My Hr31 Buildup

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Had a mixed bag kinda day at WP on the weekend.



Fatz had problems again with his(miss fire), as did easto (Gearbox).

Only Neil got off scott free

I had a couple of problems. boost issues (again) and the front brakes binding so only did 3 and a bit sessions

I put the binding issue down to the new hubs being slightly different and just needing to self-clear/wear the pad down. Unfortunately this lead to hot brakes and on a cold, wet day meant they would lock up very easily.



This lead to when catching up to a slower car at turn 1 (a genuine WRX 22B, one of my all-time favourites) I tried putting on a little more brakes, locked up and had spear off on to the grass to avoid running up the back of the 22B (would rather cube my car), ripping off the splitter and destroying the lip/airdam/mounts etc. luckily I didn’t puncture a tyre running over it.

I couldn’t find the boost issue over the rest of the day. It would spool to 5-10psi to 4000rpm, 15 by 5000 and hit 20psi by 6000. I pressurised the system when I got home and found several leaks in the lines and the mani gasket on port 6. This actually was a good thing as I had to pull the hot side off I found the new oil return line from the turbo I recently put in looking very clean. this is a little worrying and could have blown the turbo…

Hopefully this will all be fixed and I should be boosting merrily away at NSW Time Attack weekend after next.

Good side of things.

The new rear is amazing! So much grip, even in crappy weather. Even from the side lines my mate was telling me how stable it looks everywhere now. I did a 1:08 in the 2nd session (normally around 1:11s early in the day). Not bad considering the above issues and I haven’t driven this car since October. J

Silver lining for the splitter is that I got to feel the difference from one session to the next. I didn’t realise exactly how much it is helping and on how many corners. I thought it was maybe two or three but its working on just about all of them, mega amounts of understeer without it.

New splitter to be done this weekend, but inm going back to wood for this one. I want to make it a lot thicker, around 25mm (alupanel is under 5mm) and make the leading edge round in an effort to stop it digging in and ripping off next off track excursion I have. After next race, I’ll be using it as a template and making one out of foam core and fibre glassing it.

Im going to try and upload a vid in the next day or so

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Also forgot to mention.
I have been doing a bit on sealing up the front end. as i read from Dogzillas facebook page even with his splitter he was getting 40kg of lift due to air leaking though the front (advice from Andrew Brilliant) and he has been making a new one-piece front. so i of course stole this idea/advice and and set about trying to improve what I have.
I have used some dense foam strip and packed it under the bonnet sealing to the headlights and grill. Blocked of all bumper grill except the right top which I finally ducted to the oil cooler and added more shroud to the grill inlet and blocked off the outside holes so that all air hitting the front now can only pass through rad, intercooler and oil cooler.
I also taped up the air inlet at the base of the windscreen, I could actually see this working with the rain mist completely missing the bottom of the windscreen.
The front grip felt really good until I lost the splitter. But the amazing thing was how well the cooling worked, water temp would not move over 80 and oil sat at 65-70deg. Normally would be at 100 and 90 respectively even on a cold day.
Will be a winner for October

you can kind of see it here, "holes" are black now

[Neil]

Hey James,,,while you are making a new front spliter why don't you somehow incorporate another pair of canards into it.

Here's a pics of my Radicals front splitter mate.

Since that pic I have added the black lips on the top canards to the bottom as well and I noticed the different in downforce.

Cheers

Neil.

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Do you mean so the flat of the splitter kicks up at the wheel arch?

Ive been meaning to make a 'fence' at the back of the splitter/bumper, just haven't gotten around to it yet. I see if i can add something like yours while im at it.

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Sacrificial splitter v4.0 coming along. just need to make the air dam tonight
I have tweaked the mounting design a little to make fitting and removal, quicker and easier. Will also have two heights, either 65mm off the ground or 80mm.
I used a thicker panel this time too, 17mm, hopefully will survive more than one off track exclusion. Its also very ridged, I did a stand test on a narrow offcut spaced the same width as the mounts and It barely bowed. which will improve downforce as the alupanel was flexing heaps between the mounts before.
















My boost gauge stopped working and I ordered the wrong size to replace it. This is the stop gap if the next one doesn’t come it time

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

What a weekend!

Day one
Had a blast at NSW Time Attack, day 1 started off with a bit of a low point the boost issue I thought I solved was still there. It ended up being a simple fix in that I had to connect up the boost controller.
I have always ran off the spring pressure to control boost, but for some reason the levels seem to be overriding that now. Maybe due to everything working properly now for a change lol
Next issue was that it was only going to 14psi, for the next two sessions, but that was just a kinked hose to the gate. Turbo gods must hate me.

I then had a couple of good, trouble free sessions except that I was having trouble with front brake lock up again. Didnt think anything of it other than my being a bit rusty. Got to test the strength of the new splitter a couple of time in turn 10 gravel trap, it is super strong ….
….but that left me with a false sense of security. Managed to snap of the W/G line during the off due to a hose clamp the was off scue, and brought me back to the pits in the last session of the day

Day one ended with a best of 1:06.7

Day two
Session 1 was fine, nothing really remarkable happened except for another off at turn 10 due to lock up. That’s went I realised my stupid bias adjuster was wound the wrong way again (My fault, but to wind it out to close it and do it up to open!) basically locking off the rear brakes! Fixed that again.

Session 2 was better, the car was pulling up a lot better, funny that, didn’t have any offs, and got more laps in. after I came back to the pits and got a drink from the tuck shop when I saw I done a 1:05.5! was over the moon beating my PB and could go home a happy man.

