wstar's Journal

nynhex · 08-04-2011, 10:35 AM

Ah you're back! The headers seem like a pretty intense job. Are you using Baker for your uprev too?

wstar · 08-04-2011, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nynhex

Ah you're back! The headers seem like a pretty intense job. Are you using Baker for your uprev too?

Yeah, the headers are definitely the toughest bolt-on job on this car, outside of FI-related stuff. Lots of room for complications too (needing to replace studs, issues getting O2's off without damage, etc) that a fully equipped shop can deal with easier.

I haven't really settled on where to get the tuning done yet. I don't think Baker has a dyno though, so I'm not sure if they can help me on this. I guess I should ask their opinion though.

wstar · 08-13-2011, 01:15 PM

Installed the A.M. Performance baffled oil pan today. The install is pretty easy, and their detailed instructions cover it all well.

I had some extra difficulty with removing my existing AAM oil pan spacer. It's easy enough to separate the OEM oil pan from the spacer, but separating an installed spacer from the engine is kinda rough, because there's really no flex or give between those two solid aluminum parts to get a gasket separating tool to slip into and break the Ultra Grey.

For anyone else removing a solid aluminum oil pan spacer, my tips are: (1) scrape/cut as much of the edge of the gasket as you can with a razor blade, all along the inside and outside edges, (2) liberally apply brake cleaner or any other volatile chemical that might help break down the Ultra Grey gasket, again all along the edge inside and out, and (3) use a long prybar to separate them. When you look at the situation, you'll see there's an aluminum "tab" sticking out of the engine block side that doesn't mate up with the oil pan spacer, and the spacer has an edge that sticks out too far nearby as well. The trick is just getting the prybar wedged between these two aluminum outcroppings so that you can solidly pry them apart (without trying to shove anything between them at the gasket itself).

AAM oil pan spacer and OEM pan after removal (note the squared off aluminum outcroppings on the spacer near the blue oil fitting plugs, these are what you can pry against):

New oil pan, installed (and yes, it definitely gives better clearance than the spacer solution did. we're back to the lower brace under the engine being the lowest point rather than the oil pan). Also note the two aluminum tabs with empty holes sticking out the front of the block, above the pan. These are the other side of what you brace the prybar against to help remove an old spacer.:

wstar · 08-13-2011, 01:30 PM

Oh one more note for anyone swapping out an existing AAM (or similar) spacer kit for the AM Performance pan. AM Performance wants you to re-use the two stock bolts for the oil pickup. The AAM kit supplied new longer ones, and I have long since misplaced the original bolts. The correct replacement bolts from a hardware store is a pair of M8-1.25 x 20mm, class 8/8.8.

SPOHN · 08-13-2011, 02:25 PM

That's very nice. You have any pics of the baffle itself or inside of the pan?

travisjb · 08-13-2011, 04:49 PM

Nice work!

I keep a drawer full of all my old fasteners for just such occasions!

wstar · 08-13-2011, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPOHN

That's very nice. You have any pics of the baffle itself or inside of the pan?

I didn't bother to take any, but it looks exactly like expected

. Here's the links from the mfg's thread: Drawings, Photos

wstar · 08-18-2011, 06:41 PM

As noted in another thread, LTH on top of all the other breathing mods finally really did in the stock tune. It still pulls decent from about 3.5K up, but the lower end of the rev range gets atrocious once the engine is heat soaked. It's just so badly out of whack on A:F ratio and timing for this setup now.

So I'm headed to Secret Services tomorrow (Friday) morning for some UpRev tuning on their dyno, we'll see how everything goes. At the very least they should be able to fix up my A:F and timing, I want to talk them there about if or what they can do with the throttle response and transmission line pressures too.

christian370z · 08-18-2011, 11:01 PM

Very nice, that oil pan is a thing of beauty. The CNC patterns and the internal baffling are gorgeous, hope to see it put to the test!

wstar · 08-19-2011, 01:19 PM

Just got back from Secret Services. They did a great job on the tune. They use a Mustang dyno, and I completely lost count of the pulls they did on the car tweaking and tuning after the first 10 or so

.

Car was running a bit lean in the low end of the range and just sub-optimal all around. They cleaned up the A:F ratio and got the tune dialed in for a nice torque curve. They also played with the throttle tables to open up the throttle plates earlier and more aggressively, and tweaked the 7AT's torque map by ~10%. The car's snappier all around now, especially in the low revs and/or at partial throttle compared to before. Just a lot more drivable, and a broader usable RPM and throttle range.

Absolute HP numbers were sad looking for this level of mod, but it's freaking hot out in Houston right now, and it's a new dyno for my car, so I really don't care about the absolute numbers. Avg gains across 2K->7.4K was 7 ft/lb and 6 hp, with most of the torque gains at 3K+ and most of the hp gains from around 4.8K+. This dyno's reading of my before/after peak hp today was 278 and 285.

I'm going to upgrade my license w/ UpRev either today or next week so that I can tweak on the little stuff myself (rev limits, speed limits, throttle response, valet map, blah blah), but the basic tune they did is really spot on, they seemed to know what they're doing

wstar · 08-19-2011, 01:43 PM

^ Added scan of before/after dyno chart.

theDreamer · 08-19-2011, 01:49 PM

That is about what I finished off at when they did my tuning with intake/LTH/exhaust, their dyno reads fairly low and it is 100+ outside.

wstar · 08-26-2011, 12:13 AM

Finally the stars aligned and I was able to make time to go to Red Meat & Race Fuel @ MSR today. This was my first experience with a real road course. It's a 2.38 mile course and we were using the full course config.

