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No pictures this time, but my son and I completed our 3rd AutoX event last Sunday. My son continues to kick my butt on the track. He is a solid 4 seconds quicker than me. We were up against two Mustangs in our class (F Street). They beat us by a bit more than 2 seconds. They were both GT Mustangs, one of them had two drivers. Both of the Mustangs had "Top Three" track tires on them. One next to us was running Advans. I know the guy with the Grey Mustang has been doing this a long time. The car ran great, and I felt like the front sway bar really improved the handling. Honestly, I did not notice the difference with the smaller diameter and lighter wheels with the Federal tires. I am fairly certain this has more to do with our lack of skill than anything else. The car would start to push a little into the turns, but if you put a bit of throttle into it the car would predictably rotate into the corner. We both had a great time running with no car issues at all. Continue to love the Brembo's! Can't wait to go again! Bottom line is we need a lot more track time. I am starting to realize there is a core group out there that have been doing this for over 5 to 10 years so they are dialed in pretty well. What we also need is some instruction. That is a problem give my son is 15, so the rules prevent him riding with anyone but me. We also had a lot of constraints because of Covid, so we will have to wait on anyone riding with us. Perhaps when I can, I will have someone sit in with me and then learn from that and pass it on to my son. All these things are what make it fun and I looking forward to the next run.
The funny thing is the ranking came out and with the PAX adjusted times the winner for the day was a.....wait for this.... 2019 Honda Civic!!! I just checked and that driver came down from Austin to run in Houston, so that says a lot abut the skill level.
1 1 XHS 62 Morhardt, Matt 2019 Honda Civic 42.267 / 54.189 *0.780 42.267 0.000 0.000
2 2 XSTR 16 Phillips, Corey 2016 Mazda Miata 42.529 / 51.426 *0.827 42.529 0.262 0.262
3 1 CAMS 1 Thompson, Landon 2017 Chevrolet Corvette 43.106 / 51.748 *0.833 43.106 0.577 0.839
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 06-09-2020 at 08:29 AM.
I need to look into something for sure, but also don't really want to go without my son participating. He turns 16 in late July, so will probably just hold off a bit and focus on the car shopping for him and just having fun with the car for now.
Victory, well almost. Installed the tpms sensors at the local Goodyear service. They did not know how to program them, but I found out how to do it in this forum and after some attempts we got it to work! All four tire pressures were showing up on my Volks. Probably the first time in 15 years as they never had sensors. We then went for a drive and one of the front ones quit working. Bummer. Still happy though. I will reset them one more time and see if that clears it. If not, I will probably just order another sensor and have them install it in the bad wheel. Pretty cool. They show different pressures because of the setup routine.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 06-16-2020 at 04:59 AM.
Another fun day of of Autocross! Always leaves us with a smile on our face. The morning it rained like hell all the way to the event and was raining pretty good when we got there. To my surprise and happiness, the track was set up and everyone was just walking around in the rain. LOL Great fun. Smaller group was running to today (75 entries or so) so they ran 2 heats, lunch, and then repeated the 2 heats again. Because of this it was wet and rainy in the morning runs and then the track was dry and hot in the afternoon runs. Made for a great mix. Michael continues to kill me on times by 3 to 5 seconds, but I will keep pressing. We are racing a bunch of Mustangs here and they are all pretty good/experienced drivers. Michael is edging closer to them though. He is off by about 2.5 seconds. I will post the results here shortly. My best run of the day was my last run, so at least I am improving as I go. We turned off the Traction Control System and both of us saw 1 second to 1.5 second improvements. The car was much quicker coming out of the turns without the TCS constraining us. I will post a view vid's from the inside of the car later. So, in my desire to actually start to beat a few of these mustangs I find myself looking a tires again this morning. LOL I can't help it. Thinking the RE71r's might get my son that 1- 1.5 second improvement that will get us there. Current tires are Federal's ss595. The Mustangs are all running great tires. Spent a great deal of time talking to a guy while we were picking up cones who has raced 10 plus years. He explained what each car was doing right and wrong coming into the particular corner we were watching which was helpful for me. Couple of questions here. Do we think going down to some quality 17" rims will buy us better times vs just stick with the OEM 18" V1 Rays with better tires? Also, just checking that I cannot do much with the camber on the Z without changing out the parts and bumping myself out of stock correct? The last video was filmed by my son, so me driving. Think it was the second to last of my runs for the day. If you can tell anything from the video I am all ears. I am running with the Hotchkins bar up front at max with Bilsteins.
Here are our times for the day. D1 was wet morning runs, D2 was dry afternoon runs. Bold are fastest times for the morning and then the afternoon run. That green mustang is a "Bullet Mustang". Such a good looking car. At least one or two of the other Mustangs are GT's with really good tires on them. Michael's times are the first set, mine the second(slower) set. LOL. With the two of us driving the car it is seeing a lot of driving. One guy suggested we water down the tires especially as it is getting to be low to mid 90's out here. Not much cool off time between Michael's run and my run. Michael said the tires did feel a little greasy in the later runs, yet his best run was his last as was mine, so not so sure that is the case.
