Coming Soon!: Digital Camcorder for Autox Footage

I will be getting a camcorder to record all of my runs for this upcoming season. The footage will be in car only because I'm too chicken to put a camcorder on the side of my car to be held only by suction cups.

Anyway, I did some quick research and found an article in PC World about when the best sales are for cameras and camcorders. The prices tend to drop at around late January through February and also on President's day.

Edge Racing's End of the Year Sale

I decided to check out what's going on at EdgeRacing.com and found out that they have another sale "End of the Year Low Price Extravaganza" sale. The prices are actually pretty good. Back in August, the Falken Azenis Rt615's were $110 per tire and now they're $103.

The wheels that were $89 back in August are now $79. Unfortunately, I still don't have the money to get these. But I figured that I should record this so that I'm prepared to buy it for next year.

I'll just have to wait until next year to get these. I figured that I should keep track of this so that I don't forget that I could save about 68 dollars on a full set of wheels and tires. So no National's for awhile... But it's okay, this upcoming season will be good practice. I still have a lot to learn anyway. =)

Sidewall Flex Problem

I tried increasing the pressure in the front to stiffen the tire, but it didn't do much to prevent the sidewall flex; I ended up sacrificing grip to reduce the flex. So I put the the pressures back down to where it was before. Since there's nothing I can really do about the weak sidewall problem (other than get better tires), the only other way I can go faster is to learn the limits of the tire's sidewall so that I know how fast I can go before it starts to bend. In other words-- practice, practice, practice!!!

First Drive on the Stiffer Front Sway Bar

I was surprised with how much my handling improved! I can now drive at the same speeds that would typically send me sliding into understeer. I also noticed that the rear end felt like it wanted to break loose because of the increased front-end grip. The steering was also more responsive and there was also less body roll.

But despite of all of the improvements, a weakness in my suspension became more obvious. The tires. With the stiffer front sway bar, it increased the tire lateral load distribution and caused my sidewall to flex more and quicker when driven at the limit. But hopefully, with the right tire pressure, I might be able to fix this.

Day 2: Front Sway Bar Install *COMPLETED*

Today was dedicated to finding a replacement for the missing washer on the end link that Energysuspensionparts.com FORGOT to put in. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be to find a washer. I first tried Home Depot, then Lowe's, then Advance Auto Parts, and then I had Advance Auto Parts check all of the nearby Advance Auto Parts stores in the city and none of them had the washer in stock! Luckily, one of the employees at Advance Auto spoke up while I was leaving and pointed me in the right direction: A very very small hardware store called White Swan Hardware, which surprisingly had the washer I needed. The only difference was that the washer didn't have the same cup shape as the other washers in the end link, but the hole and the width were identical, so it was good enough...

Here are some pictures of what a stock sway bar, end link, and bushings look like after 42,000 miles:

Day 1: Front Sway Bar Install

Overall, I was satisfied with today because I got a lot done even though there were some problems. The OEM sway bar end links were still difficult to work with because of the rust, but after attaching a wrench to the ratchet for extra leverage, it came off with some muscle. To hold the hex washer at the top of the end link (above picture), I used vice grips again. This time, I didn't worry about breaking it because I had replacement end links. With some muscle, the bolt of the end links came loose. The brackets were also a little tight, but they also came apart fairly easy. It took me about 1.5 hours to disassemble the OEM sway bar.

The installation of the Progress Sway Bar was difficult and time consuming because of a serious error in the installation instructions from The Progress Group, Inc.. In the instructions, it said to install the end links with the car up in the air. The first set of end links were easy to put together...

But the second set was impossible to install even with the end links so loose that they were at the brink of falling apart. The bolt just wouldn't fit through the hole no matter how hard I wiggled the bar...

I spent hours upon hours trying to force the end links in place until my arms had no more strength in them. Frustrated, I thought to myself, "maybe the sway bar is too long." Afterwards, I had insight and figured out why I couldn't get both of the end links on. With the car in the air, the suspension cups, causing the holes for the end links to merge closer together and give the illusion that the sway bar is too long.

I decided to ditch the installation instructions and do the install with the use of my brain. I dropped the car on the ground and like magic, the end links slid right in perfectly with no need to wiggle it in! But when I thought the worst was over, I realized that I was missing a washer when I noticed that the nut I was tightening was carving a hole into the bushing!

