This weekend I'll be picking up an 03' track from my buddy. The sole purpose for this purchase is to do as many HPDE's as I can and figure out where/if I want to go from there. It's not going to be daily driven and I just want to have a dedicated car to track. I spent the last 7 years building and drifting 240's but as I got older I grew tired of them and want to pursue a more refined motor sport.

The Car
Being that the previous owner was an NASA instructor/avid enthusiast the car already has some modifications: 3.9fd w/ 1.5 lsd, K&W variant 3's, SPL front/rear camber arms, sways, and various bolt ons. Furthermore I believe it dynoed at 260-270whp.

The Dilemma
I'm new to HPDE's and road racing in general and feel some of these parts may be above my driver skill so to speak. I'm thinking of selling the kw's and getting a good set of shocks/springs (tokico d'specs perhaps) and subsequently getting rid of the front camber arms and engine bolt ons as well. I feel I can put this money towards track expenses, dedicated track wheel/tire setup, and overall more seat time. Financially speaking I don't need to hock this stuff to fund the hobby, but I feel if I'm not using these items to their full potential, why have them?

Any of you with experience care to weigh in? Would I be better off starting in a lesser tuned format and then gradually adding that stuff back on? Or should I just jump in head first and use the car how it's setup? My concern is by my second or third event looking to re-upgrade after selling the current equipped items and kicking myself is the a**

Thanks in advance!

 

Keep it as is and drive. Sounds like a well sorted car. Don't screw it up.

 

Agreed, but I do have spring/shock on my car so if you wanna trade your v3s we can do a straight trade

 

Can you say who the previous owner is?

The truth though is a well sorted car will be better to learn on vs one that you are doing both the driver learning and chasing the car as well. I would recommend changing the tires over to a street compound of some sort. Other than that leave it as is.

 

I agree completely with Mr Howard

Just run some street tires and close to stock Alignmnet and you will be fine. Based on your experience it will not take you long to utilize the go-fast goodies and move to sticker tires.

If/when you get interested in Spec Z let me know...glad to help you make a plan to go W2W in the future.

JE

 

Thank you both very much for your advice and hopefully I will be taking you up on that offer laze1 !!

 

Sorry to beat a dead horse fellas, but a wrench was just thrown in my plans. The car comes with two suspension setups. The previously mentioned k&w variant 3's as well as tc kline double adjustable koni's w/ nismo t2 springs. I've spent the last few hours searching for the tc kline/nismo setup but all I can find are the 690/690 spring rates.

I've read a couple posts that say the tc/nismo's are a good match together and someone said they are one the best setups under $2500. Does anyone have experience with both the tc kline/nismo t2's and kw v3's? Any input on which setup would be better for a beginner? Is one setup noticeably more refined than the other? It's more of an hpde (hopefully track) car rather then street if that matters.

 

NO DOUBT...go with the KW suspension...WAY BETTER quality product and should be easier to adjust to a soft setup...that a beginner should use (IMHO)

Sell the TC Kline stuff...if you can...

 

if you have a tc kline suspension product on your car keep it. I use to work in an engine shop next to his. his products are amazing and when he was running a 350z with his suspension on it, nothing could touch him on a regular basis.

 

While reaearching the parts I came across his t2 350z and it's accomplishments. However my concern is that the setup in question is rather advanced for a beginner. I'm sure they are fully capable in the right hands, I'm just specifically looking for the advice of people who have personally driven both setups. Laze1 brought up a good point regarding the KW's and I'm looking for more firsthand input before making the decision. If its not obvious I plan on selling whichever setup I don't install initially.