street car gone road race

[gotovato]

I like to read through builds while at work, so i thought id post up my story for others to read through. Not sure if this can be considered a build or not, but figured it would be ok for me to post up here. here we have my 2011 mazdaspeed 3, purchased in late december of 2016. I bought the car after my last car was written off in a hit and run parked on the street out front my house. I purchased my speed3 off a shop owner who i have now become good friends with. the car was modified when i bought it, including a cobb RMM, cobb downpipe, auto tech HPFP internals, access port v3, cobb turbo inlet, ST coilovers, and a set of wheels i was going to buy for my last car, RPF1's 17x9 +45 with 255/40/17 bridgestone re71r tires.

super stock looking


Canadian winters, lots of snow


when i purchased the car, the show owner had a used GT3071 he was willing to do free install on if i purchased it from him. after a little thought, and seeing all the great reviews on this shops work i decided to go for it as the deal was just too good. also upgraded to an HTP 3.5" intake at this time, and installed a damond catch can.





The car also had a leaky rear main seal and part of the deal of me buying the car was that the seal would be replaced for free, and it was! took this opportunity to upgrade the clutch cause why not, free labor! went with an ACT street clutch.



the car was dyno tuned by a local shop who was well know for tuning subaru's. the tune was ok. the car was on the stock top mount, which was heat soaking very very quickly on the dyno, also the factory bpv started leaking, so boost was kept to 19psi and the car remained like that until i was able to go fmic.


living in Canada it was actually cheaper(once you factor in exchange, duties, shipping) to have fmic piping made for the car then to purchase any of the available kits.

went with a mishimoto J-line core as it was cost effective and should be able to keep up with my power goals


after the fmic the car went back on the dyno we a new forge bypass valve. i made a little extra power, up from 271whp, to 305whp and 350wtq at 19psi with the fmic and new bypass valve. At this point, the clutch started to slip. well so much for that upgraded ACT clutch. Turns out the rear main seal was leaking again. the shop replaced the rear main for me again, and this time i went with an ACT 6 puck.



after the 6 puck went in, the car remained the same for the rest of 2017. being stored over winter until it was brought out this summer, 2018. the tune it was on was OK, but the power curve sucked, so much torque but it dropped off pretty early. i knew there was more to be had, i also decided i wanted to start road racing the car alot, and that meant id like a better tune. this summer i decided to finally go with an etuner, and thats when Nishan started tuning my car, but not before all the problems i ran into after pulling it out of storage...

 

[gotovato]

So, i pulled the car out in april, after the last of the snow and ice had gone, and started working on getting it sorted for my first time attack event ever. it was a disaster. the car was consistently over boosting and crashing into boost cut at 22+psi. i only had a stock map sensor so im not sure how far past 22psi it got but when i looked at a few logs, IDC was maxing around 91 so i figured i was probably safe. time came to chase down my over boost issue. spent a week freaking out thinking it was boost creep or something like that, didnt even think to check the basics until i decided to try bypassing the ebcs and just running spring pressure. thats when i found this

that would be my line to my waste gate for boost pressure. welp, took care of that real quick. went for a test drive, and no more over boost. Yay!!

then came the next issue, while testing the car, i was getting some serious serious spark blow out. great, more trouble. at this point, i had about a month and a week until my first event may 26th. i dont daily the car and its parked out of town, so its a bit of a drive to get to. really only work on it during the weekends. so another week went by. being SURE this was just spark blow out, i got myself some NGK LTR7IX-11 to replace my denso itv22, and problem solved! no more blow out. gap on the densos was way out, around at 33, from the 25 that they went in at, they had alot of KM on them so figured they were just dead. new NGK at 0.026 took care of that issue
[doublepost=1534192386][/doublepost]this brings us to my first time attack event, went pretty well! i didnt do great but thats fine, it was my first time tracking this car, and only my second time on the track.


