Averying's 2009 Platinum Graphite 370z Journal
 

Hey everyone :driving:

Figured I'd make a thread to dump all my photos/videos/posts about my car going forward.

Bought the car in October 2020 from OG forum member DannyGT. The car had a bunch of great parts on it when I got it, including a GTM Stage 1 Supercharger kit, coilovers, sway bars, wheels, etc. I could tell that he only went for the best with this Z and that it was extremely well taken care of over its lifetime. I drove it back to RI, and that's where this starts!

Engine:
GTM Stage 1 Supercharger Kit
GTM 34 row oil cooler

Transmission:
Z1 CSC delete kit
Z1 lightweight flywheel & clutch kit

Fuel:
Z1 anti-starvation kit (Holley Hydramat)

Exhaust:
GTM Resonated test pipes
Z1 test pipes
Invidia Gemini Catback

Suspension:
Z1 FUCAs
Hotchkis front and rear swaybars
BC Racing BR Coilovers (Divorced, OEM type) - 230mm rear spring for extra ride height
PLM eccentric camber and toe bolts

Alignment:
Camber: -2.5°F, -2°R
Toe: tbd

Brakes:
Z1 2-piece front rotors
Carbotech XP10/8 (for future track days?)
EBC Yellowstuff pads (daily/autox)
Stainless steel braided brake lines

Exterior:
Front fangs, roof, rear diffuser painted black
Front bumper cutout to feed the oil cooler

Interior:
AEM 150psi oil pressure gauge

Fluids:
Redline 5w-30 Engine Oil
Redline 75w-90 Diff Oil
Redline MT-85 Transmission Oil
Rotrex SX-150 Traction Fluid
Motul RBF600

Wheels/Tires:
AME TM02’s (19x9.5F+22, R19x10.5F+22)
Michelin PS4S (285/35/19F, 325/30/19R)

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Great looking Z!

fun times are ahead, congrats

Been slacking on posting anything here. Finally got to an SCCA autocross this year in Devens, MA. Video down below

Car felt good in the afternoon session once I turned up the dampers to ~2/3 stiff. I accidentally left them on almost full soft (which I use for street) in the morning session.

Need to be more confident getting on throttle earlier and staying on it later into the corner. Brakes didn’t feel as grabby on initial braking as I’d like, but I can definitely brake later into the corner and carry a bit more speed in.

Best time of 55.711 put me 48th/98. I’m happy with that result seeing as how competitive this New England region is and also the fact that the majority of folks ahead of me are on a sticky 200tw tire (RT660, A052, etc). My last run was a bit faster as well, but I hit a cone and botched the last corner. My goal is that more seat time and confidence should get me to top 1/3 of the field.

https://youtu.be/wp3-Onbz6w8

NER SCCA Autocross 10/30/22
 

NER SCCA Autocross 10/30/22 (Video Below)
46/105 Raw time
47/105 Pax time

(Sorry for the long posts… this is also me keeping track of my progression)

Final Autox this year before winter hibernation for the Z. Ended up with a pretty nice day for end of October in the mid 60s.

My driving:
I felt more comfortable handling the car when it would get loose on entry or exit. I need to work on carrying speed through wider corners and keeping my eyes up to take a better line (which will help keep my speed up).

The car itself:
The car felt good last event when turning up the dampers. I turned them up 3 more clicks (front and rear) this time just to see and the car still felt good. I’m hoping I get to the point where I can tell when they’re set too stiff, and then I’ll back off a few clicks.
The car does feel a bit soft on these BC BR coilovers. Especially under braking there is more dive than I’d like. With 10k front 8k rear rates, they’re basically stock spring rates, and I doubt the dampers are much better than stock.
Due to the decreased # of runs and longer wait between runs at these SCCA events, I haven’t noticed the diff overheating and spinning the inside rear. I know a true LSD would be better though and is still on my future to-do list.

