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I'm the same with my boxster s, it's a hoot on the street but at this point the z is faster on the track. The boxster is an 06 and just getting to 60k miles. Great condition cause I rarely have a chance to drive it. I thought about getting something else but I enjoy the convertible aspect of it.
oh that's cool, mine is also an 06. it's fun on a nice day. I got a tiptronic model because it's going to my daughter after I pay it off. not a fan but it's okay in manual mode. just definitely not as good as the six-speed.
For me the 6 speed is half the fun, although I'll admit it's nowhere as positive as the Z shifter. But with rennline pedals it's a pleasure to heel-toe and it's about the easiest trans I've ever had to rev-match and drive without the clutch. The gears just pop in and out with no effort.
I dont plan on it, its just a fun street car to practice heel/toe. honestly I hardly ever drive it. Im just too busy with work and working on the race car on the weekends. Im keeping my eye out for a gt3 to trade it on in the next few years..
I'm a fan of this generation so I would probably get a 997.1 GT3 instead of a 997.2 due to the price difference, but honestly a Carrera S is enough for me. 3.8L 380 hp. I may be mistaken but as I recall they are going for 50k.
Hi guys. haven't been here in a while, stayed offline for a few months since I couldn't afford to do anything with the Z for a while. I had two months of stress over new USPS requirements with the business and finally got it sorted out. spring is a bust. I managed to make it to the track last weekend for the first time this year and didn't even stay. just ran a few laps and then left. My daughters were visiting and it was hot as hell and I just wasn't in the mood to stay in 105° temps. ended up costing about $100 per lap. I did set a top speed record for myself of 140 in the Cayman. so it wasn't a complete waste of time just mostly....
during the downtime, I've been shopping for trucks and trailers. I've heard over the years that everyone always regrets buying an open trailer and upgrades to enclosed. but I'm going to buy an open trailer because I don't want to buy a 7000 GVWR truck or other tow vehicle required for an enclosed trailer. That will be a future upgrade.
an F-250 for example gets 12 mpg. I'm looking at a tow vehicle that will also get me to work 4 days a week. so just on the Ford front, an F-150 gets about 20. maybe a little more. I've looked at the EcoBoost and V6 models from around 2015-ish and they have a 6,000 GVWR which would work with a 1600 lb open trailer. which would also be a little easier to store.
I might be trading in my Lincoln commuter for an F-150 and I will be finally on track to having a tow vehicle. trailers are five grand new. I can shop for a used one. it's just as well because when I get track fever, I blow some of my long-term plans. I'm sure everyone has that experience. I might sell the Hitman Mustang to pay for this because my daughter has second thoughts about it.
I'll sub again and get back into the conversations here.
The age old debate on trailers. Here's my $0.02. Buy an enclosed if you want 1) a place to store your car out of the elements 2) be able to stay in the paddock and avoid hotels and getting up early. If you don't care about these things then get an open trailer. Having said that, depending on your budget there are some lightweight aluminium enclosed trailers that will be fine being pulled by a light duty truck. Either way get the lightest trailer you can afford. You want to have a good margin between the tow rating of the truck and the actual weight being towed, if you're on the limit you'll have a miserable time.
As far as truck selection goes, one thing to consider is the range, HD trucks have much larger fuel tanks and while they might have lower fuel economy around town, when towing you'll likely get very similar economy from an HD truck as from a light duty truck, especially diesels. For example my 6L diesel excursion can do 20+ mpg highway when not towing and 12 mpg when towing my 7000+lbs enclosed trailer. With a 44 gallon tank I have 500 mile range. An F150 has a 23 gallon tank, which would cut my range in half if not more, meaning each trip to VIR or Watkins on Pitt would require an additional stop for fuel along the way.
HD trucks also have weight and wheelbase advantage. The more the truck weights and the longer the wheelbase the less likely it is for the tail to wag the dog and the more comfortable your the towing experience will be. And HD trucks just last longer, so the resale value is better too.
That's a lot of great information. thanks a lot!
I'll have to look up some lightweight enclosed trailers. I didn't even know that was a thing.
I'm going to pay my local dealer visit to see some of these newer trucks in person. The one I've had my eye on is a 2016 F-150 but I would rather get one with the towing package and transmission cooler.
I was shopping for an older F-250 like around 2009 before the DEF requirement came out. but if the newer ones can do 20 highway then the DEF would be worth it.
I bought a 2018 F-150 today.
I had no idea Ford built engines like this. I had a 3.5 TT in my 2010 SHO but 2.7? That's really small displacement for this kind of power output.
2.7L-TT V6, 325 hp, 400 lb-ft. 10-speed.
24 mpg highway
I probably won't get a huge enclosed trailer but I think this truck could handle it. most likely get an open trailer.
