The replacement O2 sensor did the trick. In the end there was nothing wrong with the gauge or the control box. My best guess is that the heater element in the Bosch sensor was busted and not warming up to operating temps. With the new sensor I'm getting correct idle readings of around 14.5:1 (engine still warming up).

 

I think wideband is a good idea with an aftermarket intake manifold and tune. Especially to verify the tune. I'm glad this worked for you.

 

I was all set to to go Pitt Race this weekend with PCA and then the roof over the garage sprang a leak and now I have to pay over a grand to have it fixed. Again, since it was already fixed once 3 years ago. The issue is that there is a valley between the garage roof and the house roof (bad design, don't ask) and it has a rubberized membrane covering it that tends to go. Ugh. So no Pitt for me, next on my list will be Watkins Glen in August I guess.

 

Totally relate. I had two roof valleys leaking last spring, which is mainly why I didn't do anything with the cars or go to any track days. $6k repair. The next thing I'm not looking forward to is a new HVAC. This house is 30 years old with the original HVAC.

 

Back from two days at Watkins Glen with NEQ Audi club. Actually I spent the last 5 days there but only 2 of them were track related. First day was on and off rain and only two sessions were semi-dry. Also, I discovered I forgot to load memory cards into the onboard cameras so nothing got recorded. After a quick trip to wally world for new cards the second day was great weather and track conditions, couldn't really ask for better. Since the event was Wed-Thurs it was pretty low numbers, so plenty of track time to be had.

First and foremost I finally got to test out the wideband sensor and I was very pleased to see that my mixture holds right at 12.5:1 at WOT all the way to redline. I was a bit concerned that I was running rich after my buddies said the car smelled rich but nope, it's all good and the tune is solid, I have nothing to complain about.

As far as the new Y pipe allowing full 3" exhaust flow vs. the restricted 2.5" before I didn't see very much change in performance. The top speed is still in the 136-137 mph range. I did manage to improve my personal best lap time to 2:12.9, which is not bad at all considering the tires are starting to cycle out and could be partly due to slight performance improvement but mostly it's just me getting to know the track and learning which curbs I can abuse and which are better left alone.

Video from Thursday 2nd session with a few open fast laps

Thursday 3rd session, starting from the back and working thru traffic

 

Forgot to mention there was a good Z car showing at this event, three 350z and a 370z. Was nice to see some representation for a change. The young guy in the bay next to me was just starting out with a completely stock '04, was very thrilled to be there. Hoping we'll get more like him in the future.

 

That is a good turnout. most I've seen at any event in NorCal is one other 350Z, and occasionally a comp 370Z.

 

Did a day at summit main yesterday. Overall it was good, but my runs were somewhat hindered by a couple of issues. First, one of my 2 piece front rotors is cracked all the way to the edge. I ordered replacement rotors from z1, but they didn't get here until night before, so I threw them into the truck but didn't install them yet. The cracked rotor produced a noticable vibration under breaking and didn't inspire confidence as I was concerned it might break apart and lock up my wheel. So my braking was somewhat compromised.
Second, the transmission is getting hard to shift when hot, to the point where coming off track I was unable to engage 2nd or reverse until it cooled down a bit. Didn't affect my track shifting as much, but did require a bit more effort.
I'm guessing the trans fluid needs flushing. I don't think I ever even checked it, so it's likely still original 20 year old OEM fluid that has reached the end of it's life. I ordered 4 qts of redline mt-85 to flush it, hopefully that's all that's needed.
Also I installed brand new Goodyear 3Rs on the front, but the rears are now over a year old and quite cycled out. In slow corners there was quite a bit of oversteer when I tried to push harder. For next event, which is likely going to be November VIR I'm replacing the rears with the fronts I just took off, those are newer and should still have some life left in them.
Overall my best laps were in the 1:24 range, so a couple seconds off my PB.
I only did 4 sessions and there were only maybe 35 cars overall, so not much excitement, but I should have a video of chasing my buddy in a 911 for a session, I'll try to process and upload it in the next day or two.

 

Video from yesterday's 4th session, I'm chasing my buddy in the silver 911. We were well matched.

