[kgschlosser]

I just discovered how easy it is to add wider tires without the need to widen the body.

If you pull the trunk liner and the fender liners on the rear the work can be done.
The wheels will have to have the offset changed more to the + when going wider. This will put the additional width to the inside. The problem is the wheel and tire contacting the frame. Get the wheels and tires lined up with the studs and push the wheel against the frame. Use a marker and mark the frame on the inside of the wheel and also on the outside of the tire where it makes contact.

Cut a piece of 1/2 steep plate so it is the same height as the frame and longer then the marks you drew on he frame. I would probably say that 12" longer would be enough. Weld the plates to he inside of the frame rails where the marks are splitting the excess between either side of the marks.

cut a notch in the frame an inch away from the marks away from the wheel. Cut into the frame the depth you will need. Using the same 1/2" steel plate box in the notched out area and weld into place..

Grind so it is all nice nice and paint it.

Can probably use 3/8" thick steel or maybe even 1/4" thick, with 1/2" you know there is not going to be an issue. And because the plate on the inside of the rails gets welded before cutting the frame there wouldn't be an issue of the frame potentially moving or bending in an odd manner.

Easy easy

 

[phil1734]

... The problem is the wheel and tire contacting the frame. ...

Once again, oversimplified and untrue.

The rear tire hitting the frame on the front side is only part of the issue, which can be solved via your method above, or, to a point, a smaller diameter tire. (There's also a useless sheet metal bracket that can be trimmed away to gain half an inch for free.)

However, this doesn't solve or even address the issue that the inside of a rear wheel moved that far inboard won't clear the rear upper control arm. IIRC, an 18" wheel can move inboard less than an inch before it crashes at full droop.

So now in addition to boxing your frame, you're making your own custom control arms. Easy easy just got a whole lot harder harder.

 

[kgschlosser]

first off did you see anyone say anything about using an 18" wheel Because I sure as hell didn't.
Second if the suspension is at "full droop" that would mean the car is airborne, I am pretty sure the concern wouldn't be the wheel hitting the control arm at that point.

 

[marksbug]

Ive framed, caged, narrowed ,tubbed,built many cars, I have possibly 1 more car in me to do...and my solstice wont be the one to get done....you guys can have fun !!!

 

[ConeHugger01]

2021.04.25 First autocross!

Saturday test n tune: Traction Control button didn't work, so I was stuck with having TC and the ESC coming on and braking one wheel in corners. Very frustrating. Had to just drive glass smooth. On run 8 I blew the hose of the turbo right at the finish line and the engine died. Thankfully this lil car is light and easy to push. Had to have my wife run home to get an 11mm deep socket. It was the spring loaded type clamp. I don't know why those even exist unless they are supposed to blow at a certain pressure. So I just cranked it down and compressed the spring completely. Fixed the TC button, it was just not making contact.

In the process I learned:
1. The TC button does not care if there are TPMS sensors in wheels. I already asked about it, but double confirmed.
2. Having an airbag system fault or no passenger seat/sensor also doesn't matter to the system, at least for up to '08.

Sunday course was really technical. Turning off the TC/ESC was perfect. I had a LOAD of FUN. It was amazing. The car did exactly what I wanted, when I wanted. It felt great. Brakes are fantastic. Turn in is so immediate!

Got a lot of compliments on the fender flares (amazon cheapies, weird b/c they are "cheap racing junk" IMO) and the wide stance. It does look amazing tho. Can't wait to make it even nicer with some wrap on the front and put on the grill insert etc.

Coolant temps stayed super steady all day (it was not very hot). Taking off the hood trim is going to be a real benefit come later in the summer.

Still to do: better alignment/camber, corner balance? semi permanent microphone cable for gopro, some magnets to keep the harnesses from flailing around when not in use (ie stock belts on the street), maybe a diff brace.

If you peeps autocross and aren't putting on 18x11s, you're not living!

 

[phil1734]

Now put it on a 200lb diet.

Assuming things have settled and the dust is cleared, I'll leave this here for anyone following this thread in the future:

It's not my car, so I don't know exact numbers, but this was a 19" wheel moved inboard approximately 1". Otherwise stock suspension and alignment. The sheet metal bracket I referenced trimming is the cut-out square, just above the rub point on the right hand side.

With my ride height lowered 1.25", 2deg of camber, a theoretical additional ~2mm of spacer, and a 295/35/19, I have not yet had any issues myself, but that's only with limited road miles. I fully expect minor rubbing on the frame once I get a chance to drive my car in anger again.

 

[wmf246]

awesome... congrats

Bill

 

[kgschlosser]

I guess that person must have a flying car in order for the suspension to be hanging like that.

 

[ConeHugger01]

2021.05.12
I bought a bunch of hard drive magnets and pop riveted them to behind the seats to catch the harnesses when not in use, seems to be a good solution.
Also put a metal strip where the cup holder was on the shifter trim area. My wife made a magnetic pouch for sunglasses, wallet, etc.

I ordered an Arkon phone mount but didn't get the right ball mount that I really wanted, so I have a bunch of interior panels taken off hoping the 17mm ball mount comes soon.

The big project is now to wrap this bad girl. 3M Satin Dark Gray, and 3M matte Riviera blue and maybe some Oracal Saffron yellow. Wife is helping with the wrap, to hold it and stretch or use the heat gun.

