A friend, in his G35, and I got to the track around 1pm for the halfday of driving. The first thing we noticed as we drove in was the lack of street cars there as most were actual race cars. Other cars included: open wheel mazda, new ZR-1, spec miatas, new M Coupe, etc.

We were allowed as much time on the track as we could fit in between 1pm and 5pm and we got on the track immediately. I didn’t want to go much over 8/10 because of my lack of track driving in the last year and a half, so I started slowly. The car felt really good (besides the wheel bearing noise). It was very neutral all the way through the corners and the tires seemed to have a ton of grip, especially during the lower speed corners.  Although the car is much slower in a straight line than my E36, I bet I could turn in better lap times.

So I was cruising through my 4th or 5th session on the track, braking for one of the last turns, when I notice water coming up over my hood. My thought process: “It’s not raining. Shit.” So I immediately pulled off track and opened the hood as water came trickling out from underneath.  After pulling off multiple hoses, trying to see where the leak was coming from, I found that the radiator neck had almost completely broken off, leaving an 1/8″ ring.  I was barely able to reattach the hose with some strategic positioning of the hose clamp.

My day on the track had experienced insta-death. Confidence was not high for making the 200 mile trek back home. Water was still leaking out, even with my hoseclamp bandaid. So I drove 10 miles to Autozone and asked the employees there if they had anything for me. One suggested a new radiator which they did not have in stock. That was a very helpful suggestion, but I ended up buying plastic epoxy and covering the hose/radiator connection:

autozone's amazing plastic epoxy!

After visiting Taco Bell while waiting for the stuff to cure, I started up the car. The water still dribbled out of the connection, but I figured I was okay. The drive home took about 5-6 hours with me stopping every 30 minutes to check/add water, but thankfully I made it home around midnight.

Lessons learned: Car handles well, 20 year old plastic radiators are a little brittle, and a little plastic epoxy can save you from giving your paycheck to a tow truck driver.

I ordered a new radiator, now I just need to wait until the garage gets above 40 degrees F so I can replace it, then have a mechanic replace the wheel bearing, then go back to the track!

Test posting with the droid…

woot dot com

• control arm bushings removed from lollipops
• 225/45/15 hankook rs-3 tires mounted on the euroweaves
• uuc sst brake lines installed
• rear springs, rear shocks, rear brakes installed
• front struts installed

one of the two horrible brake lines to install

rear springs, shocks, brake lines installed

brakes installed

strut installed

ground control camber plates

hopefully tomorrow i can get the new control arm bushings pressed on, flush/bleed the brake fluid, and charge the battery.  then i’ll be able to take it for a test ride…!

• steering wheel
• steering wheel hub adapter
• valve cover gasket
• sway bars
• sst brake lines
• rear shock mounts
• tires (delivered to european auto works down the street)

struts consist of:

• original strut housings
• bilstein sport shocks
• h&r race springs
• ground control camber/caster plates

note that the spring actually isn’t compressed at all right now. originally i was panicked that i had the wrong springs, but after searching on r3v, I discovered that this is normal… I hope i never completely unload the suspension while on the track.

I will have to take a photo sometime to show the difference between the lengths of the original spring and the h&r’s. it’s gotta be close to 4 inches.