More power and learning about failure, patience and perseverance

I was hoping not to have to do this but every in street prepared was moving towards Ethanol for more power so the gauntlet was thrown and I had to respond. Haltech makes a flex fuel sensor (really a rebranded GM part I believe) that works with their ECU so we put that in along with Injector Dynamics 1000cc injectors and Walbro 255lph fuel pump. I also needed a CAN bus and expansion module to support more sensors. She made about +10hp/tq through the entire power band on C85.

Haltech Flex fuel sensor - 4/3/2013

ID1000 injectors - 4/3/2013

Haltech flex fuel sensor, CAN bus hub and expansion module - 4/3/2013

Back on the dyno - 4/3/2013

A couple of days later it was off to Hershey, PA to do some more testing with the Susquehanna SCCA for a 2-day event.

Susquehanna SCCA Autox - Hershey, PA - 4/6/2013

Susquehanna SCCA Autox - Hershey, PA - 4/6/2013

Things didn't go too well right from the start. As I was putting on the race wheels, I noticed something shiny on one of the tires and sure enough, there was a puncture. We were able to plug the tire and I ran the entire event without incident.

Puncture...surely a sign to finally ditch these tires - 4/6/2013

Tire plug FTW - 4/6/2013

Susquehanna SCCA Autox - Hershey, PA

4/7/2013

At this point I had already made up my mind that I couldn't continue on the BFGs and all the early testing was wasted. Hoosiers A6es were ordered...285s for the front and 295s for the rear. Karcepts hooked me up with getting the tires double time and Rich Wayne helped get my tires mounted at Camber Toe since I was running out of time and I'd only have one day to reset the car to work on Hoosiers before the NJ ProSolo.

Switching to Hoosiers - 4/11/2013

NNJR SCCA TnT - Meadowlands, NJ

4/13/2013

I got 3 runs in the car and the car felt great and the car was immediately fast...a good 2-3 seconds faster with just minor changes to the suspension settings and then the big failure happened. On my 4th run, the OSGiken diff blew during a practice launch. It was a first gen OSGiken diff which was known to have this issue and OSGiken promptly warranty replaced it but with only a week left before the ProSolo, things just couldn't have looked worse.

Sad day. Bumblestook getting towed to the shop due to diff failure - 4/13/2013

This is exactly why Street Prepared cars are all trailered to events and despite my stubborn intent to just tow a tire trailer, it was made clear by this failure that if I wanted to compete seriously, I'd have to get a trailer too and the order was placed with EconoTrailer in PA for a 15' open trailer shortly after even though I hadn't even yet identified where I'd stow it or what I'd tow it with! Thanks to JDV, we had the car back up and running with my spare OEM diff the day after and I was going to have to run the ProSolo like that.

OEM diff temporarily in - 4/14/2013

This journey with Bumblestook was teaching me a lot about failure, patience and the perseverance required to push through. Nothing was going to dampen my spirits. Despite this failure, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel if only we could work through the issues.

Early season testing, hiccups and the BFG failboat

It was time to put Bumblestook through her paces. The first big event was only a month or so away so I had to get the car dialed in ASAP. The earliest event I could go to was at Warminster with the Philly SCCA and so off I went.

On the road to Warminster - 3/17/2013

Bumblestook in full race trim for the first time - Warminster, PA - 3/17/2013

The temps were really cold that day. There was a bit of snow overnight and Warminster had a thin layer of ice on course that luckily melted before our first runs. I immediately ran into issues. I couldn't get any kind of temperature into the tires. I was skating everywhere, the front wouldn't grip and the car just wouldn't turn. The throttle body was sticking wide open at times and I was running several seconds behind STR on street tirees!

Philly SCCA TnT - Warminster, PA 

3/17/2013

The following week I messed with the throttle cable a bit and that somewhat helped the sticking throttle issue but it was 40 degrees at the meadowlands and the same story...she drove like crap. Cornering was impossible. I suspected it was my driving but I handed her over to Jeff Hurst and he noted it felt like crap too. In order to even get the car through the course, I had to just putts around and go on a slow cruise. Just to make sure it wasn't car setup, I slapped on the street tires and did two runs and the car was already over a second faster and much easier to drive. I was starting to think the BFGs were a bad choice and certainly at these temperatures! I was also struggling a lot getting used to the new way the car drove and I was constantly hitting cones. I got one clean run that day.

