Shoeshear's 370z journey/journal
 

Hey guys, just wanted to create a spot to document the changes I'll (hopefully) be making over the years. Came from an underpowered AWD car (A4 1.8t) and and a sport bike (09' Kawi ZX6r), so I wanted something in between. The car was always on rails till the limit at which point it understeered into oblivion and the bike is very focused and not as "playful" on the track. I felt that it always required a very serious frame of mind to ride it quick (still very fun, but a very tense experience). I love my bike (still have it), but wanted a little less lunacy and seriousness than the bike and substantially more than the car. All combined into a car that I thought could make a good daily. Cross-shopped an E46 M3, but as I'm going to be a resident, the reliability killed the M for me (basically one of my favorite cars ever). The Z was a perfect alternative, an M car without the lore.

Picked up the 2015' Z 12/2/17 w/ 21k miles on it. Pretty clean, some small scratches here and there on the rear bumper, but it was gonna be a DD w/ occasional track use and the car was in awesome condition otherwise (great interior, drove well, strong brakes, semi-decent tread) and best of all, bone stock. I try to do most of the work myself, but when I move, I won't have a garage, so probably gonna have to pay shops to do work starting July...

First Fill up:
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In preparation for my first track day in the Z, some mods were delivered!

5/2018

1. Conti ExtremeContact Sport (the successor to the DW) in 255/40/19 Front and 285/35/19 Rear

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2. 34 Row Fast Intentions Oil cooler w/ Mocal 180˚ thermostatic plate (worked beautifully on track)

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3. Project Mu brake pads (also worked fantastically on the track and work well on the street)

4. Picked up a lower end motorsport helmet (didn't realize motorcycle and car snell ratings were different). $150 Conquer Full Face

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Not track related, added a Pioneer headunit w/ Apple Car Play and a back up camera. Seems to be a hair sensitive to the cold, but other than that, it's freaking magical. Too bad the install was a PITA.

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Plans:

1. CSC/CMAK replacement (whichever the self adjusting one is, I'll do the research when funds accumulate) w/ the master and clutch (might as well), possibly lighter weight flywheel too (don't want anything mega light). Will also probably go with the RJM pedal setup at the same time... Not sure how I'll afford all this at once, but I'm counting the CMAK as part of car maintenance, not fun expenditure, so I can probably use a bit more of my budget there.

2. Coilovers (haven't decided brand or anything yet) and possibly wheel spacers for the look :D

3. Stillen Gen 3, FI exhaust (not sure yet, but want something with good sound, not too droney, seems to be mixed opinions on everything and I'm going to have a hard time hearing each exhaust in person...we shall see)

4. Tune (Uprev, ECUTek?) The dream is to make about 315 whp (I want that 370 crank hp number for 100hp/liter)

5. CF steering wheel for coolness

6. Brake duct kit (DIY vs Stillen, seems pretty low tech)

7. Tackspec hood vents if I can afford to get out to the track more (AZ is gonna be hot) I want to get them painted body color, don't really want them to stick out and scream LOOK AT ME I HAVE RACE HOOD VENTS COOOOLLLL

8. Quaife Helical LSD (needs to be streetable, so I think all the clutched 1.5 way LSDs are out)

9. CJM Road Race pump if I get to the track a lot (probably won't be for a few years at least, gotta finish residency first)

alternatively you can take a look at motordyne exhaust, that sounds real good and i dont think the mufflers drop as low

Yeah, motordyne sounds amazing, except I think the volume will be a bit too much for me, judging from the videos. Gotta say one of my favorite sounds though... we shall see. The exhaust will be far in the future I think, so I've got time.

Update:

For me, the fundamental principle I want to approach with the Z with is what the Audizine guys (and I'm sure others) called OEM+. I want to do mods that are close to factory looks or conceivably could have been in some sort of up-spec'd version of the car, my own Nismo if you will.

So I want to go after usability and reliability first so I can hammer on the car without worrying. All the CSC stuff really freaks me out, so I picked up the RJM pedal set, which some members have said increases the lifespan of the stock slave cylinder. Definitely plan on doing the CMAK, clutch, CMC, and a slightly lighter flywheel (probably get the set from Z speed) when funds come in. Once I'm confident in the driveline, I think next will be spacers for the slightly more aggressive look.

Now I gotta wait for my damn package....:excited:

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Finally got the RJM pedal last week and just installed it today. Man what a knuckle cutting tight space... Definitely feels different. Action seems smoother and engagement a good bit less on-off. Friction point is definitely lower than stock. The top of the travel seems to have a little more play than stock as well. Idk if I need to adjust it yet, but we'll see how I feel about it.

Update: adjusted the pedal contact w/ the clutch released switch (the top one). Way better now! Very happy with it!

