V1 Jason in Texas - ext. track - 09 SS/TC

[DCMoney]

Dc. What tires are you running? I’m a firm believer that anything over 200tw is an accident waiting to happen. I use the Toyo rzzr’s. And although I can get to slide and spin, it’s very controllable. I’m running 13psi rear and 11 front at autocross. The rear sway bar does help a good bit (Jason is not running one). In my test, I ran 48.3 with sway bar, 48.9 without and 48.4 with sway bar (with a small hiccup) in back to back to back runs. Without the rear sway bar I was “fighting” the car, with sway bar, the car is much stiffer and roll is a lot less.

when my new GoPro decided to work, I’ll post some videos here:

Houston SCCA Autocross

My best run from today.

dfkitcar.com

Bridgestone RE71R's. I experimented with tire pressures down to 14psi in the rear, and I would get a skating feeling out of the rear with that low of a pressure. Once the Bridgestone's are shot Ill probably switch to the Toyo's R888R's or something similar.

I'm running the non SS sway bar (18mm?), and agree the car has little to no body roll.

I'm running 125lb/in rears, with 400lb/in fronts.

Not sure my ride heights off the top of my head, but after going to the meet up in May, I know my front end seems lower than a lot of others.

 

[Rttoys]

Bridgestone RE71R's. I experimented with tire pressures down to 14psi in the rear, and I would get a skating feeling out of the rear with that low of a pressure. Once the Bridgestone's are shot Ill probably switch to the Toyo's R888R's or something similar.

I'm running the non SS sway bar (18mm?), and agree the car has little to no body roll.

I'm running 125lb/in rears, with 400lb/in fronts.

Not sure my ride heights off the top of my head, but after going to the meet up in May, I know my front end seems lower than a lot of others.

That’s the same sway bar I use.

I’m using the stock springs in the rear (300#?), but changed to the progressive 225/475? Fronts and also went with 1” taller QA1 shocks. I like the springs up front because they seem to do the same as the “stock” ones at autocross, but rides better on the street. I couldn’t tell you if the 1” taller shocks do anything more than just some extra ground clearance, which is what I was after, plus the car is more level now too.

 

[JBINTX]

Where did you end up with your pressures ? Are you running just a rear swaybar ? Is the Goblin working better with it disconnected ? I wish we had more practice autocross here feel like when we make a change we have to drive a different course and have no concrete results.

I started out at 20 in the rear and 15 in front. That seems to be pretty good looking at the scrub on the face - to the edge but not onto the sidewall.
This is vastly different than my Proxy R1R tires. Those ended up 12 rear and 10 front.
Having a 200+ lb passenger sometimes does affect optimal tire pressure, though.
I did notice later in the day when the temps were hotter, the tires gripped a little less. I did not take temps, but they were not too hot o the touch. Seemed just a little above ambient. We all were talking about how light the goblin is and that it is more difficult to get to a hot enough tire with the light weight.

I have not run a sway bar. With the new slicks, the handling is amazingly predictable. I run full stiff on front shocks and 5 from bottom on the rear. I feel the front pick up more load in the turns with those settings. Russell can expand more there, if he has not done enough already.

 

[Jcasson]

Well, the spare time everyone has seems to be turning into Goblin working time. The rate of posts is great!

I finished up all the water lines on my intercooler. I saw a few different plugs and solutions that others have done for the fill port. I found a clean cheap solution on Amazon. See pic below.

Steering wheel and quick release done.

Rear toe link hardware installed, not tightened.

Rear suspension installed, not tightened. Man the clearance with the inlet pipe on the driver side is TIGHT! I may try to cut the pipe and move it in another 1/4".

May fill some oil and coolant tonight. Still several small tasks to complete. Getting close to firing it back up!

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which disconnect did you use for the steering wheel? is that the DF supplied one?

 

[JBINTX]

which disconnect did you use for the steering wheel? is that the DF supplied one?

NRG

Anyone have a quick disconnect steering wheel?

As the title says. Has anyone installed a quick disconnect for there steering wheel? If so, what brand? Does one for a cobalt fit? Thanks

dfkitcar.com

 

[Jcasson]

thank you sir

 

[JBINTX]

Wonderful day in Houston for autoX. Actually we met and strategized last night at Russel's. We need all of that we can get.......

Special guests Ross from Arkansas and Dale from Kansas joined us. Someone said we are like a bunch of kit car bunny rabbits - multiplying here.

Cool day with temps barely reaching 70 in the afternoon. Tough to get the tire temps above 100 to really grip.

