MitsuStyle - Project Lex

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- Project Talk (http://www.mitsustyle.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=5)

- - Project Lex (http://www.mitsustyle.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28018)

Thanks for the feedback Adam. I think if I would have competed on Sunday, I'm thinking I may have been pretty competitive in my class <63mm class. Once I started to get my launch a little figured out, I think I was doing pretty deng good in my class. Just wish the NHRA would rethink some of these time/rules. Doing a full cage in my car just isn't in the cards lol.

I totally agree with you. Cars are much safer now days. Cars have come along ways.

NHRA did re think the rules already, they allows cars that are 2008 and newer to go 10.0 or 135mph with no safety equipment required. Yeah the rules are always the last thing to consider but the most important in my eyes!

Yeah I saw in the rulebook that newer cars are allowed to go significantly faster. Unfortunately my car is over a decade older than that. It's a 99.99% street car, and installing a cage for >135mph is a pretty significant thing to do to a street car. I'd like to keep racing it at a track, which is the responsibile place to do it, but perhaps I won't be allowed which would be unfortunate.

My tuner Vlad just ran a 9 at his local track in NC with nothing more than a helmet. No issues, no warnings.

Some tracks don't always follow the rules. From what I heard some tracks bend the rolls for grudge or time racing. Meaning they don't show the times on the time board. I have talked to a couple of guys at rockfalls and the said they ain't legal for the track but during the no time days they are able to run the cars all out.

Well the track was a blast. Maybe too much of a blast. I'll just leave this photo as my latest update on the car :D

Nice on the times and having fun at the track! I hope someday my little guy gets as excited to see his dad race as your little guy did, that was awesome.

Bummer on the compression, good thing you got that backup motor!!

Eliminate the outliers and the results look great!

Yeah not a big deal. Happened at the end of the season pretty much so timing is good. Just have to start prepping for winter mods earlier than expected I guess. This motor has almost 170k on it, so it doesn't owe me anything more. It woulda been nice if it woulda held on longer so I could have sold it, but these motors aren't worth much anyway, I might have gotten $500 for it, so not a huge deal. That's why I like these cars/motors, they're so damn cheap you don't feel that bad if you blow it up.

Time to start looking to 2018!!

Glad to have such a great attitude about it!

Well now at least you dont have to buy another car for that built motor to go into! lol

Glad you got some good numbers out of it!

Well I think I did time this all pretty well. So I'm starting to get some more parts back that I had purchased in preparation for the new motor. I just got my stock cam gears back from PHR. They rebuilt the VVTi cam gear with all new seals and nice SS hardware, and they did a black oxide coating on both cam gears as well. Nice and clean looking!

So I'm at the point where I can show some photos of this. I was an initial Beta tester for the new Grannas 8.8 Supra swap kit and thus was keeping it a little bit hush. Since I had my diff all built and ready to go, and since I was headed to the track for Proving Grounds to actually test it out, he had me try out one of his first kits just to ensure everything was good to go before he released it to the masses. I was a bit rushed as I received the kit a few days before heading to the track, and I don't work particularly quickly anymore at this stage in my life, lol. But I got it knocked out.

Quick background on the kit. It uses an IRS Ford 8.8 31-spline diff out of an 07-10 Ford Explorer. I personally got mine used from LKQ for $138 after tax out of an 08 Explorer. It is an aluminum housing with a 3.55 gear ratio which probably would have worked, but ideally for my 6spd I wanted something a little less than that. So I had a local well known Ford diff builder named Dustin rebuild it for me with new seals, bearings, and a Ford Racing 3.27 gear set. Charged me $200 and that included the gear set! Since this particular diff was an open diff (some come with a ford clutch style LSD I believe), I purchased a Wavetrac LSD for mine. Long story short, the guys at Wavetrac knew their shit when it came to 8.8's more than anyone else I spoke to regarding the 8.8, and they displayed the utmost confidence in their product compared to some of the other LSD manufacturers we spoke with. I highly recommend them and their product. Comes with a legitimate lifetime warranty, even if you were racing as that's what they were made for (their words exactly). Anyone else interested in the Wavetrac, I highly recommend getting ahold of Ryna Vieau, and make sure you order the 31 spline "non c-clip" version. So anyway once the diff was built, it was time to move onto installing the actual Grannas bolt-in kit for it once I received it.

Once I received the kit, I spent the first day removing my old oem 200mm diff/axle setup, and took some comparison photos. The new diff and axles are quite obviously a beefier arrangement!

The next day I assembled the 8.8 diff with his custom cover, cage, and front mount. It was quick and very simple to assemble. Joel went over exactly how to set the jacking studs, which was a breeze. Per the recommendation of my diff builder I used RTV on the diff cover rather than the gasket (gaskets are notorious for leaking apparently).

Day after that I installed the new differential and axles. Fitment of the differential was on point, took me very little time to get it mounted up into place. The fact that he used studs on the cage really made install a breeze as you just popped it up into place with the studs in the stock subframe mounting locations, and then just bolted the front mount. Literally took 15 minutes. I opted for the bolt in DSS Level 5 axles. They include stubs that popped right into the differential, and the axle shafts fit right into the stock hubs and bolt up to the stubs quite easily. All in all I'd say this was as easy, maybe even slightly easier due to the use of studs, to install compared to installing the OEM setup. Really incredible how bolt-in of a setup it is.

