Track Day MSP Build

low_psi

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ms|slowtege #399
I've been tracking the car for a few years now and lately a bunch of parts have been finding their way onto the car. Here's a quick run down of the major parts/work going into the car:

-Autopower rollbar
-G-Force 6pt harnesses
-Sparco Sprint5 seats
-Removing interior & repainting behind front seats
-Flexalite shrouded fans w/ custom wire harness
-Carbon hood w/ radiator vent
-OEM hubs w/ ARP studs and wheel bearings
-Koni 8610 race inserts into OEM strut bodies w/ Eibach springs
-OEM water pump and timing belt w/ tensioner
-Ported intake manifold
-Hardrace front control arms
-Adjustable rear control arms

The seats have been mounted directly to the Sparco seat bases, lowering the overall seat height by 6". Its taken some adjusting to get used to not being able to see the front of the car anymore, the biggest hassle is getting in and out of the car when your tired :)

Seats.jpg


The front wheel bearings were terribly shot, causing not just a lot of noise but slop in the steering. The hubs were still in good shape, so the new hubs will go in next time. ARP studs are still in the works, they will be very helpful since I'll be able to add some wheel spacers up front.

Uprights.jpg


The car looks sad as it sits in the shop over night.

DeadMSP.jpg


With the new bearings and the Hardrace front arms, the car feels much better now.

I had a two events in September, one weekend was completely wet and I didn't snag any video. It was a fun weekend of slip sliding around. The dry line is terribly slick on one half of the track and you really had to drive along the outside edge of the track to get any grip. Lots of people were uncomfortable with this but myself and a few other track buddies really took to it.

Here's a video from a MS3 from the last session. I had passed him earlier in the session but as things dried out, he started moving back on line and found more grip. It was a fun session of him, myself and the Mini going back and forth as each of us found a bit more grip than the next:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc7-XZ4ZcYU

The second event was spur of the moment to fill in for a friend who couldn't make it. That meant doing the event on my daily street tires and with dead front brake pads. Again, no in car video :(

Video from May:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyfRM5qO8Hs

Feb:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xGB5gsX2mM


Finally got around to cutting my hood up a bit. Needs to be opened up larger, but I wanted to make a small opening to see how things looked. Hopefully once I shroud the opening it will look less Evo-esque

Before:
Hoodbefore.jpg


After:
hoodafter.jpg


The rear Konis w/ a cut up housing. I may cut up a set of MSP struts I have instead of reinforcing the endlink brackets on these. The front inserts are being dyno'd to verify health.
Konis.jpg
konis.jpg

Konis.jpg
 
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ooo cool! Any further plans for it? What tires are you running?
 
Nice build man..it's fun as hell, I hit the track this summer for the first time and I'm hooked! You think you know your car until you hit the track lol...I learned alot and was very impressed with the car.

What tires have you tried and which do you prefer?

Koni rebuilds eh....how you like?

Anyway...keep us updated, cheers!
 
Awesome videos. That ms3 caught up really quick in the first video. I love the song in the second video. And the the song in the third video is funny. Love to see msps on the track. Makes me want to get out there and have some fun.
 
wheres that built motor? j/k i know at the end of the day ur own car is the last thing u wanna work on! thats why i dont have a new paintjob yet!
 
did you buy ARP wheel bearings?? i didn't know they made them. what are the part numbers??

i love track cars.. that is what i'll be building!
 
I've been running shaved 235/40/17 RA1s for the past few years. Lots of fun in the dry. They're the only r-compound I've run on my car so even compared to the RE070 Bridgestone, they are light years ahead in grip.

The Konis are collecting dust under the bench, haven't finished them yet. Need to source the springs and hopefully a local place to tap the bodies. If not, I'll send the bodies off to TriPoint to get threaded. Right now the car has Tockios on the front and KYBs on the rear... terrible setup.

Future plans consist of knocking out the whole list above and then getting the new motor(also collecting dust) finished...which will probably entail big front brakes. A carbon undertray for the front and rear will come eventually. I've enjoyed doing a bunch of events this year with the tired suspension rather than spend event money to finish the list.

It's nice to have a shop, but like Dan said, at the end of the day the last thing I want to do is work on my own car. We usually stay there pretty late...

I'll throw up some pictures of the Koni setup and the hood all cut up tomorrow.

Yes, ARP studs, not bearings. The wheel bearings are from ***.

Who needs comfort in a daily driver?
 
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so u are building a motor! ooooo! then giving it to me right? what brake setup, rotora, wilwood? speed 6?
 
Haha, yes the motor will be worked on at some point. Since I'm not building motors all the time anymore, it hasn't bothered me to have mine sitting around. Its more an issue of ordering parts for it at this point.

I don't know about the brakes. Stoptechs are heavy, Wilwoods are light and inexpensive, APs can be found for dirt on ebay. MS6 brakes are big and easy but single piston calipers.
 
Well the car started dying over bumps last night, particularly after driving down a terrible road. Turns out the main relay had popped out just enough to break connection over even slight bumps. It was fun driving the car to the shop with it constantly dying on the highway. I can't wait to get the Konis done so the car stops bottoming out. It's always a simple fix.

I'll update the first post with a few pictures.
 
Very true. Kyle's car is in pieces right now as we strip all the old wiring out of it. The previous owner was not an electrician... its a miracle it was running at all.
 
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