Mikelly

Pic Jon Felton (Director of NASA Florida Region) snapped of me this morning after a two lap run on cold hoosiers with the car as it sits. Ran a 1:26 (will post videos later) with it breaking down above 5K and a serious issue with crank case pressure, due to collectors leaking... The aero is working with the car buttoned up, and the rear spoiler is functioning well. I hope Greg Ira pops in to comment. The car has tremendous bite exiting corners, but it does have a little bit of understeer we'll have to chase down. I'm picking up the inner front tire going thru corners, and that is a little bothersome. I'd prefer to keep the traction. Overall, even with the teething pains, this is the first weekend I've been able to truly drive the car at what I would consider "hard" conditions... 105 degrees ambient temps, and getting heat in the tires/brakes for more than a few laps. I think I ran a total of 20 laps, but still, it gave me enough impression to know that this is a 1:16 second car on Summit Main. Maybe a 2:00 car on VIR. It's that solid... I just need to finish debugging... I'm soooo stoked. Mike

Man what a hot weekend. Nothing like 105 degrees in nomex... Ugh. Anyway, I'm in the middle of editing some video footage, but I'll say this much... The car has a ton of potential. It has some more debugging, and will require a lot of attention in the wiring and oiling department. But damned that thing is fast. Going thru the traqmate footage and I was hitting over 130 mph with the hood off and short shifting at 5K... Mike

At the track, never guess who I ran into! Greg Ira, up from Florida. Was good hanging with him and giving him a ride around the course before his run group. I got good footage of my car on track, but there are till teething issues. Gauge wiring is grounding out and I have an oil pressure issue in corners. I will post video when I get back home. Not sure I will run today. My student for the weekend is driving a 2001 911 turbo modified a lot like mine was. He suffered brake loss during a full course caution. Fortunately, we were going slow, or it could have ended badly!

And actually since my EFI ECU is on a separate circuit, I am now using it to kill spark. I'll buy a unit that also cuts spark to the coil and has the diode in line for the alternator, unless someone else has a better solution. I'm loaded up and ready to head out to the track. Should be leaving around 3:30PM.

Actually, mine only has four lugs. Two 2 gauge battery and two for the alternator power *calls for 10 gauge wire. So I've bypassed the second set of lugs for the alternator and am temporarily running them with the relay for the starter. Hoping this will get me thru the weekend. I leave tomorrow for the track. Mike

I think we're all just reading and enjoying the build, man... Looks awesome! Well done... Mike

Running. I may bipass the switch altogether for the alternator and see if it the wire gets hot. It's a pass-thru that is supposed to stop run-on. We'll see... Mike

John, Right now the lugs on the switch just get hot to the touch. Mike

So I've gotten everything buttoned up, although the master switch is still warm to the touch. May pick one up tomorrow and instal it. A lug of the battery post would arc at the alternator post on the back of the switch when the switch was thrown to the on position... You couldn't see or hear any issue because where it is located. Wondering if the lugs for the alternator side of the switch got damaged. Got the car washed up and will buy and install the switch tomorrow, and get everything loaded up and ready for Saturday's outing. I'll be sure and have video running. Going to be 100 degrees on Saturday. If the car can handle this heat, it can handle anything. Question is can I...

I completed the punchlist yesterday, took the car off the lift and drove it only to find that there is still an driver's side exhaust leak under load, and it sounds like it is at the header. I also had another issue crop up. The master power switch is getting HOT to the touch. Going to tear into that this morning, and then see if the local PepBoys is open so I can run and grab an exhaust manifold gasket. I have a Percy's on it now, which is supposed to be re-usable. But something is amiss... The electrical issue is really puzzling. Mike

Wrapped up the rear hatch stops and adding some sylicone sealer under the rear hatch/spoiler mount today. Also adjusted the latch mechanism. I'm going to have to invest in a cable swedge tool/lead swedges. Current method has interference issues when the cable is trapped under the hatch. I'm planning on going to VIR August 27-28 if anyone else would like to hook up. It's thru www.trackdaze.come. They're a very relaxed "chill" group to run with. Mike

