2017 B-Street discussion...
Evolving Member
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 275
Likes: 11
Good to hear! Now go get that camber fixed.. 
I looked at my front pads yesterday and there is more meat left than I thoght. I might just leave them alone for the tour.
Still bringing a spare set with me though!
I looked at my front pads yesterday and there is more meat left than I thoght. I might just leave them alone for the tour.
Still bringing a spare set with me though!
Thread Starter
Evolved Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,760
Likes: 22
From: Reading, MA
No luck with my car! They bled the system again (this is like 4th time, I think) and it is a bit better than before, but still makes noise pretty easy. They have to talk to Mitsu rep now to see if they would allow another replacement of the pump, since all of this started when they installed the last one.
Sounds like they killed the pump by not bleeding properly when they installed it. Either way, you should be fighting for a new pump. A malfunctioning ACD/AYC pump making the system not work right could be the cause of your odd handling woes...
Thread Starter
Evolved Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,760
Likes: 22
From: Reading, MA
And handling was having some quirks even outside the autoX. My rear end snapped on me several times in rain when it should not. I wasn't pushing hard so I was able to recover, but it wasn't pleasant...
Center diff not working will actually cause understeer, then the over input cause oversteer. That's what I experienced on my car when I lost an ABS sensor which turns off the system. On a X, with the AYC, I might be different.
hm that's not the approach we've taken for acd tuning. to clarify, off throttle, traditional turn-in situations should allow the car to turn better when the center diff is "open" - there is zero binding between the front and rear in that scenario. on accel, I'm not sure.
Thread Starter
Evolved Member
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,760
Likes: 22
From: Reading, MA
Devens report!!
Yes, Devens Tour is in the bag! Felt good to see some friends from a while back and also some new ones that I could add real faces to it! Meet some cool B-Street guys from NJ-Phily region! I was supposed to meet Prime12 as well, but it wasn't meant to be this time! Oh well!
Racing! I was very excited about the fact to be part of the Tour and tried to get ready for it, but beside the excitement I didn't accomplish much of anything else! First thing was my ACD pump that started to be really noisy a week or so before the Tour. I think I have posted something already and after going back and forth with the dealer I did get approved for the pump #4 from the Mitsubishi, but they couldn't install it on Friday morning, so there was nothing I could do about that part.
Second issue was about my camber numbers. NTB was a fiasco and after I got the numbers from them second time and complain about validity of those (like -2.0 degree of rear camber on one side), they quickly gave me my money back and that was it. The whole thing started with the original camber numbers that I had when I got my shocks. They were in the -2.5 range and I sent them back to be re-checked and sure enough, bottom hole was a bit off. So, they re-drilled it into a proper sport, placed new washer inside it and when I tried to install them, bottom hole was too low for the bolt to go through. So, I used my Dremel tool and opened some space at the top of the bottom holes, and bolt could go through. After first alignment, I got -2 on one side and -1.3 on the other. Took that low one out again and realized that I didn't go straight up, but more toward the strut body. More dremelling correct that and that all resulted in -1.5. For 1 mm of taking away from the bottom hole to the outside had to result in much more than 0.2 degree of camber change. I had confirmed that with another shop, so I am really at 1.5 there. I guess more cutting is in order, or just sending them back for another fix. Either way, once I learned that I can't get a new pump for the Tour, I gave up my efforts on camber and decided to do it with what I have.
Now, part 3 of all of this was that my last event before the Tour was 5 weeks ago, I was hoping with extra walks and preparation I would be able to get away with it. But to the contrary, first one scared the crap out of me. Car was moving left and right and I just wasn't there mentally to deal with all of that. Ended up with mediocre run that was 2 seconds off the pace. It was like someone else was driving the car and I was just watching from the side. Did not feel anything that was happening there. 67.292 on my last run was all I could do, compared to the fast time of 65.5 done by S2000. One of the RS drivers did have a scratch time that was even quicker (65.336), but he had a cone on that. Nobody else was in 65s besides that driver.
Course on Saturday was pretty S2000 friendly. There was only one place where we had to stomp on the brakes, but it followed a slow turn that entered the slalom, so there was nothing to open up after that spot. Speed was pretty low and I did first run in automatic. But, car stayed in 2nd all the time and I did have some strange things coming out of the drivetrain that felt like power cuts, so last two runs I stayed in manual mode. On those two runs, I did not get close to the rev limit at all.
