Celica GT setup for G-stock SCCA solo 2 class

[Bill Loring]

I've historically run about 1.6 rear. I'm thinking that with the way the car rotates with the rear sway bar, I'm going to bump that up to 1.8 or so. I was getting quite a bit of pickup on the insides of the rear tires at Lincoln.

** edited for lousy grammar.

[mrfunny107]

Hey Bill, what are your thoughts on the new Dunlap ZII?? And why did Hankook change the treadwear rating from 140-200????

[Bill Loring]

I'm pretty sure Joe and I will be running the ZII on his Miata for One Lap this year. I've not driven it yet, but the word on it is pretty good. Our Dunlops from last year held up great. There's plenty of tread to run them a second time, if we wanted to. This is getting to be a crowded field, with a lot of really good tires. The new G-Force Rival is looking really strong as well. As an IT nerd, I don't get to do the test drives that our sales guys get to do. Unfortunately.

I did just see an email come through about the Hankook today. As I recall: HK changed the number, but the tire did not change at all. After additional testing, they learned that the tire was holding up better than they had anticipated. It appears that our customer surveys and in-house testing have confirmed that. HK says that you can mix 140 and 200 tires at will, as there is no functional difference between them. Compound and construction is identical, just the number on the sidewall changes.

[mrfunny107]

Yeah I am on the fence going with the Hankooks or spent the extra $80 on the dunlops.

[VRUM VR6]

The shock install went well, thanks for the advice guys. I just don't like how high and loose the adjuster knobs are. We did glue them but I'm not convinced they'll stay in place.

The Hankook Ventus R-S3 was my favorite tire from 2009 on, but I don't think you can go wrong with any of those picks.

[Bitter]

I'm interested to know how the Z2 does on the street, I'd like to run them on the Celica. I know a few others who ran the original Z's on the street and they liked them. I'm dropped about 2 inches, should I 205/50-16 stock size or 225/45-16 on stock wheels?

[VRUM VR6]

I daily drove lots with the Dunlop Z1 and they were great. The only thing I didn't like about them was that they were louder than most other tires. However, that didn't bother me as much in the Celica as it did in the Audi.

[VRUM VR6]

Does anyone know how long the factory wheel studs are? ...I don't want to go much longer, but I need them for the VW rims that I mount on the Celica.

[mrfunny107]

Idk. Maybe 2inches ish. I know Bill Loring put longer studs on.

[Bitter]

Originally Posted by VRUM VR6

I daily drove lots with the Dunlop Z1 and they were great. The only thing I didn't like about them was that they were louder than most other tires. However, that didn't bother me as much in the Celica as it did in the Audi.

Thanks, were you able to carry a conversation at highway speeds or even hear anything other than tire noise? My current tires are horrible and deafeningly loud. But they're that way from a pothole, seized toe adjusters, and not having the time to fix it. It's fixed now, but the tires are shot.

[VRUM VR6]

On the Audi the Z1s sounded like a bad bearing. On the Celica thankfully it wasn't that bad.

[Bitter]

Everything sounds like a bad bearing on the Celica right now, poly bushings certainly do not help. My tires got more waves than Lake Superior the night the Edmund Fitzgerald sunk.

[Bill Loring]

I just dug one of the stock front studs out of my bin. The useable length is probably no more than 1-1/8". That's the entire threaded section, but much less of that is likely engaged on any lug nut.

The OE nuts are a shank style, which is why the OE studs can be so short. Before I installed the longer studs, I used a tuner lug nut, which had a longer threaded section that dropped into the hole of the rim, similar to the shank style. This gave much more engagement, which gave me a lot more confidence. However, the tuner nuts were a pain in the butt, because you had to use a special lug adapter on them. I was happy to get rid of those when I put the long studs on.

I only put studs on the front because I seemed to get a bit more engagement on the rear wheels. I don't know if the studs are longer, or if the hub design just allows another couple of threads to stick out. Either way, I have enough turns on the lug nuts to feel confident that I won't have a failure, and besides, there's a lot less load on the rear wheels. One of them is generally in the air anyway.

http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn....jpg?1352828700

[VRUM VR6]

Thanks for the info Bill. Do you by chance have the total length of the original stud? I would like to find studs that are 1/2" longer as opposed to something like 1" longer.

[FastFarmer]

Bill, It looks like Andy Thomas has a pretty good setup this year. I'm working towards getting my Celica set up in a similar fashion. Andy is smoking the East Coast so far. His co-driver Michael Moran smoked me by 1.5 seconds yesterday (13 in PAX) in DC. I couldn't drive today but Mike turned in a 5th in PAX. Pretty sweet for a Celica in DC.

[VRUM VR6]

Where can I find a reasonable exhaust flange turn-down to put in place of rear muffler for certain autocrosses? Anyone know of an off the shelf one?

[mrfunny107]

just get a dump pipe and cut the flange off the old exhaust.

[Celica3]

I took mine to a muffler shop and told them I wanted them to make a straight pipe to the bumper, running through the rear suspension that I could bolt on and off. It worked great and was not obnoxious on the street.

[Bitter]

That might be too loud for some places though, the turn down bounces the sound off the ground under the car and really kills what's audible at a distance.

[VRUM VR6]

Yes, I would prefer a short little sound killing turn-down personally.

