Oh another random thing that's probably important, ~84mph is almost exactly where I redline in 3rd and switch to 4th. Could be I'm too late or too early on that shift, too.

what gear are you in when you finish the 1/4?

I'm pretty sure I'm still in 4th gear crossing the finish, and I flip to 5th when I start decelerating. I double-checked on a gearing calculator and at my current tire sizes I should be hitting the top of 4th at ~123mph.

Ran the car today at an SCCA-styled event put on by the BMW CCA here in Houston. Belsavis tipped me off to this, since he's been going with them a while. It was a blast, I highly recommend trying out an SCCA event if you haven't and get the chance.

This was my first time in one, and aside from being fun it was a real eye opener on the capabilities of the car. They were short on ride-along instructor types for us novices. I did 4 runs, but I was on my own for the first three and then picked up someone to help me out on the 4th. My times went down progressively from 98 seconds on the first run to 88 on the last. But for example Belsavis said he was running about 75s on this same course, he's got more experience at it. The fastest cars (e.g. very prepped Miatas on slicks) were running something like 68-69s. I never touched a cone the whole day though, so that was my little personal victory. The ridealong guy on the 4th run said I was doing great for my first day. His main points that he said I needed to work on was:

(1) using late apex corners correctly (there were a few on this layout where a very late apex followed by a sharp turnin was best, but I kept apexing early and trying to shape it like a "normal" corner).

and (2) He said I was driving a bit too conservative for this event (which is I guess why I didn't hit any cones) and that I could basically do exactly what I was doing with a lot more throttle and the car would make it through without losing control. I'm chalking my lack of balls there to the street-vs-track mentality adjustment. My internal barometer of safety margins given the random-ness of a city street (unpredictable drivers, random objects in the road, the amount of damage you can face if you hit a curb, etc) are just more conservative, and it's hard to make myself feel comfortable pushing the car all-out without a large margin for last-minute corrections, if you know what I mean.

Anyways, so I have things to work on for next time. Mechanically the car held up great. The Conti DW's had tons of grip, stock rotors/calipers + Hawk HPS pads worked reliably and predictably, although I noticed I could hear one of my wear indicators on the way home, they were all fine before the event. Good thing new pads are already in the mail. After the first (colder) run, the next three were pretty stable on oil temp profile. It would peak around 232-236 near the end of the run, and in the (very) few minutes I shut down between runs, it would fall back to about 220-ish for the next run. Weather was ~101F outside today, it was unbearably hot all day.

7AT cooler installed, finally. Started out with Stillen's kit. The fittings and hoses they ship give you 3/8" hose ends where it connects to the car, and the car's hard line fittings are 5/16", and I just didn't feel comfortable with that. I emailed Stillen about it (twice, 2 days apart) and never got a response, so I figured I was on my own best judgement.

I kept the M22 -> -6AN Male black fittings they shipped that screw directly into the Setrab (and still used their bracket to mount the Setrab), but from there on I used separately sourced fittings and hose. The fittings are these part numbers from Summit Racing:

2x AER-FBM2978 - Aeroquip 90 degree swivel -6AN F-to-F
2x AEI-15635 - Aeromotive -6AN Male to 5/16" hose barb

And then some Gates J1019-rated 5/16" ID hose and 4x quality hose clamps. The rest of the process/parts is basically as Stillen's directions indicate. I've given it a short-but-aggressive test drive and an hour of highway driving coming home last night, and no leaks or issues so far.

One more mod crossed off the list, next up is probably the new brake rotors, I think they'll arrive here before my LTHs do.

I'd ask you how it's driving with the 7AT cooler installed but I think you're out of town at this time.

Bless the oil cooler you installed though, otherwise your OTs would have probably his 250-260 pretty fast.

I seriously need to get this mod, even the guys at Baker South Nissan said don't hesitate to get it.

Great progress on your car!

The 7AT cooler is great. Don't notice any difference most of the time, but running it hard in hot conditions, it stays "normal" better (whereas before once the fluid got really hot, you'd see the 7AT engaging a little sloppier and slower). The oil cooler is definitely a good idea in a climate like Houston, even if you're not going to the track IMHO. The standard little Setrab core Stillen uses (the 19 row) is fine for street and SCCA stuff so far, might want the 25-row for a road coarse (I guess I'll find out in a couple more months).

And yeah, I'm outta town. I'm sitting in a hotel in Hsinchu, Taiwan right now. The primary mode of transportation here is little scooters, but there's a lot of cars too, and I've seen some real rice-rocket gems too. I need to snap some cellphone camera shots tonight if I remember :)

I present to you, the most badass ricer body mods ever known to man. Took these pics around 3am friday night in Hsinchu, Taiwan. It was not far from a casino, our guess was it belongs to some local gangster. I have no freaking idea what kind of car this was originally, before all the crazy body kit stuff:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...chu-rice-1.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...chu-rice-2.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...chu-rice-3.jpg

It looks like a MR2 with a really ridiculous body kit. MR2s are popular with the Asian crowd and overseas a lot of these guys get nutty with the body kits.