As you can see Michael's best run was 61.730 and the slowest fast time for the Mustangs was 59.588 (Only looking at D2 runs when it was a dry track). Michael was 2.142 seconds off of his fasted time. Getting closer.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 06-21-2020 at 08:40 AM.
Congrats on being the Best Car Dad Ever!
So a 15 yo Nissan is a hair off the pace of a 2019 8 cylinder? What's not to like?
I'm not a track rat but I can share this- When I bought my ZR it was wearing 17" x 8" Konig Unknowns, 225/40/17 FR, 245/40/17 RR. I decided to move up to Enkei RPF01s with MPSSs, 265/35/18 FR, 295/35/18 RR. The car looked great but my butt-dyno swore I lost 60 HP on the raised rotating mass.
In a perfect world I'd suggest you pickup the lightest 17s you can get over your brakes with the stickiest tires you can afford and throw them in the trunk. Next track day each of you runs a morning session on the Rays. Then change out to your new 17 setup for afternoon. Obviously the biggest variable will be the rubber but you get the idea.
Happy Father's Day!
I know that HP is only a small part of the equation(Luckily), but look at the HP on this thing. ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, port and direct fuel injection Displacement: 307 cu in, 5038 cc Power: 480 hp @ 7000 rpm Torque: 420 lb-ft @ 4600 rpm TRANSMISSION: 6-speed manual
While the center console and radio were ok, they were not great. The console had been spray painted black and the radio did not have Apple carplay or HD radio. The console had scuffs on it and places where the texture was uneven because too much paint had been applied. So, I finally rounded up some brand new center console pieces including the cubby and the shift assembly. I also bought a Pioneer DMH-2660NEX which was the least expensive Apple CarPlay/HD radio version I could find. It was also a plus that the harness plug used on the older radio was the same as the new radio saving a lot of wiring time. I have to say, HD radio just blows away regular FM. Note the old radio, was installed with two wood screws through the plastic with a piece of wood with some electrical tape under it to hold it up. The knowledge of that from a previous times in the dash bugged me as well. The new radio was mounted with OEM metal brackets which worked perfectly with the Pioneer. I also now know that all the screws are where they should be and the center console is mounted correctly. Still need to get everything configured on the radio as I finished around 6pm last night and want to get cleaned up and relax for the evening.
Old Painted Dash, lots of flaws Note Wood Screws to mount and piece of wood with electrical tape underneath that I partially pulled out (bottom left) to hold radio up. The usual mess.. New Dash and radio New Dash and Radio with flash
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 06-22-2020 at 04:56 AM.
Installing some SPL links for my front Hotchkins sway bar. So, no instructions. I am Guessing that the side with the thick washer(top bolt, in the middle, loose) is the side that attaches to the sway bar to allow for movement? Hmmm.
Really nice machining on these.
By the way, I ordered these Friday in Houston at 4:30pm and they arrived at my door at 12pm on Sunday. Z1 rocks.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 06-28-2020 at 09:50 AM.
Instructions or a picture or two would have been nice with the part. So, I only did the driver side because I thought I would throw this up for suggestions, because in the end, I just looked at how the OEM links were angled in relation to the shock and to the control arm front to back and put in the spacers to accomplish that. I put that odd cone spacer you see in the first picture because it was needed as the bolt would be so long without it that the socket would not be deep enough without it. The second picture is the passenger OEM one, just for reference. Sure it works, but is it right? LOL. Told my son, let's stop and regroup on this today after some feedback. Never spent so much time on two bolts.
Looking at the third picture I can loosen the lock nut and twist it to put at a better angle to the ball joint on the lower portion with no problem.
It appears the links are universal in nature and they just include a set of fittings to make it work for you particular car? That would make some sense to me, because what they do is pretty basic.
UPDATE...You will see more on this in the next posts. So, Yes, I have it mounted upside down for sure. I finally found some youtube video's for reference and the last post I have looks correct to me. At least I stopped yesterday after attempting the first one and not liking what I had. Told my son, we do not know what we are doing with this, let's stop for the day and do some more research. Good thing.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 06-29-2020 at 04:55 AM.
Found this on youtube, G37 spl link. You are looking at the front of the suspension you have to turn your head sideways to get the right orientation. See the dark colored shock in the background. He mounted his end link differently than mine, but see how the angle of the end link runs opposite of the shock. That is NOT how the OEM link looks. It runs the same angle as the shock. I am liking my setup I think better than his, but who the heck knows, maybe he is right. LOL. His probably works fine as does it really matter??
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 06-29-2020 at 04:39 AM.
I like the look of this install. It appears I have the end link upside down as most people had the adjustment nut on the bottom. Also, note the use of the spacers on this one which I also like. It also has somewhat of a match on the angle to the shock. I have found a pictures of this and everyone of them is slightly differently mounted.
Last edited by Jim Stephens; 06-29-2020 at 04:38 AM.
Behold...I have found the specific installation instructions for my car from SPL. Ok, now I can get this straighted out. Helps to find the web site for SPL! LOL.
06-09-2020, 08:10 AM
