Bad Bish back to try and reach the 8's.
Oct 8, 2010, 02:55 PM
#1
Bad Bish back to try and reach the 8's.
It's been a tough time trying to get a real street EVO into the 8's. Real quick reminder, late 2008 the car ran 9.04 at 159.64 mph. It ran multiple 9.0 passes. I was running a hard blocked 2 liter back then as the blocks at that power level were cracking occasionally. I got tired of running the hard block and wanted to try the 4g64 block. I built a 2.1 liter engine. The power, off boost response and engine overall I was very-very happy with. I also went through a TON of cam and intake manifold testing. My goal was and still is to reach the 8's with this car. In reaching this goal though I have refused to give up any low/mid range power and have attempted to not build a drag car with just a big peak power number.
I have accomplished that part of the goal. The car is a pleasure to drive and at the DSM/EVO Shootout this year also proved to do very well on an autocross course, even on a drag type alignment and MT Drag radials. At no time during the autocross was I wishing that I had more power, so it's not a laggy combination of parts that you'd generally find on a car capable of running 9.0's.
Flash back a bit. 2009 was filled with stupid problems. The car ran 9.1's at a few different tracks and ran 9.1 at 158 mph back to back 3 passes at the shootout, in 95+ degree heat with HIGH humidity. The 8's eluded us. This year we have made minimal attempts at the 8's. The car made it's highest power this year with it's fattest power curve. We ran the car at the Spring race, my idea was to run on DOT tires, we ran some 9.3's, the car would not shift at WOT. We brought the car back, pulled the trans and it was perfect inside. We sent the Tilton clutch back to Tilton to have rebuild. For whatever reason they sent it back with a note saying it had .008 left on it. Why in the hell they didn't rebuild it is beyond me. So we went back and tried once more. My poor attitude that day left Kevin only 2-3 shots in the car and once again it wouldn't shift. I decided I had enough other things going on and the car would just be driven. I put some actual fun miles on the car this year after that and was really enjoying it. This brought us to this years shootout where I entered the car in the Max Effort class, ran the autocross and I drag raced it, MYSELF! haha I actually FINALLY ran my first ever 10 second pass this year in an AWD 5 speed car, I ran a 10.5 and 10.4 on low boost (30 psi) at 147 mph, yes I know I can't drive. I was happy to finally have that 10 second curse off my back though!
I was getting ready to make my 4th and final drag pass at the shootout when Dean, Kevin's dad, noticed I had a large puddle of oil under the car. I parked the car. The following Monday I asked Dan to bring the car in and see if he could figure out where the leak was coming from. He told me, "David, stop ****ing around and put the car in the 8's. Get everything ready and when you get it I will rebuild the entire car." Surprised and happy I started getting things together.
The easiest thing for me to do at that point would be just to back up and build what I used in 2008 and try it again. The car was dead consistent then and a really good pass would result in 8's, or should.
Being the type of guy who is never happy though I couldn't do that. First I did want to go back to a 4g63 block and a 2 liter but I didn't want it hard blocked. I knew I needed to try something different. I had custom pistons and rods made and decided to build another 4g63, 2 liter but put long rods in it. The idea behind this was the benefits of the better rod ratio but the primary reason was to move the side thrust area of the piston up higher in the bore and lesson it. The blocks typically crack where the piston is loaded the hardest against the bore. We did a new short block, wet this time and ported up a fresh Stage 3 head. The compression is 10:1 in it. I actually built two of these and one is in Shawna's car from STM right now and doing well. I'm still using our BF272 cam as it's proven to have the WIDEST power band of any cam I've tested. I've found more power down low, more power up top but nothing has matched the overall power band.
The engine went in the car today, Dan's amazing, out with the old, disassembled the old one, transferred the parts and got the new one back down in the car and buttoned up. Thanks DAN! Here's a shot of the engine in the car:
If and when we finally get an 8 second pass out of the car I am DONE drag racing it, or at least done drag racing it and trying to go 8's. I only want one or two 8 second passes from the car, just to say we did it. Then the car is going on to be used for autocrossing and just enjoying. The engine combination/turbo combination has to work for both and does so. The suspension is of course not ideal for autocross but when building a car that will "do it all" it's impossible to build it to "do it all perfectly". You have to give something up, somewhere.
I may have jumped the gun on my suspension set up but I changed it and now hope it works to get the car into the 8's and improves how it handles.
