Planned planning

 "It's been quiet, only cuz I been busy" - Kool Keith


      So, planning didn't go to plan.

   My initial intention was to drive on the stock GTS brakes with upgraded pads and lines until I felt the need to switch to something bigger. I felt confident in my plan from reading and seeing what I thought were stock GTS brakes on a few TRD N2 race cars. After going back and reading more and more into it I found out that what i though were OEM calipers were actually a cross chassis hybrid pieced together by TRD. They consisted of Cressida dual pot front calipers using a custom bracket and twin cylinder MC set up and at the rear OEM calipers but with a different pad compound. Since the N2 cars were the pride of Toyota it makes since they used whatever they could source from the factory floor.

     This realization alone wouldn't swayed me from my original plan if I wasn't pressured into rethinking by other factors too.

    As I was saying earlier on in the blog, mounting provisions for the seat will be incorporated into the roll cage. To do so requires me to significantly alter the driving position- To do that I'm going to have to get a new pedal set, and to do THAT ill need to know the ultimate front piston size so I can calculate: fulcrum point, pedal ratio, pedal stroke, master cylinder ratios and balance options for the front and rear. Once i start to work that out i can select the best pedal set up for height space and leverage...      the head bone is connected to the wallet bone, im convinced....

     An added bonus to a standalone pedal set is it simplifies brake light wiring to an inline pressure switch. Its stuff like this you'd want to sort out before having a custom harness built.

     The more I read about brakes the more I realize that practically no one understands what it takes to correctly balance them (myself included) Most times id just throw on an upgrade and fit another bigger master cyl with only a vague understanding on what exactly its effecting and how there may have been better ways to accomplish what I was trying to do.
 
    If anything, again, this build has shed light on what it takes to figure something out from scratch and a corner stone figuring this out starts with nailing down the total caliper piston diameter.
    Changing this in the future (al la, swapping calipers later on) massively complicates what i buy now in hopes of using later on.
      EVERYTHING in this arena is cross dependent on something else- an in the end the math dictated that eating what id spent already on pads, rotors and caliper rebuild would be far less in both effort and $$ than if I upgraded in the future.

MUCH MUCH more on this process to come in future updates as I dial it all in..

       So, as i was saying.

  After much research, I ended up buying some Mazda Rx7 FC3S calipers. ill explain..

    There was only really 3 contenders on my search. RX7 and Wilwoods. With the Wilwoods you have a choice between the Dynalite or Dynapro calipers. The Dynalite calipers are what come in most AE86 specific brake kits and are the older of the 2 caliper designs. While good, and certainly better than OEM, they are more prone to flex and uneven pad wear. Flex in a caliper that is not brake boosted coupled with shorter stoke pedal (both of which are planned on my car) can cause big losses in brake torque that you cant account for with other components. It just *is*.

     Wilwood caliper 2, the Dynapro, is the more expensive but a newer and revised design version. They have smaller production runs and need a 2 piece rotor. While a 2 peice is better in design, they cost significantly more money (by a factor of 4x) for a wear item that WILL need pretty frequent replacement.  For perspective replacing just disks and hardware on the front of my Stoptech kit cost about $700 bucks. nope.


  Third choice: The FC3S rx7 brakes are beefy, so no flex issues to worry about. For such a rigid design they still only weigh 5.6lbs and are made of forged aluminum. They also come finned for better heat dissipation. Did you know the rx7 was one of the first production cars to come equipped with a semi metallic pad? Neither did i, but thats why these were ever engineered from the get go.    Also one of the biggest selling points too me overall was the rotors that are used in the kit are readily available off of a 2003 mini cooper S.
This news was a double bonus since I know Civic track guys use this same rotor when upgrading to GSR calipers. This means, if ever in a pinch i could probably even find someone at the track that has a spare disk with them.

 And finally the FC3S actually has MORE caliper piston diameter @ 32.4mm x4 PER CALIPER than both the Wilwoods

That is a huge upgrade from the single piston 50.8mm GTS caliper that I was planning on running.  

