Broken Clutch Plate

When I fitted a set of APE super heavy duty clutch springs, I found that one of the clutch plates had broken. I have now replaced the friction plate with a new one and re assembled.

The heavy duty clutch springs make the car a lot easier to drive and provide a more predictable biting point. I would definitely recommend these springs over the EBC and stock springs.

Laminova Oil Cooler Restrictor

When I use the car on track I have observed that when I have a few hard laps and pushing the engine consistently in the higher rev range, the oil temperature drifts up over 100 Deg C. When it hits 105 Deg C then I ease off the revs and the oil temperature drops back to an acceptable level.

I have started to question the Laminova and whether it is large enough. The size of cooler that I have is a C43-180 which is equivalent to a 16 row oil cooler. This should be fine for my application.

I have spoken to Speedflow and they suggested that I try a restrictor or a water plug in to the inlet which will force more coolant through the outer jacket of the heat exchanger core. They suggested to run the unit without the restrictor when the water pump runs at above 80 litres per minute. On checking my pump data sheet I found that my pump runs at a maximum of 15 litres per minute, so a restrictor should make a significant difference.

Now the restrictor is fitted, more coolant should flow in to the core and perform better. I have a track day later on this week and will see how it performs.

Air Intake Mods

Since moving the radiator forward, I now have space to run the ducting for the air box to underneath the radiator. I have removed the ducting from the inside of the nose cone as the aluminium cutout was starting to mark the fibreglass. 

I found that when the intake air sensor was fitted to the filter backplate, the sensor gained a lot of heat from the engine and read high.

As a solution I fitted an air temp sensor with an exposed element and fitted it away from the aluminium back plate. I fixed the sensor in the side of the airbox and will monitor the performance.

I replaced the plastic plate on the airbox for an aluminium plate. I manufactured the plate and powder coated black, then mixed with rivets and tiger seal. 

Radiator Fan Move

Have been thinking about moving my radiator fan to behind the rad for some time, but hadn't got around to it. The objective was to improve the cooling capacity and to provide better air flow through  the radiator. 

I removed the fan and spaced out the radiator with M6 spacers, then adjusted the coolant hoses a little. I then fixed the fan to the read of the radiator. 

Not changed the rotation on the fan yet but may do later. Now the fan will sock air form the engine bay and forces it through the radiator. Ideally I want the fan to suck air through the radiator from outside.

Will see how effective the fan is and then may reverse the direction and compare results.

Now I have space for a large front mounted intercooler.

Track Day - Donington 2nd June 2014

Attended a track evening at Donington Park with Leon, had a great time catching up with a group of fellow MNR owners. 

On track I managed a best time of 1:28 with a passenger in the car compared to a previous best of 1:35 solo from my last outing. Feeling a lot more confident with the car, but there is plenty of opportunity for further improvement.

Feel that the car feels a little over geared with the 3.14 differential and takes a while to rev out, possibly a 3.38 is a better choice for a relatively stock Hayabusa.

This time I managed to get the GoPro working and I've attached some of the video's of the evening's track action.

Towards the end of the session there was some smoke coming from the exhaust area which turned out to be the TDC plug had come loose and fallen out. This then caused a small amount of oil to spay onto the exhaust. Luckily it was nothing serious and I replaced the plug.

Sighting Lap:

First Session:

Ride out with Chris Forster:

Chris Forster driving my car:

Ride out with Leon Morrell:

Carpets & Fire Extinguisher

While at Stoneleigh I picked up a roll of waterproof carpet and some spray glue. Wanted to fit the carpet between the chassis rails. As the powder coat floor was looking a little scuffed.

Made up some cardboard templates for the floor panels and used these to cut out the carpet shapes. Glued the carpet in place with contact adhesive. 

While I was fitting the carpets I fixed a fire extinguisher in the passenger footwell. 

Track Day - Donington 6th May 2014

Attended my first Track Day with the MNR at Donington Park. Had a really enjoyable day where I spent time to learn how the car handles. To start with while the track was still wet, I left the car at road setting with the suspension (3 clicks front and 6 clicks rear).

When the track dried out and I gained a little confidence I changed the damper settings to 6 clicks front and 10 clicks rear, must say that the car felt really well planted with very little body roll. Tyre pressure wise I went with 16psi front and 18psi rear with cold tyres.

One big concern on my mind was noise, I didn't get black flagged so during the afternoon session I spoke to the guys in the control tower to measure my drive by levels. On the pit straight I made sure that I used the full rev range and shifted at 10,500 rpm and pushed as hard as I could. The noise reading over 6 or so laps was consistently reading 94db and one at 96db. I'm pleased with the results.

When I was revving out the engine and changing up at redline the oil temp went quite high up to 100 Deg C as I shifted lower down the rev range the oil temp reduced to around 90 Deg C. Need to understand better how high I can push the oil temp before causing a problem or look at cooling and see if the Laminova cooler is up to the job.

The Race Technology DL1 logger worked really well. I managed to capture my sessions on track, I got detail of lines through the corners and also some lap times. The data analysis software is quite easy to use and gives a good insight in to the detail. As a first time this will be a benchmark for me to progress from. 

I tried to use my new GoPro, but this was an absolute failure as the camera decided to randomly stop recording after 20 - 40 seconds so no video clips this time. Need to look at this to see whats wrong.