Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[bcredeur97]

4 hours ago, warmmilk said:

yeah, its a really fun track! it has a couple dangerous sections though that can really cause a lot of damage to car and driver (especially in a convertible) if you go off... but its still lots of fun!

 

I'm not sure about the more grip part to be honest.  my 215 RS3's are pretty heat cycled by now, on the RSX I still had pretty healthy 235 Dunlop ZII's.  The other thing is the Miata really isn't set up yet with my new coilovers.  Height is just eyeballed with the rear considerably higher than the front, I'm still running the same alignment I got last year with the Fox coilovers. So being at different heights now, the only thing I can say about the alignment is that it drives straight.

The other big factor is the dangerous/scary track and the fact that the RSX was FWD.  I'm still at the point where I approach RWD with a bit of caution whereas FWD I can push right up to the limit.  So I'm pretty sure I drove the RSX harder.

Faster on the straights isn't really a simple comparison between the 2 cars.  The RSX is definitely faster, but I was on EBC Yellow brake pads... my stopping distance on the main straight was about double that of the Miata.  I haven't done a data overlay of the 2 laps, but the app shows me peak speed.  On the Miata its 121.3 and on the RSX its 121.5... its that super long braking distance that evens out the speed.  look at the braking point difference in the 2 vids (linked RSX vid below along with Miata again for easy access).  I guess average speed shows the difference, 77.0 on the Miata and 78.7 for the RSX.  But to be honest I'm pretty sure its not just straight line speed, I think a bit of that is in the corners also. Part of the crappy super long braking distance with the RSX allowed me to setup and really nail the corner entry.  The abrupt and somewhat violent braking on the Miata didn't really leave the car setup optimally for corner entry and I also ended up over braking a bit for most corners.  This is really more like 95% my fault as a driver and maybe 5% the car (gotta dial in the setup)

 

for reference, at the Ridge my best Miata time (fresh tires, Fox coilovers when are designed to run with no rear sway bar, proper alignment) is:

2:03.25  ave spd 71.5   max 113.3

for the RSX:

2:05.99  ave spd 68.5   max 116.9

 

ah yes, the shifting.  I'm slamming gears and the clutch pedal pretty much the same in both cars... pretty sure the difference is the clutch and flywheel.  the RSX had a stock clutch while the Miata has a carbon clutch.  Its out of production now (but can still be rebuilt by RPS), but what they did was take a stock Miata clutch and flywheel and replace all the friction materials with carbon.  The result is a lighter clutch with a quicker engagement.  So part if it is that its lighter clutch and but more is the quicker engagement.  Part of the jerkiness on the RSX is the longer engagement window and just the weaker clutch in general.  When I slam a gear, it takes a bit for the clutch to fully grip, and thats what gives it the jerk.  With the carbon clutch on the Miata it just sticks...

 

haha, I hear you on the dailying a Miata thing.  To be honest, when I was your age (assuming 19-22) I'd have no issue dailying my current Miata and I'd think the current me is a soft ass douchebag...  I wouldn't comprehend driving a boring sloppy auto 328 over a razor sharp manual Miata...

 

 

RSX lap

 

Miata lap

 

I'm gonna have to second this, kinda impossible to tell from the pic...

 

 

 

 

@bcredeur97

just saw the pics with no engine in your car, what exactly did you end up  going with about your engine?

Can't watch your vids right at this moment but I chose a ~60kish mile Japanese engine (hey! The inside of the water passages are spotless on the new one so that's a good start lol). I also got a Japanese ecu so I could use the Japan intake even. And the motor came from an auto car so that's an added plus. (The ecu is a long story how I got that, it didn't come with the engine). Lightweight flywheel (14 lb ACT one instead of stock 22) uhhhh can't use the Japan 4-2-1 exhaust manifold because of the front pipe I can't find anywhere (and I want it to LOOK stock lol, it even has a similar heat shield and everything) 

 

Hopefully that's everything you'd want to know about it. ~153 hp (with the exhaust manifold) instead of 142. Small difference but really the main reason I got it was because it's easy to get a really clean and not heavily used engine from Japan. Especially off an auto car ya know?

 

came with the auto that I don't know what to do with too...

 

 

 

More pics from today; clutch looked good surprisingly despite the intense shuddering lol. Also cleaned the engine bay and couldn't use the water neck because mr shipping company broke the original but we bead blasted the old one (wish I had one of those lol)

 

 

 

[bcredeur97]

Almost forgot old flywheel

 

 

(And pilot bearing in the middle)

[bcredeur97]

@vetali clutch wasn't original. LuK brand.

