Long time, no update!! Well a few things have happened since last time so here it goes.
Had an offer on my Zeal Super Functions that I was running on the ED that was too good to pass up so ended up selling them off. Picked up a set of KW Version 3 Coilovers which are 3 way adjustable and heard some great stuff about. So ordered away so I would get them in time for a Winton day I had coming up. As usual got stuck up in customs and the date was getting closer and closer...with 3 days left they arrived and I made a special trip back from Geelong where I was working to install...and this is where the fun begins!!
So they don't come with any top hats, but you are meant to be able to use your stock ones on the KW's. So take off a top hat and it doesn't fit. They had made the shaft in the middle too big, 12mm instead of the 10mm standard. So this meant the 14mm with 2mm sidewall tubing in the top hats would not fit over it. So searched for some 14mm tubing with 1mm sidewalls so it would fit with no luck at all for 14mm. So ended up going 16mm with a 1.8mm wall, but this also meant I needed to get the 16mm tube to fit in the 14mm hole in the bushes!! Front's weren't too bad as I used the softer stock bushes, but at the rears using aftermarket bushes it was a bitch!! Took about 3hrs work out and put together 2 setups. So in the end got them on and installed the night before I headed up to Winton. Adjusted heights when I got up there and was ready to roll.
Besides the suspension my new Wilwood caliper and brake pads arrived. So stripped off the busted caliper where the piston pushed through and installed the new one with the new pads on the front. In went a fresh batch of Motul brake fluid and the brakes were back to feeling how they used to. Will repair the old caliper with some spare parts I bough and keep it as a spare from now on.
On top of this I have made up a new custom dash to hold my gauges, still haven't installed 2 oil & pressure gauges into the oil line but they are now in the holder in the dash which I am happy about. Also while I was at it I had up a spacer for my rear vision mirror so I could see more than a rollcage bar when I looked into it. A new fixed holder for my RaceChrono which places it nicely in my view without being in the way. Also managed to roll my rear guards finally...so no more scrubbing, but getting a bit from the front now!!
So Winton came around (01/09/2012), got done pretty bad at scruteenering and was left with a list of small things to do. Metal valve caps, box in my fuel surge tank & lines, new fixing for battery, plus a few other small additional things. Nothing too serious though. So started off, spent the first session slowly getting a feel for the suspension, running in the brake pads and warming things up. 1.47 for that session. Next one pushed it a little more but was a bit scared of oversteer as I had been getting quite a bit previously, 1.46.7 for that session. Next session out 1.46.7 again, was playing around with higher tyre pressures and nothing had been working and was still being very hesitant with pushing it. Next session out dropped the pressures down and decided to just go for it, car felt great, brakes were solid and progressive, and suspension had a lot more roll but a lot more grip. Car had gone from snap oversteer to mega understeer. Came out with a 1.44.2 - equal to my PB and 2.5 seconds quicker than I had gone all day. Went out for the final session dropped the tyre pressures down to 34psi rear and 28psi front and saw nothing but green on the RaceChrono, walked away with another 1sec off with a 1.43.2. Wanted to be in 1.41 - 1.42 mark but I was still knocking off major chunks of time off at the end, so confident I can get into it next time.
The time was good enough for me to once again take the win in my class for the Victorian Super Sprint Championship, which also means that I have taken the win overall in my class as that was the last round. Over the course of the championship I managed to place 17th overall with some average lap times and some excellent competition, so looking forward to next year and hopefully moving up that overall place closer to the top 10 mark.
So in the end, with some major understeer issues (couldn't even get it to lift off oversteer in a fast long corner with some violent lifting off!!) I was pretty happy with the result. My rear swaybar is adjustable, so had stiffened that up and next step will be to soften up the front if I am still understeering. Trying to avoid stiffening up the rear to prevent the rear wheel lifting up and causing loss of grip and snap oversteer like before.
Best time: 1.43.2 (new pb)
Next plans...well I am broke now so not much, just play with tyre pressures, stop the understeer and get to know the car. Been changing suspension setups so much I have not done more than 1 day on the same settings. So time to get used to the car.
