TRAILING ARM RUBBING

Even after getting aligned I was still having trouble with the rear wheels rubbing the trailing arms when the suspension compressed enough.









Where the wheel contacts the arm

Damage to rear wheel(s)

This was with 5mm spacers. Without the spacers, the wheels would contact the trailing arms at ride height. With the spacers, the wheels would just barely clear at ride height. With the spacers the tires came very close to the fenders but never made contact. As the rear suspension compresses it arcs inwards, helping the tires clear the fenders.

18x10+35 wheels may clear the trailing arms with stock rear knuckles (I never tried), but they do not clear with SSB knuckles.

SSB TRAILING ARMS

I can't run a bigger spacer in the rear, so instead I opted to swap out my factory trailing arms for SSB trailing arms.



Today I installed them onto my car. Fortunately the trailing arms are easy to access and remove, which made this a quick install.



I used a ball joint removal tool I rented from Autozone to pop the factory trailing arm ball joints out of the knuckles. They came out with minimal force.



I noticed that the trailing arm bolts are very easy to remove and reinstall. I am able to hand tighten them up until they are flush with the subframe.





Here are some photos comparing the factory trailing arms to the SSB trailing arms. The SSB arms provide lots of inner clearance and are also a little shorter than the factory arms.





The install was straightforward. One feature I liked about the new ball joints is that they have a hex head on the bottom which allowed me to hold them in place while I tightened them down.





With these new arms my wheels now have plenty of inboard clearance.

PARKING BRAKE ADJUSTMENT

Since I got the car my parking brake has required that I crank the handle as far as it can go to get the parking brake to hold the car in place. I finally got around to adjusting the brakes.





There are two ways to adjust the parking brake. First, the cable can be tightened or loosened by spinning a nut located under the brake handle in the cabin. I tightened my cable as much as I could using this nut, but that didn't help. The second way to adjust the parking brakes is to spin a cog located at the bottom of the parking brake assemblies behind each rear rotor. Turning this cog pushes the parking brake shoes outwards. Over time the brake shoes wear down, so this cog needs to be turned to bring the shoes closer to the rotor. I found that my left side needed to be turned two revolutions and my right side needed to be turned one and a half revolutions. I turned each cog until the rotor on that side could fully slip onto the studs without any resistance. If I felt resistance, I knew it was because the rotor was rubbing on the brake shoes. Now, my parking brake only needs to be pulled a moderate amount to fully engage. When I pull the parking brake I hear 7 clicks, compared to 13 before.

I'm not sure if I need a new alignment after installing these arms. The car felt the same during the drive I took after installing them.

The ABS light on my dash is still illuminated. Once I reach a certain speed all 3 ACD lights also light up. I read that this is a sign that one of my wheel speed sensors is faulty. That is the next task I will deal with.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get off the waitlist for the HPDE I signed up for about a month ago so I signed up for an autocross next weekend.

 

that the best mod. this is what I had to do before the SSB control arms

 

ANTI LOCK LIGHT

The ABS light can be made to flash in different patterns, each pattern representing a different ABS-related trouble code. I referred to section 35B of the service manual to find this info. To make the ABS light flash, pin one of the OBD port needs to be grounded. Pin one is for diagnostics. Pin four is a chassis ground. I used a paperclip to bridge the two pins. After connecting the pins together I turned the car key to ignition on and the ABS light flashed the number 13 trouble code. the number 13 code meant that my right rear ABS sensor has an issue.

I disconnected the sensor from the chassis harness and tested the sensor's resistance using a multimeter. The multimeter did not detect any resistance, meaning the sensor is broken. I tested the left rear sensor as well to make sure the multimeter was functioning properly and it was.



Fortunately the Holstein brand rear ABS sensors I purchased came with 3 years of warranty, so I only have to pay $6 in shipping for a replacement sensor. I did not think to test the new sensors I purchased before installing them in the car. I will be sure to test this new sensor before installing it. Rock Auto said the new sensor should arrive on Thursday. I have an HPDE this coming weekend and would like to have functioning ABS and center diff for the event. Fingers crossed it arrives in time and functions properly. The ABS light didn't flash any more codes so I think replacing the faulty sensor is all I'll have to do to get my ABS working again.

 

ANTI LOCK LIGHT FIXED

My replacement ABS sensor showed up in the mail, so I installed it and my ABS light went away.





SHIFTER CABLE BUSHINGS

I installed a pair of Torque Solutions 6-speed shifter cable bushings. I wrote a separate guide explaining how to install those. My shifter doesn't smoothly move side-to-side. Instead, it feels like I'm pulling it through molasses. I was hoping these bushings would fix the issue. They did not. They do make shifting feel a little clickier, so I'm still glad I installed them.

