RCZ's 370Z Journal.

semtex · 03-05-2010, 10:12 AM

Yep, and Dremel makes the polishing compound. If you got your Dremel in a kit, you might have some already. It comes in little cylinder. I'm eager to see how this works out!

m4a1mustang · 03-05-2010, 10:21 AM

Mothers Mag & Aluminum polish is great. Not sure how it'd turn out with the mount... could end up looking like you chrome plated it.

RCZ · 03-05-2010, 03:56 PM

LOL, bling bling.

Yeah it did come with some polishing stuff, if i post pictures later its because it came out well. If I dont....well lets just be happy it goes under the car and under a chassis frame.

phelan · 03-05-2010, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RCZ

LOL, bling bling.

Yeah it did come with some polishing stuff, if i post pictures later its because it came out well. If I dont....well lets just be happy it goes under the car and under a chassis frame.

Just don't break it now!

m4a1mustang · 03-06-2010, 11:05 PM

Any updates?

RCZ · 03-06-2010, 11:14 PM

Yup. I do want to check with Adam before I post thought because results were...interesting.

m4a1mustang · 03-06-2010, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RCZ

Yup. I do want to check with Adam before I post thought because results were...interesting.

Hmmm...

kdoske · 03-07-2010, 01:10 AM

hmmmmmm!!!! You have me interested.....

m4a1mustang · 03-07-2010, 07:48 AM

Yeah, definitely interested... seems like it might be... ummm... not so good?

RCZ · 03-07-2010, 01:10 PM

I will post a writeup and diy tonight. Sorry guys for making you wait.

m4a1mustang · 03-07-2010, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RCZ

I will post a writeup and diy tonight. Sorry guys for making you wait.

DIY & Review, NOW!

Togo · 03-07-2010, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RCZ

I will post a writeup and diy tonight. Sorry guys for making you wait.

I'm really interested to see what your findings were. Especially since these guys are only like 30 mins down the road from me.

puckshaw · 03-07-2010, 04:54 PM

Uh oh. I had really high hopes for this

Are you going to post the review in the original thread?

RCZ · 03-07-2010, 08:47 PM

OK, so here's the review as promised.

Installation:

It was extremely easy. Its 6 bolts and its done. Very easy access, doesn't require any special tools, however you do need to find a way to support the transmission so it doesn't sag when you take off the mount.

This is what you are looking for under the car. Its right by where the driveshaft starts:

Support the transmission somehow. We used this guy, but you can use whatever as long as its sturdy enough to hold up the weight:

Remove the bolts:

Stock Mount:

Side by side comparisons.

Removed:

Z1 Mount on. Make sure the "arrow point" is pointing towards the back of the car:

After that, just put the bolts back in and your are done.

Thoughts:

Alright, so did it make a big difference? Absolutely. On the pro side, it made shifts much more positive. Shifting feels very consistent in every situation. It feels crisper and more exact when you put it into gear. You get this sensation like no matter what you are doing; accelerating or decelerating, the shifter is attached to something that is completely solid instead of something that has some give to it. As expected, that off-throttle jerking in low gears has been reduced. Instead of getting a sort of reverberating stop-go jerkiness that you get with the stock mount, you get this "load, unload, over" type of a feeling. Its hard to describe. Think of it this way... with the stock one it feels like the transmission is moving back and forth as it loads with the engine. With the hardened mount it feels like the whole car is a solid piece being acted on by the loading/unloading of the engine. You still feel it jerk, but it does it less and less abruptly.

Now the problem is this... and you folks knew there was a problem coming.

We know our engine and tranny are notoriously coarse as we go up in the RPMS, well guess what...you can hear and feel EVERYTHING. You can hear the synchros speeding up and slowing down when you put the clutch in and out. You can hear every little engine sound, clutch sound and chassis sound X100. Sounds like I have straight cut gears inside the car. If that wasn't bad enough, as you can imagine, huge amounts of vibration is transferred into the cabin. When I got home after the install, my whole body had that tingling sensation you get when you hold on to something tha'ts vibrating for too long. Just revving the car in neutral shakes you like a massage chair. My friend was joking that its a nice massage mod and that maybe girls would really love it.

I talked to Z1 and they said to give it a few hundred miles to let it bed in because it should get a little better. I drove around 100 miles this weekend and it has not really improved much. I am going to leave it in for the week and see if there is any improvement in NVH levels. It feels so good for shifting that I really don't want to let this one die. Please keep in mind that it is a product in development and it still needs to be altered a bit before production. I think if we made it less stiff it would get rid of a lot of the NVH, but it will also feel more like the stock one.

I think this would be excellent on a dedicated race car, but as it is right now, I don't feel the level of NVH is acceptable for a street driven car. Perhaps what we need are shifter and differential bushings + a softer version of the transmission mount. I am not happy that the side effects were so bad since shifting feels excellent. Way more composed and consistent than the stock one. Z1 said they would look into lowering the stiffness of the bushing if it's necessary. He will probably chime in and tell us what the plan is.

NYBladeZ · 03-07-2010, 08:57 PM

Great review, hopefully Z1 can get this worked out

03-05-2010, 10:12 AM	#1 (permalink)
semtex A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Behind enemy lines Age: 54 Posts: 5,995 Drives: People to drink Rep Power: 33	Yep, and Dremel makes the polishing compound. If you got your Dremel in a kit, you might have some already. It comes in little cylinder. I'm eager to see how this works out! __________________ "There are no small accidents on this circuit." -- Ayrton Senna 316.8whp & 248 ft/lbs (Dyno Dynamics) \| 319whp & 256 ft/lbs (DynoJet) (04/23/10) Stillen G3 CAI, CBE, Pulley / F.I. LTH / GTSpec Ladder Brace / Setrab Oil Cooler / UpRev-tuned by Forged Perf.

