Half way through 2016 and I've got to check the time stamps on my posts just to date where I'm at with this car. I have to say, the real reason I've dropped off the (zilvia) planet is simply the s-chassis car culture these days. You either know who you are or you don't. Not sure which is better. I find it easier to just avoid it all. I've since quit attending drift events and now just use the car on weekends or take it to the track for private days with small groups.
Either the case, this thread is a chronological map to where it is today, so I feel a bit compelled to keep it up. It's been almost two years since my last post, and in risk of "don't bump such an old thread", I have to think you get a pass on a build thread. Especially this old and still around one car - an s-chassis at that.
Scrolling back a bit, I see where I left things. So what's happened since?
Well the SR is still pushing 400whp @18psi on the same bottom end. I have literately done nothing to it but change the oil. The same 20G is still in there blowing air and I don't lie when I say it gets driven. Honestly I've had more drivetrain issues than anything (leaky pinion, worn syncros, trashed pilot bearing, etc...). So here recently I've rebuilt a factory SR transmission with new bearings, syncros and seals. The main reason I did not upgrade is simple. I've never broken a gear set, I only seem to wear already tired syncros and the bearings just get loud enough to a point I pull and swap in another. So this time I just wanted to see how a newly rebuilt one would fair. Why? No reason - just curious. Here's a couple pics of that.
I need to swap that in before this track day coming up. I'm eager to see what the pilot bearing looks like this time. I ran one of those Z33 needle bearing types and I'm suspecting that it's trashed or completely gone. The car doesn't seem to appreciate an e-brake entry with the clutch in and in gear; sometimes.... It also doesn't seem to like clutch-in reving while in gear; again, sometimes. In the past, the bronze ones I've removed are always squished and elongated, but I suppose that's better than what it seems all of the needle bearing types do (from my research). Time will soon tell. As for the moment, the car drives fine, just doesn't appreciate the quick gear change or the drivetrain coming to an abrupt halt. I don't want to take it to the track like that though.
One of my more recent modifications is actually due to a new toy I got at work; a CNC router. I had some scrap ABS laying around so I decided to re do those cooling panels and finish off the opening where a grille normally sits. Doesn't really do anything, but sure looks better...
If you'll notice in the last pic, the carbon on the hood looks a little different. Well, a while back I had the hood propped open when a gust of wind blew it off the rod. The resulting flipped it back across my windshield and cracked both tips at the back end of the hood. Very upsetting. So I set out to repair the damage and once completed had a friend wrap the hood with 3M's "dry carbon" textured wrap. This solved two problems. One, you could still kind of tell that I had repaired the hood up in the corner. It wasn't terrible, but you could tell. Also, the epoxy used in this hood was yellowing as they all do. You can't polish it out since it's UV damage to the clear epoxy, not the clear coat on top. So wrapping it, which turned out to be free, was the way it went. I know I know, everyone wants me to paint the hood, but I still like it. Here's some on the repair.
For the record, I used West Systems 207 Hardener and 104 Resin. The 207 is the trick here since it's the ultra-clear finish you're after for carbon. It's clear. I reinforced the backs with a standard carbon weave. I don't have a picture of the damage but as you can imagine, it's just a cracked and bent up corner. The weird pattern you see in the epoxy is from packing tape. It's a great way to hold epoxy in a location and it will absolutely not stick to the resin.
So as you can see, it's faint but I was actually so tired of people calling it out, I just didn't even want to see it anymore. Despite how well I felt the repair went. So it got wrapped.
