Voboy

iTrader: (58)

that toe in at the rear is almost nothing and itll help a bit with stability.

Flier129

Back from my first autox in the car and man this car is a blast to drive. I actually forgot my gopro, so I borrowed my friend's sony something or other. The angle is horrible, but it's the only video I got.


This was my 3rd run, with a passenger. My 4th run was faster, though I had a big slide right before the finish slalom, one of the fastest parts of the course. My 2nd run was probably the most entertaining with the most slides and a couple of 1 handed corrections..... which by the way are 100x times easier to do than in a miata.

Each run I picked up about a second (66.4xx final time) so obviously a lot to learn about the car. I was having trouble figuring out the front-end grip with the car, I just couldn't tell if the car was going to push out or not. The car has a lot more pitch and roll than I'm use to as well. Stiffer suspension should help with that. The brakes were a lot better than I expected them to be. I was very timid with how and where I was braking the car, every time I did I thought "damn I could of gone deeper" then when I would go deeper I would think "damn I could of just broke harder, I forgot I have ABS". I didn't have any large issues with the back-end being too loose on exit even though I have the hotchkiss rear sway connected. My biggest problem was wheel-spin.....lots of times I was modulating the throttle because of the bad VLSD, where as I could of been W.O.T with a proper diff. There's was lots of time to be had from that a lone. I suspect with a good diff, rear sway, and stiffer the springs the back-end will want to rotate around too much on exit. I'll figure that out when the time comes.

RiujinZero

The rear probably won't be as loose as you expect depending on spring rate you choose. I'm on stock suspension but hotchkis sways and cusco rs diff and the car doesn't really get loose unless I'm really hooning it hard. I'll be on the Nismo z front and the s tune rears which gives me a rate of just about 500 lbs front and rear.

eye-5

Your car looks to have a lot more understeer than mine.

Flier129

A nice picture from the event




I might of induced some understeer with the car honestly. Also, I totally forgot my shocks are adjustable

03threefiftyz

iTrader: (25)

I'm surprised with your caster. Even on stock arms (offset bushings), etc I was around 8.8-8.9 with -3.2 camber, but my ride height was quite a bit lower....

Flier129

Wow! that's a lot of caster, I'm use to seeing 6.5-7 max on miatas. Once I get new suspension with better rates and height adjustability , I hope to get -3.3 or so in the front. Speaking of springrates, do you think 1200-1300 would be TOO stiff for most non-concrete local lots? I'm really leaning towards 1000/700 like Mike(Z1nonly) has on his car. It'd be great if the proparts koni setup will ride decently on the street as well. I've even considered a MCS setup, but not just because of ride comfort

03threefiftyz

iTrader: (25)

Yeah, that's about the same spring I ran on the BSP car on asphalt (typically ran 1300 front on concrete)...

Flier129

Awesome, thanks! I might consider having a pair of 1300s to swap to on the front as well.


Finally got some HFCs.....



I'll put them on this weekend and pray it quietens the car down. I've got an annoying exhaust leak currently, it's rattling/vibrating against something, and it's too close to my bumper.... melting a hole in it. I'm thinking about fabbing up some sort of exhaust shield to cover up the melted bumper and help prevent anymore damage. The exhaust is annoying to say the least. I just need to take the time to sort it out though.


I'll be ordering an OSG at the end of the month and I plan to install it myself over winter. I need to get with an OSG contact to confirm if I need the non-VLSD stub axles or not. I suppose I could have my current stubs machined down, as well

christoc

iTrader: (2)

My understanding was you needed base model ones, at least that is the way it used to be.

SilverGLE

iTrader: (3)

Think you'll ever dump the Stillen headers...? That install on a Z is not for the faint of heart! Then again, you're tackling the diff, so maybe you like pain...

Flier129

Not unless they break. I don't think I'll spend the money on PPE long-tube headers either. Once I get the OSG in and new suspension I plan on keeping the car as-is. Any gap I have between me and 1st place in pro class is on me(and that damn unfair STU pax! 0.844 )

SilverGLE

iTrader: (3)

Wait for next year's STU PAX... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=1298268609

Oh, and imma leave this here: https://my350z.com/forum/exhaust/607...flow-cats.html

christoc

iTrader: (2)

Considering what the other ST classes got, and many other classes as well, going up .001 isn't bad

Flier129

$1100 for the PPE headers.....I'll gain a lot more spending that on the OSG


Yeah, I'm happy with this change too.

hajwoj

Are these even legal for STU, considering the 6inch cat relocation rule?

SilverGLE

iTrader: (3)

I bet! I just love the exhaust note with the PPEs... Reminds me of my STI with equal-length headers.

No, unfortunately. I don't have a Z (yet) to measure, but I wonder if welding in a HFC in the Y-pipe would be legal.

Flier129

These headers are what Brian Peters had on his STU Z iirc.


I've got an insanely annoying issue with my exhaust right now. Near where it bolts from the y pipe to the "cat-back" it's snagging and vibrating like crazy on the W-brace. It's gotten worse since the autox. So much worse that the y pipe cracked at the rear flange, I had to get it rewelded. Ideally, the $1100 momentum exhaust would fit 100% correctly, but mine had a resonator welded in, so I think that a contributing factor. I thought about adding another hanger, raise the mid section and that would point the rear tip down, off my bumper. But I'm afraid it would lift where it passes the subframe up too much, causing it to hit that as well. So my current idea is to just add some spacers to the W-brace bolts.

Has anyone else had this issue? Surely it's common with 3" single exits. Annoying as hell, I want to throw this exhaust out the window!!! Although it sounds sooo much better with the Hfcs installed.

SilverGLE

iTrader: (3)

Well, damn, that's a PITA! Glad the HFCs helped, as that thing was LOUD at PSTCC. Worked sound and had a good laugh when you took an extra run.

I'm eyeing the AAM Competition single-exit myself. Probably use all their stuff from the HFCs back. God, and I haven't even started to part out the STI....!

BryanH

Current owner of BP's trendsetting STU 350Z here. The cats on our car are right up close to the exit flange of the PPE longtube headers. I believe it's a custom Y-pipe.

I just noticed PPE has a different header part number for the HR cars. I wonder if that's strictly a flange difference at the downstream end, or if the tubing design itself was re-tuned for the different characteristics of the HR.

I changed the headers a couple times and while it took some time and creativity, it was definitely not the toughest header swap I've done. Anyone who has done the job on a Z32 will understand.