Project CMS

Hotrodhendrix

New member
CMS-GT4":2i2bgwr1 said:
Make sure the turbo is good. Its not fun picking blades out of your intercooler.
I got my exhaust bracket welded today. While they were there they saw there was an issue with my midpipe connector and fixed that. I think this might have been the source of the noise I sometimes get when I back up. I am going to keep and eye on it, and see if the sound returns.
I sort of dig this retro celica emblem, but I think I am going to just end up taking the easy way out and putting a toyota emblem back on there.
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That emblem is badass
 

Boo_Guy

Member
CMS-GT4":3ajnbxov said:
Thanks, I think it makes a big difference. I am now trying to decide to either find some decent cf hood/headlight trim or wrap mine in some CF vinyl or something.

temperacerguy":3ajnbxov said:
CMS-GT4":3ajnbxov said:
Thanks, I think it makes a big difference. I am now trying to decide to either find some decent cf hood/headlight trim or wrap mine in some CF vinyl or something.

I am about to cover mine in real carbon fiber. I should be doing it in about 2-3 weeks. If you like the way mine come out, I could do it for you as well.

I was looking into getting this done as well, so Im interested in seeing how it comes out. If youre interested Id like to have a set done too.
 

CMS-GT4

Active member
So I was wanting to redo my head liner due to some grease on it. Mechanics in the past had ran their greasy hands on it.
I figured I would try and clean it before replacing it.
I used this stuff meant for our suede couch. I dabbed a little on, and the grease rubbed right off. Seems to have no color change or anything. I will keep any eye on it, but it seems good enough for me not to bother replacing the head liner.

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CMS-GT4

Active member
So the car is ready for this weekend's autox. I spent last night finding all my camera equipment so I could get some video.

I am back to working on the lip. I Pretty much have my placement sorted, but now I need to make a bracket to hold the sides in place. I could drill into the fender, but I am wanting to be able to remove the lip as well for winter time. Here you can see the material for the lip is to short to reach under the fender. I made a bracket out of a plate of steel, but its going to be sort of ugly. Not that it really matters, but I am thinking I might be better to take some mesh and make the shape I want that coat it with some fiberglass to finish it up.

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CMS-GT4

Active member
Alright, before I get started I'll get all my excuses ready. I had not driven the car in anger for years, I was sick all night with a cold, it was hot, blah, blah, blah. Now that we got that out of the way, the car did pretty well. I am still waiting on the results of the whole event, but for the most part it did alright. I have a video of my slowest run. More pics may come if any of the other scca guys post up. I had a camera mounted on the car, but the damn recording device failed on me. I got all the videos copied, but it dropped a lot of frames from high speed movement, so we won't even waste time showing that. Trumanpriest came and took the video below for me. I really need to have a better cam for outside that can zoom.

First lets say the course was awesome. I had not run an autox in maybe 5 years and now they are drawing the course in white lines instead of just using cones. It really helped. The car caught a lot of people's attention and everyone wanted to ride in it. I ended up giving three rides. I am going to try and get Mark to join me on the next one, but only if its a cool day. It was just too hot for us today. They also have a road course on site for other types of PDX events. I might consider running one of these.

I only had one mishap with the car. My fender well plastic on the driver side came loose and was rubbing by my second run. It threw me off and since I did not want to do damage I took it easy so I could check it out. I think I might raise the car another 10mm or so to prevent future rubbing. If I can secure the plastic better it won't be an issue. Since I was not sure what was up at first I turns up the suspension to prevent the rubbing. It was too stiff for some spots, which I am sure was not great for my times. The car did not have a lot of push going into turns. On a couple I had some push, but I think I could had approached them better. The engine did well. It was 88 degrees outside, and I never got over 205 degrees on full blown runs. I think that is good anyway. I normally run about 185-190ish.
The only issue handling wise I had was in the slalom. If I came in super fast the tail got real twitchy. I had thrown the tail out once but did not want to risk the spin so I hit the brakes and countered. I might had carried the drift through if I was ready for it. The other thing I need to figure out is my gearing. I stayed in second gear the whole time. It was too high for some of the slower spots, and there were some sections I could had gone into third, but I was afraid to waste time with the shift. On my last run I experimented and used third, which turned out to be my fastest run.
The great thing is, I got a decent time and I saw a lot of room for improvement driver wise. The car could use a few tweaks but was really strong over all. I think my approach to some of the turns and using third gear would gain me some time. I am thinking that maybe this tire size with a 4.2 FD might give me more low end use of my 2nd gear and I would get earlier use of my third gear allowing me to stay in it longer. I might also put my rear sway bar on the middle setting. I sort of wonder if that is what caused my rear to go out so easily on the slalom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHuvo7l0 ... ature=plcp
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toayoztan

Moderator
That's awesome man, I can't wait to do my first autox event in my alltrac after I build it up.