I didn't opt for his driveshaft and instead had an adapter made locally to adapt my current 1pc Steel Collins driveshaft to the diff. I had it made out of 2.5" thick, 5" round aluminum as that is what the machinest had on hand and this was very last minute so we had to make due with that. The adapter turned out great, thanks again to local DSM legend Mr. Mark Leasure for doing some very last minute tweaks to make sure it was hub-centric on everything to fit as perfectly as possible. I will say however, I highly recommend getting the correct driveshaft or having your current driveshaft modified. The adapter works, but for me it was a stop-gap and I will eventually be getting my driveshaft lengthened and the correct yoke/flange installed on it for this diff, and I recommend folks do the same, just my opinion.

By the time I had everything done, loctite'd in place, full of some spare off-the-shelf diff fluid (for break-in), it was Thursday around lunch time, and I had to load it on the trailer by Thursday night as we were headed up to the track at zero-dark-thirty Friday morning. So I took the car on a 1.5hr drive around the Twin Cities after lunch. Side roads, county-roads, highways, on/off-ramps, basically do as much of a "break-in" of the gears, lsd, etc as I could with what little time I had left. I probably managed to put 50 miles on it before I got it back home. Car drove excellent! Drained out the fluid and refilled with some Redline 75w140NS. Loaded it up on the trailer and crossed my fingers!

Friday I got about 6 passes in at the strip. Car drove like a dream. I hadn't been to the track in 2 years, and it was my first time there on my new setup, so I was working through a learning curve. I ran 12's all day as I struggled to get it out of the hole with 2.x 60's most of the day. My last two runs however I was starting to get things figured out an cut a 1.89 and a 1.86, so I was getting better.

Saturday I got about 6 more passes in. Cutting 1.8-1.9 60's most of the day. Diff setup was taking it no problem, to the point I had pretty much completely forgot about it and the fact that I had a couple day old diff swap in my car wasn't even in my mind anymore because it was working so seamlessly. I ended the day and the weekend trip with a best of 11.1 @ 131 with a 1.9 60' on my last run. Lots of room to improve with a better 60', but I was happy with it considering it was my first time out in such a long time, and on a new setup, and on a diff that I literally finished installing the night before!

Thanks again to Joel for the great product. I highly recommend his kit. It fits great, and Joel was readily available via text, phone, or even video chat. Hard to find that sort of customer support now a days, so I can't speak highly enough of him! Thanks Joel, I love the diff, and once you go live with it to the masses I'm sure everyone else will love it as much as I do!

Here some photos to check out of the kit.

And a vid of my final/best pass with this setup in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnmCiPDNelE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnmCiPDNelE&hd=1

And some more photos

Your kid in that video is awesome!

Nice job getting the job done in time. #oldfart

Glad you were one of the first people to get the kit as well. I enjoy your through reviews of products and you really put it to test!

Very cool stuff! Love the fab work and last min race track testing haha.

Well with the car being down, I'm getting a couple of the little misc things done that I've been putting off while I was enjoying driving the car. So first thing, got my new final version gauge/switch DIN mount all wrapped up. Really happy with how it turned out.

No big updates. But I did get a complete new driveshaft made to fit perfectly with my exact setup, so no more adapters or anything like that. Made from heavy duty wall .100" DOM with the CD009 slip yoke on front, Ford 8.8" Flange on the rear, and 1350 U-Joints. Fitment was spot on, and price wasn't bad ($420). TUrn around time was about a week from local shop AA Drive Line in Anoka. Same place that did the subframe bushing work for me a few years back. So good experience both times!

That looks like very nice work. Is it any lighter than what you had before?

No, it's similar weight. I'd like to get something lighter, but for now just sticking with steel since it's much more affordable.

Carbon Fiber for all the lightness.

Nice updates. I want that Grannas dudes 2J FD.

Got my new DBW kit in the mail. No more throttle cable for 2018! The TB is an OEM (refurb) 350z 3" TB.

Very cool! Any benefit to having it ported at all?

Maybe, but I'm ok with 3" I'm still running 2.5" piping

always gotta ask for a shirt, that ive learned!!!

Work has started on the new motor. Couple things interesting worth noting.

Some Factory 2JZ-GE VVTi measurements he took:
- Head chamber volume 41cc
- Piston volume 9.5cc (he cc'd a set of GE non-VVTi pistons as well with a value of 8cc)
-Piston / Deck clearance 0.003" popping out of the deck (he temp installed a set of GE non-VVTi pistons/rods as well with same measurement)
- Head step down recess is 0.028"

All good info to help me decide exactly what we do with the build as far as how much we deck the head, what head gasket to run, etc.

Sweeeet, any idea what happened with your old motor yet?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halon (Post 464542)

My general advice is to always leave as much meat as possible. Machine all surfaces the least amount possible to achieve the surface finish or trueness you want. Don't machine just to machine if the surface is good as is.

Achieve your other goals with hg thickness, rod length, piston design etc.

This is the safest route long term.

No ideas on old motor yet.

Momin yeah a lot of these measurements are basically going to help me figure out which HG to use.

Motor work has begun. Took this 100k+ crusty ol motor and made it new looking again. He drilled a GTE style oil feed using the world's longest drill bit. Love the Supra idiots saying it can't be done. Welp it's done lmao. Also buttoning up the pocket port work on the head (before & after pics attached ).

Gettin gettin some head.

I need to get some head. I need some to get some built bottom end too.

Looks like good progress, do you have an ETA?

Driftcar!!### Looks so nice and shiny!