Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

First local event of the year was this past Saturday; it was below 50 degrees in the AM and peaked a bit over 50 in the afternoon, surface was dirty (it had rained for a few days before the event and there were other events on the surface since our last event here). Car was fun to drive in the lower grip conditions, was able to get it to slide a fair amount . Also, was good to shake some rust off before the San Diego Match Tour, as I don't get to drive on asphalt all that much anymore.




Photo by Ric Quinonez

Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

Went to the American AutoX Series weekend opener this past weekend at Marina, great weather for this time of year and some great courses! On Saturday, I was on my set of 255/40/17 Rival S tires (35 runs on them before this weekend), they felt pretty good and the car felt like it was a bit more willing to rotate than the last time I ran these tires at Marina.



For Sunday, I swapped to my Nationals set of RE-71Rs (265/35/18, 85 runs on them before the event). I could definitely feel an increase in lateral grip as well as better longitudinal grip (car was harder to launch on the wider RE-71Rs, though I was not using the 2-step on either day). Unfortunately, I coned my fastest run on Sunday right at the start of the course , but at least the scratch time was pretty good



I think I preferred the way the car was at the last SFR event at Marina last year when it was more loose/twitchy on the wider RE-71Rs, but it makes it tough to be consistent when you have fast offsets or slaloms like we did this past weekend. Either way, I'm pretty happy with how the car is right now, but hopefully there's some other people planning on going to the SD Match Tour at the beginning of March, I'm the only one signed up in STU so far

Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

Had a great time in SD for the Match Tour this past weekend, great bang for your buck as you get a minimum of 3 sessions of runs and you have the opportunity to make one of the challenges for Sunday afternoon. It was a great course with lots of room to hang yourself as well as places where you can make up time by having guts. There was only 2 people in STU for the MT, myself and Steve Coe (driving an MSM) - I drove really badly in the morning, was overbraking everywhere mostly because I'm not familiar with elevation changes and didn't trust the car in those sections. I was a bit better in the afternoon but my fastest scratch was about a second off Jon Lugod and James Yom, in an STX BRZ and STR S2000, respectively. I was better on Sunday but there was some more time to be had, maybe a mid-47s run if I kept a bit more speed in the first slalom and if I challenged the turnaround going uphill a bit more. I ended up qualifying #4 in the Top Dog Challenge for RG2, that was my first time in any sort of heads up challenge in autox and it was probably some of the most fun I've had autocrossing:

Tyler Moyer

I have expiernce with replacing older engines but nothing really this new. How hard is it to swap a evo 9 se engine? Is it do-able with general knowledge of motors?

Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

Not sure on that myself, but I would imagine that it's not much more involving than something older. You would probably have better luck searching in the Drivetrain section or the DIY section though.

Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

Fun course at Marina yesterday, it was pretty challenging as it required patience and you had very little room for error in certain spots. I didn't drive all that well in the morning, so I decided to stay for the afternoon to see if I could improve - ended up shaving off .5 seconds off my morning time and felt a lot better about my driving at the end of the day.



I was experiencing some extra push from the car and it wasn't rotating as well, ended up taking out some front rebound and added some more rear rebound which helped. I also run what's considered "high" pressures for RE71Rs (33f/36r), the car felt like it was down a bit on grip so I tried 30f/34r in the afternoon, it felt better (afternoon was actually cooler than morning, wacky Marina weather).

deylag

iTrader: (23)

Great thread lots of good info in here. I should get back to Auto-X and join you. Are you running helper springs at all? If not how is the ride without them?

Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

Would be great to have more Evos show up!

I don't runner helper or tender springs, the front actually feels pretty good on the street while the rear....feels not so great , it can get bouncy without anything in the rear (tools, wheels + tires, etc.) on crappy roads.

MrAWD

Sounds like you have too much compression and too little rebound in the rear...

Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

I typically dial the shocks way down for street driving, so those impressions I gave above were based on those settings. I've driven on the street with the settings cranked up and it actually felt ok, surprisingly

kaj

iTrader: (60)

Single adjustable? If so I assume they adjust for rebound. Also If so, the more clicks we add, the "softer" the ride. So, that makes sense. My springs are at the high end of what my damper can handle, so I drive at the full setting, at all times. Otherwise I feel every bump In the road

I may do a revalve so I have more adjustment. I'd like to try more dampening to see if it works better.

MrAWD

Why would say that more clicks get softer ride?
If that is for single adjustable and rebound only (which is rare btw - they usually adjust both compression and rebound, which is another problem as well), more rebound will not create softer ride by any means...

kaj

iTrader: (60)

Mine increases dampening when I add clicks. Slows down rebound instead of pogoing my car into the air.
I was advised to find a shock that does rebound damping only as it's easier to adjust and control, so searched until i found some.
I was also told most good dampers will be rebound only.
Yes more rebound makes for a rough ride. More rebound dampening makes it mo betta

MrAWD

Hmm....it looks like we are not calling those things the same way...what is difference for you between rebound and rebound dampening? Referring to this part:

kaj

iTrader: (60)

Rebound is the shock extending after compression.
Rebound dampening is "dampening" that affect; slowing it down. Sorry, I'm bad at explaining things LOL.
Per Webster's: dampening - make less strong or intense
Zero dampening would result in the spring extending as fast as it would like. A shock (or dampener/damper) slows down extension of the spring. More dampening = less rebound speed.
Think about cars with blown shocks and how they bounce down the street. They usually lose compression AND rebound dampening; the shock is no longer doing it's job.