SM2 for SCCA events


AMT class for Detroit Council of Sports Car Events

Over the winter I half bridge ported a 12A motor that was just sitting under my work bench. This is why the car is no longer classed in CSP as it has been for the past 3 years.
Will add more details later

Hey Bruce! Welcome aboard man, and I'm soooo sorry to hear that you are no longer in CSP... I've still got an imprint of your boot sole on my behind from last year at Grattan. lol.

I ordered my wheels a couple of weeks ago and they should be here soon so I can't wait. You planning on coming over to this side for any events? I might run up to Oscoda for the 16/17th event too. Hope to see you sometime this season.

Goodluck in Oscoda take it to those Miatas and CRX's. I will not be there or to an event over on the west side of MI. I'm wanting to have turn-in spacers (I love SM2) installed before my next event because the car is unsteering a little too much. In addition a light flywheel is desperately needed for this motor and unfortunately my light 82 flywheel is no good because this is an 84 engine. Have an aluminum flywheel waiting for the counterweight to arrive.

My car details:
this is an 82 GS with a GSL rear end with LSD
Tri-link rear suspension with panhard - my design/fabrication
Tokiko adjustables front and rear
350lb coil-overs in the front and 240lb springs in the rear
Adjustable lower front control arms
Std sway bar in front none in rear.

Next event is on June 24th

Man Bruce, they sure are fast up there! lol. I believe that was the first time my car has been beat by a 350Z too, which was kinda cool. Jeff Kroeger was there in his Miata w/race rubber in CSP, and if I remember right he ran about 6 or 8 seconds faster than me in Solo II. The only other competitor in CSP was my codriver (Jim), so it was a bit lonely in my class. For Sunday, it was just me and Jimmy in CSP.

They had an unbelievably fast course set up for the Solo I event. I spent a substantial amount of time listening too my redline buzzer in 3rd gear, along with some really awesome drifts/powerslides/recoveries (all depending on how you look at it). Got a lot of good footage both incar and out, just have to find the time to edit and upload.

I noticed on your car details that you are running the stock sway on front? I was curious as to why that is. With all of the extensive work you've done on your suspension, I figure there must be some great theory behind it. Adding the heavy front swaybar to my car was easily the biggest single improvement that I made. Then that also allows me to run the stock sway on rear without any issues. Anyway, if you don't mind divulging your secrets to me, I'm all ears. lol.

There will be a Solo II at Lansing this year. Any chance you'll make that one?

I originally set my car up according to Jim Suskos manual. He does not recommend the large swaybar, instead modifies the standard bar to make it more effective. But the trouble with his setup manual is that it is mostly for an ITA Rx-7 with some suggestions for CSP cars. I have not had a need to change the front end setup until this year.

This year I've noticed a deficiency in the front end grip which would reduce my confidence at corner turn-in. I did not want to change the rear suspension to compensate for lack of front grip. First I was able to get some Susko turn-in spacers (not legal in CSP)for 15" wheels (what I use in the AMT class). These not only increase ackerman but also raise the front roll center (I could lower the front about 4 turns extra now). With these installed there was no more gross understeer at the limit even on a tight autocross course.
Next I installed an 1 1/8 front sway bar (junk yard find!). The car is much quicker in slaloms now and still very neutral at the limit. The feel of the car now gives me lots more confidence to the point where I want to attack the corners. I've tryed this setup now on a tight autox and at a much faster time trial held at Waterford Hills track. My results are much improved with these changes.

Solo II in Lansing? When, who, ....

I just dynoed my car this week. About 135whp with fuel pressure problems.

I competed in an AROC event 2 weeks ago and the results just came out - 7th out of 24 in AMT.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~alfa/results/aroc06-24-07.pdf


Bruce

Competed in a Michigan Sports Car Club (MSCC) event on July 1st. 11 entries and I ended up 6th just 2 tenths out of the trophies! Results - http://www.myautoevents.com/pls/mae/frmEve...psEVENT_ID=7597

Most of the events I compete in are here - http://dcscc.blogspot.com/ They are slow to get the results and championship points up.

Next event July 22nd is an SCCA event.

Bruce

I was in Arizona last week and entered my rental, a Mercury Milan, in an autocross at Firebird Raceway. This was my first front wheel drive experience and I was impressed! Modern suspensions are so much better than those developed in the 1980's.
Earlier this month I drove 100 miles north to an event run by Saginaw Valley SCCA, held on an airport. Only one SM2 entry on the day. My ears were buzzing by the time I got home because the bridgeported engine is so much louder than standard. Now have ear plugs in the glovebox!

Bruce

If you liked the Milan, you should test drive one of the speed3s sometime. Talk about "surgical precision handling". However, I was a little disappointed on their performance at the autocrosses. Maybe just the driver, but I expected them to do better...

Hahahaha that is so cool that you took the rental out to shag some cones.

September has been an interesting month. My first event of the month the axle support for the panhard rod broke on the very first run so finished 12 out of 13. I hate it when my car breaks or leaks! Although it was my engineering that failed after 2 seasons of autox. A little welding and strengthening fixed that.
I had been planning on doing an Evolution Driving School (http://autocross.com/evolution/modules/news/) on the 16 Sept. The organizer was very particular about all cars having no fluid leaks because of the facility we would be using (Chrysler Proving Ground). My oil cooler hoses have always seeped a little since I installed new braided hoses from Mazdatrix 4 years ago. So I decided to fix this once and for all. Everything I did just made the leak worse than it was! I probably need a new set of hoses and the fittings that thread into the oil cooler (no the leak is not from a crack in the cooler threads). The best I could do was to disconnect the oil lines from the engine and install the standard beehive cooler from a 84-85 12A. That worked very well as I got through the school without leaks. But it is leaking now.

The Evolution school was amazing. Learnt the correct way to attack a slalom and how to look way ahead. By the end of the day I was going much quicker and no longer had understeer problems. Easily the best $275 I've spent on my car!
Looking forward to the next event.

Wow, that school sounds like it was a good deal. I think I know what you mean about eliminating the understeer through driver's training. Something happened to me at the last autocross, and for some reason my driving style was totally different for my first two runs and the car did absolutely everything I asked it to. My last two runs I slipped back into old patterns though, so I hope I'll be able to repeat that style of driving at my next event (if I can even remember what it was I did, lol)... If you have a chance to check out the video link in my thread here, you can see that I was actually dealing with controllable oversteer on the main corners. That was sooo much more fun than understeer!

I've been very fortunate with my car this year. I haven't had a single thing happen at a race that I could blame my car for, just the driver. lol. I am looking for a motor now though, I've got an apex seal that just doesn't want to do the job anymore. When I open the secondaries, it sounds like a piston motor with a rod knock (rather embarassing). With over 200,000 miles I don't feel too confident that I'll be able to rebuild the one I've got and I'd hate to have my car down for any length of time anyway.


Any advice on the proper installation of the panhard setup? I'll be receiving mine sometime this week. Thanks...

We need to meet up for a cold one sometime. Let me know if you're ever on this side of the state and I'll buy.