Once I had all this figured out I bought some new refurbished Centric calipers with new clips and hardwear. Bracket is a custom C&C aluminum peice from Silvermine Motors I also bought some 'good enough' slotted rotors that ill run till dead and replace with some decent blanks.

close up on the pots

thinking about grinding off the 'mazda' logo. Part of me wants too keep it.

       In other parts news my motor mounts finally showed up from Japan, new in TRD bags. They are something like 35% stiffer than the factory GTS mounts whch should be plenty to deal with the power of the new motor.

    Also from Japan, picked up a Cusco 5th link panhard lowering plate. This welds onto the axle and lowers the attachment point of the 5th link. Surprisingly, (or not so surprisingly) moving this attachment point is often overlooked when lowering an ae86's. It works similar to the traction brackets you'll see for sale but accounts for correcting the rear end movement on the X and Y axis

    When using shorter suspension you lower the chassis on top of the wheels but the distance from the axle to the road stays the same. In a 5 link suspension the pan hard bars radius of movement are supposed to match the length of the rod itself. Yes, you have some adjustment with the heim joints on an after market bar but just shortening them down shrinks the radius arc outside that of the other 4 link bars.This amplifies its leverage on the outside tire in a turn and will manifests to the driver as a tighter more twitchy rearend.  It will also increases axle skewing and rear steering under load. Excessively lowering an 86 without re adjustment and your basically using an inverted panhard where the forces pushing down under cornering will act like a piston and push back up into the chassis dynamically raising your roll center mid corner.

  Maintaining correct spacing where the bar is still a few degrees inclined while static (flat under compression) will induce a more neutral balance that can be fine tuned with spring rates and sway bar instead. It'll also save drive shaft joints and LSD from failing before their time and generally keep you looking like a douche crab crawling around the track.

5- link solid axle is a VERY old suspension system and has TONS of fundamental faults in a road racing application. I have something else in the works that will pair with this modification that will 'help' these shortcomings but not lose what I think is one of the ae86 most unique characteristics. 

 Also showed up was the steering wheel disconnect. I settled on the Sparco race which welds directly onto the steering shaft. Unlike the WorksBell unit i was looking at this has a spring loaded spline instead of the tensioned balls that have become standard. It offers 200% more contact surface between the two halves to share the load. Its the actual part that some WRC rally teams use and doesn't require the additional 3 to 6 hole steering wheel adapter the WorksBell unit does.

The finish on this thing is top notch, and the 'CLUNK' noise it makes when it seats is very satisfying.

    Next up, the 'Forever Backordered' mini latches finally decided to trickle in. I got two from Nebraska, one from Maine, one from Nevada and the last one shipped directly from the supplier. Ive used these on the NSX to attach my splitter and as a bit of extra safety in holding the carbon hood down. I really like this product.
    Each latch is rated too 150lbs of pulling force but pops off with a button. The uses are endless but I plan on using these in addition to toggle straps on the carbon trunk lid so it can easily be lifted off for refueling but wont go anywhere when snapped down.

FIIIINALLY got a huge box from the Honda parts warehouse of odds and ends id been waiting for.  I think it took so long because they had to source some pretty oddball parts.

Assorted gaskets, t-stat, a few replacement rubber rings and OEM plugs

 You can never have enough Hondabond HT, ever.

I needed a single piece of the transmission bracketry along with the much more common mounts.





     I'd wondered how all this fit, and I could never find any detailed pictures of it together off of the car on the net.

 Since my car came with a different type of set up I assembled all this just to make sure that I have all the correct parts.

  Here's a couple of it bolted onto the trans for anyone that's searching for a picture like I was, I'm using lock washers on the non dampened side of the mounts for the nuts that wont be easy to inspect once its on the car.  

 

Another rare parts request; Throttle cable alignment bracket.

Below is how the one looked that came on the car. You can see it hanging left of the gold bolt head, Not sure what type of car it was off of but it had been hacked short and drilled so it was only being attached by a one of the two studded provision in the intake manifold.... I have no idea...  Im almost positive at the angle that it was attached the car was frighteningly close to having a stuck open throttle.

ummm whu?

annnnnnnd fixed. 