Finished 46/105, so I’m happy about coming in higher than 50% percentile in the field. Up to 44% percentile of the field. Goal for next year is to consistently get to top 1/3 of the event. Maybe then I’ll convince myself to go for a real diff and 200TW tires. For now I’ll try and chase down everyone on my current set up.

Well the car is finally in the garage for its winter “refresh”.

Work to be done:
1. Test pipes need to be replaced. The resonators in these GTM pipes are falling apart. This was discovered when I pulled them off to replace the gaskets. This explains the rattle I’ve had in the passenger side for almost 2 years now. I attributed this to “test pipe hiss/rattle/NVH” which I assumed was unavoidable. Picking up a new set of test pipes soon and I’m excited to hear how much smoother the sound is.
2. I have a P0300/P0138 (and associated other codes) code that has progressively gotten worse, leading to misfires above ~2500rpm during moderate load. I plan to clean MAF, install new exhaust gaskets (I know of 1 leak), and possibly replace an O2 sensor.
3. New sway bar end links in the front. New sway bar end links in the rear and converting to a G37S bar instead of Hotchkis.
4. Diff bushings to be swapped with Z1 poly mounts.
5. Rear camber and toe bolts to be swapped with PLM eccentric bolts to get to a better alignment.
6. Rear end to be dropped ~ 1/2” to match the front. Didn’t do this in the past because my alignment was already maxed. New eccentric bolts will let me lower a bit more.
7. Resetting rear coilovers by setting max compression with the dampers / bump stops, THEN adjusting ride height with the springs. This will give me max droop travel in the rear and hopefully more inside tire grip.
8. Remove and reseal the passenger side headlight.
9. Grease sway bar bushings and FUCA bushings.

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Averying's 2009 Platinum Graphite 370z Journal
 

Adding to my last post. Realized the test pipe is completely cracked at the weld. Check out the movement at the weld joint. I’m assuming that’s definitely the reason for my p0138 and p0300 misfire code.

Already picked up some Z1 test pipes as a replacement.

https://youtu.be/1SpD9CtoCeY


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Averying's 2009 Platinum Graphite 370z Journal
 

I’d say this diff bushing warrants replacement no? *sarcasm* for the serious folks out there

Can’t wait to get the Z1 kit installed. Bye bye clunk on quick upshifts

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Another surprise thing to fix on the car while I’ve got it apart. Took the rear shocks off to set my bump travel and see that the bump stops are literally crumbling and cracked.

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Averying's 2009 Platinum Graphite 370z Journal
 

Gotta love that New England rust! And this car barely ever sees a winter road

The sleeve is supposed to slide up off the shaft. Rented a puller from oreillys… and it bent the thick a*s washer under the sleeve.

Ugh. Letting it soak again in PB blaster and going to torch it and see if i can still use the puller to get it off.

Might just give in and buy replacement dampers and top hats for the rear of the car.

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Averying's 2009 Platinum Graphite 370z Journal
 

Been putting in an hour of work here and there on the Z… slowly making some progress towards driving this thing again!

1. Diff bushings swapped for Z1 poly bushings. Getting the main bushing out was a pain in the *** but that’s mostly me being stubborn and not going to buy a sawzall. Hand saw, punch, and a lot of elbow grease did the job. For getting the new bushing in, you NEED a press of some sort. No way I was gonna hammer that in, even after freezing everything overnight.
Didn’t bother trying to scrub the mess from the OG bushing. Battle scars I guess?

2. Camber and toe bolt slots elongated for PLM eccentric bolts. I saw some people recommending dremel bit #115… don’t get this. Go for a tungsten carbide bit instead. I used a 1/8” tungsten carbide burr which did the job fine, but going for a larger burr would’ve sped up the job tremendously. ALSO, having an extension shaft for the dremel would make accessing the slots easier. Overall though, easy job.

3. Pulled the passenger headlight apart to address some condensation buildup during rainy days. 10 min in the oven and it came apart no problem.

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Averying's 2009 Platinum Graphite 370z Journal
 

Well I’ve been chasing down a misfire for a few months now. Started off only happening on start up, and eventually the car really struggled after ~2.5k rpm.

