The Money Pit!

[8thLS6]

Clean fab and install

[xd_01]

sorry i havent gotten around to updating the measurments on the tow hook, i started work almost a month ago after taking off 8 months to stay home with the baby but now that im back its hard to get things done after work. but now im starting to get the hang of the new schedule, still exhausted though lol. he's gonna turn 1 yr old this saturday and my wifes due again April 18!! another boy!! (sorry brian if you read this before i told you).

anyway ill draw up a lil blu-print this weekend of the tow hook.

in the mean time here's a pic of a vintage vise i picked up for the work bench, its patent is from 1910, they dont make them like this anymore,,,, actually they do but for like $500-1000 believe it or not, i got this for $100 and its been around a long time.

[6G72gearhead]

Awesome build dude, I just finished reading through all of it. So do you drive your car much on the street or is it just to test stuff out?

Another thing, awhile back you where talking about totally deleting the hvac, from my experience in the midwest, its really nice to have the heater as a backup 'radiator' if something goes wrong it can possibly save your engine.

Another thing, what are you using for a ps cooler and have you had any problems with boiling the fluid? The second to last track day I went to I boiled it enough that it made power assist really inconsistent and fairly obnoxious to drive, I can manhandle the car, but coming in and out of power assist was a different story.

Looks awesome man, keep up the good work!

[xd_01]

na i rarely ever take it on the street just to test things out like you said or a car wash. i never deleted the heater core or the blower motor and i did use it as back up radiator in june when i was breaking in the motor. i got stuck in some sunday stop and go traffic on rockville pike and she started to over heat, the bad part is that it was really hot that month like in the 90*s.

but yea the rest of the hvac might come out in the future if i decide to cage it. i know having it has its perks but if it needs to come out then so be it. if it overheats on the track i just need to pull off safely or make it into the pits and then figure out why its doing that at WOT. if it happens on the street then ill pull over till it cools off and bring it back to the garage if necessary, no big deal i probaly didnt go far anyway cuz im too paranoid its gonna break down on me lol. chances are ill be driving it alot less on the streets if its caged anyhow

if you check the first page youll see the pic of the aftermarket p/s cooler from Perm-A-Cool, it comes with everything you need to set it up. i havent gotten a chance to really flog the car on the track so i cant comment on the performance of it but im sure ill be fine with it. if not then there is always other solutions.

thanks for compliments

[spdracr]

Have u considered a colder temp thermostat?? I would assume that would help with the overheating a lil bit.

[6G72gearhead]

Right on, I see them now, I'd probably mount the ps cooler in a different location however I don't have an intercooler to work around, so you probably got it in the most valid spot.

My ideas for a cage should allow the retention of the hvac box, just gotta modify it some. Most of what I've seen in actual on track instances, a car that hasn't broken something can overheat simply by cavitation of the pump or by the imperfect coolant jackets inside the block or head castings can develop an air pocket, if this gets stuck in the thermostat it will cause overheating. Simply by changing the flow by turning on the heater will cause the air pocket to dissipate. I know it sounds unlikely but I've seen it before.

A colder thermostat is not likely necessary as the stock temp seems to do fine except for random glitches.

What suspension are you running? those camber plates look awefully familiar, lol.

[xd_01]

there really old JIC's got them like in 03' but they only have maybe 5k on them.

i dont think a colder thermostat would help in a track situation. im expecting my coolant temps to be pretty hot but i wont know exactly what im dealing with until i beat the sh1t out of it on track.

[6G72gearhead]

Couple questions, I've been looking at your abs delete, did you just grab an aftermarket proportioning valve or is there any non abs parts available for use?

Also how much have you played with alignment? I've had a couple seasons worth and I got the car very neutral in feel, and turn in was awesome!

With the JIC's what rate springs are you running? Also what rear bar? I'm hoping to have enough data to get a good revalve done by Jon at JIC come next winter. Also if you didn't already know, the JIC's can be sprung up to 10k springs with only an increase in nitrogen pressure, any higher requires revalving.

