Man what a great day. I've changed almost everything possible over the past 4 years since the car was last on track. I didn't know what to expect. I was just hoping the car wouldn't break. Not only did the car hold together, I was one of the fastest cars out there. I was very happy.

Anyway. I'd like some opinions. Here's some information on what I've done.

Weight reduction 3400 lbs with me in it. No ABS
Bone stock junkyard LT1
Coilover fronts
750 front 250 rear
35mm front bar. 21mm rear bar
C5 front brakes
Carbotech XP20 front. AX6 rear pads
Stock LT1 rear brakes
Stock rear end. Stock torque arm
Rear control arm relocation brackets
Nitto NT01 tires.
Blainfab lexan spoiler




I used my iPhone and harrys lap timer for video. The mount wasn't very secure, so the video is a little shakey, but you get the point. I didn't have time to mount my GoPro. Sorry.

Here's a good video of one of my better laps. The car was a little loose and I was having a hard time putting the power down.

http://youtu.be/ArCBK6b00hQ

Another big problem that I have is one I didn't expect. Tons of axle hop. I felt like a had way too much rear brake. It was a real handful. I was being as gentle as I could and even with that, I could feel the rear end starting to shimmy. If I increased braking at that point at all, or wasn't 100% perfect with a downshift, it would hop. I've never had it this bad before. I used to be able to threshold brake with zero problems with hop, unless I wasn't smooth.

I hopped the axle pretty bad going into turn 14 in this next video. You can see it was the downshift that did it. Also I couldn't put the power down out of 12.

http://youtu.be/QdrHUe6gmrU


So during lunch I decided to change the rear sway bar. I had a 21mm on the car but brought the 19mm with me. So I threw the car on the lift and changed it out.




Have I mentioned I love that lift!!!

Back out on the track the car felt much better. I couldn't believe how much more traction I had out of the corners. The car also felt much more balanced. I was really happy with how the car was performing at that point.

So this brings me to my last video. I was only a few laps into my second to last session of the day. The car was handling awesome.....until it decided it had enough. Luckily, I got it on video.

http://youtu.be/wupQb3If6sM


I went into the kink the same way I had been all day. Except this time I had major understeer. It came out of nowhere. Notice the two previous right handlers I was pulling over 1g. Everything was completely normal. Then I go into the kink and I only managed .8g. There was no tire noise, no vibration, nothing. When I jumped off the gas the car didn't even try to rotate.

So I go into the pits, check the car over and head back out a few minutes later. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the car. I honestly thought I must have screwed up. So I had back out and I'm taking it really easy. The first right turn I come to I damn near went off again. Same thing. Major understeer to the right only. It felt like I was spraying oil on the left front tire. So I come back in and really check everything over. I found nothing. By this point a bunch of people were taking to me who saw me go sailing off the track. They couldn't find anything either. Our best guess was I just overheated the left front. I let the car cool down for an hour and a half and took it out for the last session of the day. Same exact thing.

The tire looks fine. I didn't pull it off or anything yet. I just loaded the car on the trailer and went straight to my brothers house and drank his beer. I'll pull the wheel tomorrow and see how it looks.

What could cause this? The aligns my looks fine. Everything under the car appeared just fine. It's so bad that I honestly expected to see a broken tie rod or something. Car still tracks straight....just will not turn right.


Anyway, any and all opinions are recommended!

Broken end link or broken sway bar mount? Caster or camber bushing split (or loose adjuster bolt)? Get it up in the air and really pull on the wheels and see if something is moving. Beyond that, look for a broken spring. See if any of the shocks are showing signs of leaking oil....

I saw no oil leaks from shocks and springs and sway bars were all good. I also looked at everything I could eyeball (mounting points and tie rods) and everything looked good. I thought my alignment must have slipped, but a bunch of is eyeballed the wheels and everything looked good.

I think the tire somehow internally failed. I'm putting my street tires on tomorrow, I'll have my answer then.


Any ideas on the brake hop? It was terrible. Does removing ABS change the brake proporting on an LT1 car?

put a cheap stock autoparts store pads on the back. it will fix your axle hop.
if that's not enough do a more aggressive front pad.

Yeah ok. I was worried it was a suspension problem but you're probably right.

Check the caster bolt - if it slipped it won't be very obvious visually, but will affect your cornering grip.

Ok thanks.

Alan called it. I just went to the garage and really looked at the wheels. The left front tire is noticeably closer to the rear of the fender than the right.

So, before I go off on the the alignment guy, is it likely that he did everything correct and this still happened? I guess I can bring the car to them and check the torque on the bolt. What should they be torqued to?

It happens, they can slip once in a while. I torque to 90 and use a paint marker to have an easy visual to check. New OEM bolts and nuts can help if yours are worn.

I use 90#ft, torque them after every couple sessions.

The OEM bolts are good, if they are rusted badly replace with new OEM - they have a tab on the end you can't reach that holds the bolt from rotating as it is torqued.

The OEM nuts have a captive cup washer that digs into the frame tabs - the washers will mush out after a while, replace with OEM.

again, I'll repeat - use OEM LCA fasteners, not some hardware store junk.


and, you were a bit early and were on the gas as you turned in - later and a little lift or a touch of LFB will help get the car set.