A few days ago I started up the car for the first time in months and I was getting the same kind of misfire, and I had a P0305 code (cyl #5 misfire). I swapped the #5 and #1 spark plugs and coil packs and now I’m getting a P0300 code (multiple misfires), but the car starts up and misfires (intermittently it seems) in the same exact way as before swapping the parts between cylinder.

I also had an O2 sensor code in the past but I attribute that to my cracked test pipe, which is now fixed. That O2 code hasn’t come back during my jack-stand start ups this winter.

What I’ve tried already:
1. Fixed cracked test pipe and there aren’t any other noticeable exhaust leaks from the test pipes back.
2. Cleaned MAFs.

My next steps to diagnose the issue:
1. Run a mode $06 DTC scan and see if I can determine which individual cylinders are getting misfire codes. Hopefully this is a function I have in my OBDLink MX+ reader
2. Check that the fuel pump top hat hasn’t broken. I’m really hoping that this IS the issue. Obvious problem means easy diagnosing.
3. Run the car without air filters. Admittedly my cone filters are pretty old so if these are causing a restriction, taking them off briefly will indicate that. They were “cleaned” a year ago… but I am probably due for a new set.
4. Take out and clean injectors and throttle bodies.
5. Replace O2 sensors?? I don’t think this is the issue. Not throwing an O2 sensor code anymore
6. Cry

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Update:
As expected, only the passenger side cylinders 1,3,&5 have misfire problems. Worst case is still cylinder 5, which is AFTER switching the plugs and coils between #1 and #5

Fuel pump assembly seems to be in tact. Couldn’t get the whole assembly out of the tank, but it wasn’t blatantly cracked in half like I’ve seen on other pumps.

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One last thing came to mind. I’m ranting here but if anyone stumbles across this thread and wants to chime in, I’m open to advice right now.

It could be possible that when my passenger side test pipe was cracked, and throwing the O2 sensor code, the car was running too rich on that bank and ended up fouling the #1,3,&5 plugs. Of course I didn’t pay attention to the condition of the plugs when I swapped #1&5, because they looked identical.

I’ll pull a passenger and driver side plug to compare and see if they have excess carbon buildup.


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Loving the Z work.

New Spark plugs would be my next suggestion, but I'm only a lowly, home garage mechanic.

Good luck on correcting the issue! Looking forward to some positive updates.

Same here… DIY mechanic, little single bay garage, harbor freight tools, etc. I’ll figure it out eventually haha


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Pulled the plugs to compare and am realizing they all look to be in fairly sh**ty condition. Looks like I’ll be ordering some plugs!

Hopefully there isn’t another issue still persisting that would quickly foul a new set of plugs as well (assuming that new plugs fixes the issue)

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Sub'n. Nice write up.

My hunt to find the culprit of the misfire continues. My theory: it MUST be the injectors right? Can’t be spark plugs.. can’t be the coils… See full write up below:

Things I tried:
-Cleaned the throttle bodies
-Recleaned the MAFs
-Cleaned the injectors with the method of hooking up a can of carb cleaner, connecting to a battery and firing away. A couple of them seemed to spray a bit rough on first try but it instantly became a uniform spray. I also backsprayed them during the cleaning process. Also installed new O-rings.
-new spark plugs
- put in 3 gallons of fresh 93 and a bottle of Techron fuel system cleaner. The tank was almost empty so this is a pretty strong dose of Techron.

Now I’m getting most misfires on cylinder #4 and a couple misfires on cylinders #3 and #5 as well. When I reinstalled the injectors and coils, I didn’t put them back in the cylinder they came from. I reinstalled them randomly. That’s a mistake on my part.

So once I saw it was misfiring on cylinder 4, I swapped the coils between #4 and #2 (#2 had no misfires). The results didn’t change at all.


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As expected… bad fuel injector is the culprit!

Cylinder #4 was misfiring and cylinder #1 had no misfires. Swapped the injectors between the two and voila. The weird thing is that in between swapping the injectors, I tested it with the carb cleaner method and it seemed to spray normally and it wasn’t leaking… weird.

