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My name is Brent and this is my first Z. I am not new to the VQ family as I previously had a 2004 G35 Coupe (wife drove it) and currently have a Q50S (wife also drives it - she gets all the nice things). I picked up the Z from my brother-in-law who bought it in 2007 with 21k miles. The car is a manual with the Enthusiast package and has 184k miles on it today. He used the Z strictly for commuting, which left the car in pretty good mechanical shape given the miles. The car will be built for canyon carving and possibly autocross and track sessions thrown in. With that in mind, my mild build will be more handling and power based. I've owned the car since about November 2018 and have been driving it to work a couple of days a week and done one canyon carving shake down. Next up on the list is SCCA Auto Club Speedway track night later this month. I want to get a feel for the car before the bigger upgrades. I figured it was time to post my update thread as I am now making some progress on the car. I'll post more progress photos and info as I have them.
Done:
-Change all fluids, hoses, and belts
-New front bumper -New headlights -Z1 poly diff and trans bushings -Z1 plenum spacer -Z1 clutch and flywheel kit -Konig 18x10.5 Dekagram -Falken Azenis, 285/35-18 square -Z1 race upper control arms -Tein H-spec springs
-Wilwood BBK
In progress (updated 01/21/20):
-Poly lower control arm bushings
-Fix an annoying oil leak -Hotchkis sways
Plans for the car:
-Coilovers -Voodoo13 arms -Shave the antennae, Z, and Nissan emblems -Paint
The car had seen better days before I got it home. This is what 183k mile diff oil looks like. Cleaned up the wheels with some steel wool so the Z doesn't look like I only use it to sleep in. First canyon carving day. The Z did great. Z1 diff bushings installed 06/05/19.
Stay tuned...
Last edited by Mully; Jan 21, 2020 at 07:24 AM.
Reason: Updates
I got the flywheel, clutch, trans, and new slave cylinder installed last night. If anyone is looking for a good time, install your transmission solo, on your back, with no trans jack. It's a gas!
The flywheel and pressure plate had seen better days, but I'm impressed with the JWT clutch. JWT with about 120k traffic miles on it. Not bad!
I took the Z out to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana for SCCA Track Night a few weeks ago. The car did great with the new clutch and flywheel, but the 6 year old no-name tires proved exactly how terrible they are. It was still a blast to have the Z on the track. Since then I installed my Z1 plenum spacer, which helped a little with low end torque and produces a growl from under the hood. The next track day is August 24th and I'm shooting to have Konigs and PS4S installed by then. If I can find a deal on some brakes I might get those on as well. My goal is to do this in stages to see what gains I get from each set of mods.
Thanks fellas. Sports cars are a new world for me. I've always been a muscle car and off-road guy, so it's nice to be able to take a turn for a change.
Unexpected mod: picked up some Tein golds from a buddy for free. He only ran them for a few month before getting a deal on some coil overs. He said they don't drop the car much, but perform better than stock. I don't like taking half steps, but free is hard to resist. I'm going to order sway bars today and hopefully install everything this weekend. I'm waiting to see if Costco has their usual $70 off a set of 4 Michelins in the next week or so before ordering my wheels and tires.
Have you had any luck finding your brakes? If you can score them, grab the Brembos. Akebonos are a good backup option if you have to buy them retail but they are probably overkill/weight gain.
Have you had any luck finding your brakes? If you can score them, grab the Brembos. Akebonos are a good backup option if you have to buy them retail but they are probably overkill/weight gain.
I haven't done anything with brakes yet. I figure after this next event at Auto Club Speedway in a couple of weeks my stock brakes will be wasted. I will search for a package then. Thanks for the tip, I'll likely try to find stock Brembos or a BBK if the price is right.
I picked up my wheels and tires on Saturday. I ended up with Konig Dekagram 18x10.5 +18 with Falken Azenis 285/35-18 square (decided to save some money on tires this round). I installed the Tein coils and wheels, but ran into a rubbing issue only on the front passenger side. For some reason, this corner is slammed. The rest seems to be about where Tein states the drop should be (~3/8"). Anybody have any insight? With the stock coils the car sat level side-to-side. I may end up getting some upper arms for the front to get some extra negative camber to help with the rubbing issue.
For anyone wondering, this wheel and tire combo is 2 lbs. heavier than my stock 17s.
Pics because posts without them are boring:
Sitting how it should according to Tein's specs. Slammed with a slight pull on the fender
I ran the car last weekend at SCCA Track Night at Auto Club Speedway. The latest round of mods made a huge difference. When I took the car out in June, I couldn't catch my buddy in an E36 (all bushings and suspension done, PSS all around) no matter what I did. This time, he had no chance on sticking with me. Through the 3 - 20 minute sessions, I only got passed once by a guy in an S2000 who was one of the guys with SCCA. The day before the event I had an alignment done after reading what other guys were running in the racing section here. Ended up with -3.5* camber up front with 1/16" toe-out and -2.5* camber in the rear with 1/16" toe-in. While getting the car aligned, I was told and shown that my front lower control arm bushings were wasted, but I couldn't feel anything while driving it before that nor did I feel anything on track. Nonetheless, I will replace them soon with poly ones. As suspected my brakes are done after this last run, but I'm still debating on which way to go. Either grab some 06+ parts or go with the Brembos. In either case I will go with SS lines, good fluid, and good pads.
At this point I am very happy with the car and don't see why more people don't run these on tracks. They are such a bargain for a fun sporty car. It seems like I might be snowballing this into a track build versus just canyons. Running track is so addicting.
My new favorite photo of the car. Collecting rubber for recycling. The Falkens got nice and sticky.
After the last run at Fontana in August, I let the car sit while I decided on what to do about the brakes. I thought that I had killed the brakes on the car, but they were still in okay shape and could have used some new pads. I found a deal on a Wilwood BBK setup from Terrasmak, so I pulled the trigger. I'm happy I did as the braking is great now. I haven't had the car on a track yet, but I suspect I will best my times and find the next weak link on the car (or driver). My brake pedal now travels a little further before engaging, which happens to work out great for heal-toe. I currently have an annoying oil leak coming from behind the oil filter mount and still need to do those poly bushings for the front lower control arms. Progress is slow as the car is just so fun to drive.
Stumbled upon this thread, how’s she holding up in the past 3 years?
Stumbled upon this thread, While searching for something else on google Z forums. Just curious how the Z is doin now 3 years since this thread was updated? Also do you have Instagram or anything, I’m also from California (San Fernando Valley) to be specific, and I run the canyons
My Canyon Carver - Mild 350Z Build
