Year 4,
Here's how it sits now. A few more aftermarket exterior touches. An AutoExe wing replica from Japan, and some carbon winglets up front along with color matching the lip. I should've color matched the lip from the start. I have some replica 99 spec skirts in urethane, but they're just too short. I'd get OEM ones if they weren't made out of that weird foam. If nothing changes I'm happy I like the look currently.
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In parallel I've worked through many of the details, like powersteering is now working, all the gauges work. I seized up an engine last year in June and had to swap back to a mostly stock LS1. I kept the fast intake and NW throttle body. When I swapped I did some engine tuning with HP tuners which was a great learning experience and honestly a ton of fun. One of the best experiences with the car is the summer I spent time street driving it to tune the car in. I added in a little flair with exhaust pops and burbles which can be a bit excessive, but you can prevent them by driving below 2000rpm if you're trying to be stealthy.
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So what's next...
Short term: I've got to install some Feal 441 coilovers to replace my 10+ year old Teins which currently bottom out on the rear bumpstops on basically everything. Really looking forward to seeing if there's a big ride and handling improvement.
Long term: probably work through making this car drive closer to my preferences. It feels like the steering effort doesn't build enough when I'm driving through a corner. It also counter steers while drifting a little too aggressively. After doing a kinematic model of the suspension (rough measurements) it seems like there's not much caster and I have too much scrub. It'd take custom arms or offset bushings to get more caster and wheels with higher offset +30 or +38 instead of +12 up front. I want to try these things out and feel the difference. No matter what right now I can drive this decently and tandeming with other people isn't too bad. I'd like to be able to get comfortable enough with the car that it never surprises me and I can throw down at any course I show up to. Right now that's not happening.
Even longer term: Also I'm probably pretty different than most members here. I actually love rotaries, I just can't afford one. Maybe one day if this engine has an issue a naturally aspirated 3 rotor would replace it... I guess then I'd have to quit this forum though
it's honestly just a pipe dream.
