Lachstock and Four Turbo Charged Cylinders ['04 NB SE]

[track_addict]

And you won’t find too many stock SE’s on here.......obviously.


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[bruce]

Which makes any comparison of little value due to too many variables. Guess what, you add stuff and it get's heavier.

[track_addict]

I’m pretty sure no one was talking about a comparison of cars? Roadrunner just stated he’d like to corner weigh his car.


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[ManiacLachy]

Last weekend I got out my dremel and cut some windows in my fender liner where the wheel was rubbing, and also cut back the fender/bumper tab which was catching occasionally.

I'm still getting very occasional rubbing, but it has to be a hard compression, so this weekend I put some blue painter's tape wherever there were some wear marks. Some of the marks were old from my previous coilovers and I don't think are currently being contacted but I taped them anyway. Hopefully these will show where any rubbing is occurring for additional trimming. And hopefully it doesn't rain in the next week and ruin my plan.


You can see the window cut out and the painters tape to give me an idea where rubbing is occuring

Also last weekend, I moved my swaybar endlinks to the softer outer holes to mildly reduce the roll stiffness. This was a bad idea. The ride was fine, but the endlinks then contacted the coilovers I've now moved them back to the stiffer holes.


Bit out of focus, but you can see the rub mark

I should probably give that wear spot a hit of black spray paint. I'm not too concerned about the damage, it's eaten away the threads, but not done any major damage. I'll never need to use those bottom threads so it won't impact their use. Still, not cool.

I'm happy with my ride settings now. It's firm and over rapid bumps it can be harsh, but for daily driving and my tolerance levels it's good. The setup is very communicative, I know whats going on where the tyres meet the road!

[SKYHI]

Good thinking with the tape. Hopefully there's not much trimming required.

[Gladiator]

My liners are that mangled, I didn’t bother putting them back in after the rebuild. You’ve reminded me I need to buy new liners.


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[ManiacLachy]

Last weekend I finally tackled my brakes. 2 services ago Automotive Plus told me my brakes were almost done, and they weren't wrong! I ordered new rotors and pads before my last service, they didn't arrive until afterwards though, which was fine as I wanted to attempt this job myself and add to my knowledge and skills, rather than have them do it. As you can see, the front pads were toast. The rears had a little life left in them, but I did them too for completeness.


These have some life left in them, right?

About 3 1/2 years ago, Automotive Plus fit some Bendix Ultimates to the front wheels. I wasn't too impressed with them to be honest. While they weren't noisy, they did dust a lot, and they lacked bite. While looking for replacements, I chatted with the folks at Brakes Direct and they recommended their new(ish) Forza FP3 pads to me, so I picked up sets for front and rear along with some T3 rotors.

Install did not go as smoothly as I'd have liked, but that's almost always the way the first time you tackle a job, right? I feel like I could knock it out much faster next time. Biggest issue was seized slider pins on the driver's side front bracket. Eventually got them out with a helpful tip from Magpie (rattle gun to spin the bolt + some force behind to move it out).


Finished product

Eventually I got it back on the ground and took the car out to bed the brakes in. A week driving the new setup and I can say I like the FP3's better than the Bendix Ultimates, they are completely quiet but have a much better bite. I can't speak to their dusting yet though because I haven't washed my wheels in a few weeks. And I can't really comment on their track effectiveness just yet, but I think they should be up to my limited ability at least.

I currently have a whole heap of parts and work to put into the car, but time is never on my side. I think when I don't get to do work on the car, I buy new parts so it feels like I'm doing something for the car Then they just sit for months

[SKYHI]

Good job mate. Definitely got your monies worth out of those front pads

[The American]

Pads are definitely something to experiment with. High torque pads combined with grippy tyres are quite something

[Okibi]

I've been really happy with the HP+

[StuwieP]

Blues are pretty awesome. Except for your rotors. One track session and if you don't clean the rims you'll notice rust in with the dust. Bits of ex-rotor...

[ManiacLachy]

This might be a long one, I have 2 weekends of updates...

Right, so I've had a noise when coming to a stop, and moving off from a stop, mostly a groaning creeking noise, occasionally a clunk. Most of the noises coming from the front passenger corner. It's been driving me nuts. A few weeks ago I found one of the alignment bolts was a little loose, tightened it, and that helped, but still got noises.

