Well the BS/CS merger is official. Looks like we've got to beat the MSR's and ZOK's now.

Well recommended to the BOD, but that usually means its a go.

I really don't think the MSR's and non-turbo ZOK's will be a prob, goodluck against the Porsche Boxter...

There's an S that runs locally with mid pack national talent on hoosiers that I am right with at the moment in a completely showroom stock car. I don't think the non-S will be that much of a problem.

Now who wants to buy my tires?

AutoX Z, let me know when/where you are going to Autocross next, I might come out for some Z support and watch/learn for later.

http://scca.com/documents/Fastrack/0...strack-nov.pdf

Looks like its official....CS for 2010

While the 370z is not specifically mentioned, it was classed under the 350z line item so does indeed move to CS for next year.

If that's the case, the 370 might really be an overdog. Hopefully SCCA will let it stay...

So I'm getting everything in order to go ahead and start prepping my car for next season.

At this point I don't think I'm going to have enough money for new dampers but I also don't think there are any quality solutions at the moment so I'm ok waiting on that.

I'm just going to get an extra set of sport rims, nismos are too expensive/hard to find and not worth it for a couple pound savings per rim on a car with this much power.

For Hoosiers I'm looking at the 265/35/19 for the front and 295/30/19. Both are a bit smaller in diameter than stock but its the only options at the moment so hopefully it won't have too great of an effect on the gearing which is about perfect right now for autox. I'll crunch the numbers later to see how much top end I'm losing but like I said its the only option so it doesn't really matter right now.

Which brings us to the swaybar. This is where I need some help from yall picking the right one. My feel of the car is that it flops around like crazy in quick transitions and the steady state balance is understeer. I know alot of the behavior in transitions is better fixed with improved damping but again probably out of the picture for this year so how big of a bar would you recommend without making the steady-state balance even worse. I know in theory a big bar can help reduce understeer in camber-challenged cars such as ours but traditional knowledge also says that in general the stiffer front end will reduce front end grip, so where's the balance? Any input/experience on this would be greatly appreciated.

I want to show what the 370 is capable of, I may not be the perfect driver for the job, but I know the car can win so please help me out.

Run 295's square...seriously...

And I'd run as big as bar is available on the market, it will help put the power down.

I'd be suprised if the car can get it done without shocks, the 350z sure as hell can't...

I installed the Hotchkis sway bars, full set. The car was dramatically better in transitions, however it made the low and mid speed understeer much worse. I can only imagine that it would be worse still without the rear bar. I corrected the understeer by adding front camber using the SPC replacement upper arms. I'm going to build the car up for BSP as I want to focus on track as much as Auto-X.

What size tires were you running front and rear?

The reason I say go square is will help with the low speed understeer, even with the bigger front bar.

For stock class, I really don't think the car can get it done without shocks. But regardless, run a big front bar and a square tire setup.

I'm running 275 front 305 rear. Didn't really want the 305 rear but it was the best fit diameter wise. I think the front is pretty much maxed out for the stock size rims. Hoosiers would help but I think you'll be cording them pretty quickly with the stock alignment.

The stock shocks actually seem to work pretty well in conjunction with the uprated sway bars, although probably not quite as well in stock class as you are stuck with the stock rear sway bar.

That's your problem right there with the low speed understeer. And no way in hell are you maxed out on 275s on stock wheels, we run 295 hoosiers on the stock 18x8 350z wheels with no problems, and by far the quickest setup with the car being super neutral. Unless you are talking street tires that are dual purpose. Then you're on your own and the car will kinda suck at autoxing. Until you got to a square setup, you'll going to have tons of understeer auto-xing a Z. And with that much rubber up front, even with stock alignements, they last quiet a while.

So any news on the shock development front?

