Road Race setup/ Track pics

[racepar1]

You're gunna have to explain the whole "fortnight" thing to us yankees man! LOL! That's two weeks isn't it?

[bungl3]

pmsl yeah two weeks

[WhiteGLX]

alright guys i have everything on order for my rebuild and hopefully i have the pistons in by monday morning so i can take everything to the machine shop and have it back by friday for assembly and cleaning.


Pics of damage.




new block and head are already at my house, just the head needs cleaning and the block is ready to be cut.

i will have updates i am hoping to have everything assembled and reinstalled back into the hooptie next weekend for break in and ring seating. they the following weekend is track....phew this is going to be a busy 2 weeks.

[WhiteGLX]

pics of the new pistons and block will be up tomorrow, since all i can do is install the crank and put the pistons in the block until my con-rod bearings show up, im sort of stuck....

[racepar1]

LOL! You should make a trophy out of that one man!

[sebastianpiz]

Hi,

Can you please give some advice on wheel size. I have a 1995 240sx, S14. I will be autocrossing the car on weekends. the car is my daily driver.
thinking of buying 5 zigens. i am not sure if i am choosing the right size. i am trying to get 18x9.5 + 11 for all four wheels. or i might go front 17x9 +15 for Front and 17x10+25 for the rear. please advise. can you please post it here in this forum and please send me email to [email protected].

thanks,
king

[sebastianpiz]

Need advice on wheel size for Autocross
Hi,

Can you please give some advice on wheel size. I have a 1995 240sx, S14. I will be autocrossing the car on weekends. the car is my daily driver.
thinking of buying 5 zigens. i am not sure if i am choosing the right size. i am trying to get 18x9.5 + 11 for all four wheels. or i might go front 17x9 +15 for Front and 17x10+25 for the rear. please advise. can you please post it here in this forum and please send me email to [email protected].

thanks,
king

[WhiteGLX]

I am now to the point where everything i can possibly install is done, until my rod bearings and HG arrive. So i am stuck until then.

[iwishiwas-all*]

Ok I have a serious question, I have been trying o set up my s13 for a while for hpde type events and I have a big delema, I have come across a set of nice 18's 18x9.5 +12 all around, and I know most tracked s13s run 17's, so is this not an optimal rim size? tires are yet to be determined but i think I may just get rt615's but will these rims make my car sluggish in the handling dept on the track. I have tein type flex atm with 9k springs and i have an orde rin for all adj suspension arms, and will prob have whiteline sways before these go on,

so to sum it up, 18s on a track s13 yay or ney

[racepar1]

You will have to change the ring and pinion to keep the same acceleration. I think a 4.6 ring and pinion would be good. You can source the 4.6 ring and pinions form the front differential of an x-terra. I'm not sure about the details and I think they came with 4.9 gears in the front diff as well.

[iwishiwas-all*]

Originally Posted by racepar1

You will have to change the ring and pinion to keep the same acceleration. I think a 4.6 ring and pinion would be good. You can source the 4.6 ring and pinions form the front differential of an x-terra. I'm not sure about the details and I think they came with 4.9 gears in the front diff as well.

will the guts from a xterra 4.6 diff be able to swap to a j30 diff?? ive never heard of people swapping final drives in j30's, well i mean if its eiser to get a 180sx diff with factory lsd ill just buy that one instead... now stretching tires and tracking... any input on that?

[WhiteGLX]

Originally Posted by iwishiwas-all*

now stretching tires and tracking... any input on that?

worst idea i have ever heard.....if you want wide wheels....buy wide tires. Fill up the rim, even feel free to overflow it a little, but dont strech it, leave that for the drifters and euro VW nuts.


ex - 17x9 rim, feel free to put 275/40R17 tires on them, they fit.

bad ex - 17x12 rim, do not put 265 series tires on them....no point in buying the wide rim and only use 2/3 of it.





Thread UPDATE!!!!

back from my 4th event this year, Hyperfest at Summit Point Main, had a good student, paid attention, listened to me, didnt screw up too bad, made lots of progress. Myself - adjusted to the Stance coilovers, made mild adjustments through the weekend, had a ton of fun with the other instructors on track, almost like a W2W race out there, no rough-housing orr any agressivness, just good clean fun, lots of tricky passes.

[racepar1]

The car looks great man! What wheel and tire size are you running in those pics? Looks pretty beefy.

Originally Posted by iwishiwas-all*

now stretching tires and tracking... any input on that?

