Who does AutoX?
 

I just went this past weekend on pretty much a bone stock car (just a header and computer) And did decent Beat an r32 gtr,civics, miata's

i was the only car on all seasons haha and placed in about the middle of the pack beating some R-comp cars which kinda surprised me

there was another Rx7 an fb with a v8 conversion slow as balls he was on r-comps and placed at the bottom of the pack

anyways the next autox day is on the 29th i believe just curious if anyone wants to come out

and i was wondering what my next thing i should do with my car beside get tires lol

brakes. hawks black work pretty well for most cars. i'm on black aswell

I autocross my fairly well prepared FB, although I usually race in Sarnia or the occasional 2 day event in Michigan. I currently run CSP, where with the group I race with I'm usually up against two guys (brothers I think) that drive an E30 M3 on race rubber with what I'm betting is a well sorted suspension. Needless to say they beat me every time. The car will be getting a suspension overhaul with whatever tax return I get in the spring, hopefully along with some race wheels and slicks. Maybe then I can get closer than 4 seconds off their times. I might make it to the next one on the 23rd, but if I don't I won't be able to make anymore this year. Might be a good thing, since I've already destroyed 2 stock clutches this year. Check out the link in my sig to see whats been done to my car.

I do have EBC greenstuffs and Dot4 brake fluid already and my car is a Coupe with heavy duty suspension and brakes

Im in the same class as a 2008 Sti on full R comps 265's all around.....

What exactly does your heavy duty suspension and brakes consist of? What car are you driving, what's been done and what does your class allow? Are you looking to stay in that class or do you want to change classes?

I haven't heard good things about EBC pads, though I've never used them myself. If you don't have stainless steel brake lines get them. They make a huge difference in pedal feel and your ability to consistently heel toe downshift. Clearly you know tires are important, so those are the FIRST thing to change. Get the best you can afford, then once you've raced a couple times your cars weaknesses will become apparent and you can start there. If your not really out to compete then don't worry too much about it, just have fun. However if your out to compete you need to go over your suspension with a fine tooth comb and start thinking about what can be improved. Poly bushings are a massive improvement over stock rubber, and you want to be able to adjust your dampers to tune the cars handling. Adjustable sway bars and some camber plates will round it out for you. There's a guy in Michigan with an FB that has the same power adders as me, but a much better suspension and he was only a second off of an 08 or 09 STI that got FTD at the last autocross in Lansing. He also beat an SM2 class Miata with a supercharger and race rubber driven by 3 very fast drivers. All that on $50 Sumitomo HTR 200 tires. He's a damn good driver with a damn well prepared car. That little bit was just to show you that it's not always the fastest car that kicks ass.

Oh its a 91 FC N/a I believe its a GX black interior full power no leather 5 lug 4 pistons etc

I like the EBC's so far I can lock all wheels fairly easily when i had my 235F/255R tires

I've gone back to the stock wheels for now till i figure out which direction to go

so far i've taken the A/C,air pump and power steering out

I know i want to look at some sort of seat that sits lower than mine, my helmet hits the roof

Braided lines and a 929 master is coming up soon as there is one in my local junkyard

Im just trying to figure out why my car runs so freaking hot ive done everything i can think of the only thing left is to ditch the stock rad which doesnt make sense

Getting into some aftermarket suspension should bump you up pretty good. Even things as better sway bars or bushings can get you a few fractions more. Tires are usually the biggest gain that you'll see from but once you have better tires, the signs of worn, or not up to par suspension will start to show and be the weak link of the system.

As far as your car getting hot, how hot are we talking about? One of the biggest things with older cars radiators is the fact that the inside start to have a heavy coating of calcium. Mostly due to the fact of people running tap water in there as oppose to distilled. Maybe even a full flush of the system and running distilled water could help a bit (and a bit or water wetter or purple ice). The one thing that people forget is that having all that stuff intap water (like the salt) reduces the boiling point of water. (Just like throwing salt on ice, or when cooking pasta you add salt to boil the water quicker).

Another thing to check is the belt tension, if you don't have proper tension, you're water pump might not be pumping properly.

One thing a lot of autocrossers forget is that you are usually revving the p!ss out of the car and going relatively slowly. The waterpump is usually cavitating and you are not getting enough airflow through the rad to cool what water flow you have. Most rads really don't start to work normally until you exceed 50 kmh. Below that they rely on the fan to pull air through it.

