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PollyMobiles Rebuild

Had a set of t1r's on the front of the mr2, lasted three sets of wheels and 25000 miles.

just checking my tyre wear history graph since I first fitted the toyos:
2010-2011 = 23,000miles - N/A, daily & track use, just began 2 trackdays
2011-2012 = 13,000miles - turbo, daily & track use, 3 trackdays
2012-2013 = 8,200miles - turbo, daily & track use, serious amount of understeer scrubbing at teesside autodrome
2013-2014 = 11,000miles - turbo, daily & track use, wet trackday at elvington
2014-2015 = 14,000miles - turbo, only daily use on road (use 595rsr on track)
 
Ah

Ah I should have explained better, you don't p

Ah I should have explained better, you don't pack it.
What you need is the mesh just before the outlet. This will allow the vapour to flow around as normal then catch any thing that remains on the mesh as it leaves.
If you look at mine.....


The port on the side is the inlet, if you could see inside I welded rods across the can which hold the mesh just below the outlet.
This way it has to go through the mesh tho leave, there's not a huge amount in there and it provides no noticeable restriction whilst creating a much bigger surface area.

gotcha now. bit hard to do on mine cos both inlet/outlet are on the top lid on a solid glass jar.

remembering from basic science, for vapour to condense on any surfaces including a mesh, the surface temp must be cooler than the hot vapour.

a loose scourer mesh in a container doesn't have much thermal conduction with the cool walls to remain cool. so initially the mesh may condense abit of vapour while it's still cold but soon quickly gets heated by the hot vapour and lose efficiency.

a solid mesh plate that's firmly anchored to the container has a path for the heat to flow away so the mesh can remain as cold as the container and stay effective.

the coldest surface of the catchcan for vapours to condense on is the air cooled exterior walls and as I found recently, cooling the catchcan like any radiator is very important in its function.

imho the construction of heat exchangers (like water radiators, intercooler, heater matrix) with their high air cooling surface area could form an efficient vapour condensor. just needs some slight modding to be able to contain the large amount of collected oil vapour.
 
Pollyp if you want to get your suspension nerd on some more here's another link I've been reading:

http://the-contact-patch.com/book/general/g3000-introduction

[HASHTAG]#Content[/HASHTAG] warning: Page may contain physics and mathematics which may cause the readers brain to run away and go suck it's thumb in the corner.(mine started begging for mercy)

Oh wow yess

thx so much for the valuable link ;)

now that looks like my cuppa tea of reading material :)
 
2015-06-28 Blyton Park Eastern Circuit

05:40 Refuelled & set off at
07:27 near blyton I brimmed the tank at the last BP services, she did 39mpg cruising at 70mph on these 595RSR inflated to 2.0/2.7bar F/R (the T1R inflated to 3bars usually reach 45-47mpg after a cruise)

08:00 arrived at an overcast Blyton Park, unloaded the car, rechecked the warm tyre pressures to 2/2.7bar f/r, brimmed the oil thats dropped to 40% on the way down, set dampers 15/30 f/r

IMAG2337.jpg


checked the catchcan and boy it caught abit :) looks like 60ml after the 130mile trip down

IMAG2336.jpg


then just before briefing, the rain came down, k this'll be a wet session on semislicks.
was looking for Alex and AndyH701 to turn up, guess not tday :/
appears from the briefing that there's gonna be a mostly novices on track, so morning is gonna be full of traffic.

Changes since last time in April we fitted wider rear track, smooth front discs, new front pads, new seats, corner balanced & realigned wheels.

09.25 sighting lap --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 15/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.0/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 100% fuel, driver only​

Misc changes:
  • seat too high cos helmet hitting sunroof so had to recline back, too close to pedals so had to slide back, must remove sunroof frame eventually.

During:
Track Condition: wet
Brake Bias: 60/40% F/R



Track Feedback:
  • limited low traction
  • wheelspin on exit when I hit peak torque at 5k WOT
  • front brakes locking up under hard braking
  • brake pedal with smooth discs staying firm and 10mm above throttle
after heating up the tyres, adjusted their hot pressures from 2.1/2.8 back to 2.0/2.7bars

09.45 Run 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 15/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.0/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 100% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: damp drizzle
Brake Bias: 60/40% F/R

Cabin footage was corrupted from the usb power cut.

Track Feedback:
  • couldn't push the car much cos mostly following slower traffic in the damp
  • gear changes at high speed is alot faster now with the JUN flywheel

Track times:
1:47 traffic
1:49 traffic
1:50 traffic
1:43 traffic
1:43 traffic
1:50 traffic
1:43 traffic
1:41 traffic


misc note bout the catch cans. now that the cars mostly under +ve boost on track, the RH can which captures vapour out the crankcase breather when under inlet vacuum is condensing less whereas the LH can that captures vapour out the engine cover breather under boost is condensing more, so it's working :)

10:17 Run 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Went out for run #2 but then during the warmup lap on boost I heard a "poof", lost all boost and reduced power, but AFR still reading normal so it ain't leaking boost after the MAF.
Think ah-ohh what's popped off this time?
open window to listen for any exhaust blow, nope still normal so the exhaust hasn't blown or the manifold welds hasn't cracked off.
return to pit and check over where it's losing boost.

all the pipes at the top are intact, when I rev it high the BOV usually creates some hiss but this time it doesn't hiss at all so there's zero boost?
removed BOV and can see the valve is working.
intercooler is intact and most of the induction pipes still on tight.
if it's not creating any boost, could the turbine/comp be seized? removed the inlet pipe and spin the wheel, yup it's still lubed and spinning freely so the turbo is fine.

but then spotted down below in the shadows that the boost pipe on the turbo compressor outlet has popped off, that's why it ain't creating any boost and run a normal mixture.

