Rangerz's Jornal (Video heavy)
 

I think this is overdue for me. Primarily this will be a video log on my progress as a HPDE driver I guess and to document some of the stuff I have done with my Z. I have taken allot of Ideas from the community and tried to apply them whether it be mods or driving suggestion and setup.

I purchased my 2012 PW Nismo when I turned 48 last June. When I bought it I had never heard of HPDE or autocross until I found this site. I think it was Rusty's Journal and some of his videos that got me thinking about finding something to do with the car other than drive around town. Miller Motor Sports Park (MMP) runs an event during the summer called W.O.W or Wide open Wednesday. So in i think Aug or Sept of 2013 I went to the my first WOW event and had a great time. The flag girl that day said a HPDE event was coming up so I got the info and signed up. Started reading all the threads I could find etc..

Well I had a blast and was hooked. I used to jump out of airplanes for a living and I think I was missing a little bit of the thrill I got before I retired from the Army.

My aim is to continually improve my skill and understanding of the car when pushing it within my comfort zone.

My car as it is now:

Fast Intentions CBE & HFC
Tuned by Seb@Specialty Z
NST Pulley's
Stillen Gen 3's
SPL Upper control Arms
SPL Front traverse link solid bushings
SPL Rear camber links
Whiteline F&R sway's F= Hardest R= Softest
Z1 Premium SS Break Lines
Motul RBF 600
€EBC YellowStuff€ Carbotech XP8 & XP 10
Setreb Series 9 oil cooler custom setup, Stock cooler delete
RJM clutch pedal
CJM Roadrace fuel pump
SZ Street Max clutch, Flywheel & Tilton CSC
RE-11's 265/35/19 & 305/30/19

2-3-15 Scaled weight
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps7b7fa52f.jpg

Here are some of the Track and Autocross video's from new to old.

MMP West 4-27-14 HPDE


AutoCross 4-13-14


MMP Outer 3-22-14


Autocross 11-7-13


First HPDE 11-6-13

Here is a pretty cheap way to protect your radiator and oil cooler cores on Nismos. The last track day I was getting a huge amount of track debris coming at me and also caught a small sparrow that came in through the front air scoop and ended up with his head sticking out my front passenger wheel liner.

I got all the supplies form Custom car grill.com for about $60. I ordered the large hex screen powder coated gloss black.

I took the front off the car to this but I think you could do it with it on ramps as long as the front was higher than the rear of the car.

With the screen you order a rubber border which I used when I was laying it up for the patteren so it wouldn't scratch the paint.

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psrf9ramiv.jpg


http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...pso6gntf08.jpg

The to horizontal 1/4 inch masking tape was used to mark the edge for the cut. I did one side at a time fitting and trimming until I got what I wanted..

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psdme4wwkq.jpg

And a couple of shots of the finished product. This looks pretty good but, is mainly for track use for radiator protection. For 60 bucks not to bad.

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psdjx4rcmg.jpg
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psi4qsxucd.jpg

great videos!!!!:tiphat:

HPDE the 24th, 25th at MMP this weekend at Miller Motorsports Park. We ran the East track which I have never run on before. A bit more technical than the West track. The best I could get on Sat was a 1:54:29. Sunday was much better weather and the best I got was 1:52:30. I did have a 1:51:9 but, all I had running was Harry's lap timer. Was in a rush for the first session so no video proof:mad:.

Pretty interesting, I had my best lap and my worst lap back to back. It's on the video "A little misstep on my part". All the debris is from a Porch that lost all his engine oil during the Thunder and Lightning race prior to our session. It was dry sweep and it sure makes a mess. I'm not sure if it was all me or oil/debris on the track for the spin I had. Looks like the line I was on was like the previous lines through that section.

I also ran into 2 problems with the car. The fuel starvation is a big problem now; looks like any .7G or higher right hand turn and I'm starving if I start the session with anything 3/4 or below. So I have to start with minimum of 2 dots from full. Need the CJM fuel system fix for sure.

Problem #2 was the power steering fluid boiling over. Post session the bottle was too hot to touch and had some fluid that was or had leaked out. Z1 PS cooler on the way soon.

All in all had a great time hung out with some of the Spec Z guys who are all great guys. A couple of them gave me some pointers:tup:

A bit of cheezy intro but what the heck:p

Nismo Break Ducts
 

So a quick run down on my attempt at break ducts similar to the RC break ducts out of Carbon Fiber.

I asked Rusty.. Probably 8-9 months ago now to measure up his ducts so I had an idea on the size of these things.
:tup::icon18:

I got the measurements and went to work. The original intent was to design them in solid works then have them 3D printed as a finished mold or a mold that I could use to make a master mold. Well I got them designed and just never followed up so that slowly died off.

Well I started back at it Tuesday and this time I am casting the molds in bondo then I will make the finial master plug mold out of that.

Here is a photo run down of what I have done so far.