I figured that I probably lost the washer, so I looked around the garage and in my house for several hours. I eventually gave up the search and decided to wait until tomorrow to worry about it. But while I was laying in bed looking through pictures on my phone, I saw this:

Yup. So it turns out that I didn't lose the washer. It actually wasn't there to begin with. So I spent three hours looking for something that I didn't even lose in the first place. Grrr!

Maintenance: Alignment

When Firestone said that my tires needed to be replaced because of bad alignment, I had no choice but to have my alignment done or else I would have to spend another $500 on new tires. I had two choices to choose from; I could either get a one time alignment done for $69.99 or I could spend $149.99 which comes with a lifetime warranty for as long as I own my car. Since I'm planning on keeping my car forever, I went with the lifetime warranty package. Since I let them work on my car after the inspection, I was refunded my $20 back through a discount. So I only ended up paying $138.26. Not bad!

I was glad that I spent the money on the alignment when I read the alignment specifications printout. In the service manual, it says that the front toe should be somewhere between 0.00 to 0.20 degrees. Well, it turned out that my right wheel was -0.28 degrees!

I tried to get a good clear shot of the spec printout. Instead, I took pictures of segments of the document and photoshopped them together to look sort of like one document. Haha... Just click on it to view it larger.

Maintenance: Wheel Bearing & Hub

This morning, I brought my car in to Bloomington Dodge to have my wheel bearing and hub replaced. It turned out that the squeak noise that I heard from the front right wheel wasn't my breaks. The noise was actually coming from a loose wheel bearing and a bad hub. It cost me $353.20 to have it replaced. I was sorta pissed because I had no choice but to replace it or else I would be driving one day and see my wheel rolling past me. But I guess it's normal for something to fail considering that I have had my car for over two years now. With the new wheel bearing and hub on, it made a noticeable difference in the ride quality of my car. The ride is a lot smoother and feels like there is less friction at the wheels. Hopefully, I will get better fuel economy from this to help me save money!

Delivered: Front Energy Suspension Bushings/ End Links

Because the stock end links were too hard to take off, I ordered OEM size end links (red) and 27mm bushings (black) just in case I damage the stock end links when I try to do the sway bar installation again. The Energy Suspension end links and bushings are made of Hyper-Flex Polyurethane, which is supposed to be much stiffer than OEM, resist deterioration from road salt, oil and other contaminants. It is also supposed to be resistant from permanent compression and have double the life span compared to the OEM material. Sounds great from what they advertised, but I will have to see just how well it performs when I put it on!

A Good Deal From Dodge?!?! Crazy!

When Firestone told me that it costs $400.25 parts and labor for the wheel bearing, I thought that was the best price I could get it at. But just to give it a try, I called Dodge and got a quote from them. Surprisingly, they said that they could do it for $280.00! I never thought that I would say this, but Dodge actually gave me a good deal for once!

Bad News...

Ever since I put on my brake pads, there has been a squeaky noise that always appeared randomly. It didn't bother me until it just recently started getting really loud. So I decided to bring my car in to Firestone and have them take a look at my suspension. After a couple hours went by, they called me and told me what was causing it. I had a loose wheel bearing and my alignment was off. This didn't sound so bad until they gave me quotes for the repair. The wheel bearing would cost me $400 parts and labor and $149.99 for the alignment if I get the lifetime warranty package.

I did some research about what would happen if I decided not to replace the wheel bearing. My wheels would eventually detach off of my car when I'm on the road; not good.

Maintenance: Mopar Spark Plug Wires

After realizing that I was supposed to replace my wires along with my spark plugs, I finally ordered new OEM spark plug wires and installed them. It was so much easier to do this install. Since I already loosened the boots, they came off easily. The install took me no longer than five minutes to do. I felt like a pro mechanic today. lol

After the install, I test drove my SRT-4 to feel the difference. As soon as I turned my car on and pressed the throttle, I could already tell the difference. The startup was much smoother and quieter. It also accelerated much faster from idle to near red line.

*The main reason why I felt a huge difference was because I was supposed to replace the plugs and wires 10,000 miles ago. I'll be sure not to do that again!

Maintenance: K&N OEM Replacement Air Filter

This install was a little bit more time consuming than the spark plugs. Most of the time was spent unscrewing all of the bolts off the air box. Afterwards, everything was pretty easy except for one thing. When I tried to put the K&N filter onto the intake tube, it would not pop right in just like the OEM filter did. So I took the filter out a compared it with the OEM filter. I noticed that the K&N filter was larger than the OEM filter. It took some trial and error to get the new filter in by unscrewing the mounting screws of the intake pipe to free up more room, but eventually I got it in.

