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OBD1 ftw? :)
Top nut (22mm) on the right front coilover was the clunk. Seems to be gone now after tightening it up. :up: Good news, that. Means I didn't have to put the car in the air to hunt for a problem (ask me how long it takes to get the front on jack stands, as low as the car is now...).
If it works loose again I'll remove the nut and apply a bit of blue loctite. I used my impact wrench for the final torque - though it's a bit down on battery power so not at full strength.
Supa! Those are the nice fixes! :)
You should invest in a 2x6! They are great to drive onto to make getting a jack under a lowered car easier. Stick a 1' board under each wheel, or stack a couple of them like stairs to add a little more height. Like shitty, cheap, Rhino Ramps. :) I gotta use that setup with the SPG, or I end up using two jacks - a tiny one to get some height under the car so I can fit the large one. A few pieces of wood solves that issue, saves time.
Oh yes, I have to drive up on 2x4s, and even then it's a challenge. Stacking a second 2x4 under each front wheel helps.
I jack one side of the M3 up, place 4x4 under tire, then jack from front subframe.
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...5/original.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...6/original.jpg
New wheels and tires and lug nuts mounted. 5mm spacers up front. I seem to have only about 6 turns of thread engagement up front. Not sure if that's enough - I think I once heard that 4 turns is enough for full strength of a bolt, but what about a stud with the engagement at the outer end (wheel + spacer means there's a fair bit of stud length doing nothing)?
There are lots of rules of thumb when it comes to thread engagement, and really you can't know anything until you know about the materials and dimensions involved. ;) The rule I've always used for wheel hardware is engagement should equal the diameter of the stud or bolt... so an M12 wheel stud needs 12mm of thread engagement... that's assuming you have steel wheel hardware and not aluminum, in which case you need double that. That's minimum - which isn't good enough for many sanctioning bodies, which generally have rules about exposed threads - eg, at least two threads fully exposed past the nut.
FWIW, I ran the XR4Ti for many years with five full turns on the studs and it made me nervous - it should have been about eight (M12x1.5). Nothing bad ever happened, and when I finally switched to longer wheel studs there was no sign of stress or damage to the old studs or nuts. But, that was for street use. I didn't track that car until I had more engagement.
Also, them wheels is ACE!
Threads exposed past the nut? But my nuts are huge! ;) [Muteki SR48]
At 12x1.25, if my math is right that means 9.6 turns of engagement. Seems like a lot!
I wonder who makes quality extended studs besides ARP ($$$). Sometimes OEMs have options - I think my MR2T has front studs from a Land Cruiser or something. I'll look up how difficult it would be to remove/install studs with basic hand tools.
just shell out for the ARPs and be done with it.
That's what I did anyways.
Go to Dorman's website and look up replacement wheel studs for your car. That will give you the geometry. Then you can search for other cars with similar but longer wheel studs. I gotta believe someone on some forum has done this before, so you may do fine just googling "300zx longer wheel studs."
It's generally not too bad to swap wheel studs, but the gotcha is whether there is sufficient space behind the hub to get the old ones out or the new ones in. A good socket that will just slip over the back and a big c-clamp will do it, and sometimes a quick rap with a heavy (sledge) hammer is enough. Just don't beat on it and damage the hub or wheel bearings. It's helpful to hose things down in PB Blaster long before starting, and judicious use of Freeze Off during the process will help. Given the Z's RWDedness it may be painless to pull the front hubs off entirely and use a press to get the old ones out. That's what I did on the Fiero and XR. You can probably flip a local shop $20 to do it for you. Usually just a big beefy nut.
Installation can be done with a sacrificial lug nut and some heavy duty M12 washers, or there is a $25 Lisle tool which works awesome. Happy to mail mine to you if you like - I won't be installing more wheel studs for a while. ;) You might check O'Reilly's etc, as they may have stud removal/installer kits available for rent.
Aw yeah, now THAT'S the business! :up: :up:Quote:
Originally Posted by thesameguy
I have Nismo wheel studs on the front of my S14, no issues with them and pretty reasonable $$.
Looking good with the wheels.
So to catch up a bit on preparation, here's my un-pretty battery and catch can installation. There's no good way to do the catch can on this car, with the dual PCV valves and their locations, so I think that is what it is. Without the small battery giving me the space, I'm not sure where I would have put a catch can. Maybe a single tiny one would have fit on the drivers side amongst the master cylinders.
