Lightyear Carbon fibre street car

DarrenM · Postby **DarrenM** » Sat Jul 01, 2017 9:32 am

Lightyear, what seat is that?
Also, when are you going to start making carbon fibre flares? I'd rather get a set from you than from China. You should offer a fitting service too.

Darren

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Sat Jul 08, 2017 8:40 pm

No idea what the seat is, I bought it second hand. I would like to make some flares, this car almost needs them.

On Thursday night I made the decision to take this to Phillip island on Sunday. And seeing as it hasn't had any track prep I wasn't sure half a day (this is the only spare time I had) would be enough time to buy the bits and instal them. I had from 10:00 Friday morning, to 3:00 Friday arvo to get it done. First I dropped it off at Jax at 8:00am to get some kind of wheel alignment, then jog back home (It's only about 800m away). Made some calls, and thanks to a mate, he set me up at a brake shop where I could use there hoist and get the car done all in one go. We could only get EBC reds at such short notice, so they went in. The front rotors were undersized, so new rotors went on. The rears got machined. I removed the old brake lines and they used them as a template to make new braided ones. Then some new brake fluid went in, and the system was bled. And while I was there I replaced the engine oil and put new filters in. The new wheels all arrived just in time, so Jax put the tyres on and I quickly bolted them on the car. Job done, managed to do it all by 3:00pm.
I also bolted a dodgy carbon fibre roof on that I originally made so the previous roll cage guy had something to work to. It had no window, so I put that in this morning and bought some rubbers and threw them on.

So specs/mods as it stands are:
- Carbon fibre roof, no softtop.
- No passenger seat, lightweight drivers seat on runners.
- Bilstein coilovers, no adjustment for dampening, no idea on spring rates, but it feels like 6 and 8kg.
- 15x8.5" wheels with tall 225/50/15 A048's build date 2011.
- Braided brake lines and ok pads.

And that's it. The car would benefit most with a 4.3 Torsen that is on its way, but will have to make do with the tall 3.6 open diff. I weighed it today at P.I, it was 1022kg's with 1/4 tank of fuel. About 25kg's more than my silver one. That would be the a/c and power steering mainly.
Any predictions on lap times? I would like to crack 2:00 minutes. And will be very happy with a 1:58. The open diff is going to kill the lap times.

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Sat Jul 08, 2017 8:46 pm

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Sun Jul 09, 2017 7:41 pm

The weather held out for a pretty good, but cold and windy day. I got the car down to a 1:59.7253 lap in the second session, first session was too slippery. But for the rest of the day I couldn't get it to go under 2:00. Plenty of laps at 2:00-2:01. I thought for the 3rd session it was a good idea to remove the muffler, not only was it 0.3 seconds slower, it burnt my bumper and melted the tail light. I asked Mark if he wanted to have a drive seeing as his car was on the trailer. He was keen to give it a go, I wasn't sure if he would seeing as it is so slow compared to his 350rwkw Commodore race car. He found out it's not that easy to do a sub 2:00 minute time in an MX5 with too little mods. He ended up doing 3 sessions as he needed to get used to it. He managed to drop 2-3 seconds by the 3rd session down to a 2:02.9310. My best at that time of the day was a 2:00.1230.
I probably have a slight advantage having owned MX5's before. It was his first time in the car, but it was also my first time in the car. I kind of expected him to be about 1 to 2 seconds slower given he wouldn't be used to it. But 3 seconds is unforgivable lol I was pushing the car and sliding around most corners. I am pretty sure I keep the flaggies entertained.
I did guess wrong at 1:58, but it's just not that well set up to even do that. On the last corner of the last lap the belts failed and fell off. I am lucky I trailered it, as I had no water pump. I think I will keep spares with me from now on. Still, 44 laps (probably more like 50, but I didn't get timed in the last run) with hardly a break for the last hour straight is pretty good going considering how little prep I did.

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Mon Jul 10, 2017 10:02 pm

I had time to put new accessory belts on, and instal another tail light. It is useable again

. I did about 2 hours driving it today running around organising the bits for things I am manufacturing (fastback and wing bits). It's kind of cool thrashing it all day yesterday, and then using it for a run around today. I did miss not having an LSD while it was raining.

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Thu Aug 10, 2017 1:08 pm

As much as I love the carbon fibre seat, it's probably a little tight for my size. I still have not put the diff in the car yet, or done anything else except drive it. I might bolt the soft top back onto it incase I need to go with no roof and it rains while I am out. Yesterday was hot enough to put the A/C on, it works, but it's not overly cold. My commodore race car is taking up all my spare time. Hopefully it will be done soon, well it has to be. I am racing it next weekend. Then I can do the next upgrade on this car.

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Mon Oct 16, 2017 8:44 pm

A quick update. With some help from my 7 year old we pulled the SE turbo gear and exhaust off the MX5 that lives on the hoist.

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Mon Oct 16, 2017 8:51 pm

I have everything here that was on my silver NB8B from a year or so ago. The car is currently getting a half cage put in, and when it gets back I will spend a few nights swapping in the turbo bits and pieces. The only things I need are injectors, fuel pump, clutch and Torsen diff. But it should be drivable without those bits. Fuel pump and injectors will have to be done ASAP.

It also has a fastback on it now.

And sadly I haven't had the time to put any carbon fibre bits on this car yet. It will get there eventually. Also, I sold the Konig's and bought a new set of 15x9 Storm S2's. I got them at a great price directly from the states. Now I have to find tyres.. Looking at RS3's or a cheap R spec.

Corey · Postby **Corey** » Mon Oct 16, 2017 11:49 pm

Car looks great. love the meaty wheel/tyre set up!

Wertoculas · Postby **Wertoculas** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 5:44 am

Looks like there's going to be two of us with a fastback and advanti racing storm s2s. Haha

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lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 6:39 am

225/50's and low offset wheels will do that.

Where did you get the S2's? And what colour is your car?

Wertoculas · Postby **Wertoculas** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 6:52 am

I got them from tire rack in the us. Green Nb. I recently repainted the wheels and got a set of rs4s to replace my worn rs3s. Can't wait till get them on!

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