2003 Porsche 911 Turb-OOOOH

In reply to TVR Scott :

I've thought about it but never pulled the trigger.  I usually don't drive 9/10th's at these events, I leave time on the track in the spots that I feel aren't safe.  So in a low speed corner, or a corner with lots of run off I'll go harder...

Went to the track yesterday, hit HPR full course.  I'll post the video in my next post.  First things first, I had to wake up at Oh Dark Thirty because I had to swap over my wheels/tires, prep the car and have it on grid before I went over and helped tech cars since I was in the "Expert" run group, which was the first group out.

So at 5 am I discovered that none of the trailer lights were working.  Awesome!  I suspected the wiring got pinched when I reinstalled the trailer tongue but not gonna fix it now, I'll handle it when I get home.

Had a great track day, first time out at HPR this season and first time there with the Garmin Catalyst.  My fast time of the day was in the second morning session where I did a 2:06.1, Catalyst said my optimal lap was a 2:04.2, so I'm not doing a good job of linking my best, fastest corners together.

I am getting more comfortable with sliding the car in the corners at speed, so I do think a 2:04-2:03 is there for me.  I was just happy that none of the Cup Cars or race cars caught up to me.  I passed a GT4 and gapped him and smoked my friend in his Spec Boxster, which was expected. 

Anyways, I got a little brake fade at the very end of the 3rd session, so decided to skip the last session of the day.  When I got home I swapped the street pads back on and flushed the brakes, got a little air out of two calipers, that was probably what I felt on track.

Then I took the tongue off the trailer and I was right, the trailer wires got smooshed...

I cut that part out and fixed it with those heat shrink/solder seal things.  Love these things!

Then I took some friction tape and taped up the wiring so it won't get mushed next time

Need to wash all the track yuck off the car, other than that it's good to go.  Next event is an autox August 14th, then sadly I don't have another event until the last one of the year at HPR on October 9th. 

Are you only running PCA events?  There have been pretty consistent open lapping days at Pueblo all summer.  The new management is awesome!

In reply to Crenshaw :

Mostly with PCA, yes.  I did run an open day at PMP the day before my PCA event there earlier in the summer.  They did a great job with it.  It's just tough for me to do a single day there, it's 2-2.5 hours away each way. 

Here's my best lap yesterday with the timer showing the difference to my optimal lap.

Realized that I passed that blue cayman on the front straight and didn't get my typical run up the straight.  That meant this lap was definitely a 2:05!

Forgot to post this.  I was done with flushing the brakes, had put the wheels on and was lowering the lift when I heard a "crunch!"  Crap, what was that?  Well, another battery tender has bitten the dust, I seem to mush these with some regularity...

I also had one of the soles delaminate on my Piloti track shoes!  I may take them to a cobbler and see if they can be rebonded, otherwise I'll hafta throw them away

Looks like a fun day out there!  I sometimes forget how fun HPR full course is...

I had the same thing happen with a pair of pilotis.  I cleaned it thoroughly and used a two part epoxy that was recommended for shoes.   It has held up fine but, as I feared, it was not flexible.  It just cracked a lot as I took my first few steps.  I figured it was done but they are still holding up. 
 

Ugh double post

In reply to jfryjfry :

I may give that a go.  I have some other Piloti shoes but these are the only Nomex ones I have.  Not that it really makes that much of a difference, it's not like I'm in a full on fire suit with Nomex undies, etc, etc.

One thing I did notice on track (and the 996 Turbo Guru warned me about this) is that the PSM (or stability control) was cutting boost, even though I'd turned it off.  Guru had told me that the system really never turns off completely and once I start getting down to the 2:04-5 zone it'll be an issue.  He recommends unplugging it completely, the brain is in the frunk.  I'm sure its costing me time but I'm not sure I want to completely disable it quite yet...

Washed the car yesterday, so it's all back to street mode.

Porsche electronic controls are amazing.  Seeing a Cayenne GTS rallycross regularly shows me how good they are.  I easily drive my former 996 in weather no sports car should've ever seen too and it was easy.  Turning it all off would definitely change things.

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

Well, it's basically all the way off with the switch.  It'll boost cut with it off when it sees something it considers weird, which is probably big difference in wheel speed.  I doubt the car will drive really any differently if I unplug it, other than the engine can give me all the jam all the time like I want it to...

I love seeing this thing get used hard. Glad the trailer solution worked out for you. 

jfryjfry said:

I had the same thing happen with a pair of pilotis.  I cleaned it thoroughly and used a two part epoxy that was recommended for shoes.   It has held up fine but, as I feared, it was not flexible.  It just cracked a lot as I took my first few steps.  I figured it was done but they are still holding up. 
 

