Mitch's R33 Ls Track Car Rebuild

[Mitch_Dubya]

[Mitch_Dubya]

New diff and fuel system were fine but alternator has died on me. Picked up some slicks ready to mount on my now vacant 18x10s






I’ve ordered a new alternator and a flat Nardi style steering wheel so I can use a quick release adaptor. I’ll put my old one in my dirt track 92’ corolla.
Next big purchase will have to be a roll cage, hopefully in the next month. I want to stick with bolt in because I’m convinced I’m gonna put this thing in a wall at some point, just need to do some homework.
Next race is 6 weeks away, enough time to make some new lca’s, get a wheel alignment and mount up the slicks

[Mitch_Dubya]

Got the slicks mounted up

Shorter lcas made and fitted

And a few other little jobs ticked off, replaced wheel bearing, tie rod boot. In for a full alignment Thursday and then BP sprint at Winton on Sunday

[Mitch_Dubya]

Alignment done just in time to load up for Winton

Weather was threatening showers and storms possible all day but we had a pretty good day. In the top class Modified, turbo awd because of the slicks, the BP sprint runs a standing lap and three flyers and scored by adding you best of each for the day. Last time out here was a year ago on old semis and a heap of camber and I managed a 1:39. After the first session I was stoked to be P1 overall with a 1:33.4 flyer and a 1:40 standing. Obviously knew the car had a bunch more in it, taking it relatively easy on the first lap in particular.
The car was basically faultless all day which was good because I managed to forget basically all my tools. I focused and learning how to get the best out of the new set up which I couldn’t fully master. If I remember some tool for the final sprint of the season next week I might check and play with tyre pressures also.
I finished the day with a 1:32.0 flyer and managed to hook up and fluke a 1:36 standing lap which I’m stoked with. It was enough for 3rd overall behind two fellow club members in a 32gtr and SR20 Datsun. I’ll definitely be doing more of those days next year.
The new wheels and tyres with a bigger overall diameter means some of the gear changes for this track have changed for my rig. Most notably, I wasn’t getting into 5th on the main straight but I think the engine may be slightly down on power from the last one. I’ll have to get it in for a tune in the off season and get a touch up. Despite being over 7 seconds quicker, coming onto the straight carrying a lot more speed and breaking deeper, the top speed was only 8km/h faster than last year.

[No Crust Racing]

Great work. 

What's up with the rear camber? 

What's the format of these days like? How many stints did you get? 

[Mitch_Dubya]

Cheers man, yeh i forgot to mention what rear camber i wanted but assumed he'd do what he thought was best. I guess he just didn't touch it. There'll be a couple more tweaks ill want done so it'll be back. It was occasionally breaking traction in the rear on some exits but it kinda chirped then gripping up again. May be a 'slick' thing coz they dont really squeal to let you know you're about to break traction like semis do or it may be a little too much rear toe in. 

Format is excellent though, I'm thinking ill do all 5 next year if i can. Six groups according to previous lap times, grid up on the second straight and take off in pairs, drag to the first corner (or if you're smart, line up next to a mate and one takes off 3 seconds later) for 1 standing, three flying. Four sessions for points and there was time for a 5th so it was as much track time as the test and tune but apparently the numbers were usually higher. 

[No Crust Racing]

Rear traction may be locker + slicks? 

As much track time but only 4 laps total in each session? That's only a 10min session or so max? I thought test and tune was like 20? 

Will have to come along and just do one to see. 

 

 

 

[Mitch_Dubya]

Yeh good point, still running a shimmed diff. Maybe it just felt like similar track time because there wasn't many wasted laps with traffic or having to do cool down laps to give the brakes a rest. 

[No Crust Racing]

All the good bits condensed into one quick blast. 

[Mitch_Dubya]

Had one last local track day for the year. Weather was bad but was due to clear up as the day went on. Only got one session and then had a severe fuel leak. The way we’d mounted the fuel cell had fouled and cracked the cell.

