Many things have happened since I last updated the thread. Too many to recount, and many under rushed circumstances, so very little documentation took place.
-The front Bilsteins developed excessive free play between the shock and the shock body. They will need to be sent out for repair.
-The Bilstein rears came back after three months of being in California and were broken (would not compress more than one inch) and will require repair and are currently back in CA.
-The camber plates were only partially damaged and will probably be salvageable, however I will probably use a washer to tighten up the bushings because GC's design doesn't compensate for bushing wear. The spring dividers combined with the camber plate lip ended up being too tall relative to the helper spring and jammed into the camber plate.
-The autotech internals ended up being seized and were replaced with new ones. No more leaning out or drops in pressure. The last time I took a vdyno of an updated methanol map whilst on a road trip back from VA last week, it landed me in the 370 whp vicinity which is probably nearing the limit of that mix. (Ignore the squiggley lines at tip-in, I was messing with CL-OL transitions and use better values now). WHP might be a little higher because I was going noticeably uphill while taking the log. I still want to do an E33 map again sometime since that was giving me good results for the short time I ran it. All I know is, the car feels truly powerful on this ITM map. Probably the best I have ever gotten out of it.
-Stock Koni yellows are now installed and set on "full stiff" on all four corners. OEM top hats and bump stops were used in the front. The car is grossly underdamped on the compression side, particularly in the front, and slightly underdamped on the rebound side in both the front and the rear. Overall I'm pretty unhappy with how the car handles with these shocks, although I admit that my application (non-stock springs) is probably skewing my results. On the plus side, they are very comfortable on relatively smooth surfaces. On the negative side, big impacts are a problem, as the fronts bottom out on pretty much everything I roll over that resembles a bump.
I took the car to the track at midwest meet and overall it felt decent, just lost maybe 10-20% grip in the front going from the Bils to the Koni's and also encountered some problems with certain medium speed bumps unsettling the car.
The following items were broken at the track:
1) One of my inner tie rods, which has clunked a little bit since I bought the car, is now clunking quite a lot and will need replacement, as I can feel the clicking in the steering wheel.
2) My custom exhaust, which has always been a little loose, melted the right side of my rear bumper cover a decent amount. I will need to find a permanent solution to this to prevent further damage. I will likely have an additional hangar welded onto the Dynomax. The exhaust continues to perform extremely well, sound superb, while having zero drone. Of course, the Dynomax now rattles like a motherfucker.
3) My BNR S3's wastegate actuator arm seems to have seized (I have an early-ish V2 and contacted the previous owner and confirmed it was never fixed) or otherwise isn't opening properly. Spring pressure, with the compressor housing plumbed directly to the wastegate, is now up to a cool 24 psi past 5000 RPM's (log attached) and isn't building boost well down low either. Luckily since I actually use the fuel cut tables, unlike a lot of people, the car began violently cutting out at the track above 5k RPM's and after a pit stop and subsequent basic diagnostics, the issue seems to have been uncovered, so I simply drove at part throttle for the rest of the day.
The track day at midwest meet was a lot of fun and I learned quite a bit about track driving and improved my skills substantially, thanks to having a fantastic volunteer instructor in the car with me all day (7 20 minute sessions, plus ride-alongs!). Earlier in the season, I took an "Evolution Advantage" course (that was the event in Rantoul) that was basically the autocross equivalent of the MWM track day, where an instructor and I hot lapped the car over and over. I picked up two full seconds on a 40 second course with that instructor. So in addition to improving the car, I can say for sure that this season I improved my skills a substantial amount, which is important for me still being very new to performance vehicles and performance driving.
So, the following items are on the agenda, in no particular order:
1) Repair and update GC camber plates, drill out shock towers
2) Get front Bilsteins repaired and put all Bilsteins back on the car
3) Replace inner tie rod
4) Add front camber and get an alignment, or learn to align using the string method
5) Get an exhaust shop to fix the exhaust in place
6) Pull BNR and send to Bryan for repair
7) Replace rear sway bar with an upgraded one that suits the car's needs (TBD)
(earned my undergrad there)
