did first auto-x on sunday and hooked

Have some questions about AutoX or Rally racing, like what types of tires are good or where to start for suspension, ect... ask them here.
Jerome Adams
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did first auto-x on sunday and hooked

Post by Jerome Adams » Tue Nov 08, 2011 10:17 am

http://www.nrscca.com/files/results/140 ... esults.pdf

got a comp 400 cam and AGP dog bones which moved my up to SMF...not too worried about it.

I plan on upgrading my seats and was wondering what everybody is running. My stock driver's seat is torn and I want to replace anyway. I have relatively broad shoulders (56")so I will be looking at WIDE versions of seats. Looking at the Corbeau A4 now, but want opinions. I don't have a lot of $$$ so Recaro is out of the question

Also plan on getting my own helmet as waiting for loaners sucks.

Tires are also on the "too buy" list


2003 sxt

CAI
UDP
LTH
Dog BOnes
Comp 400 Cam
R/T intake
R/T head
BC coilovers
stock sways (no rear bar)
Short throw shifter
boogers
15x7 +35mm slipstreams
205/50/15 BFG SuperSport all seasons (looking at Dunlop Star Specs for next year)
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Post by UriahRR » Tue Nov 08, 2011 2:08 pm

Nice set-up already besides the stock sways. I want those Slipstreams!

For seats, I just stroll craigslist occasionally for old $50 racing seats - which is exactly what I got. Now if you want comfort over stability, I would go name brand. Then again, a seat is a seat.

Nice start, though. AutoX is addicting until you drive on a track, then it's just a little release from the constrictions of daily highway driving.
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Post by Jerome Adams » Tue Nov 08, 2011 9:45 pm

It is my daily so I still need something that wont kill me on road trips (military so we travel a bit).

The shopping list includes helmet for me and my daughter (13 year old who enjoys ride alongs) and tires. Probably going with 205/50 Dunlop Star Specs. At least a drivers seat but probably get both front buckets to match (leaning toward Corbeau A4). Also considering some wheel spacers to get a little wider track, not sure though. The slipstreams have 35mm offset, but would like the tires out even with the end of the fenders maybe even a little past so I can justify fender flares (so sexy)...

other possibilities:

Eibach or Hotchki sway set, the car felt pretty well balanced with just a hint of oversteer at times so I am hesitant to mess with it until I get a better idea of what I am doing...maybe the stickier rubber will change that though.

new brakes all the way around (already have the bits for the rear disc swap, just need new rotors and pads).

I need to go thru the rule book and see where I can get the most bang for my buck. I know tires will be huge!

I would love to do some road courses, but for now auto-x is still new and intriguing. Maybe when I get another car as a daily, I can go crazy with a track setup...but that can get spendy. I am hoping there will be some more technical auto-x where I can shift more than once, maybe even do some heel-toe...LOL. This track was a straight 2nd gear affair. I know I left some time out there, but happy for a first time.
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Post by bone-yard-racing » Thu Nov 17, 2011 8:52 am

Corbeau Forza II (if your fat standard Forza if youre not) very light and only $300 each.
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Re: did first auto-x on sunday and hooked

Post by ragek23 » Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:00 pm

Jerome Adams wrote:15x7 +35mm slipstreams
205/50/15 BFG SuperSport all seasons (looking at Dunlop Star Specs for next year)
You will enjoy the D Stars when you get em. They are very very sticky and well designed, especially for their price.

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Post by Jerome Adams » Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:44 pm

Tire rack has hankook rs3 in 225/45/15 for about the same price as the 205/50/15 star specs ... Wider and more stickier! Must try them
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Post by Jerome Adams » Thu Nov 17, 2011 6:52 pm

bone-yard-racing wrote:Corbeau Forza II (if your fat standard Forza if youre not) very light and only $300 each.
I talked to the guys at corbeau and now i plan on getting the fx1. I wasnt sure if u could use stock seatbelt with the fixed back seats.
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Post by Jerome Adams » Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:41 pm

Got me a set of hotchkis sways :rockon: Gonna hold off on the seat for now. Helmet and then tires then wait for girst auto-x... There is a supercharged scion xd I want to try and beat.
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Post by UriahRR » Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:19 am

Yessir the new season is approaching, events start aroundMarch/April up here.