 

I'm still searching for a good replacement for the pfc 08 pads which are no longer available in my 1346 fitment. I tried a range of Gloc pads from 10 to 16 and all of them wear out in 4 days or so, half what the pfcs lasted. Of course the pfcs were an endurance compound, and glocs are not. I also have reason to believe the glocs get way hotter, thus my cracked rotor. I recently found out that hawk now produces an endurance compound er-1. I was able to get and install the rear pads in that compound in time for last event, but the fronts didn't show up on time, so they will be going on with new rotors in time for vir. I'm really hoping for better rotor life and pad life from these hawks, since they are substantially more expensive than the glocs.

 

looks like a fun day! as I recall, I drained and added to my trans a few years ago, but seems like it didn't take four bottles. but it's been a while, I'm sure I just don't remember. it was easy to do, though.

a shame that those pads ruined your rotor prematurely.

I haven't gotten anything done on the z this summer because I've been remodeling the house. That's been a big job.

 

I believe it's a 3qt+ capacity, I always get one extra because it's often hard to get last few drops out of the bottles under the car.

 

Did the trans fluid flush. 2.5 qts came out, 3.5 qts went in. So the trans was about a quart low. Not sure how since it's perfectly clean on the outside with no signs of leakage, so either it was low from factory, someone flushed it before (unlikely at less than 30k miles) or it evaporated lol.
Either way, the fluid coming out didn't look or smell too bad. There were a few metallic flakes, not surprising considering I had to grind them to find them a few times 😜
Replaced the front rotors and put on the hawk front pads. We'll see how they hold up, but the existing rotor was unsafe to say the least.

 

spent the last few days at work reading about your whole journey with your car, I have an 06 revup as well that Im inspired to build as an autoX car since unfortunately there is no race tracks anywhere near ND that isnt a dirt oval. alot of my understanding and also "to do" list has changed as well. I was wondering with those ISR headers how has your temps been effected? I have the same ones but heat wrapped mine, the only issue with having the wrap on mine is there is zero clearance on the right rear stud to get a nut on. not sure if autoX being such a short course would even be worth having them wrapped (no aftermarket temp gauges or sensors yet).

 

Do you mean engine temps or under the hood temps? I haven't notice any substantial difference in oil or coolant temps. As far as under the hood temps running on the track there is plenty of airflow, so heat hasn't been an issue. I would imagine with auto-x of short runs and sitting around a lot heat soak could be more of a problem. Also, there really isn't much around the headers that could be affected by the heat, my engine mounts are solid aluminum so no worries there. I guess it can affect the starter long term, but only time will tell.

Yeah, the pass rear nut is a major pain even without wrap. I made a mistake of thread locking all the other nuts before getting to that one and as you said there is no way to get it on once the header is fully seated. The right way to install would've been to put the nut on while the header is still loose, but live and learn. The flanges are pretty thick so so far missing that nut hasn't been an issue.

 

ok thanks for the info. I guess with alot of air flow through the engine compartment its a bit of a moot point, I dont plan on cutting up my hood but maybe if it becomes and issue Ill swing for a vented hood later but good to know it hasnt affected coolant or oil on yours.
I had the same thought when I installed LTH so I didnt think there was alot of risk warping that flange for DD, so glad Im not the only one missing that damn nut.
still have a shock clunk to fix before its race ready so itll do for now.
cant wait to see how the Z compares to my GTI on course!

 

After all this talk about temps, kinda last minute I decided to wrap the headers before putting the car away. It's possible my trans issue could be due to increased temps from the headers, so this should keep the trans a bit cooler, and it should keep my feet cooler as well.


Had hard time getting the metal ties tight even with the special pliers, ended up putting like 3 ties on each end, since I don't really trust their strength.

 

looks like a good idea given how close the pipes are too the trans. I'm eager to get back to mine now that temps are dropping.

 

my hands are itchy just looking at that underbody shot.

 

Yeah, I was wearing a mask and gloves but still I was itching for at least a day afterwards. The fiberglass dust is nasty stuff and it get everywhere.