First up was sculpting something out of clay so I could see potential + daft points and get a general idea of what I was shooting for.

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psmnipsz93.jpg
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...pstvp01twl.jpg

After that I knew for a perfect fit on the bezel portion of the ducts I would need to take an impression of the front air damn where the ducts mount. This area has some subtle complex curving going on so well worth the effort. I cast these in fiberglass. I used 4 coats of mold release wax and 4 more coats of PVA no way were these going to mess the paint up.:tiphat:

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psjkyqb4ha.jpg
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psflf5p6g2.jpg
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...pss9kivxmy.jpg

Next I made some 1/8 plywood blanks to serve as the opening face and to carry the mold (Bondo), this also serves as the outline to file/sand the mold during shaping. I also got some foam paperboard/display board to use as the side when I poured the Bondo. A few pics of that.

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psqu9rihcy.jpg
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psf4omzlfn.jpg

Then you need to locate your duct outlet. That is the wood dowel and 3" plug in the photo above. The angle of this is critical so you really need to take your time as this sets up the shaping route you will take and will have a large affect on the finial look is.

These last few pics are kinda where I'm at now with the drivers side duct. I have it roughed out and probably closer to a final sand. I decided to leave it at this stage while I cast out the passenger side "Curing Now" that way I have a little wiggle room if some of my angles are off when I try to duplicate the other side. This one will be the hardest because you being the fabricator will always know it's just a little off:shakes head: You just need to know when is enough.:eek:

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...pskqirpgzp.jpg
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psy0u6jpou.jpg
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psxgcoot4h.jpg

Good job! :tup:

Good day today. Installed the front lower control arms after upgrading the stock bushing to SPL, did the lower front and the big compression bushing on the rear. My work has a press and I was able to get everything off and pressed back on in about 2 hours. Install was an hour or so per side. I went pretty slow and made sure everything was torqued correctly. All in all pretty easy.

I took it for a quick drive and you can definitively feel and hear the difference in the front. It's not a whole lot louder than stock just a more solid sound when you hit a crease in the road and the steering feels a bit tighter because the car seems to react a little quicker.

I also installed SPL rear camber links and the SPL eccentric lock out.

Anyway I give this install :tup::tup::tup::tup::tup:

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...pscizga1jf.jpg

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psipvzznuj.jpg

Next project finish the CF air Ducts and thinking about fabing my own Robispec like bar. Anyone know if anybody makes 4130 in 3" OD? The biggest I could find was 2.5". I can go with DOM and it's cheaper...Still thinking about that one.

Nice job Rangerz, I will be tackling the front and rear bushing and traction arms Superbowl weekend!

You will be amazed at how much tension the stock bushings have on them. After I got everthing released the tension actually rotated the arm up on it own. Also I used the 10 ton cylinder on the press and that was enough to get er done...it did sound like it was close to be maxed on a couple of pushes.

Mark the rear compression bearing keeper for the correct orientation and mind the 7/16 distance outlined in the included instructions. A 32 mm socket fit just right if you need to drift that bearing in a little to get the holes to line up. I had one that was perfect and one that I had to adjust about a 1/16.

if you have any questions let me know and I'll help if I can.:tiphat:

Thanks for the information...I will be in contact if I have any questions.

If you have any questions, I'm here too. :D

Nice, I was just looking into how to make CF ducts this morning for my brakes!

I actually have both of the molds about 90% done. Im going to get back at them this week and see if I can get them to a finished sand and prepped for a fiberglass test casting, hopefully this weekend.

The plan after that is to vacuum bag them with the CF. Ill lay out a detailed diy if it works out and looks good good enough to chop a hole in the bumper :tup:

Once again Rusty your "the complete spl front end" diy was very helpful :tup::tup:

You guy are awesome...thanks for the support reps all around! :tiphat:

Been making some good progress on the break duct molds. I mis-calculated when I said I was closer to a finial mold than I thought, every time I spray the primer I find a little pin hole or a angle that I don't like. I think I have it about done now though. I have hopefully the last bit of putty on some defects and will spray another coat of primer sand with 400 grit then shoot it with clear coat a few times sanding with 1000 grit in between.

Here are a few pics of the molds in different stages over the last few days.

Laying some putty around the outlet, this was and is the hardest to get right. Also never use premixed Bondo that red crap sucks. If you can't control the amount of harder don't use it.

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psajvm4xmy.jpg

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps6uncxepz.jpg

First primer coat.
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psgu4aiiyt.jpg

Defect patching. Not as much as the picture suggests but, enough I wanted to take the primer back down pretty much to the bondo layer.
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psac11lxv7.jpg

2nd coat of primer last night. You can see the one depression in the light.
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psfs7edp8h.jpg

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps5najsgew.jpg

And after a sand with 400 grit and a little patch work around the neck. Molds are setting on the impressions I took of the front bumper. With a 1/2 in CF border around the duct that leaves just under 1/4 in on the top and bottom that will show of the bumper white.

