Anti-Fuel Starvation Baffle
 

Thank you, sir, for the praise! I wish that I could have patented that baffle--I would have been rich! That vehicle made it to dealer showrooms with my baffle, and I have not heard of one instance where fuel starvation occurred! When I did the test driving, I pushed the vehicle to the safe limit for the venue and conditions, thinking that no civilian driver would come close to the centrifugal, decelerative, negative g loads, etc. that we put on the fuel system. An average track junkie might reach those loads, but I have not heard of that vehicle being raced.

For your Z, establish a baseline so that you don't have to take a wild guess at the number and diameter and height of the holes (ports sounds more technical :-) Look at your data-logger data for the longest duration and highest g-load curve on the tracks that you will frequent where the fuel starvation occurred. Drill a port in the baffle and fill the baffle with water. Does the baffle stay filled with water for the duration of the curve? If yes, you have a good starting baseline. It will be a trial and error process, but getting a good baseline with your data logger will save you a bunch of time. Cool Tool! Z-U-later! Greg

Greg, we're going to try your idea - just talked with my shop Redline Motorsports

All, just got an email from my NASA regional classing leader

"Here is the new classing for the 370Z
Nissan 370Z ('09)(6 sp. manual)---PTB* 3300 lbs.
Nissan 370Z Sport Model ('09)---PTB** 3300 lbs.
Nissan 370Z Nismo ('09)---PTA* 3300 lbs."

That means that if you're building a 370z race car or time trial car, best bet is to avoid the Nismo... The 3300lbs refers to the "base weight" which is used as a reference point from "competition weight" which is car + driver + anything else that may be with the car when it comes off the track. My goal is 3000 lbs competition weight, so I will accumulate 300 lbs worth of points

Update... figured out that there is NO WAY I can make it into NASA PTA/TTA class with all the things I'm doing to my car.... So I'm moving up! Going into PTS/TTS where I will be competing typically with Corvette's and Vipers... fun! :) As it turns out locally, the fastest car in this class is a Honda... that guy turns 1:05 at the track I just did a 1:13 on... I need to make up 6 or so seconds with tires, brake pads, aero, more mods, and better driving!

Car is going to go to my cage builder tomorrow night! He has some great ideas... this is a super pivotal part of my build, so I went to lengths to find the right guy... will have pics and details to share in coming weeks

Okay, need some input from all you guys on a couple things:

1. need to pick a number for racing... thinking maybe 255 because that's my new max oil temp! or maybe 106 because that's a good target time for me at local track... other ideas welcomed!

2. I am going to need a full halo racing seat... any recommendations ? I need to get this to my cage builder so he can design the cage to go with it

Jump on in ! :tup:

T.: Robert at Redlinewins.com is going to consider the baffle...If I can be of any assistance to you or Robert, let me know...because of your passion, I'll be so glad to assist for free ! If you need/ can use: warm bodies at your track days, I offer myself as a sacrifice :-) I would love to get moly grease under my fingernails, feel PAO and ester oils on my neck, and help solve the extreme conundrums that is racing a street car! Z-ya! Greg

Okay Greg, you're it then... trackside support for Oct NASA PIR event if you can make it! I'll update here later with details... first order of business is to help me pick my racing number! :)

Robert reads this thread and will reach out to you if he has questions... we talked about it today and he seemed to know exactly what to do... but may be helpful to talk it through with you

I'm going to be very interested in the baffle as well, so I will be interested in seeing pictures or a sketch of what you come up with. So far it hasn't been too much of problem as I've only been doing auto-x this year to get used to the car and discover it's issues, but next year the car will be getting ready for the track. Not quite as "ready" as Travis's car, but I'm sure I will experience the same issues.

If the Honda that runs 1:05 is your target, how about "104" for your race car number?!!

Cool! :happydance: I have Fridays and Saturdays off. Let's go racing! :driving:

The more, the merrier!
 