Roll call turned up from agi, I went with a bit of a custom design, less crossbars and weight, x side bars, stretched front arms and side intrusion for clearance with no dash or door cards. I’ve gutted the car, will get some dry ice when I finally get a day off. One benefit of working crazy busy and not being able to work on the car is being cashed up for car parts

Winton now requires race suits for all proper events so I’ll order one soon.
Theres an event in two weeks that I could probably make it to in some capacity but I won’t commit until I get the cell back. Was promised end of this week but I don’t have much faith. Not too worried as the to do list is long;
Must do -
Fuel cell
Then race
Want to do -
Sound deadening
Roll cage
Quick release wheel (need to find a slim hub?)
Fit new front bar/look at aero
Paint two black flares
New brake pads or big brake kit
Paint boot lid
Mount wing better/stronger/higher
Lexan 1/4 windows with naca
Rewire
Weight reduction
1.5way
Turbo
Better driver
Between this car an a vl beater I’d like to do 12 - 15 events this year

[Mitch_Dubya]

Fuel cell welded up and modified

New pads, the best money can buy

What a shit job that was. Some of it came away so easy and some I just beat with a hammer

Before the cage makes the job harder I’ve stripped out a bunch of unused ‘commodore meets Nissan’ wiring loom. Could still shed about half again but I want to race in about 10 days so it can wait.

I’ve also removed the two black flares to be painted. Removed the boot to be painted. Sprayed the interior all black for now. Made new mounts for the fuel cell, bought a short steering wheel hub so I can run a quick release. Bought a race suit and sent it back because it didn’t fit.

[Mitch_Dubya]

So I’ve remounted the fuel cell. Car fired up and runs fine. Finished stripping the wiring loom and bolted in the cage.




A little worried about the rear stay mounting bolts fouling the tyres. I’ll cut off the excess just in case

Just a few little jobs to finish off before Winton BP sprint round 1 on Sunday.
Oil change, new pads, change wheels. I’ll go back to semi slicks which puts me in class D, save getting my arse kicked by built 32 gtr track car on full slicks

[Mitch_Dubya]

I've got a couple of events done for the year with mixed results and a busy period coming up. Loading up the night before and i spotted a cracked disk, was right through so I'm not sure when it happened but it wouldn't have lasted much longer. Unload and a quick change for a shitty old disk i had been using as a gate stopper.


For the Winton sprint I was back on semi slicks. Had to borrow a set of wheels with federal RS-RR's which we a handful. It was enough to take out D class with a 1:39.6 on a stinking hot day. Times were getting harder to lower and i had a few offs at various points on the track.


We decided to take it out to the farm and replace the muffler which had a blow out sometime last year.

A few other small jobs, passenger seat in, new rear pads etc.

Had round one of the AWDCC Rapid lap dash a few weeks later. two of the slicks i had were shagged with a flat spot through to canvas and some outer edge abuse from a mates GTR



I bought a second set of Weds with slicks of unknown health so i wouldn't have to have mismatched wheels and can used all tires for everything they've got. Also bought 4 WTA control semis from the same guy for the next Winton sprint.


Car was well down on grip throughout the day but seemed to be getting better when others were dropping off as the track got really hot. I did my best for the day on the last lap but was still 2 - 3 second off the time it was doing late last year. The only changes we've made were different brand and condition on the slicks and added the roll cage (NFI how much it weighs). Managed to boil the brakes in the last session which screwed me a bit for the top 10 shootout but i qualified 3rd over all and still pinched 3rd in the shootout.

Had a seat bolt strip out mid lap and had to dive into the pits without a cool down lap which is what boiled the brakes. I've managed to get it bolted in again for a race on Saturday but i think ill look at reinforcing the bolts, possibly drilling right through the floor and using plates, washes and long bolts so it wont happen again.
We also removed the surge tank and second pump to see if it was required with a cell with sump and it definitely was. The third session I went out with half a tank and only got three laps before it started to run dry on me. We’ll have to put that back in soon too.
Oh and woody found his hat...


Saturdays event (which ill probably be hung over for) is at the logic center but its a different type of day. It'll be timed laps throughout the day with free training from Matt Chada and Jordan Boys from the second tier V8s. Throughout the day everyone will run a three lap sprint in a bog stock Hyundai i30 manual to crown a same car winner. They'll also have head to head drags down the main straight into two lap sprints for bragging rights and a piss up at the end to lick wounds. i wont make any changes other than trying to get some better slicks back on it.

