Private Tuning Hands v3.0

how do you guys like my datsun z rims in the rear? i got them at the junkyard for $50 a pair couple of weeks back. kuya mark swears it looks sick on the corolla. i think it is too; at least a breath of new design against the staple the supra rims. it looks like a longchamp xr4 or a te37 if you squint your eyes and be imaginative...
     anyhow, i went to charlie's justDrift event at Willow Springs International Raceway. when i read the yahoo maps, it seems that that extra miles compared to buttonwillow isn't a biggie. but when i traversed highway 58 going up to the mountains, i said to my self: "shit, what am i up too?!!" WSIR is really far! as a matter of fact, form the bay area, WSIR is just as far as going to l.a. thank God i was able to get the directions right the first time and was able to find my motel at mojave which isnt too far from WSIR. next morning i prepared and went to WSIR. at the front gates, i asked the person where is the drifting event. he gave me directions to the land-ho event! i already unloaded ALL my stuff from the car when i got suspicous that i was in the worng event when they hoisted up the pirate flag. sure enoung i was directed to the wrong event. so i again loaded ALL my stuff and finally i found charlie's event.
     when i roll up by the oval, i was surprised to see a lot of pro drifters also there. i have never been to a drift event where there where a lot of pro drifters. i think is really cool! the oval we are using is a dirt oval, but we are using the paved section of the oval. there is also a paved section that cuts across the two strights, its kinna like a figure 8 if you think of it. one of the banks is larger than the other. when i tested out the track, i had to be on 3rd gear to enter the larger bank. on the smaller bank, i had to be on 2nd gear, really top of 2nd. i really like the course, that larger bank taught me a lot how to clutch kick at high speed at 3rd gear. i remember at al's event at stockton, i couldnt figure out clutch kick at high speed. patience and good throttle control is the key. the smaller bank isnt any short of adrenaline rush too. from start to finish in the smaller bank, the tach is pegged at 7000rpm! i really had a balst in this evnet. i wouldnt mind comming back to WSIR for justdrift. ill just make sure that next time i have somebody to drive to Willow Springs with.

Private Events, headed by Al and Erik, decided to bring their events closer to the Bay Area. with a collaboration with NASA, Private Events will be launching a series of events close to home. their first inaugural event (in the Bay) will be on may 1st at the stockton fairgrounds. but before that date, al called upon friends and private event regulars, to set up, test, and give some feedback before may 1st. al called me for this test date. how can i say know to track time? anyways, i asked kuya mark to come along. mark (badboy88000) went we us for convoy to the stockton fairgrounds. once we got there, i saw the usual drifters from past private events, as well as other fellow bay area drifters. i commend lance for comming all the way from l.a. to test out the course. man, your hardcore!

there are still some thread left from my zeix512 up front so i still used that same pair. on the other hand, i busted out my aging used michelin tires at the back. the first course was a fairly big sweeper followed by a fairly tight s-turn. i enter the first corner on top (very top) of 2nd, clutch kick and follow through. on my first run, i cannot believe i completed the course! im like: "is this really happening? wtf, im almost at the finish and i haven't stalled my drift yet. omg, i finished it!" of course the succeding runs, i wanst able to do it agian, may one or two. the second course was even a faster course. you start out building speed slight turn to the left. the turbo camp can start their manji from the 1st lefthand turn while the corolla's can keep stright till they hit the 1st lefthand sweeper. (unless your gaylord, going manji out form the 1st slight left ~ buck wild!) the first couple of runs, i kept spinning out in the mid sweeper. at first i cannot figure out what i was doing wrong; initiate the drift with clutch kick. then after a while, i thought of the method i use at buttonwillow at the high speed turns: star mazda, atlantic, off-ramp: it was braking. so after i returned to the course i changed from clutch kick to breaking. build speed up to mid 3rd, breaking, downshift to 2nd at sweepers exit, follow through the s-turn. sure enough, i completed the course, yehey! but then again i couldnt follow through. consistency is still the still i lack. if i could develop consistency with my runs i will be really happy.

i am also proud of kuya mark. once in a while i rest, take pictures while kuya mark plays with my car. it was beneficial for him that they set up a smaller course with a skidpad. as the day preceeded, he was getting the feels of the car. he was completing the skidpad and his initiation of drift is much more smoother. i think he learned the most in this track event. and yes, it is him in the picture for this diary entry = )

for sometime now, yap accidentally overheated his 89 crx a few months back comming from school. this was those few days when me, him, and kuya mark had time to fix his crx. he bought the engine at attarco for a good price. i helped out doing little things here and there to speed up the engine swap. this also geve me some ideas as to how i will approach my own engine relpacement soon. there are still few bugs to be fixed in his crx, but the engine now sounds really good and is ready to do battle, hehehe right yap?

drift on saturday, autocross on sunday! man what a weekend. again, kuya mark let me co-drive his civic si at the autox. this time around, he installed a st swaybar in the rear. compared to the stock swaybar, the st unit is like an anaconda! it was a bit cloudy that day, but we were thankfull it didnt rain when both of us ran. in one of mark's run, he really felt it was his slowest, being patient with the tires and taking his time. ironically, it was his fastest time! i was really happy for him to cut that good time. (in the 45 secs.) when i ran his car, i felt the rear swaybars doing its job. the car will rotate if you brake into the corner, but at the same time the car felt planted when i am tackling the corners. the first 2 runs, i did crappy~ cutting a 49's. then i concentrated on my 3rd run and cut an ok time of a low 48. i felt that i can even cut that to a high 47's but that was my last run. after my runs, i am thinking what i was doing wrong. maybe i am not pushing mark's car that much? hmm.  man, sts class is just so intense! those guys are just so good. thats why i love running mark's car. round 3.

