Summer downtime

   Been a min since my last update lots of things going on but ill start at the beginning

After the day at Buttonwillow I signed up last min for a Streets of Willow track day with my buddy Dan. We decided to go pretty last min so I didn't really change much on the car since round 4 of HFF challenge. Basically I had only adjusted the angle of the rear gurney and painting the valve cover.

Leaned back from 90 for a MUCH more efficient areo profile.

For this event I wanted to try and run Streets with the Toyo RR's they're said to be a quicker tire than the NT01 and I wanted too see what all the hype was about.  I'd already bought a set after flat spotting my nt01's at rd2 of HFF and was going to put them on and see what kind of times the car was capable of at my "home" track.  I had the Toyo's put on some 15x7.5 -5 wheels  and ran a staggered set up with the Fn10rc's out back. It was JUUUST fitting under the fenders so I brought my other set of wheels and tires to the track just incase.

Looks pretty meaty

After pulling it off the trailer and driving it around the pits I realized that there was no way that id be able to drive it hard without damaging the tires on the fenders. I swapped back to my NT01 set of wheels and tires and resolved too get the Toyo's back on the car at future event when I had more time to test the wheel to tire to fender combo..


Track weather was pretty perfect. I knew these would be the last few weeks of sub 90* temps until October so I wanted to make the most of it. I'll typically take a couple months off during the summer when it gets really hot  I'd maybe do the odd track day here and there but Im in no rush to go hang out in the desert when its 110+ ; that's just no fun for anyone.

Some shots from on track:

puffing blue smoke like a b18 should

Video here:

Car felt good. Managed to PB the CRX even though I still had a few niggling issues to take note of and fix. I'd planned to use this event to figure out what needed attention during the down time coming up- Overall the car felt like it had some decent balance with the last round of mods id done. My main concern was turn in and rotation. I'd learned that in setting the car up for Buttonwillow I was actually wanting more rotation and front bite here at the slower speed track. I unhooked my front swaybar and cranked down the rear bar to get more rotation I even messed a bit with pressures front and rear to dial in the feeling I was looking for. I missed my mark but gathered some ideas for a Streets of Willow specific set up for the future.
   I really enjoy driving this dilapidated track more than I probably should, its shitty, more dangerous than it should be, dusty, has zero paddock amenities and an awful track surface- but it just feels like home. It IS a track that favors finesse and set up over a heavy gas pedal.  Low HP but light cars can out match much 'faster' cars when dialed-in specifically to driving at 'Streets'.

This time out driving the CRX and being able to feel how its progressed in the past few months really got me thinking about setting a goal specifically for this track. I already have the fastest lap for a Naturally aspirated NSX here (both directions) so on the drive home I decided I'm going to try and go for an eventual target of of fastest FWD NA car. Quite a goal, i know, but im already not too far off.  I know that going the last mile is always the hardest.
  In the end I was able to top the time sheets over new gt3's a Mclauren and a TON of new M3's. Not bad for 180hp Honda from the 80's.


One major issue I needed to sort out was oil blow by. For whatever reason (probably the hard left into the bowl) Streets of Willow made what was a 'sort-of problem' much more immediate. The oil had soaked the bottom of the car all the way back to the diffuser and rear tire, after seeing how bad it was getting, literally dripping off the floor pan onto the ground, I called my day early as not too oil up the track and cause someone too go off.

I put the car up in the air and made a master checklist of things that I wanted to improve in the summer months downtime.

First thing is first, I finally got my baffled oil pan in  and used the opportunity to pull off the lower shield to check on the oil squiters I had replaced a few months back. I was half expecting them to be sheered off again but everything looked to be in good shape. I cleaned the pick-up screens and re installed the larger capacity pan with trap doors to keep the oil where it needs to be under hard cornering.  

 I also decided now was the time to do one of the bigger jobs left on the car. After kicking the idea around since the first night i bought the car I'd finally convinced myself now was the time to figure out a solution to the fuel lines that ran though the cabin on the door cill. After removing the tank and looking at it from all angles I  settled on the best effort to improvement ratio would be to replace everything with better lighter safer components instead of adding on or just changing something or another here or there.

TANK REMOVED

filler and filler vent lines in gold, feed/return/charcoal canister lines in green. I'd be able to ditch all these. 

they run along the driver side door and can easily be crushed in a side impact

they run up under the dash next to the drivers feet and across the fire wall. Here's me cutting them into sections for easier removal

No fuel lines. trunk popper is also being removed and relocated. fuel door popper can also be 86'ed

removed about 65lbs plus. Surprising how flimsy all this stuff felt yet it does the job good enough. 

Now that everything was out of the car I had to figure out what and how I would replace it. That just mean hours and hours on the computer researching. 

While I was doing research I got busy fixing the easier things. I resolved to fix the notorious b18 blow by issue once and for all. I bought some -10an weld in bungs and had them TIGed into the valve cover. The idea is that I can run two fat lines to a catch can and help to equalize the crankcase pressure with ambient. Equalizing these as much as possible lessens stress on the rings and helps run a much cooler and efficient motor. 

