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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?
Solid points Greg. In retrospect I should have done more research when I was deciding on what suspension to go with. The irony is that even my current setup has rebound adjustments, (currently set right in the middle) but the stud popping out took my focus away from everything else and I didn't even think to soften the dampers at all. On a side note, do you usually adjust the dampening from track to track or leave it as is most of the time? MSI hasn't called me to take payment info for new studs and nuts, so at this point I think I may have to go with another set of ARP to have the car ready for the annual SCDA Watkins event.
Solid points Greg. In retrospect I should have done more research when I was deciding on what suspension to go with. The irony is that even my current setup has rebound adjustments, (currently set right in the middle) but the stud popping out took my focus away from everything else and I didn't even think to soften the dampers at all. On a side note, do you usually adjust the dampening from track to track or leave it as is most of the time? MSI hasn't called me to take payment info for new studs and nuts, so at this point I think I may have to go with another set of ARP to have the car ready for the annual SCDA Watkins event.
I usually adjust the dampers according to track conditions, rain also plays a factor in determining how to set them for each track. On quality dampers you should only have to go one or two clicks to get the desired results. Each click on mine changes the adjustment about 8 - 10 %, where as the cheap dampers that have 32 clicks and all 32 in either direction only change the performance by 10 %.
What front sway bar are you running and is it adjustable ?
I'll have to begin to start fine tuning the shocks to the best of their ability for varying conditions. For the sway bar I run a solid Whiteline bar, non-adjustable though.
Today was a fun filled day. Up at 5AM to head to Jake's for an AP2 trans install. After encountering very heavy rain and nearly smashing the car into the guard rail 3 times I made it to Jakes. Both Jake and Semir got to working right away. In just 1 hour they had the old trans out and began prepping the new one. These guys work like machines! A little over an hour later and the new trans was in and the car was buttoned up. These guys rock! From driving home it feels much better than the old trans, and it seems like the ap2 trans affords more speed per gear relative to the ap1 trans. Next weeks trip to the Glen will reveal more about its capability, but I'm stoked to have a non-grinding transmission. A big thank you to both Jake and Semir!
With the Glen nearly upon us I had to get to work extracting the seized up stud and lug combo. A trip to HF netted me several goodies, most of which I didn't need. My plan was effectively cut as deep as I could into the lug without touching the wheel surface (that last part didnt work out so well), and then use a hammer and chisel to try to split the lug open. I got as close as I could but it wasn't sufficient to split open via hammer and chisel. So instead I kept chipping away as much as I could off the lug. Eventually I got it down to just the base of the lug. I was able to use a set of vice grips to gradually rotate the remains off and I had a free wheel! Unfortunately I did jack up my wheel a bit from the vice grips rubbing against it as well as the grinder slipping out of the groove a couple times. Another fun point, while pulling the other lugs off I managed to somehow snap the adjacent stud clean off the hub. Didn't really care much but I cant figure out how they became weakened and jacked up out of nowhere. MSI never got back to me with their studs or nuts, so I am using another set of ARP studs, and evasive nuts. Here are a few pics of the carnage:
Now on to prepping the new set of knuckles I got from Jake with fresh bearings, hubs, and studs.
07-04-2017, 05:08 AM
