Another 2015 SFWD build thread. Yawn.
01-22-2015, 05:49 PM
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Another 2015 SFWD build thread. Yawn.
I've always wanted to do an in depth build thread and I finally feel like I have enough material to get the ball rolling on this one. But first, a brief back history on me and my car.
My name is Brandon and I'm a GTR technician at T1 Race Development. I was fortunate enough to start working here right as our concentration completely shifted away from the Honda world, so I am still able to take advantage of the resources at hand. But just like most of you, following Tony and the T1 Integra influenced and shaped the way I viewed FWD drag racing.
My car is a 1995 Acura Integra GS-R that I purchased right after my 16th birthday in 2003. It's been through numerous setups and countless changes. Blown engines, shattered transmissions, and tons of passes over the years. Ill pick up at the end of 2013 since that is the most relevant time frame.
I started this build in the summer of 2013. Quick rundown of the setup:
84mm Golden Eagle sleeved LS block
ITR crank with ERL main girdle
Manely turbo tuff rods with custom T1 spec JE pistons
RLZ pro series GS-R CNC ported head
WEB stage 2 turbo cams
AFI FF turbo mani with 60mm gate
BEP BW S372R turbo
Custom intercooler with Garrett core
Comp Twin disc
STOCK GS-R trans with quaife LSD and SF billet SCHA
DSS 5.9 axles, G-Force shifter and MAKK trans brace
s300V2
made 840whp on 34lbs with E85.
Got the car completely together and spent the next couple weekends just trying to work the bugs out of a new build and get it dialed in for the Ennis IFO in November 2013. It fought me too, first issue was with the throttle cable not wanting to stay properly on the Wilson throttle body, then 3 of the inputs on the v2 for datalogging just quit working. Then 2nd gear sheared off. All the passes I was making were on 20-24lbs in 3rd and 4th as well messing with the launch control and boost on the line. My main focus was to get the short track down and sorted before turning it full tilt. Resolved all the issues mentioned above in time for the Nov 2013 Ennis IFO. First pass I decided to turn it up to 28-29lbs in 3rd and 4th because I wanted to quailfy in a decent spot in case an issue arose that would prevent me from making second round of qualifying.
Not to bad!
Once I arrived back in the pits and started to inspect the car over, Tony noticed the exhaust cam gear seemed to be sticking slightly a little to far past the timing belt. So off comes the valve cover and bad luck rears its ugly little head again.
So down the car goes for the winter. But while it was down I decided it best to make the most of it and make some more changes.
First to go was the sunroof so I could save weight and lower my center of gravity. I happened to buy a salvage RS Integra a while back and cut the roof off for such an occasion. The cage that was in it at the time was a pre-bent Mazworx chromoly 10pt. It fit nicely for a pre-bent cage but once I removed the sunroof, I realized a problem. The gap from the top of the main hoop and forward down bars to the roof skin was insane. Almost 4 inches! I wasn't certain if it would pass certification with that much gap but either way I hated it. I had always wanted a custom cage and now being with T1 I was in the perfect place to make that happen. It was certainly a skill set I wanted to learn so the first thing I did was cut the old cage out.
And then off with the old roof skin.
Our fabricator at work, Matthew Owen, showed me how to use the tubing bender properly as well as a couple math tricks for precise fitment. Tony added his experience and advice too and they turned me loose. It was pretty nerve racking having never done anything this in depth before but there was no turning back only moving forward.
I did all the bending, fitment, and notching myself. Then Matt came in on a Saturday and knocked out all the welding. After all those long hours I wanted the welds to be spot on. I look forward to my next cage build because it is quite fun for me but extremely labor intensive. Hopefully I can apply what I learned from my first one to be more efficient with my second one. None of it would have gone nearly as smoothly as it did without Tony and Matt's advice and input.
I didn't envy some of the positions Matt had to weld in!
Since the engine and trans were out I decided to pull everything else out and shave the engine bay.
At this point the car is pretty much stripped down and I decided I wanted to get the car soda blasted. Its something I've wanted to do for a while, so I made some phone calls. So much time and effort has gone into this, why cut corners? I'm obviously not getting rid of it anytime in this lifetime so why not do it while its this far torn down? Luckily being near Dallas there are a few places in town that offer vehicle soda blasting services at a pretty awesome rate. So a little before Christmas I dropped it off at Problast in Dallas.
Because of Christmas and New Years I wasn't in a terrible rush and I picked it up the second week in January.
And dropped it immediately off at the body shop for work
That pretty much brings you up to speed on my current build. I'm aiming to have it done sometime in the early/mid summer. That way I can spend some test-n-tune nights getting it dialed in. Then if all goes to plan start following the IFO circuit when it resumes in the late summer/early fall. And maybe just maybe if the car is what I hope it to be, Ill make a journey out East to race with the big names.
Here's the only in car video I have but its of the 10.0@152 pass
And here's some teaser pics of whats to come.
My name is Brandon and I'm a GTR technician at T1 Race Development. I was fortunate enough to start working here right as our concentration completely shifted away from the Honda world, so I am still able to take advantage of the resources at hand. But just like most of you, following Tony and the T1 Integra influenced and shaped the way I viewed FWD drag racing.
My car is a 1995 Acura Integra GS-R that I purchased right after my 16th birthday in 2003. It's been through numerous setups and countless changes. Blown engines, shattered transmissions, and tons of passes over the years. Ill pick up at the end of 2013 since that is the most relevant time frame.
I started this build in the summer of 2013. Quick rundown of the setup:
84mm Golden Eagle sleeved LS block
ITR crank with ERL main girdle
Manely turbo tuff rods with custom T1 spec JE pistons
RLZ pro series GS-R CNC ported head
WEB stage 2 turbo cams
AFI FF turbo mani with 60mm gate
BEP BW S372R turbo
Custom intercooler with Garrett core
Comp Twin disc
STOCK GS-R trans with quaife LSD and SF billet SCHA
DSS 5.9 axles, G-Force shifter and MAKK trans brace
s300V2
made 840whp on 34lbs with E85.
Got the car completely together and spent the next couple weekends just trying to work the bugs out of a new build and get it dialed in for the Ennis IFO in November 2013. It fought me too, first issue was with the throttle cable not wanting to stay properly on the Wilson throttle body, then 3 of the inputs on the v2 for datalogging just quit working. Then 2nd gear sheared off. All the passes I was making were on 20-24lbs in 3rd and 4th as well messing with the launch control and boost on the line. My main focus was to get the short track down and sorted before turning it full tilt. Resolved all the issues mentioned above in time for the Nov 2013 Ennis IFO. First pass I decided to turn it up to 28-29lbs in 3rd and 4th because I wanted to quailfy in a decent spot in case an issue arose that would prevent me from making second round of qualifying.
Not to bad!
Once I arrived back in the pits and started to inspect the car over, Tony noticed the exhaust cam gear seemed to be sticking slightly a little to far past the timing belt. So off comes the valve cover and bad luck rears its ugly little head again.
So down the car goes for the winter. But while it was down I decided it best to make the most of it and make some more changes.
First to go was the sunroof so I could save weight and lower my center of gravity. I happened to buy a salvage RS Integra a while back and cut the roof off for such an occasion. The cage that was in it at the time was a pre-bent Mazworx chromoly 10pt. It fit nicely for a pre-bent cage but once I removed the sunroof, I realized a problem. The gap from the top of the main hoop and forward down bars to the roof skin was insane. Almost 4 inches! I wasn't certain if it would pass certification with that much gap but either way I hated it. I had always wanted a custom cage and now being with T1 I was in the perfect place to make that happen. It was certainly a skill set I wanted to learn so the first thing I did was cut the old cage out.
And then off with the old roof skin.
Our fabricator at work, Matthew Owen, showed me how to use the tubing bender properly as well as a couple math tricks for precise fitment. Tony added his experience and advice too and they turned me loose. It was pretty nerve racking having never done anything this in depth before but there was no turning back only moving forward.
I did all the bending, fitment, and notching myself. Then Matt came in on a Saturday and knocked out all the welding. After all those long hours I wanted the welds to be spot on. I look forward to my next cage build because it is quite fun for me but extremely labor intensive. Hopefully I can apply what I learned from my first one to be more efficient with my second one. None of it would have gone nearly as smoothly as it did without Tony and Matt's advice and input.
I didn't envy some of the positions Matt had to weld in!
Since the engine and trans were out I decided to pull everything else out and shave the engine bay.
At this point the car is pretty much stripped down and I decided I wanted to get the car soda blasted. Its something I've wanted to do for a while, so I made some phone calls. So much time and effort has gone into this, why cut corners? I'm obviously not getting rid of it anytime in this lifetime so why not do it while its this far torn down? Luckily being near Dallas there are a few places in town that offer vehicle soda blasting services at a pretty awesome rate. So a little before Christmas I dropped it off at Problast in Dallas.
Because of Christmas and New Years I wasn't in a terrible rush and I picked it up the second week in January.
And dropped it immediately off at the body shop for work
That pretty much brings you up to speed on my current build. I'm aiming to have it done sometime in the early/mid summer. That way I can spend some test-n-tune nights getting it dialed in. Then if all goes to plan start following the IFO circuit when it resumes in the late summer/early fall. And maybe just maybe if the car is what I hope it to be, Ill make a journey out East to race with the big names.
Here's the only in car video I have but its of the 10.0@152 pass
And here's some teaser pics of whats to come.
01-22-2015, 06:25 PM
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Re: Another 2015 SFWD build thread. Yawn.
Awesome man! I remember seeing the car at IFO. Glad to see a SFWD car being built here in Texas since most of them have moved to FIS. Good luck with the new build and hope to see you at the track soon!
01-22-2015, 06:59 PM
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Re: Another 2015 SFWD build thread. Yawn.
I could have just brought back the Integra and saved you some time! lol
Great work, going to be a fast car when its done!
Great work, going to be a fast car when its done!
01-23-2015, 12:47 AM
#4
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Re: Another 2015 SFWD build thread. Yawn.
Good stuff Brandon, can't wait to see this thing come out to Centerville when you get it done. Should shut up a lot of the redneck import haters around here lol.
01-23-2015, 06:28 AM
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Re: Another 2015 SFWD build thread. Yawn.
I like how you skipped to the end of 2013 and left out the fact that literally every body panel on the car has now been replaced. Glad to see you finally made your build thread..I miss this car 
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01-23-2015, 02:28 PM
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Re: Another 2015 SFWD build thread. Yawn.
Joe @locash, I would have loved nothing more than for that to be a reality lol
Thanks for all the support and good vibes everyone! I really want to meet my deadlines so I plan on updating this thread with progress pictures very frequently.
01-24-2015, 05:36 AM
#15
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Re: Another 2015 SFWD build thread. Yawn.
Good luck with the build. Couple questions for you.. what fuel system are you running and what does the car weigh with you in it?
01-24-2015, 02:51 PM
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Re: Another 2015 SFWD build thread. Yawn.
The fuel system is a Weldon 2345 fuel pump, ID2000's, and a weldon FPR. I think I weighed it at the Ennis ifo at 2,420lbs with me in it. I'll post up the new weight with me once it's all together.
01-27-2015, 05:19 PM
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Re: Another 2015 SFWD build thread. Yawn.
Parts have started to trickle in so here are some update pics:
KS rear trailing arm kit
You guys already saw the Kingpin stuff but the OE rear section of the front LCA was super nasty. So I decided to send it out with some stuff from the shop and get it nickel plated. turned out pretty sharp I think.
Picked up a set of Skunk2 Pro series Front upper control arms and some Blox rear LCA's with the spherical bearings. That should help prevent the rear from binding up while using the KS kit.
And since the steering rack is out went ahead and got the Energy suspension bushing kit since the stock ones where heavily worn out.
That's all for now, I hope to have some update pictures of the car next week sometime.
KS rear trailing arm kit
You guys already saw the Kingpin stuff but the OE rear section of the front LCA was super nasty. So I decided to send it out with some stuff from the shop and get it nickel plated. turned out pretty sharp I think.
Picked up a set of Skunk2 Pro series Front upper control arms and some Blox rear LCA's with the spherical bearings. That should help prevent the rear from binding up while using the KS kit.
And since the steering rack is out went ahead and got the Energy suspension bushing kit since the stock ones where heavily worn out.
That's all for now, I hope to have some update pictures of the car next week sometime.
