♦ ♦ ChargeR's DC5R Blog ♦ ♦

[Didz]

haha "shady eyes" I see what you did there guy!

Nice going!

[03DC5R]

awesome man! you're right about tramlining and kickback form low offset wheels...it's giving me hell haahhaha...how did u fix this? it's really driving me crazy lol. drives so much better with stock wheels...oh well not like im gonne be racing on the road....cant wait to see how this goes in superlap...on a side note...what engine mods do u have? and are u going to perform any weight reduction for superlap?

[fatboyz39]

just curious why your front left and right has diff castor? shouldnt it be close to the same?

[m0nty]

I want those caster plates. As you know Tom, my alignment was very tricky to get right without them.

Did you get toe settings under compression? I'd be interested to see the difference under heavy braking.

[tinkerbell]

weak rear camber will send you to hell...

what is with the uneven toe? was it thrust aligned?

[Didz]

This most recent post by you has also increased my desire to have better camber tops with caster adjustment. I will most likely not have them in time for the upcoming track day weekend but hopefully closer to the one following.

[ChargeR]

haha "shady eyes" I see what you did there guy!

Nice going!

Thanks guy. For those that aren't experienced heat shield spotters I actually got a bonus Toda exhaust manifold with the aforementioned heat shield. I fitted it up on Wednesday and now all I have to do is take it to an exhaust shop to get a cat and donut gasket/flanges welded in in place of the flex. Great part though and has really livened up the performance of the car. The OEM cat was missing chunks and looked to have collapsed so it possibly wasn't doing anything good for power, possibly contributing to my car being slightly down on power at the last dyno day I attended.

Toda

awesome man! you're right about tramlining and kickback form low offset wheels...it's giving me hell haahhaha...how did u fix this? it's really driving me crazy lol. drives so much better with stock wheels...oh well not like im gonne be racing on the road....cant wait to see how this goes in superlap...on a side note...what engine mods do u have? and are u going to perform any weight reduction for superlap?

If you really want to fix it then the only advice I could give is to add as much caster as you can, using top mounts like mine and offset LCA bushes. Then perhaps slight toe in at the front. That should hopefully improves the tracking of the car in a straight line. Maybe. I make no promises .

Engine mods at the moment are: Amuse R1 Titan exhaust, Toda exhaust manifold, and Gruppe M intake. Hopefully the car will have enough speed to be moderately competitive at Eastern Creek .

just curious why your front left and right has diff castor? shouldnt it be close to the same?

Yes it should be the same ideally, but I doubt a difference of half a degree would be perceptible. I didn't ask the workshop to adjust the caster or the camber I set them both beforehand and either didn't get them even or one of them slipped . I will attempt to adjust it a little before I go back for a final alignment.

Sent you a PM about the Eastern Creek performance box data too

I want those caster plates. As you know Tom, my alignment was very tricky to get right without them.

Did you get toe settings under compression? I'd be interested to see the difference under heavy braking.

Didn't get anything like bump steer characteristics, I wouldn't trust any workshop down here to take my springs off and lift the car up and down. Also : LINK. Do it. Get them express posted. Do you have those baller J's racing offset spherical bearings in your lower control arms?

weak rear camber will send you to hell...

what is with the uneven toe? was it thrust aligned?

I am guessing the amounts of toe are negligible because the car drives straight-ish. I am tempted to take the car to a different workshop though, because the guy that took my money had the cheek to ask if I was going to put wider rear tyres on it . It's times like these that it really hurts to be in Tasmania, competent service is even harder to find.

This most recent post by you has also increased my desire to have better camber tops with caster adjustment. I will most likely not have them in time for the upcoming track day weekend but hopefully closer to the one following.

LINK

[mugsee]

Nice progress ChargeR. I see the inner CBR has come out of you. RAWR.

For those who are interested in the castor tops, I've seen a set of the tops that Tom's running and they are one of the most well built pieces for the DC5. It certainly is a case of you get what you pay for.

[03DC5R]

If you really want to fix it then the only advice I could give is to add as much caster as you can, using top mounts like mine and offset LCA bushes. Then perhaps slight toe in at the front. That should hopefully improves the tracking of the car in a straight line. Maybe. I make no promises .

Engine mods at the moment are: Amuse R1 Titan exhaust, Toda exhaust manifold, and Gruppe M intake. Hopefully the car will have enough speed to be moderately competitive at Eastern Creek .

oh ok...thanks dude, only thing is i have no idea what offset LCA bushes are lol...need to do my research when it comes to sussy on these cars...real pain in the arse.

as for engine mods...why don't you go with a custom 3" catback? and i also HIHGHLY recommend a k-pro...if u can get one before superlap and get it tuned it would make a world of difference...

[lil_foy]

I was wondering why you got an ep3r sway and I presumed you had got headers (ep3r bar=clearance corrcert?)

I'm aiming for 1000photos per day at superlap so hopefully expect atleast something decent of yours :P

Best of luck, not long now!

[ChargeR]

Nice progress ChargeR. I see the inner CBR has come out of you. RAWR.

For those who are interested in the castor tops, I've seen a set of the tops that Tom's running and they are one of the most well built pieces for the DC5. It certainly is a case of you get what you pay for.

