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Hackster's LSA / T56 2 door

"Retirees" was the word you meant to use. ;) Somebody has to spend through your social security and medicare contributions. I'm doing my best.
 
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Fun weekend of car ****.

Headed up to the Olympic Peninsula on Friday after work to a little Casino in Shelton Wa. Its a fun place off the beaten path, easy to stay at, always has trailer parking available.

Took a few mins to clean up the setup after arriving. Always like keeping things clean and tidy.

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Ran autocross practice all day Saturday with the BCA guys. Killer group of people, always low key. The grounds were awesome. Its an old abandoned air strip so speeds were much higher than usual. Courses were about 1 minute each. We ran 1 course before lunch and 1 course after lunch.

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Kristi taking her first ride ever in the car on a course.

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She had a blast, but had no idea how violent it would be in the car :omg: Very good times.

Took my dad for a spin. He lives up there and came down to hang out for the day, has not ridden in anything this fast in a long, long time. :-P

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No idea if this will work or not, short clip coming into the stop.

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Took me a couple laps to get to know the course but once I did I got pretty quick, still a couple of seconds off pace from the super fast cars like the GT3 and a boosted miata but very happy with what I am learning, both about the car and the driver. Looking ahead, smooth, less braking, more throttle early on all helped me out a ton.

Car was very happy with 34 psi front and 32 psi rear tires. I was pushing a bit in the sweepers, adjusted the rear coilovers stiffer and it got worse, softened them up 4 clicks and I picked up a second.

I didnt turn a wrench on it all day except checking lug nuts and driving it. More seat time and I think Ill be ready to do a little more competitive stuff. Been having fun driving the car.

I was beat though. I had 18,000 steps on Saturday alone.

Headed to an event in Seattle on Sunday then home.

All in all a great weekend of car stuff, even made it out to Red Door Meet in Portland. Always interesting to say the least.

Track day on Friday at PIR, going to take a break after that for a bit, getting a little burned out.
 
What a payoff! All the time and money poured into this build has paid off, I'm sure your dad and wife(?) had a blast especially knowing you built this machine. Unfortunately, the video clip isn't working for me, I'd love to see this beast in action.
 
Outstanding!

Totally agree!! Thanks man.

What a payoff! All the time and money poured into this build has paid off, I'm sure your dad and wife(?) had a blast especially knowing you built this machine. Unfortunately, the video clip isn't working for me, I'd love to see this beast in action.

I am terrible at the internet to be honest. I need to upload the video somewhere other than imgur.

Ill mess with it a little bit.

Not much of an update. Had some time yesterday so I got the front pads swapped back out for the Wilwood Track pads. Swapping out to the stock pads was the right thing to do on the autocross course, I had no issues locking up the fronts once I did that. So that is my new routine.

You know you have done this a lot when you know exactly what tools you need.

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Gave the frontend a once over, drained the catch can....hardly anything in it, checked all the fluids and filled it up with gas. Thats when things went a little sideways.

I have only filled the tank once before as I have had sloshing issues out the filler neck.

Drove back home and got a huge amount of fuel leaking out onto the garage floor.....out the vent this time.

It was time for a redo of my venting system, I needed a high point in the system, some way to keep the liquid fuel from getting into my charcoal canister.

So what I did was came out of the stock fuel assembly with 1/4" hose, to piece of NICOP line. Came out the drivers side and then have a 12" vertical riser up by the hinge assembly and back down. This should keep the liquid from being able to get into my vent line. Previously it was almost all horizontal allowing liquid to get in there and plug it up. When I took the canister out, I drained a fair bit of raw fuel out of it.

I spaced on taking any pics though.

Took it out for a spin to check out my new mods and it seemed to be ok. Less smelly now than ever before. Curious how it does on track and if I get fuel coming out.

While out and about I snapped some pics though just enjoying the car a little bit. Its a little stiff around town but awesome on backroads. Its a little weird though, after really knowing what the car can do on track, I take it pretty easy on the backroads just a nice cruise with some good corners.

