my 3rd tercel build...

So with the right stance and rolling stock a Tercel looks like a 3/4 scale E36.   Nice work, looks like a lot of fun.

malibuguy said:

Also our new location for this season has a 100db sound limit (from about 50ft) so I did some testing.  I put a meter about 3.5-4ft behind the car with about 20⁰ offset, set it to max and pinned the throttle.  My repacked with ceramic filament straight thru muffler was 103db, my SuperTurbo muffler initially did 103.3...like that cannot be right.  Tried again...104.7.  Yeesh.

Now I know this aint super realistic test...but I figured worse case scenario since I cannot be floored, in boost high rpm to measure and all my friends work so.

I had a NOS Edelbrock RPM series muffler (one of my all time favorite mufflers) on the shelf, dual offset...threw it on temporarily for a quick test, 100.0db.  Perfect.  Sacrificed the SuperTurbo to give up the bits.  Sorry no pick as I was rushing.  Get it all TIGd in and retest.  98.7db.  Outstanding...should never blow sound anywhere and now I have a proper mellow rear section along with a moderate rear section for the times its alallowed.

Old FSAE trick:

Add 12" to the tip of your exhaust.  Mark 1/2" increments.  Measure, cut off the first 1/2" and measure again.  Do that till your dB level matches what it originally was.  Now you know what to add to your tip to help cut the dB.

Explanation: Sound waves are waves, right?  At the peaks the dB is going to be loudest, at the nodes it is going to be quietest.  There is a defined physical distance between those nodes (and if you know the frequency coming from your exhaust you can do better, more accurate increments than 1/2".)  By cutting the tip at set distances you're changing the phase of the wave as it is released into the aether, thereby setting the wave at its peak or node.

It was usually good for 3-5dB for us.

Had a fast friend ride with me at a previous event and asked his opinion.  He said it seemed like I was waiting for the car to turn and inquired about my rear bar.

That led to discussion with our mutial friend, Brian at Karcepts.  Took some measurements, made some calculations and he suggested his rear S2K bar should be close enough to make work.

So last week I implemented one on Earl.  I chassis mounted it vs the axle-mounted Whiteline unit it replaced.

The old bar was currently set at 170lbs/inch (calculated) so I started the Karcepts bar at its 5/5 setting which is around 216lbs/in iirc and hit up the next PCA autocross event.

Car felt immediately better.  Then I went next step up, 5/6.  Car was even better.  So I go up to 6/6 and found more speed.  Following run tires fell off yet I still gained 2 tenths.  Left the bar alone and watered the tires down.  Last run found another tenth, ended up 4th overall raw time.  I am pretty ecstatic with that!  

Replaced Earls original fuel pump with a Carter replacement for an sw20.  It definitely needed it as my fueling under WOT was over a point richer in AFRs so I had to retune the car a bit.

Then I did 2 more AX events in Earl.

2 weekends ago I ran up at Susquehanna SCCA on the Elmerton lot.  It was very similar to a course they ran earlier in the year but with some modest changes that just made it flow very well.  I didnt touch the rear bar at all.  Car felt good.  Tires started to fall off but I was able to make the last run be the fastest.  I like running there.  Its a great surface and its pretty smooth.  I felt my performance was pretty strong.

This past weekend I went to the WDCR event down in Waldorf.  I hate driving here.  Its in the armpit of MD with only 2 ways to get in and out once out of Waldorf.  Just getting out of Waldorf alone can be an unreasonable amount of time.

Rain was hanging in the forecast.  If I was going to potentially sit in 2-3hours of rain traffic I was going to run my Yaris (I also think its just faster in the rain on my little 205 Falken 660s).  I prepped the Yaris friday and was literally waiting to wake up Sunday morning to make my decision.  The forecast literally changed like every hour leading up to that.

Wake up stupid early (215am) and check the weather.  The night before I went to sleep said something like 30-50% chance later in the afternoon but otherwise overcast.  215am it said no rain and even potential sun.  4am it changed back to the small afternoon chance.  Luckily I was run 1st, work 2nd.  So I shouldnt have to deal with much if at all.  I chose to run Earl.

