Robinjo #405 Full Cage - 2006 SS/SC Build "Drago"

[ah.b.normal]

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Living in Georgia I have swerved around a life time supply of that marsupial! They have got to stop napping on the white line. Road Pizza comes in 2 flavors, raccoon and opossum, ewww.

 

[Gtstorey]

We are far enough west that you have to add in armadillos here. Although I think the serious cold spells the last two years have thinned them out some.

 

[Markm]

We are far enough west that you have to add in armadillos here. Although I think the serious cold spells the last two years have thinned them out some.

I wish the armadillo could go away. Hate having to fill holes in the horse pastures

 

[Traé]

I wish the armadillo could go away. Hate having to fill holes in the horse pastures

Sounds like all you need is a front splitter and time…

 

[Robinjo]

To be clear, the possum was already dead when I ran it over. It would have gone completely under the car clean(ish) if the scoop hadn't been there. I'm yet to actually split-a-critter with my critter-splitter.

 

[Robinjo]

Fresh Meats for the GF24. I think I got a good runout of these. Still just went with 235-40R17 Khumo v730's. Current mileage 14,203 for future tracking.
We're heading out Thursday morning for the meet up and should arrive early to mid-afternoon.

Also, swapped out my cruise control buttons hoping this was the source of the randomly working problem. It was not, so more investigation is needed.



Projects

• Make rear camber adjustable
• Tinted windscreen
• Install new radiator support
• Deal with splitter/rad support bolt
• Clean Laminova cores
• Investigate 'Single Pass' manifold
• Snout bearing
• Cruise Control still intermittent
• Rack 'dead spot', potentially rebuild.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

What happened to the radiator support that you need a new one? Just curious.

 

[Robinjo]

What happened to the radiator support that you need a new one? Just curious.

I had the broken welds on the tabs that holds the hood. I've dealt with it for a while but ordered something else from DF, so just got that as well. Might as well get all the things I wanted in one order.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

I spent some time completing the partial welds on the radiator support to make them full welds at each joint. It just didn't seem correct or strong enough for the long term not doing this, since it would also be supporting the splitter. Post what you end up with for this, curious to see what improvements you decide to incorporate.

 

[Robinjo]

My splitter doesn’t mount to the tabs, but it does use the two 1/4” bolts from the lower radiator support mount. This is the one that connects to the rivnut on the 1” square tubing. I used two splitter support mounts connected to an L bracket at the front LCA mount. I also have 3 bolts going through the front firewall, where it overlaps with the floorpan.

 

[Robinjo]

GoblinFest 2024 was a blast, those that didn't/couldn't make it missed out. No mechanical issues on our part, I think there was only one fluid leak issue the whole weekend. Hope to see everyone again (and more new faces) next year. My son already says we're going, so I guess we're back for 2025.

CX-50 (tow) distance: 766 miles round trip
Drago distance in Mountain View: 329 miles (in two days)

 

[Robinjo]

A few things happened over the 'winter' break. In Alabama, that's maybe 2 weeks of cold with intermittent warm days.

Cut a new wind screen, had it tinted on one side and PPF on the other. Hopefully this will allow cleaning without worry of scratching. So far, it's worked well and I've cleaned it a couple of time. The tint also reduces the nighttime glare from other vehicles.

Installed the new radiator support. Installing the hood with the DF DSUZ nuts is a lot harder now. Have to be careful when removing/installing the hood as the nuts like to catch the splitter. It holds much better than the fender bands I had installed. I still use these just for extra hold and that racer boy look. To be honest, I just don't want visible holes in the hood and splitter from removing them

Swapped the burned out Dominator incandescent bulbs for a set of red LED bulbs. When only parking lights are on, it glows red but is completely washed out when the headlights come on.

Dominator Headlight Running Light

Any one have one of the dominator lights apart that they can see the bulb size on the running light (not main headlight)? I can pull mine apart but was hoping someone had theirs easily available and apart that they could just pull the bulb size from. Mine are blown and need replacing ,maybe with...

dfkitcar.com

Installed a new rack this weekend and DF rack limiter kit. The old rack had a dead spot at the center area, this one is very tight. Also, the inner tie rod ends were worn out, they would just flop around. The new rack has tight inner tie rods. While doing this, I slotted the rear damper upper mount holes to the knuckle (just the top one). Camber in the rear is now at -0.5 degrees on both sides. Started with -2.5 (right) and -2.0 (left). Haven't driven at highway speeds but a quick drive down the street everything feels much tighter. Steering response has greatly improved. There is no slop in the steering response that was there even at low speeds. Still running 0 degrees toe in the front and 0.5mm toe in for the rear. I think I goofed on the last alignment and had everything at toe out but cannot find my old measurements to verify. This would explain why the tires wore out so quickly, along with the extreme rear camber. Rookie mistake but it happens. I may remove the front wheel spacers, still debating this one.

Projects

• Make rear camber adjustable
• Tinted windscreen
• Install new radiator support
• Deal with splitter/rad support bolt
• Clean Laminova cores
• Snout bearing
• Cruise Control still intermittent
• Rack 'dead spot', potentially rebuild.
• Tires (again)

 

[Ark :D]

That's interesting, re: PPF. I am planning to cut a new windscreen myself and was thinking about doing something similar.

Did you use something like this?

 

[Robinjo]

That's interesting, re: PPF. I am planning to cut a new windscreen myself and was thinking about doing something similar.

Did you use something like this?

I paid a local company to do it. I've never done tint so didn't know where to start. Cutting the screen was easy though. I might buy some and play around with it on the old screen, can't hurt it since it's trashed.

 

[Robinjo]

Forgot one item, I flipped the front dampers upside down. It's much easier to change the settings, but it wasn't hard before.

 

[comegetjoe]

Do we only do this to change settings access? Did I remember something about unsprung weight?

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

A minor change in unsprung weight can be gained for the track crowd. It's about 1/3 of the weight of the bare shock. The spring will always count for 1/2 of its weight.

The rebound adjustment knob is very accessible with the shocks flipped. Wonder if it should be 180 degrees and pointed inward to not entice the bone head who has to mess with stuff that doesn't belong to them?