♦ ♦ ChargeR's DC5R Blog ♦ ♦

[lil_foy]

If you're looking for lighter then stainless you could try aluminium since it'd be alot cheaper then titanium i'm guessing (byp did this) but i'm unsure on the lifespan of it through heat cycles.

How are you getting your car to sydney? Driving up?

[ChargeR]

If you're looking for lighter then stainless you could try aluminium since it'd be alot cheaper then titanium i'm guessing (byp did this) but i'm unsure on the lifespan of it through heat cycles.

How are you getting your car to sydney? Driving up?

I was thinking Titanium, money isn't really an issue I am not a bang for buck kinda guy. I usually end up with minimal bang for maximum buck.

Yeah I will be driving up. I am coming over to Melbourne on the Spirit of Tasmania on the night of Wednesday the 19th and then driving up to Sydney the day after. Then straight after Superlap I am driving back down south to Winton for a track day on the 23rd. Should be fun.

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!

The top of 6th gear is frowned upon even in Tasmania, we may not have much but the po po here can still operate a radar gun . Yes I succumbed to the easy header route, but maybe one day I will upgrade .

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

No worries champ. Would be nice to see pics so then I can take it to wherever I get mine done and say "make it look like this" .

[benson]

Nice Progress Tom. We'll catch up at Superlap

If you need anything, let me know

[lil_foy]

I was thinking Titanium, money isn't really an issue I am not a bang for buck kinda guy. I usually end up with minimal bang for maximum buck.

Yeah I will be driving up. I am coming over to Melbourne on the Spirit of Tasmania on the night of Wednesday the 19th and then driving up to Sydney the day after. Then straight after Superlap I am driving back down south to Winton for a track day on the 23rd. Should be fun.

Yeah, just comes down to if you want something off the shelf or not (i'm sure there is something that will suit though)

Thats going to be a huge drive!!! Brisbane -> sydney is bad enough for me.
Are you going to go to the practise day the day before at all?

[ChargeR]

Yeah, just comes down to if you want something off the shelf or not (i'm sure there is something that will suit though)

Thats going to be a huge drive!!! Brisbane -> sydney is bad enough for me.
Are you going to go to the practise day the day before at all?

Yeah I am going to be quite wrecked after all the driving, but with any luck one of my pit crew will do a shift at the wheel to let me have a kip on the way down to Winton. Won't be able to make the practice day unfortunately, couldn't take the extra time off work and I was a little wary of 4 days of track use in a row with minimal maintenance.

Nice Progress Tom. We'll catch up at Superlap

If you need anything, let me know

Thanks Benson. Looking forward to seeing what you and your EG can do!

[ChargeR]

More and more springs

So as I mentioned earlier, the significant thickness of the Todd's caster adjustable top mounts made my car much higher than I desired. So I contacted my friendly local parts importer and arranged for a solution and also impulse bought a couple of other things. The small box of joy turned up today.

Box



Open Box



New front springs: 14kg/mm 5" 65mm ID



New rear springs: 28kg/mm 6" 65mm ID



All my new acquisitions



The 5" springs are the same rate as what I am currently using but shorter and will allow me to lower the front of the car a little more and also compensate for the 5mm of thickness of the thrust bearing and races that I am going to fit. Swift has only recently released their range of 5" springs which worked out perfectly for me . I will probably run the front springs slightly loose with no preload to gain a few mm of droop travel and a little more low, as my bump travel is limited by the tyres hitting the chassis and a bit more droop travel probably won't hurt.

The 28kg/mm are to replace my existing 24kg/mm rear springs for a little more overall roll stiffness and possibly get the rear end a bit more lively . A little excessive perhaps but a few different springs will come in handy for tuning in the future and they were cheap second hand. I will fit these springs tomorrow night and get an alignment on Friday and then the car is effectively ready. I am trying to avoid any last minute antics since I will be leaving next Wednesday evening.

The boss kit is to fit my 350mm deep corn to my daily .

[vuongster]

Holy shit, 28kg. Now that's hardcore! Pics up with them in, along with the sexy new steering wheel. Looking forward to see what this car can do!

[fatboyz39]

28kg?? WOW WOW!!... did you have the 24kg ever on the fronts?

[benson]

full of surprises!

[ChargeR]

Holy shit, 28kg. Now that's hardcore! Pics up with them in, along with the sexy new steering wheel. Looking forward to see what this car can do!

Car will look the same as it does now just a touch lower . And more uncomfortable . I am looking forward to seeing what it will do too. I just hope it doesn't break. I will be a long way from home.

28kg?? WOW WOW!!... did you have the 24kg ever on the fronts?

Nah this is only my second spring change, 24kg/mm at the front would be absurd even for me given the Macpherson strut front layout, it would be like using something like 40kg/mm on a double wishbone honda . My original setup was 10/24 then I went to 14/24 when I went staggered. Probably preferred the 10kg front springs for balance but the car turns in much more crisply on the 14kg/mm front springs and is easier to handle. Taking into account the weird DC5 rear suspension design it isn't that stiff .

full of surprises!

LOL they are just springs, not quite as surprising as fitting a supercharger setup a week and a bit before the competition . I am keen to see the dyno numbers your car pulls!

[TypeSexy]

i wish i was like you

[ChargeR]

i wish i was like you

Me too.

Another spring change

Last night I got a chance to fit the new springs I had acquired as mentioned above, along with the thrust bearings that I already had, and I also had to make a small modification to the shaft of my dampers. I started with the rears as it was the easiest job, popped the coilovers out and took the top mounts off and put the new springs on. I then lowered them by around 4mm to compensate for the stiffer spring because I wanted to achieve roughly the same ride height. This was just a rough guess that turned out to be pretty accurate. Pictured below are the dampers out of the car and the new and old springs side by side.



Getting on to the front end I had to fit the front springs, re-adjust the caster and camber on the plates as they had slipped from the settings I initially set them at. Hopefully they will stay put this time. I also had to cut the thread further down on the top of the damper shaft as I was having an issue where the shoulder nuts (pictured below) were bottoming out on the limited thread on the top of the Mugen dampers. So I was having to add a number of washers between the upper spring perch and the spherical to avoid this resulting in roughly 6mm more ride height, which is something I could do without. To rectify the situation I purchasted myself an M12x1.25 die and handle and put the damper in a vice and went to work, pictured below. The result is shown at the bottom with the top of the damper stud just slightly protruding from the shoulder nut which is ideal.









Below you can see the completed strut with the thrust bearings and races in place, which have provided me with quiet, spring popping noise free motoring so far. I am unsure of how well they will stand up to road use once they get a bit dirty and manky though. And at the bottom is the car done, basically the same as before but around 5mm lower at the front and sprung in a more manly fashion. Initial driving impressions from the change of front sway bar and rear springs are that the car is a little more crisp but I won't be able to full judge it until I hit the track. Couldn't tell the difference in ride comfort but perhaps I have been desensitized

[vuongster]

Updates never disappoint. Looking the business as always. Wealth of information in the build.

[Didz]

You are so pro man. Really looking forward to seeing how it pans out in a weeks time

[jj17]

impressive... i need mentors like u.