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Old 12-04-2020, 12:18 PM   #356
John V
No more BMWs
 
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Carmudgeonly Ride: Ram, MS3, CX-5, RX-8
Location: Glenwood, MD
Posts: 14,753
Damn, more than a month since an update.

I actually drove the car at an event! It was super wet and cold, so I ran the PS4S tires. They are phenomenal in the wet. The car was a total pussycat. I just unplugged the boost controller so it ran on the spring, and it was one of the most friendly cars I've ever driven in the wet. One of the courseworkers liked the sounds the car made, so she recorded a video on her cell phone



The only thing I really didn't like was the brake feel. I plumbed the car with -3AN braided PTFE hose when I moved the ABS pump to behind the driver's seat, and the brake feel was really terrible. I got all the air out of it but it still felt like stepping on a sponge. So as much as it pained me to do it, I ended up completely re-plumbing the car with copper-nickel brake lines. Definitely not the most fun job, but it was pretty satisfying to learn a new skill and I only had to re-make one flare out of all of them to ameliorate a leak. Brake feel is fantastic now, just like stock. So I'm happy with that. The copper-nickel stuff is super easy to work with. I could have done a better job making pretty bends, though :giles:





I had planned to do the December Dixie event in the car, but I can't travel without quarantining for two weeks so that's out. I may try to get to one of the upcoming trackcross events at Summit point in December just to shake down the car a little more in the hopes of doing the Dixie and Charlotte National events in '21.

I've started playing with some of the advanced features of the Haltech, the first being traction control and the second being flat-shift. The flat shift feature is pretty cool. I have it triggered off of the clutch switch used for the stock cruise control, so it switches states just as the pedal is moved through the first ~ 20mm of travel. That's convenient with the dog box, since to flat shift I just have to "dip" the clutch pedal a bit while keeping the throttle pinned. It briefly cuts ignition and fuel and lets you bang the next gear. Should be really nice for ProSolos.

I'm contemplating setting up exhaust-air-injection rolling anti-lag as well, but it will require a decent amount of fabrication and I'm not sure I want to tackle that right now. I guess we'll see what the next few months bring.

Last edited by clyde; 12-04-2020 at 01:09 PM. Reason: conformed Youtube link
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