Now this was an important day because some new cars were now running in XB this year and I needed to see what I was up against for next year if I decided to run another full season with WDCR like I did the 3 previous years.  This year was my "loosey goosey" year.

Welp, I ended up driving a little sloppy and it didn't help my front tires are just flatout done.  My 1st lap they felt great but it was my first lap so it was slowest.  The rest of the 5 runs I found chunks of time but was just struggling to just get what I felt was a strong run.  I ended up in 2nd, 7 tenths off the new competition and ahead of 3rd by 2 hundredths, who is also a newer competitor.  I do not know his driving history.  However 1st is a AX regular, normally runs in other classes.

Also an awesome racer brought his scales so I could get a ready to race weight of Earl, this was done in a parking lot so corner weights may not be accurate.  Earl is about 40lbs more then I anticipated.  And overall with my current bodyweight...about 190lbs over classs minimum.

There is no realistic way to drop 190 lbs off the car.  A carbon wing would be nice, I dunno if I could sell enough blood and semen to afford that.

I can make tubular bumpers but that's probably only 7-10lbs there.  I will absolutely not delete the AC.  I rather delete the turbo then the AC 😆.  Rear seats might be like 5lbs...but I like having them.  I may consider going back to Tercel calipers and rotors, if memory serves me thats 5lbs a corner difference, I also get a better range of pad options strangely enough if I switch back.

Anyways.  I do not see running the car again until next year after replacing the front tires.  I have some other ideas I want to try, like retarding the cam timing to shift the powerband higher.  Plus I have a new turbo to try...not that the car really needs any more bulk power

I was going to wait to try this until after dyno testing what I have but...ive been itching to try factory alternative cam timing, especially with my hybrid, high compression combination.

The E series engine, in DOHC flavor (at least, I cannot remember if the single slammers have this) have 2 timing marks on the sole cam gear (cams are scissor driven).  One for 4e, one for 5e.  4e mark compared to 5e mark is 4⁰ retarded.  Or alternatively, 5e mark compared to 4e mark is 4⁰ advanced.

So today on my 5e, I set the cams at 4⁰ retarded.  I wanted to try this to help extend my power band.  So far I think ive recieved just that.  Normally the gen2 5efe is just done after 5500rpm.  My gen1 bottom end and valve springs are good for at least 7200rpm, with people going even higher then that.

On my way home, I revved out to 7100 a couple times.  Had to clean up the tune a bit as I initially set it up fat to be safe.  It runs really good, power seems to drop off around 65-6800.  I want to do more testing and maybe tweak the tune a bit up there but that already gives me approximately 8mph more in 2nd.

I rev mine up to 7500 and in 2nd redline its at 67mph

For your coilovers what kinda damping you got on them? Special damping rates?

Im running basic 6k 4k bc coilovers and they leave alot to be desired on the track
 

Does that 4 point brace you got under the car make a big difference?

mycars12 said:

I rev mine up to 7500 and in 2nd redline its at 67mph

For your coilovers what kinda damping you got on them? Special damping rates?

Im running basic 6k 4k bc coilovers and they leave alot to be desired on the track
 

Does that 4 point brace you got under the car make a big difference?

Sounds like you may have a shorter final drive, like the 4.31.

The dampers are Redshift competition spec.  They are valved completely different  compared to the normal off the shelf BCs, which to me ride like OEM + like 15%.  I have 2 customers with normal BCs (on these chassis) and am familiar with how they ride and perform.  One I switched out to 5k/3k, while the other is normal 6/4.  On mine with 10/7, the Comps are just compliant enough to deal with getting to events. I will say, once I got them set I never mess with them any more.  On my old FAs I was always cranking them up and down to and from events.  With the RedShifts, at most I might click the fronts down 1 click for the street drive.  They are that spot on.

Here is a link to their listing on valving, https://redshiftmotorsports.com/products/redshift-bc-competition-1w-coilovers-1991-99-toyota-tercel-starlet-ep82-ep91-c-01-comp1w

The lower brace has been on the car since I first got it running several years ago.  I wouldnt dare run this chassis this hard without something there.  In fact Ive had to repair it 2wice due to cracking.  So there is definitely some forces going thru it.  I have plans to make a beefier version.  This was leftover from my first Tercel build from nearly 20 years ago.