negatize's Garage

Added a few new things to the car: an HKS Super Mega Flow intake (the old filter was a disgrace to the car so I junked the entire cheap intake), Unorthodox Racing underdrive pulley, and AWR Racing urethane side motor mount inserts. 

I went to Gainesville Motorspeedway's monthly Road Course Test and Tune
event this past Saturday. My friend Chris (02 Celica GT) and I both got
about 15 runs in from 8am to 12pm.



I attended once before with my old setup in mid-May. I was happy with
the car then, but the B-Spec setup alleviates the problems I
experienced last time. I'm truly impressed with this suspension setup!
Grip is most definitely higher. I feel as though I have just about
reached the potential for this chass and suspension (short of going to
full race coilovers) and more agressive alignment settings. The
previous MSP setup was great in itself, but IMHO the limit was so much
lower as far as grip was concerned. The MSP setup is very well
balanced, save for some snap oversteer when one lifts off the throttle.
I used to be very scared about doing the aforementioned in high speed
turns, because it usually led to the tail end spinning around if you
weren't extremely careful.



Initially, I set the car on 4 front/5 rear (max settings) and did a few
runs. I was experiencing the same snap oversteer traits as before, so I
turned the rear down to 4. After playing with the tire pressures and
lowering the rear pressure more...perfection!!! The car is as neutral
as can be for a FWD. Unless you are totally out of your mind and early
apex a sharp corner, such as the 90 degree turns shown below, the car will go where you point it. Awesome!!!!



What's there to improve upon? Well first off, my driving skills for
one. I haven't been to a track event other than the one in May in quite
some time and it shows. As car as the car is concerned, I definitely
need some dedicated track wheels that are lighter and smaller in
diamater, some R-compounds for added traction, and better braking power.



I think I forsee some more changes coming soon. :) 

 I got my JDM B-Spec suspension installed.  It's awesome!

Here's an excerpt from a post on iMazda.com:

There were no issues with any of the brake lines. I had a slight
clunking that originated from my endlinks. I tightened them up, but
then they loosened and I started hearing this horrible clunking noise
going over bumps. Make sure they are torqued to spec!


Handling: holy fucking hell! I don't know how to describe how awesome
this setup is. Take the Mazdaspeed Protege setup and multiply that by
two and you will get a rough feel for this setup. I'm running on
relatively crappy Kumho 711's and have not been able to break loose the
tires yet! The car is very neutral and predictable. Body lean? Heh,
none at all. Body dive in braking? Nothing.


In other words: everyone BUY IT NOW!

Hello all.  This site is awesome!  I'll be adding stuff to my blog when I update my car. 

For now, I have a set of JDM Mazdaspeed B-Spec Struts and Springs on the way to my house from Japan, ready to be put on.  I'll be posting pics when they are installed!