cneigho

Is anyone else waiting out the cold winter/spring reading Rennlist trying to get a fix? My longing for a motorsport binge took me on a journey I wanted to share, with great people, service and performance. I acquired a .2 RS last year in the middle of Covid because why not. I’m a track rat mostly with some A to A Pacific Northwest backroad weekend drives. It’s my 6th P machine and my 3rd rear engine car. Learning to drive the RS well was always the goal - from the beginning.




It all started when I started talking with Jamie at Dundon and Martin at AR Motorsports. I failed sound with my soul bypass & GMG center delete configuration (as the car came) and was looking for a sustainable solution. I have to say I’m extremely happy with the Dundon street header system. It added noticeable mid range with a great bark. Shifts have a sweet induction sound and the tone is awesome with every limited if any drone at 22-2300 rpm. It’s still street legal with 200 HJS cats and makes more power than OEM. I can think of no downsides other than paying for it. It's apparent the guys at Dundon did their homework with this system. Highly recommend and very happy with it.




While swapping the exhaust, I had elected to get an alignment and corner balancing so naturally I started asking about the suspension set up because, well, race car. The car is a non WP so it retains a lot of standard OEM rubber. I was looking for and I quote “a more confidence inspiring” feel. I know, I should save my money and spend it on an instructor and seat time. Don’t get me wrong, the RS is a work of art and I’m an idiot for meddling with a Monet but I wanted a more raw motorsport experience. I loved the hydraulic steering in the 997 and missed a bit of the jitter in the wheel and feeling of what the car was thinking under cornering and braking. To me, the car felt excited and slightly “gitty” under certain weight transfer situations. After a few counseling sessions, I landed on replacing most of the rubber with E-motion’s adjustable sway bar drop links, tension arms, tie rod ends, rear control arms, front inner control arms and rear inner control arms.



It was clear the spring rates were improved over the .1 but after talking with Jamie and Martin was cautiously optimistic life could be better so I went with MCS springs and Tarret camber plates. Soon after I was reading and watching videos about JRZ, KW and MCS coil overs and how their tech can improve a street experience while offering superior customization for track. I ended up going with the MCS system because I wanted to retain factory lift functionality and made sure to purchase the PASM delete feature which keeps the nannies happy. We ended up dialing out the front camber quite a bit while being more conservative in the rear. Sways were set to soft in the rear, middle in the front, with a subtablely lowered ride height b and rebound/compression slightly firmer in the front vs rear.





The result? Smiles. Mission accomplished in day to day driving. The car is much more direct and has much more feedback. Its compliant over bumps and “smooths them out”. The jolted driving we all feel over small bumps and unsettled surfaces is much more enjoyable as strange as that sounds. This set-up keeps the rubber on the road when putting power down as well. While track time has been limited, I’m confident the eagerness to turn in and planted feel will translate well. Was it worth the money? Does it improve lap times? I’ll start caring about that when I sign with F1, until then, its about smiles for me.

It gets worse.

I was always amazed by the PCCBs with the cup 2s. Very consistent performance, no dust, light weight and initial bite are all very attractive. I had a few other cars where I used Giorodisc with more aggressive pads and very pleased with the results. Running costs are a concern with PCCBs and many better men have written ad naseum on the topic so I will say I was looking for better modulation with a more aggressive pad from Girodisc. With stainless steel lines and higher temp fluid I hope this combination works well. I have yet to try any significant stops but back road driving has been great and I missed that brake dust!




having the bright silver OEM wheels always was a stark contrast on a black car. My buddy was always pushing me to go with the BBS Aurum gold mag wheels. Awesome choice no doubt but I ended up on a set of FIR in platinum from competition motorsports. Brian, the owner, was great to work with there and hooked me up with one, if not the last set in the country until production ramps up again this fall. He was great to deal with and competitive on price. Subjective to ones own preference, I think they look awesome, are slightly less contrast than the previous silver wheels and add some nice weight savings as well.




I also went with a GMG cage and six points from Schroth with some inserts from P1Designs. I have to say the seat inserts are awesome. Easy to install, slightly more padding and quality to OEM with more visual flare. During the cold weather, I also managed to kill my battery which was a perfect excuse to get an Antigravity. The emergency start feature is going to come in handy - I'm sure of it. For anyone entertaining the Salter Aero wing, Do it! It opens open the rear visibility. Sure, it may only increase downforce by 40 lbs or something irrelevant but it looks awesome. Getting the wing to medium and removing the underside aero bits from the front helps balance the car according to Martin.





This wasn’t meant to be empirical or whored out paid promotion marketing but just my experience working with some great folks who love what they do. Hoping others may get some ideas on what to do or not to. Winter and covid became a little more bearable knowing that track season was around the corner with this project. Would I do it again? yes - smiles commencing.

inverterman

All very good choices and nicely done.

M3the01

Good post, thanks for sharing the journey.

wmond

What are those Dundon canisters mounted on the cage for?

evilfij

Here I thought we were going to talk about snow tires again.

mlhj83

OEM joints on the RS are solid spherical bearings already, they aren't rubber bushings. WP suspension is essentially the same albeit with CF anti-roll bars and droplinks. Having exposed spherical bearings will only reduce longevity due to lack of dirt seals.

cneigho

The canisters are remote reservoirs for the coil overs.

The cats are actually from ACAT and are better than HJS. I guess HJS cats can have cold start CEL issues on these cars. aCAT are made in the USA, better mixing and better conversion.

True, dirt can cause issues so it’s a good thing spherical bearings can be serviced. I’ve heard both about WP vs. Non WP suspension. I’ll grab my old parts and look.