Since I was supposed to change my air filter a long time ago like my plugs and wires, I also expected a noticeable difference with the new K&N replacement air filter on the test drive. But it was really hard to tell even though the K&N filter was larger than OEM. The only differences that I was able to pick out was that the intake was a bit louder than OEM. I also felt a slight re-gain in power that my old filter was probably restricted me of. Regardless, this was well worth the money because it has a lifetime guarantee and it is washable and reusable!

Maintenance: Mopar OEM Spark Plugs

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

I installed the new OEM Champion Spark plugs and WOW ... they made such a huge difference! The power and overall smoothness change drastically. When I test drove the car, it felt like I gained A LOT of horsepower. I should have replaced the plugs a long long time ago. They were burnt to crisps.

Here a couple picture of my old spark plugs:

TOWED!!!

This a picture of where my car got towed.

That's not the best part of the story though. It happened in less than five minutes AND it happened in my own apartment complex! All I did was park my car right next to the curb, run to Elise's apartment to pick up Dorrie so that we could all go to Jeff's place together. Then as soon as I got back, my car was G O N E. I had to pay $100 to get my car back. But with some talking with the people at the front office of Campus Court, we got our money back. But still, GRRR...

Sway Bar Install FAILURE

Today, my parents came down to Fort Wayne to pick up my grandpa, so my brother and I also went to Fort Wayne to visit. I also decided to bring my sway bar to do the install at home.

The install did not run as smoothly as I liked though. I had no problems with loosening the bracket bolts, but the end links just wouldn't budge! The reason why the end link was so difficult to loosen it was because I needed a specific wrench to hold the hex washer (located at the top of the end link) in place to get the bolt on the bottom of the end link off. I spent hours doing trial and error to figure out what size fits and could not find the right size. I went through about four different size wrenches which were all close, but not exact. Eventually, my brother and I went to Lowe's to buy different sized wrenches that we have not already tried. But still, no luck. After spending about five hours trying to take the sway bar off, my brother and I gave up and went back to Bloomington. Hopefully next time I'll have more luck...

Here is a picture of the hex washer that I couldn't find a wrench for:

Delivered: Front Sway Bar

My front sway bar finally came in!

Hurry Up UPS!

In a couple days, UPS is going to give me my first mod (sway bars)! I've been waiting to get sways ever since I got my car over two years ago. But the wait was worth it since I found out a couple months ago what the best sway bar combination really is. Come to think of it ... if I didn't wait and do the research, I would have wasted $230 from switching bars! Whew...

But I think I've used up all of my patience. This was my first time doing business with Never Enough Auto Accessories and they didn't really give me a good first impression. I've been waiting for my sway bar to arrive for five days now. I ordered the sway on Monday and it probably won't be here until Monday next week since today's Saturday. Hopefully I'll luck out and UPS will deliver it today because I'm not sure if they deliver on weekends. But from what the tracking information says, the package is "in transit to Bloomington, IN from Indianapolis since 9:04am." It's about 2:30pm right now. So its been "in transit" for about five hours. That doesn't make sense at all because I've driven back and forth from Indianapolis to Bloomington and I know that it takes only about an hour flat at five over the speed limit both directions. Who knows ... maybe it's on its way right now or maybe it's not. I should probably just stop checking my tracking info so that time might pass by a little bit faster. lol

Camera Mount Tetris

Since the weather was nice today, I decided to go ahead and figure out a way to mount my tripod on the cargo bar. My first attempt was to put it above the seatbelt height adjusters just like Jason & Steve's 89' Civic Si. I'm guessing that their seats were a lot thinner than mine because with the bar above the seatbelt adjusters, I ran into problems. I almost couldn't extend my legs at all because my knees would hit, I had trouble with accessing the shifter, and I was just way too close to the wheel.

This is a picture with the bar set higher up:
On my second attempt, I put the cargo bar above the slit where the seatbelt feeds through. This worked out extremely well because it gave me so much space that I could put my seat too far away from the pedals and the wheel. So for the next event, I'll know where to put the bar and not have to panic about where to put it.

.

.

