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Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana

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Lumix
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Friday, September 18, 2020 10:37 PM (permalink)
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The transformation continues! Nice work on the Bride seat repair.
 
Which one was the better fitting spherical kit, racerx or primedriven? What bugs me with CRW kit is the need for washes to pack out the bearing so it doesn't slide along the pin. If you hadn't installed the aftermarket shifter box, I would of suggested to rebuild the shifter assembly with OEM parts to compliment the spherical bearings and square bush changes.
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Friday, September 18, 2020 10:52 PM (permalink)
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Lumix
The transformation continues! Nice work on the Bride seat repair.
 
Which one was the better fitting spherical kit, racerx or primedriven? What bugs me with CRW kit is the need for washes to pack out the bearing so it doesn't slide along the pin. If you hadn't installed the aftermarket shifter box, I would of suggested to rebuild the shifter assembly with OEM parts to compliment the spherical bearings and square bush changes.

Thanks Lumix! I'm definitely handier with the spanners than the sewing needles but it came up alright.

I used the primedriven bearings with the racerx spacers. The spacers take up the job of the washers but actually allow more articulation due to their shape. Prime is now selling a set that includes the racerx spacers, so it's an all in one package.

https://primemr2.com/prod...shifter-cable-bushings
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Saturday, September 19, 2020 0:53 PM (permalink)
+1 (1)
Awesome, I'm glad they have developed spacers and included them in a kit. Will add them to the growing wish list.
 
In my experience I found with the CRW kit I was getting shifter shake in 3rd gear on lift off due to what I think was the due to the supplied washers / fitment. After trying solid BRD poly bushes (made shifting across to 1st/2nd stiff) and cheap ebay spherical (poor tolerances). I ended up going back to CRW kit but using my own combination of washer sizes. Keen to try the racerx spacers.
 
What's on the cards next? Rear suspension kit?
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Saturday, September 19, 2020 2:57 AM (permalink)
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Lumix
After trying solid BRD poly bushes (made shifting across to 1st/2nd stiff)

 
I always found this concept a bit strange, it does reduce play but I always thought for such a small and easy component that a true bearing would be the best option, especially seeing as it isnt just axial rotation during linkage movement. Hope you can get some RacerX units soon and see if you feel a difference!
 
Next up is the rear kit yes, but I am trying to strike the perfect balance between leaving enough time before my next track day, and leaving too much time. I want to get it all sorted with time to spare, but want to minimise the time between getting my alignment and going to track, in case any stray potholes interfere with things. I'm thinking in two weekends time I'll get going on it, because if I end up going the route of pulling the knuckles my rear camber and toe are gonna be all over the place.
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Wednesday, September 23, 2020 2:47 PM (permalink)
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So many new parts, so much jealousy. 
 
Where did you get your Rev 5 spoiler from? They're a dime a dozen these days...
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Sunday, September 27, 2020 11:53 AM (permalink)
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SW20R.
So many new parts, so much jealousy. 
 
Where did you get your Rev 5 spoiler from? They're a dime a dozen these days...




I'm running a Rev 3 Spoiler, which came with the half-cut that was used for the engine swap. All that was done by the previous owner however
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Monday, October 05, 2020 7:18 AM (permalink)
+2 (2)
Managed to get the rear suspension kit installed yesterday. I started by trying to remove the rear outer tie rod bearing. I had heard online that this was easiest done by removing the entire knuckle assembly and getting it replaced using a hydraulic press. I wanted to avoid having the car out of action for that long, and having to pay someone for use of a hydraulic press, so I started looking for alternatives. A $50 ball joint press from eBay turned out to be the perfect tool for the job, allowing me to keep the knuckles on the car. Although it is essentially a glorified G clamp, the sleeves, attachments and overall sturdiness of the tool made the removal of the bearings, and subsequent installation of the steel slug, a complete breeze. 
Both slugs were pressed in under an hour, and from then on the rest of the kit pretty much bolted up.I had to slightly modify sections of my knuckle and tie rod drop bracket for millimetres of clearance, but within no time I had the kit all torqued up and sealed with some black sealant.
The same issue popped up as with the front kit, where I had to loosen the suspension arms to get enough slack from the polybushings, however this did not add too much time to the installation. 
 
