BBB Winter Build - KISS or...

Wait, what? You're using 100% antifreeze?!

That can't be right. Why would you ever want to do that?

Antifreeze has almost zero thermal conductivity, meaning it is very, VERY poor at cooling an engine off!

You should be running a MAXIMUM of 50% antifreeze, the rest distilled or filtered water. For a track car, you might want to go down as low as 30% antifreeze.

I'll grab a hydrometer for $7 before I make any changes. I wasn't present when the fluid went in, so I have no idea what ratio was used. I believe a 50/50 mix is good to around -35 degrees or so. I'll see where I'm at and adjust if needed.

No changes will be made until I confirm existing conditions.

Sky Render said:

Antifreeze has almost zero thermal conductivity, meaning it is very, VERY poor at cooling an engine off!

You should be running a MAXIMUM of 50% antifreeze, the rest distilled or filtered water. For a track car, you might want to go down as low as 30% antifreeze.

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That's what I was going to say about 100%. It's never recommended more then 50/50 mix.

With his cooling mods I wouldn't think it would get that high.

What thermostat are you using?

You live in North Carolina. You can run 30% antifreeze all frickin' year.

I agree. I don't take the car out below 40 degrees to protect the summer tire compound. -35 will never happen til the next ice age. I could go 100% water with Water Wetter if I chose to. Would that increase the flow from my electric water pump?

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No. Use 30% antifreeze. Water Wetter is just dish soap.

Yeh, I'm under the impression that Water Wetter is just non-foaming surfactants with some water soluble lubricants in it. I believe this falls under your "don't reinvent the wheel" comment as well. Point taken.

I still need to grab a hydrometer and see where my H2O/AF ratio stands now. This could all be speculative BS.

Fiona (big, green, and badass) in AutoX trim with my son's GTI. I like that GTI so much I've been spending my time trying to bring my other GTI parts car back to life. New turbo is happening now (old one had more play than Lindsay Lohan). A couple of side mirrors and new tires w/ alignment will make it streetable. I may just daily the bashed up 200K mile POS for the fun of it. I'll run it in a few AutoX days to see what it's like to toss the smaller car around the cones. Should be fun.

What tires did you decide on?

I haven't made the move yet, but I'm leaning toward the RE-71R in 305/30/19. Timing of the wheels and tires will depend upon cost of off season rear differential rebuild and gear change I'm planning.

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Wheels are on order. Due to a nice sale and supplier discount, I moved over to the HRE FF15 wheel in 19x11 in 55mm offset. The plan is to use a 10mm spacer with the FRPP hubs. Color is liquid silver for those of you who care.

HRE held the order since they have never seen an 11" wheel fit on an S197 without the Cortex offset coilover setup. I told the shop (Fastlane Motorsports) to order all four and have them ship one wheel. We'll do a test fit, and if everything goes as planned, ship the other three wheels. This way, if the fitment goes awry, I'll only have to pay for shipping on one wheel. Unfortunately, I would have to pay restocking on all four. I really wish I'd taken the time to create a fitment template now, but here we go.

I'm trailering to Fastlane tomorrow morning to beat the impending snow this weekend. Scheduled to start the 3.55 rear gear, new bearings all around, and check out the LSD while we're in there.

Speaking of LSD, what's the difference between an Eaton Tru-Trak and a Torsen? Shop says the Torsen is preferred for road course use and the Tru-Trak for straight line. I thought they were the same.

Do we have a forum discount for tires anywhere? If this works, tires will be very high dollar.

Boone said:

Speaking of LSD, what's the difference between an Eaton Tru-Trak and a Torsen? Shop says the Torsen is preferred for road course use and the Tru-Trak for straight line. I thought they were the same.

Do we have a forum discount for tires anywhere? If this works, tires will be very high dollar.

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Your shop doesn't know what they're talking about.

http://www.motoiq.com/MagazineArtic...art-5--Putting-the-Power-Down-with-Eaton.aspx

Bottom Line: The Eaton is a stronger unit than the T-2/T-2R and has ~90% of the bias ratio for half the cost.

Thanks for the Eaton info. Now I have to sit and wait for the snowstorm and, hopefully, a call next week to pick my ride up.

Update:

The test fit for the 19x11ET55 wheel without offset mounts on the struts/coilovers is a NO GO on the front end. About 25mm of spacer would be needed to clear the strut, and the poke will be around 25mm. A 19x10ET40 wheel will work (as most of us already know), and we'll see what spacer is needed to clear the Brembos. It should be "none" since the HRE website claims the FF15 wheels are "Brembo compatible". I'm going to see if I can get the 19x10 HRE FF15 as a swap, and I'll run RE-71R's in a 285/35/19. Saves $50 per tire, but gives up 20mm in width. I'll live with it, and run this setup in CAM and be ready for Optima. If I ever want slicks or R-comps, I'll get a third set of wheels for the 18" sticky rubber.

In other news, my Spidey-Sense telling me something was amiss in the 8.8 was correct. Pinion angle was out of spec which resulted in gear whine, uneven wear, and spinning the shaft on the inner bearing race. Planned fix is my first ever BMR part (adjustable upper rear link), new bearings all around to go with the FRPP 3.55's, and a JLT rear diff catch can (road course car).

My rear end hasn't looked so good since the women's swim team voted me best ass on the Hokie football team in the late 80's!

HRE FF15 wheel in 19x10 clears the Brembos 4P brakes by about 6mm. Same clearance from the rim to strut. No spacers needed. I haven't mounted tires yet, but I'll get them done before AutoX or track days come around.

Gear whine is gone, and I'm pleased the 3.55 gears still pull very well. I hope the stickier rubber will result in similar cornering and exit RPM compared to the 4.10s on track and in parking lots.

Winter plans call for some Carbotech 12 pads all around with new Centric Premium rotors for track use, and a rotor and pad sanding to refresh the stock GT500 pads and rotors for street and AutoX. I'll be sure to properly bed both sets.

I'm fairly confident that next winter's plans are going to involve seats so I can stay planted with the extra grip I'll be seeing. Hopefully the next several mods after that will all be driver mods. All these upgrades are taking away from my track time.

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I would recommend against doing any seat/harness mods for open track unless you're going "all in" with a rollbar, 6-points, etc.

Vince, as usual we agree. Atypically, I'm ahead of you here. The last line of my sig states "MM roll bar w/ removable harness bar and [removable] door bars, Schroth Profi II 4 pt [ASM] harness." I'll upgrade the 4 pt to a 6 pt if the seats I choose are compatible with anti-submarine straps. Purchase is about 8 months out, so no need to go to deep into options at this time.

Additional safety items on my list are a Hans device and some clothing. Basically, if it's required for the Optima series road course, I'll have it.

Sorry; can't see sigs on my phone!