I'm sure the bolt is fine but I'll check it and the torque tomorrow morning before bringing it back. I should have double checked his work, now I know. I'm just so glad I was at a track designed for motorcycles...tons of run off.

I don't know about being early. Look at my other two videos, I feel like if I was early, it wasn't by much. As soon as I turned in, I felt the wheel go numb and the car straighten up. If you listen, I can hear that I jump off the gas halfway through the turn. No change in yaw. At this track, there's a hell of a bump halfway through the "kink". You must be on the gas, otherwise you will be passed by your ass. I know you can only gather so much from that bad camera angle, just gotta trust me that it wouldn't turn. I confirmed this when I tried two more times to go back out and the car was unsafe. It absolutely would not turn right. Even when running just 50%. It was that bad.

Anyway, thanks for the tip to look at the caster. I'll go back to the shop tomorrow and have them fix it.

Btw Alan, your spoiler is great. I got so many comments on it and at this track, the kink is where I really noticed the difference. I can't wait to try it at VIR, a much more high speed track.

I did my first Track Nights in America last Thursday. It was really great. So laid back, yet very professional. And being on track in the evening was just awesome.

For this track day, I was excited to go back to the same track (CMP) to see what effect my changes made



I swapped Carbotech rear pads for Autozone rear pads in hopes of eliminating axle hop under braking.



I pulled the rear bump stops off my parts car and installed them on my car. They needed a little help.


I had oil temps of 310+ last time on track. I pieced together an oil cooler for this track day but unfortunately I ordered the wrong oil filter sandwich adapter. So unfortunately the oil cooler didn't make it before my next track day.



I also noticed my lower control arms were actually pointed down with the relation brackets on the lowest setting, so I raised them by one hole. They're now pretty level. Again, hoping to fix my brake hop issue.



Ready to head to the track.


Somewhere in SC I stopped for fuel. Despite SC's low fuel prices, my debit card was still smoking after this stop.

A paint job has got to become my priority....sooooon
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Awesome day and ready for the 1 1/2 hr drive home.



Home, sweet home


Video shot by my buddy of me coming through the kink and through 14.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8z3C9ja09Y

Here an S2000 learns why YOU NEVER LIFT AT THE KINK!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQEAnj2BPrI...AEU7VkEb37Qje4g

And heres a good flying lap at CMP in the evening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKF3HZzOq7k


The car did absolutely awesome, but as you can see in the last turn of the last video, I still have brake hop issues. I'm now running Autozone rear pads and I can't get even close to locking up a front tire before the rears lock (hop). I have way too much rear brake bias and I need to figure out why before I break something.

You're still on the LT1, for this most recent track day, correct?

Yes sir. Bone stock down to the factory manifolds and Y pipe.

i editided some of my GoPro videos together

http://youtu.be/Jbn5Oiz64fs

This car is going to be a rocket with another 70 ish hp and 100 lbs lighter. I can't wait.

Awesome video and pics... thanks for posting... Nice driving

Are you taking it to Hawks T.D. and letting them R&R with an LS1 you're buying there, or some other option??

IF I can get a low interest, unsecured loan from my bank I plan on doing just that, but I want a low mile LS6, or at least an '01-'02 LS1 with the LS6 intake already on it, and the possibility of the LS6 block.

No I'll just jump in my truck and have them throw the engine/tranny into the back of the truck. I'll just swap the engine in my garage. I'm not in a hurry though. This LT1 is running great. Im going to send the oil out to Blackstone for analys tomorrow. I'm curious to see what they find. It's not burning any oil, no smoke, and is running strong, so I think it'll last quite a while. On the other hand, if I sell it while it's still healthy, maybe I can get more money. Maybe I'll throw it up on Craigslist and see what interest I get.

When I do go pick out my LS1, I'm going to do the same, look for an 01-02. I'll do some reading so I'll know how to look for an ls6 block.

Did another track day at the same track this past Friday. The car did fantastic once again. My tires finally were dropping off big time and it must have been in the mid 90's, so the lap times were definitely slower.

https://youtu.be/3rPVKzYGklk

A few guys rented the skid pad and had an instructor giving instruction. Being that this was my last day on my tires, I thought it would be a good time to jump in and join them. I had so much fun I didn't even do my last session. It was such a blast and I learned a ton. Just being able to really hang the back end out for as long as I wanted with no fear of hitting something was huge. I highly recommend it if you get the opportunity.

The red C5 was the instructor putting on a show.

https://youtu.be/0RMv1mB-d40

Then we had two cars on the skid pad starting at opposite ends. Whoever caught the other won. It was really a challenge trying to find the grip, especially with the wet and dry patches. I obviously lost when I spun, and the instructor did victory donuts in front of me. I giggled like a little girl.

https://youtu.be/6tvAjed01ns

We also set up cones and ran the small chicane and had increasing and decreasing turnes. I could have done this all day. So much fun!!

https://youtu.be/A6f-l_K293Q



The next day we got to hang out at my brothers F-16 Air National Guard base and they had an F-16 air show. Here are two videos. My brother flies these things. It's so freaking cool and I'm so proud of him.

https://youtu.be/Pn3n8NaZAig

https://youtu.be/B-LDyN5ERa0