That would be very cool if your Z would perform better with the baffle! It is in Robert's hands now, and the design will be all his--I'm certain he will make it work! :stirthepot: (<=alchemy) I can't wait to hear/see when it fixes travisjb's power-down issue! Z-ya! Greg

I like how you think... 104 is on the list for consideration

If the 1:05 Honda is the target, your No. should be...
 

:tup:.................................
Off to work. Z-ya tonight! Greg

Right now I get fuel cuts at 1/4 tank if I go through a longer high G corner, so it's only going to get worse at the track with longer sustained lateral G's. The other problem is the momentum caused by the sloshing fuel (if around 1/2 full) upset's the weight transfer a little as it is delayed weight transfer. Only way I see around that is a custom fuel tank with lots of baffles, which would help the fuel pick up issue as well.

Here's another data point... fuel cut at

3-4 bars away from a full tank
4-5 seconds in 1.0G right hand turn

Need to turn this into a calculation for how big to drill the holes in the "can"... what is the flow rate of gasoline through various size holes... what is the flow rate of fuel at full throttle ? should be simple math once we figure this stuff out

Forum discussion regarding Registration for NASA Arizona October event... will be combined with BMW CCA at PIR Sign up here if you want to drive, otherwise just show up October 3-4 w/ BMWCCA @ Phoenix International Raceway - NASA AZ

Oct. 03 is a Saturday! Yes! PIR, here I come! :driving:

Z is now in the capable hands of Fathead Fabrication in Mesa, AZ... Junior is the owner and may be stopping by this thread to introduce himself... If any of you AZ guys need a cage or metal fabrication/welding, check out some of Junior's work here Fathead Fabrication - NASA AZ

... just wait until he's done with mine! :)

Ideas for numbers so far

104 = target lap time.... LONG shot!
510 = code for speeding
918 = crazy person
961 = accident
487v = stolen vehicle
245 = aggravated assault

Thanks to '510z' for the the police codes! 918 has merit!

Any others ?

Notice who is at the top of the list!;)
I was a police officer in the early 90's, and I know those codes. With all respect to 510z, if you paint your racer with the PD codes, you only identify yourself with crime. If you paint 104 on your doors and hood, you will be looking at your goal. Every time you enter your Z, you will see 104, and you will be reminded that you need to get there to be the best. When you achieve 104, you will be number 1--imagine "1" replacing "104" on your hood! To summarize: The police codes imply macho; crazy; disrespect; bad driver; and one who disrespects others. "104" represents an achievable target, achieving your goal, and being the best/fastest driver on that track! Do you want to be known as "918" the crazy driver, or do you want to be known as "104" the fastest driver on the track!
R/S, Greg.

lol, something to think about... anyone else ?

69 :tup:

you should find out what the lap record is and use that. I think 104 is the best so far tho.

Ya, the movement that you feel due the the shifting fuel load can be cured only by baffles. That is the point at which a custom cell is justified.

Updates:

- cage build could push into October and car could be down for OCT 2-3 event

- cage is going to be awesome... I'm adding a pic below of his last build - his work is the best! we're planning to eliminate a lot of the OEM cross-members in rear and will add a customer tower x-member... lots of other trick stuff planned!

- Forged Performance hooked me up with a Sparco Pro ADV seat... full halo, hans-compatible, fia compliant... full halo means no window net required when i move up to w2w racing

- Doubldedown Motorsports is sending Bride 370z seat rails, which we will retrofit for use with the Sparco seat

- DDM also sending a pair of APR universal mirrors... should save a few pounds and minor improvement to aero

- Will soon be ordering an APR front splitter... for rear aero, was thinking about the GTC300 APR wing, but Mike at DDM asked me to consider the Kognition wing that is being customized for 240 crowd right now... 1,500 lbs downforce at 100 mph ! very likely a go

- Also in the market for fire supression, cage padding, cage mount rear mirror, and maybe a good qualified painter in Mesa... thinking about having the interior sprayed in a flat dark silver that contrasts with the exterior just a bit... let me know if you know anyone (good + inexpensive!)