NNJR SCCA Autox - Meadowlands, NJ

3/23/2013

To try and fix the issue, I went to SJF Performance to adjust my ride height, soften my front sway bar and redo my alignment. Anything to make the front of the car work better!

Second alignment of the season - SJF Performance - 3/24/2013

To further fix the lack of rotation, I picked up Noel's Gendron rear bar and installed it on site on his trailer (previously had no rear bar). Only issue was that it was hitting the exhaust but for now it would have to do and I also borrowed his tire blankets to try to get heat in the BFGs.

Gendron Rear Sway Bar -  3/30/2013

Trying to keey the tires warm - NNJR SCCA Autox - 3/30/2013

It took a lot of fussing around with the shock settings and tire pressures but at least she was starting to turn. The grip was much better with the slightly higher ambient temps and I could finally focus a bit more on my driving than manhandling her through the corners.

NNJR SCCA Autox - Meadowlands, NJ

3/30/2013

The next day I wanted to do some more testing but ambient temps dropped below 50 (mid-40s) and windy and once again the BFGs were faltering. Data logger showed a 0.3G drop in peak lateral Gs and I could feel it. Not even 10 back to back runs did the tires get up to any decent grip. I was almost certain at this point the BFGs don't start working until above 50 degrees and sunshine.

MSNE Autox- Meadowlands, NJ

3/31/2013

Much less body roll thanks to the rear bar
MSNE Autox - Meadowlands, NJ - 3/31/2013

The rise of Bumblestook

Up to this point, autocross was just something I did in between track days to keep improving my driving skills. That all changed with going to Nationals in 2012 so in 2013 I wanted to make Bumblestook a competitive car in a SCCA class so I could bring her to Nats and really focus on getting better at autox in general. I had already been looking into a BSP build after the S2000 was moved to BSP the year before but I was mostly just toying with the idea. This time, I went through the rule book and it appeared that a BSP build wouldn't be that much more work to get to while still having her be fully track worthy. It was supposed to be a simple build...remove the non-BSP legal parts, add Hoosiers and done. Personal life events pushed me over the edge and I went with "YOLO" let's do whatever we want to this year build so I handed the car off to JDV and Evans Tuning and the transformation began.

05 S2000 F22C, AP2 tranny and driveshaft with about
50K miles shipped to the shop - 12/25/2012

New J's Racing offset camber joints - 12/27/2012

Dropped the car off at Evans Tuning to begin the transformation - 12/29/2012

I got in touch with Davgoat on S2ki who was parting S2000s and got an AP2 engine, tranny and driveshaft from an 05 S2000 that pretty much had the same mileage as my car at the time. My camber joints were heavily worn (probably from driving on the Cross Bronx more than anything) and so I ordered replacements then on a snowy day in late December 2012, I dropped her off at the shop. Since we had to pull the diff anyway, I picked up the set of Innovative 75A diff mounts from Noel. The diff had to get sent to S2kPuddydad to be rebuilt since my diff was not BSP legal. It had all cryo parts, the puddy reinforcements, a 4.1FD and AP1 input flanges. I had Puddydad put everything back to stock minus the OSGiken diff (first gen) that was already in there.

Innovative 75A Diff Mounts from Noel - 1/2/2013

Diff out ready to ship to S2kpuddydad - 1/3/2013

I got a PLM header through Brian Karwan at Karcepts and Evans Tuning sourced me the IQ3 Racepak datalogging dash to interface with my Haltech Pro-Plugin (remember, the car was still supposed to be a track car so this was mostly intended for that purpose).

PLM Header - 1/4/2013

Racepak IQ3 Dash - 1/4/2013

For the clutch, I went with a standard OEM clutch disk and throwout bearing matched to a ACT H021 pressure plate and Competition Clutch 11lb flywheel.