And there is still so much the car needs...
Seems like my car gets a facelift every year about this point.


The racing seat will help you immensely just become more one with the car as everything like that does. Sway bars and strut bars might help you go faster, but nothing changes the feel of a car like a new seat, new shifter, and new steering wheel.



I'm aiming for stock class this year, which is a little hard when you're stripped out. Let me know if the Hotchkis make driving over bumps any worse. I really really want my car to have a lot of compressibility over rough road bumps, but no compressibility around corners - quite a balancing act. It's not until you do drive on a road course paved by the gods for the first time that you truly realize that public roads are paved by demons or at the very least union slackers who were trained on the spot using the play-doh method of road building.


Might even make an appearance at a national even in NJ this year...
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Post by dtjackten » Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:20 pm

i run sparco speed seats in my car... as i have never autocrossed i do know that they hold you in place very well. add them with a four point harness and you are really not going to go far. lol.
304whp and 285 ft lbs.... 15psi.
*on the way to 400whp*
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Post by Jerome Adams » Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:34 pm

I think i am too fat for a sparco speed. Its not that i dont want a seat, just limited funds.
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Post by Jerome Adams » Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:00 pm

Alright, did my taxes and money should be here soon.

The plan:

Corbeau FX1 with side mount brackets

205/50/15 star specs (talked to a friend and they said they were better than the Hankook rs-3 which tend to get greasy.)

SA2010 open face helmet (in case I get a chance to do some track stuff too). Probably a Pyrotect Pro Airflow

New front rotors (recommendations??), pads (probably EBC green or red), and synthetic fluid (probably motul). I haven't done my brakes ever on this car and I have owned it since 05! Light car = easy on brakes. I have the stuff for a rear disc swap, but probably wont mess with it til later in the summer.

Then I need a little exhaust work...probably put a resonator in line to quiet it down and find a solution to fix the LTH to midpipe leak.

I would also like to remove the sound deadening when I do the seat. Have to look at the rule book, but if I can, I will pull the rear seats for events.

Still haven't installed the sways cuz it has been cold.

First Auto-x is April 1st with first points event on the 29th of April.

Turns out the "supercharged xD" I planned on chasing is a turbo xA and he is moving. He said there wasn't a lot of people in SMF last year so I plan on running SM this year to have more competition.
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Post by ragek23 » Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:15 pm

the best pad disc setup i ran was ebc reds and power slot rotors. lower dust than the semi-metalics but amazing stopping power. the start specs are my favorite tire so far well other than the bridgestone portenza RE01 but those are older discontinued tires.

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Post by bone-yard-racing » Mon Feb 13, 2012 5:57 pm

I prefer Hawks I am a racingbrake dealer so let me know what pads you want I can get just about anything.

Let me know how you like the FX1. If you are taller be warned the Corbeau slider raises the seat about 1/2". Im 5'11 and with the pad in the forza my head hits the roof my car does have a sunroof

Most track days dont allow open helmets. For autox I leave the visor up on my closed face.
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Post by ragek23 » Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:23 pm

some tracks area also not allowing just the DOT raiting anymore either. They are now requiring the helmets that have a SA2005 raiting or newer.

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Post by Jerome Adams » Tue Feb 14, 2012 8:26 am

bone-yard-racing wrote:I prefer Hawks I am a racingbrake dealer so let me know what pads you want I can get just about anything.

