Hackster's LSA / T56 2 door

[M.H. Yount]

Did the crank pulley get changed or size altered as part of fitting up the belt drive for the charger?

[hackster]

Originally Posted by M.H. Yount

Did the crank pulley get changed or size altered as part of fitting up the belt drive for the charger?

Nope all stock.

This is a known common problem once I looked into it. LS water pumps just dont flow that much at idle.

[M.H. Yount]

I deal with a more severe set of ambient conditions down here (plus A/C) -- not an issue at all on mine. Who knows....

edit - 'Course, I'm not trying to get it down to 170F either -- same issue might show up if I was.

[Texas240]

Originally Posted by M.H. Yount

I deal with a more severe set of ambient conditions down here (plus A/C) -- not an issue at all on mine. Who knows....

edit - 'Course, I'm not trying to get it down to 170F either -- same issue might show up if I was.

Same boat. Im quite content with my stock truck thermostat.

[2fast242gt]

[QUOTE/]springs first, then the front bar, but have them all with me at the next track day in case I want to make more changes. I also needed a little more tire pressure up front as I could feel the tires rolling over more than they should be. The extra camber should be a huge help though.

I hear ya on opening up the strut tower bar, like I have said before sometimes its a balance of aesthetics and performance for me. I still cannot believe that there are no instructions provided with any of Kaplhenke's parts as well as not a single one linked off of his website, Moreover, why doesn't the strut tower bar opening match the pattern on the top of the adjustable upper strut mount. I understand that not everyone will run them, but maybe have it as an option? I cut enough, not to mention I don't really want to send it off to have it re powdercoated.

On the engine temps, I understand thermal dynamics pretty well but this one has me a little bit confused. Its not load or speed related.

If I sit in stop and go traffic it will get up to about 211, this is in super mild temperatures like 50 degrees here in Portland as well as 95 degree weather in Vegas.

It will come down to 200 ish when I get moving. When I am on the freeway cruising at say 70 or so, with very little load on the engine 1700 rpm virtually no throttle it will run about 210 or so More accelerator or shift gears and it will drop.

Makes me think that the stat is more likely an issue than airflow. I do wonder if I am going to have to do some hood louvers to get some airflow through the engine bay. When I pop the hood though, its not really hot in there like I would think it would be.

Either way, its a next step, it either helps or it doesnt, but its the best path forward that I can think of.

Sean[/QUOTE]



I remember this issue as well, frustrating... you can't access the bolts from up top without trimming the brace. I asked about this before ordering and was assured you could. I paid for the nickel plating then ran I to the issue, then the answer was grind it open lol.

[quillc]

Originally Posted by hackster

This is a known common problem once I looked into it. LS water pumps just dont flow that much at idle.

This is why you see a lot of LS swaps running electric water pumps.

[hackster]

Originally Posted by 2fast242gt

[QUOTE/]springs first, then the front bar, but have them all with me at the next track day in case I want to make more changes. I also needed a little more tire pressure up front as I could feel the tires rolling over more than they should be. The extra camber should be a huge help though.

I hear ya on opening up the strut tower bar, like I have said before sometimes its a balance of aesthetics and performance for me. I still cannot believe that there are no instructions provided with any of Kaplhenke's parts as well as not a single one linked off of his website, Moreover, why doesn't the strut tower bar opening match the pattern on the top of the adjustable upper strut mount. I understand that not everyone will run them, but maybe have it as an option? I cut enough, not to mention I don't really want to send it off to have it re powdercoated.

On the engine temps, I understand thermal dynamics pretty well but this one has me a little bit confused. Its not load or speed related.

If I sit in stop and go traffic it will get up to about 211, this is in super mild temperatures like 50 degrees here in Portland as well as 95 degree weather in Vegas.

It will come down to 200 ish when I get moving. When I am on the freeway cruising at say 70 or so, with very little load on the engine 1700 rpm virtually no throttle it will run about 210 or so More accelerator or shift gears and it will drop.

Makes me think that the stat is more likely an issue than airflow. I do wonder if I am going to have to do some hood louvers to get some airflow through the engine bay. When I pop the hood though, its not really hot in there like I would think it would be.