 

pilot bearing was pretty bad too. Shot.

 

spun very roughly 

[RevoltTrain]

May be getting an aluminum dash for $50+ shipping 

[vetali]

38 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

@vetali clutch wasn't original. LuK brand.

 

pilot bearing was pretty bad too. Shot.

 

spun very roughly 

Was it a ball bearing one or needle bearing one?

 

Also what kit did you get? 

[bcredeur97]

2 minutes ago, vetali said:

Was it a ball bearing one or needle bearing one?

 

Also what kit did you get? 

Not sure. It didn't come apart and we didn't take it out but it was just pretty bad. Was the right time for it to come out.

 

Excedy OE clutch kit(pilot bearing, throwout bearing, clutch, pressure plate... umm I think that's it but I don't remember) , flywheel will be ACT 14lb

[vetali]

Just now, bcredeur97 said:

Not sure. It didn't come apart and we didn't take it out but it was just pretty bad. Was the right time for it to come out.

 

Excedy OE clutch kit(pilot bearing, throwout beating, clutch, pressure plate... umm I think that's it but I don't remember) , flywheel will be ACT 14lb

Yeah mine was exedy that I put in... not a fan of it at all. Definitely not OE like I've read. Plus my motor mounts are getting sloppy again, so thats cool. 

 

 

[AlwaysFSX]

@bcredeur97 I hope this new engine is grief free.

[terrytek]

34 minutes ago, RevoltTrain said:

May be getting an aluminum dash for $50+ shipping 

how much are the parts itself? and is it milled from solid aluminum, or is it sheet aluminum?

[bcredeur97]

19 minutes ago, vetali said:

Yeah mine was exedy that I put in... not a fan of it at all. Definitely not OE like I've read. Plus my motor mounts are getting sloppy again, so thats cool. 

 

 

well the miata OEM clutch has judder issues (mine did even tho it was a LuK clutch though, but the bellhousing was also full of grease and slime on the engine side so there was definitely contamination going on.

17 minutes ago, AlwaysFSX said:

@bcredeur97 I hope this new engine is grief free.

yeah same.. 

Btw when we went get lunch his M3 broke . CEL, reduced power lol. limped it back to his house lol

[AlwaysFSX]

8 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

yeah same.. 

Btw when we went get lunch his M3 broke . CEL, reduced power lol. limped it back to his house lol

Thread juju strikes again.

[vetali]

9 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

well the miata OEM clutch has judder issues (mine did even tho it was a LuK clutch though, but the bellhousing was also full of grease and slime on the engine side so there was definitely contamination going on.

Like the inside? Could have a bad input shaft seal. 

[RevoltTrain]

26 minutes ago, terrytek said:

how much are the parts itself? and is it milled from solid aluminum, or is it sheet aluminum?

Not sure. It may be just plastic that looks like aluminum. But that's still better than plastic that looks like wood.

 

But I've wanted to get rid of my fake wood dash for a good while now anyway. Just looks bad.

[warmmilk]

1 hour ago, bcredeur97 said:

Can't watch your vids right at this moment but I chose a ~60kish mile Japanese engine (hey! The inside of the water passages are spotless on the new one so that's a good start lol). I also got a Japanese ecu so I could use the Japan intake even. And the motor came from an auto car so that's an added plus. (The ecu is a long story how I got that, it didn't come with the engine). Lightweight flywheel (14 lb ACT one instead of stock 22) uhhhh can't use the Japan 4-2-1 exhaust manifold because of the front pipe I can't find anywhere (and I want it to LOOK stock lol, it even has a similar heat shield and everything) 

 

Hopefully that's everything you'd want to know about it. ~153 hp (with the exhaust manifold) instead of 142. Small difference but really the main reason I got it was because it's easy to get a really clean and not heavily used engine from Japan. Especially off an auto car ya know?

 

came with the auto that I don't know what to do with too...

 

 

 

More pics from today; clutch looked good surprisingly despite the intense shuddering lol. Also cleaned the engine bay and couldn't use the water neck because mr shipping company broke the original but we bead blasted the old one (wish I had one of those lol)

 

 

 

How are your Autox buddies gonna reply to the crazy 11hp power increase?

 

are you gonna tear down the old engine to see what exactly was wrong with it?