I put a fresh set of Apexi N1's on the car. In the process of doing so I tried to get 8k and 10k springs, which Apexi was out of. I ended up using Swift springs on the suspension so I could get that spring rate. This is a little hard for drag racing but we'll see how it works. The Swift springs are a little bit lighter than the Apexi springs, so it's a double bonus if they work out.
I also took my rear diff out of the car. After doing some reading I wanted to have it rebuilt so the clutches would bite harder and give the car more lock up in the rear. This was to be done by John Shepherd but I forgot to give him my diff when we met up for something else, so I did it myself. How this will work out is yet to be seen but it seems to be very good so far.
When I was under the back of the car I decided it was time to eliminate the mustache bar, I was running our bar. The stock bar weighs in at 15.9 pounds, our bar which was on the car weighs in at 3.2 pounds. I wanted to make something new that I could access and remove the rear diff easier. I built a new brace that will be tested and then possible sold, this particular unit is made mostly of 3/8" stainless rod as it's what I had, the new piece weighs in at about 2 pounds. Also while I was in the rear I changed out the rear sway bar. The stock bar weighs in at 10.7 pounds. I was running a Progress bar on the back of the car that weighed in at 13.6 pounds. I installed a new Hotchkis bar that weighs only 6.7 pounds and is 3 way adjustable.
Here's a picture of the rear diff brace and the Hotchkis bar:
Today while Dan was pulling the engine out I removed the stock front sway bar and installed the new Tanabe bar. The stock bar weighs in at 10.4 pounds, the new bar weighs in at 7.6 pounds.
I'm trying to keep the car as light as possible without ruining it. There hasn't been anything cut off the car, the airbags are in it, door beams are in it. Full stock interior, all seat belts etc.
Something else I did while the car was down. The RS as some of you know, comes without a radio or speakers in it. I've had a double DIN nav unit and such in the car in the past. Last year I put a stock EVO radio in it and it had 6 speakers in it. I decided after seeing a street rod friend of mine do it, that I didn't want a radio in the car. Instead i wanted to be able to play music from my iphone. I removed the factory Mitsubishi radio, put the stock RS delete plate back in. Took my two front tweeters that were in the apillars out and put the stock RS apillar covers back in, they do not have speaker grilles. I then wired in a Pyle amp that has a receiver plug for any input such as the iphone, MP3 etc. I hid the small port for this in the back of the small storage compartment below the heater controls. I LOVE IT! The sound is better, by far, than any other radio I've ever had in any car. I'm shocked actually. The entire set up cost me less than a hundred dollars and now the interior looks 100% RS stock.
Getting ready for next year and the autocross goals I thought it was also time for some proper wheels. This is about the 10th set of wheels I've tried out on the car. I never like Volk CE28N's in the past but it must have been the offsets I was seeing, cause now I have a real hard on for them. I picked up these 17x8.5's for the car:
On top of that I also bought a set of 18x9 +35's in Formula Silver new in the box. Those will go on next year with some NT01's.
So right now we are waiting for the RTV to set up on the oil pan. I'm planning to come in on Sunday and fill the car with oil and water and fire it up. Put a few street miles on it and then Monday hit the dyno with it. The engine combination should be nearly identical to the 2.1 liter tune, I expect very little change. The bore size now is the only real difference and it's a small difference.
Tuesday we plan to run the car and I may just put in a little prayer that we finally get that 8 second pass with it.
We will be running the slicks again, 17" as I still have the stock Brembo's on the car and refuse to go to small brakes.
I have accomplished that part of the goal. The car is a pleasure to drive and at the DSM/EVO Shootout this year also proved to do very well on an autocross course, even on a drag type alignment and MT Drag radials. At no time during the autocross was I wishing that I had more power, so it's not a laggy combination of parts that you'd generally find on a car capable of running 9.0's.
Flash back a bit. 2009 was filled with stupid problems. The car ran 9.1's at a few different tracks and ran 9.1 at 158 mph back to back 3 passes at the shootout, in 95+ degree heat with HIGH humidity. The 8's eluded us. This year we have made minimal attempts at the 8's. The car made it's highest power this year with it's fattest power curve. We ran the car at the Spring race, my idea was to run on DOT tires, we ran some 9.3's, the car would not shift at WOT. We brought the car back, pulled the trans and it was perfect inside. We sent the Tilton clutch back to Tilton to have rebuild. For whatever reason they sent it back with a note saying it had .008 left on it. Why in the hell they didn't rebuild it is beyond me. So we went back and tried once more. My poor attitude that day left Kevin only 2-3 shots in the car and once again it wouldn't shift. I decided I had enough other things going on and the car would just be driven. I put some actual fun miles on the car this year after that and was really enjoying it. This brought us to this years shootout where I entered the car in the Max Effort class, ran the autocross and I drag raced it, MYSELF! haha I actually FINALLY ran my first ever 10 second pass this year in an AWD 5 speed car, I ran a 10.5 and 10.4 on low boost (30 psi) at 147 mph, yes I know I can't drive. I was happy to finally have that 10 second curse off my back though!
