wstar's Journal

m4a1mustang · 01-02-2012, 11:47 AM

Nice work with the mesh.

wstar · 01-02-2012, 12:30 PM

Yeah it looks sunny out today, I'll get a better pic in good lighting later and post it up

wstar · 01-02-2012, 06:09 PM

Got a better pic at lunch. Ignore how highway-dirty the car is in general

Equinox · 01-02-2012, 06:32 PM

As Lightning McQueen would say, "Ka-Chow!"

I like it, somewhat gives the car a fat lipped Koi fish look too, since humans are always looking for patterns to look like faces, lol.

In my experience with the galvanized wire mesh from Lowe's and other stores is that it will chip with rock damage, but so does the car. I used Rustoleom originally on my Mazda Protege5 when I did something similar. You'll be fine.

wstar · 01-03-2012, 05:04 PM

Yeah I used Rustoleum on the mesh too, it was a flat black can of high-temp Rustoleum that's meant for painting BBQ pits

. Gonna leave the mesh and the plasti-dipped section of the bumper alone for a few months and see what happens, then decide what to do based on how well it holds up. The mesh I can just touch up (or replace if it gets banged up, it's cheap and easy now that I have the process down). If the plasti-dip ends up being way too fragile, I may strip it all off and re-paint with something else down the line.

Equinox · 01-03-2012, 05:34 PM

if something else, you can buy automotive rock chip paint used for rocker panels, or have it painted in truck bed liner, like I love to do.

So wstar, get this. I gave my wife a GT Motoring hook to ship out to a guy in Canada on this board. He bought it for 90$, she comes back and says, "Shipping to Canada cost $98 at FED EX, UPS would have been the same." .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .........................funnier/scary part is, she's a nurse.

wstar · 01-17-2012, 05:48 PM

Minor updates:

HPDE at MSR Houston again coming up this weekend, with the same group as before (The Driver's Edge). Just finished up all my last-minute maintenance: fresh oil change, fresh diff fluid, swapped pads back to CT XP-8, double-checked lots of other miscellaneous bits. I'm excited. We'll be going CCW this time, which is new for me (but we did do some CCW parade-lap stuff last time, so I have some idea). It'll be good to try a whole different configuration and get back out of my growing comfort zone, but it's also kind of a downer that I won't be able to directly compare my times from the last trip.

I've switched my oil from 5W30 to 5W40 on a whim (still Motul 300V). It doesn't really get very cold here, I always warm up, and I think as the mileage percentage increasingly shifts in the track direction, thicker is probably better. Ordered a 12-pack case of 300V cans from Amazon in bulk $$$.

ChrisSlicks · 01-17-2012, 06:00 PM

Very cool!

Thicker oil isn't necessarily better, it depends on the tolerances and the ideal viscosity to suit those tolerances. The benefit of course is going to be closer to stock viscosity at elevated oil temperatures.

What have you been seeing for oil temps so far depending on weather conditions?

wstar · 01-17-2012, 07:28 PM

Well keep in mind I'm on a 19-row cooler as well. I've seen up to 260 in the later summer so far (at this track), and 250 driving a bit harder/longer in November (same track again). Unfortunately this weekend's forecast is mid-70's even though we're just about in the center of winter, so I expect 250-ish again. I figure 5W40 might do me a little more good than 5W30 at that sort of range. Probably a hair too thick down in the 180-220 sort of range I see DD-ing in the winter, but then again I'm not pushing the engine all that hard DD-ing either, so it's not so critical

Either way the difference between 5W30 and 5W40 isn't likely to be tremendous.