It appears the oil leak in the remote filter block/plumbing is fixed. No evidence of oil leaks today... On a side note, We really got lucky at my place... Those of you on the east coast know about the storms that hit our region on Friday night. Those of you who have been to my house know that we live in the middle of a dense forest within the Wilderness National Battlefield. We had no tree damage to any of our realestate or personal property. I did have lots of downed branches and deposited debris in the lawns, but otherwise zero damage... Many of my neighbors are not so lucky, and the region is suffering from the third largest power outage in history. Pretty significant damage throughout the area. Mike

Matt, Mine is the hardwired version, because I have the first gen HDpro. It would be slick to have the bluetooth version. I did have to update my firmware though. Give me the exact dates for the event. Sad to say, but I need to join NASA. Haven't run with them at all... Had someone ping me offline so I'll post the specs here... I'm running Hoosier R6s right now, but I have some NITO NT01s in the trailer if these cook off. The suspension is set to 3.0 negative camber up front, and zero toe. In the rear I'm running 2.5 negative camber and about 4mm in on toe. Caster is limited to clearing the body work. Those 10.5 inch wide front wheels with 275-35-18s really take up a lot of space. But milling down the front hubs so the wheel sits properly on them wthout spacers got me an additional INCH of forward adjustment back. I still am not running a rear swaybar, but am running a large 1 1/8th front swaybar. Also have the Koni 8610s set to about 50% front and rear... Will actually start dialing in the shocks this coming weekend. Mike

Alignment is done and the wiring for the one-touch setup for the go-pro is done as well. Chsing down the oil leak in the remote filter/hoses now... Mike

The later... Works really well.

Did the header bolt loc-tite last evening. Will start the alignment tomorrow morning and hopefully wrap that up along with the wiring of the one touch camera button/light combo, mount some stops on the rear hatch so the wing doesn't hit the bodywork anymore, and address a slight oil leak in the remote filter/plumbing. That will be it and I'll be prepared for next weekend... Hope we get some relief by the morning of the 7th... Gonna be Hoooooot! On another note, I just picked up the Gt3 this afternoon from having the car "mostly" covered in 3M clear coating. The installer did an amazing job. Only parts left un-exposed are the doors and the top of the rear fenders, and the rear decklid. He surprised me with the whole roof, most of the rear bumper, and the whole rear spoiler surface being covered, along with the whole front clip, the A-pillars, mirrors, spoiler uprights and the rockers! Mike

Checked the fuel system today and all was well after a few minor tweeks to a couple fittings. The car actually idles better... Very happy with the overhaul. Total investment of $612! So later this week I'll start the whole "suspension re-alignment"! Mike

So as of right now I need to loctite the header bolts, instal a one-touch button and light for my GoPro HD setup so I don't have to worry about missing recording footage in the future. And I need to do an alignment on the car. 12 days till the track!

Worked on the cell today and got it wrapped up. Finally done! Mike

Yea, I agree with Madovic. I think all of us have our own "vision" of what we want our cars to be, regardless of our ability to produce what we envisioned... Matt yours just looks amazing. I don't in general save other members pics to retain for pure viewing pleasure. But I've saved ever single beauty shot of your car at the track or outside of the shop. As David mentioned, I'd buy large prints of that car and put them in my collection of car art... It's just "THAT" nice and so well executed! Can't wait to see it in person. Mike

Got an early start to the weekend and started installing my fuel system overhaul. About 50% done. I will post up pics tomorrow!

Got all the parts inhouse to install an access large enough to install the box into the fuel cell. Hope to get this wrapped up by Sunday. I'll post pics as I go. Mike

Put it in the for sale section. I am sure someone would want a whole plug and play install like that. Mike

Got the fuel surge tank in the mail, and it looks like I will need more parts... It is a bit bigger than the current opening in the cell. Mike

Looks like a million bucks Matt! Really diggin' the wrap... Mike