Nissan 370Z Forum - View Single Post

CasusManage · 05-30-2011, 01:06 PM

Hey all. We want everyone to know that we will be back posting weekly updates and deeply apologize for not having any the last couple of weeks. We have some cool pictures for you all this week that we hope you will enjoy. We also want your participation. We want you to post questions on the forum that the team at A.M. Performance can answer in a video. The questions can be anything that you have wanted to know and the team can answer. So please be considerate of others as we will not be answering vulgar, crude, or any other question that are not respectful. Furthermore, when you post the question add a name/nickname, this will be the name the team will use to respond to (if you do not provide a name/nickname we will not address the answer to you). Lastly, we will be taking questions until Wednesday, if you do not get your question up by then or do not get it answered in the video please do not fret as we will be doing more of these Q&A Videos throughout the season.

Pictures

1. These are the bushings we've made out of a self-lubricated thermoplastic. These are lower friction and lower maintenence than a monoball joint.

2. Here are those bushings on the car.

3. We ran into the hydraulic release bearing (CSC)/clutch pedal stuck to the floor issue at Barber Motorsports Park. It sucked, and we decided to never deal with that nonsense again, so we made this.

4. We also don't like clutch slip. Or slow-revving engines. To that end, we made this. The stock clutch/flywheel package (including bearing, PP, everything) weighs 38 lbs. This setup is 18 lbs, and even with the metallic clutch discs is really easy to drive. And it doesn't slip even one bit leaving the pit box with hot slicks (5500 rpm clutch dump), the car just lights them up and GOES.

5. Prototype front sway bar. Once we are done testing/developing this piece we will make it out of the appropriate thickness/diameter material and make a blade style adjuster for it. For now it is not adjustable, just for the prototyping phase.

6. Installed on the car. Due to the heim-joints, this bar won't suffer from bushing bind, which is a really common problem with sway bars that is hard to diagnose. Our design makes for a much more consistent performance from the bar.

7. Second chassis (car #05) getting cage wrapped so it can go to powder coat next week, while the third chassis is getting ready to go to the media blaster.

8. Oil cooler setup. At VIR, we never saw oil temp go over 200 degrees. Did I mention our races are 2.5 hours?

9. Lawrence going into Turn 4 early on in the race

10. Our first pitstop! It went surprisingly well, with tires, fuel, and driver change going off without any major issues. The biggest problem was a shoulder belt that slipped under Mike's HANS device, but that only cost us a couple seconds, and will be addressed for future stops.

11. Awesome photo of the car launching back into the race, courtesy of Melissa K. Smith Photography!

"At VIR we P16 at the end. We are very happy to have finished our first race, and that was very much the goal for the weekend. We got a TON of useful data and are confident in the direction of our setup and development of the chassis, which will be applied to both cars that will race at Laguna Seca. However, we also confirmed that with the current motor package we are simply outgunned on the straights, and by a significant margin. We are working with Grand Am right now and are going to sit out the next two rounds as we work on the necessary changes to make the car go as well as it stops and turns. They are being very responsive and we have no doubts that when we come back we will be much more competitive. Finishing was the goal for the last race, finishing in the top-10 is the goal for the next race.

Stay tuned!" - Mike Sweeney

Again post your questions and we will try to get them in the next A.M. Performance video update. Also, keep checking this thread for more great updates on the them.

05-30-2011, 01:06 PM	#269 (permalink)
CasusManage Base Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Austin Posts: 12 Drives: Nissan NISMO Rep Power: 14	Update 5/30/11 Hey all. We want everyone to know that we will be back posting weekly updates and deeply apologize for not having any the last couple of weeks. We have some cool pictures for you all this week that we hope you will enjoy. We also want your participation. We want you to post questions on the forum that the team at A.M. Performance can answer in a video. The questions can be anything that you have wanted to know and the team can answer. So please be considerate of others as we will not be answering vulgar, crude, or any other question that are not respectful. Furthermore, when you post the question add a name/nickname, this will be the name the team will use to respond to (if you do not provide a name/nickname we will not address the answer to you). Lastly, we will be taking questions until Wednesday, if you do not get your question up by then or do not get it answered in the video please do not fret as we will be doing more of these Q&A Videos throughout the season. Pictures 1. These are the bushings we've made out of a self-lubricated thermoplastic. These are lower friction and lower maintenence than a monoball joint. 2. Here are those bushings on the car. 3. We ran into the hydraulic release bearing (CSC)/clutch pedal stuck to the floor issue at Barber Motorsports Park. It sucked, and we decided to never deal with that nonsense again, so we made this. 4. We also don't like clutch slip. Or slow-revving engines. To that end, we made this. The stock clutch/flywheel package (including bearing, PP, everything) weighs 38 lbs. This setup is 18 lbs, and even with the metallic clutch discs is really easy to drive. And it doesn't slip even one bit leaving the pit box with hot slicks (5500 rpm clutch dump), the car just lights them up and GOES. 5. Prototype front sway bar. Once we are done testing/developing this piece we will make it out of the appropriate thickness/diameter material and make a blade style adjuster for it. For now it is not adjustable, just for the prototyping phase. 6. Installed on the car. Due to the heim-joints, this bar won't suffer from bushing bind, which is a really common problem with sway bars that is hard to diagnose. Our design makes for a much more consistent performance from the bar. 7. Second chassis (car #05) getting cage wrapped so it can go to powder coat next week, while the third chassis is getting ready to go to the media blaster. 8. Oil cooler setup. At VIR, we never saw oil temp go over 200 degrees. Did I mention our races are 2.5 hours? 9. Lawrence going into Turn 4 early on in the race 10. Our first pitstop! It went surprisingly well, with tires, fuel, and driver change going off without any major issues. The biggest problem was a shoulder belt that slipped under Mike's HANS device, but that only cost us a couple seconds, and will be addressed for future stops. 11. Awesome photo of the car launching back into the race, courtesy of Melissa K. Smith Photography! "At VIR we P16 at the end. We are very happy to have finished our first race, and that was very much the goal for the weekend. We got a TON of useful data and are confident in the direction of our setup and development of the chassis, which will be applied to both cars that will race at Laguna Seca. However, we also confirmed that with the current motor package we are simply outgunned on the straights, and by a significant margin. We are working with Grand Am right now and are going to sit out the next two rounds as we work on the necessary changes to make the car go as well as it stops and turns. They are being very responsive and we have no doubts that when we come back we will be much more competitive. Finishing was the goal for the last race, finishing in the top-10 is the goal for the next race. Stay tuned!" - Mike Sweeney Again post your questions and we will try to get them in the next A.M. Performance video update. Also, keep checking this thread for more great updates on the them.