Let me know how you like the FX1. If you are taller be warned the Corbeau slider raises the seat about 1/2". Im 5'11 and with the pad in the forza my head hits the roof my car does have a sunroof

Most track days dont allow open helmets. For autox I leave the visor up on my closed face.
Right now the plan is to go with EBC Reds and EBC Ultimax Slotted Rotors. Looking at Racing Brake website it seems like overkill for what I need...and more than I want to spend (planned on $200 for pads and rotors)

I am 5'10.5" but I plan on going with the side mounts...hoping that will lower the seat a bit. Still need to call Corbeau and verify that though.
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Post by rojna » Thu Feb 16, 2012 7:45 pm

You really need to get a 3.94 MTX.
Star Specs are nice but RS3 are better, 225/45 15. I ran the Star Specs last year.

The 3.94 mtx with the 225/45 15 will give you all the torque you need.

The hotchkis rear bar is the best improvment you can get for autox, I run my rear on the firm setting.
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Post by bone-yard-racing » Fri Feb 17, 2012 6:32 pm

Please get solid rotors people I know have died in competition because drilled/sloted/whatever rotors failed. My RB sintered iron rotors have 40,000mi on them with at least 5,000mi of that being tracks and autocross and they are fine all be a little thin at this point.

Side mounts do lower the seat but side mounts in a neon require drilling new holes in the floor make sure to get some 1/4" steel plate and make big 3"x3" at least backing plates to go on the bottom side
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Post by UriahRR » Fri Feb 17, 2012 7:34 pm

:laughing3: I drilled my racing seat directly to the penny-thin floor. I reassured myself by using large washers on the underside of the car :rofl: Ugh... it's coming out this weekend anyway, hurting my back.


Also, I completely agree about the brittleness of less-than-race quality drilled or slotted rotors, which is bound to be the quality. You don't get ANY improved stopping distance with less swept area of drilled or slotted, all you get is reduced fade due to heat and gasses - which you really don't get any of in the 45-90 second spurts you run in AutoX. Honestly, by the time the tires and brakes are heating up, the run is over. Stick to solid rotors, man, cheaper and more reliable.

And another thing! Hawk Pads. You need them. EBC is like the AEM of the brake world.
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Post by Jerome Adams » Mon Feb 20, 2012 12:38 am

rojna wrote:You really need to get a 3.94 MTX.
Star Specs are nice but RS3 are better, 225/45 15. I ran the Star Specs last year.

The 3.94 mtx with the 225/45 15 will give you all the torque you need.

The hotchkis rear bar is the best improvment you can get for autox, I run my rear on the firm setting.
3.94 would be nice...as would a Quaife LSD, but that aint gonna happen til this transmission gives up the ghost.

Interesting about the RS3. Do you run them as dedicated AutoX tires or do you DD them? I heard the dunlops were better all around and would hold up a little better. I am not going for a national championship so some compromises will be made as it is still my DD. I am running BFG supersport all seasons now, so the star specs should be a big improvement.

Brakes...already ordered the EBC. I heard mixed reviews about the Hawks and figured I would give the EBC a go. I did get the slotted rotors, but the neon isn't really hard on brakes so I am not too concerned. I will keep an eye on them though.

Not what I wanted to hear about the seat...hoping it would be a drop in affair. I will have to do more thinking on that.
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Post by rojna » Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:56 am

If you have a local LKQ you can get a mtx for $100, a 3.94 is found in a lot of chryslers. A LSD would be nice, the rear Hotchkis does really help in keeping the front wheels planted.

My RS3 are autox only, I have around 50 runs on them without rotating, front is down to wear bars, rear are still like new.

I use Hawk HPS pads with drilled/sloted rotors front only, rear oem.
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Post by Jerome Adams » Mon Feb 20, 2012 9:59 am

Originally I was going to do the Hawk HPS and powerslot rotors cuz that is what modern sells and I like to support the people who support us. Then I read some negative reviews on the powerslots and I wanted to get my pads and rotors from the same place so I started looking around. Tire rack was my next stop, they had Hawk and more rotor options, but some of the Hawk reviews weren't so hot. I saw EBC mentioned a lot in Modified and they are made in England as opposed to China. Anyway I will do a review on the EBC when I put them thru their paces. My current pads/rotors have been on the car since I bought it in 2005, so even with autox these should last me a good bit.