OEM friction disk and throwout bearing - 1/5/2013

ACT H021 Pressure Plate - 1/7/2013

Competition Clutch 11lb flywheel - 1/8/2013

The original F20C and tranny was pulled out in preparation for the "new to me" motor and tranny. Luckily this setup went onto a fellow autocross and is still enjoying some VTEC action.

Heartless - 1/5/2013

The F22C arrived and as shortly transplanted in. Jeff Evans had an idea to make more power by expanding the stock intake manifold so I let them have at it.

F22C in waiting for custom IM - 1/11/2013

The intake manifold was completed and mated to a 70mm Skunk2 TB.

Custom IM done and installed - 1/11/2013

In the meantime, I was receiving my new tires. There was some hype about the BFG R-1S over the winter and at their price point I thought I'd give it a try. The 275/35/18 BFG R1-S was actually wider than the 295 Hoosier A6.

275/35/18 BFG R-1S - 1/22/2013

As far as body work was concerned, I wanted an AP2 bumper with CR lip so I picked those up and we also started to put all the interior back in.

CR Lip - 1/26/2013

AP2 Bumper - 1/26/2013

AP2 bumper and CR lip installed (unpainted) - 1/27/2013

Interior and soft top back in the car - 1/27/2013

Clutch and flywheel installed - 1/28/2013

To make sure I maximized my power, we ditched my old Greddy SE setup and Evans fabricated a custom 3" header back exhaust with resonator and Borla muffler.

Custom exhaust - 1/30/2013

Custom exhaust - 1/30/2013

The fully BSP compliant diff finally arrived and was ready to be installed.

AP2 diff housing with OS Giken diff - 1/31/2013

It was then time to get the car on the dyno where JDV and Evans spent some late nights trying out different intakes and setups.

Dyno/intake testing - 2/2/2013

She put down 243whp/172tq on one of the intake setups

To get more tire fitment up front, JDV basically started pointing on the fender until we got as much clearance as we could...it wasn't pretty :D

Wavy, but flared front fenders - 2/2/2013

The electronics started to go in and the IQ3 powered on for the first time and the engine bay was buttoned up. 

Racepak IQ3 datalogging dash fully working - 2/13/2013

Engine bay buttoned up - 2/14/2013

Then, on February 16, 2013, I picked her up and drove her for the first time. What a glorious feeling to have everything come together.

Bumblestook First Drive - Evans Tuning - Mt Bethel, PA

2/16/2013

The 18x11 with 8.5" backspacing CCW Classics arrived ready to get some tires mounted.

CCW Classic 18x11, APR hardware - 2/18/2013

CCW Classic 18x11, APR hardware - 2/18/2013

In the meantime, I dropped her off at D&G Auto Body in Mineola again. I asked them to smooth out the fenders and paint the bumper and they did a fantastic job!

AP1.2.CR conversion complete - 2/22/2013

Front fender-tastic - 2/22/2013

Fresh CR Bumper paint - 2/22/2013

I had ordered a set of black 17x9 RPF-1 wheels with Dunlop Z1 star spec tires over the winter to use as my street tire setup. I put those on and got the car aligned at Camber Toe in Lynbrook. Baseline alignment set to:

Front: -3.2 Camber, 0 Toe, 5.4 Caster
Rear: -2.6 Camber, 1/8" total toe in

First alignment of 2013 - 3/1/2013

I also got the BFGs mounted on the CCWs

BFG R-1S on CCW Classic - 3/2/2013

Fitment and clearance perfect with 15mm spacers up front - 3/2/2013

And of course we have to account for wet weather racing so a set of Hoosier H2Os were also ordered (245/40/17 mounted on my 17x9 TSW Nurburgrings)

Hoosier H2O - 3/5/2013

I was also noticing some sticking of the throttle body so we replaced that with a new one of the same kind the day before the first event.

Replacement TB - 3/16/2013

...and after months of building and testing she was ready for the first event...test and tune at Warminster with the Philly SCCA...but I think that's for a next post.