It's pretty interesting to look at but I wouldn't be caught dead driving it.

Yeah me either :). My primary concern at the time though was whether the owner would come out and see us laughing at it and beat us senseless :p

Just to balance it out with a positive car experience on this trip: at our company parking lot at the Hsinchu "Science Park", I spotted this rare gem. Maybe someone who knows more about these cars can chime in on the year/options, but it's an older 2nd gen Nissan March A# (aka Micra in some countries) in really nice condition. Up close you could see he had some brake/suspension upgrades. Supposedly they're pretty decent little machines, for what they are:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...06-march-1.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...07-march-2.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...08-march-3.jpg

:tup:I used to have this as a hatch back in UK

Installed a hood strut kit from kellyefields on this board (http://www.the370z.com/parts-sale-pr...-thingies.html). The price is good and the install is dead easy, took about 15 minutes to sort everything out.

Aside from getting the factory hood holdup bar out of the way, the struts hold the hood open higher than before as well. Should make most projects easier (although I guess it will make any project that requires removing the plastic they mount through harder).

Pics:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...side-strut.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...side-strut.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...gy-removed.jpg

Looking good. Great mod to have.

Finally got my FI Long Tube Headers installed. Now I really need to get an UpRev-based dyno tune on this car soon. Only driven ~1hr and mostly in traffic since, but so far everything seems peachy.

I chickened out on doing it myself for once, Baker did the headers install (and also swapped out my 7AT fluid while the car was in there).

Many thanks to Jason and Paul @ Baker Tuning for handling this install. This was the first time I've entrusted my car to an outside mechanic for a parts install, and they did an awesome job and were a pleasure to work with. Highly recommend them :)

Ah you're back! The headers seem like a pretty intense job. Are you using Baker for your uprev too?

Yeah, the headers are definitely the toughest bolt-on job on this car, outside of FI-related stuff. Lots of room for complications too (needing to replace studs, issues getting O2's off without damage, etc) that a fully equipped shop can deal with easier.

I haven't really settled on where to get the tuning done yet. I don't think Baker has a dyno though, so I'm not sure if they can help me on this. I guess I should ask their opinion though.

Installed the A.M. Performance baffled oil pan today. The install is pretty easy, and their detailed instructions cover it all well.

I had some extra difficulty with removing my existing AAM oil pan spacer. It's easy enough to separate the OEM oil pan from the spacer, but separating an installed spacer from the engine is kinda rough, because there's really no flex or give between those two solid aluminum parts to get a gasket separating tool to slip into and break the Ultra Grey.

For anyone else removing a solid aluminum oil pan spacer, my tips are: (1) scrape/cut as much of the edge of the gasket as you can with a razor blade, all along the inside and outside edges, (2) liberally apply brake cleaner or any other volatile chemical that might help break down the Ultra Grey gasket, again all along the edge inside and out, and (3) use a long prybar to separate them. When you look at the situation, you'll see there's an aluminum "tab" sticking out of the engine block side that doesn't mate up with the oil pan spacer, and the spacer has an edge that sticks out too far nearby as well. The trick is just getting the prybar wedged between these two aluminum outcroppings so that you can solidly pry them apart (without trying to shove anything between them at the gasket itself).

AAM oil pan spacer and OEM pan after removal (note the squared off aluminum outcroppings on the spacer near the blue oil fitting plugs, these are what you can pry against):

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...od-service.jpg

New oil pan, installed (and yes, it definitely gives better clearance than the spacer solution did. we're back to the lower brace under the engine being the lowest point rather than the oil pan). Also note the two aluminum tabs with empty holes sticking out the front of the block, above the pan. These are the other side of what you brace the prybar against to help remove an old spacer.:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...-installed.jpg

Oh one more note for anyone swapping out an existing AAM (or similar) spacer kit for the AM Performance pan. AM Performance wants you to re-use the two stock bolts for the oil pickup. The AAM kit supplied new longer ones, and I have long since misplaced the original bolts. The correct replacement bolts from a hardware store is a pair of M8-1.25 x 20mm, class 8/8.8.

That's very nice. You have any pics of the baffle itself or inside of the pan?

Nice work!

I keep a drawer full of all my old fasteners for just such occasions!

