GunshipDriver Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 ....what a blast it is/was. It is taking a while for me to get used to the steering and keeping in within the lines. On a bumpy road and the quick ratio of the steering rack I am often self wobbling the car along imperfect roads. That takes me to my next experience which was excessive rear lock up on hard braking when attempting to slow and swerve around "new" pot holes since discovered after the rains we've had. I was able to readjust the brake bias a few times and believe I have it where I want it now. But also, I found my car jumping off the pavement every now and then requiring me to think hard about getting my suspension/springs adjusted. Also found myself driving over longitudinal road imperfections out of fear that they may "jump up and snag/destroy" my oil pan. Otherwise.. it was a blast. I got my plates this past week and had just mounted on my new wheels/tires. Yes I owe you all pictures and it looks so much better than it did on the 15"s and handles so much better as well. The 15's were 300 treadwear and 205 in front and 225 in back. I had driven those a handful of times relatively spiritively around the neighborhood the last few weeks. The NT01s I since mounted are 215 in front and 255 in back and so far they just plain hook up. I didn't experience any understeer or oversteer and was relatively generous on the go pedal. The only time the rear did want to come out and play was going over a bump in a turn while on the throttle. I found my WCM's chassis to be twitchy at best often when encountering the local SoCal canyon roads and I will need to figure a solution suspension wise, corner balance, and get an alignment... I put the WCM on jacks and will possibly take off and inspect the coilovers... verify the spring rates and theorize which springs to get... currently drooling over some swift springs in softer spring rates but also need to figure if I will need to get the shocks revalved... I'm running Koni coilovers currently. By the way... got a lot and I mean a lot of attention at the local gas station today putting in my first tank of gas which was an experience in itself... I just kept thinking to myself that grass and other crud was going to blow into the gas tank the whole time I was filling it up. Hence, I stopped at about 3/4 full and called it good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunshipDriver Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 BTW, is it common to have your speedo and tach trip the circuit breaker and go dead during a drive or pause between spirited driving sessions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manshoon11 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I think it means you weren't driving fast enough ?!?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Tach and Speedo inop Circuit breaker tripped: check for a short on the powered-side of the breaker. Breaker not tripped, check the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mondo Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 It does take a bit to get used to how sensitive the steering input is. These are the settings Loren gave me a while back. Front settings. camber -1.2-1.5 caster 3.5-4 degrees toe in 1/8" Rear settings camber -1.2-1.5 toe straight to 1/8 in Mine drives pretty straight and true (your can add more castor but it gets harder to turn)... too much air pressure in tires will have you bouncing around too. I do around 18lbs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestTexasS2K Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Tire pressure is a big issue. 18-20lbs will improve the ride greatly. If you are running at 32-35 then your in for a harsh ride. Sounds like you need more caster 4-5 degrees will calm the the jitters the steering will be heavier but as you can tell you don't have to move the wheel much for the car to respond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunshipDriver Posted May 6, 2014 Author Share Posted May 6, 2014 It does take a bit to get used to how sensitive the steering input is. These are the settings Loren gave me a while back. Front settings. camber -1.2-1.5 caster 3.5-4 degrees toe in 1/8" Rear settings camber -1.2-1.5 toe straight to 1/8 in Mine drives pretty straight and true (your can add more castor but it gets harder to turn)... too much air pressure in tires will have you bouncing around too. I do around 18lbs Thanks for the info. I had 18 PSI front and back after trying 20 PSI around the block and seeing dirt on the tires absent from the other 1.5 inches of tread. Even after running 18 PSI and looking at the dirt on the tires I feel like I should be running a bit less. My plan next is to remove the coilovers, order springs, and swap them over... I'm thinking the normal macpherson coil compressor I'm used to borrowing from Autozone will do the trick... I hope... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rnr Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 I run 14psi on mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestTexasS2K Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 No spring compressor is needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunshipDriver Posted May 10, 2014 Author Share Posted May 10, 2014 Drove it again today to and from work which has a fair amount of semi-rural canyon roads. There are areas that are considerably less than perfect. Before driving it I was able to reduce the rebound compression on the front coilovers, attempted to adjust the rears and one side could adjust and the other was stuck. Hit it with WD-40 a few times with no luck and applied a lot of pressure (enough to torque/bend the allen wrench) with no luck. The ride seemed a bit better than the other day but I did also lower the tire pressure cold from 18 psi to 16 psi. The car still seemed to hop around a bit due to the lackluster road surface and I found that if I did not brace the side of my right foot against the transmission tunnel the bouncing of the car would cause me to end up having my right foot slightly bounce on the gas pedal getting me to surge the pedal/car on and off cyclically which definitely got irritating at times. On a funny note I had little to no clearance for my thighs on the drive in to work and also couldn't press the gas without inadvertently pressing the brakes which made the drive a bit frustrating. My work boots are not very compatible with the WCM. Ended up driving home in my socks and that made a world of difference. Found out it will likely be about $150 plus shipping both ways to get my koni adjustment knob to work again... In addition it will be about a 4-6 week turnaround at best... there are possibly other places that could do it for a little less and have better turn around. I may end up trying to do it myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightyMike Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 My work boots are not very compatible with the WCM. Ended up driving home in my socks and that made a world of difference. I experienced the same with my old Birkin. I had to wear racing shoes or nothing. Even then, my right foot had to be angled to the right to keep me from hitting the brake and throttle at the same time. The foot box from end-to-end was only 12" or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcarguy Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 I experienced the same with my old Birkin. I had to wear racing shoes or nothing. Even then, my right foot had to be angled to the right to keep me from hitting the brake and throttle at the same time. The foot box from end-to-end was only 12" or so. Ditto, same experience . . . . . . :iagree: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sevnn Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 You definitely have to wear narrow shoes, even when you think you can handle it with wider, it just isn't worth the risk. I have a few pair of pumas that are racing shoe styled without the high cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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