I am yet to drive the car or get it aligned, but I will share my impressions of it on the street in the coming weeks, and of how it performs on track after the 19th of October!
I have been considering picking up boots for the FK rod ends that are used throughout this suspension kit, however they are supposedly rather challenging to fit, and may require trimming to work with this setup. I'll continue to look into it however I won't do anything before track so as not to mess up my alignment again.
#67
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Friday, May 21, 2021 1:23 AM (permalink)
+1 (1)
Well it certainly has been a while, and for good reason, which I will get into.
We pick up from the last update getting ready for my 19th October track day. With a new Bride seat, and the Wilhelm suspension kit installed, I was ready to get back out there and start dropping my time.  After threatening to rain for weeks, the morning of the 19th was cool and dry, developing into a warm and dry day. Ideal track conditions for happy engines and grippy tyres. This particular track day was an open pit lane, so my first outing was at around 10am during one of the allocated passenger hours. It was my first time driving my girlfriend around track, and although she was pretty quiet while riding along, she assures me she was terrified the whole time!
The car felt good to drive, and the seat had me absolutely anchored in place, making it much easier to steer. As it was just a warm up session to bring the tyres and brakes up to temp, I left the track with a 1:18, not wanting to push too hard on cold equipment. The next session was about an hour later, and with no passenger and timing active, I was able to push for my first proper hot laps of the day. I managed a 1:16.6, close to my PB of 1:16.3, though I was driving nowhere near my limit. However it was at this point I began to feel the first signs of what would eventually unravel my entire day. The next session was where it all came undone, riding again with a passenger I managed a new PB of 1:16.1, but my clutch began to feel awful. The pedal wasn’t returning by itself, requiring me to pull the pedal up manually as I tried to get the car back to the pits in one piece. 
My first thoughts was that I may have boiled the clutch fluid, causing air in the system and hence the sticky pedal. We got to work bleeding and eventually flushing the clutch, making sure the entire line had fresh fluid from front to back. Dropping the car back on the ground, it would still not go into gear properly, nor would the clutch function as expected. Details of this part of the day are a bit hazy trying to remember how it unfolded, but we had about 10 people with all hands on deck trying to diagnose the issue, and hopefully get the little banana car home. The car would move when started in first gear, but was near impossible to shift. By the time the end of the track day rolled around, we made the call to get the car towed home, as any bump-starting/awful shifting would only make things worse, and I wasn’t too keen on replacing a whole E153 if it went really pear shaped.
 
It was a bummer to end the track day before it had begun, and the tow was far from cheap, but that’s the reality of going to the track. Sometimes it goes wrong, and I was quickly learning to accept that for what it was. Back home and in the hands of a trusted mechanic (I do 90% of my own maintenance/mods, however for a job this large and unexpected I chose to get it done professionally), the car was put on the hoist and the box dropped to figure out exactly what had gone wrong.
Yeaaaaahhh… No amount of fluid bleeding could have fixed this.  In a failure I had not seen before, the outside spring seat had broken off, allowing one of the springs to pop out partially and grind/wedge itself against the pressure plate fingers. The pressure plate fingers themselves had been bent/deformed due to the attempt to push them against this dislocated spring. Interestingly, the 3 puck ceramic clutch that was sold with the car was in fact 5 puck, and not ceramic. There’s no bad blood though, this could have easily been some miscommunication between mechanic and owner back before I owned the car.  The flywheel was indeed lightened however, and though it was tricky to do, the Toda unit was able to be resurfaced and reused, while a whole clutch kit was sourced from Xtreme. Given I had become accustomed to the way a button clutch performed, and the extra torque headroom it gave me, I went with an Xtreme Stage 2 Ceramic 1B clutch kit. It got all sealed away with another round of Redline MT-90 fluid, and the car was once again on the road. Talk about an expensive day at the track. As the weather was warming up, and my bank account looking a bit grim, it seemed unlikely that I would be able to get back out to the track for a redemption day before the summer heat really kicked in. Not wanting to melt tyres or overheat the 90’s powerplant, I decided to call an unfortunate end to my track activity for the year, waiting for the cooler weather the following autumn. 
I still got some cool track photos though! Love seeing pictures of it zipping around, doing what it was made for, no matter how the day turned out.
 
 
#68
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Friday, May 21, 2021 1:40 AM (permalink)
+2 (2)
Stupid little changes occupied me and my broken wallet for the rest of the year. Bride old logo head rest, Japanese LED flare, and a crap return on investment in the form of white HVAC LEDs. Woo hotspots.
 
 
Since putting my BBS LMs on, I had barely looked at my Volk wheels stacked in the corner of the garage, so I was able to sell them to recoup some funds from my clutch escapades. They went onto another MR2 though, so I can’t be all that sad about seeing them go!
Narrowly avoiding the Northern Beaches lockdown, I spent my summer going on drives, always camera in hand, and not a whole lot else changed on the car.
 
