Hey mate. Amazingly the engine has been super strong. I replace big ends every season but they always look pretty good. We check compression and leak down every season also and it hasn dropped at all.

The main reliability issues we had last year were related to the stress of racing. Initially the stock brembos werent up to the task and were literally melting. Aftr the first round we upgraded to the AP racing calipers and pagid pads and that sorted the brake issues.

In round 2 we had the wastegate exhaust flexi fail and we literally gas axed the radiator and overheated.

Round 4 we had to replace a clutch and the clips that attach the gear change cables to the gearbox failed and we lost 4th gear dog. We missed round 5 due to not being able to get gearbox components frm kaps in time. Round 6 we had a boost leak but drove round it then last race we blew the rear diff while leading.

This season round 1 we had issues with the brakes nt working. We replaced pads and the master cylinder which did nothing. We found the rear calipers were toast. We replaced them with v11 sti calipers.

Still had issues at round 2. We kept tracing it. Initially aftr practice we replaced the extra long lines which were in the abs delete kit that i put in incase i decided to put the brake bias valve into the cabin with some nice short lines. Which increased pedal feel dramatically. I was complaining of a soft pedal after a couple laps. After race 1 i asked dad to temp gun the rear discs vs the fronts and we found the rear discs to be 80deg c hotter than the fronts. I had 8 laps of boilt brakes to rack my brain and try figure out what we had changed to cause the boiling.

My only thing i could think of that we had changed that we hadn considered yet was the carbon flat bottom. Even tho it ended at the back doors. It must have been developing a low pressure zone across the rear suspension to the diffuser. Which was stopping the rear brakes from cooling.

We removed the handbrake and made some makeshift ducts to the rear brakes which oddly enough fixed our boiling issue.

We then lost 5th dog. It appears a shim was moved between 4th and 5th gear causing excessive float which has been toasting our dog rings.

Weve pulled trigger on a sequential tor next round which should sort this out!

One thing ive found with motorsport is its a constant battle against reliability. You find the weak link and fix it. You then find the next weak link etc. Then when u run out of weak links u begin finding equipment limitations. Basically its a constant battle nd arm wrestle between outright speed and reliability.

You cant win this battle. As when u increase reliability by fixing issues u gwt faster..which in turn finds the limit of the next part.

Its very rare u find an equilibrium between the 2. If u can ur very lucky. Its just a battle of attrition really.

I cant really think of any other major reliability issues weve had as the ones i mentioned were major.

I actually dnt know current weight sorry

 

Awesome car, thanks for sharing the details on it! I did happen to notice that your steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car though

 

Very nice. What´s your rpm limit set at? And what oil do you use? I´m strongly considering a 2.3 for my next road race build.


So true. I´ve failed to finish my last 3 endurance (three hours long) races so I know what you mean. Reliability is expensive and things you never thought would fail, do. It´s the nature of the beast.

 

Haha as they were intended to be out of japan!!

 

Rpm limit is set at 7900 but i shift at 7000. Currently im on 15w 50 motul 300v but im trialling a 10w 60 from fuchs under sponsorship so see hw that goes

 

I don't know if or how much better the Eagle forged crank is than OEM 100mm, but 100mm OEM and Manley both like to break right at the 4th cyl rod. I built a 2.2l (2.4l with 94mm crank) after breaking my 100mm OEM last year.

 

Dallas- you put in the K1, correct? ER is building my 63 with the K1 94mm. Hope it is worth the extra coin for the K1 over the Eagle. At my power level probably wont matter but YOLO

 

Yeah, K1 billet on ERs recommendation

 

ive had 2 of these 100mm engines both eagle cranks. spun a bearing in the first one. ruined the bearing n rod but the crank got reused and sold off for a street car. we used another eagle crank in v2.0 and its still going mint after 4 years,

I think i might build a 2.2l next tho so i can rev it a bit more.

 

How do you like your Link ECU?

 

Shifting at 7k RPM is a lot of what is keeping it alive, I'm sure..

 

^^ Yeah, we spent a lot of time on the rev limiter at 7800-8000. Definitely not advised. My builder also said the rev limiter wreaks havok on valve train. He'd rather see it just keep reving.

 

^Thats what I always wondered in regards to what sort of havoc is taking place when youre smacking the rev limiter. Ignition cut vs fuel cut aside its still a pretty violent process. I had my rev limiter set to 8300 on the stock bottom end with basic GSC beehives using stock retainers. When I pulled my head apart I found I wanna say half my exhaust stem seals were eaten and the springs sitting in my oil pan.

Im excited to rev out my new 2.2. Going from a limiter at 8300 to 9400 yields an additional 10mph which could be huuuuuge!!!

 

^^ yeah I've always had that limiter set way higher than I intend to shift to keep it as it's intended "Safety" and NOT to tell you when to shift lol.

OT: bee-raddd looking at the mod list again I didn't see mention of who made the side plates on the wing? Yes I am overly fascinated by those vents

 

to be honest ive only ever used link ecu's so i cant really comment on anything else but ive always found them to be really good! they are locally built however and we can just jump on the phone or mail it off it need be.

Ive found its best to go with the ecu brand that your tuner is most comfortable and familiar with if you want the best result