MELTED CENTER CAPS

At the track today I noticed my front center caps were missing their faces. It turns out that WedsSport TC105 center caps are metal with plastic faces. I ended up melting the faces off my front center caps.



I'm not sure why the entire cap isn't made of metal. I would've been fine with the logo melting off, but I didn't expect the entire face of the caps to disappear. I bought these caps to cover and protect my axle nuts. Oh well.

 

I was told when i did my track day to not run center caps as they can melt.

 

did you remove the splash shield? thats supposed to help cool the hub area. I dont remove the wheels caps on my wheels, but then again I prefer to go for PB than driving around for the whole session

 

Do you have any more update? I'm looking forward on the uniclutch fredback.

 

bump this was a good read, very informative

 

FIRE EXTINGUISHER

Over the summer I mounted a fire extinguisher in the passenger footwell. I made a separate post about it the day I installed it. Shortly before I purchased the fire extinguisher a video went viral on social media of a GR Corolla crashing and shortly after catching on fire, which spurred me into buying one.


Amerex fire extinguisher and Bracketeer seat bracket.

PCA HPDE

At the end of July I attended an HPDE weekend hosted by PCA at Summit Point main. Two weeks prior to this I had been on Summit Point Shenandoah, which has a lot of turns and is relatively low speed. In comparison, Summit Point main has less turns and more long straights. On Shenandoah, I felt like I was constantly turning left and right, at speeds low enough that I didn't have to put too much thought into feeling weight transfer or waiting for the car to settle, etc. I had forgotten how it felt to drive on Summit main. I found myself turning into corners too aggressively and being jerky in my steering and pedal applications. My instructor taught me that weight transfer dictates when I can turn into a corner, and to feel the weight settle before doing so. Trying to be aware of my weight settling helped me carry more speed through some of the high speed sweeping corners. Pressing and releasing the brake pedal smoothly also helped the car feel more settled while I was driving around. I did notice that I had to be carrying enough speed to be able to feel the weight move around the car. If I went too slow I wouldn't feel anything.





In the paddock I saw an Evo 8 track car. This was my first time seeing another Evo at an event. It had a big EvolutionM decal on its right side. I spoke with the owner briefly. I'm struggling to remember but I think he said he signed a petition to bring the Evo here to the US, which I thought was cool. Unfortunately I only have one distant photo of the car.



I thought my brake pads would last the weekend but I was wrong. After the first day I wanted to replace them. I may have been able to squeeze one last day out of them but didn't feel comfortable doing so. I had ordered new pads earlier that week but their delivery was delayed so I didn't have any spare pads to swap in. I looked on Facebook marketplace when I got home that evening for any local deals and lucked out. Fortunately our cars share pads with a good number of other popular performance cars. I found someone selling a cheap set of Carbotech XP8 front pads that, according to him, had only been used for one track day. They came off his Subaru BRZ. I bought them that night, swapped them in, and had no problems for the rest of the event.


Carbotech XP8 vs EBC RP-X.

I liked the RP-X pads I had been using up until then. They had strong initial bite and were easy to modulate. They were also silent. My favorite thing about them was the price. I bought them from Summit Racing for $155.

NEW BRAKE PADS

After that weekend the pads I originally ordered arrived in the mail. I ordered a set of EBC SR-11 front pads and EBC RP-1 rear pads. These are EBCs lower friction pads. They advertise them as being easier to modulate due to their less aggressive bite. I primarily bought them because I found the SR11s for sale online for $230. EBC advertises their SR series pads as long lasting endurance pads. Endurance pads from other brands cost a lot more so I was interested in trying these out.









Unlike the RP-X and XP8 pads I had just had on, which were both silent, the SR pads shriek at even the lightest application of the brake pedal. The sound is so ear-piercingly loud that I am certain I will damage my hearing if I have to regularly listen to my brakes. The rubberized coating that was once on my pad shims had melted off, so I wondered if the bare metal shims were vibrating against the backing plates of the pads, causing the sound. Girodisc sells front and rear rubberized shim sets for $15 per set, so I bought all new rubberized shims hoping that would quiet the brake squeal down. I also applied a generous amount of brake grease everywhere I could. Neither helped at all. I bought a cheap set of Bosch pads from RockAuto to keep on the car when I'm driving around town.

5-SPEED SHIFTER ASSEMBLY

I bought all the little parts I still needed to complete my 5-speed shifter assembly.





