• Protip: Profile posts are public! Use Conversations to message other members privately. Everyone can see the content of a profile post.

'95 Autox build

Joined
20 October 2015
Messages
145
Figured I would make a thread to share my experiences and keep record of everything. I bought my '95 nsx-t early Oct this year, so just over a month now. This was my dream car and I never really seriously considered buying/owning one pretty much until this one came up during conversation at a local meet. I knew I wanted this car, but with prices steadily rising, I didn't think I'd have any real opportunity to own one. When this car came up, the price sounded right. Went to check it out, test drove it, talked to the wife pulled the trigger. I knew if not now, then possibly never. When I bought the car, it had 59k and was mostly stock with the exception of Comptech headers and exhaust and some big 18/19 Volk wheels.

To rewind a bit, I've been an avid autoxer for about 10 years now, started when I was 17yrs old. I have 2 other cars, '95 Civic coupe and '91 Civic Si, that are purpose built for autox. The '91 Si is nationally competitive and I've done extremely well with it. But, I've been primarily autoxing FWD cars for this whole time. I've recently been itching for something else. I've autoxed more cars than I could ever count, ranging from beat up stock dailys to super cars. So now with this NSX in my hands, there was no doubt that I would be autoxing it and enjoy it to it's fullest. SCCA doesn't class the NSX well. Other cars beat it out in every way for any given event. And 2nd gear on the NA1 is not good for autox. But, knowing it's disadvantages, I'm still diving in. I'll be running the car in Street Touring R locally even though the car is not classed there. My local region STR class is the largest and has almost a dozen highly nationally competitive drivers in the class, many driving S2000's. I figure this would be the best class to run in consistently to bench mark my times against other competitors to see if what I'm doing is right or wrong with the car. I'll do ST* modifications because I feel that is the best suited for fun, street driveability and even on the track.

I've tried to do a decent bit of research to see if anyone has really autox'd an NSX before. Only found one person which I am familiar with the name but haven't met, who had ran their NSX in what was then B-Stock class a long time ago. So there really isn't a whole lot of useful information for what I'd like to do with the car. Most of what I'll do is simple testing. Jump in and see what happens. Make things better, make things worse and learn as I go to optimize the car for the rules and what I want out of it.

Picking up the car after buying it 10/8/15
attachment.php

attachment.php


- - - Updated - - -

Before I had even technically bought the car, I had already ordered wheels and tires to replace the large 18/19 Volks. I would have liked to get RPF1's or PF01's or something along the very light side but also great looking wheels. But TireRack had a great discount on Enkie Kojin 17x8, 17x9 that I couldn't pass up. I liked their look and the weight was good enough, esp for the price.

Tires were the biggest and toughest decision. To be honest, tire sizes for the front on this car really suck. Most people stick with the OEM 215 size, even the previous owner has 215's on the massive 18" front wheels. I wanted to stuff the widest, stickiest street tire I could on the front. Front end grip is very important for turn-in for autox. The choice in tire came easily, it was either going to be between Bridgestone RE71r's which I'm already very familiar with running on my '91 Si, or BFG RivalS. These are currently the 2 fastest street tires available. Problem was these companies didn't offer the "right" size for this car. Talking to friends, they all quickly said try and stuff a 235 under the front. More and more research said that likely wasn't possible under the stock front fenders. So, I opted for 225/45r17's Bridgestone RE71r's. They are oversized but the pro's of the front grip would greatly outweigh the con's of it being a large tire.

attachment.php


Since I knew rubbing would likely be an issue, I got 5mm spacers. This helped reduce the rubbing on the inside rear fender wall, but still have rubbing at full lock. Also got a Karcepts shift knob.
attachment.php


While on the shift knob, this knob is clearly not made for the NSX shift boot. If you've replaced your shift knob, you'd know that there is a clip that holds the boot securely up and on to the knob. If you were to use most aftermarket shift knobs, this may be an issue since then the boot would dangle low on the shifter, exposing the shifter and just not look all that great. I came up with a very simple, extremely cheap solution. I took some 1/8" ABS plastic, cut it round to the size of the shift boot collar, drilled a hole the size of the shifter and put some double sided tape on to stick to the boot collar. This now make a seamless connection with the boot to the shift knob. All for nothing.. Beats paying for some high dollar aftermarket shift knob that's specific for the NSX or just using OEM..
attachment.php