Which camera are you thinking of getting in general?

I really want a GoPro2...may just have to bite the bullet and get it because I can use it for my motorcycle too.

Bryan
 

CMS-GT4

Active member
I already have a bullet cam so I will likely get a new pvr if it's what the problem is. I just need to test it.
 

CMS-GT4

Active member
So the results are posted. Turns out I hit a cone on my fastest run.
http://stlsolo.org/2012results
I was SM66.
Even though, I had a decent final time.
48.998 47.985
50.501+dnf +0.010
47.985
47.242+3
46.920+1

Here are some other pics of the car in action.
Its nice to finally see my car in action shots instead of always standing still.
Looks like he got two of my runs, and he did not stay for the 3rd heat. I did wish I did not have that camera mount on considering my video wasn't being captured properly.
You can see other pics here: http://www.grelckphotography.com/index. ... ril-1-2012


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Some stills from the onboard camera.
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On a note of my tires. they did really good. People kept coming up to look at them and would say, "I never heard of these, but they really stick." They are Marangoni Zetas. I think I would buy them again considering their cost vs grip. They only got better as they got warmer. They never got over heated and slick. I think my biggest improvement will come once I learn how to do my own alignment. I have lifetime alignment, but its only for stock settings. I think if I can set some decent camber on the front for thee events it will help a bit.

Also Mark's car.
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sMARTINside

New member
Nice job! What is the thredwear on those Marangoni Zetas? The weather warm enough to hold an event like this! Wow, here, we still have to wait. Snow tires are still on!
 

CMS-GT4

Active member
Last year it was snowing here till may. This is record warm weather this month. It was actually too hot for me. I am hoping next month gets a cold spell and is colder, but I doubt it. It will likely be in the 90s.

EDIT: It looks like the treadwear is 280
When I bought them the only reviews I could find were in german. They are supposed to be comparable to the eagle f1 tire of the time. It looks like there are some new reviews now. Some bad, but also a lot good.
 

sMARTINside

New member
We also have records of warm weather, here. It's fun to get to the summer faster, but at the sme time, that is when you realize that the Earth is changing...
For sure, that treadwear and the width of your tires help to have grip! How much camber do you plan on running in front and in the rear?
 

CMS-GT4

Active member
I think I am running close to 0 in the front, and close to 2 in the rear. I am trying to get the rear pulled in when I have time. I have the toyota crash bolts. That is unless I make my own camber arm or something. I also want to add a little caster. I will end up using my camber plates to dial in the caster with some camber then camber bolts to fine tune my camber. I will likely only run 2 degrees up front. I may push it to three, but I might have to do the tire temp check to see my optimal camber. Unless the next event is considerably cooler I doubt I am running again till fall. The summers here stay high 90s to low 100s and I don't feel like standing in that all day. They say this year will be a few degrees higher due to a sun flair.

If I have my A/C Working then I will consider running the PDX track event. I doubt I will get to run this year with a front LSD even if the group buy goes through just cause its going take a while for me to get it installed unless you can drop the transfer without taking off the gearbox or lowering the engine.

I remember something told to me many years ago by a rally driver. Of course I have spoken to plenty over the course of owning this car, so I can not remember who it was. He said before antilag they had to left foot brake because they had to stay on the gas through the turns to keep the power up. I wonder if I kept my gearing the way it is and got good with left foot braking that it would help me.

Here is another pics someone else took.
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sMARTINside

New member
For sure, you have a lot of camber in the rear compared to in the front. It just will help to add some in the front. And Caster is a big UP too. I have 4 degrees of positive caster on my Tercel and it helps a lot to keep the grip on the front end. Also helps a lot not to spin when gazing at corner exit. I think it works the same way with the Celica, since the front wheels are driven too.
 

MWP

New member
CMS-GT4":mlpqyxh3 said:
I also want to add a little caster. I will end up using my camber plates to dial in the caster with some camber then camber bolts to fine tune my camber.

Thats the wrong way around.
Add a LOT of caster, and a little static camber.
 

MWP

New member
CMS-GT4":1pz0cyn5 said:
I also want to add a little caster. I will end up using my camber plates to dial in the caster with some camber then camber bolts to fine tune my camber.

Add a LOT of caster, and a little static camber.

Caster is difficult to adjust, but is VERY worth it.
It really does transform the steering feel and grip of the front end.
 

CMS-GT4

Active member
I will just have to mess with it once I set up a station for accurately measuring my alignment. I have most of the tools for it, but its on my back list.
 
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