Now I’ll be looking to get these injectors cleaned since I cannot replace them. I don’t see a 600cc Denso option on the market for the 370z which is what came with my GTM Stage 1 kit.

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Turns out the culprit injector is electrically bad (internal solenoid has failed) and a few others are likely on their way out.

From the people I’ve talked to, ive only heard bad things about these denso/Deatschwerks injectors. Maybe the new DW stuff is better since it looks like it’s a Bosch ev14 based unit, but the drilled denso injectors seem to be pretty unreliable.

Going to be picking up some Bosch 1000cc injectors and retuning to car. Can’t wait to get this thing running again!


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Averying's 2009 Platinum Graphite 370z Journal
 

Finally got the Z up and running!

Installed a secondhand set of 1000cc Southbay Fuel Injectors (Bosch) and got the base map from Eugene Turkov on the car. Finally
have the car driving without CEL, DTCs, stuttering, etc, etc. Now im just collecting enough data to get the base map refined and move towards dialing in the car and making some power again.

some noteworthy things:

1. Eugene required a totally different PCV setup than what was included with the GTM kit. Basically switched over to a PCV delete. previously, i had the valve cover breathers going to the low-pressure side of the supercharger intake, and the PCV valves going to the intake. he explained to me, which makes sense, that under suction there would be unmetered air coming into the manifold from the valve cover breathers, bypassing the MAF. a PCV delete got around this and should hopefully allow for a better tune.

2. after installing a base map, reset your ECU through the Ecutek proecu app. battery disconnect reset did NOT clear previously logged fuel trims which led to some odd short term and long term fuel trims. the Ecutek proecu reset fixed this issue.


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Didn’t work on the Z too much over the winter. A couple small projects:

-relocated the Rotrex oil cooler so it is in front of the radiator, behind the intercooler. The GTM kit placed it off to the side of the radiator but I don’t think it’s in an ideal spot for airflow. Plus, this is a much better spot for when I create some intercooler ducting in the future.

-cleaned/lubed the Turbosmart bypass valve.

-started playing around with my new Adams Swirl Killer polisher. So far I’ve done the hood and front fenders. I’m doing a two stage with Adam’s compound on a blue foam or microfiber cutting pad, followed by Adam’s polish on a white polishing pad. Finishing it off with 2 coats of Turtle wax hybrid solutions ceramic sealant. Sorry, no pics of the finished product on the Z.

The Z usually lives in the garage, but it got kicked out of the garage for a snow storm while the daily driver G35 was getting a new coolant pipe.

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The first spring project for the Z was trying to quiet it down as much as possible with the current test pipes/Invidia Gemini exhaust setup. My local autocross site in Devens, MA has a stricter sound requirement now, which I almost exceeded last year. Also, I was hoping to kill off the drone introduced by the replacement resonators that I recently had welded into my Y pipes.

The Gemini has some straight sections where I was able to slip in 2x Vibrant bottle resonator (PN 1792) between the flange and hangers. The annoying bit is that the Gemini uses 60mm (2.36”) OD pipe, but the vibrant resonator are intended to slip over 2.5” pipe. Therefore, I needed to make some adapters from small sections of 2.5” OD pipe, which luckily slips nicely over 60mm pipe. I cut reliefs in the adapters and the resonators to allow the clamps to do their job and squeeze it all together.

These new Vibrant resonators killed all drone and tamed the exhaust just a bit to where the car is much more enjoyable to drive. It still opens up nicely and is certainly still loud when I get on it.

Additionally, as another safety measure for autocross events, I quickly fabbed up some 90deg turn downs from 2.5” exhaust bends from autozone. These are good for a couple dB of “quieting” according to the autocross veterans at Devens. The non-expanded ends of these 90deg bends slip nicely over the 60mm pipe. Same as the resonators, I cut reliefs in the pipe to allow for clamping. As a final measure to make sure I didn’t exceed the sound limit, I clamped chicken wire and stainless mesh to the ends of the exhaust bends (sorry no pics of this). No one bothered me about sound during my couple of runs at my first event of the year on 5/26, so I guess all of this was successful!

