Wife’s gone for the weekend so time to get some stuff done.
Opened up the $190 exhaust. Looks better than I anticipated.
Cut out the old. No surprises that every but was a ball of rust. Harbor freight sawzall to the rescue. The new is 2.5” front to back with a nice fat y. The stock is 2.25” with crush bends (and a lot of them) that necks down to 1.75” OD with more crush bends.
And it has the worst y section I’ve ever seen. It’s about 1.5” tall and 1.75” wide on the outside. I think I understand why these cars fell on their face past 5k. This one the stock mufflers had been cut off and a piece of 2” pipe was welded in their place. The stock mufflers would have been 1.75” chambered restrictors.
and this is why it’s cheap. Not a perfect fit but it doesn’t rub. Close enough for racecar. If it drones I’ll just cut out the resonator and put a better one in. That was the key to the previous cars.
Maybe it will be less noticeable after you cut this part out...
also because racecar
And then put in a homemade diffuser, right? 
Finished up the rest of the exhaust. It’s less off now. Does rub in one spot( to be expected it’s huge). Need to lower it down and massage the trunk floor.
New radiator is here as well. $100 for a 2 core aluminum ($30 more than a good or style plastic). I figured making sure cooking is up to snuff would be a good idea.
Also started working on the wheels. They’ll clean up nice for fresh paint. I got a can of black rustoleum perfect for that job.
No pics today. Too tired from the other work going on. Important note is progress made.
Also doing more research on these engines. Tuning options are limited(read:non existent). But same headers I’m running, Borla catback and the injen cai seems to push these real close to 170 at the wheels (dynos showing 165-175) and the power continues to build to 6200 before dropping off. I think 2021 should be decent if I can get the car to 2600lbs (will be closer to 2800 this coming year). It’ll never be a top contender but it should be a reliable and decent track car.
Also been wondering if it would be a benefit to make the shark vents functional. It wouldn’t be hard, slot the liner on the back side, and there is a plastic cover that can be cut off on the inside of the shark vents. But I’m an aerodynamics idiot here so that could be worse?
bobzilla said:
Tuning options are limited(read:non existent). But same headers I’m running, Borla catback and the injen cai seems to push these real close to 170 at the wheels (dynos showing 165-175) and the power continues to build to 6200 before dropping off.
Also been wondering if it would be a benefit to make the shark vents functional. It wouldn’t be hard, slot the liner on the back side, and there is a plastic cover that can be cut off on the inside of the shark vents. But I’m an aerodynamics idiot here so that could be worse?
Megasquirt? Maybe post-challenge?
re: Shark Vents
They’ll probably work better if you pull the whole thing, or maybe the ‘forward one’ so the exit has more area. This exit location is pretty similar to a known TT aero mod to pull air out from there (engine/brakes, iirc).
There is/was a MS option at one time. That may be an option later next year. I really want to keep it simple for its first onelap and reliable, hence pure bolt ons right now. Once you start messing with critical electronics things can get dicey quick and I’d rather not have to worry about that.
As for that rear valance section it’s covering the spare tire well across most of that area so it’s not the typical sail like most bumpers are in that section. Not sure how much benefit it would be to cut it out.
bobzilla said:
There is/was a MS option at one time. That may be an option later next year. I really want to keep it simple for its first onelap and reliable, hence pure bolt ons right now. Once you start messing with critical electronics things can get dicey quick and I’d rather not have to worry about that.
My own, limited, experience has indicated that this statment is full of truth
Everything is now hooked up, plugged in and attached. Cranks no start. It was getting late so we called it a day. Intake will be here Friday, suspension next Tuesday. Also pulled out the 10lb reonator behind the drivers headlight. Yay! Weight reduction. The engine cover is 4 lbs and the side plastics are another 2. So that’s 16lbs less. It’s not a pretty engine bay with all the hoses and wires but it is functional.
Once it gets running, that's waaaaaaaay too much battery.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
as you say that.......I think about the climate where he lives and the collective breath we held in Brainerd as the accord had the first slow crank.....
In reply to spacecadet :
Between Seth and my own experience owning old crappy cars, I had every confidence in our ability to bump start if it came down to it.
mazdeuce - Seth said:
Once it gets running, that's waaaaaaaay too much battery.
It’s the perfect amount of battery for winter.
Right, winter, forgot about that cold nonsense. You northerners are weird.
In reply to bobzilla :
I run a supercharged Miata through Michigan winters with a battery half that size. Just sayin'.
1.6l is a lot easier to turn over than 2.7 and more cylinders. Plus Korean wiring is adequate at best.
Well good news is I know what is keeping it from firing. The bad news is I don’t know why. P0335 Franck sensor circuit failure. New crank sensor installed because the old one literally crumbled out of the old block. Now to find the info for testing the new sensor to see if I got a dud or it’s wiring.
well, I have the 12V hot and the 4.9v sensor wire, that falls into the 4.8-5.2 range. So it looks like I have a bad sensor out of the bag. The good news is the compressions sounds pretty decent cranking.... also means I have a feeling its going to be a little louder than I anticipated.
Current raw total budget (not including the coilovers that won’t be on it at the challenge)
I'm officially signed up. Yay?
Stupid Paypal. Ordered suspension on Saturday night. Got a call just as we were going to bed that there was suspicious activity yadda yadda yadda in the amount of $110.02. Well, I knew I just spent $1600 on the coilovers so that price wasn't right. So I punched the appropriate number for "that's not mine I aint paying for it". Pull up the laptop and realize it was flagging the SALES TAX on the purchase as suspicious and the sales tax was 110.02.
So at this point I go in and close out the claim. No problem.... get an email today that they agreed with my claim and refunded the entire purchase. D'OH! So instead of them being here Monday, I had to reorder and they'll be here Thursday.
and today I get notification that yesterday's order was "successfully cancelled". For crying out loud....
In reply to an older post:
Yay indeed!
YAY! coilovers shipping monday. Tonight we find out if the engine runs. Tomorrow we get plates so WHEN it starts I can drive it.