03-05-2010, 10:21 AM	#2 (permalink)
m4a1mustang A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Northern VA Posts: 55,385 Drives: on two wheels Rep Power: 6963	Mothers Mag & Aluminum polish is great. Not sure how it'd turn out with the mount... could end up looking like you chrome plated it. __________________ - Steve Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!) LIKE us on Facebook!

03-06-2010, 11:05 PM	#5 (permalink)
m4a1mustang A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Northern VA Posts: 55,385 Drives: on two wheels Rep Power: 6963	Any updates? __________________ - Steve Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!) LIKE us on Facebook!

03-07-2010, 07:48 AM	#9 (permalink)
m4a1mustang A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Northern VA Posts: 55,385 Drives: on two wheels Rep Power: 6963	Yeah, definitely interested... seems like it might be... ummm... not so good? __________________ - Steve Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!) LIKE us on Facebook!

03-07-2010, 08:57 PM	#15 (permalink)
NYBladeZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: New York Posts: 2,158 Drives: Lotus Exige S Rep Power: 21	Great review, hopefully Z1 can get this worked out __________________ 2009 Carbon Fiber/Red 370z aka Trish: Sports Package, Meisterschaft full catback, Fast Intentions Longtube Headers, Injen Long Tube Intakes, UpRev Tune: Sold 2008 Lotus Exige S Club Racer aka Bella, always leaves me smiling

03-05-2010, 03:56 PM	#3 (permalink)
RCZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Miami Posts: 6,403 Drives: '09 370Z Rep Power: 1119	LOL, bling bling. Yeah it did come with some polishing stuff, if i post pictures later its because it came out well. If I dont....well lets just be happy it goes under the car and under a chassis frame.

03-06-2010, 11:14 PM	#6 (permalink)
RCZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Miami Posts: 6,403 Drives: '09 370Z Rep Power: 1119	Yup. I do want to check with Adam before I post thought because results were...interesting.

03-07-2010, 01:10 AM	#8 (permalink)
kdoske Track Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Louisiana Posts: 541 Drives: 800whp Unicorn FI Z Rep Power: 17	hmmmmmm!!!! You have me interested.....

03-07-2010, 01:10 PM	#10 (permalink)
RCZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Miami Posts: 6,403 Drives: '09 370Z Rep Power: 1119	I will post a writeup and diy tonight. Sorry guys for making you wait.

03-07-2010, 04:54 PM	#13 (permalink)
puckshaw Track Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 620 Drives: 09 PW 370Z Touring Rep Power: 17	Uh oh. I had really high hopes for this Are you going to post the review in the original thread?

03-07-2010, 08:47 PM	#14 (permalink)
RCZ A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Miami Posts: 6,403 Drives: '09 370Z Rep Power: 1119	OK, so here's the review as promised. Installation: It was extremely easy. Its 6 bolts and its done. Very easy access, doesn't require any special tools, however you do need to find a way to support the transmission so it doesn't sag when you take off the mount. This is what you are looking for under the car. Its right by where the driveshaft starts: Support the transmission somehow. We used this guy, but you can use whatever as long as its sturdy enough to hold up the weight: Remove the bolts: Stock Mount: Side by side comparisons. Removed: Z1 Mount on. Make sure the "arrow point" is pointing towards the back of the car: After that, just put the bolts back in and your are done. Thoughts: Alright, so did it make a big difference? Absolutely. On the pro side, it made shifts much more positive. Shifting feels very consistent in every situation. It feels crisper and more exact when you put it into gear. You get this sensation like no matter what you are doing; accelerating or decelerating, the shifter is attached to something that is completely solid instead of something that has some give to it. As expected, that off-throttle jerking in low gears has been reduced. Instead of getting a sort of reverberating stop-go jerkiness that you get with the stock mount, you get this "load, unload, over" type of a feeling. Its hard to describe. Think of it this way... with the stock one it feels like the transmission is moving back and forth as it loads with the engine. With the hardened mount it feels like the whole car is a solid piece being acted on by the loading/unloading of the engine. You still feel it jerk, but it does it less and less abruptly. Now the problem is this... and you folks knew there was a problem coming. We know our engine and tranny are notoriously coarse as we go up in the RPMS, well guess what...you can hear and feel EVERYTHING. You can hear the synchros speeding up and slowing down when you put the clutch in and out. You can hear every little engine sound, clutch sound and chassis sound X100. Sounds like I have straight cut gears inside the car. If that wasn't bad enough, as you can imagine, huge amounts of vibration is transferred into the cabin. When I got home after the install, my whole body had that tingling sensation you get when you hold on to something tha'ts vibrating for too long. Just revving the car in neutral shakes you like a massage chair. My friend was joking that its a nice massage mod and that maybe girls would really love it. I talked to Z1 and they said to give it a few hundred miles to let it bed in because it should get a little better. I drove around 100 miles this weekend and it has not really improved much. I am going to leave it in for the week and see if there is any improvement in NVH levels. It feels so good for shifting that I really don't want to let this one die. Please keep in mind that it is a product in development and it still needs to be altered a bit before production. I think if we made it less stiff it would get rid of a lot of the NVH, but it will also feel more like the stock one. I think this would be excellent on a dedicated race car, but as it is right now, I don't feel the level of NVH is acceptable for a street driven car. Perhaps what we need are shifter and differential bushings + a softer version of the transmission mount. I am not happy that the side effects were so bad since shifting feels excellent. Way more composed and consistent than the stock one. Z1 said they would look into lowering the stiffness of the bushing if it's necessary. He will probably chime in and tell us what the plan is.

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