MikeNT256

No sir, I seriously wish I had! I think until my income changes drastically, I will be forever banished from driving a Z. The opportunity will only present itself when I can purchase a second $30k+ car to have around the house. And that's not looking like any time soon.

I have been toying with upgrading to the 2010 speed3 with this offer that Suburban keeps offering. They want to give me about $3k more than I owe on a trade to get me into a 2010 speed3. The suspension geometry changed a lot, wider tires and wheels, electrohydraulic steering, longer gear ratios, and a lot lighter clutch. The new one is an absolute joy to drive where mine feels antiquated already.

Phreakdout

iTrader: (32)

The new 3 looks huge to me. I pulled up next to one a couple days ago and the top of my head was even with the trunk lid.

cleanddong

does anyone knows about charging R-134 for air condition?
I guess that my car need to charge R-134.
I know that I have to charging it to the low pressure side, but i cannot find it.
Where is low pressure side?

Phreakdout

iTrader: (32)

Z-Manual

^^ Check in here.

MikeNT256

From an exterior standpoint, they really didn't change much other than reshaping sheet metal and adding that silly grin on the front end (which allegedly is a lot more aerodynamic than before, and adds 20% more cooling to the engine bay and intake.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbGgjSBkZ3A

Phreakdout

iTrader: (32)

Better or not, the new front facia, IMO, ruins to looks for the whole line up. RX-8, Mazda 6 and 3. The fat black upper lip just looks like Hell on any color except black.

Datona Jess

iTrader: (1)

I agree 100%
Mike keep what you ave man...
The new one is actually a tick slower then the old one due to the weight increase.... It is NOT a BETTER car.. keep what you got.

MikeNT256

Agreed as well. It really kills it. Rumor is, they changed course all together. They were changing all the cars to have the smiley face, chalking up to aerodynamics. But after extremely dismal sales with the '10 MS3, it's almost identical to what happened to Subaru after the '08 STI's came out. '07 or older STI's became extremely rare and admirable finds.

I've been having a surging issue I can't seem to pinpoint. I have no pressure or boost leaks, yet during mid to low throttle, there's a bucking sensation, almost as if there's slack in the trans or something. I can't ever describe it, but i've taken it in and they couldn't duplicate. It even happened after I re-installed all the stock intake parts (thinking it was a boost leak).

My buddy is ordering a '11 GT Mustang (with the Brembo's and 3.73 gears) and my other buddy is ordering a '10 Subaru WRX.

My main advantage of keeping the car (besides paying it off) is that Koni is finally coming out with MS3 specfic dampers. The car is incredibly under-dampened and the car sits incredibly close to the gigantic bump stops in stock form. Lowering springs made it worse, and those came off in 3 weeks, and every shock replacement made is designed for the stock Mazda 3 with a longer suspension travel, height and spring rate. I wouldn't have to buy a whole new car to fix one or two little things I dislike. The new car is ridiculously better handling though. The car feels more planted the faster you go, and feels better with speed rather than pushing/understeering with speed.

And for how I drive my car, full coilover is a total waste of money. My biggest gripe in the suspension is the fact that highway dips and disruptions send the car into panic. The float as the suspension rebounds is unsettling at anything higher than 60mph.

rwm10

iTrader: (1)

Is the boost spiking, as in surpassing the target boost for where you are at (rpm throttle wise) and then dropping back to where it should be? Maybe your wastegate actuator is going. In the Subaru world most people fix this with a manual boost controller. You should also be able to adjust the wastegate actuator arm on your car to help solve the issue.

rwm10

iTrader: (1)

I just got my car tuned yesterday @ SG Motorsport in Brampton, Ontario. It runs nice and smooth now and is no longer on the lean side. Made 250 hp dead even and 220.1 ft/lbs. of those torque things. That was on a Dynapack dyno, it would certainly be less on a Mustang.

Overall I'm very happy with my experience and getting to pick Sasha's brain about suspension set ups for the car in the future. I also got to check out the factory Hyundai Genesis coupe that he now runs in the Castrol Canadian Touring Car series. That was pretty cool to see. It's certainly a nice shop and they are very sensible and knowledgeable with the cars.

-Ryan

MikeNT256

No boost leaks, no pressure spikes. I was running an aftermarket bypass valve and the springs that come with it are a lot tighter than stock. So the tiniest adjustment in throttle will build or lose pressure so quickly. So I thought that was the problem, and went back to the stock valve. I'm just hoping this fixes it. On the other hand, the stock valve doesn't hold near the PSI the aftermarket valve does, nor is it as quick to build or release.

I guess i'll keep a close eye on it for now. And - damn this heat soak, my goodness!!

rwm10

iTrader: (1)

I use to love how much faster my WRX felt on a cool fall morning. After beating the **** out of it in the summer days on a track and then running it in the fall it felt like I upgraded my turbo sometimes.

Do you have any tuning done to the car?

sig11

iTrader: (3)

Hey AJ, did you go with 275/30R19 and 305/30R19 RE11s on your 370? I'm not entirely sure what sizes to look at for the sport rays wheels...

mekatoka

iTrader: (2)

Hmm, 275/305 ... isn't that way too wide? Will the rims support those sizes? I haven't done any lookups so I am not sure. Was just curious

sig11

iTrader: (3)

9" wide in the front and 10" in the rear so it should be ok from what I read.

The 305 looks really nice on the stock rims, but I don't know what the performance impact might be. I'm thinking it's either 285/35/R19 or 305/30/R19 if I want to go with RE11s.

mekatoka

iTrader: (2)

Anything over 300 looks really sexy, I totally dig all Porsche's with 305/315's. Other than aesthetics I don't think it adds alot of handling advantage for the Z's. My track rims are 9.5" and 10" and 275 didn't clear in the front as it would rub. May be 370's are wider, I remember somebody mentioning that to me (AJ maybe).

MikeNT256

Stock tune, and that's proven to be the safest. This car loves to register phantom knock.

AznSky

iTrader: (12)

Mike you gonna show up to the Boyland meet on Saturday? It'd be great to meet you man

rwm10

iTrader: (1)

Interesting. Judging by your mods I was going to guess a Cobb AP.

MikeNT256

Work is totally screwing me sideways right now, I absolutely never have weekends off. So, that's a no. But i'd love to actually meet everyone! I typically have Sundays and Tuesdays off with my hectic schedule.

COBB AP is a great tuner, but the MS3 ECU is a god-forsaken mess. There seems to be a load-based issue that blocks heavy gains. The ECU will eventually work it's way around the new flash and go back to stock. It's unreal. The only way to make big power is, use a CP-E standback ecu flash and a Garrett GT series turbo replacement, with exhaust manifold replacement.

Big power with a stock tune would involve a Downpipe, colder plugs and "MAYBE" a front mount. Otherwise, the top mount serves it's purpose just fine.