Road racing setup help

gotovato

gotovato

Greenie N00B Member
Hey all, looking for some assistance in further setting up my car for road course racing (Time attack). The car is currently setup with all the mods in my signature. I also have a few parts waiting to be installed,
mishimoto 19 row oil cooler, oil pressure / temp gauge, cork sport camber plates, and adjustable front and rear endlinks. One thing im noticing with the car which is keeping me from doing TOO many hot laps is coolant temp rising to around 108c(226f) which i think is probably too hot. wondering if a combination of 70/30 mix water to fl22 with some water wetter would help at all? Ive been searching and have yet to find a proven upgraded radiator for this car. Also looking for a better coil over option, ideally something more track oriented. Any help or suggestions would be great, small things like cooling mods and suspension mods. I am new to the world of time attack and i know the car requires a driver mod over all but anything to help keep the car on track vs doing cool down laps would be great. Thanks!
 
Last edited:
The first ask:
Hey all, looking for some assistance and help in further setting up my car for road course racing (Time attack). The car is currently setup with all the mods in my signature.

Parts on hand:
I also have a few parts waiting to be installed, mishimoto 19 row oil cooler, oil pressure / temp gauge, cork sport camber plates, and adjustable front and rear endlinks.

Problems experienced, second ask:
One thing im noticing with the car which is keeping me from doing TOO many hot laps is coolant temp rising to around 108c(226f) which i think is probably too hot. wondering if a combination of 70/30 mix water to fl22 with some water wetter would help at all? Ive been searching and have yet to find a proven upgraded radiator for this car so anything else that can help would be great.

Question on suspension:
Also looking for a better coil over option, ideally something more track oriented as the car isnt a daily and only comes out on weekends and for track events/days.

The third ask:
any help or suggestions would be great, small things like cooling mods, suspension bushings or really anything to help the car put power down coming out of turns would be great! i am new to the world of time attack and i know the car requires a driver mod over all but anything to help keep the car on track vs doing cool down laps would be great. Thanks!


Not trying to bust your balls, just making it legible.
 
What mod's if any do you have done to your cooling system?

What are you not happy about with your current KW coilovers?
 
For coolant, run a quart of 50/50 coolant mix, add 1/2 bottle of water wetter, top off with distilled water. Increase the coolant mix in cold months obviously. Make sure the coolant system is burped properly, that takes a while.

Open up as much of the grill as you can so you have airflow to the radiator and make sure the radiator is boxed in so the air is flowing through the radiator, not around it.

I have a custom Ron Davis radiator on my MS6, not sure if you can get one in Canada or at what price for the MS3.

For coilovers, custom valving is probably the way to go if you want to get serious. You want suspension, brakes, and tires to be a balanced system so do not use 200 tread wear tires when you have 'race' suspension and brake pads, for example.
 
Mauro_Penguin said:
What mod's if any do you have done to your cooling system?

What are you not happy about with your current KW coilovers?
Click to expand...

Currently cooling mods are really only the fmic. Coolant system is stock. Oil cooling is also currently stock(have to find time to install my
Oil cooler). The issue I believe I'm having with my current coil overs would probably be due to spring rate. I find them soft. the car really dances around under power and on corner exit under power I can feel the car squat and the front lift and I really have a tough time putting the power down. Wheels just spin
[doublepost=1528124006][/doublepost]
Code Monkey said:
For coolant, run a quart of 50/50 coolant mix, add 1/2 bottle of water wetter, top off with distilled water. Increase the coolant mix in cold months obviously. Make sure the coolant system is burped properly, that takes a while.

Open up as much of the grill as you can so you have airflow to the radiator and make sure the radiator is boxed in so the air is flowing through the radiator, not around it.

I have a custom Ron Davis radiator on my MS6, not sure if you can get one in Canada or at what price for the MS3.

For coilovers, custom valving is probably the way to go if you want to get serious. You want suspension, brakes, and tires to be a balanced system so do not use 200 tread wear tires when you have 'race' suspension and brake pads, for example.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tips on the coolant! I'm going to try that. Really would like coolant temps under control. As far and brakes, I am running hawk HP + all around, with stop tech slotted rotors, stop tech 660 fluid and 255/40/17 Bridgestone re71r tires. Is there any brand to look at for coils? It seems most are just off the shelf street coil overs
 
Best bet is most likely to find someone who revalves Bilsteins. Have them revalved to suit your needs and with matching springs the setup will be 100 times better than any off-the-shelf coilover kit. Or get a Bilstein-based coilover kit and have the shocks revalved. I am running 1000/700 springs on my MS6, will most likely move to 1100 in the front. With suspension like that, last time I ran Ferodo DSUNO brake pads and 275/35/18 G-Force R1S, RE-71's or Hawk HP+ would not cut it.

