Hey aaron check your pm

 

Looking at the dyno graph, your're making 400WHP and 400FtLbs at 5K RPM? Unless you've posted the wrong dyno graph? Have you done any runs from below 3k? Great build and incredible work.

 

I run a single 044 connected to the battery..... slight buzz when initially installed, but once the trunk mats were slapped in (I run two, lol) and the cargo cover was mounted you can't hear it at all from inside the car, and can't hear it from outside even over my current semi-quite exhaust system.

Not even close to 'loud as ****,' although that was an adequate descriptor for my old VR R1's Apex'i BNR33 pump. That **** BUZZED like you can't believe

 

Run 2 trunk mats? You do that purposely for the noise or was their another reason? What if you only had 1? Would you of heard them? Plus if you have them setup like aaron, you Def have to hear them

 

Sorry That was the wrong Dyno Graph. I'll look for the other Graph!

 

Update: INCOMING - "Photo Dump"

I can't necessarily even explain How busy I've been guys!! I'm thankful!! And I wouldn't have it any other way. But I do apologize for the Lack of Updates!!



Alex Rod, Abel Ibarra and Myself @ Alex Rodriguez Motorsports Dyno. BRAND NEW DYNO!!! Sooo nice!


Plugs After the Dyno


Got back to the shop and had to cut another hole in my beloved Authentic D-Max Hood. The old one will be repaired when the car goes into paint at Epicolors Paint =-)


I dig it


Some Late night tuning with Abel. I wish everyone could feel how smooth his tunes are. There is No Comparison. And the fact that people brag about fully tuning a car in a matter of 30 min is ridiculous. Maybe Power pulls..but not Driveability idle or anything that makes the car stand apart.


Got back to the shop the next morning and started immediately on my checklist of things that I wasn't 100% Happy with. One of them being the Clutch. (This would later come back to haunt me)


Needed a replacement filter for my HKS unit. Luckily FR-Sport is only a few miles away from my new place. And replacement elements are only 20bucks or so!! SOLID!


I love it!


Because all of the newer Aero was at the painters... I didn't want to go to my first event looking too hacked up. So I threw on my old Overs for the time being. ...I sorta missed them haha


After the car was mechanically sound... Alignment done, Make Shift Aero on, and ready to rock... I've been really stressed out lately..and I truly think a huge part of it is that all my tools and trailer weren't organized enough for me to be able to actually work efficiently. So I spent an entire day Organizing all of my stuff. Pulling out Fluids I'd need, but also not over loading because I still needed to be as "Light" as possible while hauling.


Spare Axle ayyy?

 

Continued: Part 2 (Photo Dump)

And a parts board that My old room mate was going to throw away. I put it up in the trailer and secured it with wood screws. I was able to put all sorts of parts on it with Zip ties holding them on. This way if I ever need anything off of it... Like I break a tie rod or something... I can simply snip it off and get to work. Thanks to Megan Racing for shooting me some spare rear adjustable arms!

I'll try my best to get a current picture of the board... it's a lot more populated now..but this was in the first few hours...


Hands just take a beating


Finished Loading up and went to fill up with some good ol E85 at the Local Station
...Ethanol Prices went up!!??! WTH..... .yet here I am complaining about paying $2.50 a gal hahaha


Went to get my weekly Lesson building Engines with Abel Ibarra. Again... It boggles my mind when people say they rebuild an engine in 2-3 Hours. Not a Chance the way i'm being taught. I will say this... That were going to start charging more to rebuild engines that have come from people who are Infamous for using Silicon on EVERYTHING. These engines take MUCH longer... as in HOURS and HOURS longer to clean than a Properly Built Keg. Ridiculous. A Properly Built Engine Doesn't Need GOBS of Silicon to Band-aid Everything...Clog up your Oil Pick up etc.