- - - Updated - - -

With wheels and tires on, set out to get an alignment. I can't find the alignment sheet but from what I remember, we maxed out the camber on the front and rear which ended up being around -1.7* front and -2 rear. Toe was pretty close to 0 on the front and the rear was toed out, around 0.1 I believe it was.
attachment.php


This was in prep to get ready for the first autox with the car just about a week after owning it. I was fortunate enough to make 8 runs all day on it's first event. I ran in the morning with the local B-Street class and in the afternoon with the local STR class to compare times for both classes. I would have trophied in both classes. Needless to say, the car did extremely well and surprised me with how fast I could get it. To hang with the top in those too classes locally is not easy.
attachment.php

attachment.php


My videos from the event. Lots of rubbing on the fender liners just about everywhere on course...
https://youtu.be/oFHyIBDJKXg

https://youtu.be/rEFUMOSN5ic

What I learned: The car exceeded my expectations in every way. The tires felt really good, had no problem putting down power and turning in. Even though I was rubbing a lot, I felt my decision on the front tire size paid off. The alignment felt perfect. The car turned in, rotated and exited well everywhere. I didn't feel like I was battling the car at any time. It rotated, but was controllable. The tall 2nd gear didn't seem to matter much. Yes, it would be better to be in the power band at a lower rpm with a shorter gear, but the corner exit acceleration felt good and my times showed that it didn't hurt *that* much.

- - - Updated - - -

Did this event and another the weekend after. Car did extremely well between the 2 events. Made me even more excited to continue its journey. One thing I quickly noticed was the amount of body roll on this car. As well as it handles, it does lean, A LOT! And with the large front tires, it looks like a monster truck lol. So I quickly ordered coilovers and an OEM front lip. Decided to try out Koni/Ground Control for coilovers. Reason being, they are fair priced and have a strong reputation in the autox community.

I'll spare the explanation of my troubles with the coilover here, but if you're interested, you can see everything in this thread: http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...ol-users-need-your-input!-Issue-with-my-setup

They're installed and I've put some miles on them and so far, after the initial struggle with them, I am happy. I chose to run 550# front and 650# rear. I have to wait about 5 months before the next autox season starts up to really get a good feel for them, but, on the street they are great. They are extremely comfortable and handle well. The biggest draw back on these coilovers now is that I cannot really corner balance the car. I'll just have to live with it..

But I like the look and I can drive around city streets without much concern.
attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php


After getting the suspension figured out, I decided to make my own short ram intake. I had some material left over from when I made my own intake for my '91 Si. Enough just to make an SRI for this car. At zero cost to me, it works well. Sure beats spending ~$250 on something similar from Weapon R... For crying out loud all they are selling is a cheap pipe with a couple of holes in it and a cheap filter... This intake is only temporary. I will be making a cold air intake that routes down in to the fender. Again, will be significantly cheaper than any aftermarket one and work just as well, if not better.
attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • 12113452_10207889525416714_3810923405675333975_o.jpg
    12113452_10207889525416714_3810923405675333975_o.jpg
    76.5 KB · Views: 1,138
  • 12088065_872333521568_8765386986857692540_n.jpg
    12088065_872333521568_8765386986857692540_n.jpg
    79.3 KB · Views: 1,135
  • 12139997_872961153788_89107300509402276_o.jpg
    12139997_872961153788_89107300509402276_o.jpg
    47.9 KB · Views: 1,118
  • 12079637_873220773508_768588311018846669_n.jpg
    12079637_873220773508_768588311018846669_n.jpg
    46.9 KB · Views: 1,112
  • FullSizeRender(4).jpg
    FullSizeRender(4).jpg
    44.9 KB · Views: 1,110
Last edited:
Small update. I've done a few little things here and there over since last post. Fuel pressure gauge, new oil cap, coolant reservoir, tow strap, non compliance clamps, and Stoptech slotted rotors. I've ordered and still waiting for(should be here this week), resonated test pipes from Angus on here, Hawk HP+ front brake pads and Goodridge stainless steel braided brake lines all around. Hope to get those on soon after they come in the mail.

