Scary Brake Drama...

We knew the brakes were bad but this is a tad dangerous don't you think? In the last race, we used up quite a bit more brake pads than we expected to use. Mike finished the race with no front left bad basically. We didn't know how bad it was until we were swapping them out this weekend. Check out these photos!

Here you can see the naked piston. The heat melted away the dust cover. Eeek.


Here is a side profile of the two left pads. You can see where the piston pushed into the melted back plate which has totally been pushed out of shape. There is only a slight bit of useless pad remaining. The other pad has no pad left either and is also down to the back plate.


Here is a front on view. The pad meat should be there but its just shiny metal that remains. Yikes. Mike - how the hell did you complete that race! Not to mention you guys bringing the car home in 3rd! Lesson learned me thinks - no more "it should make it"... Lets not skimp on essentials like tires nor brakes!

Gotta repair the caliper now. Have ordered a caliper repair kit from Honda. Should get it tomorrow.

Car Prep for 2010

We've decided lighter and cooler is the way to go in 2010. As such we've been busy messing about adding vents, taking out the air con, the sound deadening, etc as well as adding some harder springs and wider wheels.



sucking out the aircon gas.


Swapping the springs


cutting a new vent in the bumper for more air flow and refix that number plate.


Flaring the fenders after operation big wheel. we're going from 205 on 16s to 235 on 17s.


This is what we look like currently from front and side.

We also fitted a new exhaust manifold. Still a lot of work to do on the car before the next race. The water sender needs to be fixed as it is broken, tires fitted. We're still lacking a proper fan belt to remove the aircon properly but hopefully we'll sort this and some more stuff out before the next race which is coming up April 17.

Last minute prep....

For tomorrow's practice run at Ebisu - as the team challenges the circuit one more time on Monday - Alex, Simon, Tom, and Sumi-san joined me in getting the car ready.

Other than the 8 used tires we have to take off, and replace with 8 fresh Dunlop Direzza StarSpecs - which timely arrived due from TireRack (thanks!), we re-installed the rebuilt Aragostas with stiffer springs, changed out the brake fluid twice (just to make sure), and did an oil change.

Photos from the day:
8 new tires!


Sumi-san does his inspection:


Simon conducts a suspension seminar:


"Ah, so this is a coilover?"


In place!


"Vroom, vroom, vroom!!" Wow this is fun!!!


"Tom, will you please stop goofing off and help us?"


Done!!


So my impressions of the rebuilt suspension - very nice! The car certainly tracks better, with stiffer springs in the back, the front stays planted. Ride is actually quite supple, but precise. Of course, didn't drive at high speed, so might be different on the track...

When we get updates, will post them! Wish us luck!

TGRacing - now we're getting serious!

Another day in the shop for Sumi-san, Miguel and Alex, except this time they managed to convince these two guys to make the drive down and help out: Mike and Tom!



On today's menu - replacing our transmission from one sourced from a BB4 (with stronger 5th and reverse gears), which ALSO came with a CUSCO 1-way LSD!

First, locate where the transmission is...


Second, even Miguel has to check the service manual once in a while...


Here goes...


"Hey, you dropped it!"


Now that wasn't too hard:


The clutch side:


Here is the LSD. Note the rebuilt driveshafts in the back, those went in too.


As Miguel holds the frypan, Mike adds some spice:


Meanwhile, Sumi-san was busy with replacing the driveshafts:


Taking the LSD apart:


We decided that the LSD needed more initial bite, so adding shims was key:




The inside of the transmission casing:


The guys finished in time - from what Miguel told me, the initial torque has improved, but is not excessive - we'll worry about fine tuning it when we change out the final gear in the future.

Next week - lightening the car, installing the rebuilt suspension, and wheel alignment...

Mechanical Work on Sunday

We've seen the wonderful work that Russell did to the outside of the car - it really says "Race Car!!!!"

But - Sunday morning, Sumi-san and I went to Zama to meet with Alex. At the auto shop, we hunted down the sound coming from the right front suspension when making left turns.



Although I thought it was problems with the CV joint, Miguel was right - it was a loose bolt in the suspension system. I started by checking to see if all bolts were tight, by hand, once we had the car up. And Oh My... one was so loose I could easily turn it with my fingers. So I used the air socket gun to tighten it.

When I did that, the bolt on the OTHER side exposed itself - as the photo taken by Sumi-san demonstrates.



It goes without saying that, these bolts were supposed to support the suspension member - no wonder that noise was happening! And actually, after we tightened 4 bolts, the car actually handles better!!

Anyway - we then installed the HID lights, fixed the left fog light (loose connector), changed the oil filter for a new one, finished bolting the last bolt of the roll cage, and changed out the tires for the RE-01Rs, on the theory that we will save the Dunlop Star Specs for rain.

We then went to Carest Zama to get the transmission oil changed (Motul 75W-140). After which, we drove to Koenji to pick up a couple of folding tables and a dolly for the gas cans.

After which, we made our way back to my place for the stickering...

Wearing Sunglasses at Night...

These arrived today - my donation to the cause - HID headlights!




Last year, we ran the Civic in the dark with standard headlights, and in the rain with no foglights - and boy was that scary. This year, I didn't want to take any chances. I'm leaving the standard foglights stock, but decided that it would be worthwhile to upgrade from the standard halogens to HIDs.

Notice I had to separately purchase a special adaptor (in the white box on the left) for the unique shape of the Prelude's headlights! I'm actually looking forward to installing these this weekend! Maybe I'll even do this at night, so I can see what the difference is!!

Cage final touches... and Star Specs!!!

So Alex and his son Eli were busy at the Atsugi auto shop Monday evening:



First, they finished up what needed to be done on the roll cage.


Look at this kid. 18 years old, and already knocking the ladies dead! Like father, like son?


The boys then got the car ready to swap out the tires that came with the DC2 wheels for the Dunlop Direzza Star Specs we had purchased a while back...


First, Eli gets the old tires off.


Meanwhile, here are the brand new tires.


Here are the new tires on the rims! Nicely done guys!

Ok I think the roll cage is almost fully installed...

Miguel and Alex hadn't quite finished on Friday, but almost... nice job guys!

As most people tuning in are probably here to see our heroes in action - without further ado, the photos from Friday: