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3 minute read
RWD - Some Observations...
Compliments of Mikelly @ renntrack.com
4-10-2011
So I've had the RWD conversion, along with the GT2 bits inplace for several weeks now, and I've had a chance to drive the car quite a bit. Yesterday, under a threat of rain, I drove the car from my home in Spotsylvania Va down to the state Capital of Richmond, and then back via some back roads. I put about 200 miles on the car and had a chance to drive through a bunch of scenarios. The previous Thursday I also had a chance to get the car inspected and played around a little bit with it...
My car has not been scaled or re-aligned yet. It still has a very street friendly alignment (-1.2 front and -1.0 rear on the camber). The previous corner weighting is obviously gone, due to the 70+ pounds removed from the driveline. I'm sure a proper alignment and setup/scale/bumpsteer would help the car handle this added power. That said, the ability to just stand on the throttle and "go" is gone. This car now is much more "lively" to drive and certainly requires your FULL ATTENTION when getting aggressive with the gas pedal. Much moreso than ever before in the previous 4 years owning it. How bad? How about breaking traction shifting from 3rd to 4th at about 4800 RPMS? 
I may "detune" the car while getting used to this power. UMW sent me a "stock exhaust" file that I may instal while just getting used to the "new" found power in the car.
Mechanical comments:
When the car was on the lift, and after I had removed the driveshaft, I had tried to "spin" the front wheels while the axles and diff were still in place. Although the tires would spin by hand, they required some force to make the wheels turn... I'm not talking "brake pad drag" here... I'm talking driveline drag. The difference after removing the front diff/axles was simply amazing. That front drive system saps a ton of power from the car. It also adds to the steering effort. I'm surprised at how my car, with monoballs at the critical spots was able to free up the steering even more. Also, there is a lack of road noise that was previously coming from the driveline. The car is actually quieter in the cabin with the front drive system out of the car. That, combined with the added sound deadening material we added over the winter really helped the cabin quiet down a fair amount. To the point that the wife actually tolerates the car on drives around town now!
More to come as we get to the point of installing the transaxle pump/heat exchanger and lines. So far I'm very pleased with the work done. The car is very stable at highway speeds as long as you pay attention to what you're doing and realize that the front drive is no longer there to bail you out when you want to play hero!!