UPDATES:

- my car is officially de-registered and de-insured! lol no more driving on the street

- some say the Ford 6.0L diesel is not the best motor, but the price is right... will pick this up today 2004 Ford F-250 Super Duty 4dr SuperCab Lariat Rwd LB

- thinking about this trailer http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/rvs/1647127123.html


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Price is right, is right!

The V-front trailers are slightly more aerodynamic but that is a good deal on a nearly new trailer. Does it have a winch or do you have to drive out?

24' is the perfect trailer size in my opinion. Its big enough for a car and spare tires and all of the other gear, but still not too big to be a royal pain in the *** to haul around.

Super Duty is a good call with the enclosed trailer.

De-registered... that's awesome:driving:

thx guys... going to get the truck now... i'm 80% on the trailer

Thats one thing american car makers got right....Pick-Up-Trucks.... :)

I wouldn't say they get it right, but they do much better than they do with cars. Actually if they pooled all their truck building talents they could probably make the uber truck, as it is they all have different quirks.

Where do we get the uber truck.. I want the uber truck..

Travis.. let me know if I can help with a programmer for that bad boy.. gotta love those diesels..

I'm sorry.. did you need an extra 400 lb/ft of torque right this second.. and in a minute need a fuel saving mode? No problem..

haha... just drove it home, sitting pretty in the driveway... with 500+lbs torque don't think I'll be needing any sissy tuning chips on this one! lol i realize there are benefits, but i think i'll just leave it 100% stock - that's how it is now

as a bonus, prior owner left their ACTIVATED xm radio tuner in the car and it appears to be on a lifetime family plan! happy days

got a screaming deal IMO... $13K out the door!... leaves more $$ for trailer and Z tires!

Those programmers for turbo diesels are WICKED man, I'd strongly consider Stillens offer if I had one :)

And 13K?! Damnnnnn....nice deal man...sometimes I wish I just bought a used diesel instead.

yeah, originally looked at new... then figured why not go a couple years old and get one for $25K with 50k miles - they last for at least 300k so why not... then I realized 100k miles Diesel Fords are at market lows right now. the 6.0l powerstroke has a mediocre rap, but figured i'd take a risk on it. truck feels like new.

okay back to Z's ! lol

$13,000 diesel!!!
 

Nice! Fantastic price on an '04 Diesel, regardless of manufacturer! Those 6.0s are similar to the 70s Jaguars: You need two: one to drive while the other is in the shop! I hope your experience is the exception!

pictures!

okay, i think everything is ready for tomorrow... but i basically slapped back in the data logger / camera, so no telling how that will come out... car is all sticker'd up and ready to go... will report back tomorrow

btw, i ended up buying a 2008 haulmark 24ft from a fellow nasa az racer tonight... sitting outside next to the truck! my neighbors are scratching their heads hoping i find a new place for all this... trailer says "RONDAWG" and "93" on the side! lol

1 of my work trucks is a 2004 Ford F250 turbo diesel with 240k miles on it. It has been in the shop 2 times for engine issues and 1 of those times was human error. I think you will be ok with the reliability of the F250. Can't wait to see new track videos.

import111 gets the last word on p/u trucks!

Car ran well today... Best lap was 1:04.319, so I picked up about half second from 1 week ago. Within TTS, I was third among six. Bested by Tage Evanson and also the NASA chief driving instructor in a well prep'd Corvette. I have a LOOONG ways to go before catching Tage. He is a national-level competitor and before dominating this class he used to dominate SCCA Solo at national level. He set a new course record for FIR-W today, blowing past his old record by 2 seconds! He was 59secs and change. Better than both classes above ours. As I said, long ways to go.

I am still 300 lbs overweight for my class, so I believe more car diet, driver diet, and HP tuning is going to make up at least 1.0-1.5 seconds. At start finish, I was ~62mph, whereas Tage was ~67mph. It is basically a drag race from a slow turn to start / finish. In addition, I think I have at least another 1.0 sec in 'driver issues' to gain at this track. Including fixing my SRM - there are many spots where it would have helped, given lots of tight gear changes. Perhaps another 0.25 second in aero/suspension setup. In all, I'm confident I can pull the time down below 1:02 once it's all dialed in.

Video/traqmate was a bit haywire due to a hasty setup. I'll see if I can salvage some video and add to the vid journal.

Issues to work on the car (by priority):
- fresh rear diff and engine oil fluid
- front brake cooling... according to my paint temp kit rotor was between 560C and 610C!!!
- fix SRM
- resolve fuel starvation issue, saving 50 lbs of fuel
- find another 100lbs to remove, including new racing radiator
- COBB tune
- rear diff cooler setup
- swap radiator hoses for new SAMCO's from Forged Performance
- longer wheel studs
- alignment... will go with slightly less camber, inside of tires +25F vs outside... not getting enough turn-in, need faster turn in!
- fix triple gauge (likely electronics short) and add oil/water temp gauge
- verify and finalize traqmate / chasecam setup
- more permanent wiring for electrical accessories
- get tie downs for car in trailer
- get ramps to load car in trailer

Sharing some portraits from my event yesterday c/o the talented AZ photographer Chris Wynne

http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...visjb/pic1.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...visjb/pic2.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...visjb/pic3.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...visjb/pic4.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...visjb/pic5.jpg

more here: NASA Fir March 20th - Rolex24pics.com :: Gallery :: Daytona 24 Hours Race Photography

Damn that sticker is big!