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php


Couple issues I've had these past couple of weeks. First was I had gotten some 10mm spacers for the rear wheels. I tried what I could, following the advice of others on here, to remove the stock studs without removing the wheel hub assembly. As I found out, that just isn't happening.. Not only can I not get the original studs out with the hub on the car, I don't see any way how I could get longer studs to squeeze in there with it all on the car. So I attempted to remove the hub by taking the axle nut off. Driver side does NOT want to budge. I've tried my SnapOn gun which is pretty damn strong, tired a huge breaker bar, tried heat, everything.. Doesn't want to come off. So I'm waiting to have some time to take it to my friends shop to see what he can do..

Another issue, car slowly developed a misfire problem. Got pretty bad. No CEL light came on for a while. Pulled the coil packs off and found some oil residue on the rear cylinders. Looked like the valve cover gaskets were leaking. Replaced the valve cover gaskets with new spark plugs and cleaned up the coil packs. Ran the car but the problem did not go away. Shortly after driving around a bit, the CEL finally came on. Somewhat glad that it did so I can pull the code and see what's going on..

Also, I've gotten an email from Ground Control that they have custom made new front sleeves for my car and will send them soon. This will finally allow me to lower the car a bit more and allow me to have more range to corner balance the car. Woo! Needless to say, I'm excited to get the test pipes in and suspension sorted out. But more importantly, I need to get this motor running smoothly again..
 

Attachments

  • FullSizeRender.jpg
    FullSizeRender.jpg
    48.9 KB · Views: 1,004
  • 12313803_882385247828_5623829189600588410_n.jpg
    12313803_882385247828_5623829189600588410_n.jpg
    79.9 KB · Views: 1,010
  • Coolant tank_jpg_3.jpg
    Coolant tank_jpg_3.jpg
    67.7 KB · Views: 1,005
  • FPG_jpg_4.jpg
    FPG_jpg_4.jpg
    40.8 KB · Views: 1,002
  • Oil cap_jpg_1.jpg
    Oil cap_jpg_1.jpg
    50 KB · Views: 999
  • Rear rotors_jpg_1.jpg
    Rear rotors_jpg_1.jpg
    43.9 KB · Views: 1,001
  • non compliance clamps_jpg_2.jpg
    non compliance clamps_jpg_2.jpg
    68 KB · Views: 998
  • Tow strap1.jpg
    Tow strap1.jpg
    61.7 KB · Views: 1,000
  • Tow strap 2_jpg_2.jpg
    Tow strap 2_jpg_2.jpg
    69 KB · Views: 994
  • IMG_0246.jpg
    IMG_0246.jpg
    37.3 KB · Views: 1,006
Haven't pulled the code yet. Ordered a code reader of Prime and was supposed to come today but looks like something got screwed up. Got a refund and had to reorder. Hopefully will be here tomorrow. Oh and the resonated test pipes came in today! I'll get pics when I install them. Focusing on getting the car running right first so I can enjoy a louder car :)
 
I'm a little skeptical of your homemade cold air intake. From the research I have done here on Prime, I think it's pretty tough to improve on the OEM design. I would do a little more research on that but you may have sacrificed performance and reliability for a little bit of sound.
 
I'm a little skeptical of your homemade cold air intake. From the research I have done here on Prime, I think it's pretty tough to improve on the OEM design. I would do a little more research on that but you may have sacrificed performance and reliability for a little bit of sound.

The stock intake can definitely be improved on. The gains would likely not be large, but a gain is a gain. I don't expect anything from the current intake I made since it is drawing in hot air from the engine bay. I only made this since I had left over material. I'll be making a cold air intake to draw in air from the side vent that will allow for a much smoother and better flowing design and I also hope to incorporate a velocity stack from the opening of the side vent.