For sometime id been sourcing different NPT/BSP/BSPT adapters and deciding on which format is cleanest and safest to run my oil pressure from. As I think I mentioned a few posts ago i'm hijacking the OEM oil pressure warning light port. Its a self grounding switch so there wont be any dash light to annoy me once its gone. In its place im going to use the pressure switch that shipped with my gauges, they are high quality MEAS units but are quite big and have a uncommon in Japanese car NPT threading. The motor on the other hand has a provision for a 1/8 BSP, you can see below how far out the pressure sensor sticks when threaded in with the adapter.

Here is a much more elegant solution using a 90* adapter and stainless braided line to take the weight off of the thin vibrating aluminum of the engine block and move it up to the steel vtec solenoid bracket and away from the heat.

Theres more, but enough for now.  Next time chassis updates! 

Did you say Solid Aircraft riveting and cage progress? Oh yes.

In stitches

 Been super busy the past few days researching some of the more significant components ive been eyeing. I've really been digging into a few areas and trying to get a better idea of why people have formed the opinions they have when it comes to certain things.

 The internet is a weird place in the car forum world, it consists of %.5 'doers' and %99.5 repeaters. Often time you'll see some offhand comment that's been incorrectly repeated and its turned into Internet forum gospel. Not too many people actually understand the what or the whys involved. There's a lot information missing when just asking the question  'what is better' its usually its a matter of perspective and has no one size fits all response.

 As always its better to understand things for yourself and do the research before making a decision. It takes a TON of time but in the end you are better for it.

Currently im busy hashing out some significant upgrades that were worth looking into before I got much farther along. Also made some pretty exciting orders recently that ill go over as the boxes arrive.

Meanwhile theres been some big progress on the chassis side of things. Art at Nitradyne Performance Fabrication has been getting pulled in a few different directions while finishing up some smaller and ongoing jobs. As an 86 fanatic himself hes as eager as I am to tear into it and make headway. This last couple days he finally got a couple uninterrupted stints behind the mask and ended up knocking out a large chunk of the stitch welding.

 The bay:

Its mostly done with the stitching but there's more to do after that to seal up the firewall holes and leave only the provisions nessessary for the new wiring and steering/brake set up. (more to come on those as plans solidify)


 As we go Art is simplifying everything by removing factory brackets as necessary.
This one is for the factory fuse block, a punch and spot weld drill bit work like magic..

then more stitching..

On to the interior...

Previous cage boxes will soon be removed..

Im also adding a custom seat mount that will be tied into the cage. In the event of a significant crash you want to be mounted inside the crash bubble itself. If the seat can move independently from the cage there is a strong likelyhood that the cage will do much more harm than good. The right way is to have all the of important stuff (i.e me) safely inside the structure while it does its work.  The factory 'hump' will remain as it adds torsional rigidity and weighs very little.

   Because we wont be using the factory seating provisions anymore im no longer tied to their location and can position the drivers seat farther back and lower.  This will help significantly in both lowering the center of gravity and by repositioning the weight nearer the center line of the front and rear wheels.

To do this correctly requires more fab work on some other driver controls but im excited to finally own a car I fit well in with my helmet on.


another shot of the floor pan

rear strut in the wheel well. Wheel wells will be tied together with the cage and the old cage pad in the foreground will be cut out and repaired.

Ive read that TRD n2 ae86 had near the rigidity of a dc5 type R chassis after stitch welding and gusset plates. I cant imagine how awesome this is going too feel. The 86 chassis is basically just a wet noodle. More stitch = Less chassis flex. Less chassis flex will allow the suspension to properly do its job. Yay for function.


Here you can see the rust spot I was most worried about on the drivers side strut tower. Art made short work of cutting it out in preparation for some new, sheet metal.

Also while at the shop I grabbed some better pictures of the underside of the chassis. You can see where the seam sealant started and the undercoating stopped. The sealant is more of a foamy texture as opposed to the sandy tar type stuff that got blasted away. This stuff take a pass with the wire wheel and a torch but comes off pretty cleanly. Removal of the remaining sealant and stitching on the bottom will be done once I get the car on a rotisserie, which I should have by this coming weekend.

 Rearend and the 'rolling suspension' is all coming off to make room to work once its on the rotisserie. Rearend will be handled in its own upcoming post once all the parts arrive.