Sunday course was a bit more open, but still had only one big brake zone. I was coming down from about 65 to about 40 on that one. The rest was speed maintenance as well, but with higher average speed. That require S2ks to shift to third, and once there, they don't have any advantage on us. Prime made comparison between me on Brandon and I was faster than him while he was in 3rd. Still few extra spots where we could lean all the way to the go pedal and that made it much more fun than the first day. My second run finally felt right and I was aware of what is going on and managed to move car the way I wanted it to go. Finished at 61.2, with 3 RS drivers with 61.1s. Rachel in Cayman also did 61.1 (had dirty 60.9 though). S2000 guys were in 60s as low as 60.5.
So, second day gave me some hopes back. I know that I was still pretty rusty and care had much more time left in it. I would say easy half a second, but I wouldn't be surprised with even more. Wishful thinking at this time, but it did help me to feel better about the whole thing. On the top of that, I am running on more than 2 years old RE71s that have over 120 runs. I do believe that fresher set would help here as well.
Car felt OK. It was making noise of the line. Transmission was overheating on every launch (you can hear it in the video) and that stopped me from doing harder starts. Rotation was there and rear end was behaving. I think I could have done sweepers with a bit more throttle as well, but it is what it is.
RS-es are pretty string competition, but I think EVO had enough in it to be on the top of them (at least for the day two). One comparison video that I have seen shows them with better acceleration than us, but they don't corner as well. This could be explained with higher HP numbers for similar weight, but narrower rims with lower camber values. S2000 are typically in heaven at Devens when courses are the way they are. They could be made a bit more user friendly for cars other than Miata and S2000, but it requires lot more effort. There are quite a few guys at NER that are driving those cars and they seem to have priority in what kind of courses we will have over there. It doesn't help us prepared for the big finale at all, but somehow people who run it see it differently. Oh well. I am not there yet anyway, so I shouldn't complain too much.
Other cars in B-Street that were there. Rachel in Cayman S is still pretty fast. I am still trying to figure out what is the good thing for that car, but I think they can do it all. They are hurt with lack of camber a bit, but they are pretty low and carry stiff suspension with great dynamic values, so they seem to be good for all of it. When things get more open, C5 (which we didn't have at the Tour in B-Street) are pretty much cars to have in my opinion. When things are Devens tight, it is tough to beat S2000. But, things are rarely that type at Nationals and what they call tight course is nowhere close to Devens tightness. In those courses, they could still keep up with little guys. But, when things get opened up just a bit, it is hard to get them. I believe that SST EVO is the only thing that can do this because it can go seamlessly into the 3rd and back when needed. For all others that must shift when we get over 64 mph or so, things are tough! Cayman is, of course, here as well, since they run out of 2nd at 74 or something, so that would be a good option as well.
Here is my video
Results are on the SCCA main page: https://dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.net...pdf?1497814487
This one has it more broken up: https://www.scca.com/events/1986528-...mpionship-tour
Yes, Devens Tour is in the bag! Felt good to see some friends from a while back and also some new ones that I could add real faces to it! Meet some cool B-Street guys from NJ-Phily region! I was supposed to meet Prime12 as well, but it wasn't meant to be this time! Oh well!
Racing! I was very excited about the fact to be part of the Tour and tried to get ready for it, but beside the excitement I didn't accomplish much of anything else! First thing was my ACD pump that started to be really noisy a week or so before the Tour. I think I have posted something already and after going back and forth with the dealer I did get approved for the pump #4 from the Mitsubishi, but they couldn't install it on Friday morning, so there was nothing I could do about that part.
Second issue was about my camber numbers. NTB was a fiasco and after I got the numbers from them second time and complain about validity of those (like -2.0 degree of rear camber on one side), they quickly gave me my money back and that was it. The whole thing started with the original camber numbers that I had when I got my shocks. They were in the -2.5 range and I sent them back to be re-checked and sure enough, bottom hole was a bit off. So, they re-drilled it into a proper sport, placed new washer inside it and when I tried to install them, bottom hole was too low for the bolt to go through. So, I used my Dremel tool and opened some space at the top of the bottom holes, and bolt could go through. After first alignment, I got -2 on one side and -1.3 on the other. Took that low one out again and realized that I didn't go straight up, but more toward the strut body. More dremelling correct that and that all resulted in -1.5. For 1 mm of taking away from the bottom hole to the outside had to result in much more than 0.2 degree of camber change. I had confirmed that with another shop, so I am really at 1.5 there. I guess more cutting is in order, or just sending them back for another fix. Either way, once I learned that I can't get a new pump for the Tour, I gave up my efforts on camber and decided to do it with what I have.
