illwillem

360 was a lot of fun to drive. Not as fast time wise as the NSX but it really makes you work for what your able to squeeze out of it. It has short gearing and 400hp and a tight diff so it just able to rotates mid corner when breathing on throttle. It was my first time driving one and within 3 laps I was sliding it through the long double apex without a care in the world. I had to remind myself it wasn't my car even though the owner was egging me on, hah. For a stock MR car the balance is incredible. This one is actually being offered to me for sale. I can honestly say that on the long drive home I was thinking about it. If anything, just to say i've owned an F car- but in reality I have other cars that are faster and as much fun so i think that i am going to pass. You should drive one the gated shifter is awesome and they just look super cool. Who knows, you may love it.


Shock-pots installed.

Parkerb11

With some great options of suspension from a few vendors, was there a specific reason you went with RR Penske variance? Aware of the Penske name and history of the shock as your mentioned, I guess it’s a more vendor based question. Thanks

kos

iTrader: (1)

Man those shock pots look killer.

illwillem

They realistically only have a couple very small differences design-wise. With the Figs set you get the special spanner wrenches with your order, I already have a set so that was not a deal breaker for me. RR racing have slightly larger bearings- both sets are more than functional but in the case of load forces generally bigger is better if you have the room to fit them- Again not a deal breaker either way. I Like Hyperco springs everso slightly more than Swifts (but I run swifts on literally every other car i track) so again it could go eitherway. Main reason this go around was I needed some other stuff shipped from RR and getting the shocks from them allowed me to combine shipping. :].

If i were in the market again, who knows. Customer service is massive to me, especially when building a car for competition, how I am treated when addressing a concern will either keep me a repeat customer or never give you my money again.

WylieKylie

iTrader: (2)

I'm an alignment nerd, and that setup is absolutely epic. Have you aligned the F with this setup yet? I used a set of Smartstrings to align my tree-fiddy once - it was an exercise in frustration, which I think was partly due to the hysteresis of all the squishy stock bushings. You probably won't have that problem now that you have replaced literally every bushing under the car.

illwillem

Yeah it can be VERY frustrating. Its one of those things you have to do 5 times and make all the mistakes before it starts to make since and you get a feel for it. I always laugh when people that tell me they eyeballed the toe on their car. The measurements you are dealing with are so small there is no way to luck out and get it right. The main thing to invest in with smart strings is a good steering wheel holder, they can be had on amazon for pretty cheap, Its the only way to get good results with smart strings. The other thing i laugh at is when people say "hey, lemme come over and do a corner balance and alignment real quick." There is no precedent in the history of earth to use the words 'corner balance and alignment' and 'real quick' in the same sentence.

illwillem

So finally picked the car up. Had to do some finial adjustments but it was really nice to drive it after all that time away- even if it was just on the freeway home.



Once I got it home I pretty much needed to take it all apart again. It was home for about 15 min before i started taking it all apart.





First I needed to run the wires for the shock pots.



I drilled holes in the rear and pushed the connectors though into the trunk where they will be connected to extension wires and run to the EVO 5 unit.



After that I took off the exhaust, drive shaft and differential all of the rear arms and hubs. These all needed to be pulled so I could take it to get my OSGiken TCD installed.


While I had the space I installed the Figs solid transmission mount.




I also knocked out the OEM diff bushings and installed the Figs ones.





Pulled the steering rack and knocked out the OEM steering bushings and replaced them with poly ones. Im actually not too convinced that they'll be much stiffer but i cant get to the machine shop right now during the shutdown to mill my own delrin or aluminum ones. This is something that i'll have to do in the future.




I pulled off the front arms so i could press in new front bushings. These were a HUGE pain in the *** and after tearing apart the OEM ones and having a good look at them I'm going to say that replacing these is completely unnecessary. The are 3 piece from factory two front faces pressed into a center aluminum center surrounding and completely encapsulating rubber. These is really no way that these will tear as the forces exerted on them are completely axial and the design of the OEM bushing really make them stiff as far as squish.





