Cincy05LGT's 2005 LGT Build

Question for those who track or autox:

 

Under what circumstances do you decide that it's time to ditch the oem steering wheel for a racing wheel, and switch out the seats and seat belt for racing seats and harness? Several folks now have mentioned I should look into those safety items since I'm tracking and autox the car, but I haven't fully let go of the idea of airbags and such for street use. It isn't a full racecar by any means, and I've always modified by the mantra of function>form, and I disagree with the all or nothing idea of needing safety mods to run track days.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Cincy05LGT

From my one autox experience... A 5-point harness with your OEM seats would be a huge benefit. Ignoring the safety aspect, just not sliding around in your seat would help you "become one with the car". If you later decide to buy a new seat you can reuse the same harness. A little money now, no wasted money later.

 

Not sure about the steering wheel.

Where would the harness mount?

I would think you'd only wanna go with a race setup if it was a dedicated track car. Do you really want to strap in every time you have to get a gallon of milk? You don't wanna half ass it. The factory restraint/airbag setup is very good to begin with. Once you get rid of that you almost need a cage and Hans device, not just a harness bar. A lot of setups look safe, but will most likely cause more harm in a crash. All or nothing may be the wrong way to put it and it's not what I'm describing.

In the end I would think livability is going to be your deciding factor. If you use your car a lot for menial things, then the safety mods are gonna get old real fast. That being said who wouldn't want a baller race wheel?

I would think you'd only wanna go with a race setup if it was a dedicated track car. Do you really want to strap in every time you have to get a gallon of milk? You don't wanna half ass it. The factory restraint/airbag setup is very good to begin with. Once you get rid of that you almost need a cage and Hans device, not just a harness bar. A lot of setups look safe, but will most likely cause more harm in a crash. All or nothing may be the wrong way to put it and it's not what I'm describing.

In the end I would think livability is going to be your deciding factor. If you use your car a lot for menial things, then the safety mods are gonna get old real fast. That being said who wouldn't want a baller race wheel?

I should have specified, my daily is an 07 4Runner, so grocery runs won't likely be an issue.

I'm not opposed to racing seats and harness at this point, actually I need them since I'm sliding all over the oem leather seats. I guess my real question is whether a seat and harness negates the need for airbags in a vehicle that will see road use occasionally.

 

I don't want to do anything that compromises safety, or interferes with the way the oem restraint system is supposed to work, while also strapping myself in tighter for racing events.

I'm not opposed to racing seats and harness at this point, actually I need them since I'm sliding all over the oem leather seats. I guess my real question is whether a seat and harness negates the need for airbags in a vehicle that will see road use occasionally.

 

I don't want to do anything that compromises safety, or interferes with the way the oem restraint system is supposed to work, while also strapping myself in tighter for racing events.

 

have you twisted the seat buckle once round and pulled belt out till it clicks?

have you twisted the seat buckle once round and pulled belt out till it clicks?

Huh? More details.

I have a CG lock I use for track days. It really locks your butt in place to prevent sliding in the seat. I highly recommend it.

I have a CG lock I use for track days. It really locks your butt in place to prevent sliding in the seat. I highly recommend it.

Just looked it up. That's the PERFECT solution until I buy a seat and harness. Thanks!

Huh? More details.

 

 

Just looked it up. That's the PERFECT solution until I buy a seat and harness. Thanks!

 

It's kinda what that does but the "Fixed it" way. you take the seat belt buckle and twist it just before buckling the seat belt.

The other thing you can do is slide the seat all the way back, twist the seatbelt, buckle up, then slide forward into your usual driving position.

I'm not opposed to racing seats and harness at this point, actually I need them since I'm sliding all over the oem leather seats. I guess my real question is whether a seat and harness negates the need for airbags in a vehicle that will see road use occasionally.

 

I have the same problem, our seats are too big for my bony arse

 

Alcantara helps, it grips much better than leather. But there's still very little lateral support.