You can buy contact adhesive called Shoe Goo that's actually made for repairing soles.  Works pretty well.  Any Ace or Home Depot should have it.

So this car is very camber limited.  Porsche used shim-able (is that even a word?) lower control arms on the GT2 and GT3 to be able to get more negative camber.  According to Sunset Porsche they're discontinued but it looks like other vendors have them.  Tarret sells a pair for $1250, which is all most people get as you really need them for the front mostly.

Local guy had a set for sale for $700.  I hemmed and hawed a little bit because I don't really need them but decided these are local, I can inspect them to make sure the ball joints are good, boots are good etc.  He brought them over and turns out he had 2 pairs, so 4 arms total for $700!  Yes please!  I'll probably toss them on off season as I'll need to get the car aligned again once they're in...

Well yesterday was my last track event of the weekend.  There's an auto-x this weekend but I have to work at the base.  Saturday I got the tire trailer and the car all ready, charged up the Garmin Catalyst and thought I was good to go.

At 0515 Sunday morning I go out and hook the tire trailer up, plug it in and notice I have no running lights.  Ugh, I thought I'd fixed the wiring harness!  Oh well, too late to do anything about that now...

Drive to the track, where it's something like 35 degrees out.  Brrrr.  Swap over wheels/tires.  Freeze my butt off at the drivers meeting and we're the first group out on track.  Turn on the Catalyst and it's saying the camera isn't hooked up.  Hmmm?  Oh wait, where's the camera cable?  Maybe I left it in my tire trailer?  Run that first session without it, don't think I went very fast, I was still freezing and didn't trust the grip levels of the track because of that.

So after the session I look for the camera cable and can't find it.  Uh oh.  Luckily my friend has a catalyst and isn't driving his car, so he gives me the cable out of it and I'm all set.

Head out the next session with the goal of doing a 2:05.  I think that's very realistic, I did a 2:06 last time and I passed a car on the front straight.  After a warm up lap or two I knock off a 2:05 and I'm stoked!  Then the next lap I do a 2:04!  Woohoo!  Still feel like there's plenty of time left on the track.  There's a 2:03 there without having to push too hard, a 2:02 or better if I get a little coaching.  Here's the video.  I could be entering turn 4 at the end of the back straight 10mph faster...

At lunch I grab my catalyst and compare with my friend who has a 997 C2.  No surprise, I'm throwing away the turn at the end of the back straight.  I could be going into it significantly faster and there's probably a second (or more) there.  Third session I go out and can't seem to go faster than a 2:06-7.  Had a good time, played with some lines.

Debated whether I wanted to do the last session of the day but decided to call it so I could get home in time to get everything put away properly.  I swap over wheels/tires and hook up the tire trailer, then hang out with my friends.  Start talking to them about the tire trailer lights and one of them looks at the lights while I'm in the car turning things on.

Turns out the right trailer light is working fine but the left one isn't.  At that point I'm hoping it's just a bad bulb and will look into it at home.  Another friend comes over and I decide to check out the bulbs with him.  That's when I notice that somehow the left light has become unplugged.  Plug it back it, test everything and it all works.  Sweet!

Drive home, everyone always gawks at the car when I'm towing the tire trailer, which is kinda funny.  This week I'll swap the track pads out and give it a wash, maybe a few more weeks of driving it around town before I have to put it away for the winter.  Only off season projects planned on it are to install those GT3 lower control arms and get a more track oriented alignment.

Showed my lap to my friend, who's a professional coach.  He said I can immediately get 2-3 seconds by improving my line in a few corners and not braking in turns 3 and 7, braking less going into 4 and rotating the car better in 6.   So a 2:01 might be in play, I may hire him for a 1/2 day of coaching.

In other news I decided I'd install those GT3 lower control arms.  I took them to Chris Cervelli today to buy his caster bushings and I'm really glad I did.  Not only did Chris press out my stock bushings for me but I also got a variety of shims to use for alignment. Then he noticed that some gorilla had damaged the threads on the top of the ball joints when they'd removed them.  Instead of using a ball joint separator they'd just beaten on them.  I'd completely missed that when I inspected them before purchase.  Doh!

So when I got home I used a file to take off the mushroomed parts of the threads and then a die to clean the threads up on all the ball joints.  I was able to fix all the threads, the nuts now spin down properly.