Me and My Buddy Brandon


Do you guys remember Last season when I went off track and dented my Oil pan twice and had to replace it in the same event? I had this piece of 1/4" thick Alum...and at the last min...wanted to see if It would fit over the window on the Engine Sub Frame. It didn't need to be Excessively strong.. Just distribute the Load enough to keep sand rocks or other objects from getting up in and in between that window and hitting the Oil Pan. Weirdly enough.. The piece of Alum was already this shape. All I did was smooth the edges so anyone down there wouldn't accidentally cut themselves


Installed with Riv-Nuts. The Gnurled ones =-)


Picked UP a Clothing Sponsor!! Ilabb!! Pretty cool to be approached by a company. Especially since I've realized I have zero nice cloths. Everything goes into the car... so Being able to wear nice clean and good looking cloths is something that I'm VERY thankful for!! Pic Props to Ryan Chin for some SOLID shots!




FOCUS!!!


Got a Care Package from Stance USA and TF Works!!! Gotta Love STICKERS!!! WOOHOOO


Helpers on the way.... Get it? "Help".....like Helper springs?! No? Not funny? Whateve...

 

Continued: Part 3 "Photo Dump"

It's nice to have companies Want to help you. While doing my alignment...I found that one of my arms had actually been bent since last years ASB. Either when The Mustang Spun and decided to do a burnout giant donut back into the Line..where I was the lead car and couldn't avoid the collision or..when my buddy hit me after a tire Blew out (my Fault Ryan) hahaha.

Megan helped me out with replacement arms!!


Got this Bad *** Measured Funnel from Auto-Zone. It's got all measurements needed. I'm using it for Pre-mix. Comes with a long filler tube or you can use it as pictured below without the tube. Either way... it's really useful! It's even got an on and Off Valve built in. SICK!! Mixing the best Pre-mix there is!! Redline Synthetic Alky Pre-Mix!


Put on a few Extra Stickers... Still Pretty Pumped about the Parntership with GleaseMan! The Billet Series Manifold is still the best Manifold I've seen To date! With Dyno Results and Track time to back it!


Formula Drift Sanctioned Just Drift- Top Drift Pro Am Round 2 "HTM" Horse Thief Mile. ThisIsTheWolf's Maiden Event. Lets see how she does against the Top Pro Am Cars in the World!

Nervous and Excited!!


Set up my Gear inside the trailer so I can reflect!



After a few laps I started getting the feel for her... And Dammmnnnn she's fast!


My Buddy Ray Smith and Eddie Aquilina will be helping me keep the car sorted at events. It's nice to have solid people who know what they're doing..help out! Because I don't necessarily have to tell them what to do to the car. Any Direction I give...is just preferential..and my methods. These guys are SOLID AS!!


Doodling in the dirt


The car feels incredible...and by Lunchtime I was blasting through the course and feeling 100% Confident in the car and Myself for The Event the next day! Qualifying and Battles!!! Props to Shane Hood for the Sick Pic


Saturday Morning started off Great! I had adjusted the Clutch to get the engagement a bit further down in range..so that I could slip it more consistently. I'd initiate at the Bottom of Third..... Slip Third all the way around the Horse Shoe.....Release the Clutch entirely at the end and shoot the Hill. Set my line...and Down shift on the Long slide down the hill..while keeping Revs up and roll into it... Second gear the rest of the Course. Check out the Vid!!

 

Continued: Part 4 "Photo Dump"


So in the Video you can hear when the clutch gets HOT and grabs right before shooting the Hill. Well My adjustment changed that... Made it more controllable...but I kind of forgot about it.. My first Lap in Practice before Qualifying I went off track pretty gnarly around the Horse Shoe. I was still feeling pretty good though. But When I initiated on my second lap. ... That Changed Entirely when My Passenger side Wheel started slapping uncontrollably coming down the hill. I thought to myself.. "l can save this... I'll just throw tons of angle and scrub all my speed." But The car in front of me had just dumped Loads of Oil all over the down hill section of the course. Before I knew it.. i was flying down the track blind..with no Control on an Oil covered course. It could've been bad... Reallllll bad. Luckily I missed 2 cars... but I went off course some 20 Yards. The track had Shut down and it took an hour to clean up the mess. My drivers side Knuckle Snapped at the weld. Which Meant My car was Un-driveable.