I emailed Lee@koni but have not heard back from him about any progress. I also email Vorshlag concerning the possible AST strut...and Terry is needing a pair of stock fronts for measurements....so it doens't sound like much movement there. I have thought about pulling my fronts off and shipping them to him as my car is stored for the winter...but I need to call him and discuss what the plan is with AST....SA or DA and what kind of cost. I'm not wanting to spend $2k+ for a SA...but if its a DA, then I would likely pull the trigger.

The other thought I had was going with the Nismo struts. I know they aren't adjustable, and not sure if they'd be legal....I assume the ride height difference is done with the spring, not the strut....but assuming they are legal, and you can find a inexpensive take off set....do you think they'd be worth do the job for the 370?

The Nismo spring is only about 10% stiffer, but the strut has about 80% more damping so yes I would say it would be a big improvement. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be 100% legal, you can pretty much run any stock type dampers you want.

The issue would be the spring perch location. If the nismo is lowered by some combination of changing spring perch height then the nismo struts would not be legal.

IIRC correctly, the front struts are about 40% increase in rebound, and the rear is like 140% or something close....so are much stiffer, but as Autox Z states, its all about the spring perch right hide question on whether is legal...

Obviously the tun-ability of an adjustable shock is preferred, but looking for inexpensive alternatives should legal adjustable units not be ready for the season....and perhaps a Nizmo take off strut would offer an interim improvement for us...

from my experience, the sway bars definitely help tremendously with quick transitions/ slaloms. my first auto-x was stock except for eibach springs. the next was with springs, sway bars, and spc front camber arms. i have the hotchkis, but if i had to do it over, i would go with the stillen as i feel the hotchkis are a bit TOO stiff in the front, which induces some understeer. but most of it is dialed out in my car with increased front camber. at this point, it feels just right for track use, but on tight auto-x courses, it still understeers a bit more than i'd like. i'm ok with where it is now as i see much more track time than auto-x.

so to answer your question, i think you'll see a huge difference with the addition of sway bars (i'd recommend the full set of stillen) and added front camber. you will be much quicker through the slaloms and the understeer problem will be mostly mitigated by the increased front camber.

we can't mess with camber outside factory adjustments, and all we are allowed from a suspension standpoint is front swaybar and dampers that use factory springs, mounts, height, etc.

so swaybar is a must with camber challenged cars to prevent eating costly hoosiers....although I will likely go with Cusco for the adjustability up front

adjustable dampers - koni is supposedly developing SA units but no word, AST is looking at making some but no word, no idea if SA or DA and cost is unknown

was just looking for options and thought about the Nismo units

for the 350z guys with experience, what was your baseline settings for your shocks...front and back?

You looking for dyno charts or what? On my car I only had ots Koni's. I ran them about 90 % full stiff (rebound) and 50% rear.

Glenn's car drove and felt far superior to mine (the car I drove at Nationals) but he has custom valved koni da's. The shocks are Carter Thompson's old shocks. Not sure what settings Glenn runs them on.

Curious to know what his settings are..Really looking at getting some sways also. Also the 350z settings won't match up to 370z settings due to less weight in the rear and shorter wheel base. I used a way different compression rebound setting on my 350 than on my 370 to get similar results.

You already have double adjustables on your 370?

well, so much for any chance of winning a tour event next year....not looking good folks.....

looks like Daddio is gonna come out to play in CS next year. The ONLY bit of light is he's not running a 370z.....but despite whatever perceived advantage we may have over the RX8, ZOK, MSR, etc....is negated with him in the mix. He's truly is amazing...

may have to shift focus to the ProSolo series....which sucks cause there is only one event anywhere near the northeast part of the country....which of course is Daddio's back yard! Damn!

I'm still all in though, but I just increased my tire budget with no hopes of winning contingency tires :icon14:

Wait a sec, I just say this. Where are you running in Houston? I haven't seen any other 370Z w/ sport pkg. running the SCCA events.

What ? I haven't run anything yet because I'm waiting on my LSD and sways ! I really wanna get into this stuff though. Let me know when/where you're running next and I'll come out with my Z !