Heres the mocked up catch can routing utilizing only one port off the valve cover. I would end up redoing this set up a few times to get everything too fit. Final version is much much improved and i utilize both ports. Still tweaking it so ill post up pics when im happy with it on the next update.

While I was doing oil related things rethought a few details on the oil pan and lines to the cooler. Safety wire is always a good idea when fitting aluminum too steel.

 I also removed the AEM FPR that was mounted on the strut tower. It had awkward fuel line placement that was obstructing the oil cooler feed line path that I was also re-routing. I decided now was the best time to swap the aem unit with a Tomei part. I attached it to the firewall as it will be the most direct route to the new fuel lines that would eventually installed. Its a good idea to buy all new -AN fittings when working with fuel systems- I make especially sure to get the same brand male-female unions even if it means re buying fittings that came with the original product. Stainless braided lines are used for any engine to chassis connections to allow for some flex. Everything else on the chassis im planning to do on stainless and seamless hardlines. It will be a pain, but worth it in the end.

I also moved the oil temperature sensor from the line junction after the cooler to actually be submerged in the oil next to the main pick-up. This is by far the ideal placement to get temps from. While I was there (and everything was still clean) I gold foiled the oil pan in the areas above the header. When I did this on my NSX I saw a difference in temps right away. There are a lot more details of the oil system that I fixed but neglected to take pictures of. Ill get some of those on here in the next update.  

After a TON of research I decided that my best option was to run a 12g fuel cell as close to the OEM placement as possible. This is ideal for weight distribution as well as the safest place in the car. It sits right in between the cage and far enough from the back that in a rear end collision there's enough structure to dissipate energy and not pop it like a water balloon. 

Measure 203495490275 times cut once, nerve racking

I decided to use a 12 gallon AreoTec Labs 'wellcell' with a fancy-dancy aluminum fill plate option. I used the aluminum box originally made for the ae86 project as the template to verify fit. I knew i'd have to make another box and figure out a rock solid mounting solution.

looking good

With some clutch help from my friend Mike we cut then parts needed to build a box to house the bladder. I chose to do it out of 1/8 thick aluminum I had sitting around from the ae86 the thickness of the material was coincidentally also the FIA requirement when building alloy gt2 gt3 spec fuel cells.

 Box with the correct height- though not yet welded test fit in the car.

I then had to make the filler plate provision and lid to the box. This required quite a bit of very precise measurement. If anyone is planning something like this themselves I would recommend just buying an out-of-the box solution. Apparently I like to do things the hard way.

I took the soon-to-be lid over to a family friends barn where he has a rotary press that could make quick and clean work of the filler plate holes.

I need more awesome tools in my life

Punched and clean. now just to hole saw the 6 inch center and clean the edges

By now I had decided that the time was also right to remove the dash/wiring and everything else as to better be able to work in the car while I figured out what too do with the fuel lines/rear brake lines/wiring.  

It was at this point that I fell into my trap of "while im this far into it I may as well..." 

I'd had an itch to refresh the inside of the car for quite a while. There was still some tar coating left from the previous owner and it was about 3 different colors. I decided to dry ice the remaining tar and wire wheel everything smooth then epoxy seal the whole deal. This is certainly not a trivial amount of work too do, but it would pay off in durability and looks when finished.

Before starting I decided to seal off the holes I wouldn't be using in the fire wall

Once that was done everything was masked off and ready too go

Seriously, fuck masking.

I first applied a priming coat too for the epoxy to stick and so I wouldn't be painting white over black, which would take forever to get consistent.

wear a good respirator kids

After about 3 days of painting and spraying the interior was totally sealed and looking awesome

box placed in for mocking up of tie downs

                         Chasing all the needed threads i'd need took about 4 hours to do by itself.

Now that the aluminum box was back from welding the next step was to put it all together so I could affix the lid too the box and finalize the design.  

The 2 inch angle was used to add rigidity as much as foe the ledge to attach the top too

Mid progress

1/2" Drain hole in the bottom mandated by just about every sanction body will be plugged with a grommet when in use.

box details

I used rivets in place of welding the angled pieces on. There will be a 1/4 thick 70DR firmness fire proof closed cell foam glued too the inner vertical surfaces of the box. The bladder itself is kept from moving by the 25 screws through filler plate on the top. I also Fireproof silicone sealed the box on the inside at all the welding joints. (not pictured)

Coming together. Its slow and tedious work.

Once again I decided that since I was this far.. and I didn't ever want to do this again that I may as well send the car off to get the front half of the cage added along with some door bars and provisions to mount the fuel cell to the frame rails. 

Before I sent it off I cut the door guts out to figure out how I would build the door latch mechanism. The car should be considerably lighter than before, even after adding all of the cage material.   

On the truck to the cage shop...

I'm going to circle back to a bunch of these things in the next installment. I'm at a place now where it helps to start to see how things are coming together before finalizing design. I've already added to or changed plans to accommodate some better ideas. Looking forward to getting the car back together.