IMAG2338.jpg


removed the pipe and urm yeh this boost pipe is the next weak spot to strengthen. there's no bead lip on the ends and that rubber coupler that attaches the small 90deg very tight elbow to the turbo outlet is having a hard time holding on. reattached it

11:24 Run 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 15/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.0/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 50% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: intermediate
Brake Bias: 50/50% F/R



Track Feedback:
  • tyres & brakes had cooled down during the fix so initially during outlap the cold brakes not as effective and the cold 595RSR were squeeling under medium corner loads so gradually warmed em up slowly.
  • once brakes n tyres are back upto hot temps they grip hard.
  • brakes no longer lock so moved bias all the way back 50/50 for max braking force
  • brakes are now very effective, limited by how hard I can press and can slow down very quickly
  • hot brake pedal now stops 5mm above the throttle, so it doesn't sink as much with these smooth discs but seems the fluids still boiling very slightly
  • red new seats very lacking in support. had to wedge legs against doorcards. seat base too firm, flat & high, needs more foam cutting out cos I'm submarining/slouching forwards
  • slight highspeed understeer exiting Bunga bunga

Track Times:
1.30 traffic
1.30 traffic
1.32 traffic
1.28 traffic
1.32 traffic
1.27 traffic
1.39 traffic
1.31 traffic

1.24s
1.34 traffic
1.30 traffic


12.15 Run 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tried reducing front pressure down to 1.9bar and front dampers soften to 10clicks to see if it resolves the highspeed understeer

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 10/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 1.9/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 25% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: drying
Brake Bias: 50/50% F/R

The cabin camera now kept corrupting from any power cut (the remote didn't stop the cabin camera before I turned ign off) but still had footage of the suspension & pedals.



Track feedback:
  • slightly worse understeer
  • look at the unbalanced soft CV boot flapping at high speed! I need to stop that happening before it splits itself apart
  • on lap 4 @6:20 whilst going flat out round the bumpy Curva Grande I lost my footing and braked too late, badly understeered and spun off to the gravel. had the slomo moment of looking at that blue traffic cone that I'm skidding towards and thinking oh sheet I'm gonna go off track & hit that with no control #squint# thank gawd it's not an armco barrier

Track Times:
1.26
1.29 traffic
1.24
spun

nursed back home with loadsa gravel dropping out of her.
back at pits the front left tyres abit worse for wear with gravel stones wedged right into the rims.

IMAG2339.jpg
IMAG2340.jpg
IMAG2342.jpg


this sidewall mis-shaping from the gravel stones doesn't look safe so since its almost lunch break I head out to try look for any open tyre shops to help deflate & clean the stones out the rims...on a sundayo_O get food & refuel.

she did just 17-19mpg on track :confused:

was abit tricky, kwikfit was very busy but i found some hidden corner tyre place and the top blokes fixed & balanced the front left tyre for free :D
 
Last edited:
14.28 Run 5 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

after lunch returned the settings back to how I last liked it: 2.0/2.7bar f/r, 15/30 f/r dampers

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 15/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.0/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 100% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: hot dry
Brake Bias: 50/50% F/R

The cabin camera now kept corrupting from any power cut (the remote didn't stop the cabin camera before I turned ign off) but still had footage of the suspension & pedals.



Track feedback:
  • car felt gr8 & very consistant & stable

Track Times:
1.31 traffic
1.31 traffic

1.26
1.26
1.31 traffic

15:05 Run 6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

rechecked the hot pressures back to 2.0/2.7bars f/r

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 15/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.0/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 80% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: hot dry
Brake Bias: 50/50% F/R

The cabin camera now kept corrupting from any power cut and only had footage of the pedals.

Track feedback:
  • car felt gr8 & very consistant & stable

Track Times:
1.32 traffic
1.35 traffic
1.36 traffic
1.29 traffic

1.24
1.24
1.26 traffic
1.41 traffic


15:28 Run 7 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

rechecked the hot pressures back to 2.0/2.7bars f/r

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 15/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.0/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 75% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: hot dry
Brake Bias: 50/50% F/R

The cabin camera now kept corrupting from any power cut and only had footage of the pedals.

