Thanks for the support guys!!


Update:

So A lot has happened since the dyno. Ran into a fuel problem which was a hell of a lot more frustrating than it should've been. Realized I replaced a pressure sensor with the wrong part number sensor that looked exactly the same...and I put it in the same box as other pressure sensors with the same part number.... So it was making my ecu read all wacky pressure readings. ....as low as 2psi...as high as over 100 haha. Tons of headeach......inspection...trouble shooting and diligent re-checking got me to solve the problem. Fuel pressure is now back to being correct. Re-installed my AEM FPR sensor and aux gauge so that I have one that logs into the ecu and another that reads from the same location...JUST so I can keep track of it.
So to keep a long story short... This is what I've done since the dyno:

-Fixed my Radiator ducting with Safety wire till I am able to re-configure the car with New ducting with better/stronger mounting points.
-Ran hard lines for my Independent hydro set up
-Got 4X speed bleeders for my turbo ii calipers so I could bleed it without chucking a monkey wrench against the wall.
-Installed Racefab Dual caliper brackets
-Ordered Pads for them at autozone ...they gave me the wrong ones...had to re-order them. Finally got the right ones and still needed to shave them down considerably in order to get them to mount freely...even with the piston all the way back.
- Installed everything finally and was able to get it to lock pretty good....but still need to re-bleed it once/few times more to ensure it's all the way bled.
-Ordered New front tires. 215's looked sooo kewl..but made the car handle like a giant bag of D
- New fronts are Federal Rs-R's 245/35/18's.
- Mounted new tires
-Had to remove all spacers in front to get them to fit
- Had to shave down the "mazda" Emblem on the calipers to get my wheels to fit without scraping the calipers without spacers
- Had to cut the inside of my fenders ever further to allow room for the larger fronts
- Which exposed more rubbing...so had to cut even more of the inside front bumper lip to get it to clear
- Finally cleared the inside bumper and then hit the weird lip part of the frame that sits on the inside of the kick foot well. .....so I shaved that down..
- Ended up raising the front end of the car up almost a full inch so that I could drive without exploding everything.
- still rubs in areas...but the trade off is the car is on rails now..
- Got a fire extinguisher in...need to figure out where to mount it
- Purchased new end links for my tri-point sway bar... cut them down so that the bar wouldn't sit as low as it did before...
- Purchased wide foot billet sway bar brackets ..group-buy here on the forum. But those won't come till next week sometime.
Fixed my Tri point sway in general...If you guys remember it was all bent out of sorts from running over that lipped fence railing.
Used a mallet to get everything back straight. Was surprised nothing cracked. But won't be running the sub frame mounts for much longer....just till the wide foot mounts come in.
-Went back in and helicoiled my secondary rail mounts... those had stripped out as well. You know they really don't need as much tq as it may seem. The injectors should rotate with no binding of any sort...and I think a common mis-conception is that they must be smashed in there. DON"T over tighten your rail mounts!!! secure!!! but not smashing the injectors!!
Added some heat reflective tape to my D-max hood vents. I really love this hood.
- my ignition switch broke...haha. purchased a push start button and arm switch that I want to install tonight but I'm not sure I'll have time.
- Changed the Oil again
-Checked alignment in the rear... seems Spot on..but the car still pulls to the right
- Checked alignment in the front... It was a bit off.. fixed it.
- Ran all new wiring to the AEM fuel Pressure sensor and gauge...previous owner did an excellent job hiding twisted together power/grounds/signals. Thought there was something wrong with it till I completely pulled it apart.
-put fanboi stickers on my windshield.
-Cleaned my fuel filter twice (paranoid with all this internet jargon about Ethanol and it cleaning out gasoline residue left previously)
- Did a few really nice long burnouts


AND.....Signed up for the Mazda Fest Track Day tomorrow =-)

Corresponding pictures!!


this exploded because I accidently installed my return in tank right up against the sidewall...pressure backed up and this happened. Could've been a loot worse....and good thing I simply turned the pumps on and didn't start the car....or worse..was driving the car when it happened.

on any given night...I may just decide to clean something up that I just wasn't....as...satisfied with......as I wanted to be.