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This is one of my favorite shots of the car. Just love this frontend.

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On the waiting list for TNIA in Portland tonight.
 
How is your canister connected to the motor Sean? Are you using an ecu-controlled purge valve?

Its not. Its just a charcoal canister on the vent line, all i was hoping to do was eliminate the smell from the vent line.

Well, had a super interesting track night on Friday. First session went out and got a few good laps in then I saw something fly out from the side of the car and a clunk, so I came into the pits.

Got the car up in the air to find that the body mounted sway bar bushing had ejected out from the sway bar clamp. I never realized until that day that there was really nothing holding the bushing in at all from sliding side to side. I think some power steering fluid helped lube it up and it just spit out.

I cut up some heater hose into chunks, wrapped it around the bar and stacked up some square bits, wrapped the whole thing with electrical tape and zip ties and went out on track again.

Had some slower cars to get around then found myself in the faster cars, passed them in the passing zones until I caught up to that one guy. Dude was in a newer white Mustang GT350 and would not give me the point by. I made it very clear that I would like by, I was very courteous at first just getting close to his bumper, then half way into the passing zone, hanging out (he was way off line through the turns) in the corners, He was well aware we made eye contact numerous times in his side mirror that I would like by but he was having none of this old ****ty car getting around him.

I finally got a little tired of it after maybe 10 minutes of this and pulled up right next to him at about 110 mph and looked over at him, finally he gave me the point by. 4 or 5 corners later, he wasnt even in the mirror on the straights and I had a great rest of the session. I am not that fast of a driver, but I have a fair bit of seat time and pay close attention to the mirrors. If I am the slower car I dont want to hold anyone up at all, hell, I usually learn something when I get passed by a faster car. Just with everyone had that mentallity on fun track days, nobody is winning today, we are just having fun.....everyone gets competitive though I get that.

I ran the car hard the whole 20 minute session. Temps creeped up to 230 at the checker and I smelled fuel....cool down lap got me to the 2teens temp wise.

Pulled into the pits and cracked the gas cap to a **** ton of pressure in the tank. Apparently I finally have a gas cap that is tight and sealed up =)

I called it a night, shot the **** with some buddies and grabbed dinner.

Spent Saturday fixing what I believed to be my problems.....

When I initially installed all of this I was having fuel sloshing out the filler neck so obviously was not able to hold pressure.

I had installed the rollover valve inside the fuel filler door but it was mounted on an angle. I believe that when the fuel got warm it expanded, on a hard left hand corner the ball on the rollover valve closed the valve and once it had a little pressure on it it just stayed closed. I proved this theory in the garage Saturday.

So another rework of the fuel tank and vent. Built a little bracket in the filler door to hold the rollover valve at the proper position.

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Here is my vent loop on the drivers side to keep any raw fuel from getting into the charcoal canister and out the vent.

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Still tucks away almost all unseen. I want to build a rear firewall to go behind the seats, thats in the short term plan.

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So while going through all this, I found the fuel tank to be really warm, like almost hot to the touch. With the exhaust so close to the fuel tank I took some time to pull off the rear section, fix a hanger issue, add in a taller bump stop to keep it from banging on the exhaust.

I hate this stuff, but it does work. So I wrapped this small section with the titanium wrap and put a titanium heat shield on it right next to the fuel tank. I hope that it helps.

I also wrapped the tank with some DEI reflective stick on stuff to try and reflect the heat rather than absorb it.

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I have been pushing the car pretty hard the last few months. Its time for a little break from beating on it. Going to get the front sway bar ironed out and install a stereo, work on the rear firewall and call it done for a little while.

Radwood on the 20th, then GoodGuys Puyallup the weekend after that.

Took a break yesterday and took the buggy out, I have had this thing probably 15 years. Its like old trusty...

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Couple of buddies just finished their rigs so we had a first run. They all did awesome and beautiful rigs.

I didnt have a passenger so not too many pics of action.

Happy Monday!!