On the stock intake, the ripples on the tubing and the resonator which traps air and disrupts airflow cannot be the best flowing design. I'm no engineer, but I see this as a "problem" which can be improved upon.
attachment.php

attachment.php

For reference, I made my own CAI for my '91 Si that was way better flowing than the AEM intake and less than half to cost.. And it did see an improvement over the AEM.
attachment.php

attachment.php



Small update.. Still waiting for Hawk HP+ pads and Russell stainless brake lines to ship. Lines were on backorder but have been told they should ship out tomorrow. When I have the brakes apart I'll paint all the calipers red with white lettering.

I've also been talking to Ground-Control for some time to get a solution for the front suspension. They did send me 2 new front sleeves that were made for me to be able to set the ride height lower and have more range of adjustment so I can corner balance the car. So I received the new sleeves, but now there's another issue... I was checking them out and noticed that the machined inner part of the sleeves where they rest on the lip of the shock body are not the same. One was machined 1.5" from the top of the sleeve, the other was machined 1" from the top of the sleeve. That would mean all else being the same, one side of the car would already be 1/2" higher/lower than the other. My bigger concern is in the integrity of the sleeve. Is only having 1" of material from the machined edge to the top of the sleeve enough to prevent the sleeve from splitting under heavy loads? I don't know. I will be contacting Ground Control, AGAIN, to sort this out. Really seems like they are having a horrible time with quality control...
attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php



It's a good thing this is the off season so I have time and patience to deal with this, but those are really starting to run out at this point..

Something not performance related, did a little accent lighting for the car. After doing some work on the motor and fixing the misfire issue, I wanted more lighting in the engine bay. Came up with a very cheap, easy and reversible solution. It's all hidden, can't tell it's there and can't see the led's themselves unless you get under the vent. Will be great to have this next time working around the motor and also just looks kinda nice.
attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php


Also replaced the interior lights and tag lights with LED's.
attachment.php

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • FullSizeRender(2).jpg
    FullSizeRender(2).jpg
    52.4 KB · Views: 833
  • FullSizeRender(1).jpg
    FullSizeRender(1).jpg
    46.1 KB · Views: 830
  • FullSizeRender.jpg
    FullSizeRender.jpg
    37.3 KB · Views: 828
  • 10168021_885616108158_5592793292641547645_n.jpg
    10168021_885616108158_5592793292641547645_n.jpg
    61.7 KB · Views: 833
  • 1878_885616118138_4774056867298056285_n.jpg
    1878_885616118138_4774056867298056285_n.jpg
    51 KB · Views: 829
  • 1012731_885616153068_5454313519359279542_n.jpg
    1012731_885616153068_5454313519359279542_n.jpg
    48.1 KB · Views: 831
  • 1780776_885616158058_6122470212970183370_n.jpg
    1780776_885616158058_6122470212970183370_n.jpg
    67.7 KB · Views: 825
  • 1012546_885616197978_1393183341627857470_n.jpg
    1012546_885616197978_1393183341627857470_n.jpg
    58.2 KB · Views: 829
  • 922878_885616207958_3745279627236627066_n.jpg
    922878_885616207958_3745279627236627066_n.jpg
    55.9 KB · Views: 826
  • IMG_0685.jpg
    IMG_0685.jpg
    39.7 KB · Views: 831
  • IMG_0682.jpg
    IMG_0682.jpg
    30.9 KB · Views: 824
Updating..

My 2016 Autox season schedule has been released and now it's time to get things moving on this build. I've spoken to my buddy at Karcepts and gave him a list of parts I'm interested in. I've ordered a bunch of things these past few days and hope to get everything by the end of this month and hope to be finished installing and setting up by beginning of March. Nothing too crazy but I do have a little bit of work to do.

Things on the list:
- Carbon fiber center console. Deletes the stereo so I'll be removing the head unit, speakers and sub to save some weight. Don't listen to music all that much when I drive this car :)
- Aluminum 3" intake tubing to make my own custom intake
- NRG V3 quick release steering hub and short hub
- Momo Monte Carlo 350mm red stitch/red horn steering wheel
- Buddy Club Super Low Down driver and passenger seat rails
- PLM Type 5 racing seats(both sides)
- SoS short throw shifter kit
- Ground Control adjustable sway bar endlinks(prototype being sent from Ground Control for free)
- New Ground Control front sleeve to finally get the ride height "right" and set.
- Ichiba 10mm rear wheel spaces/studs(already have these, just need to break the axle nuts free to install)
- Shorai light weight batter(still have to order)
- Alignment and hopefully corner balance at some point after all suspension work is done
- Hawk HP+ Brake pads for the front(have, need to install)
- Russell Stainless steel brake lines all around(have, need to install)