This is a picture with the bar set lower which gave me more leg room:

Finally...My Cargo Bar Is In

My cargo bar finally came in. The wait was frustrating since it took about 12 days until I got it. Basically, the problem was that they screwed up my shipping information and never sent me an e-mail or phone call to tell me that. So I had to call UPS to have them fix the shipping information and send it again. Oh well ... as long as I get what I paid for, it's all good. I just hope that I don't run into any more problems with them.

Great Deals @ EdgeRacing.com: Wheels & Tires

My driving ability has improved a lot over the past two years and so did my autox performance. But fortunately and unfortunately, my driving ability was the only thing that improved the most. What was keeping my car from performing at its optimal level were my tires.

Because it snows heavily and frequently in Indiana, I was forced to give up my stock BF Goodrich KDW2's for my current all-season tires, Kumho Ecsta ASX. The change from street to all-season meant a weaker sidewall, so I went with a wider size for more grip to make up it. I went from the stock 205/50/17's and moved up to 215/50/17.

Overall, my current all-season tires were what I was looking for. It has a surprisingly stiff sidewall for an all-season tire, it handles better than my stock street's in the wet, it's capable of matching my old street tire times on the dry and it is a lot less expensive (payed $100ea.) than the other high performance all-season tire competitors. Without the expertise from Jason and his racing team, it would have been really difficult to make the right decision.

Although I successfully overcome the snow problem, my car was still lacking in performance due to the all-seasons. I needed to find some sort of way to get better tires and still have the option to run all-seasons in the winter. So I went to Jason again and talked to him about what I needed to do. He referred me to this website called Edge Racing. They always have great deals on light-weight race wheels/ street tire packages.

Jason and everyone in his team all said that these Falken Azenis Rt615's are the best and least expensive street tires that I could get. With these tires, I should be able to run two to three seconds faster than usual. That means that it will be easier for me to place top 10 out of 100 drivers on pax!
Since the other high-end brand wheels are much more expensive, I will have to go with these no-name brand wheels in the future. I don't really care if they're not the nicest looking wheel. I only care about whether or not they're light. And thanks to ACR for making the ACR model SRT-4 because now I can use 16x7 inch wheels which will ultimately, allow me to buy lighter, wider, and less expensive tires!

Great Deals @ HarborFreight.com: Tools

I've been thinking about how I could mount a camera in my car. I've thought about using velcro on the dash, but it wouldn't give me the view I want. So I went to Jason for advice because I remembered that he has mounted a camera in the center of his car on some sort of bar before. So I talked to him and he told me to use a cargo bar to mount my camera on. I tried searching, but all the vendors charged too much for it ($30-$40 without shipping). So he sent me a link to this website called Harbor Freight. I bought it for $18.98 shipped and probably saved my self $20.00!

Other than the cargo bar, Harbor Freights also has great deals on other tools that I've been wanting to get for a long time:
1) Clicker Torque Wrench: $9.99

2) Jack: $59.99

3) 3-ton Jack Stand: $18.99

Cargo Bar: "Now you can move just about any load securely. Expands from 48'' to 70'' to fit across most truck and station wagon beds; no tools necessary.Pressure keeps the bar from slipping. Padded ends are designed not to mar paint. Rust-resistant powder coating and heavy duty steel construction."
-Harbor Freights

This is what the cargo bar looks like in Jason and Steve's 89' Civic Si STS prepared project car.

Finally ... C O L D AIR!

For the past month or so before I went on vacation to the Philippines on June 17th of 07', I've been driving my car without A/C.

When my A/C broke, it happened about 20 miles before I hit 36,000 miles (coincidence huh? My warranty ends there!). The bad thing was that I was still about 100 miles away from Fort Wayne. Crap. So as soon as I got home, I unloaded all my stuff for the Philippines into the house and went straight to Dodge so that I could hopefully have it fixed for free. I walked in their service department and talked with the guy at the front desk and told him about my situation. As soon as I brought up 36,000 miles, he ignored everything else I said and said that it's not covered, so they won't fix it. Though he WAS glad to tell me about how much it would cost me to fix it. So as soon as he said diagnostic costs one-hundred and ... I cut him off and told him that I'd just go somewhere else. Dodge dealerships suck.