This was me trying to pretend I was 100% Chilled out and not worried. Thank you to all of these guys for helping get my car back to the pit. None of them had to do a damn thing...but THANK YOU GUYS!


My guys Got the Knuckle off Lightning fast and Eddie Rushed it into town where Dan From GS-Werks was going to weld it up for me! Thanks TO GS werks for jumping on it!! I Really Appreciate it


We got the Knuckle back.. welded and ready to rock.


Again...I can't be thankful enough to have guys who knew what they were doing on the car. They had it all back together.. and not just "Thrown" together..but installed it solid...And Even Aligned before My qualifying session. Thank you Eddie And Ray!! You guys are the ****!!



Right before my qualifying session... there were another 2 Oil Spills. And Qualifying started 2 and a half Hours late due to it. It was the longest Top drift event to date. Unfortunately....All of these things took their toll on my mental game... And it broke me. My first Qualifying Lap I spun on Initiation. I hadn't Spun anywhere the entire Event. I was still feeling "Ok".... and so for my Second Qualifying Lap... I was feeling less confident. And right before I was given the "Go" They Let some Media guys exit the course.. which normally wouldn't have nudged me at all.... But I let it. And Now that I think about it.. When I left the Line for my second Qualifying lap.. I knew I wasn't going to do well. I initiated.. and let the revs drop a bit too much in Third around the Horse Shoe... Straightened up.... and that was that. Double Zero. VERY Disappointing and Very Frustrating. I can take it one of two ways... The first...is to dwell on the Failure... the second is to realize that The car was un-driveable... I was able to follow Odi during Practice and he said the Wolf was probably one of the fastest Pro am cars he's followed to date... And we were able to fix the car and get back out on track. The Pressure exposed my biggest weakness..and I guess I can take note...that the weakness is Myself. I've got to work on the mental side of things. To not let such things control the outcome of my Confidence. I've got to remain focused and keep it front and center..no matter what the situation. Lesson Learned.... and Now it's time to work this out!!! I'm on it 100% and I can't wait to get out next to make progress on the matter.

Thanks for the Continued Support!! From all of you guys.... from all my Sponsors, Family And Friends!!

Next Update will be covering Formula Drift Round 3 at Orlando Speed World with Mad Mike and our Crew!

Stay Tuned!!

More Updates soon!!

#ThisIsTheWolf

 

What do those spring helpers do?

 

^^Wow Aaron, crazy how the door frame and your locking mechanism flex when you throw the car into a turn. I was watching your video trying to figure out what the heck was going on and realized it was everything flexing. Incredible.

 

Pretty sure it's just not battened down, but impressive none the less.

 

one hole for the wg dumps and the other????

 

Forgot if I had already posted this or not...but I'll try and dig up the other Dyno graph.I thought we had one from a bit sooner. But Put it this way.. the car Idles at 1700.

As I'm still learning everything and everything possible, especially with my new role on the team with Mike.. My understanding of the helper spring is that it is essentially there to load the main spring at full rebound. If that's the correct term to use there...I don't know haha. But When the Shock is fully extended..and the spring is seeing barely any load.. the helper spring (1kg most of the time) is there to "Help" the main spring absorb the next shock load. Anyone feeling like they want to school me on this.. Have at it.. I've got a lot to learn re Suspension etc

Ohh yea... you know I think that is actually Loose.. but thanks for pointing it out!!! I'll put it on my Never ending to do list

Thank you!!!!

The other Holes were where the old waste gate's exited the hood. They'll be covered up when the car goes into paint =-)

 

I always thought the helper spring was to make sure there is no gap when the strut is fully extended, to make sure the main spring doesn't move too much and stays seated where it's supposed to. But I could be wrong, I don't really know either lol.