I got the intake piping stuff in yesterday and made my Cold Air Intake already. Total cost was less than $150 in materials and some time. I'm happy with the result. It'll bring in direct cold air from the side vent through smooth flowing piping and all weighs just a couple lbs. Forgot to take pics before wrapping it but you get the idea.
attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php


The PLM seats came in yesterday as well but it may be a few weeks before I get the Buddy Club rails.
 

Attachments

  • 12644915_893256581588_8554152760578731691_n.jpg
    12644915_893256581588_8554152760578731691_n.jpg
    90 KB · Views: 750
  • 942791_893256591568_817496571742720504_n.jpg
    942791_893256591568_817496571742720504_n.jpg
    27.5 KB · Views: 748
  • 12313803_882385247828_5623829189600588410_n.jpg
    12313803_882385247828_5623829189600588410_n.jpg
    79.9 KB · Views: 44
  • 12654634_893256621508_6808310265774163574_n.jpg
    12654634_893256621508_6808310265774163574_n.jpg
    81.1 KB · Views: 742
  • 12654297_893256631488_8420410539742550748_n.jpg
    12654297_893256631488_8420410539742550748_n.jpg
    87.4 KB · Views: 750
Last edited:
Few parts are coming in this week. Seat rails might be here by Saturday, already have the seats so might get those done this weekend or next week. Quick release/hub showed up today and steering wheel should be here soon. I got my CF center console in today so I threw that on the car along with the SoS short those shift kit.
 

Attachments

  • 12715482_893953729498_4685494102031568958_n.jpg
    12715482_893953729498_4685494102031568958_n.jpg
    85 KB · Views: 60
  • 12524068_893953774408_4309344358987444580_n.jpg
    12524068_893953774408_4309344358987444580_n.jpg
    75.9 KB · Views: 63
  • 9869_893953744468_8298033093239229270_n.jpg
    9869_893953744468_8298033093239229270_n.jpg
    77.4 KB · Views: 61
Finally got around to finished up the interior. F1 Spec Type 5 seats, Buddy Club rails, Momo Monte Carlo steering wheel with red stitching/horn, NRG v3 quick release, carbon fiber center console stereo delete, Karcepts super light shift knob, led interior lights, removed stereo, passenger side airbag delete with custom tray. If my numbers are right, I believe I've removed about 61lbs from the interior. Not too bad for not really tearing it apart and a car that doesn't exactly have a whole lot to it anyways.

attachment.php

attachment.php



This weekend I hope to finish up the suspension and brakes since we'll have some nice weather. I also ordered a set of Dali 1" front/rear sway bars and they just came in today. I won't be installing them until after I get some good seat time in the car to figure out what really needs to be done. About a month away from the first couple events of the season, not a whole lot of time left but should be able to get everything done and get an alignment in before then. Can't wait!
 

Attachments

  • G0031054.jpg
    G0031054.jpg
    78 KB · Views: 652
  • G0041123.jpg
    G0041123.jpg
    68.6 KB · Views: 653
Finally got around to installing the new sleeves up front. I also decided to swap back the springs to what I had originally wanted, 650f and 550r. Even the little driving around on the street, I knew the 650's in the rear were going to cause too much oversteer. After driving around for a day with the 650f/550r, it feels a bit more stable and still incredibly smooth.

The new sleeves are on the right shock/right side. Judging by other pics I've seen, GC should have originally sent me these in the first place. They really screwed up. AND it's been at least a month since they promised sending new adjustable swaybar endlinks for free and nothing yet. Keep hearing excuses, wonder what the next will be...
attachment.php


I was able to lower the car slightly and drove around. All feels good, going to lower it about a 1/4" more and probably leave it at that until I corner balance the car. Will get pics of the ride height after lowering it a bit more.
 