NASA HPDE

In late September I attended an HPDE weekend hosted by NASA Great Lakes at Autobahn Country Club South. This was my first time at Autobahn. I really liked Autobahn south. I think the track has a good mix of corners and high speed sections. The pavement is smooth and there is lots of runoff. I found out that when the EBC SR pads get hot enough they finally do quiet down. I am not a fan of how they feel compared to the Carbotech XP8s or the RP-Xs. I feel like my brake pedal sinks down really far with minimal resistance, until it reaches a wall. If I push the pedal down even further, the car finally begins to slow down, but I can't tell the pedal is moving. The stopping power is not linear with pedal travel at all. I wonder how much of the feeling can be attributed to my brake fluid. Before I attend my next HPDE this coming spring/summer I will change my brake fluid from Castrol SRF to something else to see if I can feel a difference.

Unfortunately the weather was pretty terrible this weekend. On the first day, I think 2 of my 4 sessions were wet, and on the 2nd day, I only had one dry session and my final session was cancelled due to lightning. Driving in the wet helped me practice feeling understeer and straightening out the steering wheel to regain grip when I encountered the understeer. I could tell I was getting significantly faster as I continued to familiarize myself with the track layout. I think trail braking is especially useful on Autobahn south. I felt like there were a lot of high speed straights that led into sharp turns. My instructor said he thinks I'm ready to move up to HPDE 2, even though it was only my first time at this track.

One issue I'm encountering when trying to drive fast is my butt sliding around in the seat. I find myself pushing my knees outwards into the door and center console trying to keep myself from sliding around. I think the stock seats have good bolstering around the torso but not enough around my thighs. After this weekend I decided that I'll eventually install a roll bar in the rear so I can run a fixed back bucket and a harness.





I recorded the only dry session of the second day using a GoPro:


CRASH

I was out for a drive early in the morning when I crested a hill while turning and lost control. I was able to at least avoid flying into the woods and instead pointed the car into a field of soybean stalks. They were slick with morning dew and the car slid sideways through the field. Unfortunately the field was a few feet lower in elevation compared to the road so the front right corner of the impacted the ground pretty hard. Luckily the airbags didn't deploy.



I had the car towed home and got to work stripping the front end so I could assess the damage. The lip, undertray, and fender liners were destroyed, the front right corner of the core support got bashed in, the two parts of the body that the lower core support is spot welded to both got bent at the front, every heat exchanger (except the intercooler) needs to be replaced, the front center member (north south bar) got bent, and one of the upper tabs of the front right headlight broke off. The bumper skin, to my surprise, is still in one piece with minimal scratches, but some of the brackets inside need to be replaced. The crash beam is fine. The hood and fenders are fine. Neither of the lights are cracked. The car still runs, but one of the lower intercooler pipe couplers ripped, so the car can't rev. Parts of the exhaust got flattened a bit. My rear right wheel is tucking into the wheel well, but all the suspension components look okay so I'm not sure what's going on there.

I stripped the front end to the best of my ability and had the car towed to a local body shop for an estimate. I am paying for the repairs out of pocket. I asked the shop to only repair the metal bodywork. The cost to straighten the body, repair the core support, and repaint where needed is $946. The bodyshop has had the car for one week now and I am hoping to hear back from them soon.



In the meantime, I purchased a new radiator, radiator cap, and AC condenser.

I wanted an Evo 6 radiator so I could relocate the upper coolant hose. The three options I was considering were CSF, Koyo, and PWR. As I was shopping I saw a listing on Amazon for the Evo 6 Koyo radiator, shipped and sold by Amazon, for $305. They only had one in stock so I took that as a sign and purchased it. The stock radiator cap doesn't fit onto the new radiator so I had to buy a new cap too. I purchased a Circuit Hero radiator cap. Finally, I purchased a Nissens AC condenser from RockAuto. I could've gotten a Denso condenser for the same price, but the Nissens came with the little tank, lines, and new o-rings.

 

was the accident with the v730? sorry about your mishap. I've been there when I was back in NJ's hilly roads. I still have the phobia even though its flat and all concrete here in Houston

 

Doesn’t sound like a bad price for the repairs.

 

Yeah same tires. I could tell they were cold and had low grip because there were moments during the drive when the car felt like it was skating on ice. I chalk the accident up to me being irresponsible with aggressive tires.

I have no experience with this body shop. If the car comes back and the work was done well I'll have no complaints about the price.

 

I've raced RE71RS in the pouring cold rain, streams and puddles and I think its manageable.. or get cheap wheels like mine have an actual street tire set

 

CRASH REPAIR UPDATE

The body shop initially told me they would be able to reshape the core support. After a while they called me to let me know they were unable to do so, and that fixing the car would require cutting out the old core support and welding a new one in. This is what I initially thought was going to happen, but I figured the body shop knew what they were talking about, which is why I originally accepted their quote to bend the front end back into shape. The body shop sent me a new quote and I accepted. Part of me wanted to argue with them to remove some of the hours billed for the time they spent trying to reshape the original core support since all of their work ended up needing to be cut out anyways, but my car was in their hands and I didn't want to risk upsetting them over a few hundred dollars.