Track feedback:
  • car felt gr8 & very consistant & stable

Track Times:
1.32 traffic
1.36 traffic
1.36 traffic
1.28 traffic

1.24
1.24
1.25 traffic

16:00 Run 8 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the better the setup feels, the fast & harder I drove, the hotter the brakes & tyres got after each run so had to keep rechecking the hot pressures back down to 2.0/2.7bars f/r

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 15/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.0/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 50% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: hot dry
Brake Bias: 50/50% F/R

The cabin camera now kept corrupting from any power cut (the remote didn't stop the cabin camera before I turned ign off) but still had footage of the suspension & pedals.



Track feedback:
  • car felt gr8 & very consistant & stable
  • kept overtaking alot of the cars except for dedicated hardcore track cars

Track Times:
1.46 traffic
1.30 traffic
1.26 traffic
1.25 traffic
1.29 traffic


16:20 Run 9 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

the tape holding the cover on the air filter has soften off so removed the cover for now

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 15/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.0/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 25% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: hot dry
Brake Bias: 50/50% F/R

The cabin & pedal camera now kept corrupting from any power cut (the remote didn't stop the cabin camera before I turned ign off) so only had suspension footage but to my surprise, mom & dad showed up and she captured some valuable trackside footage :)

I was on a consistant 1:24 laptimes but then for afew laps I was held up by a saxo for multiple laps down to 1min 25-35s laptimes. I was clearly faster through the corners and braking, whereas the saxo was more hesitant, abit unstable and braking too early & frequently so I had to ease off but we both had similar acceleration so overtaking down the straights was difficult and he wasn't letting me pass.

it was a gr8 session to compare strengths n weaknesses but since he wasn't letting me pass, decided to ease off to give us bout a 5sec gap, resumed my run and I still caught up to him after 1lap, he pitted soon after and I resumed my 1min 24s laptimes.



Track feedback:
  • car felt gr8 & very consistant & stable

Track Times:
1.24
1.31 traffic with saxo
1.28 traffic
1.27 traffic
1.28 traffic
1.36 traffic, coast for a gap
1.25 traffic
1.35 traffic
1.35 traffic

1.24 resume after saxo pitted

all day my laptimes during the clear laps have been a consistant 1:24-1:26s :)
there's afew spots that I could still go faster through such as the bumpy wavy curva grande where I still brake too early but still abit scared of understeering off the end, and I could still brake alot harder in the fast braking zones.

packed the car back up and refilled the lost oil. not bother with swapping to T1R on the way home, too much work so just drove the 595RSR home.
they were 1.75/2.55bar cold and didn't think it'd matter much but actually it made a big difference cos cruising home at 70 missing 0.2bar had dropped the economy from 39 to 30mpg :/

IMAG2343.jpg
IMAG2344.jpg


the thin bracket holding the air inlet pipe had fractured off under the high vibrations so ziptied it back on.

IMAG2345.jpg


back at home checking the catchcans

IMAG2346.jpg


and oh yea this is how much stuff it caught after just 375miles to/from blyton :eek:

IMAG2347.jpg


in the old catch can located behind the hot radiator it only caught 25ml per 800miles (31.25ml per 1000 mile)

dsc00329-jpg.40989


moving the cans to a warm area behind the headlights made it catch bout 25ml per 300m (83.33ml per 1000 mile)

dsc00535-jpg.41484


new air cooled catchcan right at the front grill caught 116ml after 375m (309.33ml per 1000 mile!) over x10 as efficient as behind the rad and x4 more efficient than behind the headlights :cool:

dsc01057-jpg.43117


the can in front of the rad thats suppose to capture the vapours during boost didn't catch much cos it seems the hot radiator is preventing it from cooling the vapours so I need to build a heatsheild for that too

IMAG2348.jpg
IMAG2349.jpg


in a middle of changing bedroom carpet but will assess the brakes n tyres soon after ;)
 
assessing the car after blyton park.
renewed the engine & gear oil

DSC01071.JPG


the gearbox plug has alot less debris than usual, thats good :cool:

DSC01067.JPG


peeking at the clutch through the JUN flywheel it looks fine

DSC01070.JPG


CV boot

the RH boot looks fine

DSC01068.JPG


think one reason why the boot was flapping about like mad at high speed in the videos is cos this rubbish metal ball locking tie doesn't stay tight therefore it could easily rock about off-balance

DSC01077.JPG


so I cut the old strap off

DSC01079.JPG


and cable tied it on tightly

DSC01080.JPG


the LH boot was already cable tied so that stayed stable

DSC01069.JPG


Tyres

looking at the heavy loaded front right tyre after the counter-clockwise blyton park

DSC01081.JPG


the outside shoulder rolling over abit at 2.0bar

DSC01082.JPG


the split crack still there

DSC01083.JPG


the front left tyre is less worn

DSC01084.JPG
DSC01085.JPG


Brakes

a new predator FT pad is 15.7mm thick

DSC01090.JPG


the min thickness is at 9.7mm so there's 6mm of pad available

DSC01091.JPG


the RH disc looks evenly bedded

DSC01072.JPG


still has loadsa pad left :)

DSC01073.JPG


but looking at the face it continues to appear crumbly, wonder if this is the usual characteristic of these pads or if they are overheating

