanical diffs simply turn into to open diffs when the oil is old.

Sounds like something worse to me.

At 97k you need to rebuild it, if it's a clutch pack diff.

Mitsu doesn't list a rebuild as standard maintenance on the rear diff, and it's nothing I've ever seen done at any specific interval on these cars normally.

However, my tuner is now completely head over heels in love with my brakes (he seriously could not shut up about them), but is nearly as confused as I about the binding. He's guessing it's something in the front end, but no matter what combination of wheel rotation we tried on the lift, it simply would not bind up, so it only does so under load, making it hard as hell to pinpoint.

It's probably the front diff, but the driver's side axle has a small tear in the outer boot. It's nothing that's spewing grease yet, but since it does need to be addressed, I'm going to use the principles of Occam's Razor and replace it first. if that fails to correct the issue, the front diff is pretty easy to remove from the t-case so that'll be the next step following the axle.

Does your front diff have an LSD? I mean, didn't the car used to have 900 HP?

T-case came fully assembled, front diff included, from a bone stock MR in Chicago. It's a helical unit, so it's entirely possible that an axle locking up could cause it to bind. I'm going to swap the axle and go from there.

Helical units don't lock up, though, so it's probably something else. Helical units don't need to be rebuilt, either.