Had to use a huge 1 1/16" wrench on the die and a torx bit on top to keep the ball joint from spinning

Then I removed some shims from all the arms.  The front arms had 20mm of shims, I was told to start with 15-16mm, the rears had 5-6mm and I was told to start with 0-1mm

Of course I found some partially stripped nuts on the arms, I was able to get them off.  Oddly the rear arms have different sized nuts then the fronts.  I'll get new nuts from the hardware store tomorrow.  Hopefully install these next Friday.

In other news I think I'm also going to delete the awd in the car.  Cervelli and others have recommended it since I'm tracking the car.  I was able to source a set of front axles from eBay for pretty cheap, Cervelli will take them apart and cut the stub axles for me.  Then all I need to do is unbolt the driveshaft, the front diff and front axles.  Install the "new" stub axles as they have the tone rings for the ABS and I'm all done.

Apparently it removes 100lbs from the car and can be done in less than an hour.  It's also totally reversible, (hence me getting junk axles to scavenge the stub axles from) so if I want to put the awd back in it's just as easy.  At some point I may add a Guards limited slip diff in the rear but that's a whole bunch of money.  Probably around $5000 installed and that doesn't include a new clutch, which makes sense to do at the same time, so maybe $7000 total with that. 

Don't really feel like spending that right now, I'll do the GT3 arms/track alignment/rwd conversion first and then assess where I am. That stuff is pretty cheap, I got the GT3 arms for a mega deal and the spare axles were pretty cheap.  My labor is cheap (free!) and an alignment isn't too much. 

If the clutch needs to be replaced or one of my coolant fittings starts leaking, (which would mean an engine out service), then maybe I'll do the diff then to save on labor...

So I think I've found a used Guards diff for a decent price.  The kicker is it's coming from the Land Down Under, so who knows how quickly it'll get here.  Strangely enough I've gotten things from the EU in days, like faster than stuff from the East Coast of the USA.  So maybe the diff will show up quicker than I think.

Anyways, installing that is definitely a job for the pros, and I should probably replace the clutch at the same time, unless mine still looks really good...

AWD does provide a lil margin of safety over RWD only.  I get you are tracking the car but are you really seeking the all out best lap times or having fun?  I wouldn't remove AWD for 100 lbs unless the interior was gutted first (over 100 lbs there).  But it's of course all up to you.  

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

I'm not removing the awd for weight, although it's nice that it also happens.  The car handles much better with it gone and since I don't drive it in foul, winter weather I don't really need it for traction.  Less push, better steering feel, etc.

I'm not interested in gutting the car, so being able to remove 100lbs from it in a non intrusive, totally reversible way is nice.

Well I scored a lightly used Guards limited slip diff.  Hopefully be here in ten days or so.  That was really the key piece of the rwd conversion puzzle as I didn't want to remove the awd and just do one wheel peel out of every corner.

And the diff got shipped, should be here before the end of the month.  Now I have to try and find someone with the tools and skills to install it without removing the transmission.  Unfortunately the one guy I know can do it is no longer working on cars.  If I can't find a shop able to do it without removing the transmission that'll increase the labor cost a bunch...

Spare front axles showed up yesterday.  I'll take them to Cervelli tomorrow to have the stub axles scavenged from them, I need to drop off some tools he loaned me.

In other news, the Guards diff seems to have not moved from Oz at all, or even be dropped off yet?  All the tracking says is that the shipment has been "booked".  Not sure what that means and it's not due here for another week, so maybe they're waiting for a plane to get full?

Well the axles came in and Cervelli was kinda enough to cut them apart for me.  Then I removed the balls from the CV cage and pulled the cages out.  Cleaned up the grease and I have stub axles!

Now I've got what I need for the rwd conversion.  The Guards diff finally got sent, I paid UPS some customs $$, it should arrive on October 25th.  I'm hoping to install the GT3 lower control arms and delete the front awd stuff next Friday, car is going to the shop for alignment and diff install November 5th.  Was warned by Cervelli that the shop I'm going to doesn't know how to set up the diff, but that shop told me they'd send it to Gbox, who Cervelli said does know what to do.  Cervelli said he'd do it for me if I brought him the transmission, but I've never pulled one myself and the car needs to get an alignment anyways...

This showed up yesterday.  Now I have everything I need for the rwd conversion.  The special Porsche hardened washers as well as the 10mm "weber" nuts I ordered for the GT3 control arms should show up today.  Friday I'll install the arms and delete the front diff stuff.  Next Friday it goes to the shop to install the diff and get an alignment.

Need to make sure I get the car done tomorrow, this weekend is "snow wheel/tire" swap weekend and I need to use the lift for that...