Need to revisit the seat situation. Dont want to drill the floor... Maybe go back and look at sparcos again, but that is more than I want to spend.

What speed is redline in 2nd with the 3.94? If you hit 3rd, wont the extra shifts offset the extra grunt of the 3.94?
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Post by rojna » Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:49 am

I never tried EBC so have no idea, but I do like the HPS for autox and DD.

No idea what speed I redline in, here are some videos to give you a idea :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssDGrLxX ... ature=plcp

SRT-4 seats are ok :rockon:
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Post by rojna » Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:46 am

Jerome Adams wrote: What speed is redline in 2nd with the 3.94?
With 215/45 17 tires, I redline at 57mph in 2nd gear.
Cant really try it with the 225/45 15 RS3's because there much smaller and the mph will be way off.
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Post by trojmn » Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:47 am

rojna wrote:You really need to get a 3.94 MTX.
Star Specs are nice but RS3 are better, 225/45 15. I ran the Star Specs last year.

The 3.94 mtx with the 225/45 15 will give you all the torque you need.

The hotchkis rear bar is the best improvement you can get for autox, I run my rear on the firm setting.
I support this message. :lol: aftermarket rear bar will get you back to neutral to slight oversteer then tune with tire pressure.

I run the RS3's which get better the hotter they are and dont work well <60^. people with SS usually spray them down on hot days but i think the SS work better in the rain and on cooler days.

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Post by Jerome Adams » Wed Feb 29, 2012 7:49 pm

Brakes are on and re-dic-u-lous! I have maybe 1.5 inches of pedal travel before lock up. Need to retrain my braking foot and start training my big toe!

Got a sa2005 pyrotect pro air flow open face on clearance. Should be here this week along with the [HOONIGAN] sticker i ordered to personalize it.

Decided to hold off on the seat (had some other expenses pop up)

Still need to install sways and order tires
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Post by hansken_yo » Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:57 pm

ragek23 wrote:some tracks area also not allowing just the DOT raiting anymore either. They are now requiring the helmets that have a SA2005 raiting or newer.
The SA2005 helmets do come in open face. I'm looking st doing my first auto cross this year. Audry has been very temperamental the past years so hopefully I can get around to it.
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Post by Jerome Adams » Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:37 pm

Helmet came in yesterday and fit great. The website said no helmet bag since it was a closeout, so I was shocked to see a helmet bag...even more shocked when I noticed it was a SA2010! Score!!! Hoonigan sticker isnt here yet though.

Dealership called and my bolts are in but wont have time to get to it this weekend.

Also just ordered a set of Star Specs from TIRE RACK ... $40 mail in rebate if you order in March.

Been playing with my seat position, which I am very particular about and don't like to move, because my helmet hits the roof. I don't mean it grazes the headliner, I mean I have to slouch and push my head forward and lean slightly to the right to not have my neck compressed. (Pyrotect Pro Airflow)
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Post by dpuck153 » Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:49 am

Also looking to do some autoX. I have done some open track stuff but not any autoX. Gonna start off with my mostly stock 02 ACR. Nice to see so many guys gaving a blast at it.

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Post by bone-yard-racing » Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:19 pm

I forgot the most important mod for you guys just starting out:

http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Speed-Se ... pd_sim_b_1

http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Solo-Raci ... 391&sr=1-2

The first one is a must that book is new its all 6 of the speed secrets books condensed into 1. The second one is old really old but good.

Also watch these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRhTUf9iaG4


I have my seat bolted to the Corbeau bracket with no silder it works for me however an extra lower back/ass pad is probably in order.
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