You have to start by drilling out the OEM center pressed faces with a 3/4 drill bit.





The burn/pry the faces out that are attached to the rubber. Then finally you have to knock the bushing ears out of the arm.



All of this isn't necessarily hard to do its just time consuming and you'll need some special tools.



To press the Figs stuff in I built a threaded rod with some fat fender washers to squeeze the bushing and center crush sleeve in evenly.



I then moved into the trunk and thinned out the unwanted wring. I rerouted and rewired the reverse camera, brake lights and license plate lights to a Deutsche motorsports connector.





When you slide the trunk in place you can connect this with one hand and have all the functioning light to be able to legally drive on the street.




Its also really nice to be able to have a reverse camera when backing out of the garage/hot pits while strapped into a race harness.




I also weather sealed the drip pan next to the wing mounting and ran the drain hose down and out of the trunk.





Next was wiring in the CAN BUS signals to the EVO5 unit. I tapped the can+ and can- and twisted the loom then heat shrunk it tight together so that there would be no unnecessary interference in the signal. I jumped the +/- requirement from an knee airbag plug I was no longer using. These both got piped to a Deutsche motorsports connector and into the EVO5

illwillem

Testing to make sure that the new dash could see the signals and we were all good.




Got the differential back with the OSG TCD installed. I mounted the upgraded bushing for the diff and plopped it in place.





While I had decent access I pulled off the transmission pan and replaced the filter. This is a supposedly lifetime part but my car has 200k on the clock so i figured why not.






This job is a total mess, there's really no way to do it and not get everything completely covered in WS fluid.


Filter looked like it was due for a change..



Magnets had quite a bit of pick up on them to



Everything cleaned and ready to go back on with the new gasket.



I also replaced the old front lower ball joints with a new OEM pair and ran some heat shielding on them to protect them from the rotor heat as I am not running dust shields on my car.




New hubs with ARP studs and 2 piece rotors added.




Added the additional duct to feed fresh air to the air intake from the radiator ducting.






Blowing directly at the filter.




The Lexus emblem up front has cut outs allowing some air to flow through to the OEM snorkle that sits on top of the radiator. I have blocked off the other parts of the grill to reduce drag on the front end.



I also decided to pull out the rest of the speakers and amp from the car. Driving with the new carbon doors is a bit louder than practical to do and still be able to listen to the radio, Ill just use my noise cancelling headphones. I also saved an additional 9lbs 8oz. I also really want to pull the navigation screen out in favor of a non navi unit because apparently the navigation unit is a full 12lbs heavier than the standard IS version. The only thing that is stopping me is the back up camera integration. We'll see.




Last thing I was working on was mocking up a light weight solution to making the interior a tiny bit less 'racecar' and dampen some of the high frequency noises. I got some closed cell dense foam and lined the rear upper speaker tray, rear compartment seat back and floor. I built a carbon fiber hold down to keep everything in place. all this stuff together weighs less than half a pound.




Got a change to drive one of these last weekend. I have to say, building streetcars makes less and less sense the older i get. This ISF may be the last one i ever build...

Jwconeil

Is it because a street car just can’t compete with dedicated track toys?

illwillem

Yeah pretty much. I guess it depends on what i'm after, and to be honest I don't even know. I enjoy multiple aspects of track driving as well as wrenching and building. Mostly when building cars now I am chasing a bar that is much much higher than the 'typical' enthusiast as far as lap times and driving feel. Starting from a base car that was meant to be a road car will always have inherent compromises that get worse the older the car you start with. There are some machines now days that can be had form 60-100k that are already at a very high level, but modding and building one of those is generally always going to be steep process. Add another 50k (on the cheap end) into a build and your already at 110k-150k into a track car. I have built cars from cheaper to more expensive multiple times over the years and guess I am starting to feel i've been down this path many, many times. Some cars are faster than others, some are more fun than others but driving something that is purpose built really puts perspective on things. For example I have a CRX that i have easily spent over 100k on in the last 6 years. In relative terms its fast, really fast (same laptimes as a gt3 RS, Z06, GTR) and about to get faster; but when thinking about the next step its very realistically another 60k. I can maybe be like "ok, this is good im going to draw the line here." but then i KNOW i will always have my eye on the next thing. Rinse repeat.