DSC01074.JPG
DSC01075.JPG


the right pad is down to 13.65mm (65.8% left)

interesting to note that the outer pad is held parallel to the disc by the two fingers so that pad is worn evenly.

the inner pad resting on a single piston which acts like a pivot so the rear facing end of the pad that digs further into the disc due to the rotation of the disc is abit thinner than the front end

DSC01078.JPG


the LH disc also evenly bedded

DSC01086.JPG


and also worn down the same amount of 13.65mm (65.8% left)

DSC01087.JPG


and similar crusty look

DSC01088.JPG
DSC01089.JPG
 
removed the engine cover, lets see why it's leaking oil into spark plug #1 and the back of the gaskets leaking down the head. all look clean inside

DSC01092.JPG


the metal tubes are all 27.05mm dia so they're consistantly fine

DSC01093.JPG


the spark plug tube seals are tapered so the widest bit is 28.6mm, so I could enlarge the tubes dia by upto 1.5mm

DSC01094.JPG


now lets measure how tight the seals are.

#1 that's leaking is 26.8mm

DSC01095.JPG


#2 is 26.7mm

DSC01096.JPG


#3 is 26.7mm

DSC01097.JPG


and #4 is 26.6mm

DSC01098.JPG


looks like #1 is leaking cos the seal is just barely too loose and can't hold back the oil spray/vapour

so to enlarge the spark tubes dia tighter against the seal, I carefully wrap some Alu tape around the tubes smoothly with no creases to ruin the seal

DSC01099.JPG
DSC01101.JPG


till they're all bout 27.65mm dia

DSC01100.JPG


cleaned & fitted the the engine cover gasket back on

DSC01102.JPG


the stainless allen bolts that H701 fitted was way too short, only 1-3mm of the thread was used and could easily strip.
needed 25-30mm long thread so fitted the old philips screws for now to cure the seal then order new allen bolts

DSC01103.JPG
 
was attempting to cut the old bracket off the fractured inlet pipe but made an error of cutting at an angle too deep

DSC01104.JPG


grinded it smooth an damn I gotta patch this

DSC01105.JPG


damn ain't got any stainless plate so tried to weld some mild steel 1mm plate over, blew a small hole

DSC01106.JPG


tried to weld a thick support onto the tube but then began to just simply blow holes through the thin pipe over and over again, got frustrated and blow more hash brown holes with max amps :p

DSC01107.JPG


guess I gotta fix this tomorrow :rolleyes:
found a spare bit of stainless pipe I had trimmed off this elbow, gonna use it to patch over this hug gap.
if that also blows then I'm in trouble
 
Stainless generally is tig welded, not sure what setup you're using but it should be different to an ordinary mild steel setup.

the same inverter stick welder with stainless rods I used to make the stainless inlet & exhaust pipes.
butt welds are fine but any T joints or open edges are tricky to manage heat.
 
so I cut the messy welds out, cut a slot across the spare pipe and slid it over but realised I only had one stainless stick left so had to be conservative

DSC01108.JPG


so I trimmed it down to whats only needed

DSC01109.JPG
DSC01110.JPG


with the same material & thickness it welded on nicely :cool:

DSC01111.JPG
DSC01112.JPG


smoothed

DSC01113.JPG


and rewrapped

DSC01114.JPG


during test drive something fell out, found the bolt holding the pipe had shaken off so this time I used a locking washer and tightened it much as I can

DSC01115.JPG


repainted the tyres

DSC01116.JPG


got bit carried away and painted the oil cap and engine cover lettering :D

DSC01117.JPG
 
took apart the new seat

DSC01118.JPG


removed the cover

DSC01119.JPG


need to trim this very firm flat seat base

DSC01120.JPG
DSC01121.JPG


trimmed some off the sides to stop it digging into my thighs

DSC01122.JPG


cut out alot of foam into a bucket shape till I'm sitting very near to the sprung base, feels alot better

DSC01123.JPG


to fit the covers back on, these thin wires that tie em down are a pita to feed through the foam without buckling

DSC01124.JPG


so instead lets use a better method, fed some cable ties through the foam

DSC01125.JPG


using a long thick rod make it easier

DSC01126.JPG


and tied down. cable ties ftw

DSC01127.JPG


to make it easier to cable tie the covers underneath, I expose abit of the frame to feed the cable tie under without the foam intruding

DSC01128.JPG
DSC01129.JPG


tied up

DSC01130.JPG
DSC01131.JPG


reassembled it

DSC01133.JPG


now feels much nicer hugging my butt :p

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made a little foot rest to pivot my throttle/brake foot

DSC01135.JPG
DSC01136.JPG


all ready for japshow now, very early morning tomorrow :cool:
 
Japshow 2015

4am didn't get much sleep, set off really early in the heavy thunder monsoon for the 4hr 200 mile trip to santapod.

arrived at exactly 8am at the M1 services meetup point and met alot of new members for the first time. was about to check me oil when james handed out some japshow stickers and I was slowly carefully applying it on the windscreen as ppl look at the bay.
when I finished, guys were already setting off? wha we're going now, I must quick top up the lost oil before any more trip.

