First post, first thread ... I have been lurking around here for the past few months knowing I would eventually introduce myself and my project... So here we go.

I got interested in dsm only about 2 years when I first heard about the APEX project. For those who are not familiar there is a cie in the states called RCR who makes really high end race/street component car. They are mostly known for the SLC who won NASA super unlimited series in 2011. Here's a pic of a nice SLC located in Burlington On:



What does it has to do with the dsm right, about 2 years ago this company set out to build a component car based of a 2g dsm. They would basically use the 2g cabin and build a tubular front and back end, provide a brand new composite body and move the engine to the rear in the MR position. Here's a a pic and a link to the development & tuners threads.



Apex dev thread

Tuners thread

So I started browsing kijiji for a potential donor with the intent of finding the perfect dsm for this project. 3 types of car could typically be found, the over priced stocker, the poorly modded/bling bling cheesy build or the complete rusted de fck out POS.The APEX as of this day is not in production yet (expected released date for SEMA next fall or this summer if we are lucky) so I was picky and wasn't that interested in buying a donor that soon anyways. That is until I saw this car...





I don't know why exactly, but everything seemed right in this car (even if it's a 1g and the donor needs to be a 2g). First it was running (big plus), it was making more power than I could ever dream of, it seems like no corners were cut and it was simply well built/tune by a knowledgeable owner using top of the line parts. So I contacted Shandon, simply to tell him how much I liked his car wishing him good luck on his sell. Next thing you know I was sitting beside him in that monster trying it out and buying it off him. Beside the fact that I embarrassed myself stalling the car a few times in front of him, the transaction went really well. Shandon is a really cool and genuine guy who was really good to deal with. He still answers my stupid fracking question... Anyways, as I said I bought the car for its guts, the plan I initially had was to drive it and have fun until I tear it up and put everything I could in the APEX. You guys call it the dsm bug... I don't know what happen but the car grew on me... The more I read about dsm the more a realize how special and clean the car is. I'm not sure anymore if it should be used as a donor in my APEX project... I don't know where this journey is going to end up but I know I've been in contact with lots a cool dudes, starting with Shandon or Sven and Stacey who I bought stuff from or Corte and Guillaume B who gave me shout on tunners.

MTF on my short term plan for the car, the post is long enough as it is.

Cheers!

-Gus

Glad to see you active on this board

Didn't know we had a SLC in Burlington, that thing is a Beaut' !

Your post is ironic for me; I contacted Shandon about this car not more than 1 week ago hoping it was still available for purchase... congrats on the ride, it certainly is one of a kind. Good to see it's in good hands

Glad to see it's bringing joy to a new owner, but please don't tear this up for an Apex. Besides the fact that it is a 1G, it is just too well built and too clean to even consider stripping down.

Welcome to the board and best of luck with taming the beast!

Agree with Sal, you can definitely find a perfect candidate for your Apex without destroy that beauty.

Welcome to the board!!

Defiantly a good buy and welcome . If space and money permits; keep 1Ga as is and look for another 2G APEX candidate.
Clean 1Ga's are diamond rare

Agree with the boys, if you're going to chop up that beauty 1G then please don't post it here for us to cry over! However the project does sound awesome. Keep looking for a rusty one.

I have to be honest with you, I think this is the only way that I would buy a 2g, the thing is really beautiful, plus I have already decided to have a rwd car as my second car.

Not to be a party pooper, but I'd rather own and drive that 1G than the Apex. That particular 1G is absolutely beautiful, and in general the 1G is now a respect-worthy classic.

Please don't cut that car up (It looks just like mine). It will be 25 years old soon. There's not too many left (clean ones anyway) and I never see any 1ga's around anymore.

I hope you all realize that the only donor car that can be used to create the Apex is a 2g...right?? I'm sure Guillaume has no interest in chopping up Shandon's old car anymore (cuz all he could use is just the engine). Lets all relax

Yes, we all realize that but his post still implied/stated that he was still heavily inclined to chop up/etc. this beauty.

Yeah was reading most guys will be using a N/T 2G and then just grabbing the engine and tranny later because the rear and front are not used so new rear mounts are created.

I'm happy to see as much reply on this thread!



^^^ Yes!!!

