After the successful testing we had two weeks ago despite the ITB failure, I dropped Bumblestook off at
Evans Tuning to have the ITB issue sorted out before the Toledo ProSolo. While it was at the shop,
Karcepts released new spherical upper shock mounts. I've been wanting to replace the modified Tein top hats on my Motons for some time now so this was perfect timing. I assumed that my Moton Triples were the same dimensions as the Moton Club Sports so Brian Karwan at
Karcepts sent me spacers for those shocks but when Jeff DeVos (JDV) at Evans Tuning tried to install it, we found they wouldn't fit. It turns out the triples were slightly different but thankfully after getting the new dimensions to Brian, he quickly fabricated a new part and shipped it to the shop overnight for perfect fitment and we were back in business. The new top hats a bit narrower and lighter than my previous ones so replacing them actually dropped the car all around for a super hellaflush look (temporary). The ITBs were fixed and reset and TPS recalibrated.
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| Measuring Shocks - Evans Tuning - 6/17/2014 |
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Shocks back together after new spacers arrived
Evans Tuning - 6/19/2014 |
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New Karcepts upper shock mounts installed
Evans Tuning - 6/21/2014 |
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| Super hellaflush - Evans Tuning - 6/21/2014 |
After picking her up from the shop, I dropped her off at
SJF Performance for suspension tuning. First Steve took care of the brake bolts that I lost at DC. Robert Thorne sent me new spacers and bolts so he put those in for me..the clearances are super tight on this kit!
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| Brake bolts replacement - SJF Performance - 6/21/2014 |
Being paranoid about ProSolos, I had Steve change the diff fluid again to handle the abuse I'm about to put her through next weekend. We also put on the competition set of tires I'll be using for the weekend.
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| Fresh diff fluid - SJF Performance - 6/22/2014 |
Then it was on to some serious business. First up, with all the weight reduction the car underwent after the NJ Championship Tour and the new top hats, we had to reset the ride height and corner balance. Dave Corsaro is the man for this job and we got the car up to near stock height where I like the car to be (raising all corners around 0.5") and got the corner balance spot on for absolutely perfect cross weights in race trim. With the help of some static weight reduction and running a lot less fuel, Bumblestook dropped a solid 66lbs in race trim from when we won at the DC ProSolo two months ago. On top of that, I dropped 9lbs so in total Bumblestook is now a significant 75lbs lighter than in DC.
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Pre-corner balancing, no driver weight - 2556lbs
SJF Performance - 6/22/2014 |
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| Absolutely spot on cross weights - SJF Performance - 6/22/2014 |
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| Dave Corsaro setting up the scales - SJF Performance - 6/22/2014 |
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| Corner balancing in progress - SJF Performance - 6/22/2014 |
Once corner balancing was completed, it was back on the alignment rack for the third alignment of the season. With the ride height slightly altered (rear is a tad lower than before) and the rake set to about 1/4", we got some more caster back in the car (maxed out at around 5 degrees) and a tiny bit more front camber. I asked Steve to compensate by adding another 0.1 degrees of negative camber in the rear and resetting the rear toe back to 1/16" total toe in. Unfortunately, there's some wear in the toe adjustment bolt so it didn't want to set at 0.3 per side, so we kept it at 0.4 which is a tiny bit more than 1/16" toe in. I have to make sure to order new bolts before we realign for Wilmington next month. As always, Steve painstakingly got all the alignment perfectly to spec...and damn, she really needs another wash :(
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| Alignment #3 - SJF Performance - 6/22/2014 |
Finally to help manage tire pressure build up in between ProSolo runs, all the tires had the air vacuumed out and replaced with Nitrogen.
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| Nitrogen fill in tires - 6/22/2014 |
It was a long weekend but I'm glad that the car is as perfect as she can be for Toledo. Everything was checked and re-checked for 100% performance so it's all up to me to not screw it up. There are no excuses! The concrete and a fairly stacked SPA class will be a true test of how fast Bumblestook and I really are nationally so we can make adjustments if needed before Nationals in 2 months.