I was getting ready to make my 4th and final drag pass at the shootout when Dean, Kevin's dad, noticed I had a large puddle of oil under the car. I parked the car. The following Monday I asked Dan to bring the car in and see if he could figure out where the leak was coming from. He told me, "David, stop ****ing around and put the car in the 8's. Get everything ready and when you get it I will rebuild the entire car." Surprised and happy I started getting things together.
The easiest thing for me to do at that point would be just to back up and build what I used in 2008 and try it again. The car was dead consistent then and a really good pass would result in 8's, or should.
Being the type of guy who is never happy though I couldn't do that. First I did want to go back to a 4g63 block and a 2 liter but I didn't want it hard blocked. I knew I needed to try something different. I had custom pistons and rods made and decided to build another 4g63, 2 liter but put long rods in it. The idea behind this was the benefits of the better rod ratio but the primary reason was to move the side thrust area of the piston up higher in the bore and lesson it. The blocks typically crack where the piston is loaded the hardest against the bore. We did a new short block, wet this time and ported up a fresh Stage 3 head. The compression is 10:1 in it. I actually built two of these and one is in Shawna's car from STM right now and doing well. I'm still using our BF272 cam as it's proven to have the WIDEST power band of any cam I've tested. I've found more power down low, more power up top but nothing has matched the overall power band.
The engine went in the car today, Dan's amazing, out with the old, disassembled the old one, transferred the parts and got the new one back down in the car and buttoned up. Thanks DAN! Here's a shot of the engine in the car:
If and when we finally get an 8 second pass out of the car I am DONE drag racing it, or at least done drag racing it and trying to go 8's. I only want one or two 8 second passes from the car, just to say we did it. Then the car is going on to be used for autocrossing and just enjoying. The engine combination/turbo combination has to work for both and does so. The suspension is of course not ideal for autocross but when building a car that will "do it all" it's impossible to build it to "do it all perfectly". You have to give something up, somewhere.
I may have jumped the gun on my suspension set up but I changed it and now hope it works to get the car into the 8's and improves how it handles.
I put a fresh set of Apexi N1's on the car. In the process of doing so I tried to get 8k and 10k springs, which Apexi was out of. I ended up using Swift springs on the suspension so I could get that spring rate. This is a little hard for drag racing but we'll see how it works. The Swift springs are a little bit lighter than the Apexi springs, so it's a double bonus if they work out.
I also took my rear diff out of the car. After doing some reading I wanted to have it rebuilt so the clutches would bite harder and give the car more lock up in the rear. This was to be done by John Shepherd but I forgot to give him my diff when we met up for something else, so I did it myself. How this will work out is yet to be seen but it seems to be very good so far.
When I was under the back of the car I decided it was time to eliminate the mustache bar, I was running our bar. The stock bar weighs in at 15.9 pounds, our bar which was on the car weighs in at 3.2 pounds. I wanted to make something new that I could access and remove the rear diff easier. I built a new brace that will be tested and then possible sold, this particular unit is made mostly of 3/8" stainless rod as it's what I had, the new piece weighs in at about 2 pounds. Also while I was in the rear I changed out the rear sway bar. The stock bar weighs in at 10.7 pounds. I was running a Progress bar on the back of the car that weighed in at 13.6 pounds. I installed a new Hotchkis bar that weighs only 6.7 pounds and is 3 way adjustable.
Here's a picture of the rear diff brace and the Hotchkis bar:
Today while Dan was pulling the engine out I removed the stock front sway bar and installed the new Tanabe bar. The stock bar weighs in at 10.4 pounds, the new bar weighs in at 7.6 pounds.
I'm trying to keep the car as light as possible without ruining it. There hasn't been anything cut off the car, the airbags are in it, door beams are in it. Full stock interior, all seat belts etc.
