Nissan 370Z Forum - cv129's slow build

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Last, car on the scale

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps4d0905db.jpg

Corner balancing. Car itself - no weight reduction, 150lbs driver, almost full gas tank (or at least 3/4, forgot to record the gas level when I took delievery). Total weight 3541lbs.
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/y...psd31a3aa8.jpg

I do not have adjustable end links. I've read some arguments on whether a true corner-balancing can be done with sways but w/o adjustable end links. It's not ideal, but I can accept this.

That's it guys, the only other post is my driving impression with this setup, I'll do that tomorrow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ka24king (Post 2572733)

Very nice good idea focusing on one area of the car at a time

Thanks. Well tbh, that's also largely because I cannot do the work myself. No space/tools/know-how. Must do it in a way that's more time efficient for the techs, and cost efficient for myself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SS_Firehawk (Post 2572699)

Nice journal. I update mine all the time. Just to keep tabs. I'm jealous of your coils. I remember that deal, GTM was taking my money's.

Yea I am pretty restraint with my money, but jumped on that deal w/o hesitation. I've had my share of poor performing coilovers, this was on my wish list from the get go. Thanks for the kind words.

Thanks for posting pic's of the rear shock towers. :tup: That gives me an idea of what to do for when I decide to get my coil-overs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty (Post 2572750)

Thanks for posting pic's of the rear shock towers. :tup: That gives me an idea of what to do for when I decide to get my coil-overs.

You are welcome! Will be interesting to see what coilovers you end up with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cv129 (Post 2572752)

You are welcome! Will be interesting to see what coilovers you end up with.

Me too. LOL I want compression, rebound, ride height, and spring preload all seperate. Coil-overs like that are $$$ :eek:

^ why am I not surprised hahaha.

Can't wait to hear the driving impressions.

Quick facts about this coilovers setup:

RS1 dampers, pillowball top mount included.
Hyperco springs, 650lbs front, 525lbs rear...so around 11.5kg/mm front and 9.5kg/mm rear.
Rear is true type, so can't directly compare spring rate on this vs OEM nismo ones.
21 clicks, single adjustment knob that controls both compression and rebound. (for this post, say 21 being the stiffest)

Honestly, if I was to pay full price, I would've spent another $800 or so to get their RS, with compression and rebound separately adjusted. But for $2500 shipped, and all hardware included (springs and top mount), I like it enough.

Another noob impression here:

As of today, I've driven the Z 4 times on this setup, but only the test drive on 11/16 Saturday morning gave me the feedback I need. I drove the car for about 2 hrs that early morning, with approx 1 hr spent looping that 5 mile section.

Impression is only my recollection of how the car reacted during the corners, no heavy braking/corner entrance/corner exit impression here.

RS1, 265/285 RE-11: at either half or full stiff, the rear was planted. Not once did I have the same feeling I described when it was stock suspension w/ 265/285 tires. Full stiff felt a few bits stiff than stock, but the up/down movements of the car were more controlled...a tad bit softer around initial blow, but stiffened up right after, is the way I describe it. Somehow the rear was very planted, no wobble, never wanted to jump out of place suddenly, always felt like the rear tires had solid contact to the ground. It was the fastest I've driven through that section, probably won't be doing that again.

I turned it to full stiff partly b/c of slight rubbings against the fender liner when I pushed the pace over those dips and bumps. I needed to see how this spring/damper combo react to simultaneous high/medium/low speed damping? I like the performance so far. Full stiff is a bit punishing for normal city driving/cruise, but did feel good during the faster pace test drive. I've since then backed it down to 15 clicks all around. I really need more continuous seat time though, testing it days apart is just not efficient.

During a revisit, as I raised the question on brake cooling to the shop owner and crew, we discovered quite a few hairline cracks on my stock rotors lol. I think these are the original rotors and car is sitting on less than 21k miles right now.

Also, a few pics I snapped during the revisit.

That big'ol round spot where the OEM spring would go, now empty
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/y...psebf7b9dd.jpg

Red marks are to check for slippages
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps989f02b1.jpg

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps112ee659.jpg

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps0266df60.jpg

Rear coilovers have been making knocking noise, went back to Vorshlag for a diagnosis back in November 2013, and it was the spherical bearing up top. The replacement parts finally came in back in January 2014, so car will be going back in for a quickie.

It did take longer than expected to receive the replacement bearings, but I understand I was catching Bryan Hise @ JRZ at a very bad time (Thanks Giving, PRI, Daytona testing, Xmas).

Since car is going back in anyway, I decided to do some minor upgrades to some braking components.

Nismo pads
Titanium shims, 0.5mm version
Cyro treated Centric premiums

From Concept Z Performance
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps2b7a3d9c.jpg

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps615f012b.jpg

Went with these pads because these are rather cheap @ $180 for fronts + rears, and C&D test showed much improvement over stock pads.
Nismo only disclosed the friction coefficient to be "more than 0.3 mu", which really doesn't say much (Project Mu NS400 is advertised at 0.34 to 043 mu, for comparison).

Titanium shims from Hardbrakes.com
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps10035c3b.jpg

I figured it would be good, even for a street car, to shield some heat from calipers (namely the seals). They are about $100.

The Cyro Treated Centrics will get shipped to the shop directly, so pics later. Tirerack quoted $285 shipped. Thought about 2 piece rotors, I know I won't feel any difference and weight saving won't impact me realistically. I just need something that withstands heat better (stockers have hairline cracks and I didn't really abuse them). Member Cossie and Clintfocus both have used cyro treated rotors and worked well for them in more heated applications, so that should be good enough for me.

Won't be doing SS lines and fluids at this time. I don't think I'll burst the stock lines, and I won't be boiling any brake fluid anytime soon. I'll probably do those when I do the CSC and MC later on, however.

Those are the same shims I use. Did you get the grease to put on them?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty (Post 2675701)

Those are the same shims I use. Did you get the grease to put on them?

Yep same ones, I remembered seeing them in your thread :tiphat:

No I didn't get any grease...ahh it's the purple Permatex grease right? I'll get some now. Thx :tup:

ZSpeed aluminum undershroud is finally here!

Stock undershroud was getting beat up. Homemade fix until the new undershroud arrived. The middle three clips wouldn't hold any more. Sealed off all holes to prevent flapping noise from bad air flow.

One bad thing about the stock plastic shield is its elasticity. When heated up (engine heat, Texas summer), and the middle three clips not holding any more, the shield will sag with the middle section hanging quite low. You can see my home made fix was taking a beating.