I started to think maybe the 1.125" Racing Beat sway bar up front was binding. I'd read that the bushing is a little bit taller than the bracket, and that by torquing the bracket down firmly you can bind the bar. I knew mine didn't rotate easily, combine that with the cold weather lately (cold for Brisbane, OK?! It was like 6* some mornings!) and I figured this could be an issue. I loath dropping that sway bar, it's a right royal PIA, the bolt holes are super close to the bracket and make it hard to get a spanner or even a socket on there, and space for movement is quite limited. But I did it, checked out the bushing compared to the bracket and sure enough the bushing is taller. I shimmed it with a washer and lubed the heck out of it and put the bar back in.


Swaybar bracket and bushing, nicely shimmed up

I also made sure the endlinks were set properly. To do this I put a jack under each lower control arm on both sides at the same time so the entire front end was resting on the jacks with the suspension loaded, you need to pay attention to ensure they are evenly loaded though. Then I measured the distance of the sway bar to the subframe where the end link connects and where the way bar bends 90* to wrap around the front of the engine, and adjusted the link to get the bar as flat as possible. Adjusting the other side was fairly easy, just turn the endlink adjustment until it goes slack indicating the bar has no tension, measure to confirm, then tighten the jam nuts. I did this front and back.

And I also checked every bolt in the suspension and control arms was torqued to spec.

Groaning gone! Success. Big time clunking began

In a day or two the clunking got much worse. I could hear it constantly, even at speed. Bumps and stops and turns. I thought the car was about to fall apart. The noise was coming from the front passenger corner. I don't like to work on the car mid-week, I don't have much time of an evening, and I rely on the car each day for work. Plus I get hella side-eye from my girlfriend. But I was concerned. Must be an alignment bolt come loose, right?

Jacked up the front end an checked every bolt, tight, no movement. I started to give things a shake to see if I could replicate the noise and found the caliper would move quite a bit and the clunk was it hitting the rotor. I checked the caliper bracket bolts, they were tight and the bracket showed no movement. So I checked the slider pins, they were tight, but the caliper could move. OK, rattle gun time! Bottom was done tight, then the top, chugga-chugga and I snapped the bold that holds the pin to the bracket. Bad words were said.


$#%^ That did not go how I had hopped - lesson learned

With no way to attach the caliper to the bracket, the car was stuck doing a wheelie in the garage for the rest of the week. Luckily I had Thursday and Friday off work already, and would just need to juggle transport with my girlfriend for 2 days, then she was out of town Thursday - Sunday. Saturday and Sunday were completely free for me to spend in the garage without judgment, except from my dog who'd rather I play with him.

Jeff from Automotive Plus extracted the snapped bolt from the slider pin and gave me a new bolt to use. Then on Saturday I attempted to reattach the caliper. But when I slid the pins in one would bottom out before the other, so the caliper was on a tilt and one end had movement which would cause the clunk. I pulled the bracket off and cleaned out the slider pin holes with some brake cleaner, a metal coat hanger and then a cotton swab. Re-check of pin depth was good and even. Back on it all went with plenty of lube. Let's hope that's that for now.

But I still had a weekend to work on the car, right!? The car is still in the air so let's keep working. A few weeks back I got a package from Jass Performance. Lots of blingy metal pieces.

Ages ago I snapped the dipstick handle, everyone does eventually. There wasn't much left of the handle, just a little yellow nub. Jass sell a metal slug that goes over the end of the handle and secures with a small grub screw, I was doubtful it would work with what little I had left, but it was worth a shot and I was pleasantly surprised, the new handle is bigger than I thought it would be, modestly weighted and very secure.


The nub and the slug!

My black Voodoo park brake handle was looking very marred up with lots of nicks in it's paint finish and I hadn't had it for very long. I don't wear rings or anything, I'm not sure how it got so nicked and damaged but it looked pretty crappy. It didn't really match my new brushed Moddiction shift knob anyway, so I bought a brushed aluminium Jass park brake handle and "drift" button. It's a little lighter in colour than the shift knob if I wanted to be nit-picky, but it's close and I think it looks great. I'm using the spring in the button, so it's functions like a normal park brake button and pops out like stock, but it suits the new handle nicely.