ChrisSlicks · 01-17-2012, 08:16 PM

Yeah the difference isn't huge, still safe for DDing. It should be most helpful in the 230+ temperature range.

wstar · 03-07-2012, 06:11 PM

The Torque Map is basically an estimation of the engine's torque output (in some unknown units) based on RPMs and Fueling. The ECU+TCM use the Torque Map to determine how much hydraulic pressure to apply to the clutches in the transmission. The idea is the car wants to apply enough pressure such that the clutches don't slip, but not so much excessive pressure than they engage too quickly and become jerky. I'm running the stock Torque Map now and it's fine. I don't think you can get to torque values that would slip on the stock map unless you go TT/SC or some sort of built engine.

wstar · 03-07-2012, 06:15 PM

General update:

I've been too overwhelmed lately to have much free time to compose any lucid car update posts. I never even got around to re-encoding my videos from my Jan track weekend for Youtube heh. I did want to note one thing though:

This past weekend was a track weekend at TWS, and I ended up basically scrapping the weekend pretty early over braking issues. I'm still investigating some things on my end, and then after that I need to talk to the vendor(s) involved. Just something to keep in mind if anyone's looking at my parts list: there could be issues with my choice of brake components. Choose wisely. I'll update more once the dust settles out a bit.

SPOHN · 03-07-2012, 06:17 PM

Rotors/ caliper expansion kit?

travisjb · 03-07-2012, 07:37 PM

Two piece rotors........ interested to hear your thoughts and how you get this worked out

wstar · 04-08-2012, 02:18 AM

Installed Stillen's new brake duct kit today. I didn't bother with pics + DIY. I kinda did my own thing with some of it that involved cutting a fair amount of plastic

My thoughts on the kit in general:

1) The dust shield flanges, which are really the key thing this kit gives you, look like they're going to work great. I had some very minor fit issues (more on one side than the other) with the bottom edge of the flange (with the little lip that Stillen puts on that section) hitting the lower suspension arm that's right behind it. Rather than the torque it flat and let it bend, I flattened out a small section of that lip with a hammer to give the necessary clearance. Wasn't hard and doesn't change anything functionally.

It wasn't clear to me whether the supplied ultra-thin shims were meant to correct for factory variance on that particular issue, or to correct on the "other" side (flange face clearance to brake rotor), but they wouldn't have been nearly thick enough on the bad side anyways, so I didn't use them.

2) Zip-ties and wheel clearance: Don't even bother zip-tie-ing down the ductwork in the wheel well until you've put the wheel on and played with the steering and suspension travel. I'm probably a little bit of an extreme case with 18x10 + 275/35's in the front, but it was rather tricky routing it to both cover the full motion range, and not rub the tire at full steering lock in either direction. I thought I had it sorted out before the tire went on, but I was wrong and ended up cutting my zipties and starting over on that bit.

3) Duct routing: IMHO, even following Stillen's directions, things just don't go together very easy. It's not the kit, it's the car. I don't know that they could make it any easier really. Especially on the driver's side, I don't see how merely removing that little 3-snap small panel solves all the issues. You're still going to have to cut plastic somewhere (at a minimum, the slightly larger vertical piece that's accesible from the front, the one you typically route oil/trans cooler hoses through the grommet notch of).

Ultimately I decided that I didn't care much about cutting plastic in the wheel well / bumper interior areas, so I just went ahead and cut holes as necessary to do a more-direct routing of the hose. Mostly the lower inside edge area of the wheel well plastic. It shortened the path and number of bends considerably (I ended up cutting 1-1.5 feet from each of the hoses for final trimming, whereas Stillen guesses 6-8" extra to cut off with "normal" routing and not so much cutting).

The front fang ducts are a nice shape. My factory clip-nut-things that you're supposed to move over to the new fang ducts didn't fit: they were too short for the bolt hole to line up properly. Probably factory variance or year-model variance or something, who knows. I found a different clip/screw combo from my bin of random parts that fit it fine.

Conclusion stuff: I'm really glad Stillen released this kit. It's the first real commercial option we've had for a dust-shield flange attachment behind the rotor. I had a few minor issues with the flange pieces, but nothing that really detracts from the product or was difficult to overcome. The actual duct-hose routing is a mess to deal with. It's not their fault, it just really sucks to route those hoses on this car, and while the 2" hose they selected certainly makes it easier than the 2.5" I was trying to use before, it's still a PITA.

It's definitely DIY-able (obviously), but with the hose routing issues I wouldn't call it an easy bolt-on job. You need to have a wide array of tools at your disposal, and you're going to need to stop and think and plan and re-plan as you go. It's not a "follow steps 1, 2, 3, and you're done" kind of install. Be wary of doing it yourself at home if you're not well-equipped and familiar with this area of the car and maybe even willing to make some cuts

.

01-02-2012, 11:47 AM	#1 (permalink)
m4a1mustang A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Northern VA Posts: 55,385 Drives: on two wheels Rep Power: 6963	Nice work with the mesh. __________________ - Steve Zs & Coffee - Saturdays at 10AM in Fairfax, VA and Columbia, MD (Click the banner!) LIKE us on Facebook!

01-02-2012, 12:30 PM	#2 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3595	Yeah it looks sunny out today, I'll get a better pic in good lighting later and post it up __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

01-02-2012, 06:09 PM	#3 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3595	Got a better pic at lunch. Ignore how highway-dirty the car is in general __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

01-02-2012, 06:32 PM	#4 (permalink)
Equinox Track Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Beaumont, TX Posts: 685 Drives: 06 Porsche Carrera S Rep Power: 18	As Lightning McQueen would say, "Ka-Chow!" I like it, somewhat gives the car a fat lipped Koi fish look too, since humans are always looking for patterns to look like faces, lol. In my experience with the galvanized wire mesh from Lowe's and other stores is that it will chip with rock damage, but so does the car. I used Rustoleom originally on my Mazda Protege5 when I did something similar. You'll be fine. __________________ Check out my Albums '13 Subaru WRX STi \| '06 Porsche 911 Carrera S (SOLD) \| '96 Mazda RX-7 6.0L V8 RHD (SOLD) \| '09 Nissan Nismo #0058 (SOLD) Last edited by Equinox; 01-02-2012 at 06:40 PM.

01-03-2012, 05:04 PM	#5 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3595	Yeah I used Rustoleum on the mesh too, it was a flat black can of high-temp Rustoleum that's meant for painting BBQ pits . Gonna leave the mesh and the plasti-dipped section of the bumper alone for a few months and see what happens, then decide what to do based on how well it holds up. The mesh I can just touch up (or replace if it gets banged up, it's cheap and easy now that I have the process down). If the plasti-dip ends up being way too fragile, I may strip it all off and re-paint with something else down the line. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

01-03-2012, 05:34 PM	#6 (permalink)
Equinox Track Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Beaumont, TX Posts: 685 Drives: 06 Porsche Carrera S Rep Power: 18	if something else, you can buy automotive rock chip paint used for rocker panels, or have it painted in truck bed liner, like I love to do. So wstar, get this. I gave my wife a GT Motoring hook to ship out to a guy in Canada on this board. He bought it for 90$, she comes back and says, "Shipping to Canada cost $98 at FED EX, UPS would have been the same." .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .........................funnier/scary part is, she's a nurse. __________________ Check out my Albums '13 Subaru WRX STi \| '06 Porsche 911 Carrera S (SOLD) \| '96 Mazda RX-7 6.0L V8 RHD (SOLD) \| '09 Nissan Nismo #0058 (SOLD) Last edited by Equinox; 01-03-2012 at 05:36 PM.

01-17-2012, 05:48 PM	#7 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3595	Minor updates: HPDE at MSR Houston again coming up this weekend, with the same group as before (The Driver's Edge). Just finished up all my last-minute maintenance: fresh oil change, fresh diff fluid, swapped pads back to CT XP-8, double-checked lots of other miscellaneous bits. I'm excited. We'll be going CCW this time, which is new for me (but we did do some CCW parade-lap stuff last time, so I have some idea). It'll be good to try a whole different configuration and get back out of my growing comfort zone, but it's also kind of a downer that I won't be able to directly compare my times from the last trip. I've switched my oil from 5W30 to 5W40 on a whim (still Motul 300V). It doesn't really get very cold here, I always warm up, and I think as the mileage percentage increasingly shifts in the track direction, thicker is probably better. Ordered a 12-pack case of 300V cans from Amazon in bulk $$$. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

01-17-2012, 06:00 PM	#8 (permalink)
ChrisSlicks A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: North East Posts: 6,203 Drives: 09 370Z Sport M6 Rep Power: 654	Very cool! Thicker oil isn't necessarily better, it depends on the tolerances and the ideal viscosity to suit those tolerances. The benefit of course is going to be closer to stock viscosity at elevated oil temperatures. What have you been seeing for oil temps so far depending on weather conditions? __________________ Hotchkis ARB \| Stillen CAI \| Art Pipes \| Berk CBE \| Stillen AP Racing Brakes \| AE Performance Oil Cooler \| BC Racing ER Coilovers \| Doran Control Arms

01-17-2012, 07:28 PM	#9 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3595	Well keep in mind I'm on a 19-row cooler as well. I've seen up to 260 in the later summer so far (at this track), and 250 driving a bit harder/longer in November (same track again). Unfortunately this weekend's forecast is mid-70's even though we're just about in the center of winter, so I expect 250-ish again. I figure 5W40 might do me a little more good than 5W30 at that sort of range. Probably a hair too thick down in the 180-220 sort of range I see DD-ing in the winter, but then again I'm not pushing the engine all that hard DD-ing either, so it's not so critical Either way the difference between 5W30 and 5W40 isn't likely to be tremendous. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

01-17-2012, 08:16 PM	#10 (permalink)
ChrisSlicks A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: North East Posts: 6,203 Drives: 09 370Z Sport M6 Rep Power: 654	Yeah the difference isn't huge, still safe for DDing. It should be most helpful in the 230+ temperature range. __________________ Hotchkis ARB \| Stillen CAI \| Art Pipes \| Berk CBE \| Stillen AP Racing Brakes \| AE Performance Oil Cooler \| BC Racing ER Coilovers \| Doran Control Arms

03-07-2012, 06:11 PM	#11 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3595	The Torque Map is basically an estimation of the engine's torque output (in some unknown units) based on RPMs and Fueling. The ECU+TCM use the Torque Map to determine how much hydraulic pressure to apply to the clutches in the transmission. The idea is the car wants to apply enough pressure such that the clutches don't slip, but not so much excessive pressure than they engage too quickly and become jerky. I'm running the stock Torque Map now and it's fine. I don't think you can get to torque values that would slip on the stock map unless you go TT/SC or some sort of built engine. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

03-07-2012, 06:15 PM	#12 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3595	General update: I've been too overwhelmed lately to have much free time to compose any lucid car update posts. I never even got around to re-encoding my videos from my Jan track weekend for Youtube heh. I did want to note one thing though: This past weekend was a track weekend at TWS, and I ended up basically scrapping the weekend pretty early over braking issues. I'm still investigating some things on my end, and then after that I need to talk to the vendor(s) involved. Just something to keep in mind if anyone's looking at my parts list: there could be issues with my choice of brake components. Choose wisely. I'll update more once the dust settles out a bit. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

03-07-2012, 06:17 PM	#13 (permalink)
SPOHN A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Covington, GA Age: 46 Posts: 14,844 Drives: Waiting on next Z Rep Power: 222	Rotors/ caliper expansion kit? __________________ Last edited by SPOHN; 03-07-2012 at 06:30 PM.

