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Another track day, but in the 4wd

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    Another track day, but in the 4wd

    So, my Escort is busy with some drivetrain issues right now. And, I had already paid for a track day this weekend. I took my '90 4wd Protege, 220K miles on the still stock B8, except for an LX TB and a K&N panel filter. I've got Miata daisy wheels wrapped in Dunlop SP Sport 8000, 195/55R14s. Last week I installed new Tokico SR (ZX2) struts along with Pedder sport lowering springs, sort of thought the Escort wouldn't be ready.
    Anyways, the car did surprisingly well for something that wasn't suppose to make more than 105hp. By the last session, I was able to get most of the understeering out of the car in most corners. How? More throttle, apparently you just have to have big enough balls to stay on the gas longer or harder. Helps that I don't mind an adventure in the dirt or that I have a spare BP engine in the garage if this engine finally gives up. The low rev and low final drive had me back and forth through the gears more than I remember in the Escort at the same track, last year, in stock trim. I had 3 or 4 different people come up and talk to me out of the blue about the car and how well I was peddling it around in a run group with Corvettes, a Cobra kit car, turbo wad Eclipse, WRX station wagon, MazdaSpeed 6 and a few other faster cars. The only place any of them would make up ground on me was typically in the 3/8 mile straight.

    -Jon R.

    #2
    sounds awesome! sounds like you drove it like you should: really late breaking, never dropping the throttle. I can't wait to find out what bp/gtr drivetrain will do.

    Way to rep the underpowered 4WD club!
    No car! I soldz it. Now I have a truck. I like it, but apparently it has a hard time keeping up with a slightly modified 4WD protege with half the hp. Neat.

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      #3
      Oh damn that's great. I really have to take the street car to a track day, I'll giggle myself silly...
      '90 AWD Protege, full GTR drivetrain swap, ~320 whp daily driver, RIP, and
      '90 AWD Protege, yet another GTR swap, Open class rallycar with a Toyota GT4 gearbox swap, thus crossing the line between hobby and mental illness. And a Brabus E55 K8, removing all doubt.
      http://www.wihandyman.com/forum/vbpi...?do=view&g=110
      http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2599486

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        #4
        Yeah, with a bit of driving skill and a decent suspension, it's not to hard top out corner expensive cars. If I end up doing more track events in the 4wd in the future, I'll have to do a few more upgrades: rear sway-bar, BP (at least) and maybe a rear lsd. The springs where pretty damn good, as long as I pushing it in hard enough to take a full set in the corner. The back end would hop back up on light corners, since I put really long bump stops on the back struts.

        Thanks for the thumbs up!! Jon R.

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          #5
          I remember reading Pigeon saying his 2nd gen track car has kept up and passed vipers and other exotics in cornering.

          Just out of curiousity, did your suspension groan when cornering heavy? Mine does, I know it needs a complete new set of bushings. Just trying to sort chassis flex from old/worn bushings.
          No car! I soldz it. Now I have a truck. I like it, but apparently it has a hard time keeping up with a slightly modified 4WD protege with half the hp. Neat.

          Comment


            #6
            Only one way to tell: replace the bushings. If it still makes noise and nothing else is loose, well, at least you can swap the bushings over to the next car! In my limited experience with this sort of thing, chassis don't really make all that much noise when they flex; my old GTX would bend enough so that the doors wouldn't close when you had the front end up on jackstands, but it really didn't creak all that much.
            Neither of my cars makes groaning noises in corners, fwiw.
            '90 AWD Protege, full GTR drivetrain swap, ~320 whp daily driver, RIP, and
            '90 AWD Protege, yet another GTR swap, Open class rallycar with a Toyota GT4 gearbox swap, thus crossing the line between hobby and mental illness. And a Brabus E55 K8, removing all doubt.
            http://www.wihandyman.com/forum/vbpi...?do=view&g=110
            http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2599486

            Comment


              #7
              Nope, no groaning. And I'm guessing the suspension bushings are all original. When I installed the springs, I slid poly tubing over the area where they would sit on the spring perches. I'm hoping this will keep them quieter. Here's a few shot a buddy took of the car in action.

              -Jon R.
              Attached Files

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                #8
                Oe last picture...
                Attached Files

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                  #9
                  Hey Jon. Did the zx2 struts and spings lower the car any from the 4wd stuff?? My struts are blown in the rear and still looking for a replacement.. I remember that dave put 2wd tokiko's in the 4wd he had and it lowered it about an inch. I like my ride height..

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                    #10
                    I compared the new SR struts to the old ones and found new difference in body or shaft length (at least nothing note worthy). The only thing that didn't work about the 2wd struts were the brake line mounts in the rear. I just wrapped the lines with large fuel line (split open of course to get it over the hose) zip tied to the lines. They are just hanging behind the struts, mostly touching nothing. The springs I ordered lowered the car 1-1/2", but seat to the struts and tops just like the factory ones. Which reminds me, I need to mark the old springs before I forget where they came from.

                    -Jon R.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by jrally View Post
                      I had 3 or 4 different people come up and talk to me out of the blue about the car and how well I was peddling it around in a run group with Corvettes, a Cobra kit car, turbo wad Eclipse, WRX station wagon, MazdaSpeed 6 and a few other faster cars. The only place any of them would make up ground on me was typically in the 3/8 mile straight.

                      -Jon R.
                      Very nice. I took my 240K (252K now) DX to over a dozen track days last year. Always had at least one person come up to me and either tell me they were amazed at how fast it was or ask what I had "done" to it to make it so fast. I've even had corner workers grab me at the end of the day and say how much they enjoyed watching me pace big-money cars through the turns.

                      What track were you running at, by the way?

                      Clint
                      1994 Mazda Protege DX (261Kmiles): Eibach springs, Tokico struts, Addco sway bars, massively ghetto-fabulous OBX camber bolts set to max. -ve, Energy Suspension LCA bushings, disc brake conversion, Carbotech XP8 (front) and AX6 (rear) pads, ATE Superblue, 15x7 Kazera KZ-M w/ 205/50/15 Avon Tech Ra (track), 15x6 Miata wheels w/ 195/50/15 Hankook Ventus R-S2 (street) and 14" stock wheels w/ Blizzak WS-60 (ice racing), A/C delete, BP swap, POS Pacesetter (w/ leak), 2.25" custom exhaust, cage and full SCCA ITA prep possibly in the works...

                      1995 3000GT VR-4:Tein Flex, 332mm Stoptechs, manual steering conversion, custom brake lines with cockpit-mounted prop. valve, AWS delete, DSM sidemounts, full ATR single-exit, 13g/9b mismatch w/9psi WG springs, DN o2 housings, SAFC, AEM wideband, much more, etc.

                      1987 BMW 325is:Bilsteins/H&R Springs, very solid motor mounts, 220k - stodgy daily driver

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                        #12
                        I was at Firebird Raceway (Phoenix, AZ), west track. I think in at least one picture you can see the Bondurant Race School sign in the back ground, maybe a pile of bright orange Mustangs too, also Bondurants, even though he was suppose to get rid of them when GM started suppling him cars.

                        -Jon R.

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