Symphorced's EP3

[Oz Striker]

Nice stuff Tim! Will catch you this weekend!

[Symphorced]

Haven't updated in a long time but as I can't sleep, no better time than now to reflect on the past month or so of the car's progress. What I didn't mention in the last update was that the shop who replaced my lower ball joints gave me my car back with my passenger side caliper not tightened properly. I drove away and got about 1km down the road and stepped on the brakes to hear a massive crashing/clunking noise. Not know wtf it was, I limped it back to the mechanics to see what in the world it was they did to my car. Lo and behold, I got back there looked at my car and saw that my caliper was sitting on the top of my rotor. The only thing holding it there was the brake line! Devastating to say the least. It left scratch marks on the inside of my rim and the outside of the caliper itself. Worst of all it threaded the hole where the fitting of the brake line goes into as well as the fitting itself. One week outside of H Nationals and I had no brakes.

The shop, to their credit, were very apologetic and agreed to get everything fixed up for me. New braided brake lines and rethreaded the caliper. All good, right? Nope. More on that later.

Got the car back. Everything felt fine and I figured I was completely prepared for the track day. Boy, was I wrong.

Conditions at Winton Raceway felt pretty darn good, despite being on the cold side. Morning went underway fine, unpacked all my stuff, said hi to familiar faces and attended the driver's meeting. When it came to my group to go out, I was very eager to get out there and have some fun and set a good time.







As usual, I took the first lap quite easily, just warming up the tires and getting a feel for the track again. On the first corner of my first hot lap I came in too hot and span, hitting a tire wall. Quite dismayed by this, but I knew I was lucky as the damage wasn't extensive. Dent in the boot hatch and scratches to the rear bar. At this point, I was under the impression this was just my poor driving and I hadn't given the tyres enough time to warm up - even though usually one full lap was sufficient.



Second session, I went back out and instantly noticed that my brakes were fading like crazy and not operating like usual. Came back out after two slow laps and decided to rebleed my brakes, thinking it was just air in the system. Upon completion, I noticed there was brake fluid coming out of the valves where it connected to the caliper. Took it for a quick test drive around the staging area and seemed fine. I knew I would be taking it easy on the track so wasn't too fussed and I was rushing to make the next session anyway. Once I was back on the track I noticed instantly something was amiss. My steering wheel was completely lopsided. Thinking it was just an alignment issue when I hit the ripple strip during my spin, I started limping it back to the pits at very low speeds. Good thing too - as I was about 500m away from the pit exit. I heard a loud banging noise and saw my front passenger wheel rolling away from my car! Instantly facepalming myself, I realised that, in my rush to get everything done by that session, I had forgotten to tighten my front lug nuts. Fail.

Upon inspection of the damage it was apparent that my brake issue was cause by my brake caliper valves being overtightened and no longer holding the fluid inside. Every time the pedal got depressed, fluid would just start pissing out of it.

It was a shame that the day ended up like it did for me. In hindsight, I should have just called it quits after the first incident and just spent the rest of the day as a spectator - would have still had heaps of fun seeing others out there and enjoying the atmosphere.

I'm disheartened but not dismayed. The damages could have been much worse considering the events that happened.

Damages from the day:

Many replacement parts have already been ordered and the car should be good as new in a couple more months. Caliper was taken back to the shop where new valves were placed which no longer leak. Extended studs, new hatch and replacement lug nuts have been purchased. Also seeing as my fender needs fixing, I've contacted my panel beater about getting it flared. This should happen next month - which only means one thing: bigger wheels! However, with both my regos being due at the end of this month, progress has been stalled for now.

Big thanks to Mugsee and Tom for organising a great event. Hopefully I'll actually be able to participate next year rather than just being a hindrance. Thanks to Matt, bong, Peter, Jason and Josh for the help on the day, Ryan for his tools and Rookie for his lug nuts (which I shall return soon haha).

[fr4n]

Haven't updated in a long time but as I can't sleep, no better time than now to reflect on the past month or so of the car's progress. What I didn't mention in the last update was that the shop who replaced my lower ball joints gave me my car back with my passenger side caliper not tightened properly. I drove away and got about 1km down the road and stepped on the brakes to hear a massive crashing/clunking noise. Not know wtf it was, I limped it back to the mechanics to see what in the world it was they did to my car. Lo and behold, I got back there looked at my car and saw that my caliper was sitting on the top of my rotor. The only thing holding it there was the brake line! Devastating to say the least. It left scratch marks on the inside of my rim and the outside of the caliper itself. Worst of all it threaded the hole where the fitting of the brake line goes into as well as the fitting itself. One week outside of H Nationals and I had no brakes.

The shop, to their credit, were very apologetic and agreed to get everything fixed up for me. New braided brake lines and rethreaded the caliper. All good, right? Nope. More on that later.

Got the car back. Everything felt fine and I figured I was completely prepared for the track day. Boy, was I wrong.

Conditions at Winton Raceway felt pretty darn good, despite being on the cold side. Morning went underway fine, unpacked all my stuff, said hi to familiar faces and attended the driver's meeting. When it came to my group to go out, I was very eager to get out there and have some fun and set a good time.







As usual, I took the first lap quite easily, just warming up the tires and getting a feel for the track again. On the first corner of my first hot lap I came in too hot and span, hitting a tire wall. Quite dismayed by this, but I knew I was lucky as the damage wasn't extensive. Dent in the boot hatch and scratches to the rear bar. At this point, I was under the impression this was just my poor driving and I hadn't given the tyres enough time to warm up - even though usually one full lap was sufficient.