The worst that could happen to the car is being strip out of its turbo and supporting mods.. maybe the head...I would probably keep the car and turn it to a more street friendly restomod 1ga (which would require minimal investment). To reinterate the the car will never be cut or sold in pieces!!!. I just recently bought considerable amounts of parts that can't even be used in the APEX... Also building the APEX will not be cheap(+\- 40k$), I don't think I will be able to afford that project for a while especially at the rate I'm buying DSM part lately.....:)

I guess I should elaborate a bit more on my current plan with the car. I want modify it slightly to allow me to do lapping. That means a few things but meanly the following:

-Improve handling and breaking.
-Improve cooling and overall reliability where possible.

I also want to keep it stock looking as much as I can. In the near futur I would also like to address a few body and paint issues (the clear is flaking on the roof)

The car has been stored all winter so I couldn't work on it. However I was able to start working on some items this fall.

The first thing that was done (by Shandon) was to change the clutch on my request to a South Bend Clutch SUPER HeavyDuty B-Series Full-Face Segmented Friction Ceramic Clutch and we used ACT Chromoly FW.





Tim@ TMZ was really helpful. I really like this clutch and it's way more street friendly than one could imagine.

Cheers!

Welcome to the board Guillaume!

I just want you know that if you see a sh!t stain on the passenger seat, that may have been me.

Interesting choice for a first DSM. Pretty sure you're going to be hooked for life

Welcome to the board! It's good to know that beautiful beast is working on soiling a whole new collection of undergarments.

Wow, I did not know about the Apex.

I have really been itching to get a DSM again, and after seeing the pictures of the Apex I'm sold

Definitely going to be my next project once I get some time.

It is quite an intimidating car... I might get use to it one day but in the mean time, plenty of undergarments are being soiled

My first project was to find new seats to better support me when pulling some Gs around the track. I was able to find a decent set of Sparco TorinoII. These seats are not the lightest but they are very comfy, they offer good lat support and the back can be inclined. Here's a pic


I obviously had to make some brackets... I decided to use 2 aluminum angles. I machined slots on a small milling machine so I can adjust front to back position, side to side position and seat height.

I received that by mail this week







Anyone knows what it is ...

Pretty excited, going to be putting the car on the road in the next few weeks.

Cheers!

Actually the Canadian Distributor of RCR is located in Burlington... Anyone shopping for a Porsche 917 should go pay him a visit, Toby the owner, is building a nice one right now. It looks like that:




http://www.campbellrace.com/About-Us.page

I received a few questions about my 139$ + ship EVO LSD I referred to in another thread. The unit was bought from Malaysia on eBay at the below link. It arrived at my door 5 days later in very good condition. It went up 20$ since I bought mine...but still a great deal if you ask me!! Almost wish I had bought 2.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/351044756303?nav=VI

Another way to get a hold of these is simply to call Jon @ TRE, he sells them for 350$ I believe. From what I read these lsd totally change the natural tendency our car have to understeer, you can actually make the car handle like a rwd with the weir max grip plates.

http://www.weirperformance.com/maxgriplsdkits.html

An even better option is to get the max lock upgrade from TRE who uses oem type clutch which are suppose to last longer due to oil groves and lock a bit smoother (make the a car a bit less rear happy). This is upgrade is def on my wish list...

http://www.teamrip.com/EVOLUTION%20REAR%20DIFFERENTIAL%20SERVICE.html

I will probably start the season on my stock 4 bolt lsd rear end and install the EVO III at a later time. What I need the most is seat time in that car to become an half decent driver... I will probably install the EVO 3 LSD when I purchase a 4 spider center diff as I currently have a welded one in the car. My understanding is that a welded center diff is less than ideal for anything else than drag.

This stuff is prob all common knowledge for most but I thought it could help a few noob like myself...

Funny enough, I was looking at that very LSD on ebay about 2 weeks ago The one from teamrip looks more worth it though.

I'm just looking for a responsive, nervous little street car. So maybe in the future I'll be grabbing one or two.

Didn't know that about RCR, may want to do a couple trips down there and dream a little

Yes dream a little... They're not the cheapest toys!

That's funny Gus, I was actually looking at the same rear end LSD as well!! I am impressed it went up $20.

Gui if you want to save on shipping than I would be down to go in on one with you.

Hey Bryan, there are other stuff they are selling that I might be interested in, check your PM

Long time no post, been quite busy with the kids/brand new baby and getting the shop ready for the Talon. As you might be able to see on some of the above pics I own quite a collection of woodworking tools. I'm quite sad to have to lend them to a buddy until I can afford a 4 cars garage...:) At least I'll have a functional woodshop (his place) close enough.