 

helper springs give you a progressive spring rate, that is why "They aid in rebound stability through corners and over road imperfections" . helps absorb smaller bumps and imperfections and since they are short the bigger spring takes over to control body roll and larger compressions.

 

So I guess I'll try to explain helper springs as best I can.

The only purpose of a helper spring is so that the main spring does not come unseated from the perches while the coilover is at full droop (that is the word you were looking for instead of rebound). For most cars this is only when the car is on jackstands or you pretty much have to jump it while driving. Other than that they are completely compressed solid when the car is on the ground and pretty much only act like a spacer. A super light helper spring (like 1KG) isn't going to do anything for "shock load" when it is always fully compressed. If anything, it actually makes it harder on the damper internals since with a helper the valving will take the brunt of the initial hit from full droop, instead of the strong spring.

But what has me confused is why you would use helper springs on a coilover with separate height adjustment. They are mainly found on single perch adjustable coilovers, where there is only one perch that simultaneously changes height and preload at the same time, and in order to achieve the ride height you want, the main spring would be completely loose otherwise.

Sure it can give you a little more droop travel but it will sacrifice effective suspension travel and you might even be sitting on the bumpstops now because of how much the shock has to compress before it sits at the proper ride height if you set the spring perches so that the helpers are somewhat uncompressed at full droop. With coilovers that have independent height adjustment, you can use the spring preload perch to make sure there is no free play in the spring and then set height with the mount adjustment. At full droop the main spring will still be fully seated so even if the wheel left the ground it wouldn't matter.

Now on the other hand, there are such thing as tender springs as well. They look like helpers but they have spring rates that are higher and will actually do something. These are made for use on long travel dampers. I have a set like this on my Miata that I use for road course, here's a video of them so you can see where they actually come into play. Pretty much only massive bumps.

Video that kind of explains some of what I'm talking about:

 

DAAAYYYYYUM that's a nice hood prop.

 

LMAO.. Soo Good!.. Yet soo True!!

 

I'm thinking we were all on the right track for the most part. Without all the technical terms Thank you for all the Info!!

 

Still never replys to my pm 2 weeks ago aaron!!!

 

Update: "Orlando with Rad Bull"

Better late than never?....Just trying to keep it interesting!

Orlando last year was probably one of the most miserable in terms of Climate... High Humidity being the culprit.. I always look forward to the rounds. But this time I had prepared for the life draining conditions.




Always a good time to reflect



One of the coolest things about Orlando is the Crazy amount of water.. ponds..lakes.. ALL OVER. I love fishing! And my Boy Tommy...And part of our Crew Picked me up from the Airport. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at one of Tommy's Fav sushi places and booked it straight back to his House... it was 1 Am..and we decided it was the perfect time to go Try and nail some Bass in the pond next to his house....
Epic Nice!!! Must've caught and released 6-7 each!


Mike and JT came in the following Morning. We got straight to work on Tommy's Metal slug and street fighter Jams.. I've always wanted to Conquer Metal Slug.... Was Pumped to have accomplished that!!! Psyched on it for sure haha!


and of course we had to do some Fishing with Mike and the boys!


Later on me and JT Jammed out to the track to start prepping things for the next day's practice. Jairus "JT" is no stranger to drifting... He's a multi year D1NZ Champion... Hell of a Mentor and all around good guy. An Excellent addition this Year!!



Out of all the memes... this one had me going the most .... Please feel free to post em if you've got a good one...


Andy Grey's 2016 Weapon... So Sick! Probably my second Favorite FD car


Me And Warren. The things you learn from these guys.....Incredible.


Boss Status



I've Taken on an additional roll's this year.. One of them being Alignment and making sure All the Power get's down to the ground. It's incredible how certain adjustments translate.... into positive or negative. Too much and and we bring out the worst in the MX.. (It's short wheelbase's twitchiness) Too little and Mike won't have enough Grip to drive the car his way. And that's one thing you NEVER want to take away from any driver. Let them drive their way. A good driver can Adapt... but to tell them "You can drive this car that way." Would be taking the "Art" out of Drifting.