Lambo Door kit haha.... May or may not install this. Anyone interested in taking it off my hands?!

trouble shooting....Aeromotive FPR diaphragm...this is over 8 years old... worked flawlessly over its life span of my two cars...along with however many set ups its been on before when I got it used. Quality!

Just Drift track day... Horse Thief Mile....cant wait to get out there!!

Making hard lines with sub par tools... a socket..DOH..worked though ;-)


duct fix

Late night Ethanol run

 

Update:

Mazfest 2014

I was able to get out to Mazfest this year...and signed up for the track day as well. I was able to get my sway bar installed but still was only running the strapped mounts that attatched to the engine sub frame.... So the car felt good out there...but I know it was flexing quite a bit.. I'm hoping my widefoot mounts make a positive difference once installed.

Attendance was low.... was able to see Armenrx out there... he's really fast!!! Alex Rodriguez came out and even took some sick photos of me out on the track! Shout out's to Jason Hite for coming out and everyone else that was cool enough to say whats up!!!

I had a complete blast.... the car Ripped!!!! Ran through 40 Gallons of Ethanol, 2 Sets of rears... 5 Sessions on streets of willow....and 5 sessions on Balcony getting the feel of the car in drift. Came in a bit hot once I was getting used to the car later on in the day and went off track up on balcony up and over the gravel hump.... Thank god I saved it.. But that could've been really really bad... Loved the Federal Rs-R's (245's) up front... Dilante's (245's) in the rear were killing my track times but weren't completely horrible. Spun about 6-7 times before I realized I wasn't hitting full lock in transition.....but my tires were binding up on my headlight support... Later on in the day I was able to let the wheel spin..and then once it hit that rub point..force it past that and hold drift longer. Car loves being revved.. Feels really good sliding...
Key points...
110 Degrees F out outside in our pits...
On the track my car never saw over 89 degrees C!!!!!! Logs to prove it =-)
In drift the track was low speed so I saw 91 Degrees C twice...but as soon as I started moving... temps drop down no problem. Guys I'm really really pleased that I'm able to Beat on it in the heat and the car not get hot. "Trust in Ethanol".."Trust in Ducting." I didn't even have my water injection hooked up. How awesome is that!!
Here are some pics!

Ready for fun!

The night before the event I sat in my car just to take it all in...while I was getting out I put some weight on the steering wheel to brace myself out of the car and the wheel plunged down about 4 inches.... I was like....WTF.... Turns out the steering column bracket was only tacked on.. totally forgot about this. Sucks it was never fixed. So I used a coupler clamp to secure it.. Held just fine for the time being.

Loaded up everything.. 15-20 Miles to streets of willow. Fit the following:
2x rpf1's with tires
2x Spare tires
a floor jack
a big tool box/supplies
2x floor jacks
my computer bag
small ice chest ALLL in the fd hahaha


swelfie

our pits (missing Armen's beautiful Red fd) he was out on track.

Track pics

Fireballs of joy

More Pics and hopefully vids to come!!

Stay tuned!!

 

Sick bro! So glad on the outcome of all this for you. Wish I would've went to watch all the action. Keep updating this thread, it's so full of win

 

I was wondering what your temps were gonna be like. Almost everyone else out there I talked to said that they were starting to run a little hot as the day went on.

 

Fudge yea Aaron. Glad to see you finally out there beating on Le'wolfe instead of wrenching on her.

Were you pretty nervous about breaking it? I'll be taking my whip out to drift days soon, but honestly I'm a little nervous about putting my hard work into a wall and such. I know putting it on the track has always been my main goal with the car, but its still a bit scary lol. I also will be driving it to the track and back like you did, which adds to the nervousness!

 

Thanks Aaron, your car looked and sounded fantastic! Hearing those dual wastegates open as that EFR spooled was insane.