Matched and shiny

Feeling like I'd made a mistake up by not getting in on the frame rail group buy last year, I also got some Jass re-enforced frame rail braces. Not too much to say on this install, it's fairly easy, there are video guides out there and it just takes a bit of time. It's a bit of an annoying job on your own, trying to hold the top of the bolt with a spanner while reaching under the car with a socket to tighten the nuts, you're going to be blind to one or the other and have to operate by feel. Also, I made the same mistake that Miata Mods did in his video, and didn't quite get the passenger side far enough forward, pacing one bolt hole under the seat mount brace. I thought I had it far enough forward, I checked I promise, but I guess a few mm makes a difference and I messed it up. I only put a pilot hole in there and decided to just leave it out of the install, 11 bolts should hold it well enough and I didn't want to cut the hump to get to where the hole would be. I do need to get back under there and put a little silicone over that pilot hole though. Some how during this install I lost my 10mm spanner, which was only used to attach the new fuel line brackets


Bolts and paint


Shiny braces never to be seen by anyone other than mechanics (professionals and would-be-amateurs alike)

I have a couple of other Jass bits and pieces, but they haven't gone on yet.

What else ... I told you this was a long one!

Running the stand alone ECU with no MAF, no stock boost solenoid, etc, I have a few errant connectors hanging around the front of the engine, and the loom wrap there is looking quite tired and brittle. All a bit ugly and messy. Lokiel noticed it a little while ago and very kindly gave me some new loom wrap to re-do and cover it up, so I took this chance to take care of it. Cut off the old brittle messy stuff, secured the wires with some electrical tape and then slipped the new wrap over the top. Much nicer. The plugs are still there, I want to identify each one and label them before hacking the plugs off. I won't be using them again, but being able to identify what wires are what could be useful.


Before, after and the crumbly mess. Much nicer!

I think that's about it! The effect of the frame rail braces is noticeable, the car is firmer and like others report it does feel like the suspension absorbs more of the bumps without the chassis flexing. Maybe it's placebo effect but I'm happy. No clunks have returned yet, but it's only been a day and I'm reluctant to celebrate too soon. Brakes are feeling good and strong though. I love the new Forza FP3 pads. They do dust a little bit, but they are silent and have great bite.

Looks like I'll be doing a road trip to Bundaberg this weekend, so I hope everything is sorted!

Finally, here's a pic of Hobbes, just because I love him and this thread could use more of him


How could you not love that guy?

[greenMachine]

I've got the same fugly mess at the front, I wanted to be able to put it back to stock if that ever proved necessary (Autronic is plumbed with a patch harness to the stock ECU connectors). Thinking about a little anonymous black box to hide them, if I can get one sized right, but on balance I may as well just cut them off, it is not like that can't be reversed with a little effort.

FFS lose the poly - everywhere! I've never had the squeak, but trying to move a torqued up arm with poly bushes is an object lesson on why poly is no good for rotational movement, especially as the grease just doesn't last. Poly in an engine mount, or diff mount, that is a different case.

Delrin bushes may be available, but can certainly be machined out of stock. What diameter is your bar? I'd be interested in getting a set if your mate Jeff was interested in doing a few.

[ManiacLachy]

I think there's some confusion. Either I wasn't very clear, or you skim read the post and got a few things mixed up?

Squeak wasn't control arms, they're nice and quiet (so far), thanks to SADFab bearings. The sway bar was what was binding, it does have poly bushes but the issue was simply that the bracket is too tight and squeezes the bar too hard to allow easy movement, it's been documented in a few places, its a miss-measurement by Racing Beat. The washer shim seems to have solved the issue (again, for now).

The sway bar is 1.125", it's the Supermiata.com recommended bar to match the SE/MSM 14mm rear bar. If there were delrin bushes out there for the bar I'd consider it, haven't seen them though.

Jeff had nothing to do with the bar, he just very kindly gave me a new brake caliper slider pin bolt, that I broke like the ham-fisted amateur that I am (see picture of broken bolt and slider pin).

[greenMachine]

Yes, I noted that, my comment on the noise was a general one, one that is often made about polys. My point was that poly is just as bad in swaybar bushes as suspension bushes. The mis-sizing of them only makes a bad situation worse. Unless your bar is a loose fit when bolted up, you are still going to get that stiction inhibiting the roll of the car. And you already know from the megathread that the polys are very difficult to drill.

As a matter of interest, did you identify what the problem was that was preventing the slider pin going all the way?

My comment about Jeff was a bit tongue-in-cheek, I seem to recall reading that they have changed their business model and withdrawn from some of the MX5 stuff they used to do.

Having said that it would be nice to find someone with a CNC machine that could supply pre-machined delrin blanks with a pilot hole so we could drill out our own to suit... /dreaming