87GTS Turbo "Nemesis"

185 disks. i'm not sure the make. ordered them online. i'm pretty sure they start as brembo blanks.
and i agree the ebc reds are far too hard. had them myself.

 

finally found my gear ratios.
Drivetrain: Front Wheel Drive
Trans Type: 5
Trans Description Cont.: Manual w/OD
First Gear Ratio 1): 3.23
Second Gear Ratio 1): 1.91
Third Gear Ratio 1): 1.26
Fourth Gear Ratio 1): 0.92
Fifth Gear Ratio 1): 0.73
Reverse Ratio 1): 3.55
Clutch Size (in): 8.8
Final Drive Axle Ratio 1): 3.93

 

and new alignment specs again...
front toe
R -0.15 L -0.15

front camber
R -1.0 L-1.0.

front caster
+2 both sides (we start with 0)

rear toe
R -0.1 L-0.1

rear camber
R -1.6 l -1.6

all in degrees of course.

 

caster makes camber when you turn but it reduces turning radius
toe out yeilds better turn in but sacrifces high speed stability
my camber settings are not to combat understeer but to prevent tire roll on the front and to keep the rear from kicking out. i'd love more front camber but that is nearly at it's limit for my car. my straight line speed is suffering as is because of the torque steer.

 

i know i'm a stickler for keeping the flip up lights. and nobody is allowed to get mad at me for what i've just done.
Nemesis needs to go on a diet to be more competitive. she was corner weighed before the last event and although i have done a lot to cut down on weight...she still weighed in at 2600lbs dead. so...
i just removed 100lbs of stuff. nemesis is now only a day time and no rain car. i've removed the entire wiper assembly, the windscreen lower trim, both headlight assemblies, and reinstalled everything with just blank covers. then i removed the passenger seat and everything with it. next is everything under the dash. get ready to see a lot of great parts come up for sale. if i get the car down to 2400 i'll be happy.
i'll post pics after dinner...

 

dry carbon hood!!!

 

more weight reduction time!!! the car whould end at about 2250 if my thoughts are correct. not bad but i've only got a couple weeks to finish and test.
i'm also having overheating issues with the haltech. this is a most interesting problem. i luckily have an unheard of problem!!! go me. i've modded the case to allow it to breath but that didn't help. i am thinking i'll be warrentying (sp?) it out. at any rate...picture time!
BTW everyone should buy and install that sway bar. the only downfall i can find is it does not like violent quick movement.

 

i like the look of it. and now that it is bare bones it isn't that heavy anymore.
today i removed a bit more wiring and all 3 "white boxes" behind the dash.

 

oh and i've figured out why my ecu is overheating. time for new injectors. these are too low impedence. not too low for the ecu, but too low for the ecu in 100 degree heat.
i sold the passenger seat before i even had it out of the car. appearently i'm on a lotus kick. lightness is greatness.
2250lbs and 400whp...nothing sounds bad there.

 

success!!!
cabin weight reduction complete! everything is working (that remains). now i've got to clean her all up tomorrow night for a photo shoot and movie on saturday.

 

ok so time to do math...
what come with the coilovers: 8k front springs and 4k rear springs.
so in english that means i have 450lb/in f and 225lb/in rear. the addition of the sway bar in the rear helped a ton. we have figured that the front spring rate is increased by only 25lb/in for the stock sway bar. so 475. then add in the strut resistance which on these is nuts. we'll say 500lb/in front. that's good. now for the rear. i'd say at least 300lb/in (i calculated 400 but i cannot calculate for the bends on the inside of the frame rails) for the new sway bar. so that's 525. then the strut and such so about 550lb/in rear. should need to be stiffer in the rear still.
now according to our spring specs...
500 front are good for 1200lbs of car
550 rear are good for 1300lbs of car.
my car needs to weigh 2500. interesting isn't it.

 

and again. i'm at the max camber i can have on the front and street drive it.

new alignment specs again...
front toe
R -0.10 L -0.10

front camber
R -1.5 L-1.5

front caster
+2.2 both sides

rear toe
R 0.2 L 0.2

rear camber
R -1.1 L -1.1

all in degrees of course.

 

a very sucessful race day. i finally have the car "spinning out". non DOT race slicks on the front and my nt01s on the back. i must admit that it is quite un-nerving being in a fwd and chasing your tail. i'm very happy though. this is a sign that i have been striving to get for months. now to dial everything in and work on just me. i was 3 seconds off the fastest car in my heat, which is great considering what those guys are running.

 

now not next year, i don't think, but perhaps the year after i will make another change and have race slicks all around. 215/580/15 in the back and 245/580/15 in the front. i also need to corner balance the car and re-align her again (and again, and again). i'm very excited today. sorry for my interesting post. it might be time to ask my sponsors for further support.

 

i've honestly not bothered with video. to me it seems quite strange to watch (i have a couple) and rather pointless on an unknown course.
next week it's corner balance time. which means i'll know the new car weight. i know all the hard work i did over the last couple weeks paid off. i cut 2-3 seconds off my lap times on worn out race slicks. the ones i used have about 14 heat cycles on them. but free is free and i won't argue with that.
there is a lot of stuff going through my head at the moment. and i still have an engine upgrade to do. 1000cc id injectors are waiting to be installed. then a retune on the dyno. then i still have to go through the engine compartment and cut weight there (even more than i have already). then i need to redo the body work and paint and sponsorship stuffs.
i guess all in all there is so much more that the car is capable of doing and so much that i need to do. it's hard to believe that such a machine (as you can see with the whole build here) has to change so much so often. it doesn't help that i changed my direction on this but looking back i wouldn't have it any other way. we all know that autoxing, i'll never break the drivetrain i've built. the engine puts out way more than enough power now (and the tune is always getting better and better). good fun. i'm glad i'm a tinkerer.

 

pics of the race tires