Do and check everything thats mentioned above, then look at adding a cheap electric fan from an auto wreckers. You can usually buy them for around $20. Add the fan, seal all air openings from the grill to the rad (Racers Tape works well for a temporary fix) to ensure that all the air that comes through the grill goes through the rad before leaving the car. Flush the rad to make sure its squeeky clean inside, add the electric fan and keep it turned on through the whole run and you should be good to go. Big $$$ fix is to chage the pulleys to RAcing Beat race ones to reduce cavitation and overspeeding the water pump, alternator and power steering. This can be a big help with cooling and extending the life of the components.

One other important thing is to fully warm up the car before the run and let it idle afterwards to stabilize the temps. The oil needs to warm up as well to minimize wear and you don't want to have varying temps across the cooling system shorten the life of your motor due to different expansion rates between aluminum and iron.

Too bad you dont have 4 lug wheels. I have 4 sets of 225x50x15 RA1's just sitting here already mounted on wheels and doing nothing. And I live in Oakville as well!

Eric

Who does AutoX
 

I autocross an FB in Kingston area. I have adjustable McPherson struts, racing beat springs and swaybars. Tires are Rt 615 on 15 x 7 Koenig rewinds. I don't do too badly,I'm down on power (unmodified 12A) and I think I should be using a light 13" x 7" wheel. The car is already more competent than the driver, and I think there is more potential to unleash.

I can set of the low oil level warning in slaloms if I'm too abrupt. Do people use baffled oil pans and are they hard to find?

yes I def want to add an electric fan that is already on the list and i have been searching yards for the right one lol

would CLR Help break up the calcium in the rad?

And as far as sealing up the ducting into the rad what about venting the hood? just propping the rear of it? I know its ricer but i could get away with function>form lol

Do alignments play a big role in auto cross? I know the front strut suspension blows when compared to the front of a civic

im pretty sure i have larger sway bars than stock ive seen the racing beat ones and they look small compared to mine

And DayuM why must i be 5 lug lol I could use tires...

Alignments are important, good tires more so. Driver experience more so. get as much seat time as you possibly can. Good autocrossers can make anything fast. I've been doing this since 1964 and I learn something everytime I compete. Course I could be just a slow learner.

^ I absolutely agree, experience is a HUGE part of AutoX. Forget about the non-reliability mods and just go have fun at first. Odds are you're not going to do well until you have experience.

Your best bet is to get some 13X9 Diamond Racing wheels. They are dirt cheap, very light and that width with race rubber will really make the car come alive.

For more power check out www.sterlingmetalworks.com. Great carb, great customer service. Also don't skimp on the exhaust. I'm running a full Racing Beat streetport system. It's heavy as hell but is a decent compromise between streetable noise level and power.

What struts are you using, Illuminas? Check out www.re-speed.com for some more race worthy suspension parts. I've got the Racing beat springs and sway bars and I've grown rather bored of that setup.

Where is the oil on your dipstick? You may just be running a little low. It should be at least halfway up the hashmarks, if not at the top. Too low and the oil will slosh away from the oil pickup and could cause serious damage to the engine.

Thanks for the info. Yes I am running Illuminas. I have an oil leak at the front cover and it may be the source of the oil level warning. I don't ever seem to be low on pressure and I don't think I loose a lot of oil. Everything else works well, but I suspect a rebuild may be in my future.

Hi all, I also autocross a FB rx7 in the east area, picton is by far the place to go. My car has Illuminas and a full poly bushing kit with 21x8x13 goodyear slicks mounted on 13x8 aero race wheels. It works very well enough to be the fastest thing there.

Whats picton like i hear there is an event this weekend i wanna come out but its a 3 hour drive for me :(

Picton is great, lots of space to play. St.Lac has an Autox Sept. 6 and regionals Sept. 19. 60 year old tarmac is a little abrasive though.

Curtis, is that you? Welcome to the site, now tell everyone what your next steps with the car will be. Before you do it you better put your flamesuit on, lol.

By the way, do you race at the old go kart track or at the old airbase?

Eric

Yes Eric it is me. The events are held on the old airbase. The runways give lots of room to stretch a cars legs ;)

Curtis, haven't seen you this year. Hope all is well. We have 4 autocrosses left at Picton this fall, maybe you can make one?

My RX won't make it out this year. I ran peterborough's first event this back in April and hurt the engine real bad. Too much boost and it started to push the pressure past the rings and push oil out though all the seals. Now it is in storage waiting for my dad to get his mustang out of the garage so I can put in my new 6.0L LQ9 Chevy V8. I will most likely make it out to a couple of events driving one of my buddies cars.