Welp. Made the mistake of driving around a track last year and now the 350Z is paying the price.

Last year I went from 1:33's at TMP on my opening laps in July to a 1:24.72 PB in October.

PB at Grand Bend was 1.01.38 on the Modified track.

I hope by improving my skill and the car, I can go faster. Why? Because faster is better and more fun.

There's lots of stuff on the way.

Lets see here. I took some pics.



The solid diff mounts in the diff housing. I couldn't do this despite the fact I wasted a tonne of time trying. I eventually dropped it off at RSP motorsports in Komka and they pressed the old rubber ones out, and the solid ones in, as well as the pressing the roller bearings on the Cusco RS LSD.



Installing your own differential is a tedious nightmare.
One of the most hilarious wastes of time was trying to get the drive gear bolts out of the stock vlsd/ ring gear.
Observe. Drop car lift = vice. Use impact Gun. = fail.
Took it to a transmission shop. Took car of it in 20 seconds.


Oh yeah weight reduction.
As much as I can by CSCS Time attack rules which is what I started with.
Some piles of junk on baby alphabet mats.



Some of the parts waiting to go on.




Oh yeah solid subframe bushing.
Totally hilarious to instal.
-1st drill OEM bushing into next week.
-Rent saw and go through race. Barely hit subframe with saw.
-Plan to freeze bushing and hammer in with lube. Fail three times.
-Build press plate with grade 5 bolts from home depot. Can't get press plate so use brake rotor. SNap bolt beside ear go deaf.
- Buy grade 8 bolts. Snap 3 brake rotors into pieces.
- Eventually get it right after wasting a million hours.


Destroyed oem. Victory is mine.


So I finished my diff assembly on my super durable yuppie workbench. hoowah.

Side track! Weight reduction. What a PITA. Especially sound deadening removal.
Step one hammer and chisel
step two wire wheel, make dust cloud
step three vacuum dust cloud.
step four take picture.

total weight of dust cloud = 2.2 pounds.
step five prime and paint.

Don't be jealous. I got Desi auto body owned.







More to come in just a sec.

 

Oh yeah. I can't rev match really. I know it. I will be just working on this for weeks.
But I figure since I bought this it will make it easier.



instant stig

And to drastically improve the car's power to weight ratio, ART Pipes!




Except now I've bolted all the sections of my HKS back up and the second to last section is rubbing on the differential housing. Something to sort out this weekend.

More to come soon when I get my shipment from Z1 which has been delayed due to some personal problems down at the shop. I'm trying to be patient.
OEM brembos, carbotech pads, Koni Yellows, Hotchkis sways, endlinks, all motul fluids. Who knows what else I'm sure some junk is coming in the mail.

 

nice...keep the updates coming.

curious to find out what you ended up setting your cusco lsd to.

i did mine at 1.5 way 100%...pretty harsh in parking lots n such, depending on fluid type...'because trackcar' harsh...

oh ya nismo380rs pedal ftmfw

 

Nice Lift!! Wish I had room for one of those

 

lol love the oem diff bushing.

Nice to see some pics! You did a great job on the interior. I haven't painted mine and its starting to rust up already, so I will need to wire wheel it again before paint. Still have a few spots left.


Are you going to run the center part that goes over the ebrake? I can't tell if its needed for street class. Just says "center console". anyway, I found out today when I put mine back in, I have nothing to bolt it to, and it just sort of sits there...

 

^ The center console you're talking about should have a hole on either side toward the back where it gets screwed into place. I'm not sure if you have the center waterfall piece, but it also screws into that (2 screws).


Always like seeing these "conversion" threads.

 

you're a winner in my book

 

Good stuff!

 

The side bolts go into I think the airbag module bracket. Which I no longer have. No biggy, the ebrake holds it ok.

 

Oh man...

What an experience this is going to be! Best of luck!

 

Man I remember just a few months back when you were asking what are the stuff needed to be done before the first track day.

Your progress is really quick! Best of luck 2th!

 

That looks fun! I have a question though. How the heck did you install the 380rs gas pedal? I have one too and when I tried installing it I couldn't figure out how to undo the stock one.

 

Practice rev matching on the street. Give yourself lots of room! It's much easier to practice during daily driving and when you've got it down then easier to apply in a track setting. I'm not sure about the Z car, but with a bit of brute force if you can move the gas pedal lever a touch closer to the brake pedal it can be beneficial. Not too close! And don't break anything.

Love the shop set-up!

 

nice mike. So jealous of you having a lift in your own garage!

 

There is a plastic piece at the top of the pedal that clips on to the pedal and the rod. Pop that off and the pedal swings down and slide it out. Be careful not to damage that plastic piece.

 

+1

I wantz....

Make/Model/Price info?

 

Mines at 1.5 way, 80% lock. I figured that would be an enormous improvement over stock lsd with out increasing my learning curve too much.

I was going to send an email asking if I needed to put that piece in or not. Could always just bring it with you just incase.

this made me lol

The top of the stock pedal is just held onto the arm by a small black clip that you can either slide up, or gently pop off with a flat head screw driver. If you are nervous, climb in and get a hand mirror so you can see it. Once the clip is off the pedal just pivots forward and slides off a peg towards the engine side.

I was practicing in the street last year, but it hasn't translated to track well yet. Need more seat time. It will come.
It's a Fortress Carlift from carlift.ca
http://www.carlift.ca/carlift_fortress.php

I'm suspect of overall quality, typical manufactured in China stuff. The motor did come off the rubber mounts on the piller and hit my knee cap during a lift once. Had to go buy more solid bolts from Lowes. Also have to go through and inspect bolts. Make sure they are tight. But other than the one incident it's been flawless. I guess what made the falling motor more frustrating was that when I called the company they tried to pass it off like it was my fault. And assembly error. But I have photographic proof that the part that failed came pre-assembled and just sheered. But whatever, they are stupid. Oh and I upgraded to the 220V motor and had my electrician cousin put in a dedicated line.

 

i want you to be my dentist

 

Don't expect a response from CSCS, I have sent 2 emails on rule clarifications with no answer. Mines only about 1lb anyway, so I don't mind it. Im sure no one will give you grief over it. Their tech inspection is them walking around the car to make sure you brought 4 wheels.


Your pics reminded me of a question I had. What is that hose for in the passenger footwell?

 

Do it up. Short drive.

So like I said I have no idea why after installing the differental with the solid mounts and the ART pipes why the HKS is resting so hard against the differential housing. Figured the exhaust would hang the exact same way as when it was mounted to the stock cats.

Thought I would post up some pics and get some ideas before I waste hours trying to figure out how to straighten this out.