Well, work is finally underway on the '07 track version of my Evo. Not a lot of new mods this year (so I can stay in class), but so far I seem to have spent plenty of cash on maintenance stuff.

As for the mods I am doing, there are 2 big ones - I'll be installing an RS limited slip front diff in place of my stock open front diff, and I'll also be throwing in an '05 turbo and ported mainifold. The '05's came with a larger hotside than the 03-04's, and is generally good for 10-15 whp. I got the whole turbo, ported mani, and o2 housing for not much more than an o2 and hotside alone go for with the added bonus that it was taken off the car with just a couple thousand miles of use.

The rest of the work is to make sure the car stays together this year. Longer wheel studs up front to help accomodate spacers to widen the track, new DBA slotted rotors, really cool forged aluminum lug nuts, a competition valve job, along with a slew of PM items like t-belt, head gasket, bs belt, and misc other gaskets. Then it's off to the dyno for some tuning with race gas. I'm shooting for around 370 awhp on the good stuff, which along with the 255 Hoosier R6's should make the car very competitive this year. Hopefully I can drive it to it's potential.

Originally posted by 992gnt
Hopefully I can drive it to it's potential.

Hopefully you don't outgrow it too soon and the car lets you drive to YOUR full potential.
I want to see some pics of that blue bitch on 2 wheels. :P

Pretty damn close here:

Keyhole at Mid Ohio

And I have a long way to go before I outgrow the car. Long way.

Originally posted by 992gnt
Pretty damn close here: Keyhole at Mid Ohio And I have a long way to go before I outgrow the car. Long way.

Nice pic I'd love to autocross

BTW I like the plates.

wow greg that pic is awesome!

Holy schnikeez! Check out how the rubber on the outside tires is pulling away from the wheel!

Did some work yesterday. Modified the brake dust shields, installed ARP studs to make room for the spacers, and put on the new DBA rotors. I may get to the front LSD today, then it's back up top to tear apart the engine.

Think those calipers have seen much heat??? :O

Actually they seem to get lighter as time passes. Last summer you couldn't read the logo at all. Hopefully the Ti shims, air guides, and cut dust shields will help. I run a VERY agressive pad that generates a lot of heat. Boiling fluid was a big problem last year.

Ok, the LSD is in, new turbo is all prepped, head is at the tuner, new cams are here, and I'm down to the last few purchases before the season starts. I've picked up no less than 5 sponsors for the season and I'll be running Hankook slicks (and street tires in case it rains) to take advantage of a generous new contingency program. The car should be wicked fast and stick like glue. With any luck at all it will tuned and ready by the end of next week. April 20th can't get here soon enough!

Originally posted by 992gnt
April 20th can't get here soon enough!

That's what I always say! ;) Get some pics up. I want to see that new and improved blue beast!

Originally posted by 992gnt
I've picked up no less than 5 sponsors for the season and I'll be running Hankook slicks (and street tires in case it rains) to take advantage of a generous new contingency program.

Have you considered picking up a nice little video camera so you can start putting together videos to be hosted online? Might help generate some interest in the sport as well as providing some added value to you sponsors.

Speaking of sponsors, did you pursue any of these guys? Care to share some details?

I do need to get a camera mount for the rollbar, but it's pretty far down on the list of priorities right now. I pursued all of my sponsors. No magic bullet here, just persistence and face time. Networking and getting to know people is biggest part of it. Meeting one guy back in May of last year turned into sponsorship from Track Source, PIC, and Pure Tuning.

Picked up a trailer yesterday. 18', dual 5200lb axles, big locking toolbox with dual tire racks on top, new tires, winch and electric jack. No more driving the race car to the race track.

Originally posted by 992gnt
No more driving the race car to the race track.

pussy. :P

Yep. ;)

Picked up a trailer yesterday. 18', dual 5200lb axles, big locking toolbox with dual tire racks on top, new tires, winch and electric jack. No more driving the race car to the race track.

Mmmmmm....that sounds very nice :) Congrats and good luck this year!

Fired it up last night around 11pm. Other than an injector o-ring leaking everything looks good. I picked up some new o-rings today, so with any luck it will be going for it's first drive in months when I get home tonight. Kick. Ass.