my dream finally came true! i got my lsd in! geesh what was i thinking not doing this in the first place? i got a kaaz 2 way thanks to gabe, all toyota oem bearings, gaskets, etc. from kuya mark, and a professional 3rd member intstall by kuya mark's friend scott who has tons of experience in rear ends 'cause of his 4x4 hobby. we gave the 3rd member to scott. he disassembled the 3rd member and installed my kaaz 2way with no problems. mark told him what i usually do with my car (drifting), so he set the backlash a little on the loose side but still within oem specs for safety. slapped the 3rd member in. did about 40 mins. of break in at a deserted industrial court. replaced with fresh new gear oil. now it drives like a gem! the lsd has virtually NO noise! no whine on accel. or decel. you can feel the chatter but cant heat it when you make slow speed tight turns. i think that new oem parts + professional install does make a difference.

per club4ag post on shinchu hayashira's question about oem lsd performance:

well its a long weird story. yes i did had oem led before. but all the while, i didnt thought i had lsd becasue a) the firewall vin said i had open diff. (dont believe what the firewall says guys) and b) i tested it by jacking the diff and spun the driveshaft ~ spun the opposite. when that rear end started making weird noise, i switched to another used , good rear end to save money. when me and my friend played around with it, we realized it grabbed! but we can break the lock with our bear hands! i speculate that the previous owner had some fun with the car by sourcing an lsd equipped axle and swapped over the car. (car is kouki but axle was zenki)

so all the while, during numerous track days at buttonwillow, drift comps here at norcal, i was using a VERY worn out lsd. and yes it did work fine, at least i was able to complete some sweepers. but when we ran the rear end we installed which is a true open diff. at al's buttonwillow event, i cannot do jack. between my very worn out lsd vs. open diff. it was like night and day. so i would speculate, imho and experience with worn out oem lsd, that a good condition or rebuilt oem lsd would work like a champ too. i still have to feel how this kazz unit works.

first round of solo championship at oakland. kuya mark bought a set of falken azenis for his '90 civic si for this year's campaign. i decided to co-drive his civic for this round. it was a fun day becasue there

were a lot of our friends who were able to make it plus its mark's birthday! what a way to celebrate his bday huh? yap in his '88 crx and and john in his '89 golf mk2 were also there to run. its good that john finally registered for membership for solo2. i hope he can make it to most solo2 events. of course john, being a do-whatever guy, adjusted his coiloever height right there at the site! if he had more time he would probably change his motor oil too! being new to autocorss, john did good lap times for a beginner. in my opinion, he just needs to dial in his suspension and his golf will turn on rails. i was working when yap ran his crx and all i could say that he is really smooth with his car. good transistions, good turn in and, good braking produced him a good lap times. kuya mark did really good lap times in his civic. he is starting to creep up with the "big boys" of STS. just a few adjustments and he will be up there, go kuya mark! he said himself that there are still improvements he can do to make for a better lap time. do i hear sway bars around the corner kuya mike.

as for me, i reminded myself that im driving a fwd car. last autox event, mark was scratching his head and said: "is my car rwd?" though it may look cool a civic is over rotating, it aint fun to see low lap times. with a good concentration and a good feel of the course, i eventually managed to get a respectable time with his car. his car is really fun to drive when you concnetrate in your driving. here are the results of round 1.

Yep, we're back at my favorite track, Buttonwillow. Kuya Mark have his day-off this Monday so he came with me in his 240sx. as always, i saw some familiar faces among the crowd as well as new. Though it was cold and overcast, we decided to open up mark's brand new ez-up canopy. man, those are 10x faster setting up than regular one's. his canopy will prove very helpful in the future events. this is the second time i will try to drift a true open diff. all i could say is that its so hard to maintain a drift with an open differential. geesh, i am even just driving grip one time and as i negotiate the off ramp corner, i suddenly felt my engine rev up to redline hitting the limiter. all because one of my tire is spinning uselessly! now i truly appreciate my old rear end (with worn out lsd). i just adjusted my driving to make most out of this event.

first off, no clutch kicking. what's the sense of doing a clutch kick if one of the tires will just spin? so what i did is just a lot of braking drift in order to rotate the car. higher speed is one factor too. i guess this event is the fastest i have ever been coming into a corner. i just used sheer speed and inertia to pull me through the corner. throttle application to continue, correct, what have you, on a drift is useless (just spinning one tire). as a result, most of my tire wear are on the outer edges. i will definitely wait for an lsd before attending any future events. props to juan aka speedaddict for winning the drift association award in the recent drift competitions! i saw a lot people improving better at their skills at the track.

kuya mark had some good track time also courtesy of my car. he told me he liked my car felt: still good power from the engine, great handling, and fade-proof brakes. he did some drift and grip action while i was taking pics of him with my car. he said he didnt improve much on drifting. i say just wait for the proper equipment (lsd) and he would be surprised how different it feels. i totally agree that not having lsd is a hindrance in doing better in drifting. lets see how will it go and hopefully in the next event, i will have my lsd: the final piece on the puzzle.