eric523

What kind of pads did you install? Anything with some more bite or just stockers?
That's a great deal on the brakes, one set of front Pagid "black" pads that I use in the boxster race car are over $200

I'd recommend using some higher temp fluid for the brakes when you change it.

Han Solo

The kit came with generic Mintex pads. Nothing special but plenty of bite. We did use the Blue ATE fluid after bleeding the old. Service records indicated this car had had the brakes bled seven times. Kinda odd

cretinx

you definitely want something with more initial bite but in a low temp - your car isn't going to be warmed up enough in the 60 some odd seconds the run will last.

Grassroots Motorsports recently did a pad test and found that there was no appreciable difference between stock and Hawk HPS in terms of distance, although the pedal had better "feel" with the HPS - anything more aggressive than an uprated street pad actually resulted in LONGER distances because it never got up to optimal operating temperatures.

Han Solo

Pulled the seats this weekend to clean the multi-connectors. Attempting to get rid of the airbag light. Those communist male torx screws really suck. Had to grind off three of them. I replaced them with 10 mm caps screws (actually 3/8" because Home Depot didn't have any metric caps screws larger than 8 mm). Those work great and are much less trouble. Found the previous owners wallet, a lot of small change and a Red Box DVD in the floor pans. Shampooed and vacuumed all the carpet while the seats were out. Took off the silly map holder under the dash. Also degreased the engine compartment.

Han Solo

During our second autocross in the Boxster we noted popping noises from the rear suspension. Usually happening when loading and unloading the suspension. After closer inspection with the car on jacks, looks like both rear control arms bushings are shot. We made the decision to purchase rear control arms, coil-overs, wheels and tires. The control arms will be OEM (GT3 arms much too $$$). We're getting D2 coil-overs (great price, includes camber plates). Also, 18" TR Motorsports wheels (8" front, 10" rear) and put BF Goodrich R1's on those. Getting all that together and ready by 5-21 Evo school. It's going to be a whole new platform! Pictures soon...

racer

What class are you preparing for?

Autocross only car?

cretinx

first day with the m030



yup, the rear rotates quite nicely.

Fastest run of the day -
http://youtu.be/JMAH8VDZ8I4

Han Solo

Yep, autocross only. We've ran it twice in CS at regional events and it's competitive. Those mentioned upgrades will push us into BSP where it's going to be tougher (those damn S2000s you know).

Han Solo

D2 coil-over shocks with camber plates installed.

cretinx

how many degrees can you get out of those?

I talked to my local shop and they said you can even widen the stock holes (which get about -0.6 degrees in the front) with a dremel to get a good bit more.

They also said you can use GT3 lower control arms and get as much camber as needed with those.

Han Solo

We haven't had the alignment yet but the camber plates should give -3 easy. The front plate is slotted with marks (like most others). The rear plate has three positions which should be something like +3, 0, -3. You can see those positions in the second photo. I've got ours set all the way inboard which should be -3. Then you've also got the factory adjustment for the rear with eccentrics to fine tune. I did have to enlarge the front access hole over the mount (which is now the plate) to get room for a 6 mm hex key. That's where a scribe and a dremel cutting tool came into play.

Han Solo

It was a bit of a struggle but we finally got all the kinks worked out. Once we installed the D2 coil overs, replaced the two rear lower control arms and mounted our new TR Motorsports wheels with Kumho r-comps - we took the Boxster to get it race corner weighted, lowered and aligned. We followed some instructions that came with the shocks (very bad translation from some other language). That setup was a complete failure as the car lost elevation at the first event and was still making some really odd sounds from what we thought was the suspension. Another trip to the shop and the source of the offending sound was revealed. Bad motor mount. The engine was pitching 4" with throttle! So we had that replaced, let our guy set the shocks up the correct way (as in, forget those communist instructions) and everything is so much better now Handles like a sports car should. Shock rebound set at mid point and no push. We're very pleased with stiffness and little body roll.

OBTW - We de-snorkeled that joker too!

sjfehr

How much weight did you shed with the removals?

Is your left-rear tire mounted backwards on the wheel? Normally, the water channels are on the inside, and nice wide sticky part on the outside.

Han Solo

Minimal weight loss. D2 shocks probably 50% lighter than stock. TRM wheels weigh 19 lbs. each compared to stock 17" Boxster wheels. Here's the cross weight info (with driver)...

total 3015
LF 731 - RF 607
LR 841 - RR 840
cross 1449 = 47.99%

We flipped the used Kumho rear tires to maximize life. PO of those said they had about 20 runs on them. The fronts were new so mounted correctly and we'll flip them later.

Han Solo

Update. About a month ago we had the coolant tank fail at a regional autocross. When we pulled it had definite stretch marks. So we had to replace that and install a rebuilt starter as the original was on it's way out.

Other than those two issues, this car has been an outstanding autocross car. My co-driver and I have been giving C5 corvettes fits! I'm very pleased with my times and generally place in the top 12 or 14 in a field of 75. The low cost coil-overs have been trouble free and stiff.

We just finished having the nasty dent taken out (by my co-driver's brother) and cosmetically it's looking pretty good. Pictures soon.