Peter - shameless plug here for our underbody fuel line covers: https://jp3motorsports.com/products/...uel-line-cover

 

Things are shaping up nicely at the shop. The lines came out great, they allow full access to what's beneath the pump when needed, and the wheel speed adapters fit perfectly and everything's tidy. I love the access and space where the OEM ABS used to be. We are just waiting on some stuff from Ticon on the exhaust before it can be driven, but they're bleeding and troubleshooting the system in the mean time. Power for the ABS was pulled from the regular 30amp ABS spot in the fuse box.

 

Update: Car is back from the shop! What's new?

1. Mk60 ABS as I've already detailed. After a little extra bleeding of the system, it works unbelievably. The new 1-1/16" EVO master cylinder is overkill for my current brake system, but is in anticipation of a "monster" upgrade. It has the power to engage the ABS almost immediately, and the pedal is like a rock. The ABS is SO smooth and composed. No juddering, pumping pedal, or drama. The car just STOPS smoothly and perfectly. And no more ice mode to ever have in the back of my mind. I'll get some road time on it, but I can't wait to try it with track pads and tires. This probably saved 10-15 lbs, I need to weigh all the stuff that came out.

2. Sikky Diff Brace, replaced the cracked PPF. Feels really solid, and it's less herk-jerky, improving driveability, and saves 10lbs.

3. New custom titanium midpipe and, all-v-band exhaust, with new inconel sheild on the downpipe. SO much quieter and more refined. We'll see how long the Ticon center muffler holds up. It's the biggest can they make. I requested that they get it so I don't have to run any spacers under the brace at the rear of the midpipe like so many exhaust seem to necessitate. Mission accomplished. Probably saved 5lbs or so as well.

4. Angry Panda dry carbon fiber AD9 replica hood. This, unfortunately, will require minor repair, clearcoat, and more fitment than i'd have liked. More on this later. But, the matte dry carbon itself looks amazing on a silver car, and its super light... saved about 12lbs over stock.

 

Nice update on the MK60 ABS! Sounds like an awesome update to the dated FDs ABS.
Also, the exhaust looks great!!
Thanks for sharing! Steve

 

The new updates are awesome, thanks for sharing Peter.

 

Nice updates.

You ever wish you went the traditional exhaust flange instead of vband? I have a love hate relationship with the vbands.

 

Not in a million years. I hate two bolt exhaust flanges, and I've never been able to make one seal without glueing it with RTV, or using Remflex compressing gaskets, which are single use so you need to have "in stock". Part of my ethos is making the car easy to work on.

 

What dont you like about V-bands?

Theres some tricks that make them easier to use/live with.

Warpage-
Dont weld them around in 1 shot unless you have them on a really effective heat sink. Weld ~1" sections alternating opposite sides of v-band.

Alignment-
On exhaust pipes where its tiring/hard to align the pipes while you get the clamp on- get larger v-band that the exhaust pipe slips into and weld one side of the pipe sticking through the v-band flange and one side as a butt weld. This allows you to slip the pipes together and align the v-band flanges with the slip fit.

The Greddy exhaust I have actually used this old trick.

The hardest pieces are external wastegates in tight areas. Only trick I found for that is to put the clamp on the gate just tight enough you can pop it over the manifild side and then clamp it together by hand before tightening nut.

Iys not fun having the huge original HKS GT 60mm WG fall off and hit you in the face...

 

It might not be a popular thing but i like to use high temp brake grease with ceramic solids, the lubrication makes alignment way easier and the solids help to seal the faces. It's easy to wire brush off during disassembly in the future as well.

 

I'm so curious how this feels vs the antique stock unit. Nice update Peter, you got me thinking about being a copy cat.

I also switched to a vband at my dp/mp junction and wouldn't go back. The Ticon unit looks nice! Not that this applies to you given your exhaust is Ti but to these reading, avoid any muffler/resonator that isn't tig welded. I've gone through 2x borla mufflers and all have failed where it was MiG welded from Borla. I'm waiting for a vibrant resonator now.

 

Both the Mk60 ABS and the new titanium exhaust look amazing

 

Minor update, I had the car out for breakfast this morning, despite it being 20 degrees out. First thing I noticed was the voltage. I installed the @JP3 Motorsports alternator boost harness, and I'm now running at a consistent 14.8 volts vs. 13.6 or lower. And it's a lot cheaper than an upgraded alternator.

 

Nice. 20 sounds cold.

 

This an update I've been waiting a long time to make. I haven't had A/C for years, so I've been looking around for an A/C condensor delete duct, and the search intensified in the last year as I focus on lightweighting the car. In my desperation, I even allowed myself to get ripped off by a Romanian parts scammer. But, big thanks to Mike @FD3RS for coming through with this ultra-rare part. With it in hand, I grabbed a @JP3 Motorsports firewall blank to complete the job. The latter works great, though I used some longer screws that made it easier to put on for one person. The duct itself took a lot of finagling and patience in a tight place, but once on it fits snug.