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...6/original.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...7/original.jpg
[Hose routing for the drivers side PCV]
I have drain extensions going down to the bottom of the car. It will be interesting to see which one collects the most oil - so we can know once and for all if one PCV pickup is more troublesome than the other on the VG30DE.
And yeah, I need hose clamps that are less ugly! That was all I could find locally. The next size smaller is too small. It's for a 19/32" hose. If anyone's got a good source of better-looking clamps, do speak up.
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...5/original.jpg
Engineered P/S reservoir diaper.
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...9/original.jpg
New wheels and tires on. I just noticed this time that the front suspension has noticeably more droop travel than the rear.
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And now, a report on its first event...
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Next to Charlie Davis' winning BMW:
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...4/original.jpg
Obviously I still have some trim to install to make it legal. I ran WRG not for points at this event, with a marque club I've rarely run with, just to test out the car.
So!
I started with the damper settings I ended up with at last year's El Toro ProSolo (almost a year ago, holy cow...) in the T-top car. Of course this blue car has a few important differences (not the least of which is a real diff) but I figured that was as good a place to start as any.
After one run I softened rear bump by 2 clicks. I wanted to get power down without going sideways instantly...
After the second run, having felt a slight improvement, I went down on front bump 2 clicks because I felt more steady state push.
The third and fourth runs I left it alone.
In the end, I think tire temperature had more to do with improving power-down than anything. Surprisingly, tire temperature was not the issue I expected it to be. My temps were all between 90-120 degrees F after four runs with about 5 minutes break in between. It was a sunny but cool day (60F ambient?) with a little breeze and a grippy concrete surface.
Tire temp spread seemed to indicate I could use a bit more negative camber up front, and more pressure as well. I ran 38psi hot with -3.1* camber. On an SLA-like front suspension. That seems like a lot of camber already, to me...
Rear temps showed a similar theme. I have -2.4* back there, and ran 34psi hot. Power-down might have been helped by less tire pressure, but the pyrometer would suggest that less rear camber is not the way to go. However, even in a straight line the car wants to spin the back tires. It's a joke in the wet (on the way to the event this morning). I can get wheelspin in 2nd gear going straight. Not even shifting. On the dry concrete, launching from the line at ~2000rpm, I get a bit of wheelspin.
Comments from a couple friends watching (experienced autocrossers themselves): my car doesn't dive, roll, or squat. At all. It seems too stiff. How to know if it's spring rate or damping? I can imagine if there's a tonload of low speed compression damping in the shock, it might have a similar effect and just never roll onto the spring. I did notice on course it never did feel like the front end would dig in and grip. Even so, I could just barely tuck the nose in with a lift off the throttle mid-corner.
As a (probably fairly useless!) test I opened the hood on my car and Charlie's BMW, and leaned on the shock tower to compress the suspension by hand. My car's front end didn't move. Charlie's did, though not a lot. And his car isn't exactly softly sprung.
Is it true damping has more of an effect on transition ability than spring rate? Suppose I go softer on springs - I don't want to lose the quick transitions this car manages to have given its weight. Getting a 3100lb 71" wide car to slalom well is probably going to be the biggest challenge and also one of the best time gains...
There was some steady state push for sure. It felt worse than it looks in the video. Two things, though. 1) Just about everything pushes a bit at Marina. 2) The majority of this course wasn't representative of anything we'll see at a national level event.
The car doesn't feel very fast in 2nd gear, until it gets to 5000rpm. Then it takes off. Like VTAK. But it doesn't have VTAK. Strange. I remember my '91 T-top car feeling similar at El Toro. Feels like a lack of torque below 4k RPM even though the dyno plots say otherwise. On the street it feels plenty fast in 3rd/4th gear.
So here are my times...
53.130
52.383
51.900
51.637
Charlie was my benchmark, since I've run with him since 2012. After our first runs he was 52.5, six tenths quicker than me. I didn't like this. After fourth runs, I was six tenths quicker than him. He took a passenger on his 4th run though, and felt like he didn't quite get what the car had on his 3rd and fastest run. So figure I was ~3 tenths faster. Not fast enough! Again though, I don't know how much we can read into this course and times.
Video of all 4 of my runs is uploading. My genius camera mount turned out to be less genius when the weight of the GoPro made it apparent the dome light lens isn't as firmly attached as it could be. The roll you see in the video is not body roll, it's camera roll as the dome light lens shifts back and forth...
