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This old car guy would be thinking head gasket on the otherwise unidentified leak. Not sure it would relate to the s2000 engine, but think I might re-torque the head.
On the wheel stud, from the explanation, I'm not sure if the stud is still in the hub, or stuck on the wheel. If you managed to pull through the hub, won't you have to replace the hub? or weld the hole shut and then re-drill? Can you just pitch it and buy a replacement set, or is it stuck in the wheel itself?
[QUOTE=shiv;24244884] The uber stiff suspension had the car bouncing around like I couldn't believe. I would have crazy understeer at turn in, and drift-like oversteer on track out. Plus when I tried to push my braking zone I would almost immediately hit the abs and the car felt like it was on ice. CRAZY! The matters began to get worse after the first session.
So the truth about dampers is you get what you pay for, and yes NHMS is wicked rough on the transitions. That said, if your dampers are not up to the tasks, you will not be able to adjust them to handle the load.
I put the impact gun back on the lug and the moment I hit the switch I hear a loud pop and it starts spinning freely. "Oh joy" I thought, "I must have snapped the stud". WRONG. I managed to pop the stud out of the hub assembly with the lug still seized onto it.
OK - listen up, I learned a lesson like this very early on before the event at WG with SCDA
. I snapped a lug stud and realized I have to pull the hub , replace bearing and possibly the speed sensor......so I was not going to have that done prior to the HPDE event. So online they show how you can grind the hub to pass the wheel stud past the wheel hub. Thats what I did but the take away here is DO NOT USE AND IMPACT GUN. Use an wrench to loosen the nuts and then use your gun on the lug nuts.
Greg you are spot on about the dampers. On smooth surfaces like Watkins, Palmer, and LRP the current HKS setup performed without any issue (albeit a little too stiff), which is why in my mind I always considered them to be a good setup. At NH however, the car felt like utter garbage. I believe it may be time to jump on the Ohlins train with some custom valving and get a couple sets of varying spring rates (all I am seeing is the $$$ involved). Greg do you ever find yourself swapping spring rates for specific tracks, or did you just find the sweet spot that works for you and then leave it as is?
Greg I did a search and didn't come across the hub grinding. Do you recall where I should grind it? Otherwise I'm ready to get a press and replace the hubs bearings and studs. I was planning on swapping out the ARP studs with MSI ones. Peter recommended them to me saying their tensile strength is much higher than the ARP ones. Also they are used by the nascar boys. At this point I'm thinking I should replace the hubs as well. But do you think using the impact gun is what wore down the stud to get popped out like that? Also should I be using anti-seize on the threads as well?
If you buy quality dampers then you spring them to the weight of the car, you should NOT have to swap springs for different tracks. You car weighs the same at each track so you would adjust the compression and rebound rates to match track conditions. Remember - they are called GROUND CONTROL DAMPERS which in itself means keeping the tires in contact with the ground. The reason your cheap dampers feel so harsh is that you run super stiff springs to make up for the lack of dampening control. Believe me I bought cheapo's the first year and all you can do is adjust your ride height with them, they never feel all that good at keeping the car planted.
Just bite the bullet now and put all new lug studs in. Truth be told, I also snapped a stud on Thursday evening moments after arriving at Mid-Ohio at the start of a 3 day event. I was there with Porsche club and they make you go thru tech every day before going on track and they CHECK your torque as part of tech. The stud was not completely snapped off so I left it alone and talked my way out of having them torque my wheels. I had the wrong tires on the car and suffered through 2 days of being SLOW on track. Sunday after I went thru tech I went back to my paddock, swapped the wheels and in the process snapped the wheel stud completely off. I put slicks on and went out to kick some ass on those Porsche boys. I ran the entire day with 4 wheel studs with no issues. Not recommended but it can be done.
If you still want to grind and install new stud without hub removal I can look for some old pictures. See attach, grind away where the arrow is, it has the most material here. You need to also grind the wheel stud head enough to make it pass thru the opening. Its a trial and error type thing. I have also seen guy press out the hub just enough to replace the wheel stud and then press it back together. Its pretty tricky and not always successful. I have a bunch of old assemblys in the barn and could sell ya one in an emergency but I would still encourage you to fix your crap now and be done with it. I always keep a spare set of hub/spindles setup with after market studs and fresh bearings. I can swap one out in about 15 mins if the need arises.
BTW - its not the impact that causes the issue, its that the OEM studs are very soft and they stretch. Once they are weak the impact is just the final nail in the coffin. Ian Prout was the one who got me started on loosen by hand method.
. Not sure how I am to go about extracting this damn thing, but I'm thinking some form of heat and a sledge hammer.
I had not read this part of your adventure prior to posting my response. Your HUB is wasted, don't even try to use it again, its all stretched in the area that the knurled part of the wheel stud is supposed to catch and grip. I have done this with after market studs when I forgot to tighten the lug nuts at Palmer. The only fix is to put a new stud in and weld the back side of it, thus making it a disposable part if you ever run into another problem.
You know when I first started this hobby I figured a few track days a year, nothing serious. A few tasteful mods and I should be content, along with some basic tools to conduct some basic maintenance. I certainly did not anticipate going down the rabbit hole. Down the rabbit hole we go with no end in sight. But dear lord this is addicting. In yet another event of taking maintenance issues into my own hands, (though my ancestral Indian cheapness also played a part), I picked up a 20 ton press to be able to press in new bearings, hubs and studs. Also plan on doing a massive bushing replacement over the winter so it should come in handy there too.
The unit feels fairly solid, and though it is harbor freight, the only part I can see failing is the bottle jack. In which case I can just replace it with a higher quality unit. Everything else is just a steel frame so should be good. And yes, I intend on leaving this press in the living room
I have the same press, it works well. I did smoke the bottle jack after 4-5 years but they're cheap to replace. Get some thick scrap metal, you'll need some to use as spacers for hubs.
I I recently added some thicker legs and casters to make moving it around easy.
So looks like we will be doing bearings in the lounge area next to the coffee table and the smoking chair. Doubles as a wine rack too.
As Jake says - Biggest challenge will be to find the EXACT size metal object to shim the hub properly while pressing them in. You will also need a HUGE socket or some other sturdy object that lines up on the very edge of the bearing. I used massive sockets from my buddy's construction business - ones he used on bulldozers and we also had plenty of steel angle iron for shims. You will also need a grinder with a cut-off wheel to cut the race off the hub once you press it apart.
I have since graduated to the Hub-Tamer with the Honda adapter add ons. This tool is unbelievable and works so damn nice I wish I bought it years ago. It aint cheap but neither are the NSF bearings and Honda hubs not to mention a bearing failure the end your day during a track event $$$$.
06-26-2017, 12:56 PM
