Track Chronicles of Rizeld
09-25-2016, 07:22 PM
#1
Track Chronicles of Rizeld
This thread is to keep track of my progression; hopefully get feedback on that progression. And maybe help someone else in the process.
2006 350Z Base. 74k miles No mods
Bought Mar 24, 2015.
Bought it from a midlife crisis 45-year-old (who let his girlfriend run the car run off the road which is where all the troubles start). It had some tranny chatter which I figured was from mid-life crisis changing the clutch out in his driveway and probably didn't do the TOB.
Dreams and aspirations of building a bad a$$ Z. I did wait 13 years to buy it sooo ya.
After failing MD inspection, I ended up doing the following:
White line bushings for all trans link holes (the main was blown out! so just do'em all! got them from Import parts pro).
Also did ball joints (after it was all said did 2 sets, one set from amazon and the final set from CZP.)
Exhaust was non repairable so I replaced with Berk HFC ~import parts pro~, and Invidia Gemini ~I want to say gt monsters but I can’t remember~ (the perfect combo for me).
Factory rims were road rashed up so I ordered some RPM wheels 18x8 245 and 18x9 275 nitto 555 tires from wheelfire.com (say what you will, these tires have done well both on the street and at the track)
Oh and after trying to get an alignment Tire world snaps a camber bolt. So I ordered the bolt kit from amazon and dremeled the holes out.
-----That was all the money I had for the year and was thoroughly enjoying the car; plus, the daughter was born soooo yeah----
2016
Was really contemplating going FI (I have a buddy with a stang GT chargered pushing 650 hp and wanted to compete; pfff ya right)
After looking the car over I put some more "fix it money into it:
Upper Control arms (Godspeed) due to the alignment issue from jack a$$e$ girlfriend and,
Ordered new Compression Rods (amazon) and SPL Solid compression bushings~import parts pro~ Pressed out the rubber ones and pressed the SPL in. Also in the installation process I learned the bolts and bolt holes for the sub frame were jacked up (rusted and corroded). So I ordered new bolts from the dealer and Heli coiled the holes. (Both were a hell of a project! Lots of F bombs thrown at it)
BOOM its June and I sign up for my first track day in July. Needless to say I was a giggly little school girl all the way up to then. Again I had been waiting since I was 16 to get on a Road Course. (that was totally like last year, pfff I wish)
Follow the advice of the Forum Peeps! and search the shiz out of the forum for track day stuff. I eventually land on doing the following:
SS Brake lines and Flush with Motul 600 ~CZP~ Again not fun, the factory hard lines were stuck and almost broke a rear line. But through patience and determination I won. Also I bought and used the Motive Brake bleeder with universal adapter. Love it
Akebono Pro Act brake ceramic pads were next. Left the original rotors on.
First track Day July 1, 2016. Friday At the Track (FATT) summit point. Best thing since I discovered sex (inconsequential now that I'm married with a baby and the race track is 10 times better. Just saying) Learned a ton about myself and the car. And for anyone of the new people that somehow find this and read it, the car has way more potential then you. If you're on a tight budget (or bloody rich) don’t spend D!ck on it outside tires, brakes and maintenance. Seriously it’s not needed. The old guys on here are right, imagine that.
Afterwards I had cooked the brake pads and the tranny chatter was ridiculous at this point. Even had trouble shifting a few times on the way home and had a few pedal vibrations. Parked old girl and racked up a bill!
Z1 Motorsports came recommended by 03threefiftyZ, and they took good care of me:
Z1 Lightweight flywheel/street clutch combo (in hindsight I wish I had gotten a more aggressive clutch. but oh well. Gotta pay to play I suppose)
Carbotech XP10 and XP8 track pads (thee BEST PURCHASE EVER)
All new stock rotors which I got from Advanced Auto.
Rotors were a GIANT PIA. I think they were the actual original rotors. I beat those b!tche$ into submission though. The Bigger problem I had was the Rear Passenger rotor didn't fit!? The rotor from advanced was bigger than the dust shield. The driver side fit and I checked everything like 22 times. I got pissed off and cut the dust shield off. Fit like a glove afterwards. Then I went back and cut all the other shields off. No idea.
Any who, completely sold on the track life. (Even convinced the wife to let me buy a trailer. BOOYAA!) Signed up for a weekend with SCCA-WDCR PDX September 10-11. Summit Point Main again. Didn't start off the best but progressed a lot by the last session on Sunday. Shaved 7 seconds off the above lap times (about 1:40 TD 1 and 1:32:99 TD 3) Was super happy.
Got to ride with an instructor with his 04 350Z. And my instructor was running a highly modified Porsche boxer. We ran 1:25 laps times. I thought I was going to die. (But I didn't and now I'm obsessed with being able to make me and the Z do 1:25's) It was stellar. Lots more video which I'll add when I'm done editing.
After riding with the instructor and his Z and talking with him and my actual driving instructor I landed on the next mods:
Hotchkins Front and rear Sway bars ~CZP~ (They were $20 cheaper) Which I struggled with today. The front not too much as I've had the end links off before for all the other suspension work. The rear was fixing to get light sabered off! Once again through trail, error, and a ton of luck I broke them free. Put the Rear bar in, then I go to put the exhaust back up. Freaking Passenger pipe doesn't fit. The bar is too low. FML. Ghetto rig incoming, as I have track days this weekend and the next. TBC...
2006 350Z Base. 74k miles No mods
Bought Mar 24, 2015.
Bought it from a midlife crisis 45-year-old (who let his girlfriend run the car run off the road which is where all the troubles start). It had some tranny chatter which I figured was from mid-life crisis changing the clutch out in his driveway and probably didn't do the TOB.
Dreams and aspirations of building a bad a$$ Z. I did wait 13 years to buy it sooo ya.
After failing MD inspection, I ended up doing the following:
White line bushings for all trans link holes (the main was blown out! so just do'em all! got them from Import parts pro).
Also did ball joints (after it was all said did 2 sets, one set from amazon and the final set from CZP.)
Exhaust was non repairable so I replaced with Berk HFC ~import parts pro~, and Invidia Gemini ~I want to say gt monsters but I can’t remember~ (the perfect combo for me).
Factory rims were road rashed up so I ordered some RPM wheels 18x8 245 and 18x9 275 nitto 555 tires from wheelfire.com (say what you will, these tires have done well both on the street and at the track)
Oh and after trying to get an alignment Tire world snaps a camber bolt. So I ordered the bolt kit from amazon and dremeled the holes out.
-----That was all the money I had for the year and was thoroughly enjoying the car; plus, the daughter was born soooo yeah----
2016
Was really contemplating going FI (I have a buddy with a stang GT chargered pushing 650 hp and wanted to compete; pfff ya right)
After looking the car over I put some more "fix it money into it:
Upper Control arms (Godspeed) due to the alignment issue from jack a$$e$ girlfriend and,
Ordered new Compression Rods (amazon) and SPL Solid compression bushings~import parts pro~ Pressed out the rubber ones and pressed the SPL in. Also in the installation process I learned the bolts and bolt holes for the sub frame were jacked up (rusted and corroded). So I ordered new bolts from the dealer and Heli coiled the holes. (Both were a hell of a project! Lots of F bombs thrown at it)
BOOM its June and I sign up for my first track day in July. Needless to say I was a giggly little school girl all the way up to then. Again I had been waiting since I was 16 to get on a Road Course. (that was totally like last year, pfff I wish)
Follow the advice of the Forum Peeps! and search the shiz out of the forum for track day stuff. I eventually land on doing the following:
SS Brake lines and Flush with Motul 600 ~CZP~ Again not fun, the factory hard lines were stuck and almost broke a rear line. But through patience and determination I won. Also I bought and used the Motive Brake bleeder with universal adapter. Love it
Akebono Pro Act brake ceramic pads were next. Left the original rotors on.
First track Day July 1, 2016. Friday At the Track (FATT) summit point. Best thing since I discovered sex (inconsequential now that I'm married with a baby and the race track is 10 times better. Just saying) Learned a ton about myself and the car. And for anyone of the new people that somehow find this and read it, the car has way more potential then you. If you're on a tight budget (or bloody rich) don’t spend D!ck on it outside tires, brakes and maintenance. Seriously it’s not needed. The old guys on here are right, imagine that.
Afterwards I had cooked the brake pads and the tranny chatter was ridiculous at this point. Even had trouble shifting a few times on the way home and had a few pedal vibrations. Parked old girl and racked up a bill!
Z1 Motorsports came recommended by 03threefiftyZ, and they took good care of me:
Z1 Lightweight flywheel/street clutch combo (in hindsight I wish I had gotten a more aggressive clutch. but oh well. Gotta pay to play I suppose)
Carbotech XP10 and XP8 track pads (thee BEST PURCHASE EVER)
All new stock rotors which I got from Advanced Auto.
Rotors were a GIANT PIA. I think they were the actual original rotors. I beat those b!tche$ into submission though. The Bigger problem I had was the Rear Passenger rotor didn't fit!? The rotor from advanced was bigger than the dust shield. The driver side fit and I checked everything like 22 times. I got pissed off and cut the dust shield off. Fit like a glove afterwards. Then I went back and cut all the other shields off. No idea.
Any who, completely sold on the track life. (Even convinced the wife to let me buy a trailer. BOOYAA!) Signed up for a weekend with SCCA-WDCR PDX September 10-11. Summit Point Main again. Didn't start off the best but progressed a lot by the last session on Sunday. Shaved 7 seconds off the above lap times (about 1:40 TD 1 and 1:32:99 TD 3) Was super happy.
Got to ride with an instructor with his 04 350Z. And my instructor was running a highly modified Porsche boxer. We ran 1:25 laps times. I thought I was going to die. (But I didn't and now I'm obsessed with being able to make me and the Z do 1:25's) It was stellar. Lots more video which I'll add when I'm done editing.
After riding with the instructor and his Z and talking with him and my actual driving instructor I landed on the next mods:
Hotchkins Front and rear Sway bars ~CZP~ (They were $20 cheaper) Which I struggled with today. The front not too much as I've had the end links off before for all the other suspension work. The rear was fixing to get light sabered off! Once again through trail, error, and a ton of luck I broke them free. Put the Rear bar in, then I go to put the exhaust back up. Freaking Passenger pipe doesn't fit. The bar is too low. FML. Ghetto rig incoming, as I have track days this weekend and the next. TBC...
Last edited by rizeld; 09-27-2016 at 06:53 PM.
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rizeld (09-29-2016)
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rizeld (09-29-2016)
10-02-2016, 06:26 PM
#12
Quick "bests" of the day. I actually ran a 1:54 the next lap after the video. But if there ain't a picture, **** didn't happen. 
Also I seem to be having a rear ABS issue. I'd like to poke a few brains. I think I have the answer but would like to hear from you guys before I spend moneys!
Also I seem to be having a rear ABS issue. I'd like to poke a few brains. I think I have the answer but would like to hear from you guys before I spend moneys!
Last edited by rizeld; 10-02-2016 at 06:27 PM.
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rustyschopshop (10-13-2016)
10-13-2016, 09:45 AM
#14
Well I tried to slide in last friday at Summit for FATT but they didnt have enough instructors for those that had registered, and I didnt make it to Dominion due to the rain/work. Sad weekend. But I did pick up a Nismo Z suspension with 10k miles on it from a forum member ($550). Super excited, last thing I need is tires, which Ill pick up next year after these are worn out.
Last edited by rizeld; 10-13-2016 at 09:48 AM.
11-01-2016, 10:52 AM
#15
New shout out to 0350Z for sending me to Hill's garage. Frank was a chatter box and I got a lot of info out of him. He's definitely good people. I look forward to having him tune the car.
On that note, got the Z dyno'd. I was interested to see how lean it was running. Even frank was surprised. It had unusually high numbers for just Berk HFC's and the invid gemini exhaust. So i'll do these last 2 days for the season then put her up for the winter. Hopefully find time and money to get it tuned.
Picked up OEM Nismo suspension from nismo542. Thanks cant wait to get it on. IDK if ill have the time to put in on before these last 2 days but we'll see. New video to follow
On that note, got the Z dyno'd. I was interested to see how lean it was running. Even frank was surprised. It had unusually high numbers for just Berk HFC's and the invid gemini exhaust. So i'll do these last 2 days for the season then put her up for the winter. Hopefully find time and money to get it tuned.
Picked up OEM Nismo suspension from nismo542. Thanks cant wait to get it on. IDK if ill have the time to put in on before these last 2 days but we'll see. New video to follow
