1987 Toyota Corolla FX16 GTS Track Toy

Thanks for sharing your journey!

Even though I have a completely different platform (e36 M3), a lot of your challenges parallel my experiences. 

I'm local to Road Atlanta so maybe I'll see you on the track next year. 

I know I already talked about the NCCAR track day in the last post but man was it such a great time. 

Also, Paul Diaz came out and shot some great pictures and I wanted to share a couple.

Shortly after NCCAR, it was time to start tearing the car down for off-season upgrades and maintenance. The first thing I noticed was I was down to the last millimeter or two of pad up front. The rotors still looked totally fine, but since the 11" Mini rotors were only $12 on RockAuto closeout, I went ahead and changed those as well. Not bad for a year of track days.

I also finally received the good news that my transmission was finished! Apparently the 4.928 final drive ring gear requires a bit of clearancing of the case to fit, as it's a larger diameter than stock.

With the LSD and final drive installed, along with fresh synchros and bearings, the gearbox was ready to rock and roll. 

I marked the case with the final parts combination: Chevy Nova Twin Cam gearbox, MFactory 4.928 Final Drive, MFactory clutch type LSD, and an MR2 5th gear conversion. That last part is less of an upgrade and more of a "the old one exploded on removal" update. 

Along with the upgraded transmission, a new Exedy Stage 1 clutch was installed to give things a little extra bite. 

Unfortunately within 15 minutes of light neighborhood driving, the gearbox jammed itself in 4th gear even when the shifter was in neutral position. Out the box came and back to Paul it went. On disassembly it was discovered that somehow the gear stack had shifted on the output shaft and caused the 4th gear synchro to get smooshed, holding the car halfway in 4th gear all the time. He re-clearanced the output shaft gear stack and sent it back. It's currently in the process of being re-installed and I'll update once I can verify operation.

While the transmission was getting looked at the second time I started installing the fire suppression system. The bottle was mounted to the floor just in front of the passenger seat on four rubber isolators.

Steel mounting tabs were fabricated and welded to the cage for the pull cables. One went on the driver's side A-pillar within reach of the driver's seat while belted in. 

The accompanying decal  was placed on the driver's door in case a corner worker ever needs to pull it.

On the passenger's side, the pull handle was mounted to the harness bar just inside the door, in easy reach from the outside.

Next I will be finishing the transmission re-install and taking it for a test drive, as well as actually plumbing the fire suppression system. The first event of 2025 for me will be VIR in mid-March which I'm very excited for. I haven't driven there in nearly two years so I'm anxious to get back there and see how much I can improve my time!

This is kind of wild, browsing some threads on GRM while some work is compiling and this caught my eye:

I designed and sent that AW11 print below the exhaust fan to whoever owned this garage. Was this your place?

Yep its still there!