Congrats! The 10 speed is the best part of these trucks, helps you stay in the powerband when towing. You could get away with a small enclosed aluminum trailer and be fine. Check out Trailex, Featherlite, Futura, Maxx-D and Nationwide trailers. Most of them have both enclosed and open lightweight car trailers and some have nice drop-to-load features. Also if considering open trailers, might want to think about a built-in wheel rack. That's one feature that all the track going peeps with open trailers end up always adding.
ahh, thanks, that's a cool suggestion. The rear seats in this truck fold up easily and there's more than enough room for a set of wheels and tools. I'm going to get a locking bed lid. a trailer storage rack would be really cool too.
awesome man. hope it works out well. Hoon had some good advice there. I can totally agree about the trailer, I bought a cheap car hauler with ramps and wood top. It did ok but I hated the ramps and the car wouldnt make it on without alot of work with ramps and wood pieces. I ended up buying a 20' tilt trailer, no ramps and the Z drove straight on. Now, I really want an enclosed, it sucks having to unload all the stuff out of the back of the truck from work, put all the stuff you need for the track in and then switch it out when you get home. the enclosed you can have all your tools and tires and crap and can secure it, plus keep the Z in it not taking up garage space during down time. I also want to remove the glass and motors out of the doors and keep the Z out of the elements at the track. With that said, I wish I would have just got a enclosed from the get go! I would also recommend the aluminum option hoon suggested, its worth the extra money. Light weight and wont rust. Im just trying to decide if its worth getting one with the interior decked out nice from factory or just plywood option and upgrade it myself...
Congrats! The 10 speed is the best part of these trucks, helps you stay in the powerband when towing. You could get away with a small enclosed aluminum trailer and be fine. Check out Trailex, Featherlite, Futura, Maxx-D and Nationwide trailers. Most of them have both enclosed and open lightweight car trailers and some have nice drop-to-load features. Also if considering open trailers, might want to think about a built-in wheel rack. That's one feature that all the track going peeps with open trailers end up always adding.
+1 on the wheel rack. I would also include ATC and Intech trailers. Excellent quality.
thanks, man. More good advice. it will be a while before I buy a trailer so I've got lots of time to consider. storing the Z in an enclosed trailer is a good idea. it took me a long time to get to this step so it feels good to be making progress in the hobby.
it was fun stripping the Z3 because it's such a tiny car. I was attached to the Z for a long time so I hesitated to take that step but I am going to do some massive weight reduction like you mentioned.
The Z3 was fun at thunderhill West which is technical like Sonoma but a bit smaller at I think 1.9 MI. there's never an opportunity to really get going very fast unless you have gobs of HP to put on the one short straight and one pseudo straight S section. but I'm done probably for the year, sadly. too many expenses lately.
I was looking into my goals for the Z during fall / winter and learned that the best way to go is a live dino tune. so I went to uprev.com and my local shop is in their database of licensed dealers. fortunate for me because it's only about 3 mi from home. but I still have to get the Z trailered or towed.
this shop has a bit of a waiting list though. so you have to plan ahead.
I'm just going to wait a bit. I would like to get the up Rev installed but with the additional upgrades I have planned I might as well wait. The car is ECU locked with the immobilizer or something. can't even start it at the moment. but I don't really care because it's not ready anyway.
so my to-do list is: Long tubes, replacing the kinetix free flowing cats with LT's will be better than test pipes I think.
then I have a CD 00A to install and a new fly / clutch. Good time to do them both. And I still haven't gotten Z1 to rebuild the diff. but that's required. I plan to get a kinetix intake also before doing the tune. That will be good enough for me. The car will be done until the engine fails. should have a lot of life left though with 90K.
this is been a long process because of changing priorities over 3 years. it was a learning experience. That's the fun part. I'm not in a hurry to finish anything because this is a fun hobby. I probably enjoy building more than driving but they're at least 50/50.
The Z3 is a blast as a backup. Right now it's my only but it's more fun than the Nissan. That's kind of a problem. :-) The Nissan might end up being the backup car.
spring is my next goal. this year is a bust. too many eggs in my frying pan. That was a mistake. a fun one but still, ruined my track time.
I am eager to get into this tune shop ASAP. I'm hoping to get some of these expensive hardware pieces done so I can finally turn to the software side. really looking forward to it, getting on the dyno. here's the shop for anyone in NorCal. there are a couple others south, closer to Sacramento.
You can get an UpRev license with immobilizer disable only thru the mail. I had to do this when I fried the original ECU and had to get a replacement. The good news is that the license is one time purchase so once you have it you can use it for future dyno tunes as well.
maybe I should get my son in Ohio to forward it to me. I agree with you, I would like to get the uprev license and the initial tune with the key security disabled. then take it to the dyno shop after the upgrades are done.
I've never seen it come up before either so my suspicion is it was one of those janky ads that moves the screen two seconds after the page renders so that when you're about to hit the reply button it taps the ad instead. either way it's on the site.
04-01-2024, 01:47 PM