Where did you see a set, you haven't seen my Integra in months? Yep cheque book racing for sure but I think I did okay to hold out for nearly 9 years before getting Kpro and a header .

oh ok...thanks dude, only thing is i have no idea what offset LCA bushes are lol...need to do my research when it comes to sussy on these cars...real pain in the arse.

as for engine mods...why don't you go with a custom 3" catback? and i also HIHGHLY recommend a k-pro...if u can get one before superlap and get it tuned it would make a world of difference...

Offset bushings go in the lower control arm, replacing the front compliance bushing and the other rear bushing, to push it forward for more caster, Superpro make them in urethane and PCI make spherical bearings along with many JDM options.

To answer your earlier question that I missed , no plans for any further weight reduction before Superlap. The rules mostly limit the allowable weight reduction to things that cost money, like seats and CFRP bonnets and things like that don't fit my shoestring budget . I will probably even leave the rear seat and all the interior trim in just to cut down on noise on the drive up . I am only entering for fun and a bit of light competition, and I doubt a few Kgs here or there will make the difference. It will all come down to me, my setup and my driving.

I have been thinking about a custom exhaust for some time but I need to find the right workshop to fabricate it for me, and buying too many engine mods feels to much like: "spend X amount of money get Y amount more performance" There isn't any challenge or reason involved. Kpro is a good mod hey?

I was wondering why you got an ep3r sway and I presumed you had got headers (ep3r bar=clearance corrcert?)

I'm aiming for 1000photos per day at superlap so hopefully expect atleast something decent of yours :P

Best of luck, not long now!

Your sway bar spotting is as good as your wheel spotting . Yeah the EP3R bar is for clearance for the header.

I look forward to seeing your pics mate, and thanks for the well wishes!

[03DC5R]

Offset bushings go in the lower control arm, replacing the front compliance bushing and the other rear bushing, to push it forward for more caster, Superpro make them in urethane and PCI make spherical bearings along with many JDM options.

To answer your earlier question that I missed , no plans for any further weight reduction before Superlap. The rules mostly limit the allowable weight reduction to things that cost money, like seats and CFRP bonnets and things like that don't fit my shoestring budget . I will probably even leave the rear seat and all the interior trim in just to cut down on noise on the drive up . I am only entering for fun and a bit of light competition, and I doubt a few Kgs here or there will make the difference. It will all come down to me, my setup and my driving.

I have been thinking about a custom exhaust for some time but I need to find the right workshop to fabricate it for me, and buying too many engine mods feels to much like: "spend X amount of money get Y amount more performance" There isn't any challenge or reason involved. Kpro is a good mod hey?

awesome thanks for that man, ill look into those offset bushings in the near future...

you will be surprised what weight reduction does to our cars....just by taking out the rear seats, mats, spare tyre/jack and front seat u will be saving close to 50-60kg...so thats like not having a passenger....i know i feel the difference in my car so u would too...and u dont have to take them out at home...take em out when u get to syd and leave them where ever ur staying...even if its a hotel room lol....our bonnets are light enough and so are our seats...i reckon the recaros dont weigh more than 10kg each...

as for a custom catback...i recommend westside mufflers in syd...i know its a bit late now...but im sure there are plenty of good places in mel u can get one fabricated at...and yes kpro is an amazing mod...u will definately feel the difference with that...and again i recommend scott at insight in syd...really good pricing and imo one of the best tuners in the country....also rbc/72ml t/b is a good bang for buck mod, if funds allow i would get them before tuning ur kpro

[ChargeR]

awesome thanks for that man, ill look into those offset bushings in the near future...

you will be surprised what weight reduction does to our cars....just by taking out the rear seats, mats, spare tyre/jack and front seat u will be saving close to 50-60kg...so thats like not having a passenger....i know i feel the difference in my car so u would too...and u dont have to take them out at home...take em out when u get to syd and leave them where ever ur staying...even if its a hotel room lol....our bonnets are light enough and so are our seats...i reckon the recaros dont weigh more than 10kg each...

as for a custom catback...i recommend westside mufflers in syd...i know its a bit late now...but im sure there are plenty of good places in mel u can get one fabricated at...and yes kpro is an amazing mod...u will definately feel the difference with that...and again i recommend scott at insight in syd...really good pricing and imo one of the best tuners in the country....also rbc/72ml t/b is a good bang for buck mod, if funds allow i would get them before tuning ur kpro

Yep I will definitely be taking out the jack, spare and mats as the general rules at the track are no loose items in the car , but everything else must remain as per the Superlap Clubsprint class rules. I am allowed to remove the rear seats but I won't bother. Front seats and all other interior must remain except for modifications to fit a cage, and I would like to compete in the spirit of the competition. Here is a link to the guidlines if you are interested: LINK

Thanks for the recommendations on the RBC/throttle body, I have been thinking that they would be my next engine mods but when it will happen I am not sure. Probably not for some time if at all. For the exhaust I was thinking of something more exotic than stainless steel . I am unsure at this stage though, if I achieve the times I am hoping for on this track trip and the car doesn't break I am hoping to avoid modifying it further for a while .

Have you got any pictures of your exhaust, I am interested to see the work?

[03DC5R]

unfortunately i dont have any pics of the exhauste...its been on my car for like 2 years now...will take pics next time its up on a hoist lol

[TeMp]

Looks like you succumbed to a set of vanilla headers!

Should tune your Kpro while ur still in Tassie and do some 6th data log runs!