Got me some 20mm spacers for the front and back w/ extended studs from Z1. After sweating a bunch in the AZ heat (in the shade), finally finished it up. She sits perfectly now for stock suspension (IMO).

Got a nice electric impact from Milwaukee while I was at it to help me out.

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FI exhaust finally came in and I installed it. Sounds awesome, def some drone present in high gears at high load, but man it sounds killer.

Well the CSC and/or CMC finally gave up the ghost. The pedal went to the floor on my track day and even though the pressure came back, the pedal had never been the same since. Got cold here recently and the pedal just went closer and closer to the floor and finally went out. So I picked up the EZ street stage 2 clutch w/ 20lb midweight flywheel with the CMAK slave cylinder relocation from Zspeed and got it installed. No time or place to do it myself unfortunately and of course in the same week, someone tried to steal my motorcycle and I had to rent a car.

But she's back now! And I'll be damned, that CMAK changed the clutch entirely. It feels, dare I say, normal? Engagement is way smoother, perhaps a little less tactile though. And I think somehow the clutch chatter is less than stock and the drone in cabin seems to have reduced ever so slightly. Not sure how that would make sense, but w/e. Car feels great now. Just gotta break the clutch in for a few hundred miles.

Glad you got the car back on the road!

Great build thread!

It's been a while since my last post in this thread, mostly because not much of building or journey-ing has happened. I finished residency in peak COVID (yay me) and I have a little more time to play with the car.

Annoyingly, the car has developed a slight click with clutch release and subtle variability in the clutch bite point. I bled the clutch with minimal improvement, but functionally, nothing has been off (no slippage or anything).

In the interim, I bought a new bike though...
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And took it off-road with my wife.
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Then took it to Bondurant (now Radford), because why not beat on someone else's Hellcat for 50% of the cost????
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I do have to say, I would have been unhappy if I paid the full amount for what I got. The training really seemed aimed at people who had never ever been to the track before and was painfully slow for the first day. Second day was fine. I guess I came in with different expectations. The Skip Barber school I did a while back was similar and cheaper (not sure if the cost difference is because they were running Miatas at Skippy). The car is gigantic. Feels like the passenger door is in a different zip code. V8 is crazy powerful and the transmission feels super loose and almost sloppy. The gates just seemed like suggestions.


Somewhere in there I did a rainy track day at a tiny circuit in Tucson (Musselman Honda), which is more of an outdoor go-kart and drift track. It was fine, but it basically felt like autocross. Car control learning in the rain was fun though.

Annoyingly, the car developed a slight click with clutch release and subtle variability in the clutch bite point. I bled the clutch with minimal improvement, but functionally, nothing has been off (no slippage or anything). Seems to prefer being warm and being driven aggressively.

The car drove great at my most recent track weekend, but I managed to boil the brakes. I went with the popular recommendation of Carbotech XP8s front and rear, which were great and really didn't fade too badly. Day 1 was up to 90F ambient and Day 2 was ~88F and my oil temp never went above ~250F.
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My buddy in the red C7 Z06 got popped for sound on the first day sadly.


Went ahead and sprung for a Coolerworx shifter that I had been eyeing for a while. I do wish they had a "pro" version for the Z to get the stiff centering spring, but I'm sure something can be adapted later. And since it's chassis mounted and I was already in there, went for the Z1 trans mount also.
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The shifter w/ the trans mount feel really awesome. Really tight engagement and after sorting out the reverse lockout, it feels great. Definitely some increased NVH, but I don't mind it. It almost feels like you get better "texture" from the throttle/engine. Reminds me of the vibration you get from a motorcycle (a little bit).


Next move is going to be the Enkei RS05RR and some coilovers and all the SPL links and FUCA and such to get the camber and toe back to spec. I don't drive much and want to put some Hankook RS4s on the new wheels for track use. We'll see how this goes.

Edit:
Forgot to add, I threw in the MTEC stiffer shifter springs which made a *very* small difference.

Going for a "buy nice, buy once" mentality on this, so I finally bit the bullet and picked up SPL suspension bits and took advantage of the Fortunate Auto Black Friday sale.

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After thread lurking and some other member consultation, went for the "true type" setup for the rear. Got the SPL billet rear toe and camber arms for the transition. Got the SPL FUCA. Hopefully I'll be able to dial in some proper alignment once he suspension goes in.

Also picked up brake cooling ducts from Z1 and some Enkei RS05RR in 18x10.5 all around. Originally got an estimate of January shipment...but changed to March, which was a bummer.

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AND my buddy ended up not being able to help me get the suspension installed before the next track day...





Hopefully will be able to get the car on the new suspension and get it aligned before the next track day.
:facepalm:

Finally got around to installing the suspension goodies. And the brake ducts from Z1, but not without a lot of drama.


