Honda K24 Swapped 2015 BRZ Ship of Thesus (NASA TT5)

[DocWalt]

"I just started the car with the new mounts and I'm headed to RockAuto to order some replacement WRX mounts now."

sounds about right, those look like Cusco motor mounts and they are AWFUL haha

[RedReplicant]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

"I just started the car with the new mounts and I'm headed to RockAuto to order some replacement WRX mounts now."

sounds about right, those look like Cusco motor mounts and they are AWFUL haha

Seriously, haha. The previous owner of my Hyperblue put similar ones into the car, it made me not want to drive it.

[RedReplicant]

To bring the motor mount thing full circle... I ordered mounts for a WRX not realizing there are two different mounts listed as WRX.

Anchor 9023 and Anchor 9024 are both listed for a WRX but it turns out that Anchor 9024 are what is included with the KPower out of the box. I ordered Anchor 9023 which I guess are what is referred to as "STI Mounts".

These are 9024 (Impreza/WRX/Forester/etc)



These are 9023 (WRX/STI/etc)



The 9023 are something like 5-10% larger dimensionally in every way. I had to flip the one on the driver side since it wouldn't fit without wanting to occupy the same space as the oil pan kick out.

Should be fine, we will see. It increased the clearance from the oil pan to the steering rack and subframe, so I'm happy with that.

[RedReplicant]

Few separate things before I head off to Chuckwalla this weekend.

I've wanted an AC/iRacing delta bar really badly but I don't want to pay for a Racelogic lap timer. A recent-ish AIM Solo2DL update lets you output timing (and other data) over CAN, so I added delta output and bought a LilyGo ESP32S3. Mocked up a delta that is similar to how AC works with a +/- 1s delta until the bar is full either direction.

Looks like this




I'm just waiting on a SN65HVD230 CAN transceiver to wire up to the ESP so I can do the CAN half of things.

I noticed I lost some tire pressure on one of my RE71RS wheels before the last event, finally tracked that down to this valve stem. Pretty weird since it shouldn't have been disturbed, but it went away with a turn.



Pulled apart the old K24, I expected to find coked up oil rings but there was really nothing going on. Little bit of bore wall wear, but nothing I could feel, overall a good core.






In effort of having a backup coolant temperature sensor, adding coolant pressure at the same time, and removing something plastic I bought one of the Koyo water necks. Bonus is that the cap matches the valve cover (sheiiiiit). I'm going to put a pressure/temp combo sensor in it for now and just not map the temp unless something happens to the one on the back of the head again. Fit up quality on the Koyo piece was kinda lol, which I think is to be expected.





Anyway, off to Chuckwalla, we're running CW. I'll figure out tomorrow whether I'm running RC1s or RE71RS for the weekend, I've got options.

I've put about 500mi on the track in AC with the ND MX5 Cup, hopefully it translates since my previous 1:58, while still the TT5 record, is probably about 2-2.5s off max effort car no suck driving TT5 pace. 1:57 would make me feel alright, 1:56 would be great, and 1:55 is not happening since I'm not that good of a driver.

[autoracer86]

Very cool ESP project!

[redlined600]

Originally Posted by RedReplicant

Few separate things before I head off to Chuckwalla this weekend.

I've wanted an AC/iRacing delta bar really badly but I don't want to pay for a Racelogic lap timer. A recent-ish AIM Solo2DL update lets you output timing (and other data) over CAN, so I added delta output and bought a LilyGo ESP32S3. Mocked up a delta that is similar to how AC works with a +/- 1s delta until the bar is full either direction.

Looks like this




I'm just waiting on a SN65HVD230 CAN transceiver to wire up to the ESP so I can do the CAN half of things.

Following! I need that in my life. Nice work!

[RedReplicant]

This was A Weekend. There were 350 cars or something at the event and like 11-12? total in TT5.

On Friday I went to go pick up my trailer and I found that some beautiful person decided they needed my spare trailer tire more than me, after which I wasted some time being unable to find a 5 on 5 trailer spare. I showed up to Chuckwalla at like 430pm and was turned away from the dyno even though they were supposed to cut it off at 600pm. I decided to run the Maxxis all weekend.

On Saturday I got absolutely screwed by the grid people. First timed session they let a Spec Miata out ahead of me ?? when he rolled up to the grid at the very last minute and parked at the very front. We had grid set from the previous practice that was ignored.

I caught him on my first flying lap, but still ran a 1:58:71 after being behind him from turn 10 to turn 13 (ie. up the hill to the end of the bowl). Would have been a 1:56 lap.

Waste of a session, a dude in a Boxter put down a 1:57:5 so I was in second. I was irritated at this point.

Second session they manage to send out another Spec Miata in front of me again when they parked in the wrong spot. I leave him a ten second gap and I still manage to catch him by the bowl on the first flying lap. Pretty pissed now.