One thing is reading the tire wear... A picture tells a thousand words.. Much like a Spark Plug. Beginning of the event


By Qualifying Friday

 

Continued: Part 2 "Orlando with Rad Bull"

This life is just Unreal! Every single day of it.. Struggles... Obstacles...Overcoming Obstacles...Friendships...Experiences... and over all Health. What keeps us from experiencing what Life has to offer? Maybe not so smart.... but when images like this are to be seen in real life.. they're burned into our souls. Right after Matt Madrigal Secured 3rd Place in Pro 2!!


Mike and Myself

A little More Fishing!


Steak and Shake... EPIC SHAKES!..don't ask me what Warren is doing...


Loading up After the event with Matt Fields Crew. Solid guys! and Pumped to be able to be transported by such a diligent team. Sean Alessi in the Background. Awesome to see him grow with his Videography work. He did my "The Wolf" short Event Documentary.


Epic Florida Mud Bog Races after our Event... Crazy Womping Machines!!


Sandwiched in the middle haha... Lucky me haha. Great stories though!!


Got Home and started to Organize things again... I'm Loaded to the top guys. This is easily the most load i've ever carried and It's proving to take a TON of time. Between managing everything with the car maintenance wise... and fixing small little issues so that the car remains solid and things don't run away from me.. I've started to check myself and keep lists of tasks listed.. in Priority from most important to least important. But when the chance to Drive presents itself... I couldn't help myself.
Get home on a Tuesday... Square away Maint on a Wednesday.. and woke up Thursday.... went straight to autozone to grab some general wire. My starter is still having issues when Hot.. Still can't pin-point it..but My Battery Reads 12.62 V 100% on it's own.. and logs show 14.1-14.3V at idle... But then if I come off track and the car is hot.. I'm only getting 9V Max and the starter won't turn over. It's been happening since last year's ASB. So if the car is still "Hot" I have to Bump start it. ANNOYING!! But anyways.. I woke up Thursday ready to Put the Starter on it's own Relay directly from the Battery because I am still utilizing the OEM starter wiring. Figure'd that'd be a good place to start. But of course.... I see a post on Instagram about Formula Drift's #ThursdaynightDrift at Irwindale Speedway and everything went out the door. Ran into the trailer to see if I had tires... Fuel... Check... Check... Ok IRWINDALE I'M COMING!!

Changed The Redline Synthetic 50Wt Race Oil.. which By the way is Incredible stuff... swapped Filters... and Loaded up the Wolf.
These types of pics...never get old


Behind my Boy Sean Adriano. Congrats to him for his First Pro-Am Podium Finish Which Lessens the Limited Class Competition but Means BIG things for him!


Still waiting on a Solid Time slot to get the Car Painted... It's def Proving to be tough to schedule it in... between My Events, Formula Drift with Mike and the Team, Moving Home's Yet Again, And moving my stuff to Alex Rodrigues Motorsports in Corona.. Finding a 4-5 Day Slot to paint the car is soooo hard. But I can't wait! I'm looking Forward to it!!

Not that I'm proud of Riding the Limiter... but some media guys had asked me to try and put out some flames. I told them they probably wouldb't be able to see them during the day But I'd try. Most Rotary Owners would think I was crazy for riding the Limiter in a higher Powered 2-rotor. I didn't think twice. I've got 100% Confidence in this engine. Enough so to raise my Rev Limit to 9K After we install some new Injectors! Here's a quick Donut and Lap session at Thursday Night drift.


The next morning after Cleaning up... I got a little surprise in the mail. Always wanted one of these.. and since I can't afford an expensive Helmet... I wanted to "Style it Up" a little. They didn't have Gold.. and there were limited colors...but I'm happy with this Reflective Blue Shield!



