Drove the car up To Mid Ohio for the NASA HPDE lapping day to give it a good shake down before the winter modding. Still on expired tags, but I called progressive and put liability on it last night.
The car felt much better then I expected. 13 years old and all origional rubber bushing and suspension, etc. It does have Eibachs on it, and some god'knows'what rusted yellow shocks. Had to do both wheel bearings last night, and swapped in the 3:08 rear end so I could cruise at highways speed. Also banged out a ghetto battery mount, was up till about midnight, got up at 5:20, rolled into the track at 7:10.
Event
Very nice. Groups ran 1, 2+3, and 4. We had less then 20 cars in our combined 2+3 group, plenty of track space. We did get hosed by the track though. They blocked off the vast majority of the paddock for their school, so parking for us was tight. BUT, they made it up to us by giving us more track time, 5 sessions, 2.5hrs track time each.
The Car
Deffinatly a different animal then the bird. Even with a full tank, the azz was very light, since thats where I lost most of the weight. On top of that, I had open gears, one wheel peel. The engine was smooth...er, as smooth as its ever been, but it leaked a bit of oil from the Oil preassure gauge line, and temps climbed up over 200 a couple times. I never went a full session, usualy only about 15-20 mins at a time. The custom 3spd auto tranny held up quite well. I was expecting it to slip a bit after 4 sessions, but its still tight. Once I got down the 1-D-1 shuffle shifting technique, it worked pretty good. Still no downshift force to slow me down, damn 3200 stall.
The Tires
I had a pair of 275 Kumho Victor racers on the back, and a pair of 245 Goodyear Eagle GS-CS up front, so it helped. The Kumhos got me about 6 good laps all day, then they greased up from heat and lap times suffered. I was not able to give it any gas leaving turns, as the inside rear wheel would burst into smoke. However, I never had any understeer. It makes me wonder how well I'd have done with a balanced car and a locked rear end. Side note, Slicks are not for beginners! I was almost caught out by them today, and I've been doing this for 3 years.
Brakes
When I called apon my factory disc brakes sysetm for its Herculean grip and brick-wall'esque stopping power....I received Stewart Smally grip and the stopping power of a brisk headwind. The brakes have DEFFINATELY got to go.
Steering
The sparten drop meathod gave me a bit of bump steer. I have also joined the "boiled the steering fluid and sprayed it all over the engine bay" club. Overall, fairly positve steering, need bushings and a fluid flush...AND A COOLER. I'd like to off the factory wheel in lew of a removable racing wheel.
Now, the money shot. Despite all that, nd ht efct it ws my first time driving it in anger, I squeaked out a 1:48....One Minute Fourty Eight seconds! Muahhaha, a mere 3 seconds from mid-pack in American Iron, and I'll be picking up alot of time when I realy dig into this car. :twisted: