Well I have been having the absolute best time with the car lmao. Only a couple small issues have popped up, but otherwise it has been incredible. It is so much damn fun. It is far and away the most ridiculous thing I've ever driven.
I have the car fully broken in. The clutch and trans are over 500 miles, and the ring and pinion is long broken in. Gave it a fluid flush and it is ready for some hard miles. First main issue that popped up is the clutch was not fully disengaging. I bled the clutch extremely well with a pressure bleeder for hours. It drove great for a couple drives, and but then it refused to go into gear when cold. I'm talking like while rolling, while stopped, any gear for any reason it might just prevent you from shifting lol. It was getting air back into it somehow, or the master cylinder seal was bad. With a 3/4" master size I do also think it was undersized even in perfect conditions, so I swapped it to a 13/16 master and it has been perfect ever since.
Second issue is after driving the car for 500 miles without charging, and after driving it 45 minutes, the car refused to start again and was cranking slow. The Holley is super sensitive to cranking voltage. I need to fix this or I'll get stranded somewhere. You can't jump a Holley ECU or you risk bricking it, and my battery can't be fast charged it charges at 3 amps maximum lol. Anyways, my alternator requires a PWM signal to get more than 13.7 volts out of it. My battery is not getting sufficiently charged. I can do this from the Holley, I just didn't route a wire for it initially and got lazy thinking it would be fine.
Currently, I have put at least 3 tanks of gas through it. Gas mileage is REALLY bad on E85 hahaha. I haven't recorded it, but it goes through gas obscenely fast. I started with an ~E50 blend from the dyno, and I'm up to E76 now putting only E85 in it. The Radium surge tank works perfectly. I have twin fuel pumps to run when the E content is high. I've also been ripping on it and throwing the car around a bit and the fuel system has not burped once. I'm down to just over empty on my gas gauge and it hasn't flinched. It used to cut out punching it in 2nd in a straight line.
With this chilly weather, E85, and the electric water pump the temps are staying so cold. I'm happy to see the oil temp doesn't get really any higher than 200 while driving normally, even in traffic or a lot of miles. When I beat on it the temps climb above 210 and the cooler thermostat opens and the temps have been dropping immediately. I want to get it up in the canyons or on a track soon and see how the cooling does. I have read concerns about the EWP for high rpm driving, and I want to see how my oil cooler does under heavy load with the parallel mounting and chin spoiler.
I still need to get an alignment, but I got some new tires! I'm really bummed about it, but my 275/35/18 Maxxis RC-1 slicks were simply too big. I'd rub front and back all over the place. They're just way too tall. I also was feeling like the car had really bad traction, and despite having barely any miles on them, they were made in 2019. I thought maybe they were getting old.
I was a little stressed about it, but I took the gamble on getting some 285/30/18 Yokohama AD09's for my 9.5" wide wheel. I was worried about potential bulge, but they fit fantastic and the steering sharpness is really great. With the bumpsteer tweaks I did on the down-time the steering feels dead smooth. Even with a 285 up front the car isn't tramlining at all. I have some wheel spacers showing up tomorrow to dial in the fitment
Performance wise, I've been a little hot and cold with them literally. Mostly cold, and then I finally get some heat in them and they blow my mind. It has been oddly chilly in Socal, so I think when it warms up a bit I'll have better luck. I'm learning what they need. Big educational moment, I punched it in third from 65 mph and it did a rolling burnout as long as my foot was in it. Hauling ass, but getting tossed around a bit too. Not what I was expecting nor wanting to do on the freeway. It was badass, but way too sketch. Would do it again in a heartbeat somewhere else hahaha.
I've been able to give some of my buddy's a ride, and each one I'm getting to hoon it a little bit harder. Most who have ridden in the car have been in a fast car before, let alone basically a race car. There's a little industrial cul de sac with a 90 degree turn and I was able to do a 1st gear drifted u-turn into frying 2nd gear, huck it through the corner and plant the throttle out to 7500 rpm in 2nd. That got the tires warm enough they grip sooooo hard. I need a track day to find the limits of this thing in a safe place.
My friend who has been in a few fast cars I took out 3rd quarter yesterday during the game. We live on a hilly road with some gentle curves and quite a bit of elevation change. We were bombing up and down the hill while everyone was watching the game, and I was basically power sliding 2nd gear just staying in my lane going around this bend. Then the tires heat up enough it grips 2nd and it seriously hauls ass. Before then you gotta be really timid and basically roll into it until it spins and just hold the throttle there or feather it a bit.
Some shots from my friend before our ride.
