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Here's how it sits on the road, having made no adjustments. I think it's overall a little high, especially the rear, but I'm going to let things settle before I make adjustments.
Very nice! I have the ohlins and they are very good on the street and the track. Penske are top notch suspension products for cars. They are used in most race car applications and I would love to hear how compliant they are on normal roads. Sounds like you have done your research and hired the right people, so I am sure they took that in consideration. I would love to see how well it works on both the street and the track. BTW the car looks great.
Penske's are nice. I run them on my Spec Miata. My go to race builder favors the MCS these days but i don't think you can go wrong with either.
Are you running 800 lb springs front and rear? Would have thought the FD would take higher spring rates given the power level, weight etc. SM runs 800 on the front.
Angelo (ANZE) did the final convincing for me on Penske, and he sells and services MCS and JRZ. I am running 800/800, and it's a compromise. Maybe in a race car or pure track car you'd go 1000/900 or something, but It's a street/track car, and that keeps it livable. I can honestly say, too, I can't think of anyplace on the tracks I run where I ever think, "I need more spring here".
The other thing is, I looked at the MCS measurements, and while they solved for the travel at low ride heights issue, they did so at the expense of droop. And there's an up-charge for custom lengths, on a cost that was already more than Penskes, which are spec'd out custom... even things like the offset lower spacers were a part of it. They're also incidentally lighter than my JRZs (so I assume MCS) by about 1.5 lbs per corner.
The other wrinkle is, I'm working on getting drop spindles made. Among other things, they'd theoretically require lower rates because your roll center isn't under ground anymore. That's all top secret though, don't tell anybody ;-)
Forgot about the street car driving. Totally get it.
The drop spindles sound interesting.
Did you ever check for bump steer on your setup?
I've never checked for it, like with a gauge, but I know I get some. I notice it more on like bumpy off-ramps on the street taken at speed, vs. on track. I had a convo with Gene Felber once on ride heights, and his thing was always to never have the lower arms get any further than level for that reason in part, and mine are certailny well past that.
Gas guage seems to work well, but I'm going to pull some increments out, as its fast up top, slow at the bottom. I ran it down to about 30% or so, but was only able to put 10 gallons in. I did the whole event on 93 octane instead of the typical 100, which is great because the GT100 is $10/gallon now. WI, and 11 plugs all around, plus all the Haltech safeties make that seem safe enough.
With the radium setup I am experiencing the same. Were you able to normalize the fuel level range? If so do share!
Congrats on the updates. New shocks makes the car feel new again and perhaps one of the most excited changes to make.
With the radium setup I am experiencing the same. Were you able to normalize the fuel level range? If so do share!
Congrats on the updates. New shocks makes the car feel new again and perhaps one of the most excited changes to make.
I think the Radium may mount the level sender a little off. We drained the tank such that it was maxed down, and that was about 3 gallons short of 20 when I filled in 5g increments. So if it read 30% (6 gallons), and I could only put in 10, that's pretty darn close. I don't mind having some in reserve, i just need to bear it in mind when i refill it so i don't put in too much oil. Right now I have increment voltage for 1%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. I think if I remove the middle ones and just leave 0% and 100% it'll read more linearly.
Just a small update, I finally got the Garage Alpha Mazdaspeed style strut brace to fit. Backstory: I got one of the original 6 or 8 of these things on the "limited edition" group buy. It never fit right, rubbed the hood. I sent it back to GA with the offer of a refund or a rework, I chose the latter. Months passed and finally a new one showed up. It was exactly the same. So, it sat in storage for a couple years with me not knowing what to do with it, and finally when the GA takeover by SPG happened, I mentioned it to them and they asked me to send it for a look.
Not sure how I originally got two this way, but they said it was obviously different, and sent it back with a new crossbar. This one fits, albeit probably not with a lot to spare. It all comes down to how "soon" the bends happen on the crossbar to go flat on each side. If the angual part is too long, it'll be too high.
I'm very happy, saved a couple pounds, and HUGE shout out to @SakeBomb Garage for customer service on a part they didn't technically sell.
I wish I could get a polished Ti crossbar for my M2 rollbar to match it in the rear!
As I work up to the MK60 Install, one thing that had to happen is to move the coils under the UIM, so the ABS can mount on the fender where the Sakebomb mount puts the coils. This should theoretically been simple, but putting the coils there required re-routing much of the harness, fuel feed, oil feed to turbo, fuel vapor line, and removing some OE bracketry. All in all, a lot longer in the garage than I'd planned, but it's nice and tidy now, and as a bonus, actually ran right the first time! I love the shorter, well-separated plug wires.
There's a couple other hidden upgrades in here I'll get to next. Many thanks to Costas @R-R-Rx7 for all the assistance with this install!
Minor update, while I was poking around underneath, I noticed that I had some pretty significant exhaust leaks on the engine to turbo manifold connection. It wasn't held on with anything special, just stainless nuts and Nordlock washers. SO, with new gaskets in hand from @GoodfellaFD3S I took the car to my local shop to get it resealed and checked for any warpage. I decided to use the Stage8 locking hardware I had, along with the lock flanges I had created out of 321 stainless, and showed a few pages ago. This should make it nearly impossible for them to loosen. The flanges give the locking tab something to rest against. I have them on the turbo, and of course the housing serves that purpose. Here's a peek, I'll update after I get some mileage on them.
Minor update and sneak peak. The Mk60 ABS conversion is going great. The EVO master cylinder has been successfully mounted (this will set me up for a monster brake upgrade to follow), as has a second brake hard line to the rear in place of my old fuel feed, and the wiring harness is all fished throughout the car with wheel speed and yaw sensors in place. Now just making the flex line connections and having the ABS pump mount remade in aluminum instead of plastic.
This will probably save some significant weight, and there's a nice hole where the ABS was to access the engine harness and maybe relocate catch cans. More to come. A full titanium, all-v-band exhaust with new heat shielding is in the works too.
I'm happy to send anyone the drawing, so you can get it made. Note, you'll need to countersink the holes for the bolts that go into the unit, so that it sits flush, or spec it for whoever is making it for you. It's just a flat 2D drawing, not a CAD file.
If I ever learn how to use CAD guys, its over. There would be so much rad-*** **** for these cars lol.
Just realized, I don't see where I posted the ABS pump unit mount. Here is how it works, very simple, mounts to the same holes as the Sakebomb coil mount. I had this ABS one made at SendCutSend for the minimum order price, and the AL one is only a bit more. Mounting it with flex lines will allow enough play to be able to unbolt it, service the clutch slave cylinder, or pull the ABS computer off to have it reflashed for setup changes.
SendCutSend came through with the new aluminum bracket, powder coated no less, in under a week. I ordered Friday afternoon and got it yesterday (Wednesday)!
Stopped by the shop this afternoon to check out progress and drop off the new mount. The Sikky diff brace is in, and they're working on the exhaust. You can also see the extra new brake hard line I got, that's now in place of the old fuel feed line under the car.
SendCutSend came through with the new aluminum bracket, powder coated no less, in under a week. I ordered Friday afternoon and got it yesterday (Wednesday)!