I didn't bother to take any, but it looks exactly like expected :). Here's the links from the mfg's thread: Drawings, Photos

As noted in another thread, LTH on top of all the other breathing mods finally really did in the stock tune. It still pulls decent from about 3.5K up, but the lower end of the rev range gets atrocious once the engine is heat soaked. It's just so badly out of whack on A:F ratio and timing for this setup now.

So I'm headed to Secret Services tomorrow (Friday) morning for some UpRev tuning on their dyno, we'll see how everything goes. At the very least they should be able to fix up my A:F and timing, I want to talk them there about if or what they can do with the throttle response and transmission line pressures too.

Very nice, that oil pan is a thing of beauty. The CNC patterns and the internal baffling are gorgeous, hope to see it put to the test!

Just got back from Secret Services. They did a great job on the tune. They use a Mustang dyno, and I completely lost count of the pulls they did on the car tweaking and tuning after the first 10 or so :).

Car was running a bit lean in the low end of the range and just sub-optimal all around. They cleaned up the A:F ratio and got the tune dialed in for a nice torque curve. They also played with the throttle tables to open up the throttle plates earlier and more aggressively, and tweaked the 7AT's torque map by ~10%. The car's snappier all around now, especially in the low revs and/or at partial throttle compared to before. Just a lot more drivable, and a broader usable RPM and throttle range.

Absolute HP numbers were sad looking for this level of mod, but it's freaking hot out in Houston right now, and it's a new dyno for my car, so I really don't care about the absolute numbers. Avg gains across 2K->7.4K was 7 ft/lb and 6 hp, with most of the torque gains at 3K+ and most of the hp gains from around 4.8K+. This dyno's reading of my before/after peak hp today was 278 and 285.

I'm going to upgrade my license w/ UpRev either today or next week so that I can tweak on the little stuff myself (rev limits, speed limits, throttle response, valet map, blah blah), but the basic tune they did is really spot on, they seemed to know what they're doing :tup:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...es-mustang.jpg

^ Added scan of before/after dyno chart.

That is about what I finished off at when they did my tuning with intake/LTH/exhaust, their dyno reads fairly low and it is 100+ outside.

Finally the stars aligned and I was able to make time to go to Red Meat & Race Fuel @ MSR today. This was my first experience with a real road course. It's a 2.38 mile course and we were using the full course config.

It was a really nice informal event. Probably around 10-15 street cars on and off at various times, come and go off the track as you please, passing mostly only on the straights with a hand signal. The other drivers were all pretty nice guys, and there were a few racecars out testing on the track too.

I highly recommend it to others in the area. There's 4 more of these events coming up this year, and it's a cheap way to get your feet wet driving on a real track. Probably the most fun I've had fully clothed in a long time.

I went out on the track 3 times while I was there, for basically one 30 minute session, and two more 15 minute sessions. The car held up great mostly. Keep in mind I'm new at this, and I've never seen the course before, so I was taking it a bit easy (decelerating earlier and softer than necc at the ends of straights out of fear, etc). For extra scare factor, the track was a bit wet from some rain an hour or two before the event.

It was a real eye opener on how much I could stand to improve my driving skills, following some of the other regulars around the track. I really need to sign up for some kind of HPDE / instructor-led event soon. I managed to go off-track only once, during my second session (which is why I cut that one short at 15 minutes, I wanted to make sure everything was ok under the car).

Tires and brakes held up fine. Oil temps were better than expected, given I'm on a 19-row and this is summer in TX. It would pull up to 240 on the dot a couple of minutes into a session and then just hang there stable. The last session it nudged up to 250 (weather was heating up, and I was getting more confident and driving harder too). I cut my third session short too, because as I was accelerating out of a tight corner, it seemed like I was being hit by a rev-limit or something right as I hit about 6K RPM.

My first thought was limp-mode, but again oil temps were merely 250. Then I realized I was down to 1/2 tank of gas now, and most likely it was fuel starvation. On the next straight a few seconds later I was able to go all the way to the redline again, but I figured that was a good time to end the day anyways instead of playing with the fuel starvation on the next several corners.

Got a few pics and video of my 2nd session from my windshield pov (including my run off the track), I'll upload it all later, I'm tired :).

Glad you had fun!

Yes, definitely start out with instructed events, these open lapping events can be a little intimidating until you get more experience under your belt. Welcome to the fuel starvation club!

