Really Should Stop Modifying my Daily Driver into a Track Car

[cosworth]

Tig welders solve many things people freak out about.

You’ve got me thinking about brake cooling now from reading all this.

 

[Fusion Works]

I honestly don't understand how normal people function throughout life without multiple welders, a mill, lathe, and saw to cut metal.

 

[Woods247]

I finally bought my first welder last week. No more mooching off my buddy or driving to his shop with 10mil other humans to fix or build stuff.

 

[cosworth]

I honestly don't understand how normal people function throughout life without multiple welders, a mill, lathe, and saw to cut metal.

Gotta love the heat wrench too. I took a job at a CNC shop in January and it’s been stupid fun.

 

[Fusion Works]

I finally bought my first welder last week. No more mooching off my buddy or driving to his shop with 10mil other humans to fix or build stuff.

Owning a welder does not a welder make. You need a lot of practice before you make important things. Use WAY more heat than you think you need. This is the problem of most beginning welders, they are too cold.

Now you need to build a welder cart. Hope you got a gas bottle to go with it. Flux core sucks.

 

[Woods247]

I finally have everything I need. This isn’t my first time this is just the first one I’ve owned. Fix your car so I can show you how to go faster.

 

[cosworth]

…This is the problem of most beginning welders, they are too cold.

Flux core sucks.

As someone who first started welding in the 80s, let me start by saying that heat is important but the #1 mistake new welders make is not cleaning their metal first. Once you have contaminants in the weld you just keep pushing them along.

Grind, sand, prep with acetone. Then do it again. You’re probably still not clean enough.

And flux core doesn’t suck. Dirty metal makes it suck. Mig is great for welding upside down. But if you want to WELD, use ac/dc tig.

 

[Fusion Works]

Flux core sucks, fight me. (unless you are building a bridge or welding a structure in a hurricane) Dual shield is really cool tech though. For most DIY guys a MIG with gas can make beautiful strong welds. Getting the machine and the operator setup correctly is worth it.

Yes Prep is another one I see not even amateurs fail at. I love my blast cabinet. It gets me clean bare metal with a quickness. Acid tanks are good for mild steel. Cleans off rust and mill scale well.

Love me some TIG, but its time consuming for somethings. Roll cages with TIG SUCKS. I tend to MIG tack exhaust systems, and carry them to the bench for finishing. (I only do stainless exhausts now).

 

[Fusion Works]

I finally have everything I need. This isn’t my first time this is just the first one I’ve owned. Fix your car so I can show you how to go faster.

Barber TT at the end of the month. (if I can get enough motivation to go stay at Barber in 100deg heat.

 

[cosworth]

Roll cages with TIG SUCKS. I tend to MIG tack exhaust systems, and carry them to the bench for finishing. (I only do stainless exhausts now).

In situ welding is where mig shines. If you can have it on a bench, it’s tig. Love tig, but capping off 3in stainless pipe with argon blows. So much setup. Futzing around.

If you have a good welder with the right settings available, some new wire, flux core can burn through the big projects fast. Fussy car stuff that needs speed is solid core. Fussy car stuff that you want to spend a day on? Tig.

It’s like manual milling and CNC. Some stuff you just need to blitz on the manual real quick. Other stuff needs coding.

Sold my mig when I went all stainless on the cars. Bought a fist with mild steel pipes and I needed to bust out the Oxy on it one day. Not fun. Considering a cheap mig again now.

Makin’ bacon

 

[Fusion Works]

Can't live with only one type of welder. Need MIG, TIG, and gas setup.

 

[cosworth]

Any thoughts on undertray aero? Or are you happy with the reduction in lift from spoilers?

 

[Fusion Works]

I am happyish with the aero, I think there is some more to be gained with tuning. The OEM flat panels do a decent job with the floor aero and my panel covering the rear beam cleaned that area up. A rear diffuser would be the best way to clean up the under hatch area. Rules preclude a full flat floor and as this is still a street car, I am not interested in going that route. My front splitter goes back to the front axle centerline per the rules. I keep debating a tray behind the axle centerline that will replace my tunnel cross bracing with a flat plate of aluminum.

 

[Fusion Works]

FINALLY. After multiple tries at getting the damn trans case to seal I gave up and ordered another case from FERD. Seems like even getting a pressure proof weld joint, when the bearing went in something opened back up and fluid starting leaking out after I installed the transmission. Talk about soul crushing.



Now the car is back on the ground and I am finally driving my car again. Its so nice. Got the shifter properly adjusted and its so money. Love driving it with the Coolerwerx. Does anyone else have this issue with the dog bone rubbing on the side of the console trim?

 

[Fusion Works]

Got the roll bar pulled out and had it powdercoated.

Also had them powdercoat the new 1in rear swaybar. It looks nice and will remain that way for many years.

 

[Fusion Works]

Also swapped out my old RT660s for a freshish set of Maxxis VR1s. These are the tires I am using for my street wheels and I have a set on my track wheels. I bought them lasst July when Maxxis had a big sale. Think they were 350$ for a set of four 215/40-17. Great for going going back and forth to work. HAHA





Also made a change to the rear shocks and all the springs. The revalved dampers have a TON of rebound compared to anything off the shelf and I think I got the rear dampers wrong on the low speed rebound. The car was almost un drivable on the street because of the rebound. I also wonder if that much rebound was causing the tied down feel of the rear axle on track. No problem. I have a new set of track dampers in the work. I softened the springs from 250/250 to 180/162. I am kicking around some options for street valving, but may be able to work with off the shelf B6/B8 valving on the rear. Obviously my front struts being custom will require something different, but the current dampers use an insert so off the shelf Bilstein B6/B8 front dampers won't replace that. Now it rides almost like a Cadillac. HAHA.

 

[Fusion Works]

WOW, been awhile since I have updated this thread. Not a whole lot other than playing with aero and enjoying driving the car over the last year. Got a track day at Barber later this month so of course that requires a whole new suspension and updated splitter cuz I am a dumbass.

New front camber/caster plates with a Spherical bearing


A new spring perch for the top of a 2.5in race spring. I made adapters for my previous setup to use the stock top hat.





I built some rear shocks before that I never got to test so I am going to try them out after the last round of dampers I had. The had too much rebound and the car wouldn't loosen up like I wanted on corner entry. I replaced them with some plain old stock dampers and the car instantly loosened up. The new dampers are indicated by the orange trace and the old set by the blue trace.


Modified my old track splitter for street/track use. Trimmed it down about 1in and added a reinforcement across the front edge to eliminate the flex I was seeing before. I also bent up some simple diffusers t test as well.