Another thing, tire compound, have you used r-compounds or are you just in a sub 200 tire?

[xd_01]

my car never came with abs

so far with the aligmnmenti i had zeroed it as much as i could with the old school string method. worked out fine

jic's have i believe 8k in teh front and 7k in the rear, pertty much the way come without requesting a specific rate

and i wont be on r-comps for at least another year at the least, i only have have 18 track days since 08', 6 with the 8g in the begining with the stock motor and 3 laps with the new motor lol. the rest have all been in the 330i, im running star specs with that car and i like them so much im gonna get a set for the galant for 2013 seaon. my goal for 2013 is to get 18 days under my belt and ill be happy, hopefully all with the galant if it cooperates.

[spdracr]

What's that string method for alignment??

[6G72gearhead]

Ok, well I'm curious now to find a non abs car to rob a few parts from, mind taking a couple pics of the brake line routing an the proportioning valve for me? I'll have to start checking around on getting a part number. So your car is like a base model '99? I can make my own brake lines, but I need to find a proportioning valve that I can use to replace the abs module.

The 8k and 7k springs are what they had for the 3g eclipse, not sure if they had them listed for the galant as they used to list 8k and 6k, either way the 8k and 7k is far superior. Keep in mind springs are fairly cheap, I'm trying to go stiffer on my own set up as Heartland Park is a fairly smooth track. Also if you haven't done much autocross its really a good way to get some cheap seat time and work out some of the bugs in the suspension. Plus it will make your instincts quicker which I know kept me from landing on my roof when I left pavement at almost 70 a couple seasons ago. Big ruts suck! lol

I have been looking for a new set of tires for next season. I've been thinking of a 200 treadwear or less tire like the Star specs or the Hancook RS-3's. The RS-2's treated me really well.

[greddy]

I'll chime in on the tires, I would highly recommend the NT-05s, the star specs, and the RS-3s in that order. There is a new star spec coming out soon so the first gen can be had on closeout pricing right now, the nt-05 is really great and predictable and doesn't overheat like the RS-3 does after long sessions on the track, my set of RS-3s that I had in 255/40 were great for the first 10 minutes but were significantly greasier by the end of the session, they would be much better for autox although they did have the most overall grip when they were in their proper operating temp range. The star spec is just a terrific all arounder that you can't go wrong with but it is/was more expensive than the other two options. Any of the 3 are great, and this all comes from personal experience @ the track.
XD-01, you should post up the template of the tow hook as a PDF!

[xd_01]

i have a base model 01 ES w/out abs. thats funny though i was thinking about looking into to swapping over to an abs system later in the future. i dont even know if its possible and if it is, how complicated of a job would it be. ill take some pics of the porportioning valve for you next time i go to the garage.

right now im on stock sway bars. im not too worried about tweaking spring rates or sway bars for now, im just gonna work on driving fast. ill be happy if the car runs with out any issues at the track, ive had such tough luck with this thing in the past.

speedracer:
the string method is pretty simple,

you take two jackstands and set one at the front and one at the back of your car running along the side of it. run a string between them pretty tight and set the height to the center of your wheels.

measure from string to center cap on both front and rear wheels moving string until you have the same distance on both front and rear wheels. i dont have center caps so i use another method, i use a small square and set above the hub bore and measure to center.

if you attempt this though you need to know that the track width in the rear is 2.5mm wider, so 1.25mm on either side of wheel. will this make a difference? its possible but 1.25mm is a very small number. you can compensate for it by setting the string at the front wheel 1.25 further away from the wheel. ive never bothered to do so but i think i might the next time.

well now that you set up the string you can start aligning. basically your taking three measurements. front- center- rear of wheel. say you set your string at 25"s from center of wheel that would be your constant, then you measure the front of the wheel at the outter lip and you have 25 1/8" and 24 7/8" at the rear of wheel at the outter lip. thats toe out. if you want to change it then you reach under the car and adjust your tie rods in or out depending on whats needed.

some guys set up their cars with about 1/8 of toe out to help with turn in's. some just make it equal across the board like me. the great part is is that its so easy to do that you do it at the track between sessions if you feel like experimenting.