My youngest son Cooper and I both drove my Goblin. The good news is I beat him by six tenths of a second. But to be fair, he really is not that current or comfortable in my car compared to his Miata. He really is a better driver than me.
And then the bad news. We had some tire hop in hard braking and the steering link failed - when Cooper was driving. I kept telling him "you broke your car and now you broke mine!!!! Fortunately, it was near the end of the run and it was about as graceful as one could hope for. It is a little concerning sitting in the passenger seat and watching the tire flop around - and the only thing racing into your mind is "oh this is bad......" So, the old adage is true. If you aint breaking things, you aint trying. Or. If you are gonna play hard, then will need to pay hard. Either way, it is fixable. The failure is at a point that others have seen a similar failure. DF already has a solution in place to address it. Atta boy Lonny! The upgraded LCA bend-ups appear to have survived. So, that's good.
The front camera mount does not have as much engine noise, and it sure gives a real perspective of the speed! The course was a pretty fast layout where we reached 60+ twice.

Goblin On, Friends!!!!




The first two videos are two good runs by Coop and me. The third video shows the failure at the last turn on the course.

 

[viperbmw69]

OK. I had a frustratingly slight seep under my brake reservoir. I wrestled with the brass fittings and getting them tight AND pointed in the right direction. Even went back and used sealant there. Unfortunately, it was not those causing the leak. Lonny sent me some new o-rings thinking maybe they were the issue. After changing them out and bleeding the system (again!), Lonny sent me a pic with one of those "dumb" questions. Well the pic showed me my error. DOH!.......... Unfortunately this is one of those details not yet covered in the present video series.

The pic below shows the PROPER placement of the o-rings prior to inserting the reservoir nipples. Deep down inside. NOT on the shoulder just below the surface.......
Learn well grasshopper....

View attachment 13154

I have tried this and still leaking…… I have the early style not sure if they are different

 

[JBINTX]

I have tried this and still leaking…… I have the early style not sure if they are different

Post a pic on your build log. Sometimes the forum will see something you may have missed.

 

[Gtstorey]

Make sure the reservoir itself isn’t leaking. The cheap on I bought leaked at seem between top half and bottom half.

 

[JBINTX]

I want to take this opportunity to give a shout out to the DF crew from the Houston Research and Development gang. Gotta love a company that supports their product so well and reacts to even the smallest issues we owners have - especially when we push the limits and break things. I know that their product is better today than it was in the past from this continuous improvement.

I replaced the failed toe link today. After about an hour of getting to turn wrenches again, I checked the alignment. Amazingly it was still correct. The catastrophic failure of the link maybe let the remaining parts just pivot unharmed. Fortunately at that point on the course our speed was probably less than 30 mph. We will get a chance to be back on the track in December to run it again.

Goblin on friends!

 

[Fozda]

Is the replacement link a stronger piece?

 

[Rttoys]

Yes. It’s actually the one used on the A/T version.

 

[JBINTX]

Is the replacement link a stronger piece?

It is slightly thicker and the machining of the reliefs stop near where the bolt passes through.

 

[Fozda]

Awesome, thanks! I'll shoot them an email to see I can get a pair of those before breaking the standard ones!

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

Need to get them listed in the store, right next to the other goodies!

 

[JBINTX]

Now that is a FULL trailer!!!!!

The Houston DF crew is initiating another Goblin in autoX tomorrow. @ToxicBill is not street legal yet, but about to be race legal!!!! This kind of fun is just so dang addictive.........

Maybe if we leave them in the trailer long enough with the doors closed, some baby Goblins will happen........ :\

 

[Classy]

See y’all tomorrow!

 

[Rttoys]

Looks like the 3 of us are working the grid tomorrow. Interesting layout, so not sure how all that is going to work.

 

[JBINTX]

Warm winter day for Houston AutoX this weekend.

I will start by saying no Goblins were broken yesterday. Wooohooo!

We had @ToxicBill with us. He had never had his Goblin out of the neighborhood, but you would not have known it! First autoX is intimidating to begin with, much less still trying to figure out your car and its limits. Pretty sure he found a few limits too! Make sure you check out his post.
Unfortunately, Scott was absent - off bringing home some wild meat for his family.

We were back on a real track and it was the longest course we have ever run. A few of the faster cars were getting below 70 seconds, but not many. Some of the Vette's and Porsche's really started to distance themselves from the pack with a few short straights were you could hit more than 60mph. We were bumping rev limiters temporarily rather than upshifting to third.

Had a little red car that would have excited @Dale E . Actually had a rotary in it.

I had several consistently good runs. You might want to watch the second video. An instructor friend had never ridden in a Goblin, so he hopped in with me for a run. He said "don't hold back". Well, I gave him a nice little "spin".......

Goblin on, friends.