Session 3 was good but couldn’t better my time with a 1:05.7. decided to call it a day as I need to save some tyre for the Nulon Nats in two weeks. And the gbox needs a rebuild, crunching bad into 4th and 5th.

John boston then come and asked if I’d like to be in the top ten shoot out as some ppl had left early and others had broken cars. I said yes and thanked the two greatest words in the English language .. DE-FAULT! ,DE-FAULT!

Checked the fuel, down to the last 3-4 litres. Decided to swap the front and rear wheels, rears are wearing better the the fronts now, checked the pads and saw I actually ran out (maybe another reason for the later lock ups). The backing plates were on the disk and bananared from the heat – oops.
When out anyway intending to just have a fun lap with a bit of sideways but they pulled up well enough on the warm up lap, so I said f**k it and went for it. Missed 5th on the straight twice, bit of sideways and came back to the pits where I find out I beat my PB again!

1:05.2!!!
Couldn't believe I did it on such a sloppy lap, and now have a bit of renewed desire to beat the time down some more. Hopefully in to the 64s next time

skip to 3:18 if you want to watch it, incar will be up soon

TL:DR
New PB, good time had

[Duncan]

That's a brilliant result, well done mate.

There never seems to be a quiet weekend at the track though, does there?

[34GeeTeeTee]

Good work mate, glad you sorted the boost issues!

[Sinista32]

Good effort James

Really impressed

[Victory]

That is a seriously great lap time James the SAU community is proud of you.

From watching the video it was not one of your cleanest laps and when you consider that if you could of picked a couple of the apexes a little bit better, kept her straighter in a few spots and had some new pads a 1:04 is well within your reach.

Your development of the car and your driving skills has to be commended.

Well done James.

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Thank you for the kind comments guys

I completely agree mate, going to try a bit more next time on a cleaner lap. as you'll see from the in car it was quite sloppy

the top 10 shootout

[D.I.Y. Mik]

Its well deserved praise.

The car is awesome, so much development and custom made stuff.

And it looks great too.

Im a bit jealous of how neat you make things.

Edited June 24, 2014 by D.I.Y. Mik

[zebra]

I heard this nugget went fasts on Friday

[tweety bird]

Orly?

We need an update on this wedge.

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Sorry for lack of updates, been really flat out at work and I hate trying to do it on the phone J

Yeah, Andrew, went alright for a box managed to somehow nab Fastest RWD at R2 of Nulon Nats with a 1:05.3

Was a well-run event, guys at Nulon put on a really god show. Definitely worth going to see round 3 at coota, but bubs #2 due date is the same so I’ll be out…

I was still struggling with a couple of issues on the day. Again boost. I now hate boost. Im buying a v8 and putting it in cause I hate boost… hmmm VK54….

Some reason its now underboosting to 13-14psi and very, very, laggy. I was putting the pedal flat well before the apex of T10 an it was only reaching 13psi halfway between there and the pit wall.

The other problem was understeer. But I have put that to a couple of things. Very worn tyres, not enough camber on the left front (going of the temp reading from the tyre) and/or my front LCA position. I haven’t changed the roll centre since its been lowered and I thing the LCA is either horizontal or slightly raises up to the hubs. I think this is making the wheel gain positive camber on compression, I’ll try and find the pic that made me think this.. So that’s something I’ll be working on asap

Haven’t done a thing to the car since, but im starting to get stuck into it now. Theres a heap of things that need doing and I want to try and squeeze in a couple more track days before WTAC. So basically before the next bub is born.

[Neil]

Hey James I've been meaning to ask you for ages,,,where did you get your solid engine and gearbox mounts?. I need all 3.

Cheers

Neil.

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

just off ebay buddy. the engine ones are r31 specific

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Just copied this from 31 culb as im lazy.

Well, ive been slack again. Sorry for lack of updates, been really flat out at work and I hate trying to do it on the phone
I haven’t done anything on this car since the nulon nats. But with 2 month til wtac and 1 until my next baby is due to be born I though id should get hustle on…


Nulon Nationals as a well-run event, guys at Nulon put on a really good show. Definitely worth going to see round 3 at coota.









I was still struggling with a couple of issues on the day. Again boost. I now hate boost. Im buying a v8 and putting it in cause I hate boost… hmmm VK54….
Some reason its now underboosting to 13-14psi and very, very, laggy. I was putting the pedal flat well before the apex of T10 and it was only reaching 13psi halfway between there and the pit wall.
The other problem was understeer. But I have put that to a couple of things. Very worn tyres, not enough camber on the left front (going of the temp reading from the tyre) and/or my front LCA position. I haven’t changed the roll centre since its been lowered.

Still somehow managed to somehow nab Fastest RWD at Nulon Nats with a 1:05.3
Heres a chump photo







WING! Took a bit longer to fit up, but I think is going to work very well. Very solid now. I ended up cutting off 50mm an end.











New front rotors are on. dont normally like crossdrilled, but thats all i could find.





Safetywire is fun.






Ive also redrilled the holes for the front LCAs, now sitting 25mm higher than before, which hopefully will improve the roll centre a bit. I nab a pic tonight.

Next on the to do list
Trackday to test the above
I have been given a fresh gtr box, which I'll have the gearset transferred into my box.
Refit the diffuser
Fit this shiftlight thing, hopefully stop having to look at the tacho

[Leroy Peterson]

Those shift lights are grouse. Very customisable.

[ceptor]

Can't wait to see this down at Coota