[Bitter]

your best bet is going to be to chop the flange off a stock muffler and have a shop weld it to a 90 deg turn down. Should cost you like $30 for the 90deg bend and the welding if you just take the parts to them off the car.

[mrfunny107]

thats what i said.

[VRUM VR6]

I like Bitter's idea - it sounds way better!

Actually, I love this idea because I still have my original muffler - thanks guys. Nonetheless, if no one makes turn-down flanges that seems quite surprising.

[Bitter]

Honestly, you could just have them cut the stock 90 bend and rotate it about 90 degrees and weld it back on! I know a guy at a shop that'll do that for you for cheap. PM me if you want his info. I just don't know how far from you he is, he's off in Downers Grove on Lemont Road.

[WAM]

Actually what really affects a sound meter is turning the exhaust elbow away from the meter. Compared to a straight turn-down, it lowered my mod car 6dB which is a bunch. But you have to be able to reverse it on-site. Also, it's kind of side-stepping the intent of the rules. It's common practice out here, but occasionally one or two people object on principle.

[Bitter]

[Bill Loring]

Bear in mind that the current 2014 rules proposal will ban these types of short pipes. If the rules go through as written currently, your exhaust will still need to exit at the stock location. I wonder if they will make an exception for cars with dual tips that could be converted to single.

For the last few years, I've just removed my street muffler, and left it off. I only do this for big events like National Tour and Nationals. I do have a straight pipe that exits at the stock location, so if need be, I'll start using that again. But mine is kind of a pain to install, and the one bend in it is not mandrel bent, so I'm not sure if it restricts the exhaust at all. I should put the thing on a dyno sometime, and see what the numbers look like.

[WCS]

How does everyone feel about the GS-HS consolidation proposal in Appendix A?

[WAM]

Originally Posted by WCS

How does everyone feel about the GS-HS consolidation proposal in Appendix A?

Where did you see that? If latest Fastrack I guess I missed it.

Hmmm, on Hoosiers, HS beat GS heads up at nat's.

But if they do the new Street Class thing, RTF might be a better model. HS beat GS there also, but only with the help of the pax. Heads up, GS would have come out on top.

Your events may very, but out here the courses are much faster than nat's and some of the higher powered GS cars might beat up on HS pretty good. And it seems like there are two or three new relatively high powered cars entering GS (proposed).

So it's a crap shoot, but might work out okay.

[andythomas]

The newest proposal is a draft but i still dont think we will be in bad shape for g street. Nats last year we underperformed. This year I've been beating the same h stock drivers by a good margin. I'm gonna start setting up my car for street tires at local events to get a head start. Car is still very good took top pax 1st time out on z2s at a small local event. I'll see how that translates to a wdcr event in a few weeks. John I suggest the full tailpipe to meet rules for next year. The highest I've ever been with the muffler drop is 95 dbs. I'll have a custom straitpipe made by the end of the season. I've gotten used to dropping my muffler at every event its even easier when not swapping tires 10 min tops. Hope everyone still supports g stock this season my codriver and I are full in for at least 2 more national events as well as the pro finale and nationals. I want g stock to end on a high note. Sorry to hear mark and steph left but I understand the reasoning. Keep racing everybody hope to see you soon.

[Bill Loring]

The proposals are here:

http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/...20Minutes1.pdf

They are also doing away with all the suspension allowances that they had put in the original "Street" proposal. This is good for us, bad for a lot of other cars.

Edit - I agree with Andy. We underperformed in 2012. And I think I'll be buying a set of Z2s for the street. Might have to try them out at an Autocross, but I've got three sets of Hoosiers in the garage right now.

[WAM]

Originally Posted by Bill Loring

We underperformed in 2012.

I'd bet not. My guess would be course design differences.

I've got too many hobbies going all at the same time so I haven't driven much this year. But I've got a pair of Hoosier stickers in the garage to see if I can get the oversteer back, and with any luck will show at Lincoln. Probably not up to speed, but it's all good.

[Bill Loring]

I can say that -I- underperformed. Stephen's raw times are all the evidence that I need. That was certainly a wake-up for me.

[VRUM VR6]

I finally looked at the link to the current rules proposal and unless I'm interpreting it wrong it seems to be rather positive for GS and the Celica, in its current state that is. Correct me if I'm wrong please.

Yes, I do yank off the muffler relatively painlessly at some events and I may not bother with seeking some kind of turn-down fabrication since the rules may be tentatively up in the air so to speak. My Celica did get a 99db rating once in Milwaukee last year sans muffler. So either I was WAY overdriving it or it can be loud course/mic location dependent.

I guess I'm running out of days to decide whether to actually make the trip to Lincoln, NE for Spring Nationals in a week or so. Anyone going? If I did - it would be in RTF amway for lack of decent Hoosiers.

[Bill Loring]

Mike Eckert is registered in his old Celica that he bought back from Mark. The Heaton's are bringing their Mazdaspeed Protege. There are five drivers registered now.

I'd like to make the trip, but I'm still recovering from One Lap of America. I'll be lucky to make the Peru Match Tour.

This weekend, I'm co-driving a D-Mod Lotus 7 clone that was built by my co-driver of many years. I may be spending more time in that car this year, we'll see.