On the flip side I'm really excited to have the car in my garage so I can start working on it. There are minor issues that arose from winter storage. The wire feeding the fuel pumps was corroded as fck. Thanks to Kent who found the issue in 5 min, we got that sorted. We also discovered the alternator was shot...so ordered a new one from RTM (thx again guys for scary fast shipping:) so fast that I realized a little to late I had touch the red button on the main fuse "breaker" while we were trying to figure out the fuel pump issues. Cost of being a newbie...or just being to quick on the RTM trigger decided to put the new one in anyways.

Thx to the the jay racing relocation kit I had to take out the fuel rail & the intake manifold off catch can hose etc...

While I was in there I decided to instal the Fluidampr crank pulley. The oem was kind of a b$tch to take out but got it done.





To whoever has a jay racing alt kit and a fluidampr you need to shorten the bracket to account for the larger diameter "outer" pulley. As you can see in the pic the oem unit a smaller outer pulley while the fluidampr doesn't. I also trim slightly the timing cover so it doesn't interfere with the dampr.







Anyways had some fun. There are still a few things I would like to do before hitting the road with it.

MTF...

Is that not a 6 bolt?

I don't remember having any issues with my timing cover and the Fluidampr..

My timing cover is pretty beat up and for whatever reason the clearance was a bit to close for my liking. The scratch that can be seen in the pics are from previous owner.

I don't know about you but I noticed a difference in the vibration in the car... I have pretty stiff avid mounts and the car use to ratlle like crazy at iddle maybe I'm crazy but it just seemed smoother accros the rpm range.

Ah, I gotcha. Better safe than sorry.

I did notice a reduction in vibrations, mainly in the 3000-4000RPM range, but like you said it definitely felt smoother everywhere after going to the Fluidampr.

I'm also on Avid mounts (unfortunately), and I'm pretty sure I've torn the roll stops out again. Might be time to go back to OEM. I know guys like Avid's top end mounts, but I will never buy another Avid product in my life. I'm nowhere near the rated power for the mounts I'm running, and the urethane can't even last 10,000km. The first set was dead in under 5,000km, it took them forever to get me warranty replacements (the worst experience I've ever had trying to get a company to honour their warranty).

Is there a way to maintain them, silicone grease? the roll stops are harder to assess but the other 2 look fine on mine... they prob don't have much more thank 5-8k.

BTW is this company still in business... I've only read horror stories about their spt.

Did you re-use the stock bolts on the Fluidampr? If so, might want to see about getting longer aftermarket bolts, as the Fluidampr is thicker then the stocker.

I'm running an Evo8 rear LSD, with the Shep 12 plate upgrade. Just a new upgrade this season, but so far, so good.

How was your bearing on the bearing cover? I had a TRE LSD cover installed as well.

This was an issue on the older Fluidamprs, but they've changed the center hub to be the proper thickness (so Gui - you'll have to check which you have).

I heard the same thing and bought the longer ARP bolts people recommended. Of course, I wasn't bright enough to check them with the dampener before I put it on; the shoulders on the bolts were now too long, and acted as a wedge on the crank sprocket, cracking one of the threads. Lesson learned Mine uses OEM harmonic dampener bolts with plenty of engagement.

Yup, Fluidampr changed the thickness of the hub to stock dimensions a few years back.

Actually, I think I have the older version but the dampr came with longer bolt (not ARP) from previous owner grade 8.8. I remember seeing a thread on tunner about this problem.

@ Daren, I did not touch my rear diff yet, I simply bought an evo 3-8 unit off eBay because it seemed like a good deal. I will actually have Jon upgrade it with his max lock plate and cover in the near future (winter?) looking at the unit I received quickly it seems the cover is fine and the bearing is tight, no score mark or anything. I'm going to change my welded center diff at the same time for a 4 spiders. There is the infamous Adela magic coupling currently on sale on tuner, it's tempting but 1200$ is more than I'm willing to spend on this.

Btw Daren how do you like the upgrade? Do you feel a big diff?

Pun intended

You might consider solid (polyurethane or aluminum) roll stops. Many have reported that after installation of solid roll stops their car had much less vibrations.

I will be installing solid polyurethane roll stop and engine mounts in my 2G shortly.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/ho...and-rear-roll-stops-motor-mounts.406631/