It’s been a little while since I’ve posted an update on the FX, and a few little fun things have happened in the intervening couple of months. The first thing of note was that I acquired a rivnut tool.
This is something that’s been on my list for a while and has come in extremely handy multiple times already. Most notably for using rivnuts (also called nutserts) to attach Billy’s rear wing on his S13.
I also used them to replace the plastic threaded clip inserts for the rear wing on the FX16, allowing for the ghetto spoiler to make a return, secured much more sturdily.
I also ran an autocross event with Billy, where I fully realized the extent of how dead my R888 tires really are, as well as having some awesome pictures snapped by the very talented Brian Kay (curiousBK Photography), who took the photo used at the top of this post.
Now, since going to Hyperfest, a couple good friends Corey and Pierce have caught the track bug. Unfortunately the car Pierce was going to track this year needs an engine rebuild (not saying because rotary, but....) and I told Pierce that if he supplied me with a seat that we could both fit in, he could autocross the car. So a week after making the offer, he showed up with a used Kirkey seat and the three of us spent an evening fabricating a mounting solution that would work for all 3 of us.
Since personally, I’m looking to do less autocrossing and more HPDE/Trackcross type events, I decided that a little neck safety was in order. Now, I know this is no substitute for a HANS device, but since I’m on a limited budget and the cheapest HANS out there is around $500, I figured a $30 foam collar was better than nothing.
Another consideration when doing higher speed track events is oil starvation. Since I’d already experienced fuel sloshing in the tank, I decided to add in some baffles from TwosRUs to the oil pan just to be safe. These little trap doors will hopefully keep the oil around the pickup where it belongs, even in long right-hand sweepers.
Since my first HPDE day is coming up in August, I wanted to make sure that the oil cooler was doing it’s job. The FX16 GTS comes with an oil cooler from the factory, but the sandwich plate sending the oil to the cooler opens and closes based on oil pressure, not temperature. Instead, I’m using a Mocal thermostatic sandwich plate with Derale fittings to run to the stock oil cooler.
First, remove the huge, bulky factory sandwich plate assembly.
To delete the thick factory plate, you have to get an oil filter union from a 4A-FE or 4A-C engine (Toyota part number 90404-19001).
Now just run the stock lines to the new plate, put a plug in oil pan where the old return line went, and you’re good to go.
I’ve also been making my way around the interior stitch welding the seams to get this chassis as strong as I can. I’m about half way done so far I think. Next time hopefully I’ll have a new battery setup, all the stitch welding done, and maybe some other bits and bobs.