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06/15/2024 - Renegade Miata Club autocross #3

First autox of the season. Felt good behind the wheel. I was able to get on throttle earlier out of corners and felt more confident turning in harder. I need to work on my lines, namely looking ahead more and preparing for the upcoming segments by backsiding cones.

GoPro wouldn't cooperate, so here is a video with my atrocious iPhone mount.

Corded the inside of my PS4S tires with too much camber/toe. Got ~10k street miles, 2 track days, and 50+ autox runs out of them.

Replaced them with a set of Firestone Indy 500s to last until my rear PS4S are toast. 285/35/19 up front.

Decreased to 2° front camber to get a bit more life out of the tires.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7f260e2498.jpg
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Averying's 2009 Platinum Graphite 370z Journal
 

Made up a oil cooler duct in prep for a track day tomorrow. Hopefully this keeps oil temps below 260° despite it being 90° tomorrow.

Not bad for the first version of this duct made out of a $10 sheet of corrugated plastic and some scrap I had around the house (note the drywall corner bead as angle brackets…)

Haven’t seen anyone else attach the ducts with Velcro… let’s see if it holds up!

V2 of this duct will be revised to pull in ALL of the air coming into the existing bumper cutout.

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Averying's 2009 Platinum Graphite 370z Journal
 

Video of my fastest lap (I’m still pretty slow) and review of ducting and temps below:



The car was reading 100°+ on the gauge for all 3 track sessions at the event on 7/9. I think ambient was more like low 90°s.

An update on the duct I made… it was an improvement over my previous setup, because I “only” hit a max of 250-255°F in my first two sessions with similar driving on my end, despite the hotter weather. HOWEVER, I did turn traction control off for my last session (first time driving on track without it), went ~4sec faster driving more aggressively out of corners, and hit 260°. Limp mode kicked in hard. So the duct helped a bit but I still have temp issues on a hot day with multiple “push” laps in a 20min session. It’ll only get worse the faster I get.

Next step towards a solution here is adding a similar duct on the radiator/intercooler, and making a V2 of this oil cooler duct that pulls in more air. My car does NOT have the OEM radiator “side” shrouds (GTM kit deleted those) so I’m hoping that ducting the radiator will get me some big improvements in water and oil temps.

Not sure if this is related.. but my oil temp gauge is a little jumpy at higher temps. It must be going bad. I’ll get that sensor replaced and hope I miraculously have lower oil temps haha

One last thing to note.. I *think* my oil temp has been higher in general once I switched to Mobil 1 0w-40, from Redline 5w-30. I might switch back to Redline oil and see if that brings down oil temps. However, the higher temps I noticed with the Mobil 1 COULD be attributed to a bad sensor like I mentioned above.

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Interesting data on oil temps. Im guessing the gtm kit is keeping your oil temps up. Usually on a 90° ambient day I see oil temps around 230. You look like a fast driver than me too. So that could be it.

That track looks interesting. Nice driving :tup:

Haha I’m definitely not ‘fast’ just yet… the guys in advanced group were running 1:18-1:20. I’m hoping to get into the 1:27s next time I’m at Thompson.

Thompson is a great beginner track. Super easy to memorize, great visibility, just a couple tricky transitions where the road course overlaps with the oval course.


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Been chasing down power steering leaks for a while. Decided to replace all the lines and simplify the plumbing by running continuous lines from the pump to rack and from rack to cooler. This means less connections/leak points. Return hose is 3/8” hose with new spring clamps. High pressure hose is a hydraulic hose with crimped fittings made at my local Parker. Took them 2 minutes to make it. I brought in my existing DIY -6 AN line and they replicated it with JIC fittings which are compatible with AN hoses since they also have a 37° flare to seal. Running the line directly to the rack requires an AN adapter at the rack. I used Chase Bays adapter.

Hopefully the car is completely leak-free for my track day on Sep 10th!

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