Ok, so I figured I'd update this thread because cars are never done. In the last couple months I've learned a lot, and then realized how much I still don't know. First of all, after going to Del Mar I took the car up to Goodguys Costa Mesa and beat on it around their little autocross, got my times down into the realm of mediocrity, and really had a chance to learn the car. The following month in June, my dad and I drove up to Pleasonton with Doug, Chris, Chad and the Stig, whom I think I'll just start referring to as the Socal "mousepack." Long story short we had a great time and I really discovered the weak points on the car.
Now, here is what I learned that might be helpful for everyone with projects using DSE's frame and Quadralink.
1. Don't rush to go to sema reverse the power steering lines on your rack, you will probably destroy its internals, then go about driving it, knowing something in the front suspension, possibly even having to do with the alignment is off, but not knowing what for months.
2. If you have DSE's subframe don't put a 255 tire on the front because you want a low ride height, and are worried about rubbing/scraping. You can't pull off a ton of u-turns with 255s, so just buy the bigger tires and steering stops, or "rack limiters." On the autocross, the car understeered so badly, and had so little front grip that I had a couple runs where I just collected cones. In fact, everyone that's driven the car has overestimated its ability to turn. This leads me to the next thing.
3. It is probably a good idea to invest in one of DSE's rear bars if you have single adjustable coilovers, and plan on even light track duty.
4. Leaky rear axles suck! My passenger side rear axle was leaking so we pulled it. The whole setup is from DSE and uses Moser axles. Out of the box the only seal in the entire system is a tiny band on the bearing. We replaced it... it continued to leak. After that I found the issue to be pretty common, as Moser's bearings have a reputation for being crap. According to the internet folks Moser's bearing don't hold up to heavy abuse and side loading very well. Now, the bearing seemed fine, so I went and got the inner housing seals, which everyone claims solves the problem. These seals work on Mosers housings, and just about every other 9'' ever made, except apparently DSE's. I'm still waiting for DSE to get back to me, which isn't like them, so I suppose I'll call again. Ultimately though, I'm at a bit of an impasse. There was someone on camaros.net suffering from the same issue, and complaining about DSE's housing being out of round, and having a difficult time getting them to fix it. It wouldn't altogether surprise me if this is the case, because virtually all housing have to be straightened after welding. So, should I just find the right axle seals, which I've been looking for for two weeks, and hope it solves the problem, or should I bite the bullet and go big, meaning I'd take just the car up to Currie in Anaheim and have them rework the housing and put tapered bearings in, which hold up much better to abuse.
Oh, and I've done a couple other things like put a clear bra on the car and add a set of hideous mirrors, which I sort of want to get rid of now. I'll post pictures of that stuff soon. In the meantime though, what should I do about the rear axle if I plan on attending track days/driving events?
Matt
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