street car gone road race

[gotovato]

Did some time attack things this weekend. I registered the Mazda for the full season but we know how that went…

did my last event in my civic.


My MS6 buddy did well very time wise but he took home 11th. He’s a novice driver with a highly modified car so it’s in a stupid class.

as for the civic I maintained 3rd all day…till the guy in second showed up and knocked me into 4th. There is drama surrounding this guy and that he cheated(has unclaimed power mods) but I really didn’t care.

one thing I learned is the car is dead nuts consistent. I had it to the point where if I even moved my brake point up by 10ft I wouldn’t make the corner. Footage to come. Pretty cool. My fastest lap was my last lap where I finally found my line again through a couple corners. Instantly started picking up time until it started pouring rain which ended the event early. Damn lol.



Update on the Mazda.

I’m gonna start pulling the motor this week. Clean up my small garage. Organize. Drain fluids, pull front clip and axles. Then I’ll have my buddy bring his hoist. We’ll pull the motor. I had an offer to use a friends home machine shop for rebuild. He’s got everything you’d ever need, plus heat for over winter. Sounds good to me!

should have the motor ready to come out within 2-3 weeks.

 

[Code Monkey]

No helmet? Shuffle steering?

 

[gotovato]

No helmet? Shuffle steering?

That video was an open lap day. No helmet required. Anything goes. First real time I tracked this civic.

 

[gotovato]

Got the party started today.
Made some room in the garage. Started draining fluids. Simple shit but this really shouldn’t take TOO long having done it not so long ago already.


Need a 24mm socket for trans fluid drain and a 32mm for the axles. Once I get the trans fluid drained out I’ll probably pull the front clip. Then the axles. Then from there it’s maybe a day or twos work and that’s it. Pull the sucker out and rebuild.

 

[gotovato]

Getting there.


next up, axles, rad support. Then disconnect everything and that’s it. Yank it out.

 

[gotovato]

Just gotta unplug a few things and that’s it. Out it comes.

 

[BAT-man]

Is your passenger side frame rail super bent outward? Was the car in an accident?

 

[gotovato]

Is your passenger side frame rail super bent outward? Was the car in an accident?

It looks that way. 0 bend lol. Cars never been in an accident. Just the angle of the photo

 

[SharksInSpace]

it's as bent as his diq

 

[gotovato]

^this guy

 

[BAT-man]

Dique*

 

[gotovato]

Just need my buddy to bring the hoist and that’s it. Out it comes. I’m also waiting on my machine shop friend to clear up space for my shit. Then we’ll pull the motor and move it there. Hopefully next month.


Excited to rebuild. I miss this fucking thing.

 

[Keetz]

I started reading through your thread yesterday as I have been looking for inspiration for mine and I got about halfway through and I was super stoked. I told my wife that I had finally figured out the direction I wanted to go with my car. I grew up on drag racing and I love it but this platform is a little depressing in that regard, especially when I used to be a Honda guy and seeing what they are doing now. Reading through all the information you have compiled here had me like a kid at Christmas and then I started approaching it's current status and now I am right back to unsure. I feel like you have done everything the right way or at least tried to. I know cars are a money pit when you want to do any type of racing but either you have had a horrible string of bad luck or this platform is just cursed.

If you had to start from scratch again, would you still choose this platform?

 

[gotovato]

I started reading through your thread yesterday as I have been looking for inspiration for mine and I got about halfway through and I was super stoked. I told my wife that I had finally figured out the direction I wanted to go with my car. I grew up on drag racing and I love it but this platform is a little depressing in that regard, especially when I used to be a Honda guy and seeing what they are doing now. Reading through all the information you have compiled here had me like a kid at Christmas and then I started approaching it's current status and now I am right back to unsure. I feel like you have done everything the right way or at least tried to. I know cars are a money pit when you want to do any type of racing but either you have had a horrible string of bad luck or this platform is just cursed.

If you had to start from scratch again, would you still choose this platform?

You know...I figured someone would ask this question eventually and everyone probably wants to know my answer.

well...its not so simple.

when i bought the speed it ticked all my boxes. Factory turbo, great aftermarket, more "unique" then the typical tuner cars you see around.
I was living at home, no garage to work out of, had modest budget and resources and needed something i could daily and have fun with. intention was never to take it racing...but you see how that went. I even installed a rather large sound system in the car when i first got it which i ripped all of it out.