Luckily, the full radiator support is still available from the dealership.



The body shop had the car from late October until early December.


Old core support



Between then and now, life has been busy, so the car is still in this state. I did try to work on the car once, which is when I discovered more parts I need to replace. The AC condenser I purchased to replace the old OEM unit didn't fit so I ordered a new one. The north south bar was twisted in the crash so I ordered a new one from a dealership. The power steering cooling line (at the bottom of the photo) was bent badly enough that I decided to purchase a new one rather than try to fix the old one. I also ordered a few various clips, grommets, etc. that broke or went missing during the crash.

Shortly before the crash happened a car transporter snagged the left corner of my front bumper while unloading the car and ended up damaging the front lip and fender liner. He paid me for the damage, which I luckily didn't repair before I crashed the car, so I also have a new SE lip and fender liner waiting to go on.

Besides the front end damage, another issue I've run into is that the rear of the car is sitting lower than it used to. The rear right is the worst. The tire is making contact with the wheel well. Right after the crash, I removed the rear right wheel because the tire had debeaded, and I happened to take photos of the suspension. Looking back through them, nothing appears out of the ordinary. I also inspected the shock mount point in the trunk and everything looked normal, so I'm not sure what's going on.

Hopefully within the next few weeks I'll have more time to begin repairs.

BLACK FRIDAY PURCHASES

Duiring my last HPDE weekend, I was sliding around in my seat enough that I decided I want to upgrade to a fixed-back bucket seat and a harness.

My seat requirements:

1. Needs to fit me comfortably. I am 6'2" with a 36" waist.
2. No halo

Strong preferences:

1. I wanted to have sat in the seat beforehand to ensure I fit properly before purchasing. I didn't want to play the game of ordering seats to try them out and paying restocking fees to return them.
2. FIA or SFI certified

I visited a store that had bucket seats on display in their showroom to try some out.





Of the seats on display, the seat that fit me the best was the OMP HTE-R XL. The seat didn't constrict me and the harness holes lined up with my shoulders properly. The showroom had plenty of seats, but almost all were normal size, so I wasn't able to try out as many as I had hoped. The HTE-R has a halo. According to the salesman, the OMP WRC-R is the non-halo equivalent to the HTE-R, so I kept that option in mind.

A few weeks later I attended PRI. I figured this would be a good opportunity to try out more seats.

The Racetech booth had the "wide and tall" variants of their seats on display, so I tried them out.





The 4119 wide and tall seat fit me well. The bolstering around the shoulder area felt like it hugged my shoulders better compared to the OMP. I also liked the material texture more. The OMP seat felt kind of rough in comparison.

The other brands of seats I tried at PRI were Sabelt, Tillett, and Kirkey. All three brands had seats on display that had very thin padding. While they were all pretty comfortable, I wasn't confident how comfortable any of them would be after sitting in them for an extended period of time. Sitting in a seat on display for 30 seconds isn't the same as sitting in the seat in a car for an hour or two. The one exception was the Sabelt Titan Max, but I personally wasn't a fan of how it looked (compared to the Racetech and OMP).

I hadn't sat in the large variants of seats from Sparco, Recaro, or MOMO, but I liked the Racetech 4119WT enough that I purchased one during the holidays.

At the same time, Racetech was offering harnesses expiring soon for 40% off, so I purchased a pair of their GT harnesses.



To mount the harnesses, I had to decide between a harness bar and a roll bar. Roll bars seem safer to me so I chose to buy a roll bar. The three options I found were from Autopower, Studio RSR, and RPM rollbar. RPM rollbars was running a Black Friday sale and I couldn't find any reviews online of their Evo roll bar so (out of curiosity) I went with them. I chose to have mine made out of chromoly and powder coated a dark metallic gray (I just checked the product page and no longer see this option. I may be misremembering).

After about three months the roll bar showed up.



A few days ago I remembered that I also need to buy a bucket for the passenger side. I don't care about having matching seats, but I do want a passenger seat big enough for me to fit into. I know how uncomfortable sitting in a seat you don't fit in is and don't want that for my passengers or instructors.

The three seats I'm considering for the passenger side:

1. Sparco Evo QRT L/XL
2. OMP WRC-R XL
3. Racetech 4100WT

Again, I'm only considering seats I have personally sat in, which is why seats from Recaro and MOMO aren't in the running. I haven't sat in a L/XL Sparco Evo (I sat in a medium size which was too small for me) but they are so popular online that I added it to the list. It's also the cheapest seat out of the three which appeals to me. On the NASA store they're $817 compared to $978 for the WRC-R or $1200 for the Racetech.

If the stars align I hope to have my car running and everything installed by early July, but we all know how that goes.