Sean
 
230? is about average for our engines to see when being pushed hard. Im seeing 218? right now when it gets 95?+ and a ton of humidity with the a/c on. Can I live in your garage and just take it in? I dont need much
 
Nothing exciting to report here, been tinkering on other stuff. Building an F100 with my neighbor spent sunday building a trans crossmember for it and getting the shifter hole cut out and the engine pulled out of it so we can finish up all of the other bits on the chassis for the Coyote/6 speed to get dropped back in for the final time. Should be a bitchin project when its done.

Got the new inner window scrapers finally installed on the volvo, they look a ton better. Fixed a couple issues that were bothering me. Resprayed the drivers inner door handle, replaced a little hardware and did some cleaning on the interior. Looks pretty good. Definitely ready for a stereo to get installed just need to figure out what to do, not over the top but some good tunes that dont weigh a ton.

Planning on being at RADwood in Tacoma this weekend so if you are up there swing in and say hi. Sounds like a handful of turbobrickers are going to be going.

If anyone has a minty non power interior door handle in black I would be happy to pay for both of those and shipping to 97223.

Happy Wednesday.

Sean
 
Headed up to Radwood last weekend. Good times, some killer cars and wonderful outfits.....Kristi was far more interested in the clothes and music, me the cars.

Heading up to GoodGuys this weekend for their Puyallup show.

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Has been a while since the last update. Took the car up to goodguys a few weeks back and hung out with some great friends old and new. Some killer stuff there mostly hot rods but a few crusty cars and a few killer pro touring cars. Really hoping that they add an autocross to the event so there is something a little more active to do there. Didnt take too many photos.

Couple updates. Car was still smelling of fuel so I popped the access door and found the fuel pump not very tight in the tank still even though the hardware was all tight.

Its a Holley 12-133 in case anyone ever runs into this situation. I didnt take any photos but the problem is the hardware to tighten leaves greater than an 1/8" gap, with the thickness of the fuel tank being just sheetmetal and their foam gasket collapsing to less than 1/16" it left a lot of room in there. I hand cut 2-1/8" Cork gaskets and stacked them up and buttoned things up. I believe I have a pretty good seal on things now and the garage doesnt stink as bad as it had. Ill keep an eye on it moving forward.

This has been a big annoyance since I got the car together of it always smelling like fuel.

The other thing I have been fighting is a front end shake above 56 mph. never below it. I have had the frontend apart several times, the last round I pulled the brakes apart and measured runout on everypart that spins with everything being less than .005" I didnt feel like I had anything bad going on that would cause the issue.

Front tires were my next problem. A they were shot from all the track days and autocross.
B. I was starting to believe they were the culprit of the vibe.

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I mentioned it to my guys over at 503 Motoring and they took the time to check the old tire before pulling it off and found it had pretty excessive runout on one tire. They hooked me up and got the tires on and balanced as soon as they showed up.

Got them mounted up and took it for a test drive and 95% of my vibrations are gone.....note that I feel any vibration in any car. Both my 18 Ram and Trackhawk have vibrations so I consider this an epic win!!!

New sticky RE71r's mounted up for Fridays track day at PIR with Cascade Sports Car Club should be fun. Forecast is 80 and sunny.

Have been having a little fun where I can fit it in.

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Also been doing tons of yardwork on the lot we picked up so that has taken some time too.

Thinking about building another cummins truck this fall.....or possibly a 2 door JK Pickup.

The ideas never stop in my little pea brain.

Happy Thursday

Sean
 
....or possibly a 2 door JK Pickup.

If there was a poll, I'd vote for living vicariously through a TJ AEV Brute build, but that's just me. Build a nasty turbo 4.0L for it and make it a manual please; k thankx.

That's encouraging to see you're working out some of the remaining issues on the 242 - the build definitely continues to provide inspiration for the rest of us.
 
If there was a poll, I'd vote for living vicariously through a TJ AEV Brute build, but that's just me. Build a nasty turbo 4.0L for it and make it a manual please; k thankx.