Feb. 7 @ Gulf Greyhound Park, info here: Houston Region SCCA

You do realize that those mods will bump you into BSP don't you?

Not only him, but word on the street is Jr. Johnson (Evo school owner) will probably be in a 370Z as well. (Now the first I heard this was first hand from him at the awards banquet at Nats, but I think he was drunk :rofl2: ). Then you also have Beutzer in an MSR, and he'll tear it up. As well as reigning BS champ Heitkotter back, probably in his MR2.

So once again, goodluck all!

Mike "Junior" Johnson? He's a cocky SOB but I like him :) Very friendly. He helped instruct at our Evo School in 2008, but I don't think he was there this past year. He's a pro with the Corvettes, would be interesting to see him in a 370Z.

yup, heard all those names as well as Isley and Fenter...

CS is looking like a very fun class to be in for sure!

That's ok...I've beaten National Champs before :happydance:

....just not at Nationals

I really hope tire wear doesn't become THE issue that prevents me from getting the needed seat time. I took off last season and the one before that was fairly casual...so I need an EVO school and plenty of seat time, but can't afford to burn through tires every 20 runs...

Just bought a tow vehicle, picking up a trailer soon, and then all the car prep between now and March....maybe its time to look for a quality codriver

If I have the time and money I'd be interested in a fly and drive at an East Coast tour or Pro. Let me know. You get a deal for shocks lined up? Also, just curious, what's your name? I'm Adam Ruff.

AutoX Z, when is the next event on the north side of Houston?
I was unable to attend the last event you sent me a link to, but I still really would like to come out and watch, learn, etc.

Do any of you guys in the TX area (closer to plano the better) that have already installed coilovers, have your stock fronts struts off the car and available? If so, could you please PM me....I have a question for you...and favor.

Basically, need some stock front struts for some measurements to build some custom mounts to hold stock springs on some coilovers....

Thanks

wow. i like how the nismo 370 got placed into BS and the regulars into cs. i thought the cars were the other way around? :P
anyway. ill be autocrossing again this season its been 3 years since ive done it in my sentra. the 370 should give a interesting learning curve for me hopefully i wont be too far behind with it being the overdog in cs. btw did the cs/bs merger go through?

Yes, and may I please take it for a run or two?

If I don't go with a local co-driver, might be able to work something out with you for an event or two...

No shocks lined up yet...no news from Koni, so looking at trying to get some AST units....$$$$$ though, but a strong possibility. That's one of the reasons I'm trying to source some stock struts to borrow for measurements, otherwise I have to put my car up on stands, pull the struts and ship to TX...

Jeff MacRae

Yeah, you spoke with Dennis H (who I'm co-driving with) on the phone a couple months ago when he was planning on getting a 370. I hear ya about the AST's, but they really sound like they'll be the best bet if you can get them to build them. I hope you can figure something out soon, maybe start watching for a Z that wrecked on one side, and get one good front and rear shock? Or I guess watch the forums for a set, buy em, measure them, and the re-sell. Pain the ***, but possibly worth it in the long run.

I'm going through an employment change, un-employed to start 2010, so we'll talk as the year progresses for a possible co-drive down the line. Thanks!

Time to bump this. Auto-x season is upon us (okay you sunny so-cal, texas, and florida people, I know you guys get to run year round :) ).

I see a 370Z signed up for the Dixie NT, you on here Mr. Aberson?

Texas guys: TX NT is fastly approaching, any of you running it?

Goodluck all! I've had one auto-x under my belt in the Solstice, was off the pace from where I need to be, but took top pax and nearly top time of day!

I'll be running at the TX NT and really looking forward to it. Still not shocks or bar for me but thats ok I just want to gage where I'm at as a driver more than anything else.

Right on, goodluck. It's not too late to get a front bar, and I'd really recommend it. What tires and size are you going to run?