^ my buddies/mechanics rx8. bone stock motor, highly highly modified suspension. turns a very quick lap for 160whp and 120wtq
had a great time out there, and quickly quickly learned, power means NOTHING compared to driver mod. more on that later



so the day was great, car performed well for what it is, but REALLY needed some camber, some better coils, and more then anything, driver mod.

this event lead me to my next issue, which ended up being tune related, but any wot pulls were resulting in AFRs in the 9s and even 8's. BATs were not a problem, hanging out around 43c, coolant temp was also OK, so i had no clue what the issue was. the guy who tuned me had 0 idea what it could be even with the logs i sent him. i had a strong feeling it was tune related, my shop thought maybe a bad o2 sensor. either way, i had to get this sorted out

 

[SharksInSpace]

Sounds like you lucked out in finding a really cool seller to buy from! glad you jumped to one of our reputable Speed tuners.

 

[gotovato]

Sounds like you lucked out in finding a really cool seller to buy from! glad you jumped to one of our reputable Speed tuners.

Oh yea, the seller is super cool and I totally lucked out. He's a big racer too and runs the performance shop, so they've been helping me out big time. As far as switching to a speed tuner, at first I was hesitant to do an etune, now I wish I had done so the second that turbo went on. What a difference. Im about 6 revisions in currently. Will up date soon with logs and vdyno's. Although my current vdyno's show similar power to what the car made on the dyno, it feels a massive amount faster. Will have my review on the difference between tunes soon!
[doublepost=1534248049][/doublepost]so, my rich at wot issue turned out to be the 2.5 load cap. i had no idea. i spent a few days looking at those logs wondering what the hell could be going on. looked at everything. Guess i didnt look close enough at load. It wasnt until I emailed the logs to Nishan and he got back to me letting me know it was the 2.5 load cap and would be remedied when we tuned the car. so, with event one completed it was time to finally get ready for my etune with Nishan. I went over the whole car. cleaned up my maf, replaced orings on the maf to intake, on my bypass valve, boost leak tested, smoke tested, and went over all clamps. everything was solid and ready to go.
[doublepost=1534248902][/doublepost]finally after waiting a while for Nishan to have a spot available to get my tune started, he managed to open up one spot to get my started as he knew i was in need of some good quality tuning. and so it began. First step, get a 3.5 bar map in the car. went with the corksport 3.5 bar. Flashed the base map on, and away i went. maf cal logs, idle logs, 4th wot logs. all the fun stuff. never having done the maf logs it took me a few tries to get it smooth but i got it. 4th wot felt so slow but thats spring pressure for you.

So the base map already had a the car feeling completely different. Nishan mentioned to me he had a specialized throttle calibration he includes which makes throttle input incredibly smooth, and this was greatly appreciated. My previous tune had sort of an on off switch effect for power. at part throttle i got not much of anything but once i passed a certain point it was full boost. There was no part throttle part boost. i noticed while on track with my other tune that it was either not enough throttle for corner exit and i would be slow, or it was full boost and i was just ripping tires off and under steering like crazy. this is not ideal. With Nishans map, the control is amazing. little throttle, little boost. Little more throttle, little more boost. it was great.
[doublepost=1534249645][/doublepost]The other MASSIVE difference i noticed was in part throttle KR. My previous map, the part throttle KR was ridiculous. anywhere from 2-6 KR while just putt putting around. WOT was ok, but part throttle, and downshifting, KR was crazy. i was also explained that PT knock was an OK thing, and was normal so i never worried about it. but now, with Nishans maps, ive been getting none. like 0. little tip in KR maybe, the ODD PT KR, but NOTHING like before. im actually mind blown on the difference. its awesome.

well my base map was flashed and the logging began. heres the vdyno from my base log. Also keep in mind, im running NO meth, NO E85. this is strickly 94 pump gas. I dont have E85 anywhere, and am looking to avoid meth for the time being.

 

[SharksInSpace]

The difference in part throttle kr is almost certainly due to Nishan disabling the sensor at low rpm/load. Some tuners do that, some don't. Rest assured, the kr is still happening lol; it's basically a given with these cars but -- "no WOT no care."

