The weekend after Sears Pointless we checked out our chariots. In general, we survived the race. We first looked at both cars suspension parts, tire wear, brakes, and overall condition. The Z has a few bumps and bruises with this left door whack a little more problematic then it appears. The wrinkle goes into the frame, and we will need to straighten and support this some.
The D has a few marks, but with Picasso's work we will get them back in being bright and shiny.
We also did some compression testing and we do not see much engine compression degradation. Here are the numbers.
| D Engine Compression | Z Engine Compression | |||
| Cylinder # | Cylinder # | |||
| 1 | 170 | 1 | 170 | |
| 2 | 180 | 2 | 180 | |
| 3 | 180 | 3 | 170 | |
| 4 | 180 | 4 | 180 | |
| 5 | 180 | |||
| 6 | 180 | |||
If anything the Z's compression has improved so all in all good news on the motor front.
As for moving forward the next planned race is the September 12-13 Vodden in the Hell Race at Thunderhill. It could be really warm, so I would like to look into engine cooling systems.
The other big topic I think should be a suspension review for both cars. Thanks to Lugnut and Sparky we have some great pictures of the cars going through the corner. The first set of pictures is a comparison of the Eyesore, Clergy MC, and the D (all Miata bases).
Between the three cars, the D looks like it is holding its own in that there is not a lot of front to rear roll. There is a little more side roll then the Clergy and even more to Eyesore. Both the D and Clergy are picking up the rear tire more than the Eyesore. The other two notable issues are the ride height and tire size. Both the Eyesore and Clergy are lower and are running 205 verse our 195 tires.
As for a fix, an adjustment to the ride height might be in order. By reducing the springs ~1/2 -1", we could lose the height and increase the spring rate giving us less roll in the corner. This might keep the rear wheel down more as well.
As for the other up grades, an increase of tires to 205 is not a real option. We are running smaller rims and would need to change them to get to the 205. Also, to take advantage of the large wheel, we would want to increase horsepower. Both the Clergy and Eyesore have us there. Spec data has us running the 1.6 L providing 115 bhp and 100 ft-lbs torque if all is well. The Clergy is running the 1.8 L technically giving them 128 bhp and 110 ft-lbs. There might be other shenanigans going on there and I would not be surprised if they are in the 140-150 bhp range. As for Eyesore there is a lot of shenanigans and the general guess is they are running in the 200 bhp range. In the end what does this mean. If we look at each car's best lap time we see a 10 second spread between D to the Eyesore.
| Sonoma Raceway Lap Times | |
| Team | Best Time |
| Eyesore Racing | 2:01.072 |
| Clergy MC | 2:04.021 |
| Half-Life Racing: Radium | 2:11.345 |
With the estimated horsepower difference between the Eyesore and Clergy, it is at most worth 3 seconds if all things are equal (i.e. driver). From the tire size differences, the Tire Rack data indicates that this could get a 1.5-2 second further reduction. So, if we lowed to the Eyesore/Clergy level and reduce the roll I estimate we could get a 2 second decrease in lap time at Sonoma. I look forward to testing this theory.
As for the Z, the nice photo work also give us some fun things to look at. I see two noticeable items. First issue is that there is still a lot of front to rear roll. Below is an image of the weigh transfer under heavy braking going into turn 7a. 
Notice the gap between the rear wheel and the fender. Compared that to the level position in the second picture as we are moving well onto the front straight. (Yes, I flipped the image to give you a better side by side view.)
This third image has us into turn 7a and shows both the front to rear and side roll.
Finally here is a comparison between us and Pistola Alto through turn11.
Here is what I see between the cars:
| Pistalo Alto Car |
Seize-um
|
|
| More Camber in the front and rear | Slightly Less Side Roll | |
| More Body Twist | Less Horsepower | |
| Less Forward Roll |
With the result of best lap time:
| Team | Best Time |
| Pistola Alto Extra Añejo | 2:01.301 |
| Half-Life Racing: Seize-um | 2:02.941 |
Of course, this can't stand. To correct for this, I think we should look at the springs. In the Z's case, it might mean that we replace them for stiffer springs. It looks like Pistol Alto are already on stiffer springs. Stock spring rates for the Z32 have the front rated at 168 lbs/in and 123 lbs/in in the rear. Our stock springs have been shortened so, it is not clear what the current rates are. I would like to test this to see what we have. It is likely that to go stiffer, we will need to double the list OEM rates. We will see if that is Lemons budget friendly.
Moving forward and into the summer here is the improvement work that I propose :
| D Upgrades | Z Upgrades | |
| Lower Suspension Coil Springs | Change Coil Springs | |
| Fix Front Sway bar mount | Add additional Oil Cooler | |
| Install Oil Cooler | Change Fuel Tank Vent | |
| Add Brake Bias | Add Cooling Ducts to Radiator | |
| Open Front Grill | ||
| Added Front Splitter |