03-07-2012, 07:37 PM	#14 (permalink)
travisjb A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: GSO Posts: 2,803 Drives: VIR Rep Power: 189	Two piece rotors........ interested to hear your thoughts and how you get this worked out __________________ 2009 370Z #104 For Sale

04-08-2012, 02:18 AM	#15 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3595	Installed Stillen's new brake duct kit today. I didn't bother with pics + DIY. I kinda did my own thing with some of it that involved cutting a fair amount of plastic My thoughts on the kit in general: 1) The dust shield flanges, which are really the key thing this kit gives you, look like they're going to work great. I had some very minor fit issues (more on one side than the other) with the bottom edge of the flange (with the little lip that Stillen puts on that section) hitting the lower suspension arm that's right behind it. Rather than the torque it flat and let it bend, I flattened out a small section of that lip with a hammer to give the necessary clearance. Wasn't hard and doesn't change anything functionally. It wasn't clear to me whether the supplied ultra-thin shims were meant to correct for factory variance on that particular issue, or to correct on the "other" side (flange face clearance to brake rotor), but they wouldn't have been nearly thick enough on the bad side anyways, so I didn't use them. 2) Zip-ties and wheel clearance: Don't even bother zip-tie-ing down the ductwork in the wheel well until you've put the wheel on and played with the steering and suspension travel. I'm probably a little bit of an extreme case with 18x10 + 275/35's in the front, but it was rather tricky routing it to both cover the full motion range, and not rub the tire at full steering lock in either direction. I thought I had it sorted out before the tire went on, but I was wrong and ended up cutting my zipties and starting over on that bit. 3) Duct routing: IMHO, even following Stillen's directions, things just don't go together very easy. It's not the kit, it's the car. I don't know that they could make it any easier really. Especially on the driver's side, I don't see how merely removing that little 3-snap small panel solves all the issues. You're still going to have to cut plastic somewhere (at a minimum, the slightly larger vertical piece that's accesible from the front, the one you typically route oil/trans cooler hoses through the grommet notch of). Ultimately I decided that I didn't care much about cutting plastic in the wheel well / bumper interior areas, so I just went ahead and cut holes as necessary to do a more-direct routing of the hose. Mostly the lower inside edge area of the wheel well plastic. It shortened the path and number of bends considerably (I ended up cutting 1-1.5 feet from each of the hoses for final trimming, whereas Stillen guesses 6-8" extra to cut off with "normal" routing and not so much cutting). The front fang ducts are a nice shape. My factory clip-nut-things that you're supposed to move over to the new fang ducts didn't fit: they were too short for the bolt hole to line up properly. Probably factory variance or year-model variance or something, who knows. I found a different clip/screw combo from my bin of random parts that fit it fine. Conclusion stuff: I'm really glad Stillen released this kit. It's the first real commercial option we've had for a dust-shield flange attachment behind the rotor. I had a few minor issues with the flange pieces, but nothing that really detracts from the product or was difficult to overcome. The actual duct-hose routing is a mess to deal with. It's not their fault, it just really sucks to route those hoses on this car, and while the 2" hose they selected certainly makes it easier than the 2.5" I was trying to use before, it's still a PITA. It's definitely DIY-able (obviously), but with the hose routing issues I wouldn't call it an easy bolt-on job. You need to have a wide array of tools at your disposal, and you're going to need to stop and think and plan and re-plan as you go. It's not a "follow steps 1, 2, 3, and you're done" kind of install. Be wary of doing it yourself at home if you're not well-equipped and familiar with this area of the car and maybe even willing to make some cuts . __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
TravisJB Journal	travisjb	Member's 370Z Gallery	1977	11-03-2017 09:39 AM
DannyGT's Journal/Progress	DannyGT	Member's 370Z Gallery	174	10-17-2017 10:25 AM
RCZ's 370Z Journal.	RCZ	Member's 370Z Gallery	1743	08-09-2013 11:55 PM
Edmonton Journal Review of the 370Z	BanningZ	Nissan 370Z General Discussions	13	08-09-2009 05:44 PM
LiquidZ's Journal	LiquidZ	Member's 370Z Gallery	22	05-22-2009 11:42 PM