As for weather, that day was the first time ever in the history of my Vmount setup that my car started to run too hot. Only took about 4 laps and that was it. Just comes to show how much cooler E85 runs.

 

Wait I just realized there was no trailer by your tent... You drove your FD there and back and still did all those hot laps hahaha that's pretty freak'n awesome! I got some pretty cool shots of your car I'll post once I pull them off the Rebel.
We really wanted to see you and that Orange Viper go at it haha. Sick runs man nice to meet you in person by the way!

 

YOu should've come!!! There weren't too many cars there truthfully...but I had a blast

E85 and Ducting. But I truthfully think my intercooler converted to radiator had a solid part in keeping things cool as well.

The only thing I was nervous about was if the car would hold up mechanically. Was hoping nothing would break...and I had concerns about whether or not the car would get hot, etc.... But after the first 3 sessions... all those concerns went away. I even went off course practicing up on balcony.... nothing broke... nothing bent..no damage aside from a crack in my passenger side fender. I'd be lying if I said I didn't care about the damage....because I do. And i'll take care of the car as much as possible. But at the end of the day....this is what the car was built for I'ts soo much fun it's all justified. =-)


Thanks man!.......it was 110 out there I guess. I thought it was a bit cooler...but i guess not? You need E85!!! And I need brakes!... what pads are you running? Going to get some decent ones for a patch until I can afford some nice 2 piece rotors

 

For OEM calipers, EBC yellows are my favorite. Ive tried almost every pad out there for the stock brakes and the yellows are the only rotor friendly pads that never faded on me.

 

Lancaster was 98F on Saturday, so it was likely over 100F on the track. Nice to see your temps under complete control. E85 undoubtedly played a MAJOR role. Great outcome. It's been a long time coming, so you deserve some "fun time" behind the steering wheel. Congrats!

 

Was a really hot day, My buddy got better pics of you and the Wolf on the track I'll see if I can get those from him.

 

Thanks! I'll be sure to put those on my "to purchase" list.

Yea temp varies a little around the AV... especially out at Willow. I'd agree E85 played a huge role.. After all... my EGT's at @ 8450rpm and 100% TPS were under 1200 degrees C


Thanks for those.... I Would love to see those pics from your buddy!! Thanks!

 

Nice temps....glad you are finally getting to put her through her paces.

 

After all... my EGT's at @ 8450rpm and 100% TPS were under 1200 degrees C

You mean degrees F, right? 1200F = 649C. 1200C would be 2192F and things would be melting.

 

Courtesy of my buddy Chris Landers

 

so how did the car do at the track day?

 

Awesome!! thanks so much!!!! Really appreciate it!!

 

Well Mechanically? I think the car pulled off a 10. I don't think the car could've held up any better...

Performance wise? I made a check list of things I need to do/change and "Sort" or "Tune."

Me and Abel still havn't gotten to touch on driveability. In order to save money on the dyno we ended up ONLY doing WOT pulls above 4K RPM. With that said... needless to say there were a few hic-ups in my lower Rpms... It was a bit hard because it was specifically right where I ended up wanting to turn in and power out in most of the tighter sections. He was going to try and make it out on friday but neither of us were free so it didn't happen. So thats the main thing. Other things were Sway bar chassis mounts.. If you recall..i'm actually driving with the bar attatched......but without the actual chassis mounts. Turn in is pretty great... and I even let my buddy Micki Frial drive the car one session. He's got his Formula Drift pro license and said the car felt great.

After the first session...we adjusted Tire pressure and dampening. The second session was even better. And the third session was micki's outing. By the 5th the rears were getting pretty greasy and the track was oober hot. But The car felt Good. THe rear tires wanted to float compared to the fronts.... I felt like the car liked being right at the float point actually.... Seemed as if as long as I didn't turn in too fastI could carry just enough speed to sit in that happy spot before the back end let go. But the tires were so crappy...that point was very predictible. I didn't have any close calls there... I could tell where that limit was no problem.

