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I took the car down to Columbus Mississippi for an autocross event. It was a fun yet horrible event. The first day was cold and rainy. I had a flat tire on day 2. I guess I had debris in the valve stem. Before run 1 I had 35 psi. After I was down to 18. I aired it up and began looking for leaks. I could not find a leak anywhere. If you want to have a bad time racing, have a tire pull this stunt on you. I did not loose any pressure after that. My next two runs were slow and just testing to see if the tire held pressure. Also the shocks are completely shot. The car transferred too much weight to the front, causing the rear to slide. So no trail breaking and I was not fighting understeer. The car just slid everywhere. All my complaints aside, I still had a good time.
Here are some videos of us trying to stay between the cones and failing. Here are some from the first day. That last one was rough on the bumper haha.
I am using a free app TrackAddict and an "OBDLink MX" bluetooth OBD II reader. It works decent, Im happy with it. I do need to get an external gps tracker to better track the speed. My phones refresh rate is not precise enough. I am using RaceRender to make the videos and upload them. These less than 2 mins videos only take an hour to an hour and 20 mins to upload. (ATT has fiber optic ran through my yard but its not available in my area ) One thing to note about Racerender is that you can only make a 3 min video. Fine for autox but Ill probably fork over the money for the full version at some point.
The second day was my tire being weird so I went pretty easy on it. I still had a 4.5 hour ride home. The nitto 555 II did not perform as well as I thought they would. I think they are a decent DD tire. They're a pretty consistent tire but did not grip too well for me.
After feeling unstable the car was under braking, I called Aldan American.
I got the info on their adjustable phantom coilovers and decided on what spring rate I wanted. They suggested the "track" rate springs (550 front 650 rear). They also explained a new option they had thrust bearings. It allows the spring to turn on a vearing. That way changing the ride height is easier. I have stiffer sways to put on, so I purchased a set of Steinjager heavy duty end links. Just waiting on the parts to come in now.
*note to anyone embedding videos, don't use the youtube tags, just post the link. It does not show up in the post preview but will on the actual post.*
Last edited by Proletariat designs; 04-20-2018 at 10:37 AM.
Reason: trying to make videos play
Looked like a ton of fun, except for running over cones
Also LOVED how your daughter says "Daddy!" when you spin out
It was lots of fun. You are actually hearing my friends son. He was just "old enough" to ride. He rode with both of us every run. LOVED every min of it. I asked him who was faster. He said "your both pretty fast but you're a safer driver". I'll see if I can get Zack's video of them in selfie format. He makes the best facial expression even through a helmet.
I still feel like the clutch just is not right. It's a conversion flywheel to use the ls7 clutch kit. I started to get some vibration on starts. It started chattering real bad backing into my vasement. Now it's chattering all the time. I will be pulling the rear cradle out and inspecting it later this week/weekend. Just a quick gif of what I saw looking in the access panel.
I think the friction pads are loose on the clutch disk. I've never looked that hard at a working one. Maybe that's normal? My spidey senses tell me it's not.
Anybody have a preferred clutch combo? Unless tick performance works with me on this, I think I'm over the ls7 clutch hype.
I put in a monster stage 2 clutch with 18 lbs flywheel. Rebuilt the torque tube with timken bearings and bmw guibo joints. Also put on c5z sway bars, adjustable endlinks, Aldan american phantom coilovers, stainless strel brake lines, and a sac city trans mount. Some pics for now while I sort out the how in-depth of install instructions I want to put together.
Safely put the car on ramps, jack stands, or a lift. Make sure the car is stable.
Use an 18mm socket to remove the two (2) nuts on the underside of the rear cradle that hold the factory transmission mount to the cradle.
Place a jack under the transmission and raise it. Be careful to check that the transmission does not crush any of the wireloom or sensors on top of the transmission.
Use a 15mm socket, or ratchet wrench, to remove the two bolts that hold the transmission mount to the transmission.
For 97 and early 98 models the Electronic Brake and Traction Control Module (EBTCM) will have to be loosened and held up for clearance.
Use a 10mm socket to remove the three (3) nuts that hold the abs module to the plates behind the differential. Support the module so not to bend any lines.