I quickly caught up & followed the convoy through the traffic but near the venue the last three of us missed a turn & got lost. we eventually found the route back to santapod.

found the group setting up at the camp fields, we all setup tents while more familiar faces like alex & antony turned up :)

IMAG2351.jpg
IMAG2352.jpg


sun was blazing hot and the place was filling up fast. with tent setup I went over to the msc stand near the santapod finish line, had a chat.
went with adam & richard to sign on for the drag strip, also went up to the stands to watch afew of the launches which was fab. the sights & sounds :)

when the strip shut for lunch at 12.30 we went back over to the car to get ready. reset dampers to 15/30 f/r, pressures to 2.0/2.7 f/r and lined up on the very long hot queue to the start, met some nice guys along the way.

lanes resuming after lunch, warmup the engine, was about to start with adams turbo'd Intimidator alongside but then the right lane was suddenly closed for some cleaning so adam went down the left lane first with a 17ish 1/4et, then the skyline, then me.

handbrake on, burnout the 595rsr to clean & heat em up, didn't wanna launch too low rpm n stall it like back in 2011 so I just rev the limiter and drop the clutch.



the engine mount's wayy too old n soft for such hard launch so the whole drive train was moving & stuttering so much and wheel span too much so lost alot of milisecs and there's also a high head wind holding her back. she did a nice 15.4s 1/4et

back at the pit, found the massive engine movement had ripped off the ziptie securing the IC-to-TB boost pipe to the chassis. went back to the campsite to get me tools & zipties to fix it and went back to the strip.

the runs were gonna shut at 6 so this'll be my last run of the day. launched on the reopened right lane from a lower 5k rpm to reduce wheel spin, which improved the first few yards but think I should've stayed in 3rd till the end rather than shift 4th n bog down & lose few milisec changing gear. meanwhile the vx220 on the left shot away, later found he had a 2L astra vxr turbo in it with toyo R888 :)



so here were my times on that day

2015-07-04 santapod times.JPG

back in 2011 with normal T1R and a boot full of heavy tools I did 15.2s so twas a surprise that the current refined version of the turbo setup with no luggage and semi-slicks did a slower 15.33

here's a graph of all my drag times from 2011 and now

santapod times overall.jpg



comparing the fastest 2011 time (blue) to the fastest 2015 time (purple) the reaction & initial 300ft launch is abit faster currently but I think there's afew major differences for the slowdown:
the big head wind pushing her back as speed & aero drag got higher nearer the finish,
22kg dumbell ballast equal to the heavy tools I carried in the boot back in 2011,
poor tarmac from spilled oil off the older dragsters.

santapod times compare.jpg


that evening alot of ppl were silly drunk n having a right laugh :)
I had a nice long chat with afew lads.
 
next morning waking to the sound of afew neighbours puking :p we packed up most stuff, parked up at the stands.
as more micras turned up it was really getting packed into a good turn out.

might've been tempting to go back on the strip but tbh once is enough stress for the tired car, I need her healthy for the trip to germany. someone also pointed out there's a dyno nearby but £45 for 3runs is abit steep & risky on my budget. left the bonnet open to show and wondered through all the lovely & entertaining automotive pron from the subtle to the extreme examples.

went back to the stand for the toilet and is nice to see some interest from the crowd round our cars :cool:

alex pointed out to me that there's some sorta autotest course out the back nearby the stand and he drove off to line up, I thought it was just for the drifting show guys but he said twas for anyone and tis free...ooh remember I once did the same slalom handling test course back in japshow 2011 and that was fun so sign me up scotty :D

went over to spot alex & observe the course, looks abit complex with so many combinations of turns plus there's both a clockwise & anti-clockwise layout to further learn, signed up anyway, wrote car number on window and drove over to line up.

nervously drove in to the start, the luvely host Jake Archer asked do I know the course, nope. so I've not looked at the course map?, nope didn't know there was a map supplied lol
he quickly described the course.
also took a pic of me cos I was the smartest looking guy there teehee cheers :cool:

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3-2-1 go, with roughly no idea of the course lol
launch to the first left cone, brake hard & turn, urm she ain't turning tight enough and quickly heading for the barrel so had to quickly yank the e-brake to turn sharp at last moment.
head for the second barrel braking then handbrake and she slid round nice,
now aiming 360 round the next cone, turn & handbrake only but she badly understeered. tried to blip power whilst handbraking to make the front pull in tighter towards the cone but I overshot and ran over a cone I didn't see, oops.
lets continue on towards the double figure 8 but whats that scraping noise and she understeers abit?
another fast hard trail brake & handbrake round a wider 360 but went over this dip in the tarmac which bounces the car all over

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stopped at the finish.
"urm did I hit a cone Jake?"
"well we got a slight issue here"