 

[gotovato]

The difference in part throttle kr is almost certainly due to Nishan disabling the sensor at low rpm/load. Some tuners do that, some don't. Rest assured, the kr is still happening lol; it's basically a given with these cars but -- "no WOT no care."

lol ok, i thought it might be something like that maybe? but either way, its nice not having to see that anymore and yea i guess the key is no WOT no care!
[doublepost=1534254890][/doublepost]so, i dont have a good vdyno for the second revision since the road was either not flat enough, or i hit a bump or something and it messed it up pretty bad. i find vdyno can be pretty finicky with me, and i do by logs on a few different roads. the best road is near my house, but thats a bit of a drive from where the car is stored at the shop and the roads around the shop arent the best, but theyre good enough for wot logs!



Here's revision 3

[doublepost=1534255549][/doublepost]the difference in the top end is what the butt dyno is noticing most. it now feels like it just continues to pull up top vs on the previous tune dying up top like a stock turbo. it doesnt run out past 5500rpm like it did before. im also down 50 wheel torque compare to my old tune, but it feels so much better now. much much faster. i can really ring it out. before i use to shift if around 5500rpm - maybe 6000rpm. now i just want to keep revving it. what a difference!
[doublepost=1534268704][/doublepost]so, after revision 3, comes revision 4. still feeling strong. loving the way the car pulls now.
not making huge power here, but driving feel is so much better, and as this tune began i made sure
Nishan knew my intentions were to have a track safe tune i could beat on lap after lap without issue. Reliability was the goal and at this power level, with some driver mod, the car should be able to be VERY competitive in the class i race in.

[doublepost=1534268858][/doublepost]this brings me to my current race map, although the tune is still not complete and im currently rolling around on revision 6, Nishan has deemed revision 5 SAFE for track duty and i have been running it. on the street, revision 5 feels a good amount slower then revision 6, so i cant wait to hit the track with revision 6 once im given the OK.

[doublepost=1534269514][/doublepost]at this point, im racing with that map at that power level and it feels fantastic on track. currently really working on driver mod. braking later, deeper, and bringing my confidence level up. have been able to shave off SIGNIFICANT time from my first event till now with practice, and some pointers from an instructor and my buddies at the shop. the addition of some corksport camber plates allowed me to finally dial in a decent alignment with proper camber. 3 degrees up front. still need to install rear camber arms to 0 out the rear. have also installed my white line rear sway bar which on the stiffest setting, might be a little TOO much. the car LOVES to rotate. either way, the on track handling difference is night a day.
[doublepost=1534270019][/doublepost]here weve got some footage from the track last week. got some go pro footage, and a potato clip my GF took of me chasing down a 450whp fully built STI. i felt a little bad for that 450whp STI. i was on him pretty bad in the technical parts, so much so he tried to run away from me and lost it off track on the hair pin. wish i had that clip. that did help me though as the guy wouldnt let me pass on the straight away even though i would quickly reel him in on the technical parts and get stuck behind him putting along. track etiquette anyone? either way, it was a great day for mazdaspeed victory. also turns out that civic was fully bolted and custom tuned, making some decent NA power. i was able to hunt him down pretty quick though and with power to pass that thing, didnt have to worry about getting stuck behind him if he wouldnt let me pass.

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[doublepost=1534272305][/doublepost]And, just for anyone curious about my track focused mods, as of now theres nothing crazy. RPF1 rims, +35 offset up front, +45 rear, bridgestone re71r 255/40/17 have been my go to tires for the time being(will probably switch to hankook rs4 for next season), stop tech steel braided brake lines front and rear, stoptech 660 fluid, hawk HP+ pads front and rear, blank centric rear rotors, slotted stop tech front rotors, white line rear bar, corksport camber plates, and that basically sums up "track" mods.


Things still left to install? well, ive got a sparco sprint L seat to install, mishimoto oil cooler, and SPC rear camber arms.

future mods? the goal for next season is to have a proper custom coilover setup built for the car. chasing one avenue there with the help of my shop. also, maybe a more aggressive brake pad. the hawk HP+ is already as loud and as dusty a pad as you can get so going up from there will be a non issue. will also need to make some ducting for my fmic/rad as coolant temps definitely climb. might even have to upgrade the radiator, i guess well see.