Use a 15mm socket to remove the Three (3) bolts on each of the brackets that hold the EBTCM to the rear cradle (six total). Remove the old Transmission mount and install the new mount.
NOTE the mounts will have to roll out of the holes toward the rear to the car. When installing the new mount place the bolts toward the front of the car, and angle the bolts into the rear cradle, then roll the mount into position.
Install the two (2) bolts (15mm) that attach the transmission mount to the transmission. Torque to 37 ft lbs
Lower the transmission down and install the two (2) nuts (18mm) to the bottom bolts on the transmission brace. Torque to 37 ft lbs
Reinstall the brackets for the EBTCM (total of Six 15mm bolts). Reattach the EBTCM to the brackets (total of three 10mm nuts).
Safely lower car to ground. Take your dog for a spin to test it out.
I have had this brace on for about 4k miles now. Two autox and a trip to Destin. The mount worked well. I have not experienced any drive train vibration, shudder, or any weird harmonics. Sac city has been a pleasure to work with aswell.
So far none at the autoxs or doing a quick burnout for the 4th. I have not really launched the car a lot though. I think the real test will come next weekend. I bought a square 18" ccw classic set up with 315/30 Falken 615k. I know its a second tier autox tire, but they will be leaps and bounds above the current nittos I'm using. Ill let you know after next weekend.
Results. I took 1st in CAMS
Some photos of the poke.....
We stayed the night with the owner of that s197 parked beside me. His pool was very refreshing
I also adjust my emergency brake and put on hawk hp+ pads front and rear. Car felt pretty balanced. I think next track day I'll bump the front shock up another setting. We are planning on running the bowling Green even in August.
The tires made night and day difference. I also have still had no wheel hop with the sac city transmission mount. It gets my stamp of approval.
Last edited by Proletariat designs; 07-31-2018 at 01:17 AM.
The car felt balanced. I bumped by front shock setting to 5 out of 6 and the rear to 7 out of 11. Next endeavors will most likely be aero related. Track spec hood vents, building a splitter and canards, wider fenders or flares. I am also searching for a set of seats. These stock sport seats do not hold me in very good.
On a side note one of the guys stopped and picked up a WWE kids wrestling belt. The fastest time of the day from our group gets to feep it till the next event. Ive been sending pics of it every day to the group chat to get their motivation up
Last edited by Proletariat designs; 08-17-2018 at 11:31 PM.
I'm running an 18x11 with 315/30 rt615k square set up for autox. They only see the road to and from the track, so I don't really have any glamor shots. But here's some of the pics I do have. I should have joined the ccw club earlier.
Now I just need to get some wider fenders to cover the poke
Last edited by Proletariat designs; 08-27-2018 at 11:42 PM.
I cut up a small piece of scrap 4x4 last night to use as a race ramp for the track. The jack I take no longer fits with the lower ride height from the coil overs. I also take a set of 8 inch long 2x4 for the rear to use with the small wedge pieces. Takes up little space and easy to carry around.
Last edited by Proletariat designs; 09-05-2018 at 12:35 PM.
I changed the oil and the transmission fluid last night. I used amsoil torqueshift for the transmission fluid. It shifts much better now. It took the notchy feeling out of shifting.
there's all 7 quarts draining.
the drain plug is located on the rear passenger side of the transmission. It's a 3/8" drive so just use the ratchet for small extension. It's going to splash so hold the can / bucket / pan close until it starts to slow down draining. Then reinstall the plug once it's done.
The fill plug is on the driver side mid way up the transmission. Again standard 3/8" drive. With the transmission in the car you can only drain and fill 4 out of the 5 quarts. The tricky part is pumping it in without making a mess. I used a cheap harbor freight pump because gear oil is in my 5 gallon pump. For 10 dollars it works but it's not enjoyable. Next time I'll be cleaning my pump and finding and extra container to hold that oil
04-20-2018, 02:13 AM
Autocross 4-7-18 CAFB
) One thing to note about Racerender is that you can only make a 3 min video. Fine for autox but Ill probably fork over the money for the full version at some point. 