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"oops lmao" :D
no wonder she was oddly scraping & understeering



went for a 2nd practice but the front guy took the left side so I'll have to try the opposite direction side.
went for the first cone turned to early and hit it dammit, continued onwards. went for the wide 360, handbrake and she just understeered wide and bashed into the barrels (knocked the arch lining off the bumper abit). oopsy now we're just smashing cones like a dog running around a wet slippery floor :p



the 3rd last practice ran a softer front damper & pressure to help ease understeer, launched at lower rev to ease wheelspin, trying to avoid cones this time and gonna both trail brake & handbrake into bends and it turned her. hit that tarmac dip which really tippled her around.
I finished correctly with no dnf this time, Yea! and got a 45.5s



that's enough practice abuse, returning to stand to fix the snapped zipties again. had quite afew interest from the crowd passing the stand after those runs :) talked to some nice ppl

near 3pm most ppl were getting ready to pack up & I was about to pop back to the tent with stuff in the boot when a guy pop by to say I've qualified 12th of the top 16 and the next full round is at 3pm in 10mins, Wha!? that's a big surprise :confused:
had to quickly empty the boot and reset the dampers & pressures and go back to the course.
was abit confusing who's running against who when most of the runners have left the show and the wind & drizzle is heading over fast but I waited my que.

heated up my tyres for a better launch, mostly went ok but I messed up the figure 8 and overshot the finish, said I was 14th.



no idea what happens next but twas getting late so headed back to packup me tent and headed for the tiring 4hr trip home.
big thx to the members, crowds, drivers & organisers for a fab weekend.
 
It can help a lot, but needs practicing...

agree. I've only left foot braked after the apex at blyton and the big pulsar brakes just slowed her down without fixing the exit understeer. need to try it abit earlier with some pendulum (not the band lol)
 
status update after japshow.

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some marking left from hitting a barrel, gonna leave it cos tis just a minor outside scar

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after 489 miles to & from santapod the cans collected 162ml (331ml per 1000m)

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the boost can not caught much cos its too hot

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the spark plug holes no longer leaking in oil,
the piston tops are now equally 90% dry / 10% damp
and spark plugs all looking equal, slightly white ash

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the metal wings not bad, polish got half of it off but will try a rougher compound. the plastic bumpers took most of the hit and will prob need sand/paint but meh it's minor on my list
 
bled the brakes to flush new fluid through em.
swapped over to the more economical T1R wheels.

checked the brake pads before/after blyton park & santapod (inner / outer):
FR - 7.45/7.45 -> 7.40/7.30
RR - 6.00/6.00 -> 4.04/6.00
RL - 7.00/7.00 -> 6.15/6.00
FL - 7.45/7.45 -> 7.30/7.50

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fitted the cat back on to see if it'll survive any trackdays

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welded some blobs on the lip of the turbo/IC pipe to stop it popping off

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to try stiffen the rear mount, didn't have any solid rubber blocks and shuving any wood or bodyfill in the gap will simply fall out again, so instead why not wrap or cable tie some rubber in it.
searched around and had an old water pump belt, lets stuff that in the gap around the mid beam and tie it round. that may help abit.

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been debating whether to goto donnington evening on 17th for £140 + £150 fuel or blyton all day on 15th £110 & £90 fuel and I'll prob have to also replace BOTH sets of tyres before germany,
k booked blyton next wednesday for more tests. donnington will have to wait after germany.

at this rate the wallets not happy :/
 
Sweet.

Make sure you have tread left on your return trip home. I know of quite a few people who have been stopped at the border with part balled tires and have had to fork out for a mobile replacement before being allowed back into the UK.
 
Sweet.

Make sure you have tread left on your return trip home. I know of quite a few people who have been stopped at the border with part balled tires and have had to fork out for a mobile replacement before being allowed back into the UK.

yup hence the spare T1R set of wheels for the road and 595rsr for track. gonna be an expensive month again :rolleyes:
 
Have you never considered t bolt clamps for the boost piping?
Yep. Mikalor clamp on the tb. Jubilee clamp elsewhere due to thickness n space n holds fine. The turbo outlet elbow popped off cos of the old rubbish coupler (was using straight coupler on a 90deg elbow) so just ordered the correct 90deg deg elbow.
 
been thinking bout how to power the cameras.

the AA batteries have a limited low capacity.
after each run I'd have to replace the batteries as a precaution, even if they're 1/2 full (so I go through & waste tons of expensive batteries), incase it runs out during a run & corrupt.
if I run too long, the batteries run out and corrupt the file.

running on usb power directly via usb charger in cig lighter, if the power was cut at all before I stop recording it'd corrupt the file.

I was gonna connect the cig lighter usb charger direct to the battery to have constant power but the battery gets charged at 14v compared to the regulated 12v at the cig lighter.

then dad showed me a 10,000mAh usb portable power pack he has.
it can power all 5 cameras for afew hrs on a full charge but can also be recharged from the micro usb input.
don't think it features "passthrough" simultaneous charging & powering devices but by using this power pack while also keeping it powered from the cig lighter it does mean that normally the cig lighter will power all the cameras but if I ever cut ign before I stopped the cameras, the batteries will instantly keep em powered like a buffer till I checked all the cams are fully stopped, therefore saving my clips.