Either way, its a next step, it either helps or it doesnt, but its the best path forward that I can think of.

Sean

I remember this issue as well, frustrating... you can't access the bolts from up top without trimming the brace. I asked about this before ordering and was assured you could. I paid for the nickel plating then ran I to the issue, then the answer was grind it open lol.[/QUOTE]

I understand where Ben is coming from with his 1% comment of people running his strut tower bar and his adjustable strut mounts. However it sure would be nice if he could give people some instructions and a heads up.....Hey FYI, if you order this stuff it doesnt all just bolt together and work right out of the box......so dont get everything powder coated and painted and expect that.

Originally Posted by quillc

This is why you see a lot of LS swaps running electric water pumps.

I dont see a lot of LS swaps running electric water pumps I actually cannot recall seeing a singe one running an electric water pump until I researched this problem.

Not much else to do with it right now though, too many things to work on, its not overheating so we will run it and see what happens this weekend.

Got the car aligned yesterday, came back with some pretty big differences, the car tracks straight as an arrow now, stops straight too so looking forward to that. I am sitting at 2.7 degrees of camber, thinking I was probably about 1 or so before so a huge gain. We put it at 1/16" of toe out to help with turn in as much as possible.

I also gained a ton of room for tire clearance with the extra camber up front.

Bad news, I found that the rear axles have a slight amount of up and down play in them, its just a few thousandths, but its enough to get a little clunk both with a pry bar and when I jack up or lower the car. No signs of a leak or anything, I will keep an eye on it over the weekend and see what happens if anything. I am guessing its going to continue to wear on the shaft and possibly the bearing if I keep driving on it but no options as I found it about 10 minutes before loading the car up last night.

Track Night tonight in Seattle, going to hang around up there, maybe even hit up an auto cross on Saturday or Sunday if I can find one.

Sean

[Hank Scorpio]

Is there a smaller pulley for the water pump? Seems like just need to speed up the flow at low RPM's right?

[NONHOG]

Track Night tonight in Seattle

Pacific Raceway?

[M.H. Yount]

3-9pm - Pacific Raceways, Kent

[NONHOG]

Originally Posted by M.H. Yount

3-9pm - Pacific Raceways, Kent

LOL, "Hey! Let me Google that for ya"

[hackster]

Loaded up here at noon on Friday and headed North, ran into a nasty rolled over freight truck on highway 512 between Tacoma and Puyallup that held me up for almost an hour. Got there just in time for the drivers meeting.

Got the car unloaded, warmed up and got out to grid for my run group.

Oh man did my changes help a ton. They recently did a big upgrade on the back section of this track and its so much better, real curbing that you can drive over, even carry some tires too. Took a few laps to get the hang of the new layout and get a grip on the car.

Its a big fast track if you have never been before and has a monster of a straightaway. Although I am convinced that the rear end has 4.10's instead of 3.73's in it. Either way, the understeer is just about gone now, adding the camber made a huge change on turn in and corner entry, rear spring change settled the rear of the car down a lot. I was having a blast.

Temps were staying in the 190's so a huge improvement from the last track outing.

Brakes have zero fade no matter what I did. I need to work on my 4 to 3 downshift, have hit 5th a few times on accident. Need to adjust accelerator position up a little to assist with heel toe.

15 mins into the session or so, I came through turn 2 and felt the car do something weird mid turn, I couldnt quite tell what it did but it shifted over a few inches off the line.

Then on the next straight the steering wheel was no longer straight while I was going straight.......

So into the pits to see what was going on.



Unfortunately it appears that my steering rack has jumped a tooth. There was a pretty good clunk in the steering when working the wheel back and forth. Once under the car I could move the rack output back and forth a good 3/8".

Bummer that it ended my fun filled weekend of car stuff waaaaay early. I had planned on track night friday, Seattle cars and coffee on Saturday and Auto Cross on Monday.

Instead I had Dinner with my nephew and his lady friend and hit the road from Seattle about 9 for my drive back to PDX.

Saturday I tore this **** apart.



Picked up a known good rack from Scott and Taylor. Very minimal play in this one.



New Rack in!!! Get the rack in, fill with fluid and bleed a little before sleep time.