Two cars at the track that caught my eye. An awesome looking Datsun racer:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...258-datsun.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...259-datsun.jpg


.. and a LeMons car. The Igloo cooler on the back of the LeMons car is dual-purpose: it can run ice-water to the driver's suit, and it has a garbage disposal attached underneath that turns it into a redneck margarita machine. The exhaust comes out through the BBQ pit. There's a functional whiskey still on top there made of tubing and some kind of hot plate or waffle iron, etc :)

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...260-lemons.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...261-lemons.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...262-lemons.jpg

My 2nd session of the day @ MSR (the only one I recorded, the one where I ran off the side, about 11:45 in):

Watched your vid... congrats on the first event! great feeling huh? Looks like a safe track too, which is nice for first time event

You did well for a first time and showed courage... showed good car control a few times when the car got loose... also good awareness of other vehicles... SOAP BOX... agree, you need to get some instruction in your next track event... understand the instructor is going to back you down on speed vs what you did at this event until you master the fundamentals of picking a line, car control, smooth inputs, etc. Don't get frustrated by that like i did! ease in... you've got a thousand things to learn before you will be safe to get at the limit... Also, I like that you had an off due to improper braking force and not rolling out the steering coming out of the turn... line was off, and lots of other things you can learn from that off...

Thanks for the feedback, Travis :)

Searching for an instructed event somewhere around here in the near future now...

you probably know about this - just in case

MotorsportReg.com : Online registration management tools for driving and social events

Nice job. Watching the video I think you did pretty well for your first time out despite the little incident. The track has a ton of runoff which is always a good thing. Actually looks like a pretty demanding track, decreasing radius corners and combinations and particularly difficult to determine the perfect line especially when you've never been there before.

Ditto on Motorsportreg.com, just about every club lists their events on there these days. Audi and BMW both have good instructors available, I would look for their events as your next step.

Great track video. I love watching them and listening to you guys track advice for my day is coming.

Anyone have any ideas for mounting my basic small handheld camera? I can't find a windshield device for it. Any ideas ?

Got signed up for The Driver's Edge @ MSR Houston (same track as the open lapping event I went to), for the weekend of Nov 4-5. Sucks that it's two months out, but really it works best with my schedule, and it's a nice added bonus that it's at the one track I've driven on already (and the closest one, it's about an hour drive from my place).

In the meantime I'm going to keep trying to find time for local SCCA-type events to sharpen up my basic skills and confidence a bit.

Random notes from messing with UpRev Tuner on my car (I left fueling and timing the way the dyno tuner set it up, this is just all the other little stuff):

1) Upping the Idle RPMs smoothed out idling with the AC on a bit. Probably wastes a little more fuel, but meh. It's a map by coolant temp range, and mine is set now between 1000 at the cold end and 775 at the hot end (whereas before it was something like 8xx down to 650).

2) The "ETC Off" under options is interesting. It completely disables the ECU's electronic throttle control, reverting to always having a linear relationship between the gas pedal and the throttle plates. Throttle response is awesome with it disabled, and low RPM acceleration feels more natural on the gas pedal. The downside is this doesn't allow the ECU to interfere with the throttle much at all, including SRM. And since with the 7AT you can't really blip on your own (it's never truly in neutral), this pretty much kills rev matching on downshifts, making them all jerky/shocky.

3) The throttle maps (which only work with ETC On obviously) are the "right" way to tune the throttle response without disabling SRM and other ECU interventions. Luckily they're per-UpRev-map, so you can try out different throttle maps on e.g. maps 1, 2, 3 with all the other settings the same to get a feel for how it works.

Wide open seems to be the value "3800", and it seems to need to go negative at low pedal position + high RPMs. Setting it to a nice linear ramp from the stock 1.3% pedal position numbers to 3800's around 95% throttle is much better than stock. Still not quite perfect though. I wish I could find settings that felt as good as "ETC Off" for normal accel / upshift at all ranges.

4) The torque map (for 7AT people only) is how you effectively adjust transmission line pressure and shifting speed. Basically the ECU needs an internal estimate of your engine's torque across different RPM ranges and fueling inputs (effectively, gas pedal position) in order to use the "correct" line pressure and shift speed for a smooth quick shift.

If you've done a lot of modding, the factory torque estimates are way off (and really, even on the stock car, the factory estimates are a little low, which contributes to low RPM downshifts being sounding so violent, and the little jerks when it auto-downshifts to 2 and 1 while coming to a stop).

Secret Services had already bumped my torque map values all up by about 10%. I found that bumping those values by a further 20% has worked out great so far. Shifts are both smoother and faster. Keep in mind I'm out at the limit of N/A bolt-on power mods, so values this high may not work as smoothly for a milder setup (e.g. just catback and K&N dropins or whatever). I may try going even higher, but I want to drive around on these values for several days first and make sure I don't spot any quirks under various conditions.

wstar, I'm going to try my hand at Red meat & race fuel coming up Thursday (Sep 8th), and let you know. I do have the GTM HD Oil cooler in front, and GTM rear diff cooler (although I don't plan on going nuts) I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Ah just found this post, saw your other in the Houston Area Meet thread though. I'll be there tomorrow :)