It was a mixed day. On the plus side, nothing blew up and there were no big surprises. But it isn't exactly lighting up the time sheets either. San Diego next weekend could be interesting, as stiff as the car is and as much as it already wants to go sideways on throttle on concrete. Broken up asphalt will be a challenge! As a band-aid, I wonder if running compression damping full soft might give me a bit of compliance in the suspension. And lower rear tire pressures...
Other possible ideas, probably more for the future than for next weekend:
> Softer springs all around (thinking of taking a swing at it... 100-150lbs?)
> less rear camber, less rear toe-in? [fender roll???]
> less front toe-out? Bit darty on street. More front camber? -3.1 static seems like plenty on SLA-like suspension.
> Would softer springs give more compression travel, and gain me more dynamic camber loaded up in a turn? Maybe static camber is fine as-is, then, once I get the suspension to do more work.
One more cool thing, the car did attract a lot of compliments and attention. Especially from people I didn't know. Well if nothing else it makes an impression!
Found a couple shots on course:
http://markm.zenfolio.com/p730463841...e516#h1d14e516
http://markm.zenfolio.com/p730463841...490f#h173d490f [going slowly up to the timeslip guy, so don't read anything into the lack of body roll this time]
Video:
http://youtu.be/aRZ5BHI9EA0
Never found a "good looking" hose clamp, but I positively hate those cheapass parts store clamps. They are made of thin metal and the "gear teeth" chomp on the rubber hose while the edges dig at it. Terrible devices, they should be banned. ABA is what many European cars use for clamps, and they are made to a much higher quality but are usually about $2/ea. Ouch. I found these on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
which are nice in the fact that the gear teeth are embossed rather than cut and the edges are rolled... like ABA clamps, but not quite as nice - and about half the price.
All that said, for PCV on an NA car, I would consider just using modern spring clamps.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10Pcs-6-to-1...item51b5a62ee9
They take up less space and technically are better than worm-gear clamps because they can expand and contract with heat. Although they are factory on all modern cars, they can be a problem in boosted applications and people complain about them. But for a wheezer, they should be exactly what you need. Buy the proper tool (which could just be wide pliers) to remove them and they are incredibly fast to service, which might be nice when emptying or inspecting the cans.
6/10's faster than the winner isn't fast enough??
Not if Bryan aims to be at the top end of the field at Nationals. :)
Car looks awesome
34psi hot sounds a tad high to me, could probably go 2psi lower ?
It does sound like you need the car to move around more. I guess that softening the damping is something you can try easily. If the car gets bouncy, then I guess you need softer springs too.
My S13's poor traction was definitely worsened when it was running coilovers.
Possibly the best solution for slaloming would be some beefy anti-roll bars, rather than having hard springs/dampers ?
I'd reckon leave camber alone for now and try and get the setup a bit softer.
Tire pressures don't seem unreasonable based on my experience with similar tires in that environment.
Based on some comments elsewhere, I'm starting to wonder if he didn't get a bad set of KWs. I dismissed that thought (elsewhere), but a lack of movement when leaning on the fender seems bad.
The one asterix, Bryan, would be that I wouldn't chase my tail too much based on minor issues at Marina--it's a weird site for tuning. I do think that the possibly major issue of "why does it seem like my dampers are locked solid" should be checked out, though!
Yeah, even the crazy high spring rates and damper rates I run, I can get some flex on my M3.
Is the car hitting bumpstops or anything?
It is, up front, but not until it compresses 2". My girl's RX-8 has a tad less compression travel than that before hitting the bump stops, and rides smooth like buttah. So that's not it. :) Bump stops were my initial theory on the maroon Z, and I measured shock travel and calculated coil bind, then cut the stops before putting the coilovers on the blue Z.
Screwy shock damping does seem plausible. It just seems highly unlikely all 4 would have been built wrong. I'd almost think it more likely they engineered the damping that way on purpose - perhaps exclusively for a smooth race track. Other Zs run various other coilovers with similar spring rates to mine and they report a smooth ride on the street.
I'll probably try softer springs first since they're a lot cheaper and easier to change. See if it does anything for me.
I know Marina is a bit of an anomaly. Still I think the suspension has bigger problems than simply balance issues. It needs to work like suspension first. ;)
Dampers are what affects the ride quality, I wonder if the dampers are mis-valved....
This is what I'm hearing from more and more people. That even quality dampers can ride smoothly with crazy stiff spring rates.
I think there's only one company that revalves these dampers... and I bet it isn't cheap. Or fast.
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In other news, I drained the catch cans today...