I weighed my A/C condensor (which is in great shape still), and this mod saves 7-8lbs, which is pretty solid. Maybe someday if I get enough weight off elsewhere, I'll hit JP3 up for the works to retrofit air conditioning, but for now I'm pleased with the savings.

 

Jeez you could have cleaned it first super happy to see it's being used, can't wait for some video of the car in action. It's shaping up to be quite a weapon.

 

Damn buddy, I have one of those delete ducts brand new chilling in a box in my basement, you should have just asked

 

LOL, that is cleaned. Also, I see I used the wrong handle for you, sorry!

 

I need to get some ginko biloba or something, I thought we'd talked about it. I was asking around everywhere for one.

 

Catching up on some updates, as I've got some BIG stuff to share very soon. In my quest to reduce weight, in (mostly) ways that don't affect the enjoyability of the car (i.e not gutting the interior), I made several key purchases earlier in the year. The first is a DRY CARBON AD-9 replica hood from Angry Panda. Got it on an introductory price, and it's super light weight (about 12lbs, saving 10 from the stock hood to replace the Seibon one I had that was actually 2lbs heavier than stock. The good part is, the matte finish looks amazing and it's generally well make and stiff. The doesn't fit great IMO, too gappy at the rear, and took a lot of finagling with the latch and bumper. it was also damaged in shipping and required some carbon repair and a matte clearcoating. More on that in a bit.






I decided on the @Originwerks Yumi signal lights, that have a proper LED headlight (with high beam), that would allow me to eliminate the pop-ups entirely, with the help of @Kevin Doe CF headlight blanks, which are incredibly well made but came glossy. I decided to commit to matte carbon, and have them matte cleared with the hood. More on that later. The Yumi lights are amazing. My phone is broken (which you can see in the pics, so i still need to get light pattern pics, but they're easily as good as the SBG HIDs they replaced. And saved another 15lbs.






It also allowed me the room to relocate the fan relays and hella horns under the lights, and I took the time to prune old ABS wiring, and lighten the bumper support. Maybe another 5lbs or so saved.

 

My interior is mostly set, but in the interest of shedding pounds I looked at seats, since mine were getting a little tired anyway. The new QRT EVOs are a little lighter, but not a lot. The carbon EVOs however... OK, I splurged but I got a great black friday deal and they're 12'bs each, dry carbon. Sparco has revised the design with narrower shoulder wings, so they fit relative to the door better, but they've also revised the design a bit and the mount holes aren't exactly the same relative to the rest of the seat. Given I have custom fixed mounts, that's less than ideal. The driver's side at least bolted up, but it's a bit less reclined, something I'll have to rectify. The passenger, however, was a total no-go. This is because my old one is an EVO L (large) from back when they only came in regular and large. The new ones come in small, medium, large, and extra large. The extra large is enormous. The large is smaller than my old one. In looking at the mounts, I was shocked at how heavy they are, fabbed from 3/16" steel. That's the SCCA spec for aluminum! So, I had the passenger mount remade in aluminum, and saved 5lbs more! I'll get the driver side one done eventually as well. Once my camera is better, I'll document some of the finer details a little better. Fully Diego approved.










I also scored something I've been looking for forever. A company called DM Motorsport in the UK used to make lots of bullet aluminum goodies for our cars. Pullies, caps, and... these awesome HVAC *****. They're the coolest I've ever seen, but they went out of business years ago before I could score a set. BUT, I found the guy sellin some of his old stock on Facebook marketplace, and got this clearly old dingy un-annodized set. So, I polished and ceramic sealed them, and had kiss-cut satin vinyl stickers made for the centers to give them a cool look. I love them. They match the shift **** and ebrake button, and give the car a more high end look inside.

 

So, I'd thought about doing a plexi rear window for a while to save weight. Plastics4Performance makes, IMO, the nicest ones. They're cut to factory specs, pre-curved, so can be mounted like a factory window, and they come with silk-screened edges like a factory window, and are available with tinting, and a hard-coating so they won't scratch easily. I removed the roll-bar to facilitate the ABS install and inadvertently cracked the front windshield. SO, I said **** it and went for ALL FOUR flexi windows. Yup, roll up sides, and the front windscreen with enduro coating that allows you to use wipers. We'll see how they hold up, but they weren't that expensive relatively speaking, look fantastic (indistinguishable from glass), and save a ton of weight from a high point in the car. The one thing I did was go to an Amazon special suction cup rearview mirror. The window had a silk-screened provision to mount the mirror, but if you glue it on, the only way to remove it is heat, and so I'm going to try the suction cup first. So far so good. I estimated the savings on these at about 35lbs, though I wasn't able to confirm.

 

That's amazing. I hadn't seen that plexi option before. I might do that on the rear.

And a belated thank you for sending the ABS mounting bracket file!

 

I guess it's not plexi, it's lexan, but they are the nicest. The cost implication may have changed with tariffs and shipping, I've had these in storage for a couple years.

 

I just got the rear window for my car from P4P. I haven't even taken the protective film off, but it looks nice.

What did you use to seal the rear?

 

Whatever the window guy used. I'm not sure.