Something else I did while the car was down. The RS as some of you know, comes without a radio or speakers in it. I've had a double DIN nav unit and such in the car in the past. Last year I put a stock EVO radio in it and it had 6 speakers in it. I decided after seeing a street rod friend of mine do it, that I didn't want a radio in the car. Instead i wanted to be able to play music from my iphone. I removed the factory Mitsubishi radio, put the stock RS delete plate back in. Took my two front tweeters that were in the apillars out and put the stock RS apillar covers back in, they do not have speaker grilles. I then wired in a Pyle amp that has a receiver plug for any input such as the iphone, MP3 etc. I hid the small port for this in the back of the small storage compartment below the heater controls. I LOVE IT! The sound is better, by far, than any other radio I've ever had in any car. I'm shocked actually. The entire set up cost me less than a hundred dollars and now the interior looks 100% RS stock.
Getting ready for next year and the autocross goals I thought it was also time for some proper wheels. This is about the 10th set of wheels I've tried out on the car. I never like Volk CE28N's in the past but it must have been the offsets I was seeing, cause now I have a real hard on for them. I picked up these 17x8.5's for the car:
On top of that I also bought a set of 18x9 +35's in Formula Silver new in the box. Those will go on next year with some NT01's.
So right now we are waiting for the RTV to set up on the oil pan. I'm planning to come in on Sunday and fill the car with oil and water and fire it up. Put a few street miles on it and then Monday hit the dyno with it. The engine combination should be nearly identical to the 2.1 liter tune, I expect very little change. The bore size now is the only real difference and it's a small difference.
Tuesday we plan to run the car and I may just put in a little prayer that we finally get that 8 second pass with it.
We will be running the slicks again, 17" as I still have the stock Brembo's on the car and refuse to go to small brakes.
Oct 8, 2010, 02:58 PM
#2
BTW, I attempted to scale the car last week after the suspension changes. My left rear scale has been floating for awhile and was completely out of whack last week. We had to send it back to Longacre. So I hope to have it back Monday so I can finish the set up of the car and find out just how much it weighs.
At the cars lightest weight ever with an empty tank of fuel it sat at 2820 pounds. Kevin weighs in at about 180 pounds typically bringing the race weight to about 2970. The car then had the Robi spec super lightweight hood and trunk lid on it. The parts are meant for racing only and flex a lot. I removed them a year or so ago and the car uses all 100% stock body panels now.
I'm guessing the car is a bit heavier now than it ever has been but am anxious to find out.
At the cars lightest weight ever with an empty tank of fuel it sat at 2820 pounds. Kevin weighs in at about 180 pounds typically bringing the race weight to about 2970. The car then had the Robi spec super lightweight hood and trunk lid on it. The parts are meant for racing only and flex a lot. I removed them a year or so ago and the car uses all 100% stock body panels now.
I'm guessing the car is a bit heavier now than it ever has been but am anxious to find out.
Oct 8, 2010, 03:31 PM
#3
Everything looks good Dave. I like that mustache bar and I'd like to get us one to try/test also. We just got our shop car running with a BR FS635 turbo kit, BR BFIC , BR double pumper etc. I'm having too much fun yesterday/ today and goin to the track soon! l Hope to see you guys hit your 8 sec goal with the Bad Bish....
Oct 8, 2010, 04:40 PM
#5
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This car has been the inspiration for my own WW 8 build, good luck with everything David. Hopefully some of its good mojo can make it to my car when you guys tune it in 2 weeks 
Oct 8, 2010, 04:47 PM
#6
I like the idea of you pursuing auto-X. Maybe you can get a suspension company to build something super light like the Apexi but with quality internals that can be revalved in the USA.
Why have the heater controls in the car with no heater though?
CE28s are so bad ***. I don't care about the looks, just how damn light they are.
Why have the heater controls in the car with no heater though?
CE28s are so bad ***. I don't care about the looks, just how damn light they are.
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Oct 8, 2010, 05:44 PM
#10
I’m sure you’ll get your 8 sec pass Dave. Your Evo is one of the sickest!
I want to check out your radio setup next time I see you. Sounds like what I would like to do with mine. What model amp did you get from them?
I want to check out your radio setup next time I see you. Sounds like what I would like to do with mine. What model amp did you get from them?
Last edited by Bruzewski; Oct 8, 2010 at 05:48 PM.
Oct 8, 2010, 05:53 PM
#12
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Dave I love you lol no homo... Best of luck on tuesday I really hope you nail that 8 second pass and one more after... Damn now I have to add more parts to my build...
