Car did well. Drove it up Friday around midnight, ran it hard all weekend, and drove back down Sunday afternoon. LSD is shot, unfortunately. It spins the inner rear our of corners. All syncros are shot, grinds on practically all up and down shifts - excellent incentive to get that double clutching (on top of heel-and-toeing) nailed down. I must admit that I previously in the red verde only used heel-and-toeing for down shifting. But, that doesn't do it in the platinum.
After Buttonwillow I used it for communiting (strapping in Jonas' child seat) in order to put it through the paces and pick up all the little things that would need attention prior to future events. Must work is focused on reliability and as part of that items such as all coolant hoses, thermostat, radiator, DeDion bushing, Watts linkage bushings, transmission mounts, engine mounts, T-belt, tensioner, waterpump, drive line, shift linkage, etc will be gone through or at least checked by yours truly on a budget in my garage. Sounds like fun, hah?
Since I noticed some play in the steering I also changed the rack with a spare I had laying around. It is a tight job with the engine in the car. The power steering was already disabled by the previous owner, so I converted the rack to manual, according to Greg Gordon's site, but I routed some lines on the rack differently as I could otherwise not get the rack in with the engine in the car (but lifted with a jack).
Since it is a platinum it has the ABS system. From long experience with milano ABS systems I knew that the pump+accumulator was on the way out. Since safety is primary a new Buick unit went in, and the ABS is now tip-top. I know, not exactly budget, but this is one item I would not compromise on. Trust me, I have driven a milano with tired ABS pump when it fails in high temperature - not fun. Anyway, on the track I actually plan to disable the ABS to hone threshold braking skills.
Ok, so all performance enhancements come in terms of weight saving - the cheapest way to improving performance. Shot bushings are/will be replaced with poly as available, and it is sprung by Bilstein shocks that came off Colin's race GTV6.
So, first a picture of where all the work takes place. Yes, on jack stands in my garage. Don't you just love rolling around the garage floor?
Jes