I’ve finally managed to get nearly everything installed in order to be ready for the season to start next week. It hasn’t been smooth sailing, but it’s close enough to go on with.
Of both much and little importance: I finally got the head-unit installed and wired up to the steering wheel controls. Fully reading the instructions was the trick for the wiring – why two separate sections said “wire to ground” I don’t know, but the instruction organization was enough to make me think I’d read it all, without actually doing so… And a firmware update was the final piece to get everything working just right. Much nicer sound out of the Pioneer MVH-2300NEX, plus it supports Android Auto. And is lighter than stock by a tiny bit. Bonus! I also installed the bracket I made for holding a cell phone or two.
Next up – the front brake swap. Lots of people seem confused why I’m swapping out the (quite nice) stock Performance Pack Brembos, and the front tells the full tale. While the AP Sprint kit is 10lbs lighter per side vs the standard brakes, it’s a full 15lbs ligher than the Brembos. In fact, it’s lighter than just the Brembo rotors by 3lbs! That’s 30lbs of unsprung mass, quite a bit of it rotating mass. While that mass may be really good for track days, it’s just not needed for autocross. So, out with the Brembo, in with the AP Sprint.
The final task was getting the exhaust sorted, and that was a bit of trouble. The Ace 350 header went on perfectly (I swapped the motor mounts while I was at it for STI mounts – enough stiffer to make a difference, but without making it uncomfortable sitting in the car at idle…) and the Thermal catback is quite nice (though heavier than the 29.5lbs I was told when I inquired, coming in at 37lbs).
Unfortunately, I ran into problems with the front-pipe I’d ordered (3″ catted with a 2.5″ flange, because – well, I thought I might be running the 3″ exhaust I had previously, and there are supposedly a few HP to be gained in a 3″ front-pipe, so why not)… it was simply not possible to fit nuts and bolts in properly, even bolting up to the stock over-pipe. I’m currently waiting to hear back, but may end up having to take it somewhere and fix it.
There was also a disturbingly large gap between the front-pipe and the header, but that closed up without a whimper when I went ahead and installed everything using the stock front-pipe.
Initial tune is in, and datalogs sent off. Things should be sorted so I can comfortably abuse the car next weekend…
Kart Boy short-shifter went in without a hitch and works really well – especially with that beautiful Raceseng shift knob. I managed to sneak in a few cosmetic goodies (side-markers, 3rd brake light, tail lights, and interior LED bulbs) mostly because they were quick. I also managed to get my new dash-cam installed (Street Guardian SG9663DC) – I’ve been rather uncomfortable driving around without, so very glad to have this installed finally.
The final headache was fabricating a bracket to hold the headlight level arm on the drivers side rear LCA. Most (all?) US cars did not have this until late in the game, perhaps starting with the 2017. I’m not really sure. My RacerX rear lower control arms had no provision for this, so I made a bracket.
The big headache remains the alignment and corner balancing. As much as I am glad I have the stuff to do this all myself, it takes me so much time. Part of this is the space – it’s just enough room for me to sneak through on the passenger side of the car, and it’s only so precise… perhaps more accurate than the lasers most shops use, but who knows. I also had to re-do the coilover install on one front corner – probably was tired when I did it, and I was not making full use of the camber from the slotted strut mount. Or it slipped…. either way, it needed attention. I ended up at -3.4° front camber, -2.5° rear camber, 0.02°/0.03° front toe-out and 0.07°/0.08° rear toe-in. Corner balance was right at 50%, weight still a little higher than I’d hoped, but wouldn’t you know I forgot to record the exact numbers… probably because I intend to go back after a couple events and double check everything. I hadn’t installed the header when I did the balance, so I expect some very minor changes. Also it’s always worth checking that everything is still where it was set.
Sorry about the photo quality, I clearly got something wrong and didn’t notice at the time… oh well.
A few hundred miles till break-in is officially done, and the car already has a whole pile of aftermarket goodies installed. Hope for good weather to open the season! It’s not promising at the moment – I might need to get the snow tires out!