I suppose I could spray my mirror caps for the time being until I get that FX Carbon Fiber film on them...

:tup:

Do you have any tips for doing plasti dip on the door handles? did you remove the handles? and if not what did you tape up to make sure not to jam the mechanism?

I just did it the same way I did the emblems. Mask around the general area and spray it on. Nothing jammed or even came close to jamming. Somehow this stuff is magical haha. The overspray that went in the door jam I just wiped off with a rag.

Odyssey PC680 installed!

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...680_2_edit.jpg

More plasti-dip goodness coming in a few hours too... :)

And now here's the rest of the stuff I plasti-dipped today. Did the Z emblems and peeled off the area covering the light portion just leaving the Z and outer ring black...

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p..._emblems_3.jpg

And did the front fangs which turned out ok. Up close the edges didn't do so well and it looks like a poor masking job but it turned out good enough for now. I will eventually switch to a better solution.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ip_fangs_1.jpg

And the whole package...
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ip_fangs_2.jpg

I like the side emblems. Need to do that myself.

So I think that some front upper control arms are next on the list for my Z, but having a bit of a debate with myself so I wanted to see if anyone else wanted to weigh in.

We all know our options are VERY limited for this part, we basically have two options...

1. SPC Performance - I had these on my car before and HATED them. They wouldn't hold my camber settings, they were super hard to make adjustments on, and they were near impossible to get any accuracy out of when you did try and dial in your settings. It's just a terrible design, but the benefit is they did offer a big range of adjustment.

2. Kinetix Racing - Haven't heard much about these ones but from the looks of it, the design is MUCH MUCH better than the SPC and the price is right. It looks to be easy to adjust, even with the wheel on the car still and doesn't share the same flaws as the SPC. These would be a no brainer EXCEPT they have one major flaw and that is they only offer 1.5 degrees of adjustment in each direction over the stock arm. At my ride height, I am sitting at -0.9 degrees negative camber on the stock arms which means I will max out at -2.4 degrees which is decent, but I fear I will need to be more in the -3.0 range for optimal use.

So I really think both are a waste of money for what I want them for but which one is less of a waste of money? I think I am still leaning toward the Kinetix. I know that A.M. Performance plans on eventually offering their arms that they made for their GrandAm cars but I fear those won't be available for some time and when they are available they will be way out of my price range.

I never took the time to do proper tire temp monitoring/alignment specs on my 370Z the last time I had it built up for time attack so I am not sure what the proper ballpark range is for front negative camber but maybe Travis or someone can chime in and let me know if they are around the -3.0 degree mark. I know it will vary a little depending on the rest of the car/track/tires/etc. but if everyone else is ideally around 3.0 or more then 2.4 will be way off the mark.

FWIW I'm at about 3.5 degrees and that seems to be fairly ideal for most tracks, some could even use a little more based on the tire temperature data. Same BC ER coilovers and spring rates as you.

At first I couldn't get the SPC arms to hold a camber setting, but I started torquing them to a higher spec and now they stay put. It is still a pain to make adjustments especially on a lowered car. Usually I'll have to jack the front of the car a little bit, make an adjustment and then recheck where I ended up, takes a lot of time.

The Z is looking great Mike, very clean and mean. Looks like you opened up a whole lot of free space in the battery compartment too!

That seems pretty aggressive. Did you arrive at those settings by taking tire temps? What tires are you using?

As for the SPC arms, I tightened them as hard as I could, even using big breaker bars and they still didn't hold on a bumpy track.

Thanks!

I use Nitto NT-01's and Kuhmo V710's. The camber is fine for the Nitto's but the 710's could use a little more. Yes the data is based on taking tire temps after the session. -3.0 would probably be plenty for street tires.

I agree that there should be a better locking mechanism, there is no friction surface or lock washer. This last time around mine have stayed put through some pretty rough tracks. Perhaps something could be added to increase the friction on the lock mechanism, not sure what though.

My alignment shop told me to stay away from kinetic, they are crap. The old dude who does the race alignments doesn't mince words. Daisuke won't go there for an alignment because he told him 20s are stupid on a Z, but he knows his stuff.

My SPC arms are holding camber adjustment... but I agree the design is clumsy as hell and no one thought through the need some of us have to tweak camber at the track with tires on... I actually welded together a dedicated tool using an old breaker bar and socket, and now I bring it with me to track and can make changes with tires on... I'm sure I'll end up striping the but at some point but works for now.

If A.M. offered the part, I'd upgrade

Damn, now I am back on the fence with it... I have a really hard time spending money on something I already know I hate.