Now, part 3 of all of this was that my last event before the Tour was 5 weeks ago, I was hoping with extra walks and preparation I would be able to get away with it. But to the contrary, first one scared the crap out of me. Car was moving left and right and I just wasn't there mentally to deal with all of that. Ended up with mediocre run that was 2 seconds off the pace. It was like someone else was driving the car and I was just watching from the side. Did not feel anything that was happening there. 67.292 on my last run was all I could do, compared to the fast time of 65.5 done by S2000. One of the RS drivers did have a scratch time that was even quicker (65.336), but he had a cone on that. Nobody else was in 65s besides that driver.
Course on Saturday was pretty S2000 friendly. There was only one place where we had to stomp on the brakes, but it followed a slow turn that entered the slalom, so there was nothing to open up after that spot. Speed was pretty low and I did first run in automatic. But, car stayed in 2nd all the time and I did have some strange things coming out of the drivetrain that felt like power cuts, so last two runs I stayed in manual mode. On those two runs, I did not get close to the rev limit at all.
Sunday course was a bit more open, but still had only one big brake zone. I was coming down from about 65 to about 40 on that one. The rest was speed maintenance as well, but with higher average speed. That require S2ks to shift to third, and once there, they don't have any advantage on us. Prime made comparison between me on Brandon and I was faster than him while he was in 3rd. Still few extra spots where we could lean all the way to the go pedal and that made it much more fun than the first day. My second run finally felt right and I was aware of what is going on and managed to move car the way I wanted it to go. Finished at 61.2, with 3 RS drivers with 61.1s. Rachel in Cayman also did 61.1 (had dirty 60.9 though). S2000 guys were in 60s as low as 60.5.
So, second day gave me some hopes back. I know that I was still pretty rusty and care had much more time left in it. I would say easy half a second, but I wouldn't be surprised with even more. Wishful thinking at this time, but it did help me to feel better about the whole thing. On the top of that, I am running on more than 2 years old RE71s that have over 120 runs. I do believe that fresher set would help here as well.
Car felt OK. It was making noise of the line. Transmission was overheating on every launch (you can hear it in the video) and that stopped me from doing harder starts. Rotation was there and rear end was behaving. I think I could have done sweepers with a bit more throttle as well, but it is what it is.
RS-es are pretty string competition, but I think EVO had enough in it to be on the top of them (at least for the day two). One comparison video that I have seen shows them with better acceleration than us, but they don't corner as well. This could be explained with higher HP numbers for similar weight, but narrower rims with lower camber values. S2000 are typically in heaven at Devens when courses are the way they are. They could be made a bit more user friendly for cars other than Miata and S2000, but it requires lot more effort. There are quite a few guys at NER that are driving those cars and they seem to have priority in what kind of courses we will have over there. It doesn't help us prepared for the big finale at all, but somehow people who run it see it differently. Oh well. I am not there yet anyway, so I shouldn't complain too much.
Other cars in B-Street that were there. Rachel in Cayman S is still pretty fast. I am still trying to figure out what is the good thing for that car, but I think they can do it all. They are hurt with lack of camber a bit, but they are pretty low and carry stiff suspension with great dynamic values, so they seem to be good for all of it. When things get more open, C5 (which we didn't have at the Tour in B-Street) are pretty much cars to have in my opinion. When things are Devens tight, it is tough to beat S2000. But, things are rarely that type at Nationals and what they call tight course is nowhere close to Devens tightness. In those courses, they could still keep up with little guys. But, when things get opened up just a bit, it is hard to get them. I believe that SST EVO is the only thing that can do this because it can go seamlessly into the 3rd and back when needed. For all others that must shift when we get over 64 mph or so, things are tough! Cayman is, of course, here as well, since they run out of 2nd at 74 or something, so that would be a good option as well.
Here is my video
Results are on the SCCA main page: https://dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.net...pdf?1497814487
This one has it more broken up: https://www.scca.com/events/1986528-...mpionship-tour
Newbie
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 56
Likes: 0
From: Bellingham, Wa
Canuck Nationals this weekend, with the weather we're expecting I am shooting for 'not dead last in BS'
(My 'home court' advantage will be nice but not significant)
Will be switching to another car for dry AX after this event, relying on rain isn't consistent enough even in the PNW.
(My 'home court' advantage will be nice but not significant)
Will be switching to another car for dry AX after this event, relying on rain isn't consistent enough even in the PNW.