I went home and my Mom told me that there's a guy that she knows named George that's good at working on cars. So I took my car in and had him take a look at it. I waited for about a couple hours while he tried to find out what the problem was with my A/C. He checked the entire A/C unit (compressor ... etc.) and they all checked out to be good. Afterwards, he checked the electrical unit. He jumped the A/C through a fuse and all of a sudden, my A/C started blowing out cold air! He told me that the fuse was bad and that I'd need to get a new one. So I went to Dodge Parts Department and got the part. Luckily, they had one left in stock. It cost me about $30. Afterwards, I walked to my car all anxious to see what happens and put it in myself. I started my car ... and still ... no cold air.

Frustrated, I brought my car back to George to have him look at my car one more time. He told me that he couldn't work on my car unless I left my car in his shop. I only had a couple more days left and I still needed to go back to Bloomington to get some more things for the trip, so I decided to just wait until after the trip to bring my car in. Sucks. I didn't even know whether or not I could trust him after wasting $30 already.

After I recovered from the week-long jet-lag from the Philippines, it was Monday. So I decided to bring my car in to George again.

Two days later (Wednesday), he called me and said that the expansion valve was broken and that I'd need to replace it. When he said that, I didn't know whether or not to trust him after he already screwed up once. But I bought the part anyway and it was expensive ... $80. All I could think was that he better be right. I ordered the part at the Glenbrook Dodge Parts Department because they didn't have anymore in stock. They said that it would probably arrive on Monday, but also said that they would call me if it comes in sooner.

Two more days later (Friday), I woke up to a call at around 12pm and was surprised that it was Glenbrook Dodge! So I jumped off my bed and answered the phone before I lost them. They told me that the part just came in and that I could pick it up.

Afterwards, I brought my car back in to George only to hear bad news. He couldn't install the expansion valve because he didn't have the vacuuming machine needed to drain the A/C system's refrigerant. He referred me to another shop where he knows the mechanic (Jim) and also has the machine. I got a quote on my car at the shop and he said that it would cost me $95 or more. Bull. I told him that I had things to do today and that I'd just come back later.

I went home. Then my mom told me to give the Jeep an oil change at Kwik Lube. So I took the Jeep there and while I was waiting, I asked one of the mechanics if they do A/C service like vacuum/ recharge. They said yes, so I got a quote for $49.99 (vacuum/recharge) and whatever it takes for labor. That's way better than George's friend and on top of that, I know the people at Kwik Lube.

So after the oil change, I went back home, switched cars, and went to Kwik Lube to have my A/C repaired. It took them two and a half hours to fix it and they only charged me $30 for labor. I left only paying $82.99 for everything. But the total run-around cost me about $190, so I still had a lot of wasted money. Oh well, at least my A/C is fixed after over two months of it being out of commission! It felt SO good to finally have cold air!

Tire Pressure Tuner: White Shoe Polish

While I waited for my A/C to get fixed, I walked to the local hardware store and picked up my own bottle of white shoe polish. I can't wait to try it out and finally figure out what pressures my tires Love the most. Since I'll be sticking with my Kumho ASX's probably forever (Argh! Stupid winter snow...), this will be a good thing to keep my tire/ driver/ wallet relationship happy in the long run. Haha ...

















The way you use it is exactly the same way it is being used in this picture. You mark a white line over the arrow that points to the spot at which the tires should rollover. You start off at the maximum tire pressure branded on the sidewall. For me, it's 50psi. If the shoe polish marking doesn't scrub off near the arrow, you have to lower your pressure in a recommended 2psi. Continue until the shoe polish scrubs off at the very tip of the arrow. Once it hits the spot, that's the perfect pressure to run.

Surprising D-Stock Info!!!

Because the SRT-4 and the ACR aka "America Club Racer" model are the exact same cars (the ACR is not listed as a separate car in the 2007 SCCA Rulebook and the 2007 Stock Category Classification list), it is technically legal for me to modify up to the same modifications as the ACR model.

ACR model

• Wider, light-weight (18-19lbs) 16x7 BBS RX racing wheels with 40 mm offset
• Wider 225/45/16 BFG KDW2 tires
• Lowered ride height by almost 2 inches (1" through lower spring perches on strut and another .75" to 1" through smaller wheel/tire combo)
• 5-way adjustable performance Tokicko Illumina dampers (gas shocks)
• Thicker rear sway bar (19mm)
• Stronger bushings in the rear tension struts

D-Stock Legal Mod "To Do List":

• 16lbs light-weight Flik Ftd (matt Titanium) 16x7 inch race wheels.
  
• 225/50/16 Falken Azenis Rt615 tires
• Lower spring perches on the strut.
• Adjustable Koni Yellows
• 19 mm ACR rear sway bar.