 

IMO the Bugeye WRX seats were the some of the best Subaru ever made for the US market, and JDM STi seats are *perfect* (but usually too pricey, and with the adjustment on the wrong side).

The other thing you can do is slide the seat all the way back, twist the seatbelt, buckle up, then slide forward into your usual driving position.

My usual driving position is all the way back. I'm 6'7". [emoji16]

Okay, yeah, no go then. I'm only 6'1ish so while I keep my seat practically all the way back normally, for aggressive driving I move it forward some.

Since nobody on planet earth sells LGT titanium brake shims, over the next week I'll be taking on a small project. Making brake shims from excess 1/4" Hastelloy X I have at work. Since someone will ask, I'm an Aerospace Test Engineer. Anyway, this alloy has 1/3 the thermal conductivity of Ti-6+ which most shims are made of, and it's available to me, so why not. I'll start by tracing a brake pad on paper, Scan into Autocad, create .dxf to scale, and wire EDM the outline. I figure I'll only need to make 2, 2mm shims for the inboard side of the front calipers. I'll update with pics as I go. Edited May 20, 2016 by Cincy05LGT

Raw material

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160520/202a6e690015986f251ea17fb467883a.jpg

Shim drawing complete. Dropped in an image from hawk's website and traced it, then scaled to size. The wire EDM can interpolate any .dxf file, so the hard part should be done. Slice and dice.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160520/f2f15127dd88d96dea1b21a794859e83.jpg

Edited May 20, 2016 by Cincy05LGT

Had a slight hiccup today, when my wire EDM operator told me he couldn't import a .dxf into his BOBwire CAM software. After a quick LMGTFY session, I was able to show him how to import an R12 .dxf into his software. Now I'm just waiting on open machine time, and he's more efficient at his job. Win-win.

 

Should have bespoke brake shims in a few days.

Buddy invited me to the dirt drags. He runs a '72 Chevy with 3600 stall converter. I think I can launch in 2nd on snow tires, and whip his ass to 300 feet on hard clay. Kinda sounds fun.

Sounds majorly fun. Let me know if/when it happens.

 

I'm probably going up to Edgewater this Friday to watch a coworker run his car a couple times. He drives an old station wagon that runs high-9's in the 1/4 mile.

All set for this GS MC brace installhttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160603/5ba3d339a70bb14bbb32192c7ef728ff.jpg

*Some finger yoga required

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160603/7cc362493b45880a72176dca9c6101db.jpg

 

Pros:

Under heavy braking there is a noticeable difference in pedal stiffness, maybe 10mm less pedal travel under max effort braking. I would say it's comparable to the improvement one would notice installing SS braided lines.

 

Cons:

It's hard to tell on the street, but I would imagine that on track the driver's ability to modulate braking at the threshold of grip would be slightly diminished due to a shorter pedal stroke which yields more direct results. If the car didn't have ABS this might induce lockup. Good thing I have ABS, I was able to lockup and chirp the fronts at 75mph.

 

Other notes:

The pedal has about 0.5" of initial travel without any braking happening, and I wasn't expecting this symptom to go away with the brace installed.

It's been bled several times using different methods so I'm pretty confident all the air is out. This should hopefully be resolved by adjusting the pedal free play. (Within OEM spec is between 0.5-2.0mm)

 

I think the only way I'll be happy with pedal feel is with a 1-1/16" MC upgrade.

 

Other other notes:

Still waiting for an EDM machine to free up so I can cut my backer shims. Still need to install bpv hose and killerb stuff.

Edited June 3, 2016 by Cincy05LGT

Brembos. Then you'd be happy with pedal feel I bet. Sliding calipers just don't compare to mono block.

I'm sure Brembos are great, but they definitely won't fix pedal free play.

Brake shims complete. Just need to figure out how to dodge the riveted spring clip interference on the pad. http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160623/96d5e11b560d0bf29a68b660d00ec801.jpg

Spring clips as shown:

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160623/a7a3825be870348c9953cf701e2e052b.jpg

 

I'm thinking the riveted springs only serve as anti-rattle and wear indicators. Don't need them.