Originally posted by 992gnt
Fired it up last night around 11pm. Other than an injector o-ring leaking everything looks good. I picked up some new o-rings today, so with any luck it will be going for it's first drive in months when I get home tonight. Kick. Ass.

:thumbsup !!!!!!!!

aah such a nice feeling. mine has a car cover on it covered in snow ATM...

Alright. Got it aligned and corner weighted last night, and it's loaded on the trailer right now for the trip to the dyno in the morning. T minus 9 days and counting.... ;)

You're going to the dyno tomorrow morning? Shouldn't you be at work? :squint

Eff work! Hit the dyno yesterday. Peak hp was down a little due to some not-so-great gas, but the tune was great. We spent 4 hours tweaking until it was perfect. Final peak numbers were 333awhp and 344 awtq. That was on straight 93 - with some better 93 (we couldn't advance timing as much as we wanted to) peak hp should have been over 340.

The big deal was the increase in torque and hp from 3200 rpm to 6000 rpm - peak gains there were 26 hp and 27 tq. :eek I'm getting full spool by 3300 rpm, and peak torque is at 3600 rpm! He commented my car was tuned better than 90% of the cars that roll in there, and he barely touched my a/f curve - it was that good already. ;) It was a long day (4 hour drive each way), but it was worth it. I can't wait to go drive it.

Time to play...

Freakin' badass man. Can't wait to hear more about it as the season gets underway!

Not to jack thread or whatnot but check this out.

My pal lucas just ran an 11.5@120mph. here are his mods...

401hp / 362tq

-'04 SSL EVO viii Stock trubo and hot side
-HKS 272's
-ETS IC and piping with ETS intake pipe
-PTE 780's
-255hp
-E85 fuel
-spike 26psi hold 24psi to redline.
-Flash tuning done buy me
-no spare
-1/2 tank of fuel
-full interior
-mini bat


You might know lucas, his last name is english :P

Day one of the season did not go as planned. My cool DIY dust shield mod backfired a bit. The abs harnesses popped out of their clips and got totally torched. Turn one at a buck-20 and no brakes at all. :eek So I spent the day trying to learn how to drive the car all over again, without the abs. I was locking the wheels up all over the place as I had to learn threshhold braking during competition. I finally got close in the last session, but by then it was too late. I finished second by a little less than 8/10ths of a second. :( I've got one side fixed, gonna try and do the other one in the AM. Hopefully the fix will withstand the heat.

On a positive note, I lowered my personal best lap time there by 2 seconds....

Originally posted by 992gnt
On a positive note, I lowered my personal best lap time there by 2 seconds....

No brakes = faster times. :rolleyes
Nice job Greg! I can't wait to see how much your times improve with the bugs worked out. :thumbsup
Oh BTW: The hankook sticker on your front 1/4 panel is crookid. :P

Very nice!

Sucks about the brakes, boss, but not a bad finish overall. :thumbsup

Don't forget to check those crossover lines on the calipers! ;)

Day two was much better. Got the ABS fixed and it stayed fixed all day. Found another 1.8 seconds, and won my class by 4/10ths. The car has more in it with a couple of small tweaks, but overall I'm happy with a second and a first for the first two events of the season. I had the guy that helped develop the suspension package that I am running on my car, and he couldn't believe how much more balanced my car was than the car they ran last year at the Evo tuner shooutout. The suspension was perfect - all weekend. Absolutely predictable at the limit and completly balanced. It was so easy and fun to drive at the limit.

Next up, Putnam Park in a month!

If you're not doing anything tomorrow, swing by and pick me up. I want a ride in that bitch through some twisties! :P

Sorry Tony, I'm working today. :( I will have some cool pics to share soon though (including more from the party last weekend). And happy late b-day!

http://home.fuse.net/wallace/EVO1/Mid_Ohio_July_2006/DSC_7108.htm

Lol what model honda is that on the back of you? I can barely see the power sticker on the mirror :P

Looks like you have alot of fun.

I don't recall, that was from last summer...

Well, reality has set in. The Corvettes guys are total cheaters, and I don’t have enough tire under my car.

I felt really out of sync with the car on Saturday, managing a best of 1:20.4 for the day. That was only good enough for 5th out of 6 cars. A very well prepped and driven STI was ahead of me by a second, and the 3 Corvettes were in a league of their own, running 1:17’s and 1:18’s. The STI was on 285 NT-01’s and the Corvettes were running 295 Hoosiers. I didn’t stand a chance with my 245 slicks.