Travis- you have probably shared all of this information but this thread is very long,

What are those scoops for in the B-pillars? Where are you directing the air to?

I saw that you are going to go with some Moton's later on. Hit me up when you're ready and we'll get you some Penske's! Penske's are by far the best shock in the world. You'll love them!

Yeah...a little too big! Give Forged some additional love Trav! :tup:

He's probably going JRZ or else I will fly down there and personal kick him in the nuts. :icon17:

:icon18:

Travis what is your current camber setup? Slight hotter inside front tire temp is actually very typical and desirable. If you are happy with the turn in and front end feel I would not reduce camber. We run -3.5 front on our 370z and -2.5 rear. Hope that helps.

Haha! Like I said, I've been very pleased with the help you guys are providing! Will leave driver's door as is, of course. Passenger door and dash are temporary - just wanted to see how the dash decal showed up on camera... Looks pretty good!

Did you see the diff cooler setup on Sharif's 370z race car? I'm doing something very similar... Going to delete the rear license plate area, screen it off with black mesh stainless, then setup a cooling box to which I will direct air from the side scoops. It is truly overkill for airflow, but I'm hoping there is also a benefit of flowing air out the center rear in order to draw air out from under the car etc. Lots of CFD and wind tunnel testing went into this theory! ;)

Re coilovers... I'm definitely open to input, including any risk of damage to my nads from picking one brand or another... For now, I intend to drive the crap out of the BC's and see how they hold up... prob later this year, I'll be looking at an upgrade

Sticker envy? lol

Thanks, good feedback. Unfortunately, I think the turn in is sluggish... Could have something to do with the big ars tires I'm running up front (285s) or maybe we're running too much caster??? we advanced the caster angle to nearly +6

btw, the side scoops and roof will eventually be black

I have not seen Sharif's diff cooler thread...I'll have to check that out!

JRZ's are nice. I personally prefer Penske's.

We have a diff. cooler that we've been working on as well but I'm not sure if it will ever see the light of day or just stay on our race car...

That's an interesting idea about having the air help draw out through the center of the car. By the way, are you interested, or allowed for your class, in running an undertray? I'm starting to look at the possibility of making an undertray for the car.

Kyle, re undertray, 100% interested... drop me a PM when you're ready to discuss...

Travis, props to your shutterbug, thanks for sharing.

Lou's decal is what first caught my eye.

+1 Give Sharif some lub

It's a shame Stillen will prolly not offer the diff cooler to the pub. Like myself I am sure there is a market for it after the oil cooler, a diff cooler only makes sense. Seems like all dem fluids heat up on the track.

haha coilover brand fight, this is when you throw in the "who can get me a set for less line"

Edit: also once i'm done developing all the frame bushings for the car that i feel like doing you want any of the ones i find that cause to much NVH for a daily? probably won't know for a few months yet which ones i have extras of but i'm saving my prints in case i feel like making more. All i would want is sticker bigger than Lou's lol

Also why no front splitter?

[offtopic](ignore this i just saw the last word comment)Also on the deisel truck front, as far as motors go it doesn't get much better than a 96 24v cummins with a manual, screw 300k those babies can go into the 700k range.[/offtopic]

Travis, the turn-in on our car isn't sluggish but can feel that way because it does take a fair amount of force to actually turn the wheel, and move those big tires up front around. Is that the sensation you are getting? Either way, -3.5 camber up front should really help with turn in, as well as 1/8th inch of toe out.

The only stickers that need to be on that car are FATHEAD FABRICATION stickers all you other guys did is give a part or two.:happydance:

Sticker War!!!!:bowrofl:

I want the whole windsheild, Taladega Nights style.

:icon18: I love me some fig nugens

I'm not sure yet if we will offer it or not. The only reason that we won't offer it is because it won't be cheap. Our engineers and I were looking at how we want to design it and it's going to be kind of expensive but that's how we want to do it.

Travis, the turn-in on our car isn't sluggish but can feel that way because it does take a fair amount of force to actuallyi turn the wheel, and move those big tires up front around. Is that the sensation you are getting? Either way, -3.5 camber up front should really help with turn in, as well as 1/8th inch of toe out.

Sharif, thanks, I'll try your settings for an upcoming event and report back

I'm planning to post pics of my trailer later this week - will want someone input on how to set it up

On the topic of my non-functioning SRM... the gear select indicator on my gauge panel shows "N" regardless of which gear I'm in... does that provide any clue as to what may be going on? I'm thinking we fried a circuit somewhere...

Sorry to get off topic, what JWT clutch did you put in the car? is the material organic, ceramic, carbon, just curious, I am trying to figure out what clutch to select for my car for the material.

Thanks

I'm running -2.8 and believe I need to bump it up to -3.5 as my outside tire temps are considerably hotter than inside. Turn-in is lightning fast but the steering feel is moderately heavy with 275's up front. Stock caster.

lateralgz, this one Forged Performance, LLC :: G37 :: Drivetrain :: JWT HD Clutch 350Z / G35 / 370z / G37 w/HR engine (2 throttles) Clutch and Flywheel Combo

chris, interesting that you're running hotter on the outside... perhaps you're running lower tire temps and 'rolling over' on the tire?? are you talking autocross or road course?