The whole point of stretch is to eliminate sidewall flex, but eliminating sidewall flex makes it easier for the tires to break traction. It is for that reason that most racecars run bulging rubber, the tires stick a little better. Since racecars have extremely responsive suspension the sloppiness of the sidewall flex really just takes the edge off the car. Now on a car that is not thoroughly track prepped lots of sidewall flex might make the car too sloppy and unresponsive. If you are in that situation you don't want bulging rubber, but you don't want stretch either. You want to go right in the middle where the tires are pretty much bricks.

[WhiteGLX]

Originally Posted by racepar1

The car looks great man! What wheel and tire size are you running in those pics? Looks pretty beefy.

Wheels are 16x8 +40 Mazda RX-7 wheels with Toyo RA-1 245/45R16 tires..

[racepar1]

Originally Posted by WhiteGLX

Wheels are 16x8 +40 Mazda RX-7 wheels with Toyo RA-1 245/45R16 tires..

I knew I recognized those wheels, I just couldn't put my finger on what they were. You must be running some gnarly spacers to make those look pretty flush man!

[WhiteGLX]

Originally Posted by racepar1

I knew I recognized those wheels, I just couldn't put my finger on what they were. You must be running some gnarly spacers to make those look pretty flush man!

about a 1" spacer.....and 3" wheel studs...

[S14SwimShark105]

Nice car man, how come you didn't decide to go with a bolt-on spacer instead of a normal spacer?

I went to my first NASA hpde this past weekend and it was pretty cool. Not a ton of track time like speedventures but the instructor being in car with you makes up for it. I went on saturday and sunday and got to hpde 3 by the end of sunday. I want to be instructing someday also.

Do you have any ideas on how to get your racing license? any minimum hpde requirements that i have to take before i can take the racing school?

[WhiteGLX]

Originally Posted by S14SwimShark105

Nice car man, how come you didn't decide to go with a bolt-on spacer instead of a normal spacer?

I went to my first NASA hpde this past weekend and it was pretty cool. Not a ton of track time like speedventures but the instructor being in car with you makes up for it. I went on saturday and sunday and got to hpde 3 by the end of sunday. I want to be instructing someday also.

Do you have any ideas on how to get your racing license? any minimum hpde requirements that i have to take before i can take the racing school?

I didnt go with a bolt on spacer because these were free and the studs were cheap, so it was just cheaper in the long run.



east coast and west coast NASA regions do things very different from each other. Our HPDE 3 is almost a race group with guys who have 10-25 HPDE's under their belt, its a very aggressive and fast group in comparison with HPDE 2 and 1. Open passing with a point-by and lots of HP in the group, rookies quickly get moved down if they cant handle it and/or display a lack of skill and awareness. Racing is the next step, most racers have years under their belt in HPDE's or instructing before racing. Then they have to take a COMP School with NASA and pass in order to get their license, i dont know of a minimum amount of events required. I suggest riding with an ex racer in car to see what their speeds and ability are really like before considering a hasty move up. I took an HPDE2 guy out for a drive who claimed to be fast and i pretty much scared him with how the instructor groups passes and handles every situation on track. This is all just something to consider, no actual rules or suggestions here.

[S14SwimShark105]

O I see I see, thanks for the info. Yeah the Nasa West Coast is a pretty fast group, and it is almost like a race group also,they practice all the advanced passing techniques and stuff like that. I felt at the same pace as everyone but I need to work on the techniques they were teaching. I've had a good number of private track events and such before so I think thats why I was able to sneak in to HPDE 3, but I'll be planning to stay here for a while. I had a couple instructors ride with me through out most of my sessions out and I learned a great deal. Hopefully I'll be able to get the skills required to do wheel to wheel soon or to be able to move into hpde 4 haha

[WhiteGLX]

For anyone who wants to move into the instructor group....Be sure you can handle being a passenger in a car with someone who might be skilled and in a slow group, or someone who has no ability but thinks they are fast. Throwing yourself into that passenger seat isnt for everyone, and on top of that you have to keep your thoughts organized, communication simple, and use hand motions to try and get your knowledge to the driver.

Does the west coast not keep the same instructor per driver for a full HPDE?

[S14SwimShark105]

The west coast usually does keep the same instructor per full hdpe for each student. But after the first day I got signed up for hpde 2 and got a different instructor, and then I got signed off for group 3 in which i had a different instructor. So almost the entire weekend I had an instructor in the car with me. They didn't really trust me to be in group 3 at first because I progressed to hdpe3 in a day, so they had an instructor sit with me through out most of my runs to see if i was qualified to be in hpde3.