Attachments

  • 12745694_896687700598_1472250784158953920_n.jpg
    12745694_896687700598_1472250784158953920_n.jpg
    75.6 KB · Views: 974
Instead of (in addition to) pictures, measuring the clearance under the front and rear jack points is often a good point of comparison. (And yes I know it's not how Honda specifies ride height and may introduce some addition variance between cars.)
 
That's what I've been going by on height. Right now the front sits at about 4.5" from floor to front jack point and the rear is 4.25". Slight problem with that front measurment is that with the 225/45r17, the front end sits a bit higher since the tires are taller. More of a aesthetic thing, so long as I still have enough clearance with the suspension and inside of the tire/fender I'm okay.
 
That's what I've been going by on height. Right now the front sits at about 4.5" from floor to front jack point and the rear is 4.25". Slight problem with that front measurment is that with the 225/45r17, the front end sits a bit higher since the tires are taller. More of a aesthetic thing, so long as I still have enough clearance with the suspension and inside of the tire/fender I'm okay.

Have you installed the SS lines? How do the brakes feel now?
 
I just installed them last weekend, haven't gotten around to getting pictures. But, they feel good. Can't beat them for the price. DOT approved and come with a protective coating over the braid. Nice quality.
 
Little update.

Autox season has finally started. This past Saturday was a BMW novice school I instructed at, just took my Civic Si to play around there. But this Saturday is a Test & Tune event that I'll bring the NSX to get some runs in on. Been doing somethings here and there these past few weeks so the car should be all ready to go by this Saturday.

Brakes are done. Just put Hawk HP+ pads up front, Stoptech slotted rotors all around, Russell brake lines around around and also ended up putting Russell speed bleeders in.
attachment.php

attachment.php



Got a smaller battery. 11lb Big Crank battery to replace the 45lb battery that was in there. So a good ~35lbs lost right there. Made my own little mount from left of materials I had. Has no problems at all starting up the car.
attachment.php

attachment.php


Got the car aligned today to some "shot in the dark" specs. Really just did the best I could with the factory adjustments and setting it to what I think might work best based off of my research. Will see how things feel this weekend.
attachment.php


Also, slight update with Ground Control. They promised free front and rear swaybar endlinks back at the beginning of January. Just yesterday I got a message from them saying they are ready to ship and will be here in a couple days. Well, last week I thought I would go ahead and deal with at least the front endlinks myself. Contacted my friend at Karcepts to see what they could do. They ended up making me a set of front endlinks from the measurements I took. Few days later, I have a set of front endlinks made. Oh, and because Karcepts is so awesome, they're giving them to me for FREE! And btw, if anyone is interested, I may be able to get them to sell front sets for $80 shipped. That's $100+ LESS than the Cedar Ridge ones! Yeah, Karcepts is kind of freaking awesome and THAT'S why I have their decals on my cars.
attachment.php


So, with the front set for sure in, I should be able to test out my front 1" Dali adjustable sway bar this weekend. If the GC endlinks come in this week, I may even be able to test out the rear 1" Dali swaybar. But I'm more focused on the front as I think it may be more helpful to have the front and maybe leave the rear stock bar on.

Some non performance oriented mods...

I got a rear LED 3rd brake light flasher plug and play kit. Since I drive around DC a lot, I'm paranoid. MD/DC/VA drivers suck. So having something like this to make me a bit more visible I'll take.
attachment.php


I also made my own fire extinguisher mount with some extra material I had left over. Still have full easy use of adjusting the seat back and forth too.
attachment.php

attachment.php


Also got a set of floor mats, love them.

attachment.php



Also was able to break away the axle nuts so tomorrow I hope to install the longer rear wheel studs so I can put on my 10mm rear spacers. Just need to do that, going to change the trans fluid, Thursday I'm taking the car to get professionally detailed and we should be all set to go for Saturday's T&T and the season! Looking forward to it!

- - - Updated - - -

Also, ran through some numbers to figure out where the weight is. Don't have access to scales yet.

