2004 S for trackdays and anydays

[Bayley]

Great work!

What track were you running at, and did they require a rollbar extension?

[eric-d]

Waterford Hills in Michigan. No extension required as long as factory hoops are solid and bolted/welded to vehicle (not flip up style crash activated type)

Was wet for half of day and was a great chance to work on balance in low grip condition.

Dried out for afternoon and got a chance to try different lines and approaches to same sections.

Gave me a good Idea what i can do to help the car and how I can be better with it

[ericd]

Winter is over and time to dust off the car and get ready for more track days.

I have some plans for changes I want to make but first thing to work with is the alignment.

I got the car up on ramp blocks, and made turn plates out of abs plastic with motor oil between. A little redneck but works well. Just have to be careful with getting the tire to come down on block and center the plastic plates so there is room to slide around a bit.

I use the smart string system which has always treated me very well.

First image shows that i loosened the 3 nuts on the front shock tower and pushed the strut inboard as far as will go. then get bolts torqued down again. This needs to happen with front wheel in air an unloaded. This gives as much front negative camber as possible without cutting the lots longer or using a camber plate.



Next went on smart strings and i got the back end in the standard S alignment, which is fine on these tires as I didnt have a rear grip concern
The front is at max stock neg camber and I set the toe to effectively 0. no toe in/out. As expected the the vehicle responds much better , and I will get feedback on front end grip improvement and understeer reduction at next day on track.



oiled ABS turn plates on stand:

[Porsche9]

I like your home mechanic turn plates. While a tiny bit redneck it's still pretty damn clever.

Look forward to hearing about your track day results.

[ericd]

More than a tiny bit redneck, but would only be full redneck if I was holding a beer while making them

[ericd]

Last bit swapped before first track day this year.

Grabbed a Top Speed 2nd cat delete stainless pipe set. I usually am wary of parts from SE Asia, but these fit right and gave me no problem on install, so lets see if they hold up in running. I replaced the kit hardware with some stainless units, and these pipes sit unshielded a bit closer to the CV boot. I may do a local heat shield wrap to protect them.

As most know, using these pipes sheds a small amount of weight, and helps the sound be a bit more basso on the bottom and angry at the top. The idle dosent change much so in town it isnt annoying, and I havent had a resonance yet. At some point I may consider a muffler unit, as i could shed more weight, but this suits my needs at the moment.

replacement pipe -



vs OE 2nd cat:



In place:



All done. Not the easiest job on jackstands, but some patience and long extension for the 13mm will get it done