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time to sort out this rats nest of wires

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mae a bracket to mount the fuse box

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cleaned up these corroded connectors

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for shortening & recoupling these thick cables, I crimped em together using copper brake lines

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You can connect to the battery its not a problem. Forget about the 14v. The USB regulator accounts for that.
Just to add I run my dashcam, led headlights and temp sensor straight from the alternator 14.3 volts.
 
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You can connect to the battery its not a problem. Forget about the 14v. The USB regulator accounts for that.
Just to add I run my dashcam, led headlights and temp sensor straight from the alternator 14.3 volts.

thats ace.
ok I'm thinking get a cig lighter socket in maplin then its:
car batt > cig lighter charger > usb hub > cameras

meanwhile for the external suspension/bay cameras I'll run em via the power pack rather than feeding long usb cables through the bulkhead.
 
Also I have a 10 sec delay device wired in also. Some electronic devices can't cope with the volt drop of the car starting. My temp sensor being one of them.
 
I'll see if the 12v usb charger can deal with 14v.
the hub is just a normal usb2 high speed hub with 7 switched ports, think it has an extra power feed for more juice but it seems to feed all 5+ cameras with 5v just fine.
 
You could always make a 5v regulator using the LM317T and a couple of resistors. This'll cover whatever voltage you're alternator puts out and will output up to 1.5A with heatsink.
 
You could always make a 5v regulator using the LM317T and a couple of resistors. This'll cover whatever voltage you're alternator puts out and will output up to 1.5A with heatsink.

seems abit of extra work. if the charging battery blows the charger I'll just use the cig lighter.
 
to connect 3 thick 12v cables into 1 cable, I made this 3to1 block from crimping, bending & soldering some brake lines together

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crimped the cables onto it

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now all the thick cables are shortened & joined solidly together :cool:

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cut & soldered the other connectors

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using the same crimping technique for joining 2to1 wires on the rad fan relay

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begin wrapping it up with black tape

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nice. connected the battery but nothing powers up o_O oh gr8 did I mess up somewhere.

took it apart and began diagnosing where the circuit break is

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traced it down to an odd reading between the 3to1 block I made and the battery fuse pin. the block itself was perfectly fine but simply not connected to the fuse pin and as I jiggled the wire found out why...

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jeez this bits heavily corroded off, so I've been going to trackdays & shows with this barely held on with few strands o_O
thank god I found this out now rather than whilst abroad

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yup it's corroded abit

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to try salvage the bit, I cut the remaining cable ends off

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dremelled the end to insert this piece of brake line

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crimp & soldered em together

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bent the tube for the cable

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and crimped the cable back on

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all sorted, connected battery and it's all working again :cool::)

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mounted the rear wheel facing camera bracket on the old exhaust shield bolt holes

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got a 12v extension from GoOutdoors, wedged it into the old cig lighter hole

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wired straight to the battery

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so the usb charger has an uninterrupted feed

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to power this usb hub taped here to power all the cameras

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rather than drilling holes under the floorpan to invite more rusty leaks, I utilised this un-used plastic screw hole to feed the cable through

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external cameras tape sealed with the usb cable

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connecting the front susp cam gonna need thought. either buy & feed some long extensions through the bulkhead or buy another powerpack just to connect to the front cameras?
 
Inspirational read. Lovely to see someone who's so OCD about keeping it perfect!

thx fooby :) hehee think I'm more OCD bout keeping her running mechanically sound as best I can, focus more bout having fun with her on track and less bout her aesthetics.

this prob ain't an accurate metaphor but if kasandra was a lass :p, my priorities are focused more bout her personality, how she makes me feel when we both go out to have fun, keeping her healthy so we can continue having fun.
less priority bout how she looks cos everything & everyone ages and gets some scars along the way but it doesn't hinder the fun.
 
bolted the front cameras to the tow brackets under the front

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up past the fuse box

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and feed back into the cabin via the old ABS loom gromet

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past the ECU

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and plugged into the usb hub

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the pedal camera cable goes behind the dash and past under the gear stick trim to the usb hub

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the cockpit camera line goes up across the roof

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down the B-pillar and across the seat into the hub

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went out to test the new camera angles and power source.
at first I tried plugging the usb charger direct to the car battery but I found that it was seriously unstable all the time and kept tripping the cameras off :confused:

so the next attempt is to connect the usb hub to the 10,000mAh usb power pack as a buffer and then the power pack to the usb charger in the cig lighter, and that worked. kept the cameras running at all times and recorded this:cool:



was also trying to trace this annoying creaking/squeaking from the passenger side like some rubbing loose plastic/rubber.
after awhile I believe it was the front suspension arm bushes cos it creaks when bouncing the front left side.

now to fix & rewrap the weak boost pipes

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51mm elbow arrived

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fits over the whole elbow section and is now clamped much more securely onto the turbo

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thx fooby :) hehee think I'm more OCD bout keeping her running mechanically sound as best I can, focus more bout having fun with her on track and less bout her aesthetics.

this prob ain't an accurate metaphor but if kasandra was a lass :p, my priorities are focused more bout her personality, how she makes me feel when we both go out to have fun, keeping her healthy so we can continue having fun.
less priority bout how she looks cos everything & everyone ages and gets some scars along the way but it doesn't hinder the fun.
That's great, loads of pretty cars around that are rotting away underneath. Lass? Are you from the north east too?
 