Based off of what I have weighed and what I have found online, I pulled around 216lbs off the car. Going off of curb weight and fuel weights, I'm going to say that the car should be right around 2845lbs with 5 gallons of gas. That means with me in the car, right around 2995lbs. That's exactly where I wanted to be, just under 3000lbs! If I do the aluminum exhaust setup I have in mind, I should be able to pull off another 25-30lbs. Hopefully I can get an exact number at some point and at the same time corner balance the car. Just don't know when I'll be able to do that..
 

Attachments

  • FullSizeRender(5).jpg
    FullSizeRender(5).jpg
    58.7 KB · Views: 443
  • IMG_1465.jpg
    IMG_1465.jpg
    98.7 KB · Views: 444
  • FullSizeRender(6).jpg
    FullSizeRender(6).jpg
    58.6 KB · Views: 442
  • FullSizeRender(7).jpg
    FullSizeRender(7).jpg
    69.5 KB · Views: 445
  • FullSizeRender(8).jpg
    FullSizeRender(8).jpg
    66 KB · Views: 444
  • IMG_1595.jpg
    IMG_1595.jpg
    38.6 KB · Views: 443
  • IMG_1246.jpg
    IMG_1246.jpg
    53.7 KB · Views: 446
  • IMG_1415.jpg
    IMG_1415.jpg
    58.5 KB · Views: 446
  • IMG_1417.jpg
    IMG_1417.jpg
    64 KB · Views: 443
  • IMG_1506.jpg
    IMG_1506.jpg
    68.3 KB · Views: 447
Last edited:
Update:

Autox season has started! Was able to put it all together for a couple of Test & Tune events these past couple of Saturdays. Packed the car up and to my surprise, I was able to fit everything I generally need for any given autox event! Jack and a few other items fit just fine up in the passenger side.
attachment.php


First Test & Tune event was a good shake down to see how everything I did turned out. I did a few runs on the stock sway bars and played around with the shocks. First couple runs out, the car understeered a lot, not too surprised though. I found myself having to be very patient in areas that I should have been able to be more aggressive. Playing with the shocks helped slightly, but not nearly enough. I brought the Dali 1" front and rear bars with me to test out, and it was a good thing.

After talking to a couple friends, I decided to first try out the 1" rear bar. Slapped it on at it's softest setting and bam, instant oversteer everywhere! That was great, but it seemed to be a bit much. I could attack transitions like slaloms more aggressively, but now I found the car really snapping on wider turn exits on throttle.
attachment.php


Decided to try out the front Dali bar next. That helped balance things out more. Car felt more composed, I could attack the slaloms aggressively and even though it still liked to kicked out the rear on on some exits, it was manageable.
attachment.php



At this first T&T, I was not able to fully gauge the car. The car started to misfire throughout the day and progressively got worse. While I could get a good sense for how the suspension worked, I never got a good comparison for times since power was down and inconsistent. Friend of mine ran his new ND Miata that is already well prepped for STR and he's a former national champion so I found my self, down on power, around 2-3seconds behind him and a couple other STR hotshoes in a NC Miata and S2000 CR. Not bad, kinda where I expected to be.

I thought the misfire was likely due to another bad coilpack(I've replaced just about everything else on the ignition system already) so I ordered a full new set. Went to replace them and turns out cylinder 2 had oil residue down the spark plug tube gunking up the coil pack. Turned out to just be a bad valve cover seal causing the leak and in turn the misfire. Patched that up, put in the new coil packs anyways since I bought them, and now the car seems to run just fine.

First T&T Videos:
Morning runs. Car ran okay for a bit. Misfire was mostly below 3k rpms on some of the runs.
https://youtu.be/Q2JpurTMn2o

Afternoon runs. Car was misfiring throughout the revs at this point, so no good power being made..
https://youtu.be/cH3jOGpYA7Y

Decided to take her out to another Test & Tune event this past Saturday. This was on a smaller lot, so really not great for this car to stretch its legs, but I needed to make sure the car ran smoothly. It was a cold rainy day so I was able to get a good sense of how the car felt in slick conditions. Everything said about these cars is right, they are tail happy and will certainly bite you in the ass if not careful. Still have yet to spin the car out, but there's been no shortage of sideways fun that's for sure. In the rain, I found the car to be a bit of a handful. It was either too pushy(lots of understeer) or too tail happy(decent oversteer, some snap), no real happy medium unless I really was incredibly smooth and slowed things down. I don't see this car being a great performer in the rain, but a couple of dry runs in the afternoon made up for that. I was able to put down some solid times in the dry weather. Same STR ND Miata hotshoe was out here along with another fast STR NC Miata. I couldn't touch them in the rain, no surprise. But in the dry, on a small, tight course, I was surprisingly able to only be back about .6-.8 seconds, which I consider to be very good and close for that kind of course. I'm hoping that means I should be able to close that 2-3 second gap from the much larger, faster courses we typically run on.