As far as group and times go. I can't remember... But I want to say I got a 1.27"the second session... and micki did a full second faster at 1.26". I could tell The car needs brakes and Micki agreed. Just watching Armen hit the long 180 degree left after the back straight...and brake as late has he did I was like.. "there's no way I'd make that." His braking set up and tires were far superior. I ran in the Green group......and was able to hang with a little miata train through the twisties and pass them on the straights. Gotta love that rush. I only encountered brake fade on my last lap on my 5th outing. THe last session.....before I got black flagged I was just concentrating on line and carrying momentum in a lower gear....and driving the car at the float point in the rear.

Out on Balcony I realized I need to make room for my tires because that binding issue was a pain. I'd literally let go of the wheel in transition and have to Grab the wheel and force it past that point to hold my slide....otherwise I'd simply spin. I wish I would've figured that out earlier when I had more fuel but at the end of the day.. I just didn't want to run out of gas because I still needed to get home...and had already filled up with my last 5 Gal of flex. I still did a few more runs and actually went off course....which I think I stated before ...(trying to get the video for you guys). But It felt good. I even tested out my Hydro e-brake just to get a feel for it. Doesn't lock too hard...and I knew that but I had plans to bleed it again at the track but once I got there...all I wanted to do was drive drive drive. I'll bleed it this week and see If I can get an improvement. A few things I want to do are:

Brake Pads
Race Technologies Dash 2 Display
Passenger seat
Install my Tail light cover
Make a turbo air intake for some fresh air
Get the car painted with good body work
Front Alignment
Cut headlight frames to get rid of the binding i've been having...

Other Notes...
Oil level was perfectly fine
Power steering level went down slightly...probly because I put it through it's paces pretty roughly...
Car still has no leaks
Only a small tiny cap full of oil was in the bottom of my Catch can
Car is thirsty for fuel haha


More updates soon... did a little maintenance today! But i'll uplaod pics later....

Stay tuned!!!

 

These past 2 pages have been so refreshing. My car is just doing some jackstand racing but this gives me motivation. Get it Aaron.

 

very nice, aaron.

also, i'm not being a smartass here, but it seems like the "stanced" wheels and tires sticking way out past the fenders and huge camber would make the car very "darty" and scary on the road course, maybe even dangerous/scary. did you get that feeling at all? how long is the streets of willow track? what kind of speeds did you hit on the straights? also, what brake pads are you running?

also, you said "binding." what exactly do you mean?

 

All I can say is wow wow wow!!!
Have been following your build for a long time and you have inspired me to take my car further, I will be stripping my car in the next couple of weeks and starting from the ground up again as I am not happy with a lot of things on my Rex.

Keep it up bud!!! Awesome work through thick and thin!!!

 

Its real nice to see you out enjoying the car after so much hard work and set backs.


One question, Why did you get black flagged?

 

He got black flagged for running unacceptably low boost pressures.

 

No prob Jacob! I know what you mean. These wheels aren't the best nor the most practical for running timmed sessions...thats for sure. But I still love them...and believe it or not they're just as light as most knock off wheels that a lot of people use for track duty. The car felt very planted up front...and I know what you're talking about when you say "Darty." This set up didn't seem that way at all. the 245's up front were probably the reason it felt as good as it did....If I would've kept those 215's up front... my day would've been a nightmare..Honestly Could't even imagine running that tire out there. I'm unsure of the length of the streets of willow... But I was hitting 115-120 down the back straight Brake pads? you ready for this.... OEM

THanks man!...But don't do it!!!



Thanks. It was a hell of a day... I kept telling myself.... "i should let the car rest." But I didn't. I just kept driving and driving and driving.

They were doing a demo run where you were allowed to drift. I guess I was late to the party and went out right as they were coming in. I got Black flagged for Drifting during the REd group.


Track tech came by my tent and issued me a warning..... For running unaccceptably low boost pressure...

 

washed and ready for improvement!