If i could do it all over again i wouldve stopped at the stock block setup. It didnt make great power but it was enough for what i needed and the car was quick. it did very well on track and gave me like 4 years of trouble free beatings(mild trouble). It was RELIABLE. I did ALWAYS have the paranoia of a rod peacing out...as we know thats common. thats why i wanted to go forged.

The built motor is where the money spent got stupid...not because it was like a million dollars but because YOU NEVER KNOW. Built motors are hit or miss even if you do things correctly. its just a risk. always a risk. my stock block was proven however. either way in the quest for MORE i ended up here.

if could do it again i would leave the car as it was before swapping the motor...and ALL of that additional would have gone into finding i guess my civic. then building my civic. i wont get into the platform differences as i know itll upset literally everyone. That said it is what it is.

I love my speed and i will enjoy the hell out of it once its all together. As for how much further it will go...i believe i will not be bothering with the PI setup. extra 50whp for god only knows how much potential headache it brings just isnt worth it to me. i dont care about mexico or highway pulls. Hell most of the platform is on all seasons making 500+whp...what a useless build that is.

anyways when the car is back up it will be my main track weapon again an i intend to compete in it. If it lasts a full season of beatings with 0 issues i will begin building my civic.

the mazda will always be around but it will never be anymore then it currently is. Ive always believed that this is NOT the "unlimited class" type of platform. it just isnt, not realistically anyways.

what the mazda is however is probably one of the best dual duty cars. it does well on track and its such a pleasure on the street. Its the perfect car for what it is. nothing more nothing less.

 

[Keetz]

I really appreciate the honest feedback. I really do love my car and want to stick with the platform. I agree with the part about building the bottom end as that was definitely one of my first objectives as I didn't want to ZZB. The car will no longer be my daily here in the short future so I am not too concerned with downtime as long as I am accomplishing something and not just stuck in cycle of troubleshooting forever. With that said I also want to be able to drive the car and have fun too. I am looking forward to seeing what you and your speed accomplish.

You have definitely compiled an awesome thread that I find very informative. I plan to use your experiences as a general guide for building out my car. Thanks for taking the time to put all of this together!

 

[gotovato]

I really appreciate the honest feedback. I really do love my car and want to stick with the platform. I agree with the part about building the bottom end as that was definitely one of my first objectives as I didn't want to ZZB. The car will no longer be my daily here in the short future so I am not too concerned with downtime as long as I am accomplishing something and not just stuck in cycle of troubleshooting forever. With that said I also want to be able to drive the car and have fun too. I am looking forward to seeing what you and your speed accomplish.

You have definitely compiled an awesome thread that I find very informative. I plan to use your experiences as a general guide for building out my car. Thanks for taking the time to put all of this together!

Hey man absolutely no problem. Point of my thread was to try and shed some light on setting one of these cars up for…not “Mexico” pulls lol. If you found anything here useful or helpful then I am happy.

feel free to let me know if you have any questions. Once my motor is out and at the shop I will begin troubleshooting to see wtf happened. It’s not obvious so that sucks.

 

[gotovato]

Went to the track today and well…I’m conflicted big time.


This laptime is 3 seconds off my best in my Mazda. It’s 1 full second faster then my buddies full track prepped srt4(280whp, tires, suspension, bbk, fbo tuned, all that shit).

I don’t know if this is just me moving forward as a driver getting better and better or if this car is just THAT good on track. It’s stock. Stock suspension. Minor brake upgrade and intake and header and tune(maybe 185-195whp).

I’m actually mind blown and had my buddies telling me to convert the speed back to a fun street car/highway pull car and to just keep racing the civic. I just don’t know.

maybe I hop into Mazda next season and go 5 seconds faster just due to seat time and well setup car.

I just don’t know now…

 

[Easter Bunny]

I think it's a case of driver mod. Just the power difference alone should make the Mazda much faster

 

[gotovato]

I think it's a case of driver mod. Just the power difference alone should make the Mazda much faster

Right? It’s a much better setup car. I’m really excited. I can’t wait to get the Mazda back out there now that I’ve learned to drive a little better. Should be insane

 

[SyntheticAtmosphere]

You can't back out now...you're in too deep. Besides Im patiently waiting to see more!