[Mitch_Dubya]

true to form, i was severely hung over the the Avis Cup. The i30 was a late withdrawal and replaced with an old corolla hatch which was standard until it had a muffler cut off and air con belt cut. i ran a mid pack 1:10.0 and was surprised by beating a few i didn't think i would and getting toweled up by others i wasn't expecting. Matt Chada only managed a 1:09.2 to be 6th but Jordan boys pulled out a 1:07.7 for the win.

As the slicks on the rear we shagged a bit of drifting was inevitable which by the end of the day had shat another diff. The extra grip from the slicks are causing the reused circlips to either brake or squash, allowing the stub axles to slide out.

Not much of a break before round two so we threw a standard, unshimmed 4.3 in to see how the ratio goes at logic. We also put the surge tank back in. The old man theorizing that we'd get more value out of 4th down the straight and better turn in/corner speed from a stock diff. Also got another set of used slicks from the Porsche cup 2nd hand pile.

Round 2 lap dash was again mixed results. The car had too much torque and single pegged the whole circuit, i tried to feather the throttle but it wasn't easy to keep traction. Had the diff been locked and had better drive we would also have had to add a few extra gear changes which had to ride the limited a bit instead to eventually for a 56.9. PB still stands at 56.5 late last year on a partially wet track. Shocked to post that time considering how hard it was with drive from one wheel only. The day ended early when the fuel cell split again. It was a different edge to the one we welded up last time so i suspect I missed it and it just opened up as the day went on. The cell is rubber mounted but ill get it braced underneath to take the stress off the welds just in case. We were double stinting the car so we got 5 sessions in for the day, my co driver doing a 59.0 for his PB. 

one month until round 3 lap dash which for the first time will be at Winton. Fresh-ish slicks, welded 4.1 diff with new circlips, ill be curious i can lower the PB of 1:32.0 from last year. 

 

[Mitch_Dubya]

Got some new circlips and welded up the 4.1. Took the fuel cell into be welded up but decided to have a new one made to the same specs but much stronger. There were cracks down two sides and it was only a cheap shitty cell so I’d rather not have it cost me any more track time.

[Mitch_Dubya]

I’ll keep an eye out for or eventually buy a new mechanical diff. Either a 1.5 way or I’ve also seen one that can be adjusted from a 1 way to 1.5 to 2 way so I’ll do some homework. Advice always appreciated?

[Mitch_Dubya]

I haven't done much to the car other than drive it a bunch. Welded diff is holding up well so far but a 1.5 is probably next on the list. New fuel cell is fine, car has been faultless, just off the trailer and back on for the next race. Getting a decent number of track days out of the second hand slicks. Also got to race with Vivid Motorsport at Broadford which was an amazing track to thrash around, finished with a 59.94 for the day on tyres that are now pretty cooked.

https://youtu.be/kqEHFLSR4dQ

https://youtu.be/SIqJhzpDXJo

[Mitch_Dubya]

A few pics from Broadford





Towards the end of the day a 32 gtst lost brakes at the end of the top straight, stepped out and rolled three or four times. The guy was lucky to walk away. They asked us not to post photos out of respect but in all the commotion a cfa hit an ambulance responding to the accident. 32 had no cage and was a complete write off

[Leroy Peterson]

Shiiiiiit that sounds nasty. Glad no one got hurt

[Mitch_Dubya]

Another track day done in Wodonga without issue. It got to a top of 12 deg and i managed to lower the PB to a 55.5 with a passenger on board and rear tyres that were past their best and overheated from double stinting the car. Its now become more obvious that my next changes need to focus on increasing rear grip all round. There's a few ways i will attack this after i do some homework.

Big brake kit up front or maybe brake bias set up or both. I was locking up the rears at the end of the straight throughout the day which led to me braking more conservatively which was costing me time against similar paced cars.  

Ill get a 1.5 way diff to get better drive out of the corners. I've got plenty of torque i cant use trying to keep rear end grip

Aero. I've put an order in for a trailer to be built and then i can ideally have a permanent front bar fitted. I'm acutely aware of increasing front end down force having a negative effect on rear end grip but i need to do some more reading. It might take some fine tuning but id like to make a front splitter, rear diffuser, flat side skirt extensions and mount the rear wing properly. 

I also might get the rear end alignment toed in a touch more