Second session, I went back out and instantly noticed that my brakes were fading like crazy and not operating like usual. Came back out after two slow laps and decided to rebleed my brakes, thinking it was just air in the system. Upon completion, I noticed there was brake fluid coming out of the valves where it connected to the caliper. Took it for a quick test drive around the staging area and seemed fine. I knew I would be taking it easy on the track so wasn't too fussed and I was rushing to make the next session anyway. Once I was back on the track I noticed instantly something was amiss. My steering wheel was completely lopsided. Thinking it was just an alignment issue when I hit the ripple strip during my spin, I started limping it back to the pits at very low speeds. Good thing too - as I was about 500m away from the pit exit. I heard a loud banging noise and saw my front passenger wheel rolling away from my car! Instantly facepalming myself, I realised that, in my rush to get everything done by that session, I had forgotten to tighten my front lug nuts. Fail.

Upon inspection of the damage it was apparent that my brake issue was cause by my brake caliper valves being overtightened and no longer holding the fluid inside. Every time the pedal got depressed, fluid would just start pissing out of it.

It was a shame that the day ended up like it did for me. In hindsight, I should have just called it quits after the first incident and just spent the rest of the day as a spectator - would have still had heaps of fun seeing others out there and enjoying the atmosphere.

I'm disheartened but not dismayed. The damages could have been much worse considering the events that happened.

Damages from the day:

Many replacement parts have already been ordered and the car should be good as new in a couple more months. Caliper was taken back to the shop where new valves were placed which no longer leak. Extended studs, new hatch and replacement lug nuts have been purchased. Also seeing as my fender needs fixing, I've contacted my panel beater about getting it flared. This should happen next month - which only means one thing: bigger wheels! However, with both my regos being due at the end of this month, progress has been stalled for now.

Big thanks to Mugsee and Tom for organising a great event. Hopefully I'll actually be able to participate next year rather than just being a hindrance. Thanks to Matt, bong, Peter, Jason and Josh for the help on the day, Ryan for his tools and Rookie for his lug nuts (which I shall return soon haha).

I actually cringed while reading what happened.

Still a great update though and best of luck with it bud

[BAU53]

Damn.. Talk about a series of unfortunate events.

[eskimo_firefighter]

Glad to help you out man. It was really fortunate that the damage wasn't that extensive indeed. Hope to see you out at the track soon despite what happened. If you need help on anything let me know!

[M@lew]

Happy to know everything is working out Tim! If you need any help the CITR community is here too.

A man once said to a boy - “Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”

And who did that boy turn out to be?

[Oz Striker]

Was so disappointed for you man, just bad luck unfortunately. No doubt you'll be back better prepared for next years event though!!! You live and learn eh

Ps ill have to post up that inboard video if your spin, it looks pretty cool from inside my car! :P

[Symphorced]

As stated, needed to fix up the passenger fender, so I'm taking this opportunity to lip the edge of the fender and pull it out so I can get some more clearance.

Here's what I have so far. Hoping to get an extra 20-25mm out of it by the end.

[jd m]

Oo nicee
i wonder whats your next set of wheels are going to be haha

[eskimo_firefighter]

Wow, that makes the 9+35 look weak as. Looks like you can easily fit 10 wide wheels on now. Maybe go 18 inch at the front so you run even wider tyres since you can from the looks of it.

[tRipitaka]

What's up with the space between the fender and the door?
Is the door open? Or have you spaced out the fender?

Looking forward to your updates Tim!

I'm catching up to you btw!

[dnapol]

Did you lip yourself? I'm interested
Time for legendary tyre sizes run only by the illustrious ChargeR and Mugman

[sleepingperformance]

Looking forward to seeing 18x10 on the front of this soon to go with the extra plans we have been loosely discussing

[Symphorced]

Wow, that makes the 9+35 look weak as. Looks like you can easily fit 10 wide wheels on now. Maybe go 18 inch at the front so you run even wider tyres since you can from the looks of it.

Wider tyres means lower offset to clear my calipers, so I'm not sure about 10s.... Keep in mind that's a 215/45 tyre on there LOL.

What's up with the space between the fender and the door?
Is the door open? Or have you spaced out the fender?

Looking forward to your updates Tim!

I'm catching up to you btw!

Spacing the fender was the original idea but because the fender sits underneath the sideskirt and how it connects with the A-pillar, we opted against it. Instead, my panel beater has elongated the bolt hole for the top bolt of the fender and compressed the panel down. Has given me a bit more clearance but not as much as it would have if I spaced it.

I know you're catching up! Need to stop wasting my money and get out there to get more seat time so I can keep ahead.

Did you lip yourself? I'm interested
Time for legendary tyre sizes run only by the illustrious ChargeR and Mugman

All work done by my good panel beater friend. His first time doing something like this but it seems to be turning out quite well.

Haha highly doubt I'll be running as wide as that! Unfortunately, EP3 chassis doesn't like taking as wide a wheel as DC5s. Not to mention, I don't want to be running any more negative camber than I am already... not on street tyres anyway.

Looking forward to seeing 18x10 on the front of this soon to go with the extra plans we have been loosely discussing

As above, no 18x10s haha! The extra plans shall come in due time. Just need to save some damn money first.

[erazer]

very nice ep3