Taking the spoiler off the rear was a multiple hour project- the nuts were easy, but the adhesive strips were a pain. It must be butyl tape. And butyl tape literally never dries out, and is a huge pain to scrape off. I have a gallon of super-professional adhesive remover (Cumberland Industries) and it's like 99% xylene (think of how a Shapie marker smells, but 100x stronger). Not to be used without ventilation! Saturating the butyl and then gently scraping, and repeat, until its almost all gone then you can use a paper towel on the last amount on the surface. ICK. When I remount the spoiler I'm not using tape, but maybe a couple nylock nuts and a little bit of "cushion" that is not adhesive.

Here's a couple pictures without the spoiler for anyone who ever wondered what it would look like.

Wrap:

 

[ConeHugger01]

2021.05.01
Here's the mount for the microphone on the rear bumper. I could carefully rivet and mount a bar inside the rear bumper without removing it, of course because I already had a big hole cut for the rear tow strap. And it's just a little thumb screw in a flat nut on the end of the bar inside to screw in gently. The plug with the blue silicone is the "fishing it out" line to get it out of the hole where the license plate light is, so it can all tuck inside. Then the cable routes under the trunk carpet, into the passenger area near the passenger seatbelt area, and down to the floor behind the panel. The cable then has another 5 foot coiled up that I can run to either side of the car or windsheild.

 

[ConeHugger01]

2021.05.20
Arkon phone mount, just the 17mm ball attached to the trim to the right of the radio, and their road mount spring clip thing. Handle multiple phone sizes pretty well.

 

[ConeHugger01]

2021.05.22
The wrap got done just in time for autocross on Sunday.
3M satin dark gray metallic, 3M matte Riviera blue, Oracal Saffron yellow matte

My wife helped a lot, held the pieces as I squeegee'd and smoothed, she stretched or used the heat gun. It was a big help to have a 2nd set of hands. I did some pieces myself, but with 2 it was was easier, and more fun. One of the hardest parts was peeling the backing and not having the vinyl part fall onto the ground and pick up dirt.

We did do some cuts and overlaps, because racecar - it did not need to be perfect. Also, we used knifeless tape and that was a huge help and way easier than cutting with a knife, although I did do that on a few places. Sharp corners are the hardest to wrap around.

The blue is ELECTRIC in the sunlight. It just glows. The matte finish also makes it appear always lit, unlike a gloss surface with dark reflected areas. Its super cool.

 

[agent008]

That's a good looking ride. How did you fare?
What do you think of the Brembos. Did you actually try out the car before installing them?

 

[ConeHugger01]

It's really good, it has a lot of grip. A lot. At the event I was 4th overall in raw time. Pretty good IMO, for being only the 2nd real event I've driven the car in. A Porsche Cayman GT4 beat me on raw time, and I know he had better launch off the line, lots of power, where this car of course has a little less low end grunt. I'm probably had more speed in the slaloms. I'd like to launch harder but don't want to break a diff - I am looking at getting the diff brace from KappaHaus.

In 2 weeks is an event at our airport venue, a lot bigger, higher speeds. Will be interesting to get into 3rd gear for sure.

As for brakes, when I test drove the car with stock brakes, I was pretty surprised they were rather good. From what I remember (that was now 6 months ago) the were - compared to the Brembos - softer at the beginning and got a little better the deeper you took the pedal. The Brembos are good instantly. I've gone pretty deep with them already. The pedal feel is great, really firm (tho I know that is also a function of the MC and good new fluid and also pads). Stopping power is great, very immediate. I'm running EBC Blue pads up front, and stock rotors/pads on the rear.

 

[ConeHugger01]

2021.06.10

QuickJack plates - in order to lift the car I've been putting rubber tire treads across my QJ and making sure to line it just so carefully, and taking off the front fenders. But no more, I can't be doing that for a tire change. I needed to lift via the pucks, leaving the fender on. Hence the 1/4 inch plates, with tabs to keep them on the QJ rails. The rears go on top of the main rear hinge point on the QJ, and the front is free, so the front pieces get an extra 3/4 box piece for more rigidity. Worked great!

 

[ConeHugger01]

2021.06.10
Prepping for an autocross at a venue 2.5 hours away I found a coolant leak? Only 500 miles on the parts, several autocrosses. Given the water pump woes of this car, this worries me, there should be Ø leaking, anything else seems like already time for a replacement. Fudge.

 

[agent008]

Sorry about the coolant leak. Hope it's something minor.

tho I know that is also a function of the MC and good new fluid and also pads)

For the brembo kit, is a master cylinder change mandatory? Or did you do it additionally to brembos.

 

[ConeHugger01]

@agent008 I did not change the master cylinder, and it works just fine. Pedal travel and pressure are good, nice and firm pedal all the time, stops really well. Using some pretty aggressive autocross pads, they make a lot of dust but stop great.

 

[kgschlosser]

@ConeHugger01

Have you noticed a large change to the brake bias at all??

 

[agent008]

@agent008 I did not change the master cylinder, and it works just fine. Pedal travel and pressure are good, nice and firm pedal all the time, stops really well. Using some pretty aggressive autocross pads, they make a lot of dust but stop great.

Oh, since you mentioned the master cylinder as one of the factors contributing to your good braking performance, I inferred you had replaced/upgraded it. Good to know that's not needed.