Track Day

Car felt great out on track. Fairly happy with where it is but holy fuck I really would like:

Damper/camber adjustable coilovers
Stopping power
LSD
Rear sway bar
R-comps
Bucket seat
Steering wheel + extended hub
more noise.


Other than that it was perfect.

 Unfortunately I haven't found any on track shots. Only my ricer hard park pictures.

Only problem I had that day was one of my muffler hangers broke and the other kept slipping off. Got a nasty burn on the side of my hand from fixing it. I also had a rock get caught in between my caliper and brake pad (where there's a gap in the caliper closest to the center of the rotor) and it was rubbing against my rotor thus making a horrendous noise. Luckily it happened right as I was parking but still a PITA because I had to take my pad off to get the rock out.

The Michelin PSS handled just like the Star Specs and got better as the day went on. Some were telling me that they get greasy after you put too much heat into them but I didn't run into that problem. Maybe I need to drive faster.

HP+ started to fade in the final laps of my sessions. Held up well for an autocross pad. I was happy with their performance otherwise. I haven't pushed them much since I bedded them in a couple weeks ago. They do give and maintain bite as they get warm. Holy fuck were they loud after.

The black WRX belongs to my friend Stephen. To give you an idea of how hard this course is on brakes, we just put on new brake pads (albeit OE) two days before and within 3 sessions, only one of which we could actually push, he had to park his car due to overheating issues. Unfortunate because our cars are almost neck and neck with each other and we set times at Go-Karting within a few hundreths of a second within each other.

I'll be back for more. Uni starts again this upcoming week so I'll be busy juggling courses and work. I'll be pulling insurance off the car earlier this year.If I'm lucky I'll get one more event in before I do.

Ricer brake dust pictures

Also, this FD RX7 was next level.

Private Label MFG full Race Header install at Racing Greed

I bought this header used a while back. Price was right and I couldn't resist free shipping from buttfuck nowhere in the States. I tried putting this on with a friend a few weeks ago but quickly found out it wouldn't fit since the header had a 2-bolt flange and my midpipe is 3-bolt. I'm shit at welding and haven't done any in about 5 years so I took it down to RG today to get it put on.

Nice and clean weld where they cut the test pipe to fit the new flange on.

 Beast 3 Rotor FD that was hanging out.

 Reflection of the shop's Evo VIII in the window.

 This guy was picking up some race gas. Evo X's have grown on me. Wasn't too keen on them when they were first released.

 Shoving this K20a2 into a first gen Mini.

Crazy exhaust manifold.


I learned pretty early on in car ownership not to cheap out on getting work done on your car. I'll gladly pay someone double or more than someone else that I'll risk having to bring it back to. It's a hassle and a pain in the ass and I'd rather have to do it once.

Plus RG always has something interesting going on.

Alignment at The Speed Syndicate

Had an appointment book at The Speed Syndicate on Tuesday this week. I was surprised when they were able to book me in for the day after I called - big ups to them for squeezing me in. They did an awesome job. Took a degree and a half of camber out of my rear and tossed a half degree more on the fronts. Unfortunately, even with camber bolts, I was only able to get -1 degree on the front. I was hoping for -2.5 but oh well. Just another excuse to buy dampers with camber plates.

 A nice 260z with carbon fender flares and Evo VIII that was stuck in reverse.

 A couple cool toys hanging about. The R32 GTR had a massive set of RE30s.

 The shops/shop owner's AE86. Absolutely stunning.

 Another shot of the Evo VIII.

Selfies

Some pictures of my car that I took back in April.

Visual differences since then:
Rays plate frame is on the front plate (which wasn't put on until last week)
Black Rays stem caps
Headlights/bumper/fender/hood fit like shit
Brakes/tires
Seats

Basically differences aren't noticeable.. except my bumper fitment


I was happy with how my car looked then and still am now. Most of that stuff I didn't want to change but oh well. Goal for the car now: learn how to drive it.

Older stuff

Small update because I feel like it. Car's going in for alignment tomorrow and I'm having the Ingalls front camber bolts installed while I'm at it. More front camber, less rear. Kinda feeling like I'm wasting my money here because I want to get new coilovers over the winter but whatever. Track day on the 19th and I want to have fun and be quick.

First pic is one of two engine bay shots I have of my car. This intake sucks balls. I'll play around with the bay eventually but I'm not going any further than bolt-ons with this car.

Can't remember why my intake manifold cover is off. I think this was taken the day after I got my RE30's or something so I hadn't touched it in a month.

Second pic is before or after I polished my wheels. I like detailing cars but I have to be in the mood for it. It's too easy to fuck up or miss spots when you aren't focused. I've also found that CG Polishes are garbage. My V38 has the liquidity of water and my V36 couldn't cut fresh clear coat if it's little polish life depended on it. I've had better results with HD Cut and HD Polish on shit pads. I like Jetseal though. Considering how long the bottle will last me (I've done 4 full cars and hardly used any) it's great bang for buck. Only good for a year before re-application however. I think I'll try out C4 or Opti-Coat next.

For those of you wondering, Rays clear coat is extremely soft. A couple swipes hand polishing and swirls disappear.

Michelin Pilot Super Sports mounted

 

Haven't put them on the car yet. You can see it on stands in the background...