Three Rivers Festival Autox @ Verizon: RESULTS

I'm not very pleased with placing 38 out of 95 entries on Pax. With street tires I could have placed higher. But even though I ran on all-season tires, I think I still set some respectable times. Here they are:

Driver: Vincent Vergara
Class: DS

Position: 1
Vehicle: 05 Dodge SRT-4 silver
Runs 1-5: 56.284 / 53.082/ 52.767/ 52.932/ 51.798
Best: 51.798



Driver: Micheal Kouris
Class: DS
Position: 2
Vehicle: 05 Subaru WRX black
Runs 1-5: 60.085/ 57.680/ 57.757(1)/ 54.939 / 55.953(1)
Best: 54.939

***Time Comparison***
Run Difference: 3.801/ 4.598/ 5.990/ 2.007/ 5.137
Fastest Average: 4.3062 seconds faster
Fastest Time Difference: 3.141 seconds

I also ran faster than these cars:
(XP) 86 Porsche 951 52.402 Placed second
(GS) 95 Nissan 240sx 52.887 Placed third
(STU) 07 Subaru WRX STi 51.939 Placed fifth
(2nd place in STU had a 51.197 which is .601 seconds faster than my fastest)

Almost beat:
(SMS) 00 Honda s2000 51.759 Arghhh! Just .039 more!

What I needed to run to be Top ___ in Pax:
First Place: 46.675 sec. (5.123 sec. faster)
Top 10: 49.038 sec. (2.760 sec. faster)
Top 20: 50.225 sec. (1.573 sec. faster)
Top 30: 51.425 sec. (0.373 sec. faster)
My Fastest Time: 51.798 sec.

Current & Future Mods List ***UPDATED 12-24-07***

This is a photo-shopped picture with my car number/ class and all of the brands of all the equipment that will or already is being used towards my project SRT-4.
INSTALLED MODIFICATIONS:

• Progress Technology: 27mm Front Sway Bar
• Energy Suspensions: Sway bar bushings/ end links
• CG-Lock: CG Lock
• Hawk: HPS Ferro-Carbon Brake Pads
• Autometer: Shift Light

TO DO LIST:

• 16lbs light-weight Flik Ftd (matt Titanium) 16x7 inch race wheels.
  
• 225/50/16 Falken Azenis Rt615 tires
• Lower spring perches on the strut.
• Adjustable Koni Yellows
• 19 mm ACR rear sway bar.
• Eibach: Camber Alignment Kit
• Koni: Adjustable Yellow Dampers

Better than Hotchkis?! The Small BIG Bar.

For the two years I've been researching my suspension setup, I was planning on going Hotchkis for sure. Nothing changed my mind until three days ago when I realized something. I e-mailed and confirmed with one of Hotchkis's engineer that their 29 mm hollow sway bar is really 44% stiffer than stock. By using an equation to compare stiffness, I found that their 29mm hollow sway bar is actually equivalent to a 26.292mm solid sway bar in stiffness. So I thought to myself, "Are there any solid front sway bars larger than 26.292mm?" I searched and found one. A solid 27mm front sway bar made by Progress. Using the equation again, I calculated and confirmed with Progress that their 27mm solid sway bar was 60% stiffer than stock. That means that Progress's 27mm sway bar is around 26% stiffer than Hotchkis's 29mm sway bar! And even though it weighs around 16 pounds, the greater torsional stiffness makes up for the weight.

_____PROGRESS___VS.___HOTCHKIS
Front: 27mm +60% ________29mm +44%
Rear: 19mm +56% _______* 19mm +56%
F-R #1: +307% ____________*267%
F-R #2: 17mm +536% _______17mm +472%
Weight: 16lbs ____________.7.94lbs

ACR SRT-4: 22mm (10.73lbs)/ 19mm = 80%
F-R: 80%
Non- ACR SRT-4: 24mm (12.85lbs)/ 17mm = 297%
F-R: 297%

Driver Mod: CG-Lock

For $33.61 on e-bay, I was able to get something that yields 80% holding power of a full harness seatbelt that typically costs 150+ dollars! The best thing is that it meets the D-Stock rules. This contraption simply modifies a standard one loop seatbelt to keep the lap portion in a secure, tightened position. This will prevent me from sliding around in my seat during aggressive cornering maneuvers. Because of this, I will be able to concentrate solely on where I will need to turn the wheel rather than death-grip the wheel to stay put, and then worry about where to turn the wheel and by how much. The package should arrive in about a week. So until then, I'll see if it lives up to what it's claimed to do.