Second T&T videos:
Best run in the rain on the morning course and then best dry run in the afternoon.
https://youtu.be/fu3SFvTatfQ


Few pics, hope to get some more.
attachment.php

attachment.php

attachment.php


All in all, good first couple of events to get everything sorted out and find out what needs to be done with the car. I'm pretty happy with how it's handling, now I just need to do some fine tuning with the shocks and tire pressures. I may revisit the alignment at some point but will leave it as is for now. Since this is a different car than what I'm really used to, I want to focus on being a smoother driver with this animal and get the most out of it.
 

Attachments

  • 942269_906560535358_3849868172164930438_n.jpg
    942269_906560535358_3849868172164930438_n.jpg
    70.2 KB · Views: 391
  • 12523940_907089565178_2395534348229600996_n.jpg
    12523940_907089565178_2395534348229600996_n.jpg
    75.9 KB · Views: 389
  • 1915944_907132748638_3526270533568299848_n.jpg
    1915944_907132748638_3526270533568299848_n.jpg
    69.3 KB · Views: 389
  • 25613751923_d97db223ef_o.jpg
    25613751923_d97db223ef_o.jpg
    46.8 KB · Views: 391
  • 25611650704_1c64a00c7c_o.jpg
    25611650704_1c64a00c7c_o.jpg
    48.2 KB · Views: 389
  • 26190490726_244dcf0eb1_o.jpg
    26190490726_244dcf0eb1_o.jpg
    41.8 KB · Views: 384
So what sway bars were you using in the end?
 
Thanks Jason and thanks again for letting me take a run in your car! Was hoping to let you take a run in my car at the T&T. You can run mine some other time and get a feel for these re71r's. I'll warn you, you might like them...lol

Video taking a run in Jason's beast
https://youtu.be/eHO6KxIGG3c

- - - Updated - - -

So what sway bars were you using in the end?

Sticking with both Dali bars. Currently left them both at their softest settings but I may adjust the front bar to its stiffest to try and settle the car more for the higher speed courses. Will need to play with that a bit more later.

- - - Updated - - -

Hmm, looking at these 2 pictures, it looks like my front camber isn't too bad. A little more I think would be better, but -2.1* seems to be okay. That's the max I can get with the stock adjustment range.. The rear almost looks like I could benefit from a bit more. I'm at -2.5* in the rear. I thought any more might be a bit too much for the rear but I'm wondering if I bump it a little bit more negative if that will help keep the rear from stepping out. I know for sure I can get all the way up to -3.2*(where it was at after lowering/before alignment) so there's plenty more for adjustment, just not sure if it's worth going any more.. Any thoughts?

attachment.php

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • 25946816620_a02b1401a1_o.jpg
    25946816620_a02b1401a1_o.jpg
    52.6 KB · Views: 385
  • 26127253742_9bc4f157a4_o.jpg
    26127253742_9bc4f157a4_o.jpg
    54.9 KB · Views: 381
just for laughs next time you have a t&t session try the dali front bar and oem rear...what tire pressures do you run at?
 
I'm right around 30-32psi with the front and rear depending on what the car is doing and what I set the shocks at. Seems the lowest I can go before really rolling over the edge on the front is 30. Feels pretty good with 32f/30r.
 
Have you tried higher pressures like 34/36?
 
Haven't tried but these tires seem to generally like running on the lower side. Don't know anyone running mid 30+ psi with RE71r's, not unless they're really trying to get their car to do something that they can't with the suspension(ie: oversteer with a limited adjustment fwd car). Worth a try some time to play around with.
 
Back
Top