two tips:

1- make sure you lock your steering wheel with something

2- get 4 vct tiles from home depot for like $2
put one in front of each front wheel and get either salt of sand and pour on top of tile generously
put second tile on top of that and sandwich in the salt or sand
now drive your front wheels over the tiles till its centered
this will help the wheels rotate easier when you adjust the tie rods

theres tons of info about this on the web, just google to get some images if i didnt explain it well and just confused the hell out of you. ill post up pics next i check my alignment.

oh and i havent had time to skecth up the tow hook design yet, ive been a lil overwelmed with my new schedule since i started work again. the only downtime i have is when i get on the net and check out my favorite sites. ill get it done though, i dont know how to use pdf so ill just skecth it out then scan it in.

[spdracr]

U explained it in great details. Thank u.

[6G72gearhead]

For abs you would have to plumb in the abs module as well as wiring in it and all 4 wheel speed sensors. To me, it seems like more of a headache then its worth, besides, learning without abs will make you a better driver, you'll learn to feel the car and how it interacts with the road. You'll learn to feel how much traction the car has and drive accordingly.

I agree with learning the car before you start adjusting it too much, but a rear swaybar really helps it balance. You might be able to remove the front bar to make it do the same thing though. I do change settings between autocross and road racing, making that back end swing around is helpful, but damn scary when there is actual walls to hit.

One thing I do recommend playing with some is your alignment, ultimately some drivers are different and you can cater your car to your driving style with varying amounts of camber and toe. I generally run 1/8th inch out up front and 1/16th inch in out back, this makes turn in very responsive and the thrust angle of the rear makes it straighten out quickly if the car decides to get squirly. I have yet to be able to dial in too much camber 2.5* is about all I could get in front with the old set up. We'll see what the new one is up for.

Greddy, you pretty much hit it right on, the Hancooks do tend to overheat, and when they do they wear fast! I'll have to look at the nitto's a bit more, it just depends on if I run compounds or not this year, I want to, but they are damned expensive.

[greddy]

if we are going to r compounds, I would suggest going with the nt-01 or the r888. Just make sure and play with tire pressures on the r888s they're very finicky. I'm looking into perhaps running bfg R-1s next season on some 17x9s and the next gen star specs on my volks for wet duty.
as for camber dialing just slot the camber plates up front further and mickeymouse the strut towers, works great and you can get -4.5 if you max it

[6G72gearhead]

Depends on your definition of R-Compounds, but I prefer the Hoosier A6/R6 and the Avon Tech Rr/Ra, obviously the compounding is going to coincide with type of racing you are doing, autocross compounds being far too soft for road racing.

I"m gonna try and get it to 3* camber up front and see how much I can dial in out back. I'm also pretty interested in dialing out the offset caster settings used to fight road crown for street cars. I was starting to notice how the caster differences alter the cars characteristics for turning left and right.

[xd_01]

finally got around to drawing up the dimensions of the tow hook

things needed:
drill
2" holesaw
arbor
angle grinder
cut off wheel
flap wheel to smooth out edges
3x5 angle iron 1/8 thick about 16" long, ordered mines through speedymetals.com
10 mm longer bolts i forget what the original length was but i order 10 mm longer and upgraded to a stronger 10.9 bolt
bolt size is 10mm x 1.25
i also had to chase the threads with a tap because the bolts were oxidized and came out dragging the threads so it made the peaks flat
plenty of PB Blaster to soak the bolts before you pull them out
and pair of channel locks or dikes to fold down the pinch weld to make clearence for the top side of the tow hook

[greddy]

thank you good sir!!!

[xd_01]

not much going on but i was able to finish up the ems relocation project ive had going on for a couple of months

heres were it was orginaly, had to cut off the brackets that were welded in



made a couple holes below the center console bracket and used rivet nuts for some anchors



made to brackets with bends out of aluminum strips





and here's the end result





im much happier with its new location

and heres my x-mas present to myself brand new rpf1's 17x9 +22 w/ used star specs