Woke up to a nice puddle under the car, not coming from the rack. The "rebuilt" pump was leaking now. It wasnt from the high pressure line like I thought as the car had not started yet.

So here we go again.....



I tried to round up a pump but with no luck this weekend. I ordered a new pump from Turn One this morning. This time it has a real rebuild on it, tested before it leaves with a new reservoir and a billet wheel so the pulley doesnt need to be pulled each time you remove it.

Bummer that I missed out on all car stuff this weekend but I did manage to get a ton of stuff done around the house. All hard surfaces got pressure washed, trip to the dump, goodwill, took care of some touchup paint on the interior of the house, installed out killer new bedroom ceiling fan, assembled a new bed for the spare room.

The wife got the best end of the 3 day weekend for sure.

I have an event on the 8th and 9th at PIR and really hope that this thing is reliable for the weekend.

[M.H. Yount]

Brand new car - typical working out of the bugs. You came home safe. That’s the big win.

[NONHOG]

Steering! Yikes, glad it wasn't worse.
You have a go pro? Love to see some track video 👍

[M.H. Yount]

Spent a lot of time talking with the folks at Turn One when I set up the pump arrangement in mine -- methinks they know what they're talking about.

[hackster]

Did a terrible job of taking pics.

Could not give up a perfectly good weekend with the car sitting missing parts so I got a parts store rebuilt pump and threw it on Saturday to see how things were working.

Bled it, put in Royal Purple fluid in the system this time. Drove just fine around the neighborhood so I loaded it in the trailer Saturday night and got my **** ready to go.





Went to McMinnville to run autocross with the BCA club. Great club, really good event.

Rest, Run, Work schedule. 70 cars in total, Raw numbers I am mid pack at 35.

Got some good testing in. Steering did the same thing.....its not the rack, believe it to be lower control arm bushings moving around under the car so I will address that this week.

Front brakes are too hot, I am locking up the front brakes on corner entry no matter what I do......I need to learn to be a better driver.

Temps were running right about 200 sitting around. We got 8 runs in less than a 2 hour run time so we were pretty fast moving. I was happy with these temps and didnt think I had anything to worry about. Temps were in the high 80's, just under 90 and we were in the sun from 7 am to 4 pm when I left.



I definitely need to work on the driver more. I feel I am overdriving the car and need to work on smooth before I work on fast. That is a very tough balance and I am still very new to the car as well as autocrossing. I know that there is more in me, I feel like I need some instructor time to help me pick up the pace.

Hope I am able to get the car dialed in before next weekends SCCA Time Trials.

Sean

[M.H. Yount]

As the saying goes - first tighten the nut behind the wheel. I’ve been to 5 schools over the decades - learn something new every time. Definition of “straightaway”?

[slow240]

So the steering jumped a tooth again? That's no bueno

[Duder]

The Evergreen museum! That place is cool. They should let you autox on the wing of the Spruce Goose...

Having a seasoned instructor ride along with you a few times should do wonders for technique and confidence. Do you plan on doing any open trackdays with the car? I'd give the same advice for that as well.

[2manyturbos]

That was a fun event yesterday. I’m glad you made it out there. WMC will be running there on the 30th of this month. It looked to me like you were doing a good job of driving the car. My suggestion would be to do a course walk with someone that drives a RWD high powered car like yours. It’s all in the set up for each turn and planning ahead. You are really driving at least two turns ahead of the turn that you are in when driving correctly.

http://www.wmclub.org/

[hackster]

Originally Posted by slow240

So the steering jumped a tooth again? That's no bueno

The steering isnt jumping a tooth. I believe what is going on is the rear lower control arm bushings are moving around so much that they are affecting the alignment of the car, toe, camber, caster all of those are affected by this.

Originally Posted by Duder

The Evergreen museum! That place is cool. They should let you autox on the wing of the Spruce Goose...

Having a seasoned instructor ride along with you a few times should do wonders for technique and confidence. Do you plan on doing any open trackdays with the car? I'd give the same advice for that as well.

Very cool place to do an auto cross, just with the course was a little bigger than it was, it was.

