Track Days in the DOHC Fiero

[The Dark Side of Will]

I was in Los Angeles for work over the last two weeks, so I drove up to Altadena and hung out with Steven for a bit.

Got to see and go for a spin in the car. It's pretty snazzy!

Steven's done a lot of cool little touches that aren't really laid out in this thread. The instrument panel is a really minimalist laser cut aluminum panel mounting SpeedHut gauges with center tach.

The stock center stack is gone, with only the main dash center vent discharge opening remaining... Steven's developing a 3D printed faceplate that screws to the original center stack mounting points on that discharge and mounts only the HVAC control panel. A/C works and the fast steering looks like a blast, although I did not get to drive the car myself... I would never fit into Steven's seat

Steven's also designed a foot pad/dead pedal combo for better foot placement on the pedals with the OE carpet removed from the car. I think he's shown that elsewhere on the forum.

The passenger side still has carpet, but also has a racing seat that's a little tight for me, but I mostly fit. Four point harnesses in both seats with a handy custom harness bar that bolts to the OEM shoulder belt mounts in the B-pillar.

[Aaron]

Steven is always great fun to hang out with, I try to hit him up every time I'm in LA. I'm surprised he still has that car and is progressing on it!

[The Dark Side of Will]

Some of us have more attention span than is good for us!

[eHoward]

I had the opportunity to meet up with Steven and Stimpy(Jeff?).
When i was out in San Jose to teach at a conference for work back I want to say in 06. Cool guys. They showed me around the area. We went out to the bay for lunch. Stimpy taught me philosophy…

Steven let me drive his beast. This was before all the hardcore stuff . But definitely fun and well put together. No project stuff like don’t touch that or this doesn’t work or loose wires hanging around. He did it right.

[Series8217]

It was cool getting to hang out. Wish we could do an RFT BBQ sometime but we are all so spread out over the continent.

I post some updates on this thread soon. Been doing a lot of little things to the car lately.

[Series8217]

Back to doing autocrosses and track days in my 88 this year. Since the last time I tracked the car, my setup has changed from 215/275 staggered Hankook RS3s and 12" rotors with stock calipers, to 265/315 staggered Nankang CR-S, C7 Brembo brakes, custom front and rear uprights, and Conti MK60E5 ABS.

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Last weekend at Buttonwillow was overall very very wet but I had a few dry sessions on Saturday morning. My first session was refamiliarization with the track and learning the new characteristics of the car. By the middle of the second session I was really starting to pick up the pace and had a lot of confidence in the new setup.

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I was set to probably run a new PB for the #13CW configuration: I ran flat out from Bus Stop to the braking point for Phil Hill then flat again until the braking zone for the sweeper. Soooo much grip. Then as my eyes scanned right to find the exit curbing I noticed a giant smoke cloud in my rear view mirror.

I pulled into the hot pits to find a film of oil on the muffler and most of the rest of the engine bay, but no obvious source.

Back in the paddock I took off my helmet and race suit and got a better look under the car. A constant stream of oil was pissing from the right side of the pan.

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Turns out the one drop of oil per day I've had on my garage floor from a leak I can never find was actually a crack in the pan where an internal baffle is spot welded to the exterior metal. It broke through completely and went from a drop per day to a couple liters per hour.

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I was able to jack up the car at an angle enough to get the oil level below the hole so I could clean it with brake cleaner and JB weld a patch. Found the perfect patch in my tow vehicle: a single Chinese Yuan coin. I borrowed some JB Quick from 7s Only (the race shop at the track), glued the coin over the hole, and then the rain came. I never got another dry lap all weekend.

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Still, the car was great in both dry and wet. ABS on a Fiero is phenomenal. I truly believe the Mk60e5 is a race ABS system even without the "motorsports flash". I never felt it was holding me back, and even in the wet I could stab the brake pedal hard and trust that the system would find the grip wherever it was.

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The Nankang CR-S is a pretty good tire but it is definitely not a rain tire. By Sunday the track was mostly flooded and the rain was pretty much constant all morning so I packed up and headed home to dry off and clean up.

[draven]

Whew... Had me there for a sec... Thought you might be doing an engine upgrade sooner than expected, lol

Definitely makes me want to get abs up and working in future

[Shaun41178(2)]

The dash caught my eye