Not sure what size FMIC you have, but you may consider running an aftermarket or custom crash bar and angle the IC so you have more airflow to the radiator. I have the ETS TMIC turned 90 degrees ccw mounted in front, which means I still have airflow around the IC and fresh air feeding a large part of the radiator.
 
Corksport doesn't make the Gen 2 radiator anymore? Also, Speed6perfomance has a fan controller that may help keep temps down.

Have you blocked off around your radiator? FMIC and still have the vent in your hood open?
 
Code Monkey said:
Best bet is most likely to find someone who revalves Bilsteins. Have them revalved to suit your needs and with matching springs the setup will be 100 times better than any off-the-shelf coilover kit. Or get a Bilstein-based coilover kit and have the shocks revalved. I am running 1000/700 springs on my MS6, will most likely move to 1100 in the front. With suspension like that, last time I ran Ferodo DSUNO brake pads and 275/35/18 G-Force R1S, RE-71's or Hawk HP+ would not cut it.

Not sure what size FMIC you have, but you may consider running an aftermarket or custom crash bar and angle the IC so you have more airflow to the radiator. I have the ETS TMIC turned 90 degrees ccw mounted in front, which means I still have airflow around the IC and fresh air feeding a large part of the radiator.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the good info again!

I am looking for some sort of custom suspension setup as I know the off the shelf kits won't give me what I'm after. The car is loose and a bit of a handful(although fun, not fast) and corner exit grip is my biggest issue. Part throttle only helps so much, still ripping the tires off. Do you suggest going with some stainless steel braided brake lines up front?
[doublepost=1528126495][/doublepost]
jsmith said:
Corksport doesn't make the Gen 2 radiator anymore? Also, Speed6perfomance has a fan controller that may help keep temps down.

Have you blocked off around your radiator? FMIC and still have the vent in your hood open?
Click to expand...

Corksport no longer offers a radiator upgrade for gen 2. I've left the hood scoop nice and open. I have yet to play with any ducting around the radiator though. My fmic is a mishimoto J-line so it's not massive but it's a good size.
 
jsmith said:
http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/forum/f539/koyorad-racing-radiators-now-stock-edgeautosport-149081/
Looks like Koyo has a gen 2 radiator.

At moderate/high speeds the open hood scoop may be self defeating. (I thought as you do until I pondered it for a long while.)

Ducting around the radiator is as simple as home depot pipe insulation (the nice stuff) cut to fit and shoved in all the spaces.
Click to expand...
I really need to try some ducting around my current radiator as you suggest. Seems easy and cheap enough and if it shows results that'd be great. I know about the koyo, I've looked into it but have yet to find anyone using the koyo with an results as to if its really any better
[doublepost=1528128054][/doublepost]
Code Monkey said:
I run stainless steel brake lines; whether stock or ss treat them as consumables and change every few years.

That Koyo rad looks so puny compared to Ron Davis.
Click to expand...

I'll order some ss lines I think for the price of them it's worth it. Any other suspension bits you'd suggest that I may be over looking? Or other cooling mods?
 
Code Monkey said:
I would sort out the coilovers first and go from there.
Click to expand...
I'm looking and there doesn't seem to be a ton of options for the speed 3. Best bet would either get customs built or like you suggested get some off the shelf bilstiens and have them revalved and modded
 
Code Monkey summed it up pretty well.

I have KW's with upgraded 500lb springs on all corners, however I have the v3's and can adjust compression and rebound. IF and only IF you are happy with the damper handling of the KW's, then I'd tell you to consider upgrading the springs. (The progressive springs they come woth out of the box in the rear are absolute garbage.)

Otherwise get some custom valved bilsteins like Code Monkey suggested, it's a little more expensive but you get what you pay for.

One thing that is really important on the MS3, get all 3 motor mounts replaced. After trying another major brand, I'm a huge fan of the Damond ones. Having the engine flop around makes the nose of the car feel uneasy, aftermarket mounts keep it firm and predictable.

Depending on how low you are, you may need to tackle bumpsteer. But that is tedious and I would leave for last along with bushings. As far as bushings, the ones in the front are worth upgrading, but keep the rear bushings OEM. There is a lot of cross axial movement going on in the rear, and not really worth upgrading.
 
One more thing about coilovers -- I would get single adjustables and forget about double or triple adjustables. 99% of guys I talked to at hpde's admit they tinker with their setups until the car feels 'right' and then never touch any adjustments. The best bang for the buck is to get the best set of singles you can afford.

Some single-adjustable coilovers are upgradeable to doubles with external reservoirs (like the MCS TT1 I run on my BRZ) and if I ever feel I need that extra adjustability I can go for it. Still, I would pick single-adjustable Penske with regressive shocks over 2-way or 3-way 'lesser' setups, but that starts at $8,000 and up, fml.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top