Venturing down the slippery slope - SKYHI Motorsports SE

SKYHI · Postby **SKYHI** » Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:05 am

I always like to put a little extra into everything I do. Whats' an extra "l" between forum friends :lol:

SKYHI · Postby **SKYHI** » Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:16 pm

Another successful round of the Timeattack.com.au Lakeside Series for us last Saturday. It wasn't quite as cool as I was hoping for, but the car ran really well, and we managed another new PB of 61.28, which was enough to take out another A2 class win, and place 12th outright from 42 cars in the morning session.

Wasn't all our own way though. In the first session, the best I could do was a 61.7, and my main competitor out down a 61.5 in his Renault Megane RS265. I went out next session and did my PB to retake the lead. Neither of us improved in the third session, and I decided to give the fourth session a miss due to the fact that temps were rising, and I didn't really think there was any more time to be had. Adam in the Megane went out though and posted a 61.32, meaning I hung on by four hundreths to take the win. :shock:

Finally got my phone connected to the MS3, and had the Shadowdash app working. I was pleasantly surprised to see the standard radiator was coping ok with max temps at 95 degrees C on track.

ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:01 am

Good job! 95* on track is pretty good IMO. I see that in traffic! Those vents must be doing some good I think. If you haven't already, the next step would be full ducting around the radiator and intercooler.

SKYHI · Postby **SKYHI** » Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:47 am

Yeah I was happy with that. I guess removing the AC condensor and the bonnet vents have certainly helped. I have done some basic work trying to fix the gap between the under tray and the radiator for now, but I'm waiting to see if it holds up to the hotter temps before committing to doing the job properly. Mind you, if I did, it might be the difference between it working and it not

SKYHI · Postby **SKYHI** » Thu Jul 25, 2019 12:11 pm

Arranged to swap my soft top for a hardtop with cash adjustment. The soft top was in reasonable condition, but I had a few things that I wanted to do before fitting it.

First thing was to remove a snapped bolt in the hardtop. Luckily it came out fairly easily with a easy out.

Seciondly I removed some old tint from the rear window. Used a mix of cloudy ammonia and water sprayed onto the tint, and then wrapped it in black plastic bags and left in the sun for a few hours. Not sure how much that helped, but it cam off fairly easily and in one piece.

Lastly I wanted to tidy the paintwork up a bit. Filled a few imperfections and then sanded it all back.

I always wanted to mount the hardtop permanently, so luckily for me the hardtop came with a full set of Jass hardtop mounts.

Finished it off four coasts of matte black and another four coats of matte clear. I'm certainly no painter, but it looks good enough for now

Custardtart · Postby **Custardtart** » Thu Jul 25, 2019 4:25 pm

Looks

SKYHI · Postby **SKYHI** » Tue Jul 30, 2019 12:29 pm

Not our best day at the track for the Chassis Shootout at Lakeside, but the car is home all in one piece

Started off ok with an easy 61.89 in the first session, and followed it up with a 61.53 in the second session. Into my first hot lap of the third session, and I lost power steering halfway through the Eastern Loop. Fearing I'd drop power steering fluid everywhere, I jumped to the inside of the track and limped back to the pits. Thankfully it was just a belt, but what was strange was that it was only 6 months old, as I'd replaced it when i removed the AC compressor. Got another belt from the local Repco and had it back on in 15 minutes, but missed the fourth session. After lunch I did another 3 sessions, but just couldn't get back into the groove, and didn't improve on the morning's time.

Conditions were good, and I thought I was in with a shot of improving on my 61.28 from last time, but it just didn't happen.

Another really well run day though. 70 cars ran over 6 groups, and even with that many entries, they all got 8 sessions.

Custardtart · Postby **Custardtart** » Sat Aug 17, 2019 10:21 am

Did you do the Time Attack round at Lakeside last week?

SKYHI · Postby **SKYHI** » Mon Aug 19, 2019 10:06 am

There was a Time Attack round at QR last Thursday, but wasn't aware of one at Lakeside.

The next round of the Lakeside Series is Saturday 7th of September. Will be doing the morning session that day.

SKYHI · Postby **SKYHI** » Wed Mar 25, 2020 2:41 pm

The last 6 months have been pretty crazy for us, and with what's going on at the moment, it looks as though the next 6 months will be just as crazy :roll:

My fiance just lost her company car, so I've had to dust off the MX5 and return it to daily duties for now. First thing that I need to address is the lack of AC. Although not a huge issue now that summer is over, that fact that I have a permanently mounted hardtop means it would still be nice to have. Plan on re-fitting the AC lines, compressor and condenser, and then getting it re-gassed.

What I need is an idea exactly where to run the hard lines. Would anyone be able to take a photo of their NB engine bay to show me how the two hard lines are run?