Derek's EFI-L18 4 Door MEGATHREAD

[S15DET]

I LOVE THESE PICS AND VIDEOS, there, now I've got to get to one last event before winter, you've inspired me!!

[Derek]

Awesome! That's all I could hope for -- inspiring anyone to get out there and drive the wheels off their 510!


A repeat pic for the new page:

"Took another sip of the potion, hit the three-wheel motion"

[S15DET]

certainly was "a good day"

[goichi1]

Makes me wish I would have put the coupe on a track at least once. I sure wish I had a track car now! That looks like a ton of fun.

[Ash510]

Wow I just had a chance to look at your video, and that looks like so much fun! I was thinking of doing the driver training at mission next year, at least get my car out and have some fun with it.

I really like the camera angle you have in that video, shows all the suspension travel and driver input.

Thanks Derek .. Ps what tires are you running?

[Derek]

I am running 185/60R14 Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec (what a name). They are the same tire, but a smaller size than what we run on our Lemons CRX, so I am used to the feel of them and they hold up great on light cars. They are way more communicative at the edge than my old Kumho V710s, which produced ridiculous grip, but were maybe less over all fun to drive (and don't last). I'm also enjoying not having to pack and mount a second set of wheels every track day, and my brakes being able to keep up with the tires on the car. The 30 tread wear V710 R-compounds would soften the brake pedal by the end of a track day. The Toyo T1-Rs that were on the car just before the Dunlops were similarly fun on track, but not nearly as fast.

[HudsonMC]

I am running 185/60R14 Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec (what a name). They are the same tire, but a smaller size than what we run on our Lemons CRX, so I am used to the feel of them and they hold up great on light cars. They are way more communicative at the edge than my old Kumho V710s, which produced ridiculous grip, but were maybe less over all fun to drive (and don't last). I'm also enjoying not having to pack and mount a second set of wheels every track day, and my brakes being able to keep up with the tires on the car. The 30 tread wear V710 R-compounds would soften the brake pedal by the end of a track day. The Toyo T1-Rs that were on the car just before the Dunlops were similarly fun on track, but not nearly as fast.

That's common with the race slicks. I had the same experience jumping from the V710s on our RX-7. Race slicks are great for the lap times, but I always have more fun on a road tire like the Dunlops.

The star spec is such a great tire. It's crazy that there's almost nothing on the market right now that can compete with it in the same price range. Maybe the Azenis from Falken, but I think I still like the Star Spec, but my experience with the Azenis is limited.

[S15DET]

I run the Potenza RE11's and love them. They are in the same class as the Azenis (ran 2 sets of these on my 510) and the Star Spec.

[speeder]

+1 on the Dunlops. I'm running the same size, 185/60 14", on my 510. They are a fantastic combo of grip and predictability. I just hope they keep making this size.

Inspiring pics! Thanks for posting them!

Jon

[Derek]

With the rainy season starting and my 944 turbo not starting reliably, or having working rear defrost or wipers, I decided to fortify my collection of white 4 doors and got my 510 a new parking buddy. 2010 GTI 6-speed w 20k miles. The newest car I have ever owned by 18 years. Direct injection, Bluetooth and blinking side mirrors oh my! FWD is a fundamental bummer, but it's mostly for my wife, who loves the car and it (and non-defeatable stability nannies) will keep me from tracking it. Only mods will be a new set of wheels and rubber. Pics demonstrate even new small cars are huge -- the GTI is an inch longer and nearly nine inches wider than the Datsun and then +1000 lbs!









In 510 action, I repaired the last alt that broke -- one of the buses that solder to the windings had split due to the case bolts backing out. I've soldered it back together, and reassembled the case using high strength Loctite. I did a better job lining up the belt by swapping pulley spacers, it was about 2mm out of plane before. I also purchased a brand new Remy unit which I prepped with Loctite and have ordered a slightly larger pulley (4") from Summit racing (along with a VDO voltmeter) to put on the new one. The old guy will be the ready-to-drop-in spare.

I also purchased a new PC545 battery as the car was having problems starting (and the old battery was 6 years old) but this hasn't seemed to fix it. Really strange, some times it happily cranks over like normal and some times it is really sluggish and turns over at like 2Hz (120rpm) or slower. It almost always catches though. All the connections and contacts in the system look good. The intermittency of the problem is annoying and mysterious. Any clues?

[okayfine]

Bad/cut battery cable? Issues with the starter?

[andrew.lori]

Hey Derek . I just went through your sting and have a question. You said at the beginning you had your Dad ship you his L18 from Ontario. The pictures of your dad that you posted looks like a guy I knew in the 80's from Ottawa his name was Scott Ha**#@*n. Any chance you dad's name is Scott ??
Just being Curious.

Andrew

[Derek]

Nope, my dad's name is Neil, and is from Georgetown Ontario.

[andrew.lori]

cool I just had to ask ... ya never know

[Derek]

I did a bit more starter motor investigating and threw a clamp meter on it to see the current draw while cranking. I didn't have a chance to test a super slow crank, but a slower than it should be crank had it measuring 330A -- which seems like an awful lot. Doing a bit of digging, high current, slow cranking is an indication that the starter is probably done. If the current was low, it would be an indication of a poor connection.

Any suggestions for lighter weight bolt in options for the L-series?

A little bit of digging find this: http://www.the510realm.com/viewtopic.ph ... ter#p96502

Oooh looks trick! Ordering one tomorrow.