Sunday was more of the same really. Although I felt much better in the car, a 1:20.2 was all I could muster. In fact my last session of the day had 7 laps at 1:20.x. I really think that a 1:19 is possible, but I’m not leaving that much on the table now so catching the vettes will likely be impossible. I went with a smaller, stickier tire so didn’t have to buy new wheels hoping they would be as fast as a wider, less sticky r-comp. Doesn’t look like it’s gonna work out that way.

The weather was perfect all weekend, as was the car. The addition of a brake duct kit finally resolved all of my brake overheating issues. Round 3 at Grattan in Michigan is up next in 3 weeks. Hopefully I can find a way to catch those cheater corvettes. ;)

BTW, I am in sole possession of first place in the Region, despite being slow as crap this past weekend.

Originally posted by 992gnt BTW, I am in sole possession of first place in the Region, despite being slow as crap this past weekend.

Well, that's something to be proud of! :thumbsup
I guess now you have to start thinking about a new wheel/tire combo.

There is no money left in the budget (that I exceeded by 100%) for a new setup. I just need to use the brakes less. ;)

WEIGHT REDUCTION!

You need more carbon fiber, my friend. Can you run with the doors removed? I bet that would be all you need to dominate. *snicker*

Kudos for first place, Greg. :thumbsup :cheers

Originally posted by DR1665
WEIGHT REDUCTION! You need more carbon fiber, my friend. Can you run with the doors removed? I bet that would be all you need to dominate. *snicker* Kudos for first place, Greg. :thumbsup :cheers

Don't forget pretty much the whole exterior of the car is aluminum. Just strip it. :evilgrin
Might as well, as soon as the cage went in, DD status got shot out the window. hehe

Brakes? Who uses brakes? Wuss. :P

Well I missed round 3 in Michigan, hopefully it doesn't come back to haunt me at the end of the season. Had I gone, no one would have been able to catch me in the points by season end. Oh well.

Round 4 was this past weekend at Mid Ohio. I knew my track record would fall, the question was by how much. The Corvettes were there in force and there was even a Viper GTS in my class (he was dog slow!). On saturday I lowered my personal best again by almost a second and a half. Unfortunately I was still slower than the corvettes. By 2 seconds. There will be no making this time up, so I'm not planning on winning any more events this season as long as they are showing up. Kinda sucks, but there is nothing I can do. I am wringing the car out for everything it's worth; it just needs more tire under it. Best lap was a 1:38.7

The surprise on saturday was after the last session spotting a large crack in the right front rotor, from the hat all the way to the rotor edge. On both the inboard and outboard disks. 1/8" wide. These are basically new DBA one piece rotors that are well over $400 a set, so I'm not a happy camper. Luckily most Evo guys are like us old DSM'ers, so I had a set of rotors waiting for me at the track the next morning. Threw those on along with a new set of slicks and went Z06 hunting.

No dice. I'm just too handicapped by tire size. The track was slower for most everyone on sunday, but I managed a 1:38.8 on the new tires. So the car is blindingly fast on 100 octane, so much so that tire spin was a huge problem all weekend. Oh, I had no antilock again (burnt through a wire 3" from the rotor!) so I'm really happy with the times all things considered.

The good news is that if the Corvette guys and I all finish the same as this past weekend for the last 2 events, I will win the Regional championship by 15 points (win = 100). Here's to consistency!

One more cool thing from the weekend. I was asked to start 'training' to drive the Pace Car for all of the race groups. There is a lot of sitting that happens, but when we get the call, look out, because it gets very intense. After spending most of saturday and sunday riding shotgun, and handling the radio work (3 different radios at once - NASA Race Control, F2000 Race Control, and Track Safety) for the F2000 races both days I got to actually pace the last race of the weekend. 3 laps in it went double yellow and I drove 3 laps pacing the field behind me. It's WAY more work than you might think - short periods of totally intense action surrounded by lots of time just sitting in the car at the ready. It's a cool place to watch the race from too! The only bad thing is that I am not sure how this will affect my attendance at the Shootout. I need to race both days to win the Region, and they have offered me the Pace Car 'job' if I want it which means pacing both days in August. <sigh>

update>

Originally posted by Tguy
update>

car is long since sold.