That's encouraging to see you're working out some of the remaining issues on the 242 - the build definitely continues to provide inspiration for the rest of us.

I love TJ's. Until I drove a JK for around town there is no comparison, more room, better engine (I know the purist hate me for liking the minivan engine) and better driving. Now for a wheeler, in a heartbeat TJ.

As a graduation present I bought my 18 year old nephew his very own track day, in his own car with his own Instructor. His folks are not car people so its all on me to make sure that he gets a car fill!! He loves spending time with us so this was an awesome day.

Cascade Sports Car Club Track day at PIR. Weather was awesome, great group.

Nephew learned a lot and had a blast.

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He had the slowest car on track but did a great job. Had an excellent instructor and learned more than a thing or two.

I participated as well. Had an awesome day, other than still fuel system issues and leaks the car is pretty damn dialed in. Had fun running SOLO in the Advanced group. Two guys I got to spend some time with on track were a 2017 GT350 and a C7 grand sport with a small centrifugal supercharger on it. I think it was a Vortech setup. We had a blast. The c7 had just enough mustard to get past me late in the day. He could pull me by like a car or so on the straights. He was dynod at 570 wheel so that makes me feel pretty good. The GT350 couldnt get around me, He could close the gap a little on the straights (Mostly in the braking zone) but I would leave him on corner exits and through the turns.

I helped the Vette guy with some lines and entry speed and he dropped some times off his laps by the end of the day. The folks in my run group were shocked at how fast and composed the car was......to be honest its the fastest I have been around PIR ever and I was a little surprised how well it did.

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Definitely looks good dirty.

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Drove to cars and coffee, some errands, bought a bunch of stereo gear and cleaned out the glovebox to get ready for stereo install.

This is just a fraction of events I have done or attended since I got this **** box done. This thing was built to be beat on and have fun. I have had my fair share of little issues but its been an absolute blast this summer.

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Started the stereo install last night. Overly complicated but it should be awesome.

Sean
 
Sean, car is looking ****ing rad man. Glad to hear things are getting dialed, are you happy with your spring rates? I'm interested to see what your stereo will be composed of.
 
Nice ?Car Craft? swap coverage Sean!

Thanks man, I havent even seen the actual mag yet but its fun to see this old **** box in print!!!

Sean, car is looking ****ing rad man. Glad to hear things are getting dialed, are you happy with your spring rates? I'm interested to see what your stereo will be composed of.

Thanks man, Its been a really fun summer with the car.

Super happy with the spring rates, I think I could go a little bit softer in the rear of the car, maybe do a 375 rate instead of a 400. When I dropped from the 450 down to the 400's I was experiencing the rear of the car skipping mid corner, its believed that I didnt have enough shock to control that heavy of a rate and I believe that.

Gotta keep in mind I am doing this as a total rookie and figuring it all out on my own but I have learned a ton about driving, but also about paying attention to what the car is doing. I have worked out a lot of bugs on the car.

Few learning lessons

I would like to get even more camber in the front.

I need to figure out how to get more rear grip on straight line hard braking. When I am coming into the turn one at PIR its a hard right hand corner and its a slow corner, I am downshifting from 5th, 4th and into 3rd. Front straightaway speeds are somewhere between 120 and 130+ depending on the day and run group. I can easily get the rear of the car to unload on braking. Ideally I adjust the rebound compression a little bit stiffer but only have single adjustable rears....hindsight being 2020 I would have done the double's.

Other than that its pretty good.

Stereo is going to be a little bit unconventional. I am doing an Audison Bit Ten with the DCM Controller for that. Out of that to an AD 4 channel amp.

2- Audison 5" Speakers in the front doors and a single 10" Sub.

I am trying to keep it simple for now. It might get some 8" speakers in the rear deck someday but we will see how this does for now. Car is in pieces right now getting this stuff installed. Cutting holes in my door panels has been nerve wracking to say the least.

Sean
 
Do you need 2.25" springs for your QA1s? I have a box full of Eibachs here that I can't find a use for, or motivation to sell if you want them.
 
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