(its a pretty stock looking speed3 but thats how i like it, no exterior mods unless they're functional !)

the idea is to keep the car streetable for weekend fun, and to keep it in the current class im in. the more power mods the car receives, or weight redux, the higher class ill be placed in. would really rather just stay in my current class. at least for the foreseeable future!

for now i just need to finish up my tune with Nishan, and get some serious seat time as well as keep up with maintenance.

 

[gotovato]

if im missing anything i should be thinking of doing mod wise, i would defiantly like some suggestions!

 

[Cheeky]

Nice to see a local on here running TMP! How are your times looking and when's the next time you're planning on heading out there?

 

[gotovato]

Nice to see a local on here running TMP! How are your times looking and when's the next time you're planning on heading out there?

Oh another local on here! Nice!! I've dropped 4 seconds since my first time on track with the car in may but my times honestly aren't great yet haha. Still have a ways to go being so new to this. The car has more in it for sure. I'm planning to head back out there on the 25th for a day session

 

[Cheeky]

Oh another local on here! Nice!! I've dropped 4 seconds since my first time on track with the car in may but my times honestly aren't great yet haha. Still have a ways to go being so new to this. The car has more in it for sure. I'm planning to head back out there on the 25th for a day session

Oh nice so you're going out for the Speed Academy lapping day? I'll be there but I won't be lapping. I went on their lapping day last year and there was so much traffic on track it was crazy. Im saving my car for September 3rd lapping on the long weekend.

If I see your car I'll try and say hi!

 

[gotovato]

Oh nice so you're going out for the Speed Academy lapping day? I'll be there but I won't be lapping. I went on their lapping day last year and there was so much traffic on track it was crazy. Im saving my car for September 3rd lapping on the long weekend.

If I see your car I'll try and say hi!

Ok see I was planning on lapping with them but if it's going to be that crazy busy, maybe I'll have to sit out as well. I'll probably still cruise down and hangout track side a little but it's a bit of a drive for me. If there's an evening session maybe I'll come later in the day and run that! Planning 2 more lapping days before the seasons done hopefully!!

 

[gotovato]

one clip from a track day this past saturday. sent it hard. car is performing very well. it was about 36c out there(97f) so the car was running a bit hot near the beginning of my track day peaking at 240c coolant temps, but no real KR, BATS remained below 54c(130f) lap after lap so i was happy with that. as the night progressed the temp dropped drastically. i was able to do a 25 minute full hot lap session with no cool down, coolant stayed below 106c(222f) and BATs below 43c(109f). car was pulling HARD. felt like a beast even though its under powered but most standards. got a lot of good footage to sort through, heres one short clip of me playing with a 370z i was able to catch. more video to come!

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[gotovato]

my most recent map from Nishan. the car feels amazing, quicker then my last map for sure. Boost is coming in significantly quicker as well. feels great!

 

[Code Monkey]

Hope you keep track of oil pressure and temp.

 

[gotovato]

Hope you keep track of oil pressure and temp.

I have an oil cooler, oil temp and oil pressure gauge to install before next season. All of it will be monitored. I know my oil temps must be through the roof while on track. I even requested my tune be setup for track use and constantly being lapped. Not to be too aggressive

 

[breakfasteatre]

Good to see! What kind of lap times are you pulling at TMP? Are you in the GTA?

 

[gotovato]

Good to see! What kind of lap times are you pulling at TMP? Are you in the GTA?

First year ever racing, currently running around the low 1:25, with a personal best of 1:24.8 so far. not amazing, but next summer hoping to get below 1:21. car should have it without issue, suspension might hold me back but i guess we'll see being a noob and all haha.

And yes i am in the GTA
[doublepost=1539019077][/doublepost]hoping to hit up TMP for one last track day this weekend before the season is over. see if i can go faster

 

[FerJR10]

Hi, 0.3 in front and 0 back, its the best track alignment for our cars?

 

[gotovato]

Hi, 0.3 in front and 0 back, its the best track alignment for our cars?

are you referring to camber? or...?

 

[Mauro_Penguin]

He must be talking about vibrator settings.