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...6/original.jpg
This is after four (4) autocross runs. That's crazy. I think there's a problem with the PCV pickup point location, yeah? ;) What's interesting is this all came out of one can - the other can was empty. If this pattern holds after several more events, I think I'd be safe to go with a much simpler (and slightly lighter) single catch can for the troublesome side only. It's the passenger side PCV that has the drinking problem. It picks up from the exhaust valve cover low down on the drivers side (both pick ups are close by). And runs to the passenger side PCV valve, which is attached to a part of the intake that crosses back over to the drivers side cylinder bank. Not complicated at all, is it? :)
I did put a lot of work and $$$ into this custom dual catch tank system though... shame to waste it. On the other hand, I've saved my cats and learned something useful in the process.
It'd be nice if I could dump this oil back into the sump but I have a feeling it's probably better not to.
The TTs only ever blew smoke going one direction, so I guess it makes sense that only one bank is the problem child?
Actually it's not that straightforward from what I can tell. Here are the two vent tubes at the back of the drivers side exhaust valve cover:
http://z32.wikispaces.com/file/view/...VReroute10.jpg
They're both in a similar area. The tube on the back of the valve cover is the one that lets all the oil through. Not the tube on the side. I would have thought it'd be the one on the side since the car only goes through oil when autocrossing.
What does it look like inside of the valve cover?
Dark and oily.
...smartass
Presumably with some baffling of some sort, somewhere in there.
That really is a dumb location for a PCV connection. At the back and low, where oil in the head is going to go every time you get on the gas. Crazy they thought that was a good idea on this type of a car.
Is there any option to relocate the PCV port? Or possibly put some sort of baffling (a small canister with steel wool, etc.) very nearby to help return oil directly to the head?
Not within the rule structure that Bryan is following. He's only allowed to add a catch tank.
Yeah, I figured. :(
Pretty much yields one possibility: Live with it.
Quick post-SanDiego brain dump.
Went full soft on shocks for Friday TnT. Car felt fun to drive, fairly neutral on TnT course. Maybe a bit too much rotation on throttle above 4k RPM. Played with stiffening front bump. No real improvement in corner exit on power. In fact it got slightly worse as the tires got heat in them. T ran after, and thought the car was too loose on throttle. We disconnected the rear bar. I rode for a run. It felt quite stable but not pushy. So we left it for Saturday competition. Meanwhile a few other shock adjustments were made. Oddly, adding more front rebound relative to rear rebound made the car loose in transitions -- the opposite effect compared to other cars I have run.
On Saturday, car was very loose on throttle. A big difference compared to the practice course - and usually the difference is more subtle. Even with the stock rear bar disconnected the car was happy to over-rotate on part throttle. Front bar is full stiff. We played with adding more front bump again to try to fix it, and we lowered rear tire pressures further. Down to 30psi.
The car seems to roll side to side and feels a bit lazy and soft in the lateral transition. I'm told from observers there is still no perceptible dive or squat. Adding rebound all around seems to sharpen the initial steering response, though you can still feel the weight and slight sluggishness in transitions.
Saturday night we lowered the rear ride height 3 turns on the KW perches. Not knowing what this would do to toe. I asked J-Rho and he said it would lose toe-in. So possibly a net wash in balance. The car was mostly the same I felt, with maybe a slight improvement in power-down, and it had more resistance to turning in well in the off-camber corners. This latter effect could have been due to course design. For our last runs we went down a bit more in rear tire pressure, in spite of our pyrometer readings, and it seemed to help on the last run. Oddly both days I felt my last run was better, but the times didn't show it. The Dunlop Z2s didn't seem to be getting too hot. They were no more than warm. 120 degrees tops. Teddie was sure her final run Sunday was her best but again, the clock disagreed.
Anyway, I talked to a few people who said that their cars were looser on Sunday than on Saturday. So perhaps lowering the rear ride height helped more than I think - if we hadn't, it's possible the car would have been crazy loose Sunday.
The good news is it's not hard to get the front end to work well. The not so good news is it's proving difficult to get that much grip from the rear of the car. We'll keep trying. For El Toro I've hooked up the rear sway bar again, anticipating a more understeery surface, and I've also thrown a complete monkeywrench into the works by throwing Hankooks on the car. :p We'll see what happens. Driving around town the diff chatter has a different feel between the two tires. Strange. Anyway, I haven't checked rear toe since lowering the back of the car mainly because I don't want to spend another $80 fixing it just yet.
Oh, and the catch cans need to be drained after 3 runs. If they aren't, the car burns oil through the exhaust on the 4th run. This is rather tiresome. Can we make a better solution legal in ST?
It's late. Got to drive to El Toro in the morning. I'll have more pictures up when I get back. Here's a quick one for now, and in-car video of (nearly...) all of my runs in San Diego.
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...3/original.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMHf3eHEbX8
I think the few times I turned into a corner and turned out again were mainly due to my habit of having a very quick turn-in. Exacerbated by my time in the E36, and made no better by the light steering in the Z32. It's a quick ratio so you don't really need an armful of steering on turn in. Got to refine that from my side, but also make the car less hyper-responsive to it if I can.
I meant to mention the other day your tribulations with the catch can scenario have proven to be really helpful to me. Since I put the Fiero on the good suspension and sticky tires, I've been noticing a fair amount of oil burning that I thought was happening at high RPM or maybe during throttle overrun at high RPM. I assumed that having put a pile of time and money into the handling that was the cue for the engine to develop a problem. It'd only make sense...
Turns out it's happening on higher G right turns at high RPM, eg big freeway on & off ramps. Never happens when turning left, only right. It probably would have taken a LONG time for me to diagnose the actual problem if I hadn't been so familiar with yours. So, thanks!
No problem! Glad my hack build could help in some way. :lol:
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Warning: Long autox report and bench racing to follow.
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A few further SD Tour thoughts.
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...3/original.jpg
This is the new alignment system at my local place, with these devices that clamp on to the outside of the tires. I was kind of wondering how accurate that would be (depends more on the operator than the tolerances of the equipment?) compared to the traditional setup. This new thing also can't properly measure toe in inches since it doesn't know the wheel diameter. (I know, I'm crazy for always thinking of toe in inches rather than the more absolute measurement of degrees!).
So, how close was my weight guess of 3100lbs?
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...1/original.jpg
Ignore the corner weights - I hear SCCA scales are never leveled. Anyway, with that much fuel I'm sure the car is under 3100lbs normally. I figure 3075 or so on 1/8th of a tank (I wanted to test this at El Toro but the scales were never open when I wanted to weigh). This is a little bit lighter than I expected. I now think a build with a high priority on weight savings (custom light and loud exhaust, aluminum shocks, early no-airbag hardtop, etc) could get to 2,950. Not that I'll go there. I may get to low 3000s if I really feel like throwing more money at the car.
Here are some action shots showing the car working (Teddie driving):
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...9/original.jpg
Seems to be enough body roll, without being excessive. San Diego, IMO, has decent grip even though cars feel slidey, loose, and sluggish to respond there.
Squat and dive, on the other hand, doesn't seem to exist much. The car should still be under hard braking here:
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...0/original.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...3/original.jpg
Rear sidewall flex...
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...1/original.jpg
This angle makes it look as though the rear wheel is slightly toed-out with zero or positive camber. I don't believe either of those would be the case, although toe out is possible, I suppose, after we lowered the rear.
El Toro ProSolo debrief, then!
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In the week between San Diego and El Toro I reconnected the rear sway bar, changed the transmission fluid to MT90, and bolted on a set of 2011 build date Hankooks RS3s that had barely been used. Local knowledge says this particular tire has an affinity for El Toro's surface, and they came with my WedsSports, so why not. :) [And yeah I'm running them on the Rotas... long story]
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...0/original.jpg
The trans drain plug had plenty of metal on it, embedded in a layer of dark grey goop. I wonder if the fluid in this car has ever been changed. In spite of this, it shifts fantastically. Better than the 98k-mile transmission in my 1991. The only hint that anything could be sub-optimal is a whine in 2nd gear. It sure sounds like that whine is coming from the rear end, not the trans, but it only does it in 2nd gear... funny.
So surprise surprise, there was a practice course at El Toro this time. Since the car was still so new, and I hadn't run it on RS3s before, I thought it would be a good idea to get a basic idea for tire pressures and balance. The TnT was on a section of runway that was sandpaper concrete. Super high grip. I could feel the car sort of bind up and release (and repeat) on the initial phase of corner exit. I'm thinking this has to do with the diff being fairly tight. Aside from that, the car felt better than ever, having no real trouble getting power down while straight or otherwise. Braking performance seemed a bit less on the Hankooks. Slaloms felt as good as one could expect from a car this heavy. I was one of the few STX cars in the 39s that I know of, but half a second behind Clint's ITR. I settled on pressures pretty similar to what I ran on Dunlop Z2s.
The area of El Toro we used for the Pro is very good asphalt that behaves much like concrete.
I started with shock settings close to what I used in San Diego, just with the rear bar connected since El Toro tends to promote understeer in comparison with San Diego. In the Saturday AM session, the Z seemed a little loose, and I felt like I had the opportunity to gain a decent chunk of time with a solid run each side so I disconnected the rear bar. And also went down 2 clicks on front compression in an attempt to make sure the car didn't push too much entry to mid corner.
It felt slightly better, though clearly it wasn't a large difference and I still had to wheel it. It felt slightly softer in the back, transitioning that little bit slower.
I wanted to keep looking for more time in the setup. I looked at video Saturday night to make a decision whether to re-attach the rear bar for Sunday (since I didn't improve as much Saturday PM as I thought I would), or to try something else instead. In the end I decided to soften the front shocks both in bump and rebound. Bump in an attempt to further reduce the mild push at times, and rebound in a (futile) attempt to help the car launch a little better. It actually launched worse on Sunday morning. But more than that, I felt like the car had become too soft in lateral. I think I may have gone the wrong way in setup. I made it easier to drive, but probably no faster. Theoretically softening the car would add grip but it ended up that the weight of the car could be felt more.
After sitting 3rd on grid for Sat PM runs, and 2nd on grid for Sun AM runs, I was disappointed to finish competition runs in 4th, later to become 5th when Yanase took his runs (congrats if you're reading this!). I think I drove the car well and pretty much got the most out of it. I did see in data I went nearly 3 tenths faster in the second half of my final Challenge run (second side so the tires had warmed up a bit). That was an all or nothing run scaring all the cones to try to beat Tom Berry after being behind on the first side. It wasn't enough. :p Anyway, there's not a lot more to be done to the car other than fine tuning what's there and maybe taking another 2.2% off the overall weight. From a bench racing perspective, there's good and bad to be seen. The Z32 is still teasing me just enough to make me want to continue with it.
Good: Despite finishing 5th, the bottom end of the trophies, I was only .235 from the win. STX was crazy. :)
Bad: Max threw down a dirty run in his STR ;) BRZ that was .5 faster than what he stood on. So I'm not quite as close as it looks initially.
Good: There may be a bit more time in the car if I can figure out how to make the rear end work better.
Bad: I was giving away 3 tenths to 60ft (perhaps 4-5 tenths to 200ft where the first turn was?) on each side to Max's BRZ. If I could have made the car launch properly, I would have been there at the top. Most of my 60ft times were 2.5 or low 2.6. I think I had one or two high 2.4s. And either lots of wheelspin or lots of wheel hop, or both. Really tricky car to launch. I know Hankooks don't launch well, but I wasn't the only RWD car on them either...
The challenge I see is that acceleration is no better than the typical cars in class, and I don't get any more tire for my extra 300-500lbs of weight. The more transitions on course, and the more slippery the surface, the less competitive the car is. A series of 50-70mph sweepers on concrete would be the perfect autox course for this car. We're not likely to see anything like that at SCCA events.
At the moment I'm thinking the next steps look something like this:
- Softer rear springs (460lbs down to 400?) combined with a stiffer rear bar. I want more squat on acceleration, without softening the car too much in lateral for transitions. The rates for the stock rear bar and Stillen rear bar are unknown... This could be a "try it and see" situation. Perhaps raising the rear ride height back to initial spec would be useful here too. Don't want too much understeer to creep in. Do want stability, but willingness to rotate and change direction are important too.
- Take some locking out of the diff. Easiest way to try is synthetic fluid, and if that's' not enough maybe add some friction modifier. If that fails, I can try to reverse another set of plates but it'd be a major hassle to remove the diff and LSD again. It's not so easy.
One potential downside to this two-pronged change is a stiffer rear bar unloading the inside rear more, making it easier for the diff to spin up the inside tire if it isn't tight enough. I don't know where the margin is with the diff. I definitely don't want to turn it into a $1500 open diff when I could have just run the VLSD for that! Last year my maroon Z felt more free (not loose, mind you) on corner entry and mid corner. Like you could really carry good speed into a turn with little to no drama. The blue Z doesn't feel like that, and I think the diff is the main reason why. I get the impression, without any real data to back it up, that I have to slow the blue Z more in the first half of a corner to get it to turn.
Sometimes on course the steering would get temporarily heavy, I think when turning back the other way quickly, as in the 2-cone "hard slalom" thing near the end of the courses. Would this be a rack issue or a pump issue most likely? I have a persistent slow leak from the pump (not the hose), and often the first time I turn the wheel after having been stopped for several minutes (engine off or on) it's heavy, and then gets light again after 5-10 seconds.
I should probably check where my rear toe is at some point too.
I think for this car to be truly competitive it would need more wheel/tire, or more power, or less weight (on the order of 2-300lbs). The only one of those that's even possible in the current ruleset is more power. I imagine if one were to build an engine to the letter of the rules, spend more time trying other parts and dyno tuning, and running 100 octane, one might gain some more power. Wild guess 10-20 rwhp.
Of course, one would have to figure out how to get that power to the ground for it to be most useful. :)
El Toro is the best!
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...1/original.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...2/original.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/bryanh/image/15...3/original.jpg
In-car shenanigans!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBKwPSwjtsg
The car is still teasing me just enough to make me want to keep trying things... That might change if I ever back-to-back it with a GT86. :lol:
The binding up definitely sounds like you have too much deceleration torque applied. I don't know much about adjustable diffs and how to modify that, but that is what it currently sounds like. I would start there before trying to band-aid the issue elsewhere. If might also help with the power down problem you are having. I'd recommend only changing one thing at a time.
I am personally of the mindset to run stiff springs and soft/no bar to allow complete independent action of the suspension.
the heavy steering action might be from fluid cavitation on switchbacks. I'd eliminate the leak before I would chase anything else out.
The binding feeling I describe is on corner exit, when I get back to throttle at lower RPM (higher RPM the car would have enough juice to overcome the outside rear tire and powerslide). There may be too much decel locking as you say, but it's less than the accel locking (it's a 1.5-way diff). I'm speculating the diff is overall still too tight despite being set to "60%" locking by KAAZ USA as opposed to the 100% they typically ship with.
In the past I have preferred not to use stiff bars at both ends, too. On this car I'm considering it. The suspension seems to have a lot of resistance to fore/aft pitch movement, proportional to lateral roll. And it's a street car so I don't want to go too crazy on spring rates.
Eliminating the PS leak means buying a $550 pump... don't wanna. :p
My catch can drains also leak oil, considerably. Not cool. Even after I've drained the cans. Go figure.
hrmmmm,....
Personally I'd try a 50% lock-up or something lower before I mess with the suspension too much more. And because it is less expensive :).
A search on car-part.com shows a 1991 Power steering pump in Hollister CA for 50$. 831-637-5795
A few are actually in Fresno, CA in "Fresno Foreign Wrecking". Off of a 1990. 559-485-3666
Where are your catch cans leaking at?
A pump off a junkyard car is a risk if contaminants get inside. If the pump was easier to change, maybe... kind of a tough one I think.
I don't have the tools to rebuild/change the LSD, honestly. Needs two people and air tools. My friend who helped me the first time went way above and beyond with the car so I don't want to ask him again especially so soon. I'm thinking synthetic diff fluid (Redline 75w90), possibly with a bit of friction modifier added, might accomplish a similar goal as deactivating another set of clutch plates. Kaaz says synthetic oils increase wear on the plates. I just don't know. I not only want to reduce locking under accel and decel, but preload as well. Not sure if a more slippery fluid would accomplish that too.
The catch cans have hose extensions running down to the bottom of the car where brass drains reside. The drains are leaking.
Seems the first step by step I found is a 6-8hr job if you rebuild it yourself. Hmm...
Remans are in the 70-200 range.
The Synthetic will cause slippage from the friction modifiers depending on the oil. I'd ask Kaaz about that one. I am sure there is a tech guy that could give you some pointers.
About the drains, do you have a link or photo of what you used?
Kaaz wants to sell you their $50+ can of oil...
These are the drains: http://www.veloster.org/forum/attach...ed_gallery.jpg
I did use thread sealant when attaching the bracket to the threaded pipes.
I am epicly jealous of your lawn. Looks so tidy that it almost looks fake.
And you have some nommy looking Zed's. :)
And a very good camera by the looks of these photos.
That is all.
Ahhhh. Move on with the synthetic says I!
You mention thread sealant, do you mean "plumbers tape"? Did the type you use say it was oil resistant?
No it came in a tube with the drains.
What do you mean "move on" with the synthetic? I can't tell if that means "forget it" or "do it." Heh.
Oh and the lawn is fake. :p Installed just before they came out with a new, more realistic looking shade. Oh well. Keeps us from having to mow the lawn or water it. Sprinklers get nasty water spots on cars, so I quite like it actually. :)
Sorry, move on = do it in this case!
About the sealant, I am safe to assume it is leaking at the threads? Are the threads NPT design?
Nobody seems able to make those petcock style drains properly. I've been through three on the XR4Ti because I thought I was all fancy, but they've all leaked. Not immediately, but within a month. It looks like you've got a barb fitting threaded into the petcock fitting, so while not elegant you could just go to a hardware store and buy a cap with the appropriate style threads and handle it that way. You might also have some luck buying a mess of rubber vacuum port caps and zip tying them over the existing drain. Leaky oil will fairly quickly destroy them, but would probably hold ok for a few weeks between drains. Finally, you could add a foot or so of hose between the drain and can and kink it up a the top to prevent oil from getting down to the drain. When you're ready to empty the can, unkink it. I suspect the issue you're having is because you're catching so much oil - it's an uncommon problem to start with. My buddy's SPG got emptied annually and there was barely anything in it.
I wouldn't worry too much about a junkyard pump being contaminated, especially if it's from a dismantler (versus one sitting outside in the elements in a self-serve). These guys don't want parts coming back. You can always rig up a drill motor to turn the pump and move a couple quarts of fluid through it to clean it out if you're worried. Unless Z pumps are known to suck, I wouldn't waste $500 on a new one - that's a lot o coin on a 20 year old car.
My younger son ran the Beep Test in school yesterday in physical fitness. He's in 3rd grade. He had the best score in the whole school... Level 6. :eek:
I think you need to buy DLC to get to level 7 anyway!
Your new home in Sebastian, FL awaits! Seems like a great deal.
http://kristybrown.kwrealty.com/list...ertyid/691247/
https://www.google.com/maps/place/12...0d8d33d1?hl=en
Interesting. Too far from a major airport, garage #2 is very detached, neighborhood looks run down, and what's there to do in Sebastian? :)
Other than that, perfect! :p
Airport: 1 hour from Orlando International.
6-car garage very detached: That's just how you want it. The 2-car is for the daily-drivers, and the big one is for race karz and projects. You don't want the power tools waking up Bryan Jr., do you??
Run-down area: Don't think of it as run down... it's established. Or eclectic. Seems to be new homes mixed with older. I'd be OK living there... ESPECIALLY with THAT much home for THAT price.
What to do in Sebastian: Well for starters, surf. Sebastian Inlet is a VERY popular Florida surf area. And with the possible exceptions of mountain climbing and snow-skiing, you can do in Sebastian anything you can do anywhere else.
http://youtu.be/itjhCwEWL6g
It almost makes me wish I was looking to move.
That video does make it look nicer than StreetView did. My idea of close to the airport is <20mins. :) And I'm not ready to buy anything anyway. Houses with custom (larger) garage setups are out there, they're just few and far between. Patience might be the key.
Just like when car shopping for that special vehicle
Cuda-
Move to Austin. Let us house sit and go to races at COTA while you're going to races around the world.
I have a few options for you:
http://www.redfin.com/TX/Austin/1610.../home/31299847
http://www.redfin.com/TX/Austin/8510.../home/32320163 (this one has other buildings in addition to the home in a larger lot, and is right next to the airport and therefore the track)
http://www.redfin.com/TX/Austin/1313.../home/31308038
Shit, that second one would be PERFECT for a GTXF compound!
Move to Jupiter, FL. It's beautiful, and about 20 minutes from West Palm airport, and also PBIR (formerly Moroso) is there. Western areas (like Jupiter Farms and parts of Palm Beach Gardens) would offer more for the $, and would be closer to the track.
Awesome beaches just minutes away, and plenty to do as far as bars, shopping, restaurants, etc. Yeah you lose the stuff like hiking, skiing, good driving roads, etc, but you can't get those anywhere in FL.
Wait, are you actually looking to move :lol:
Frequent snow is out of the question. Frequent heat+humidity is very non-optimal. California is nice. :lol:
Moving may or may not happen at some point this year.
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I'm doing it. Posting to the dreaded CL. Hold me...
http://fresno.craigslist.org/pts/4462793365.html
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2298/31ru.jpg
How much for just one rim?
Funny story. I was at a local bar called johnny walkers, they serve ribs and fries. This guy walks up and asks how much for a serving of fries. He then asks for half order which they don't offer.
I felt like I was in the fricking movie.
I have not seen this movie. Explain your cultural reference!