Haggard-hawk

[Catmaigne]

I reconstructed my interior and fixed a bunch of stuff to make it more livable. Fixed the ebrake, power seat, headliner, power locks, and trunk release. I also have a dash mat I need to iron and install to cover the cracked plastic (too cheap to drop $200 on a new one). I also made a shift boot ring out of a wire hangar because I refuse to give Hawks any money and installed a white shift knob that matches my unpainted hood.

I'm going to throw the UMI drop springs and watts link on the car and run it as is for autox early next month. I want to get this car to a track night at NJMP by the end of the summer, but I need to finish my hub adapters, install V brakes, mount the C6z wheels, and fix a drivetrain vibration first.

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[Catmaigne]

I installed the UMI springs and it totally transformed the car from a soggy waffle into a crispy golden one. No uneasy floaty feeling anymore.
Also, I think someone swapped the factory SLP Eibachs for a Pro-Kit because the part numbers didn't match up. Maybe it wasn't low enough for them? Idk, but this car definitely came from SLP with the Level 2 upgrade. Also, the Bilsteins on there were tight as crap so I'm not sure if they were also replaced at some point. I could get a closer look at the sticker for a p/n and date code, but it was pretty faded.

Also, I grabbed and IAC from Rockauto and it was DOA. Yay junk parts.

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[rentedmule]

Awesome, looks great. I replaced my 125K mile Decarbons with new Bilsteins before I swapped springs, thinking it would help the floaty feeling. It didn't - the springs definitely make the difference.

I just noticed your ashtray plaque is missing - there was one from a '95 on ebay for about 2 years that must have eventually sold. It would have made a nice addition since the car isn't very haggard anymore!

[Catmaigne]

Awesome, looks great. I replaced my 125K mile Decarbons with new Bilsteins before I swapped springs, thinking it would help the floaty feeling. It didn't - the springs definitely make the difference.

I just noticed your ashtray plaque is missing - there was one from a '95 on ebay for about 2 years that must have eventually sold. It would have made a nice addition since the car isn't very haggard anymore!

Thanks! It's still definitely a 40 footer, but cleans up well enough. I waxed it and lost a ton of paint in the process lol.
I wonder if that was the plaque from this car, it's '95 #316 if I remember correctly. Car has an interesting history as it was stolen in the late 90's. I'm guessing some crackhead took the badge, shift knob (had the SLP one instead of the H), and wheels (it has ws6 17's on it).

[rentedmule]

My car is also a 40 footer - lots of dings and scrapes.

Maybe that was the plaque on ebay! I actually used to have a set of '95 hawk wheels that I ran on my GMC Sonoma for autocross. They were beat though and only one center cap still had the bird logo.

[Catmaigne]

I did a quick spray job on a used Firebird bumper with Rustoleum Auto Enamel to replace the haggard one that was on there. There is still more wet sanding and buffing to do, but I'm not sure how much I care as it already looks 1000x better.

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Also signed up for an autox even on April 6th, so I'll be sure to get some gopro footage. I'm probably going to shotgun a Founder's rod ended panhard onto it because it still feels a little loose in the rear. I do want to put the watts link on, but I need to devise a better system to ensure the axle tube clamps are on point. A misaligned watts is going to move on an angle / vs vertical |, which kinda makes it pointless imo.

[Catmaigne]

Had the hawk out at Pocono for an autox test-n-tune earlier today. These ancient Sumi HTR Z2's are hot garbage and need to be replaced asap. I'm running another event in a few weeks and am contemplating throwing the Federal RS-Pro's onto the car before the hub adapters are finished. Hopefully the stock hubs will survive 5 runs or so on a relatively low speed course. I plan on getting the C7 bearings and V brakes on in the near future, but definitely won't have time before the next event.

Here's the fastest lap from earlier:

[rentedmule]

I'm jealous that you're already out racing, my car is still in storage and it'll be another month before events start here.

I wouldn't worry about the stock hubs on regular street tires. I have ~50 auto-X events and 2 track days on mine, most of which were on foot-wide R888's, and they're still tight.

[SSlowBoat]

I'm jealous that you're already out racing, my car is still in storage and it'll be another month before events start here.

I wouldn't worry about the stock hubs on regular street tires. I have ~50 auto-X events and 2 track days on mine, most of which were on foot-wide R888's, and they're still tight.

interesting, seen people with tires not even that sticky have new hubs fail. sounds more like youre not pushing as hard lol

[Catmaigne]

It's settled, we're going full send. It'll only be temporary. I have 2 good hubs sitting on the shelf too if anything goes awry mid-event.

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Also, I'm going to rob the Hawk HPS pads and rotors from the front of the Camaro as I'm already in the middle of putting red C6 calipers on it (for the bling, of course). I'll figure out the V brakes later as I'll need spacers/hub rings to clear them.