Updates! All minor stuff, but still important to me.
Fixed my sunroof with one from ebay for ~$80.
My hood release cable broke while at the track. Replaced just the front cable and now the hood release feels buttery smooth! If your release is hard to pull, like mine was, I recommend replacing it before it breaks completely and you have to deal with doing a B&E on your own car's engine compartment.
First off, I did another track day, this time a proper one (good weather) at my local track. Waterford Hills is my favorite track in Michigan, I'm lucky to live so close to it. In preparation, I ordered up the parts to complete my sport package conversion by adding a 15mm sway bar off an AWD E90.
Did you know? You can fit the sway bar in the car backwards, with zero interference issues until you drive the car! You will hear it clunking on the frame, and you will feel like an idiot.
If your installed sway bar looks like this, your job is not even halfway done. You dope.
Other notes from the install:
-Be prepared to tap every sway bar mounting hole. You can use generic M8 hex bolts for the bushing brackets as well as the endlink mounts in the knuckle. This part probably took longer than anything else. Embrace the suck.
-Having a friend to help you feed the bar through is extremely helpful! Especially if they're experienced in finaggling car parts through tight places.
-I had to remove 3/4 bolts from the subframe, and leave the front driver's mount bolt threaded in only a few turns in order to achieve the clearance required to snake the bar in. It can definitely be done, again it is much easier with a helper. Just watch your brake lines and make sure they don't stretch too much!
Fitting the tap in there. Couldn't fit a standard tap handle in there, so I used a tiny (~4" long) crescent wrench to torque on it.
-Driving impressions-
Oh my god the car is finally balanced!!! After being turned off by the understeery nature of this car, I'm so happy I had reserved my judgment until my sport package conversion was complete. It's amazing now! Holds a very good set mid-corner. It still tends to push a bit when you give it throttle mid-corner, but at least it feels 1000x more balanced. As in, all the tires are being utilized 90% or more to adhere the car to the pavement. This completely made my track day.
Those are my two friends in the background. We all pushed each other to get our shit done in preparation for the track day. My buddy with the MR2 had some basic maintenance to finish, but he was seriously busy at work. My other friend has a really sick E30 he just finished building, but his differential blew up two days before the track day. Yet, we all made it! Mission success.
With no oil cooler and stock brakes, by the end of the day I was roasting both. Good! I must be getting faster. Oil temps hit 285* a couple of times, and my front brakes were pretty smoky coming in after only 6 laps on the track. Looks like I will have a few more junkyard upgrades in store for this wonderful car.
Couple of bonus photos. Cheers!