Right, the top part of the Ohlins is much more compact than the Apexis.

 

Installed ARP studs and new rotors on the front of the car today.

I went to longer / stronger studs because I am going to be running thicker spacers on the front.

A fellow track friend gave me a tip for installing studs without having to either hammer them off / gun them on or taking the whole hub off to use a press.

I ended up using a ball joint remover. It worked pretty well.

Taking stock studs off:



This was the slightly hairy part as the stock studs did not slowly press out, but all of a sudden would pop out with a huge BANG which scared the crap out of me the first time. After that I wrapped the tool with a thick rag.

Pressing the ARP studs in:



First one was a pita, plus I was a little gun shy with the tool because of what I mentioned above. After the first one, I decided to put some oil on the knurls of all the others and they went in much easier!

All the ARP studs in:



They are ridiculously long... :-/

With 12mm spacer:



With my winter wheels on (no spacers):



I think the long *** gold studs look a little gaudy but eh, whatever...

Now I have stronger studs and the ability to run larger than 5mm spacers.

 

Nice man! I've been trying to figure how to install these without using an impact. Where did you get the tool from?

 

$25 on Amazon

 

Thanks. Just ordered one.

 

Picked up a polyurethane lip finally. Been wanting a ralliart style lip forever but knew I would destroy it on my driveway. The poly's ability to flex sold me.

It's a Bayson R lip. It's cheap, it cost $115 shipped.

Easy to install, fitment is fine for the cost. Wish it had two more mounting points in the middle but it works. Better yet, it survived 125 mph top speeds at the track this weekend.

 

First track day of 2016 and first track day since last August where I kept having fuel starvation...

Bunch of changes to the car this time.



Track day
3/19/16
Thunderhill Raceway
Willows, CA

Current modifications for the event:

Changes from last time, marked in bold.

2014 Evo GSR with SSSL package

Power:
Resonated test pipe
Magnaflow catback with MAP 3" mod
AEM intake
Depo upper IC pipe
GM 3 port boost solenoid
ID1000cc injectors
AGP FMIC
Radium surge tank setup
Walbro 450 E85 pump in surge tank
OEM pump in OEM tank
E75 fuel (E50-E60 last time)

Handling:
Ohlins coilovers with 10k/10k spring rates
Whiteline rear swaybar, set at medium
Nitto NT01 275/35/18 tires
Enkei NT03+M 18x10.5 +30 wheels
+12mm front hub/wheel centric spacers
Whiteline KTA135 Rear LCA's
-3.2 (from -3.0 before) front camber, -2.1 (from -2.0 before) rear camber, 0 toe

Brakes:
Raybestos ST47 front pads
Raybestos ST43 rear pads
Centric Premium front rotors
Torque RT700 brake fluid

Overall:
Holy crap the car is capable now! Holy crap the brakes are loud now! Oh my gawd, I can finally go full throttle in left turns now!

The radium surge setup worked flawlessly. It was such a joy to not have to worry about fuel starvation anymore. I ran it under half a tank a couple sessions with no issues whatsoever.

Car is so responsive and easy to manage now with the new suspension and wheel/tire setup. It handles wonderfully, super communicative, quick steering inputs to bring the tail back in line don't upset the car more like it used to. It's a dream to drive now. I can't wait until I get fully used to the new setup, it's FAST.

This brake pad combo is killer. I didn't worry about my brakes whatsoever all day long, however they are LOUD AS HELL. I drove to the track with the pads in like I did with my other setup but I don't think I will again. By the time I got home after the event I wanted to kill myself and I'm sure every body around me in traffic did too. Haha.

I'm keeping the car as is for now and just going to drive it and pick away at the lap times. This is seriously the best setup car I've owned so far.

Crazy traffic on the track. I literally never got a clean lap in any session. I still ran faster then I did before which means once I finally get some clean laps the car should be putting down some great times. I'm moving back to the Open/Advanced group for the next event so hopefully then.

Enjoy the video. Did I mention the brakes are loud as hell?

 

badass. it's been a while for me too since a proper track day. just had a 93 octane shake down in january and it sucked. ill stick to ethanol.
good to see your fuel issues are solved. im jealous of your wheel setup. and GD those st47s just yell.

good to know the lip fits well. where is it $115 shipped?
i got some canards and a splitter i'm gonna make work. might want to throw this lip on too for the hell of it.

 

ebay

 

Excited for the future you are


Very nice. Yeah, the Ohlins with 10/10 made a huge difference for me last year after tracking two years on stock suspension. Are you getting that -3.2 camber out of the box or with camber plates?

Several people have told me to try the NT01s, but I suspect 275/35-18 are going to be too wide on my 18x9.5 +22 wheels. So I think I need to find another tire.

 

Oops! Fixed!

It's with the bottom camber bolt in max positive (for tire to strut clearance) and the top camber plates maxed negative in their factory bolt configuration. If you moved the inward allen head bolts outward one position you could get more.

Yea 275 in the NT01's will be too wide on 18x9.5. The NT01's run wide and their sidewalls aren't very stiff so you will loose steering response and they will feel a little squishy if you put them on 9.5's. To be honest I'm not totally stoked on the NT01's yet but they where brand new and probably get better as they wear. I might try out a set of R888's next because they come in more sizes and the sidewalls are stiffer.

The NT01's are loud, as most R's will be, you can hear them in the video as well.

 

once the nt01s get to the no tread or the faint appearance of tread, they are great, before that they feel squirmy. i didnt like them on day 1 but it doesnt make sense to shave them unless you are in need to set a lap time on the first day out. i run them on 9.5" wide wheels which doesnt help either but your should be a bit stiffer on 10.5". i think they have more grip than r888s but i never ran those on the evo.

also finding happy tire pressure seems to be tricky on them. 35-38 hot seems to be the window but it's kind of hard to get them to their stickiest temps. your 10.5" wheels might afford you a few less psi for more heat to get generated. best to 3 point test with a pyrometer once you get consistent on them to fine tune tire pressure and any changes to camber.

 

I have the same Bayson R poly lip. awesome piece, awesome price, and awesome fitment. Also does the ST47/43 combo work well since the X is such a heavy car? Ive never used ST47's, but I use ST43's on the front of my IX.

 

Yea the brakes are great now. Didn't worry about them all day long and I was over using them because of having to slow for traffic a bunch. The ST47's are more aggressive than the ST43. I had ST43's in front before.

 

Yes I found 37 or so was the sweet spot on my setup. Small window though