BensonHsu.com

Yes, more car changes. I missed Top Drift Battle round 1 and I wanted to make sure that I could make it to round 2 and on top of that, make sure that my car would be able to get me into tandem rounds!

So I’m taking care of the cage requirements – yes I finally have a cage. The door beam will be welded in next week. Marco Vargas from SR20Store has been working on my car all week and should have a completely rebuilt SR20DET in my car along with some Tomei Poncams. I know, it’s not much, but trust me – my car has been super low on compression for a couple years now – a refreshed engine with cams will be a lot better than what I had before.

So here are my challenges:

Hopefully the car will be ready for me to pick up on Saturday!

Wish me luck!

So I went to the Carboy gymkhana event last Saturday and placed 2nd! Nadine got 3rd! It was a pretty chill day and it was perfect for shakedown #2 for Red Thing. The wiring relocation is pretty much finished, except for making it look pretty:

I got a Safety 21 cage from Big Bad BH and it is now in my car… still needs a little modification to the the a-pillar base plates and door beams, but other than that, it looks great. Hopefully I can paint it soon!

At the event, I noticed that my tires would rub up against my front bumper and it would also rub a little bit on the fender… so a little hammering and cutting is still needed. The engine is getting really tired too, more now than ever – so I need to really get on the ball with these things!

Here’s some pics of other new things on my car that I haven’t posted yet:

New Taka Motorsports Oil Cooler and Filter Relocation Kit

New ARC blow off valve

New Tanabe Medalion Concept G Blue muffler

OK, so I missed the event after all. But at least I have a little bit more time to prepare for the next event… I’ll be going to Carboy’s Gymkhana event on March 10. And hopefully I’ll have my Safety21 roll cage in (that is, if it fits cars with a sunroof).

The wiring is now finished, I’ve made more modifications to the wheel well and now nothing rubs, and as far as I know from idling on my drive way, my car doesn’t overheat. Things are looking good!

So like I said from my last journal entry, I realized I still have a lot to work on for my car. When I turn the steering wheel to the left, it starts to rub against my wiring harness pretty badly. So what I’ve spent this entire past week doing is going to work, then coming home to a wiring harness nightmare. The harness consists of at least 60 wires that I’ve had to cut, re-route, and then solder back together. I think it’s taken me a total of 8 hours to do them all. I’m going to lower the car back down tonight and see how much clearance I’ve made. I’m hoping there’s no more rubbing issues AT ALL.

Another issue I’ve found is that on the way home from the track at the last event, a few holes were made into my radiator from a moving fan shroud… somebody was looking over me that day though, because the car made it all the way but a few blocks away from home before the leak started, causing my car to overheat pretty badly. Anyway, I got the radiator fixed and put the car together last night. The car started OK which is good… so tonight will be my judgement day. I have to see if my engine is OK from the overheating and if my wheels clear my wiring modifications. Cross your fingers! I’m trying to make it to the track this weekend!

After all the troubles of making sure my car was track worthy, I got my butt back onto the track last Saturday! The car was running pretty decently. My new alignment helped out a lot, as it got rid of some understeer and ambiguity in the steering at certain limits. I still have a lot of work to do though, like more alignment adjustments, chassis modification for wheel clearance, electrical troubleshooting, and I’m really needing a new engine. It also started to rain and now I have a much better understanding of how to drive in the rain in a car like mine.

Thanks to everybody who came out and a big thanks to the people who helped! I can’t wait for the next one!