2015-07-15 Blyton Park Full Circuit

06:30 set off to blyton, but forgot my usb charger cable for the camera battery pack so had to drive back home and lose afew more minutes.

08:30 arrived at blyton in time. it drizzled slightly but the sun soon came out. signed in, unpacked, swapped tyres from T1R to the RSR and went for briefing.

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09:36 sighting lap --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 15/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.0/2.55bar F/R Cold
Weight: 90% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: dry
Brake Bias: 50/50% F/R

whilst waiting for the sighting lap, the car ahead had two drivers but cos one of em missed out the 1st sighting lap, the organiser asked if I could give a driver a ride on this remaining 2nd sighting lap while the other drivers in the other car, sure.



10:00 Run 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 15/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.0/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 90% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: dry
Brake Bias: 50/50% F/R

warmed up then went for the 1st run.

on a similar dry track last time at blyton, I recall that I had to use the cars inertia to help it turn through Port Froids at high speeds.

unfortunately today @08:32 whilst approaching the turn flat out, I switched direction wayy to aggressively, the body rolled alot and the stiff rear dampers & swaybar lifted the inner rear right up, the rapid inertia made the remaining rear right wheel lose grip and sent me spinning into oversteer.

while I sensed the car turning too much and screeching, thought "I know, I'd keep the throttle mashed and quickly power countersteer as usual" but to my surprise this didn't work :eek:

tried working the wheel to try regain grip but she just continued screeching in a long slomo spin, oh crap I'm outa control, best stop trying to power steer and hit the brakes now.

as I head left to the field, looking just beyond is tarmac and thought omg! I could smash into another incoming car! :eek::eek:
thankfully that was the un-used empty Curva Grande corner and the gravel stopped me in time but almost had a brown moment.



front tyres are wearing outside the tread so the pressure's too soft.
be abit more gentle round that corner next time :confused:

10:25 Run 2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 20/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.0/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 85% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: dry
Brake Bias: 50/50% F/R



Track Feedback:
  • rear suspension too stiff,
  • lifting inner rear left wheel all the time,
  • front tyres wearing outside the tread - front pressures too soft
  • high speed oversteer at Port Froids
Track Times: (Gearing through Twickers, Jochen, Wiggler, Port Froids, Ushers, Twickers)
red lap times = traffic

lap 1 - 1:26 (2, 2, 3, 4 lifted, 3, 2)

lap 2 - 1:23 (2, 2, 3, 4 lifted, 2, 2) began to hear a high rpm hissing noise
lap 3 - 1:26 (2, 3, 2, 3 lifted, 3, 2) adjust 55/45% bias at bishops
lap 4 - 1:25 (2, 3, 2, 3 lifted, 2, 2)
lap 5 - 1:27 (2, 3, 3, 4 lifted, 2, 2)
lap 6 - 1:26 (2, 3, 2, 3 lifted, 2, 2) began left foot braking at bishop

lap 7 - 1:22 (2, 2, 2, 3 lifted, 2, 2) brake's upto temp at bishop

11:10 Run 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 20/30 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.2/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 60% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: dry
Brake Bias: 55/45% F/R

increasing front tyre pressure to keep scrubbing within the tread and reduce oversteer



Track Feedback:
  • still high speed oversteer at Port Froids
Track Times: (Gearing through Twickers, Jochen, Wiggler, Port Froids, Ushers, Twickers)
red lap times = traffic

lap 1 - 1:22 (3, 3, 3, 4 lifted, 2, 2)
lap 2 - 1:21 (2, 2, 2, 4 lifted, 2, 2) brake's upto temp at bishop

the loud hissing noise sounded unusual, like a blowing boost pipe or blowing exhaust so I pitted to check for leaks but twas still producing boost ok

11:30 Run 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before:
Setup:
Dampers: 20/20 F/R
Tyres: 595RSR 2.2/2.7bar F/R
Weight: 50% fuel, driver only​

During:
Track Condition: dry
Brake Bias: 60/40% F/R

couldn't find source of leaking noise
reduce rear dampers to reduce twitchy rear transitions



Track Feedback:
  • slight high speed oversteer at Port Froids
Track Times: (Gearing through Twickers, Jochen, Wiggler, Port Froids, Ushers, Twickers)
red lap times = traffic

lap 1 - 1:22 (3, 3, 2, 4 lifted, 3, 3)
lap 2 - 1:21 (3, 3, 3, 4 lifted, 3, 2) brake's upto temp at bishop

lap 3 - 1.20 (2, 3, 2, 4 WOT, 2, 2) slight oversteer at froid
lap 4 - 1:25 (2, 3, 2, 4 lifted, 3, 2)
lap 5 - 1:27 (2, 3, 3, 4 lifted, 3, 2)

lap 6 - 1:19 (2, 3, 2, 4 WOT, 3, 3)

it was near lunchtime so went out for lunch & fuel
 
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