A few more items off the checklist and a first chance to test out the new shocks this weekend. Changed the diff oil with some Mobil1 75W90 GL5 diff fluid ($7) and flushed the brake system. Fresh ATE Super Blue (extra inventory from 2009) in to get ready for the trackday in less than 1 month.
Sunday was IndySCCA’s first solo event of the year, starting out with a ‘fun event’ (i.e. no points awarded) at 16th Street/Bush Stadium in Indianapolis. Was extra cautious in the first run because I did not know what to expect, but the car felt quite well balanced right off the bat (35psi front, 36psi rear with all shocks set to full stiff), just some minor oversteer. Turned the rear shocks back a half turn and the car settled to be very nice to drive. For the first time today I also ran in the STS class although the car still needs a lot of work in order to be competitive in the class. Beats not having anyone to run against at least.
…and of course, here’s the video of the final run (now available in 720p HD!). Clocked in at 0:40.505, which put me in 2nd place for STS:
As I am keeping track of event entry costs, this one is the first of the season and costs $20.
The weather is finally starting to improve here and the car was pulled out of storage on 3/17/10 (special thanks to Tom W. for letting me keep the car in his garage over the winter!). A fresh oil change (Mobil1 5W-30 Full Synthetic, M1-110 oil filter) today is the first step in preparations for the 2010 season. I will flush the brake fluid next week (weather permitting) and check the brake pads/rotors for wear.
Koni Sport (Single adjustable) shocks to replace OEM shocks
The plan is to also get the newly acquired Koni Sport shocks on the car and a new alignment before the auto-x season opener on 4/11/10. Currently it looks like I will be sticking with the stock springs for at least the first half of the season, though upgrades to the sway bars may be in order.
Just a quick progress report since the last post. At the Grissom AFB auto-x the ambient temps were down in the low-mid 50s and although the car felt fine I did notice that there was an overall lack of grip. Also the previous 33/34psi setup did not work very well (possibly due to the high grip on the surface), causing some rolling beyond the wear bars on the tires. I upped the pressure to 35/36psi and it prevented roll on the sidewalls. There may be some issues with running these tires in such cold conditions without any chance to warm them up, hopefully at a trackday this won’t be as much of a problem.
Had some nice weather this weekend so I took the opportunity to finish off some of the work I had planned on doing to the car. This included a valve cover gasket change and an oil change. Used some Mobil1 5W-30 as it has worked well up till now, and went with a longer M1-110 oil filter (stock is M1-108) as per recommendations from a lot of the Miata forums community. Unfortunately I spaced out a bit and completely forgot to take a camera for pics. The only thing left to do is schedule an alignment job and get the pre-inspection sheet filled out before the trackday. Can’t wait, but hope that it’s a bit warmer than 50F out there…