For around 38k you can buy a gen2 SR3 radical and immediately go drive. No building, fab cage work, addressing factory compromises etc. This allows you to work on car set up and other more fun aspects of driving, not just car building. That is appealing to me. Things about tracking a street car are also appealing, but i've been there and done that.
To be clear I don't think just anyone can get into a Radical and go fast and that's not really the point either. There are plenty of silicone valley guys that own the new fancy V8 versions and get out there and put around, which is fine. But when you take a car like that and wring it out there is really nothing that compares feeling and laptime wise.

For example I drove my friends SR3 for a grand total of 9min 57seconds according to the data. This includes out lap and in-lap back to the pit space. Third lap EVER in the car I had broken the 1:50 barrier at Buttonwillow (about .0009% of people who drive there will never do that) that was WITH a lift and coast to set up for my 4th lap which i ran a 1:46.6 with time left on the table.

Those time are probably irrelevant to anyone not following TimeAttack but for perspective they would be good enough to podium alongside the most highly build and modified track car in the country; that is not hyperbole. Were talking 800+hp and 150k aero packages and 5 lap motors. Again, this was my 4th lap in the car ever on cording tires. Its just not even in the same league, all for less money than a new civic type-R or STI. Just kinda makes sense.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Was it still fun?

I clearly remember taking my highly modified bike on a road I used to "play" on, and finding it not fun at all. Tall wheelies at 90 mph over small rises, no time to take a breath before the next turn was in progress because the acceleration was far beyond anything else I had experienced there, and even at the track, this bike made me work harder than anything I'd ever run before. I know the SR3 is a very capable tool, and Radical makes even more capable tools for track days, so, just curious, did it still hit hard on the fun factor, or was it an intense exercise in focus?

Jwconeil

I understand your points well. I think many of us like to be able to drive our toys on the weekend or nice work days, and that eliminates a lot of track cars. I think radical makes some really neat closed cockpit cars that can be street driven, but the prices start jumping up pretty quickly if I remember my prior internet browsing. I love their cars, but I want to be able to drive my cars and not trailer them. If it rains, I want to be able to go back home and not get wet, and I want to take my toy on date nights or to the ice cream parlor.

That said, you can’t really compete in most road going cars that are reasonably priced. Track toys definately have superior performance.

Edit: I looked it up. I’d want a radical RXC so that it can still be enjoyed on the streets, with a passenger and a roof. Those are roughly 150k.

illwillem

It was a blast, I hear you on the intense concentration thing. it was just so different than anything else that it was maybe just scratching that itch.

illwillem

I totally 10000% get it. It is nice every once in a while to take the NSX out to get dinner or something. I've actually been looking at picking up a RCF as the new daily/commuter since MPG's on my LX470 are not the greatest. I have gradually found myself over the years getting out of fast cars on the streets in favor of SUV's and trucks that i can just throw stuff in and go, this would be a departure from that and i wonder if it will get old quickly. The RXC is one beast of a car. i was watching videos of them the other day driving around Monaco. i will tell you that climbing in and out of that thing while holding you coffee or icecream cone will get old reaallll fast.

illwillem

Lotsa work finished on my ISF but ill get into that later.

We went and filmed for a DrivingLine Drivers Battle on Monday. I was asked to drive a friends mostly stock 08 ISF against and e90 M3. It was hot but a lot of fun. Most of the sessions were eaten up by the shooting schedule but I got the chance to drive the Radical again, an e90 and throw down some laps in the ISF. Can't wait to see the final product.

Heres some footage of me pushing the car really hard on some wasted tires.