It does look good though.
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Friday, May 21, 2021 1:52 AM (permalink)
+2 (2)
As 2021 steamed ahead at full pace, we began the typical murmurs about when our first track outing would be. After a soaking wet summer we were conscious of picking a day that would hopefully be dry, while also getting some cool weather to be kind to our engines. April seemed like a nice time of the year, and soon enough we were booked for an Anzac Day Trackschool day. Let the redemption begin!
A few weeks before this newly set deadline, I was doing a nut and bolt check on my car and realised my rear brake pads were down to a couple of mm. On most other cars I wouldn’t have worried too much and swapped them after the track day, however I know these cars use the rear brakes more than most, and I wasn’t 100% sure how much material I tended to shave off during a typical track day. 
Some overnighted Forza FP3 pads from BrakesDirect did the trick, and I went about slapping them in along with a quick brake bleed to ensure everything was in tip top condition.
I’m sure this isn’t a new revelation to most of you, but WOW does winding the rear calipers back in suck. Must have taken me over half an hour for each side, just spinning the piston around and around with very little visual progress. They both got there eventually however, and I think this quote found on the forums sums up my experience pretty succinctly. 
Suddenly there I was, in the car staging up for my first session of the track day. It had been a frustrating time getting back to this point after last track day’s outcome, but I was determined to change things this time around. It would surely take me a couple sessions to be truly confident in the car again, so I went out with the same goal of warming the car up and getting a feel for things. 
I may have got a feel for things too much, because on my first session of the day I put down a 1:15.10. This was a full second shaved off my previous PB, and I felt that both I and the car had way more in it. My personal goal for the day had been reset to a low 1:14, which would have initially seemed fairly lofty coming off my previous time of 1:16.1. 
As the sessions went on the car felt solid, predictable and tight. Getting to really feel the effects of the suspension kit was great, but more importantly, the bucket seat had me absolutely locked in place. I no longer needed to brace myself against anything and I was able to steer with complete control. The time kept falling as I knocked my way down to a 1:14.6 in a session full of traffic and slower drivers. I later found out that a time of 1:16 was approximately the threshold between mine and the next most advanced sessions, so having blitzed this barrier straight off the bat, I likely spent the whole day in the wrong session. As well as being full of 1:19 lappers, the session was FULL. Almost 20 cars on track at one time, and not many with the discipline to blue flag themselves and wave past hot lappers. Due to this I was lucky to get more than 2 hot laps in any session, which I think slightly dampened my progress. 
In the final session I found a bit of open track and ripped off a 1:14.5 to close out the track day. I was over the moon with this time, both because it was a drop of 1.6s from my previous effort, and that the car ran faultlessly through all sessions. That being said, there is a 1:13 for the taking with the car in its current configuration, its just up to me to drive that lap now. 
 
Leaving Wakefield Park under its own power once again, I was grinning the whole way home. 
 
As is tradition, enjoy some of the track photos from the day, including one of myself and a mate sneaking up on one of many GR Yarii to hit the track with us.
 
#70
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Sunday, May 23, 2021 8:27 AM (permalink)
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Fantastic update, the car is looking mint. Congrats on hitting your time goal and getting the PB!
 
How do you find the Forza FP3 brake pads?
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Sunday, May 23, 2021 10:00 AM (permalink)
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Lumix
Fantastic update, the car is looking mint. Congrats on hitting your time goal and getting the PB!
 
How do you find the Forza FP3 brake pads?


Thanks! It was great to redeem myself after all those months haha.
 
It's a bit hard to tell given I only have them on the rear, but I didn't find myself losing any performance compared to my last trackday, when I was still on Project Mu TypeHC+ at all corners. I will likely use the FP3s on the front too when my current set give up the ghost, as they are quite good value.
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Saturday, May 29, 2021 10:46 PM (permalink)
+1 (1)
After a lot of faffing about with different brake set ups I finally settled on Forza FP3 all round and found them excellent. Good bite on a cold rain soaked road where I hadn't used them for miles. They were fully alive immediately. They were also great on track with continual repeatable stopping ability. I never experienced any sign of fade ever.
And that was often with some very sticky 80 tread wear index tyres too. Allowing very heavy braking.
Thanks for the write up and all the pictures. We love pictures.
#73
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Sunday, May 30, 2021 12:10 AM (permalink)
+1 (1)
Falcon
After a lot of faffing about with different brake set ups I finally settled on Forza FP3 all round and found them excellent. Good bite on a cold rain soaked road where I hadn't used them for miles. They were fully alive immediately. They were also great on track with continual repeatable stopping ability. I never experienced any sign of fade ever.
And that was often with some very sticky 80 tread wear index tyres too. Allowing very heavy braking.
Thanks for the write up and all the pictures. We love pictures.




That's great to hear for when I eventually have FP3 on all corners.
 
No worries, I enjoy writing it up and photography is my other main hobby, so it's nice to hear that there are some members still tuning in to the dying art of build threads!
#74
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Re: Adrifto's 1990 Gen3 Banana Sunday, May 30, 2021 10:36 PM (permalink)
+1 (1)
 
Recent changes to the car include a swap to polyurethane steering rack bushings, which was a quick, straightforward install. Unbolt the rack, pull the old crusty bushings, lube the new ones up and slot them in, torquing to spec. Fiddling with the rack did throw my front toe out however, so I did a quick string and tape measure job to get me through to my next proper alignment.
Although cracking in places, the old bushings weren’t in the worst condition, so this upgrade hasn’t changed the driving feel much, if at all. But it’s always nice to get another 31 year old perishable component off the car and into the bin!
Towards the tail end of the last track day I felt a slight spongy feeling from my RBF 600 fluid. At the recommendation from a mate I took the plunge and ordered some Endless RF 650 fluid. This is almost definitely overkill but I got it for a good price and have been keen to see the differences between levels of brake fluid performance for myself.
Next trackday should be some time towards the end of June, though we haven’t booked it in yet. Until next time!
#75
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