Hey guys, I have just about accomplished my goals with my 03 evo8 (10's @ 130), but with the dragstrips closing for winter, and finally pushing coolant out of my stock HG, I have decided to lay back on the dragstrip use and explore my options for having fun with my car.

Below is the list of modifications to the car as it sits. Any advise you guys can give me for running the car at scca autox events would be great.

Engine:
Stock longblock other than HKS 272 cams.
GT35R turbo setup, external WG dumped. This will definatly be removed and replaced with a stock fitment turbo.
3" turboback with testpipe.
AEM EMS, speed density
Hallman boost controller
BR race fmic, 2.5" aluminum ic pipes, Tial bov (front crash beam removed to fit)
Walbro 255, 850 injectors, stock lines and rail
ACT clutch, stock flywheel.
Tien lowering springs on stock struts.
Stock wheels with Falken RT-615 245 45 17

I plan to definatly remove the turbokit while I fix the headgasket and sell the turbokit and use the cash to buy a second set of wheels and new autox tires.

Im also not sure if camber plates are of significant value with the stock struts.

From looking at the SCCA rulebook, my car should fit into SM the best. What additional items would I have to remove to get into BSP (assuming scca allows boost controllers and bov for 2005). How about STU using the falken tires?

Some things that are on my mind that I could use advise with:
Tire size for hoosiers? Recomended wheel for said race tires?
What classing effect would using a 10.5 turbine housing have?


Thanks in advance to anyone who has advise for me.

 

Also of note: I do not care about being competative right away in SM, as I have only run autox 2 times before in different cars (1g dsms). Im of excellent experience at the dragstrip, but my turning skills will take a while to get down.

Looking back at this years results, BSP only has 1 or 2 cars at most at each event. It doesn't seem very fun to de-mod the car to get into a class with no competition. SM seems to have 6-10 cars at each event.

 

To be street prepared legal (BSP) you would need to use the Stock ECU and associated stock hardware. And you would need to use the stock CBV instead of the Tial BOV your using now. I am not sure about the manual boost controller

For STU, you would need to use the stock boost controller, and you would need to use the stock fueling hardware as far as I know.

You could use the GT35R in SM in it's current configuration, but I don't think the spooling characteristics are going to be what you want.

 

so did you break 10's?

 

Looks like Im going to be stuck in SM, as Im not willing to take out that much power. I still plan on taking the car to the dragstrip and want to still be able to run into the high 11's. So Im set on keeping the EMS and the fuel pump/injectors. I use the injectors to fuel a dry nitrous kit at the dragstrip when not using the 35r.

The 35 is 100% definatly coming off, as you said, it doesn't have the response to autox with and would be a giant hinderance. Even more-so to a novice autox driver.

 

Close. 11.2 @ 126 was the best ET, on a semi clean pass (lifting once in first gear becuase of wheelspin).

I ran last week at Island, went 128mph on a dirty pass lifting once in first gear, then shifting early into 2nd causing a bog. Et was a poor 11.6 on a 1.8 60'

the car would definatly run 10's in good weather/track conditions with 128mph and a low 1.6 short time.

I decided to do this becuase I don't want to put the money into the car to get the rollbar/small brakes/15" wheels/drag tires/built shortblock to really push it any harder at the dragstrip. And to be honest, 128mph car isn't that exciting at the dragstrip. It's not fast enough to race in headsup events and be competative.

Will be putting my talon back together for dragstrip use in the spring, so Ill have that to play with. And the evo will still make a great autox car for having fun, while still being able to legally run it in high 11 stock turbo /mid 11 nitrous trim.

 

You did all that work now to just remove the Turbo kit? You're crazy but good luck autoxing, I can't wait till I give it a try.

 

First, welcome to the "other side" After walking AMS through the teething stages of this process, I know that you are going to have fun learning the other tricks and pushing other limits.

Im also not sure if camber plates are of significant value with the stock struts.

Yes, they will be.. alignment is #2 on a list of "to do" things for roadrace/autocross, Tires being #1. Even if you stay on street tires, getting the right contact patch on the ground to increase cornering speed counts for a LOT.

From looking at the SCCA rulebook, my car should fit into SM the best.

Like has been said, you are going to pretty much be in SM.. which is fine.. since you are very new to this I don't recommend that you go to R compounds right away anyway.. get a set of the Falkens or some other good street tire and start learning. Once you are beating, or almost beating the other cars on "Streets" then go for the R compounds, you will be doing yourself a favor and learnign skills that you then take to any car you are going to run.

Some things that are on my mind that I could use advise with:
Tire size for hoosiers? Recomended wheel for said race tires?

Tire Size.. as big as you can fit of course. Now this might come with some cutting and rolling.. so I think 255 is probably a good # for a first set.. for a local or probably even divisional series this is going to be quite good.. unless you just happen to be in an area with some of the top guys. You will be able to tell if you are close with the 255s anyway.. and then you can make the decision to step up to a larger wheel/tire with the um.. persuasion techniques. A set of stock wheels works well for a first set of autocross wheels till you can do some research and find out what YOU are going to want/need to go faster.

Tien lowering springs on stock struts.
This to me is one of the things thats going to throw you off the most.. Though stock Evo struts are valved well, and overvalved for the stock spring rate, having a spring that overpowers the damper is less than ideal. going back to the "order" I mentioned above, I would put shocks/struts a bit before springs, and its better to have an aftermarket damper with stock springs than vice-versa.

What to do about it without buying new dampers.. its hard to say.. I would put the aftermarket springs on a shelf, or sell them for more autocross/entry $, and run with the stock ones. Once you want to go with a more customized setup, they are probably going to be the wrong spring rates anyway.

