I am getting the car ready for fun this year (autocross and a track day or two) and have a few things I want to address. I would like to know what some of you do,

Motor oil weight used (10w-30, 5w-30 ect..)?

Coolant Overflow Bottle
I have noticed autocrossing that if there is any coolant in the overflow bottle up front of the pass. side tire it will be splashed out after a run. What have you guys done to fix this?

 

5-30 Royal Purple, Fresh Brake Fluid (gravity bleed), check condition of trans and rear axle fluids, good alignment, good tires and pressure. Have fun, be safe.

 

Any good synthetic oil and what he said. At the autox ask drivers in your class what tire pressure their running. Have never heard of anyone having problems with their overflow, they usually have caps on them.

 

It does have a cap but the cap does not seal it of it allows it to vent and splash out.

I found one solution but its not cheap cool but not cheap:

http://www.hrpworld.com/googlebase.c...action=product

 

Mine splashed too, just ring some tape around the side of the cap. That stops 99% of it. You can't really see black tape there and it still lets the overflow tank vent.

 

For oil, do an oil change with a new filter and run whaever oil you use now. Looks your car is an LT1 so Mobil-1 in 5W-30 will work fine.

If there is a concern about coolant splashing out, simply drain out whatever coolant is in the ovrflow tank with a siphon hose. The tank on my car usually has about 1" worth of coolant and it never splashes out so don't really worry about it unless you see lots of coolant in the tank. Just keep it at the "COLD" line.

At the top of the Autocross and Road Racing Section is a sticky titled "new to auto-x and roadracing? Look in here" Lots of good information there. There is also this link that I believe is in the sticky.

There will be good information in the sticky regarding prepping the car and how to determine what the proper starting tire pressures will be for your car and tires (get a good pencil-type pressure gauge). Fresh brake fluid is a help and definitely check the condition of the pads. If you are just starting out in auto-x, stock pads will work fine.

For track days, stock pads may work depending on the track and how the event handles beginners. Expect to go with high-performance pads for your second track day. There is lots of good information regarding brake setups for track days here. The search function will be a big help.

Remember to completely empty the car out before you leave home. If it can be picked up, remove it: Floor mats, coffee cups, iPod, sunglasses, whatever else. The car has to be empty or all loose items. If you don't have a helmet, most auto-x events will have loaners.

You can buy good open face helmets that meet the last Snell SA2005 standards from a number of websites for under $200 but finding a size you need may be a problem. Probably easier to go with the new SA2010 standard for helmets Full face helmets work better for track days but expect to pay more. For track days you really need your own helmet.

 

Good idea

Thanks for the advise c4cruiser, my car is a TPI (91) and this is my second season running this car. I ran Mobil-1 10w-30 last season with a half bottle of Lucas synthetic oil stabilizer. I changed all my fluids last year to synthetic fluids.