I'm playing with alignment to help limit corner-exit oversteer too, and though it was a bit tail-happy in the wet, it was light years better than in my BS setup, which had a little bit of rear toe-out (about 0.1 degrees, so almost neutral). I'm now running 1/16 total toe-in rear, and it's pretty controlled.

I guess I'll have to be a bit of a guinea pig on the diff issue, though I'm beginning to suspect that either the Quaife or a good clutch-type will be a significant upgrade over stock, and basically good enough for autocross. I may end up going with whichever is a bit cheaper, since $200 saved means another travel/test weekend. Not going to cheap out with off-brand stuff, however, as I haven't had especially good luck with that.

 

I thought I read and/or heard somewhere that the lack of camber was a big issue in the 350Z not being competitive in B stock. I've also noticed the lack of camber plates or camber kits on any of the builds in this thread. Is the camber "issue" real? Have the modifications you've done thus far negated the usefulness of further camber adjustment?

Thanks!

 

Well, the 350Z is not a strut front suspension so camber plates and camber kits are irrelevant. There are adjustable upper control arms that can give more camber or you can do like I did and machine some offest upper control arm bushings and get about 1.9 degrees negative.

 

As John notes above, adjustable control arms are how you get camber in the Z. My build and I think Liam's (based on a Nismo) both have them.

Also, if you note my alignment specs in my first post in this thread, -3.0 front and -2.5 rear mean there's definitely some front camber going on.

 

Thanks for clarifying 350Z camber for a noob.

I'm looking at the Street Touring rules via the SCCA Solo handbook and trying to figure out what would be legal in the new STR class. What are your thoughts on what has a good cost/benefit while staying ST legal?

thanks!

 

Again, I'd refer you to the first couple posts in this thread where we outline what we're planning on doing to our cars. That's about all you can do, legally, listed with reference to performance benefit.

 

Bumping this back up now that the October Fastrack is out with this little nugget:

-Based on positive member feedback, the updated STR rules published in the August Fastrack are considered final, and are
effective 1/1/2010.

So the rules are set. Let the builds begin in earnest.

Mine went to Memphis and PAXed first based on the (speculative) number of 0.832 that I'm expecting Rick Ruth to give to the class based on what he's told me and several others.

Beat out a well-driven mostly-prepped STU Evo X by about 40 thousandths. Raw timed within a tenth or so. I think the Z may have a shot in this class, especially since I haven't added a diff yet (and that's going to be a BIG difference, I think).

On the other hand, I haven't seen a prepped S2K or Miata driven in anger yet either. That should be coming soon, though.

 

Nice Congrats! Very curious as to how you would fair against those prepped S2k's and miata's.

I just gotta find me a good deal on some light 17x9's and improve my skills.

 

Thanks. I am very curious myself. I might get to find out next weekend as I'm heading down to Dallas to run with the Equipe Rapide (non-SCCA, but most of them are also SCCA autocrossers, and they use the same classes) group. Should be some good high-grip surface testing before Blytheville anyway.

Here's a video of the best run I managed to record. I ended up running about a half second faster than this, but my memory card filled up.

As you can hear, the diff isn't working so great. I think that cost me quite a bit of time due to lost power spent spinning the inside wheel instead of sending me forward.

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Is there anywhere to get a complete set of rules for the STR class yet?

 

Not really. I think the July, August and October FasTracks are the collective source. Which you then have to combine with parts of Section 14 from the rule book, some of which apply to ST/STS and some of which apply to STX/STU.

Not exactly user friendly. If I'm feeling charitable I may put them all together in a post later on. But don't hold your breath

 

Do you have side airbags? My 03 Enth in full BS trim weighed in a 3075 last time I checked it out (years ago now) as I sold it in 07.

John, do I read it correctly that the OS Giken is only available for 350s that originally had the VLSD? That might kill the idea for this base model I was looking at.

 

I do have side airbags, and if you had Enkeis, your car old and mine should weigh about the same, since the only other weight-saver I've done is cat-back exhaust, i.e. pretty much BS prep. Mine might have been on slightly heavy scales too, but I can't be sure. Seems like my car should be a little lighter than it is though.

As for the OS Giken, if you check out Z1 Performance's thread in the vendor section, they're selling the LSD for both base and VLSD models. VLSD models are actually more expensive, I"m assuming because they have to buy the base stub axles to fit the diff.

Any idea if swapping to different stub axles would be legal? Otherwise, the base would seem to be the perfect choice.

 

I don't know if the different axles would be legal or not, I've been out of the loop for the past year haven't followed the rules close enough yet.

Thanks for the info, I'll check out the thread, it'll be nice to know how much I'm going to have to start spending

 

The OS Giken fit fine in my base model 350Z.

 

Quick ignorant question. I read through the rules again, and was a bit confused on the intake and engine mods that would be allowed in STR. What about a plenum spacer? OK for BSP, what about STR?

BTW, great thread. I'm starting to learn some things.

 

FYI, I wrote in to solotech with the question about swapping stub axles to accommodate an aftermarket LSD, and I was told it would be fine since it offers no performance advantage and it could be considered part of a package with the diff.

 

Unfortunately, no, the plenum spacer isn't STR legal. Nothing past the throttle body can be modified on the intake side.

Headers-back exhausts are legal, though you do have to retain OEM type, quantity and location of the cats.

 

The 350Z makes enough power in stock form for STR. Focus on reducing weight.

 

+11ty