One thing to watch for... tuning for handling. On the drag strip you are WOT the whole time, On the autocross course, there is going to be a bit of modulation, especially with lots more HP.. when I autocrossed the AMS car in 475whp trim, my fastest runs were done never going over 2/3rd throttle.. (it would spin the r compounds even on the straights) So the tuning that you were doing is going to be replaced by looking at a lot of traces at part throttle.. I have probably driven 4-5 of my student's Evos around road courses where the power is so peaky, and on/off that it makes it near impossible to ballance the car on the edge, that type of delivery works great for drag racing, and not great for road racing.

Some basic advice.. dont "do" anything else to the car, your setup while good is less than optimum (almost always the case for those of us on budgets and without a team of engineers behind us) So when you think "let me get this part to go faster," stop, put the $ in the bank, and use it to go to an extra event. The extra events will make you faster than any mods will. Then next winter, come back armed with what you have learned and we can work on what else to do with the car.

Jon K
www.seat-time.com
www.racerjon.com

 

you got some crazy power..I would just suggest keeping the way things are.. getting into street mod, and picking up a decent set of coilovers and some some fat tires... you could look at getting some wide body fenders and running 10x wide wheels with 285s hoosiers. You should talk to navid from xtreme performance or any of the other serious autoxs on here... you may want to look at swapping the gt35r out with a TME turbo ( would be great for autox) .. the tein s techs need to go asap. Im still on hotchks springs untilll i start up again in the fall and they really slow the car down compared to evos with proper coilover setups.

 

I agree with the above post.

1. Tires. Start off on good street tires, like the Azenis. By the sounds of it you will ALWAYS be in SM. That is the most competitive class in the world. You will not place high without Hoosiers. So get used to driving, when you feel you want to be competitive look for the biggest Hoosier you can get under your fenders, 255-275 ish if you are willing to roll fenders.

2. Suspension. You need to be able to make adjustments to fit the car around your driving style. So ditch the springs and pick a good coil-over system. A good alignment is THE KEY. Go study the effects of all the changes in alignment and figure out how you want your car to handle. An adjustable rear swaybar is also a must. Camber plates also. Be willing to test out different alignments all the time, as well as tires pressure.

3. Get a good harness to hold you steady in your seat.

4. SEAT TIME. SEAT TIME. SEAT TIME!

 

I am running in sm with my 05 evo RS, and am running a buscher stage 4 with a tme turbo. Response is great for auto cross, and the car runs high 11's at 117 mph. I am running ohlins road and track coilovers with 285/30/18 tires on 18x10 fronts, and 18x9.5 rears. I replaced all the rubber suspension bushings with urethane, and left all the heim jointed ones stock. That is all you need to be nationally competitive in street mod. drivetrain is all stock with the exception of an exedy twin plate clutch. If I had been able to drive worth a crap at nationals this year, the car was capable of winning. With air conditioning.

Mark

 

From what I am reading from this thread, http://sccaforums.com/forums/161805/ShowPost.aspx

you may want/need to put the bumper beam(s) back in.

 

Well, I had fun tuning and testing some parts, but I hit some issues:
no rollbar for sub 11.50 times the car already runs.
no traction and can't fit good drag tires without going to smaller brakes
blown HG, and if I keep pushing up the power, Ill eventually blow the shortblock up.
clutch is just about ready to give up the ghost at this power level.
trans won't shiftinto 2nd at rpm high enough to support this turbo/spool.
all big detriments and large investments to fix to continue drag racing the car.
not to mention, the car isn't a static thing, I always want to improve it. In dragracing, that means add more power or create more traction. Both mean more drivetrain stress.

End of story is, I just hit the end of the rope as far has how far I want to push a stock engine/driveline.

 

Ok.
Im going to put the stock turbo back in
Find a set of stock evo8 springs to replace the Tiens (onto ebay with them)
Buy a second set of stock evo8 wheels
Buy a set of 245 40 17 hoosier AS304 tires.
Buy the GC camber plates
That should get me started in learning how to setup and drive.


I have "old style" alignment tools at my shop that I honestly haven't used since college. I need to dig out my college books on alignment setup to refresh on the proper setup of alignment order. So I have the tools to do my own setup other than corner wieght.
Bubble caster/camber gauges and the wheel mounting plates
the rotating plates for under the wheels
the light/shadow setup for setting toe.

Over this winter Ill think about coilovers, suspension bushings, and swaybars. Im not going to bother with any of this stuff now, only to run a few events before winter, and subject all the shiny new parts to a salty nj winter.

 

Drag racing is always fun and to me its much cheaper than road racing or auto crossing. I look at the list of mods you have and can see three or four things your going to need to really shine. one being a good set of sway bars, another is a set of coilovers, a new front LSD is probably the best thing going for the evo. after testing all kinds of different options in suspension it always leads us back to still spinning the inside front tire on the front. just go ahead and make the swap.

The turbo could be sold for some other toys. Go with a Tilton or Exedy clutch to help out with the high rpm shifts and less drag will make the car rev much better and accelerate out of mistakes in turns.

As far as wheels go make sure you pick the tires you want to run before you pick the wheels. and make sure there are a ton of options in that tire size. I know you can squize 275s all the way around with out to much work to the fenders. 285's don't offer near as many options as the 275 and oh yeah try 17s out for the money you save in tires can always go to more track or auto cross time.

The biggest thing that can be improved is always the driver. I know that i pulled back from track time and my skills and car controll really suffered, so the more time you spend practicing the better.