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psynefbpba.jpg

I was thinking of getting some red kevlar weave and stranding it out to give some highlights from the corners of the ducts to the 3" outlets??? Undecided on that still but, we shall see. So far pretty pleased with how they are turning out. I think as long as the vacuum bagging goes as planned these should work very well and look good too.:tup:

WARNING: Don't do this.

So I sprayed the molds with black acrylic enamel Sunday night out in the garage and then after they were dry enough to move I brought them in the house to finish drying so the could be wet sanded.

Pic of the drying ducts:
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps6r6aaeab.jpg

Look pretty damn good. I was patting myself on the back. Well I get home today and wet sand them with 400 grit everything is fine. I wipe the residue off with a micro fiber cloth. Then just to be sure I got all the particles off I use some rubbing alcohol on another micro fiber cloth and take them back out to the garage to shoot another coat.

Worst of the krackle peel
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psnwztdouw.jpg

The front here is turned out and is very smooth "what it all was supposed to look like"
http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...pspv3kychj.jpg

So 2 things because I'm not sure which is the culprit. Don't use rubbing alcohol. The other is temperature. The house is 70 deg the garage low 30 to high 40's "where the paint is" I'm wondering if because the paint was cold and the molds warm from setting in the house all night affected how the paint cured???? I can get it cleaned up with some more sanding just thought I was going to the polish phase of the molds by tomorrow. :eek:

My NASA TT Lisence came today so it wasn't all bad:tup:

Stay tuned we should be laying fiber soon.

This could be from a few things, but im going to say that the paint wasn't fully dry when you applied the second coat, which caused the first coat to lift.
When applying paint, you either apply coats within 15 min of each other or wait the full recommended time allowed to fully dry, which some spray paints require up to 48 hrs prior to second coat. The alcohol i don't believe would affect it & temperature would only cause it to run. The other problem could be that you didn't clean it properly prior to your first coat. That + cold could have caused it to crack as well.
Either way it sucks! U have to sand it down as much as possible and clean the heck out iof it. Bring a heater or blow dryer when you're spraying. Dry it quickly to touch and bring it inside to dry 100% for 24-48 hrs prior to wet sand and final coat.:tup:

Thanks for those tips. I dont think it was green still I had just wet sanded them. I will definitely clean more throughly and the hair dyer is a good idea.

Video of the last Winter X on 2-7-15 at Miller Motorsports park. It says winter but, it has been pretty dang warm the last week temp hit 68 deg about the time we were finishing up. I ended up getting 1st place in Street RWD and won by 4 seconds. A large part of that was due to new alignment I got the previous week.

I had a blast and was able to get a little track time before the NASA TT season starts in March.

The video is of two runs cut together my bumper camera didn't want to turn on for the fastest lap but all in all it was a couple of hundreds out of sync at some spots.:tup:

I finished up through CF ducts, or nearly did still have a final trim to do around the perimeter. I think they actually turned out pretty well. Light, strong but, they have some slight cosmetic blemishes due to my process that swayed my decision to not use them. If I had a sacrificial front bumper for track only driving they would go on no question.

I used vacuum bagging for my technique , which works very well. Where I went wrong was I didn't leave my base layer of resin on the mold long enough for it to tack up before I applied the CF and wetted it out. I also used some PVA which was purchased last summer and I suspect it wasn't 100% up to the task. I did learn quite a bit on this "PRACTICE" run and am confident the next go around will be cosmetically acceptable.

Below are some pics of the process and the ducts in different stages of this finial stage of the build.

Making a pattern to cut the CF
http://rs937.pbsrc.com/albums/ad213/...4k.jpg~320x480
vacuum bagging in the kitchen
http://rs937.pbsrc.com/albums/ad213/...ui.jpg~320x480

Some various pics
http://rs937.pbsrc.com/albums/ad213/...z3.jpg~320x480
http://rs937.pbsrc.com/albums/ad213/...bb.jpg~320x480
http://rs937.pbsrc.com/albums/ad213/...sw.jpg~320x480
http://rs937.pbsrc.com/albums/ad213/...nh.jpg~320x480
http://rs937.pbsrc.com/albums/ad213/...ce.jpg~320x480
I had fun and learned a lot for a first attempt it went well.:tup:

Also as long as I'm updating... PF01 18 x 10.5 +38 with Toyo RA1'so for my track tire set up. We have annual Tech and a test & tune this Sat and the first event the end of the month.:tup::ughdance:

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psd9s0vqye.jpg

http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/a...psaw0khmzk.jpg

Lookin good. What alignment setting are you running?

I went from - 2 to -2.75 with slight toe out up front and from -1.9 to -1.75 with slight toe in on the rear. I dont remember the exact toe figures without looking at my sheet but, both are pretty minimal.