In west coast HPDE 1 and HPDE 2 usually run together, HPDE2 an instructor is not required but I still wanted one, I was like a sponge that weekend, taking in any information the instructor would give me haha

Driving instructing is for me, for sure haha I am currently a defensive driving coach for Masterdrive and I love it

[WhiteGLX]

Originally Posted by S14SwimShark105

The west coast usually does keep the same instructor per full hdpe for each student. But after the first day I got signed up for hpde 2 and got a different instructor, and then I got signed off for group 3 in which i had a different instructor. So almost the entire weekend I had an instructor in the car with me. They didn't really trust me to be in group 3 at first because I progressed to hdpe3 in a day, so they had an instructor sit with me through out most of my runs to see if i was qualified to be in hpde3.

In west coast HPDE 1 and HPDE 2 usually run together, HPDE2 an instructor is not required but I still wanted one, I was like a sponge that weekend, taking in any information the instructor would give me haha

Driving instructing is for me, for sure haha I am currently a defensive driving coach for Masterdrive and I love it

How many events have you done in general?

good to hear you are set for being an instructor, the more the marrier.

[racepar1]

Originally Posted by WhiteGLX

For anyone who wants to move into the instructor group....Be sure you can handle being a passenger in a car with someone who might be skilled and in a slow group, or someone who has no ability but thinks they are fast. Throwing yourself into that passenger seat isnt for everyone, and on top of that you have to keep your thoughts organized, communication simple, and use hand motions to try and get your knowledge to the driver.

Does the west coast not keep the same instructor per driver for a full HPDE?

I really don't think I could handle riding in somebody else's car, especially if they have no clue what is really going on! I am just not that trusting of a person I guess. Hell I can't even fall asleep in the passenger seat on a long road trip because I wanna be in control. Is it common for students to blatantly disregard your advice? That would make me want to kill!

[WhiteGLX]

If a student seems to be ignoring the instructor then the instructor needs to find a way to get through without violence of physical abuse of anykind. Sometimes being bossy, loud, and commanding will be enough. You just need to make sure the student is prepared to listen to you before you get in the car and go out on track, its tough sometimes because students can vary so much from one to the next, its a gamble everytime. Odds are for every 8-9 good students you have, only 1 will be a PITA, maybe.

[S14SwimShark105]

I've been to about 20+ or so track events and feel that I do belong in HPDE 3.

I've had a few students in my defensive driving school that are the " know it all' and think they are too good to learn anything, I'm sure you guys get those people also. When I go to a track event with an instructor in the passenger seat, I become a sponge, try to take in as much information as possible and see what I can do with it.

There are a lot of people that are fast in HPDE 3 and I think it helps a lot because you get to check out their line and improve your own. You can't improve something if you are practicing with people less skilled than you.

[WhiteGLX]

you also cant improve something if you never get input from others. I always tried to get other instructors to ride with me just to help me pick up speed. Solo was fun, but i like having input more than anything.

[racepar1]

Ya it's pretty difficult to improve all by yourself. The problem is that you fall into bad habits and it is really hard to break those habits, even with other drivers pointing it out sometimes. I find that I can improve when driving alone by hooking up behind a guy that I know is fast and has more experience than me and studying his line for as long as possible. That's exactly how I came up to speed so quick in my first track event. I was lucky enough to get behind a porsche 914 racecar that was just fast enough to get me acclimated, but not fast enough to make me push it too hard. After the first session it was on! I knocked off between .5 second to 2 seconds in each of the remaining 4 sessions.

[WhiteGLX]

following a faster driver is a good idea for seeing a line, but following someone elses line can lead to very bad things, i urge m students not to follow or drivers lines because if they screw up, you screw up too, you might develope a FWD line and hinder your own depending on what you are following, or you might be following someone who is fast but not actually utilizing the whole track and limiting you in the long run.

for a short period of time for an idea is fine, for laps on top of laps...no good.

[WhiteGLX]

alright fellas, its about 2 weeks until im in Illinois on my way to WMHM at Gingerman raceway.

I am re-balancing my RA-1's mounting a set of hankook's as back-ups and i already dialed in a touch more front camber (-3*). Everything has been cleaned up, vacuumed out, wiped down, and ready for video and photos. Hopefully i get some good stuff to post up and show off for the sponsor.

wish me luck boys, its a 13hr drive there, so ill be needing it. Feel free to let me know if you can make it out and hangout for a day (19th-20th)

[racepar1]

No more burned pistons this time right!!!???