I have had a few instructors ride with me in the pickup truck on the auto cross course. It made me aware that I wasnt driving the truck very hard and it taught me a lot about looking ahead, braking and accelerating where to do it and cut down on lap times. I am struggling with the car a little bit though I can tell you that.

I have way more seat time on track. I have done 4 full instruction days with an in car instructor, classroom and on track at all of them. I have far more seat time and comfort on track than I do on the auto cross course. I find the two of them polar opposites. I feel very comfortable on track where I dont feel that way on an autocross course.

Originally Posted by 2manyturbos

That was a fun event yesterday. I’m glad you made it out there. WMC will be running there on the 30th of this month. It looked to me like you were doing a good job of driving the car. My suggestion would be to do a course walk with someone that drives a RWD high powered car like yours. It’s all in the set up for each turn and planning ahead. You are really driving at least two turns ahead of the turn that you are in when driving correctly.

http://www.wmclub.org/

Thank you sir!!! Great event. I might have to try and make it out with the WMC folks, I ran with them a few times years ago, pretty low key group.

Aside from Ryan Davis, I didnt know a single person out there with you as the exception. A walk or ride along with a fast rear wheel drive guy is an excellent idea, it didnt really cross my mind and I am a little intimidated in those settings to chat with people, there are some that are totally friendly and happy to help, others not at all, you try and talk with them and they are not open to talking at all.

Was great to see you out there!!

Sean

[2manyturbos]

Autocross is a lot more difficult than people think until they try it. Everything happens in an instant. It takes very quick reflexes and staying way ahead of the car. When you get more seat time autocrossing it will be easier for you to connect everything together into a more seamless run.

And yes, in every automotive sport including Autocross, there are super friendly people willing to help and total a-holes that would love to see you get a flat tire so you can’t beat them.

[slow240]

Originally Posted by hackster

The steering isnt jumping a tooth. I believe what is going on is the rear lower control arm bushings are moving around so much that they are affecting the alignment of the car, toe, camber, caster all of those are affected by this.

Well ****, that's a little disconcerting. At this point I'm curious what you're doing differently than other folks. Lots of people have put a lot of abuse on the IPD/superpro bushings without issue, I mean you're obviously running more tire than most people on here, but I wouldn't think you'd be able to kill them this quickly. Maybe you got a bad batch? Idk

Time to fab up some heim joint control arms???

[M.H. Yount]

He replaced the front with Delrin - perhaps move to Delrin on the rear bush as well?

[hackster]

Originally Posted by slow240

Well ****, that's a little disconcerting. At this point I'm curious what you're doing differently than other folks. Lots of people have put a lot of abuse on the IPD/superpro bushings without issue, I mean you're obviously running more tire than most people on here, but I wouldn't think you'd be able to kill them this quickly. Maybe you got a bad batch? Idk

Time to fab up some heim joint control arms???

Originally Posted by M.H. Yount

He replaced the front with Delrin - perhaps move to Delrin on the rear bush as well?

The bushings were still holding up ok. I do feel that the superpro bushings are far too soft for what I am doing.

Seems to be the most normal pose for the car, might as well take a pic of it.



Couldnt stand not knowing what was going on under there so I jacked the car up and got to work. Finding it was easy. Jack car up, wheel moved....

Grab wheel, the front lower control arm mount moves about 3/8" or so. I start digging further and the "stover" or lock nut is loose on the bolt that holds the lower control arm. Not only is it loose on there, its loose like you can thread it like a normal nut onto the bolt.


https://imgur.com/TfVFdkn


Also the hole in the crossmember is 14mm, while the bolt is a 12 mm bolt.

So here is what I came to the conclusion of, Replace the lower control arm bushings with the race superflex ones I ordered. I drilled out the sleeve for the front lower control arm up to 1/2" and ran a new grade 8 bolt with a new stover nut on it a little lock tight and it should be good. This was a much tighter assembly even when things were not tightened up unlike before.

I got one side done last night. Still need to do the other side tonight. It took me a little bit to figure out what I was going to do to fix it.

The hole in the crossmember was not egged out either, it was still perfectly round.

I am sure that I screwed something up somewhere but this is what I have now, should be better than stock in my opinion.

The good news is I can have the lower control arms out of the car in like 10 minutes now after doing it so many times.

Sean