I also found a mechanical Issue with my Clutch. I replaced everything I thought I'd need from my clutch last year. But i'm pretty positive my Exedy Twin's Thick Intermediate plate is past due.. It's not grabbing the way it did last year...and sometimes I can't tell it's even engaged. I''ve adjusted it countless times... before Irwindale and even at Top Drift and now that I'm thinking about it.. It might've played a part in my Crap Initiation's as I E-brake Clutch Kick in.. There is almost zero feedback... and the only time I can tell that it's grabbing... is when it get's hot after slipping for "X" amount of time and Grabs 100%. Usually 3/4 of the way through a bend. It's Dangerous and It almost put me into the wall at Irwindale. As I went into the bank I felt overly Calm...but I thought to myself "It doesn't Feel like its grabbing" ...."And there's not enough room to Re set my line without hitting the wall if I scrub out and re-initiate." ...."Well Shiiiii....Foot to the floor and Hope it holds." ...And luckily it did. But that was one of those "Bad Choices" that you read or hear about racers talk about while they're "in the Moment." Stupid to throw away all the progress to a bad decision when you know something doesn't Feel right. The rest of the car Power wise and suspension wise feels incredible. My Knuckle is DEF off from being quickly welded at the last round. At anywhere closer to Full lock.. i can feel a wobble which is just a by product of quickly Having it welded at an event.
I really need to fix it before I drive again. I'm crunching for time...but I haven't given up. Looking to drive Top Drift Limited The weekend after I get back from New Jersey with Mike and the Team. We shall see what I can make happen!

Me and My Girl


More Updates soon!

Stay Tuned!!

#Thisisthewolf

 

Hey aaron, I find it quite disrespectful that iv been trying to get ahold of you for 3 in a half weeks now with a question about your lim, iv pmed you here and have messaged you on facebook aswell as instagram . You have apparently some time even if a little in your busy/hectic schedule of work/prep/racing life to post up your updates and read and comment back to some Do you don't see you have a pm on your upper right of the forum?? Or just don't want to answer? Im given the benefit of doubt that you just haven't seen it...... Sorry just had to vent.

 

Hey man I'm going to try and bite my lip as much as possible on this one but..

1) I don't Owe you A damn thing,.. nor are you Entitled to be My Top Priority.

2) I find it disrespecful that YOU think I should drop my life to Go over information that I've covered in the thread ..that you probably havn't taken the time to read through. Which is fine if you don't want to. But if you read through the posts, you wouldn't need to ask me these questions.

3) Most Importantly... This is one of the main reasons a lot of people who are actively racing their cars....Stay off the forums. Because people such as yourself feel entitled to information that IS other peoples lively hood and means of making money and doing what they do. We get Blasted constantly for not knowing what we're doing and or doing it "All Wrong" by keyboard Mechanics who've read differently or are so stuck in their ways that they don't understand that there are more than one way of skinning the cat. It's not to say that I havn't done it in the past.... But reading and actually doing are two entirely different things. It's also not to say that I havn't taken into consideration other people's input when it's given, because I have. But Trade Secrets are exactly that... I have been trying to bridge that gap and load up as much information as possible to share with everyone on this forum because Thats how I got my start. I love this Forum and it's a very big part of my Journey. But Just as I was told when I first started playing semi Pro soccer. "No one Person is EVER bigger than the Team." And so to apply that to this forum... We are all equal here. The Team being the forum... And myself and YOU as well..being a part of that team. It's not my fault if I post info and you miss it. It's also not my responsibility to give you all the information that took me years of trial and error and thousands and thousands of dollars of my own funds to get right. If you put the same effort into clicking back on the pages tab of the thread as you did sending me all the Pms, Dm, Face book messages and making me seem as i'm A bad person for not catering to your every whim.. This wouldnt be an issue.

I get Technical questions all the time from people. And 99% of the time I have no issue's giving out info. But in this situation, I'll leave you with this quote:

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Hit the Search Button, or scroll back some pages