http://i32.tinypic.com/2rnu152.jpg
http://kognitiondesign.com/rx8-wing-1.jpg
http://www.hptmotorsports.com/images/apr_evo5-LG.jpg
http://www.speedshopparts.com/store/images/3425_b.jpg
https://www.upr.com/images/D/Pro1_523.jpg

Hey everyone I am Junior aka Fathead Fabrication. I am the guy doing the build on Travis's car, here are some pics of whats going on so far. I have the car gutted and i am working on drilling all unnesscary brackets out, also doing a wire cut and tomorow all the sound deadining will come out as well as all the seamsealer, my goal is to cut as much weight as possible. Here is how the car looks now.
http://i38.tinypic.com/wwgn11.jpg

http://i34.tinypic.com/10y15iv.jpg

http://i38.tinypic.com/35hgug9.jpg

I will post more pics as the build progresses.

Junior, welcome to the forum!

Can't tell you how excited I am to have you working on my car! Your work is epic!

What a difference a couple of months makes when you pull the trigger to go big! Nice!!

Got one side out.
http://i34.tinypic.com/51q8e8.jpg

Original weight was 3,301 with driver and fuel... will be interesting to see where we come out after this phase of the build... Cage will add, but we should drop 40 ish by going down to one racing seat from 2 stock seats... then perhaps another 50-100 as Junior works his magic... then maybe another 30-50 when we pull all the hvac... I'd love to get it down below 3,100 competition weight... my time trial class allows me to get down to 8.7 pounds per horsepower so at 3,100 I could target ~350 WHP on a Dyno Jet

Seam-sealer!? Hmmmm...
 

"...removing seam-sealer..." Attention to detail! Be careful, Travis...with ATD like that, you are likely to be # 104! ;-)

I think we can make a lexan rear glass, it's really flat, that should save some weight

Car's in good hands... lots of detailed work to be done

Back on numbers... I'm leaning towards 104... low enough that it will probably always be a target, which is a good thing... hopefully it doesn't come across overly brash... will take a few more days to think about it, then decide

Good point, forgot about that... not sure how much it'll save, maybe 20#s?... should lower CG too

All the sound deadening and all the seam sealer are out, all the unneeded brackets are out fab work starts soon.
http://i34.tinypic.com/23mlw0y.jpg

http://i38.tinypic.com/sgig5i.jpg

man you're fast! must have been knuckle-busting work grinding out that seam sealer... nice job

Seat show up ???

No seat, got the Bride base its nice, looks like it will sit the seat down low I will have pics up when it all shows up.

Ok. They projected today for seat arrival... hopefully tomorrow... good to hear about the base...

Mike B, thanks again for world-class support !

Anytime! :)

I stopped by Junior's today and everything is on track... not going to spill the beans on what all we're doing, but I can say the car will be purpose built yet still very unique... and we're getting at LOTS of weight

I'm going to update my part out thread tonight... seats are out and a few other things that I think someone is going to need http://www.the370z.com/parts-sale-pr...tires-etc.html

Robert, if you're reading this... car should be coming your way in a couple weeks... I may swing by and pick up the spa gauge this week too - might as well install that while we've got the dash apart... I'll give you a call

This will be my last comment on the "104." It will not cause other race drivers to look at you as being "overly brash." As a rule, they will not know what is the significance. Only you, and your supporters here at 370Z, will know the meaning of "104" ! Test it...ask a fellow racer at your next event, "Sir, if I paint my car with "104," what would you think?" He'll probably reply, " '104',...that's a fever...you better see a Doctor." Or he might say, " '104'...you'll need triple that horsepower to be competitive here!" LOL! ;-) :stirthepot:

interior: paint: gray...
 

Travisjb: You mentioned in a previous post that a gray interior paint looks good. I'd recommend, as a counter-point, flat black. Your build suggests that you are very serious. Any distraction will be detrimental. Gray will reflect more light than black. Flat black absorbs the most light, thus allowing you the most concentration for the task at hand, which is scoring a lap of 1:04 ! :cool: