Does anyone have any tips on how I can start to learn and adjust my suspension, ie coilovers sway bars alignment tire pressures and the like. Thank you very much.

 

A good start would be to list what's done to your car so folks can point you in the right direction.

 

Well I havnt actually picked up the new z yet, but heres the mod list thats going on as soon as I pick it up
Cusco zero 2 coilovers
Cusco A –arms
Powergrid endlinks
Spc rear camber/ toe kit
Hotchkis sway bars
Sparco evo(2)
Autopower race roll bar
Takata green 5 point(2)
18x9.5 rota torques all around 275/40/18 and 245/40/18
Kuhmo ecsta mx
full nismo exhaust
jwt pop charger
aps tall boy plenum
aps 2.5 inch test pipes
eventually a set of track wheels with ra-1s and gt spec underbracing

 

Buy some good books.

One example would be "How to Make Your Car Handle'"
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pro...asp?RecId=1652

An oldie but a goodie. Although some details on tires etc is out of date now, the principles on suspension set up are timeless. I have been reading and using this book for over 20 years and just bought a new copy as the old one was worn out

 

cusco coilovers have swapped for tein monoflex with edfc.

 

Dude ... why????

The Zero 2R's are easily a better set of coilovers. I think you mad a bad decision here especially if you plan to track the car.

 

ding, ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!

Educate yourself before spending money or turning wrenches. Read more then one book because there are different ways of achieving the same thing. You will also realize that you don't have to spend a lot to build a good handling 350Z.

 

A very good way to start is to go to www.scca.com and look at the rules for the 350Z in Touring 2. What is listed has been worked out by Nissan as what will work together. Its not a lot of stuff, but it works great for a track car or street car. Its also not that expensive comparitively. We buiilt our T-2 car to the letter of the rules which also allow free shocks. We use JRZ triple adjustable which are pretty pricy but work very well. I would never suggest these for a beginner but would suggest you use a good double adjustable shock. Maybe TC Kline still has some of those special Koni's that he had made to his specifications. We used those for two years and they work very well, especially for the price. Putting a lot of fancy names on your car may make it sound good on boards like my350z but that doesnt mean you will have a well balanced car on the track. You may want to write to John Coffey to get some advice as he also has a good car and knows what hes doing for setups. I susgest the SCCA rules as you may eventually want to race the car with SCCA or NASA and also the items in the rules work for the Z car.

For a starting point after you have added all the performance stuff you want, first set the sway bars in the middle. Set the shocks in the middle. Set your rear toe to netural or 0 toe and camber at 1 degree. You can fine tune that when you learn what your car is doing on the track. It wont need very much adjustment even then. Set your front camber at between 1.5 to 2.0 degrees and front toe to between 1/16" to 3/16" out. the Z doesnt like a lot of toe out as do many other cars. For example, we found a Z28 Camaro liked 1/4" to 3/8" toe. I assume you will use a tire similar to the Kumho 710 for the track which will give you a reasonable number of laps and will remain fairly constant for grip. You will want to look for tire pressures at the end of a 20 minutes session of about 32 psi. You will also want to see fairly constant tire temps across all 3 faces of the tire. Always check tire temps first and on the left front and left rear if you are on a clockwise track, then check the other side, front first always. Tire pressures can then be checked as they will remain constant a lot longer than temps. We use a very low pressure when first starting out. With the Kumho 710 look for between 23 and 24 psi. Goodyear and Hoosier are a little different and you need someone else to give you good advice on that. We like the Kumho 710 and have run their tires for years. You may want to find some used take-offs to start out. We start every race weekend with a new set of tires and will have some take-offs this year so if you want a set let me know and we can reserve you some. On the Z car we use a 285/35 x 18 but we will also be racing a Honda S2000 this year and will have some 17" tires as well.

Now that you have all this stuff on your car, youre at the track with someone to crew for you, you can run a session to learn the track and get a good feel for the car. Second session make front shock changes by at least two clicks, doesnt matter which way as what you are trying to find out is what is happening to the car in a corner. Third session go back to where you were and make two clicks in the other direction. Then make your best guess on what you need for a front setting. Same thing with the rear shocks. If you are plowing badly in corners you may want to make a front sway bar change. Most good front bars have 3 different holes to make adjustments.

All this takes a lot of time. When we first built our Z car we spent a whole day, 6 sessions, to get the cars suspension tuned. And this is with a very experience driver who is good at that. There is more fine tuning to do but thats another day, another track. Eventually you and your crew will be able to make adjustments after just 3 or 4 laps and can fine tune the car much more quickly but since youre a beginnner it will take more time. We can make 3 or 4 adjustments in a 20 minute session but we are also down to just adjusting shock settings.

I can almost see the flames coming at me from the doubters, but we set the fastest qualifying and race lap for the non-turbo cars at the runoffs in Topeka last October. We also hold a few track records around the Northeast and Southest Division SCCA. Bob Hines

 

And what you've done to the driver

 

Make no mods, power or suspension.

Drive and learn the car. Maximize what you have, then modify to get better.

I see it all the time, as do others I'm sure - guys that make thousands of dollars in modifications and build more car then they can drive on the track. Our stock 04' Roadster is faster around the track than most modified 350Zs with novice drivers behind the wheel. If you truly want a car to track, take this year to learn the car and the tracks while you read up on the suspension guides.

 

Stock Z + seat time . . .

 

Get the car first, then drive it stock as most here have said.

If you don't drive the car stock, how will you know if the parts you added helped or made the car worse? Not all parts work together and not all parts will make you go faster/make you car handle better.

I learned my lesson with motorcycles, but a lot of it transfers over to cars. Get the handling down first, then worry about power. All the money you'll be spending on cat-back, plenum, etc could be used on track time and tires

 

i think there's a trend here but i agree with everyone else, learn first...mod later. (if i only practiced what i preach...)