All ready for The-Lowdown-Showcased @ Moorepark

saw all the nice cars that are going so thought i had better clean the car before rocking up, gave it a quick once over and a wax and it came up a treat.

Getting cool in the shed - time for some heat

been doing a little bit of mucking around in the garage after work lately and it gets very cold as the ceiling is not insulated. Picked up a little heater today from bunnings that is very sturdy and industrial type, works quiet well.

Fake Aerocatch's - Replaced

Well a little investigation into why the Aerocatch bonnet catchs had gone rusty and it turns out they were fake. Luckily i bought them from a local business who was also caught out and they promptly sorted out the issue and replaced with some genuine ones.

http://www.aerocatch.com/counterfeit-warning

Here is some photos of the real catches, the first thing i saw was the packaging was different as the fake ones don't have the "Made in England" on them.

 They also feel a lot sturdier as well

 This is the real one, no tooling marks.

 Here is the fake one, see the tooling marks

If you are looking for catches check the link above and make sure you buy genuine ones as the fake ones will rust straight away and they don't seem as strong.

Got a Spot on the Motor X All Stars - Top 6

Got into the Motor X top 6 and will have the car on display at the event, feel a little funny as after all it is a show event but really looking forward to the experience.
http://forum.jdmstyletuning.com/showthread.php?45649-Want-a-sneak-peak-inside-MotorEx

Parker T10 Lights replaced with LED

Took the time to replace the parker lights which where the old bulb type to new LED type, they look heaps better.

Got a little lazy and just bought them from Jaycar... a little on the expensive side

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=ZD0495

With the parker and new HID's installed

Replacement HID Kit

Purchased a replacement HID kit as i could not get the other one to work properly, looked at a fair few types and settled on these slimline ones which were 35watt rather then the ones i had before that were 55watt.
Here is the kit i bought
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=221030231636&ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:AU:1123

I think the current draw was too much from the 55watt kit when i turned them on which is why i was having an issue but not 100% sure.

I wired them in temporary to check them out first, had to change the connections over but then were a straight fit.

Good this is now these work well and i can switch the high beam on without having them cut out so all good

Another Photo from Winton found on the web

found this photo today from when i went down to Winton, pretty cool i reckon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/koryleung/6995824522/in/set-72157629599019068/

More Photos from Circuit Club Day

Forgot that my wife took some photos as well out on the Circuit Club trackday. She got a couple of great shots and wanted to share them.

HID Issues

Today i tackled some issues i have been having with my HID kit. The issues are that they don't turn on or turn on one light only, i thought it might be the bulbs so ordered some new ones but before installing them today i wanted to hard wire up the lights just to be sure.

Sure enough after some playing around when they were hard wired up they both worked, i had a switch and put that in at the same time and could turn the lights off and on without any issues.

Further investigation is needed and i think it is either the 55watt lights drawing too much on start up with the parker lights on or the HID bit itself so i have ordered another HID kit but this one is a little different with the ballasts and is a 35watt kit so fingers crossed.

Aerocatch latches rusty?

bolts have gone rusty on the aerocatch latches

Oil Covered Wheels from Diff Breather hose

Today i cleaned my wheels after Mondays trackday problems with the diff, they were covered in oil and took some cleaning but i managed to clean them all up.

Circuit Club - Wakefield Park - New PB

Got a call on Saturday night that spots had opened up at the Circuit Club day on the June long weekend Monday. Was in two minds if i wanted to go but really wanted to get out again after the last time having so many dramas with the diff breaking, the weather was not looking good but thought the worst that can happen is that it is rained out and we turned around and came home.

Left home @ 5:15am and got to Wakefield @ 7:50am, it was raining most of the way and upon arrival was misting slightly. We unloaded and went to the drivers briefing which i found out the first sessions were passenger sessions which suited me fine.

 

First session i got out @ 9:40am, the Temp was 8.5deg with the track temp even less @ 6deg. The wind was gusting up to about 14.4klm per hour, had some slight drizzle that tapper off by the time i went out. There was a lot of traffic as i would find out is a bit of an issue at the CC days with cars significantly slower in the same group, best time of the session was 1:04.83.

Second session was @ 11:10am, the temp was up to 9.3 deg and the track had risen slightly to 7.3 deg. Wind was about the same as the first session but there was no drizzle and the previous sessions had laid down some rubber.
I tried to get some clean air and by the forth lap managed to slot myself into some space. On the exit of turn 5 i had a fair bit of opposite lock which cost me dearly then the run into turn 7 i locked up quiet badly. It was a pretty messy lap and honestly not sure how i managed to get a time,

Managed a 1:03.81 which i was really happy with.
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?11/06/2012.WAKE.S3.Y

I came back in and found that the radiator overflow bottle had been spewing coolant out all over the place which might have been why the front left was locking up as it was enough to cover the passenger side of the front spliter. The rear diff housing breather hose had been left off after the diff change so diff oil had spewed out all across the back of the car and over the rear diffuser and subframe. It was a mess and spent the next 30min cleaning it all up.

photos from the day that matthewmead

A little while ago i picked up a new toy from Jaycar to help with my data analysis, it is called a anemometer and measures air temperature and wind speed.

Circuit Club Day Footage

Lap of the 1:03.81