Three Rivers Festival Autox @ Verizon

Event Details:

Hosting Organization(s)	Fort Wayne Region SCCA
Event Date(s)	July 22, 2007
Event Description/ Schedule	Registration & Tech: 7:30am to 8:30am Novice Course Walk: 9:00am Drivers meeting (mandatory): 9:30am First Car on course: 10am
Event Location	8001 West Jefferson Blvd. Fort Wayne, IN 46804
Location Description Driving Directions	Event site is across from Luthern Hospital on Jefferson (US 24) near Coventry. Turn Right at the stop light (left takes you into the Lutheran Hospital).

*****This is my car behind the opposition who is also in D-Stock. It's a 2005 Subaru Impreza with the standard four-wheel drive. The driver said that the only mod he had were the Falken street tires all around. I knew that I had to drive perfectly because I was at a severe disadvantage! Being front wheel drive was okay with me because I've been driving that all my life, but the all season Kumho ASX's was too much of a handicap! The only thing that I could rely on was my driving, which I was pretty sure improved a lot since last year.


***** While we waited at the grid, I was worried about how I'd know whether or not I was doing better than him because he was in front of me on the grid. That meant that I would never hear his time because I would still be on the track by the time he finishes his first run and the announcer announces his time. That sucked. So on the first run, I ran the best I could. But on the second run he came up to me impressed with my time and told me his time. It turned out that I was about four seconds faster than him on the first run! Whew! By the final (5th) run, I beat him by about 2-3 seconds and took first place!


Here are some pictures of other cars at the event:
















Autocross Progress (Pax Results):
*FWSCCA Region*
First Event

• 2nd Place DS @ 06' Navistar International: Top 58% (47/81)

1 month 4 days later...

• 1st Place DS @ 06' Navistar International: Top 71% (56/79)

1 year 1 month 11 days later...

• 1st Place DS @ 07' Verizon: Top 40% (38/95)

Hotchkis Anti-Sway Bar Research

The first modification I am planning on installing are the Hotchkis Anti-Sway Bars. They are for sale by the vendor, Titan Motorsports for $260 shipped.

http://www.srtforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163532&highlight=hotchkis+sway+bar+shipped

• They increase oversteer by making the rear sway bars 5.83 mm/ 6.59 mm larger than stock while the front anti-sway bars increased by only 2.29 mm or 5 mm. That's a 3.54 mm/ 4.30 mm or .83 mm/ 1.59 mm difference.
• I'm still questioning whether or not their front sway bar specs are labeled correctly though. On their website, they're said to be 29 mm and at the same time give only a +44% stiffness over stock. That made no sense to me because a sway bar 5 mm larger than the stock 24 mm sway bar should yield approximately a +113% stiffness over stock. So I did some calculating and found that the sway bar size that should yield +44% stiffness should be at around 26.292 mm in diameter (2.292 mm larger than stock).
• I also found that the rear sway bars adjust from 22.83 mm (lowest setting) to 23.59 mm (highest setting) because those sizes are the only ones that yield the +225%, +271% stiffness over the stock anti-sway bars.

STOCK SRT-4 Sway Bar:
Front (24 mm)
Rear (17mm)

• [Torsional Rigidity Equation] 24^4 / 17^4 = Front stock sways are 297% stiffer than the rear stock sways.

Hotchkis Sway Bar

Front 1 1/8" (29 mm [+113%] or 26.292 mm [+44%]) Hollow +44%
Rear 15/16" (22.8255 mm, 23.59351 mm) Hollow
2 Position Rear +225%, +271%

• The front Hotchkis sways are 76%, 54% stiffer than the rear Hotchkis sways.
• ( |.._..| ) 22.82550mm (+5.83mm)/ 23.59351mm (+6.59mm)
  ..| ...| |
  ..|.._..|
  ( \___/ ) 29mm (+5mm)

COMPARISON [TORSIONAL RIGIDITY]
FRONT: (26.292^4=477853.195) / (24^4=331776) = 1.440289 = 44% Stiffer

REAR #1: (22.8255^4=271444.595) / (17^4=83521) = 3.250016 = 225% Stiffer
REAR #2: (23.59351^4=309863.357) / (17^4=83521) = 3.710005 = 271% Stiffer