Went to my buddy's place in Phoenix to knock out the suspension stuff. We figured it shouldn't be too bad, but the brake ducts were a bear. The wheel bearing really didn't want to come off and finally some slide-hammering later, we got them out. After a bunch of swearing, the stuff went in.

The SPL arms had really stiff bearings where it slides into the pinch bolt and was a huge pain.

The rears coilovers, toe arms, and camber arms went in like butter though.
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We button it up and I go to roll away and it feels like the front brake is on. I can hear it drag and it is not rolling. Now it's late, I have work the next day. F***

How she sat before we dug back in.
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Wheels come off and the rotor isn't spinning freely. At first I thought we somehow damaged the caliper piston or install the rotor wrong, but I took it off and found that the Z1 brake ducts were rubbing REALLY hard against the rotor on both sides, circumferentially. Compared to the stock dust plate, the Z1 plate does not have a kick inward and continues on a single plane throughout the plate.

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My work is not one where you can really call out easily and I HAD to get back. So, out came a hammer and I beat the plate into submission. Bent it enough that it cleared the rotor without interfering with the caliper. Honestly, it's one of those situations where I feel like it is an inherent design flaw. I'm not sure if they tested it on OEM rotors, but this was rough. We also realized we installed them on the wrong sides... with the tab facing upward instead of covering the lower ball joint. Either way, it would have rubbed the rotor, but now when I have time, I'm going to have to go back in there and swap sides. Fail.

Of course the problems didn't stop there. We bled the brakes a little bit because disconnected the caliper, but for some reason the brake and ESP light came on. The brakes felt great and at that point, I didn't have the time or energy to deal with it.

Turns out, you guys have had this problem too. Even if the brake fluid reservoir is above min, if the level isn't high enough, the car doesn't like it. I topped it up the following morning and voila, no more problems.

Too bad the car drives like crap now... it's like a monkey aligned it (me).

Now to hunt for an alignment shop that'll do it. Nobody in Tucson does track alignments or corner balancing and I want the shop to corner balance and set a more even ride height (which will be subject to corner balancing to some degree). The rear is too high right now and I think the front will be too low to the track.

About 26.5" fender to ground in the front and 27.5" in the rear.

Not sure if anyone reads this, but any ride height recommendations along with alignment? Seems like 27ish all around would be more reasonable. The front doesn't seem to have a lot of room for travel. Running 12k front and 8k rear on Fortune Auto's recommendations (swift springs, true type rear).

It's a street/track build, but it will need to be somewhat drivable on the road every so often. Based on what I've read, for a mixed duty car, probably somewhere around -2.5 camber in the front with +.03 toe. Probably about -1.5 camber and +.05 toe. I have no idea about caster... I'm not really sure what's in the ballpark. I've seen people throw around +6?? But I have no gauge for where on the spectrum that is.




Still waiting on Z1 for my Enkei wheels (ordered in November...). Idk if anyone else is having Enkei wheel delays, but I may have to cancel my order at this rate.

Finally got the car aligned. No wonder the car drove like crap, had 1.15 toe in the rear...

New alignment:
Front: -2.55 camber, +6.53 caster. +.01 toe
Rear -2.00 camber, +.06 toe on each side, +.12 toe total.

Based on other people's setups, I think this will end up being too much - camber in and + toe in the rear, but we'll see. Like an idiot, I didn't buy end links for the front and rear, so couldn't get corner balanced.

Ride height also still has too much rake, exact same ride height as before (I thought they'd set at corner balance, but no CB for me...) To get the wheels to fit without rubbing, will probably plan to raise a .25" in the front and drop .5" in the rear.


On the positive side, I'll be moving to a house with a garage soon. Finally can work on the car in peace. June can't come quickly enough.

Edit:

I forgot to add the tire murder that happened at my last track day (stock suspension, stock alignment). I guess this is what happens when you aren't running enough camber for the track. Absolutely decimated the outer tread on the tire and it started to chunk and I could see cord. I had my tire pressure higher than the previous track day and the ambient temps were colder, so I'm not sure that contributed (but I'm not an expert).

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Finally got moved into the new place and got the tires mounted on the new wheels and damn do they look good (IMO).

Glad I got the set of 5mm spacers from Z1 just in case, because the RS05RR in 18x10.5 ET +35 did not clear the front calipers without them. With the 5mm spacer, it is perfect.

Running a bit too much rake and the rear ride height is basically stock, I think 1.5" difference in fender-to-ground ride height, but with move-in costs and stuff, I'm just going to let it be. Don't really have another 200-400 to get the car aligned again.

Now I just gotta fix my brake duct install and re-route the oil cooler line.

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with all that space I would look into at home wheel alignments

https://www.hpacademy.com/courses/mo...ndamentals#_=_

hpacademy lessons are some of the best i've ever taken.

if i had a garage I would make a simple string setup and DIY