[bcredeur97]

20 minutes ago, warmmilk said:

How are your Autox buddies gonna reply to the crazy 11hp power increase?

 

are you gonna tear down the old engine to see what exactly was wrong with it?

Mr Keith is fine with it and actually said considering how clean the engine was it was probably the best option as far as a used engine goes. 

 

He just said dont don't try to go beyond a regional event with it. You can't hide that stuff at a national level, at least not without putting the stock intake and ECU back on 

 

(stock intake has VTCS where the Japan one doesn't so you swap ECU's to avoid a CEL, but supposedly the tuning is the same despite the 10.5:1 compression and hotter intake cam on the Japan motor) (and 11 hp isn't much considering those internal upgrades... a megasquirt would make this engine COME ALIVE)

 

 

 

Yes but not now. It'll go to matts house/shops and we can fool with it at a later date. My best guess right now is all the rust allowed local tempatures (cylinder temps) to get hotter than normal and caused a "nuclear meltdown" situation in cylinder 4 overtime because of the heat, and that's already the hottest cylinder in the engine because of the backwards coolant thing it just made the situation a whole lot worse than it usually is. That's why I'm excited the new one is spotless inside from what we could see through the coolant neck. Just as clean as my old one under the valve cover too.

[RevoltTrain]

Are there any really good car audio based YouTube channels? Trying to learn stuff so I don't have to depend on others so much

[vetali]

10 minutes ago, RevoltTrain said:

Are there any really good car audio based YouTube channels? Trying to learn stuff so I don't have to depend on others so much

https://www.youtube.com/user/discjockeyetc/videos

[RevoltTrain]

Would anyone be able to recommend a 1200W (600W RMS) Monoblock amp? (Preferably 2 Ohm)

 

Nevermind. I jumped down the rabbit hole. Have a sub setup figured out. Now just to research and figure out dash / door speakers. When I do door speakers I'll dynamat the inside of the doors

[warmmilk]

3 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

Mr Keith is fine with it and actually said considering how clean the engine was it was probably the best option as far as a used engine goes. 

 

He just said dont don't try to go beyond a regional event with it. You can't hide that stuff at a national level, at least not without putting the stock intake and ECU back on 

 

(stock intake has VTCS where the Japan one doesn't so you swap ECU's to avoid a CEL, but supposedly the tuning is the same despite the 10.5:1 compression and hotter intake cam on the Japan motor) (and 11 hp isn't much considering those internal upgrades... a megasquirt would make this engine COME ALIVE)

 

 

 

Yes but not now. It'll go to matts house/shops and we can fool with it at a later date. My best guess right now is all the rust allowed local tempatures (cylinder temps) to get hotter than normal and caused a "nuclear meltdown" situation in cylinder 4 overtime because of the heat, and that's already the hottest cylinder in the engine because of the backwards coolant thing it just made the situation a whole lot worse than it usually is. That's why I'm excited the new one is spotless inside from what we could see through the coolant neck. Just as clean as my old one under the valve cover too.

Sounds good, unfair advantage and all

 

not that realistically it makes much of a difference at an Autox 

[Killa Wall]

10 hours ago, AlwaysFSX said:

Found a middle eastern store here a couple days ago and got some lutenica, that's some good shit for being in the States. Y'all gotta try it some time.

Lutenica is one of man kind's greatest inventions.

[bcredeur97]

5 hours ago, warmmilk said:

Sounds good, unfair advantage and all

 

not that realistically it makes much of a difference at an Autox 

Eh not really. I would say s2000 but it's only 11 hp, not 50 more or whatever the s2k has

[GlassBomb]

 

[TVwazhere]

On 5/20/2017 at 10:27 PM, RevoltTrain said:

@TVwazhere 

 

 

*old reply, I was away for vacation for a week*

 

Very clean!

 

*there are an additional 75 tabs since I last visited, holy crap*

[iDeFecZx]

16 hours ago, vetali said:

 

 

been reading this for a few hours.

 

http://www.focusrs.org/forum/154-focus-rs-troubleshooting/49833-failed-leaking-head-gasket-resource-thread.html

 

headgasket failures, cylinder head/block cracks on a small # of focus RS. 

Best hot hatch ever made. 

[terrytek]

9 hours ago, RevoltTrain said:

Are there any really good car audio based YouTube channels? Trying to learn stuff so I don't have to depend on others so much

sonicelectronix usually gives very good advice on car audio. like they have subwoofer tests recorded with professional equipment, detailed installation instructions, etc.