Last session of the day I finally get a clean lap but it wasn't enough, a 1:57:8 so I end up second by .3s for Saturday.


This morning (Sunday) I woke up and was basically on a mission. I pretty much had one lap in the first session to make it work, fortunately the timing worked in my favor.

TT5 record coming into this weekend was a 1:58:7, I managed a 1:56:8 with a bunch of clear mistakes, but it was still good enough for the Sunday win and final record update of the weekend. I think the video shows that there is a 1:55 in the car with better driving.

[Pat]

Oh wow. It's so frustrating when people don't follow the proper procedures. We all put a lot of time, effort, and money into making it to these events. It really sucks when big part of the fun is ruined by carelessness.
But great job making the most of day two! A lot of people would allow their emotions to get the most of them, negatively impacting their driving. It's nice to see you were still able to crush the class record. Way to go!

[RedReplicant]

Originally Posted by Pat

Oh wow. It's so frustrating when people don't follow the proper procedures. We all put a lot of time, effort, and money into making it to these events. It really sucks when big part of the fun is ruined by carelessness.
But great job making the most of day two! A lot of people would allow their emotions to get the most of them, negatively impacting their driving. It's nice to see you were still able to crush the class record. Way to go!

Thank you, an attempt was made

A few other notes... I'm calling my electric power steering cut issues done. Back in October-ish I made some front damper length and sway bar endlink changes. Ever since then I have not once experienced EPS cut, I waited until Chuckwalla to call it dead since I'd experienced cuts in half of the corners on track prior.

IMO, there are some weird things at play with the endlink geometry that cause bind. Another thing is if the coilover perches bind on the springs it'll also cause this to happen from the extra induced drag/bind.

I also switched to sphericals on the front LCA and switched from doing my string alignment in mm to 1/32". Whether related or not, tire wear seems much better than I expected from this event, so hopefully that has turned somewhat of a corner as well since it has been my main frustration with the car.

I think the little bit of rear toe in was a good call. The car felt awesome all weekend, I was able to get the car doing the light skating in the rear on throttle without the car completely lighting the tires up and sliding more than I wanted. The times that it was a little bit pushy were more or less entirely induced by me getting overly greedy on entry speed.

All in all, things are trending the right direction.

[949 Racing]

Watching the video, it almost looks like you have a bit too much rear brake bias. Car seems neutral mid corner but over rotates on entry only when trail braking. Corner entries without brakes are smoother. Can't see a trace but maybe you're releasing brakes too abruptly but my guess is brake bias.

Sorry, I know you didn't ask for feedback, but I thought it might be something to look at. I forgot what Sonny did there in Blub but 1:56 is flying. Agreed that there is at least another second in it.

[RedReplicant]

Originally Posted by 949 Racing

Watching the video, it almost looks like you have a bit too much rear brake bias. Car seems neutral mid corner but over rotates on entry only when trail braking. Corner entries without brakes are smoother. Can't see a trace but maybe you're releasing brakes too abruptly but my guess is brake bias.

Sorry, I know you didn't ask for feedback, but I thought it might be something to look at. I forgot what Sonny did there in Blub but 1:56 is flying. Agreed that there is at least another second in it.

I always appreciate feedback

It sounds like you're probably on to something, I'm running the same pad front and rear. They've got a fairly strong initial bite too, so it is kind of hard to just brush them.

[949 Racing]

I always run a harder pad in rear on anything that will see the track. Maybe try that.
We ran R12/R10 on Blub with the 4 wheel BBK.

[RedReplicant]

Originally Posted by 949 Racing

I always run a harder pad in rear on anything that will see the track. Maybe try that.
We ran R12/R10 on Blub with the 4 wheel BBK.

I'll give it a shot, I ordered a set of R12/R10 from you and another set of Centric blanks to bed them in on.

I'm kinda tempted to run the car in a TREC enduro occasionally so I sent my fire bottle in to be recertified over the weekend and ordered a new Schroth belt so I can race tech it again. Everything else is good to go.

Signed up for NASA Podium Club on 3/16 and 3/17. Also signed up to SpeedVentures Chuckwalla 86 Cup on 3/23 to meet a few 86 people for the first time, should be nice to not be hyper competitive at a track event for once.

[RedReplicant]

I wanted to add some color to the car so I grabbed some of the STI mirror covers from Japan



New window net and new Schroth harness went into the car, still waiting to get my Lifeline bottle back from being recertified and then the car will be NASA race legal again.



I wanted a second track car that I could have some fun with without worrying about tire heat cycles / wear, classing, or being super competitive so I bought an Elise that was an arrive and drive car for a Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch member. I'm leaving the NASA event early on Sunday to drive up to Nevada and grab it.




No plans of selling the BRZ, just wanted something else additional to have fun with. I'd been casually shopping for an Elise for about six months now, this has the right stuff at the right price. Yes, it'll get a K too.