Enough for now. More updates coming soon..

Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

      I've been on a kick of ordering then double and triple checking to make sure i have all the parts I need. Its more bookwork and shop keeping than anything. Theres so many small details that require research before committing too that its easily to get overwhelmed. Now imagine those details effecting future details..  you end up with information paralysis.  This is even without mentioning the money thats involved. 

 There quite a bit of time and effort and cash invested even before the parts get on the car. 

  There have been some "turn on a dime" changes that are inevitable when in a build like this. Things pop up, You come across a deal or you shift your expectation one way or the other and have to adjust for it.

I've said before that this has been an exercise in "while your in there, you may as well" this can quickly snowball into a monster and cause you to lose heart.

   When I bought the car it purpose of it was track beater; I would take care of it, but not wax and polish. had it showed up in better condition (re: actually drivable) it certainly would not have be the build it is today.

 As I pulled stuff off of it I realized there was more and more 'stuff' that i couldn't not fix. 

  The whole arrival/realization/tear down I could categorize as 'Phase 1'

Phase 2 started when I was forced to re-imagine what i wanted this car to be, I was no longer building off a platform but starting from scratch.

  Herein laid the quandary.

The goodnews is: "You can do anything" 

The badnews is: "You can do anything"

So what do I do? Do I take the garden path to la-la land and wait for super rare unobtainable parts and build a gilded chariot that my conscious wont let me drive 10/10ths? 

eh, No. After all Ive got the NSX for that.

  Its not a matter of cutting corners but rather treading into territories not on the map for very minimal return. 

 I took a step back, considered, and reaffirmed my original plan.

If it wont increase safety, reliability or make driving any more fun then, eh. 

 --------------------------------------------------------

While I waiting on more parts and fab-work I decided now was a good time to pull off the valve cover and check was was going on below

Valve train looks extremely good, cams look brand new and all the factory markings are are still lined up. I was told the motor was 40k old and I am inclined to believe it from the looks of things up top.

Plugs on the other hand.... yikes

Sure enough, the AEM tune was causing the car to run like total CRAP. I felt this the very first time I sat in it.... and again when i tried to do hoon some doughnuts in front of my house for a victory celebration after I got it registered... It couldn't even brake the wheels loose. pitiful.

On the pic below you can see from the grounding strap how far down the carbon starts to build, that is a sure sign of too much advanced timing. The thick black carbon build up around the ring indicates lots of unburnt fuel. The fuel is unburnt becasue the plug fires before all the gas had a chance to mix in the chamber, some ignites but most doesn't and you get this.

This can also be caused by the plug temperature being too low, but I can rule that out for two reasons:

 1- The plus is an OEM honda part, they tend to know what they are doing.
 2- You can see some heat discoloration on the threads themselves, also if you you look at the stem of the plug under the lettering you can almost see some bubbling. That wouldn't occur if it was not getting hot enough.

Im going back to an OEM ecu so I don't have to deal with these types of problems anymore.

You can also see that the plug has an (s) on the end of the NGK partnumber- that means that the motor is out of an 03+ or the plugs are newer and were replaced well under the recommended service life. I know this because Honda had an FSB (basically a recall without calling it a recall) on spark plugs on 03.  They replaced them with plugs that have stainless crush washer and the "s" on the part number. I've yet too run the motor VIN and verify the info but its nice to know, initially at least, the story i was told is adding up.


After poking around and coming up with yet another parts list of stuff to order I remounted the new valve cover. I know I said I wouldn't until the motor was in the car but there was no way I was going to put the old one back on. I figure ill just strip and paint the other one too in another color and figure out which one I want to end up running down the line.

 After admiring that pretty sight.  Moved the transmission outside so I could clean it. it been bugging me how filthy it is. The process is straight forward and its nice to see results.

Its hard too see in the pictures but it was filthy where the filler holes were leaking and where oil had whipped up under the car into the crevasses. There was also what felt like road salt on the top in some of the groves.

Clean and fresh!

still drying in the pic but it looks almost new again.

I got more parts in the mail to go over and things are heating up on the chassis side. Ill post a couple pic but expect a proper update on this soon..