It was a really nice informal event. Probably around 10-15 street cars on and off at various times, come and go off the track as you please, passing mostly only on the straights with a hand signal. The other drivers were all pretty nice guys, and there were a few racecars out testing on the track too.

I highly recommend it to others in the area. There's 4 more of these events coming up this year, and it's a cheap way to get your feet wet driving on a real track. Probably the most fun I've had fully clothed in a long time.

I went out on the track 3 times while I was there, for basically one 30 minute session, and two more 15 minute sessions. The car held up great mostly. Keep in mind I'm new at this, and I've never seen the course before, so I was taking it a bit easy (decelerating earlier and softer than necc at the ends of straights out of fear, etc). For extra scare factor, the track was a bit wet from some rain an hour or two before the event.

It was a real eye opener on how much I could stand to improve my driving skills, following some of the other regulars around the track. I really need to sign up for some kind of HPDE / instructor-led event soon. I managed to go off-track only once, during my second session (which is why I cut that one short at 15 minutes, I wanted to make sure everything was ok under the car).

Tires and brakes held up fine. Oil temps were better than expected, given I'm on a 19-row and this is summer in TX. It would pull up to 240 on the dot a couple of minutes into a session and then just hang there stable. The last session it nudged up to 250 (weather was heating up, and I was getting more confident and driving harder too). I cut my third session short too, because as I was accelerating out of a tight corner, it seemed like I was being hit by a rev-limit or something right as I hit about 6K RPM.

My first thought was limp-mode, but again oil temps were merely 250. Then I realized I was down to 1/2 tank of gas now, and most likely it was fuel starvation. On the next straight a few seconds later I was able to go all the way to the redline again, but I figured that was a good time to end the day anyways instead of playing with the fuel starvation on the next several corners.

Got a few pics and video of my 2nd session from my windshield pov (including my run off the track), I'll upload it all later, I'm tired

.

ChrisSlicks · 08-26-2011, 07:42 AM

Glad you had fun!

Yes, definitely start out with instructed events, these open lapping events can be a little intimidating until you get more experience under your belt. Welcome to the fuel starvation club!

wstar · 08-26-2011, 09:22 AM

Two cars at the track that caught my eye. An awesome looking Datsun racer:

.. and a LeMons car. The Igloo cooler on the back of the LeMons car is dual-purpose: it can run ice-water to the driver's suit, and it has a garbage disposal attached underneath that turns it into a redneck margarita machine. The exhaust comes out through the BBQ pit. There's a functional whiskey still on top there made of tubing and some kind of hot plate or waffle iron, etc

08-04-2011, 10:35 AM	#376 (permalink)
nynhex Base Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Houston Posts: 247 Drives: 370z Rep Power: 371	Ah you're back! The headers seem like a pretty intense job. Are you using Baker for your uprev too? __________________ \|Berk\|Konig\|Nismo\|

08-13-2011, 01:15 PM	#378 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Installed the A.M. Performance baffled oil pan today. The install is pretty easy, and their detailed instructions cover it all well. I had some extra difficulty with removing my existing AAM oil pan spacer. It's easy enough to separate the OEM oil pan from the spacer, but separating an installed spacer from the engine is kinda rough, because there's really no flex or give between those two solid aluminum parts to get a gasket separating tool to slip into and break the Ultra Grey. For anyone else removing a solid aluminum oil pan spacer, my tips are: (1) scrape/cut as much of the edge of the gasket as you can with a razor blade, all along the inside and outside edges, (2) liberally apply brake cleaner or any other volatile chemical that might help break down the Ultra Grey gasket, again all along the edge inside and out, and (3) use a long prybar to separate them. When you look at the situation, you'll see there's an aluminum "tab" sticking out of the engine block side that doesn't mate up with the oil pan spacer, and the spacer has an edge that sticks out too far nearby as well. The trick is just getting the prybar wedged between these two aluminum outcroppings so that you can solidly pry them apart (without trying to shove anything between them at the gasket itself). AAM oil pan spacer and OEM pan after removal (note the squared off aluminum outcroppings on the spacer near the blue oil fitting plugs, these are what you can pry against): New oil pan, installed (and yes, it definitely gives better clearance than the spacer solution did. we're back to the lower brace under the engine being the lowest point rather than the oil pan). Also note the two aluminum tabs with empty holes sticking out the front of the block, above the pan. These are the other side of what you brace the prybar against to help remove an old spacer.: __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 08-13-2011 at 01:19 PM.

08-13-2011, 01:30 PM	#379 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Oh one more note for anyone swapping out an existing AAM (or similar) spacer kit for the AM Performance pan. AM Performance wants you to re-use the two stock bolts for the oil pickup. The AAM kit supplied new longer ones, and I have long since misplaced the original bolts. The correct replacement bolts from a hardware store is a pair of M8-1.25 x 20mm, class 8/8.8. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

08-13-2011, 02:25 PM	#380 (permalink)
SPOHN A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Covington, GA Age: 45 Posts: 14,844 Drives: Waiting on next Z Rep Power: 221	That's very nice. You have any pics of the baffle itself or inside of the pan? __________________

08-13-2011, 04:49 PM	#381 (permalink)
travisjb A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: GSO Posts: 2,803 Drives: VIR Rep Power: 188	Nice work! I keep a drawer full of all my old fasteners for just such occasions! __________________ 2009 370Z #104 For Sale

08-18-2011, 06:41 PM	#383 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	As noted in another thread, LTH on top of all the other breathing mods finally really did in the stock tune. It still pulls decent from about 3.5K up, but the lower end of the rev range gets atrocious once the engine is heat soaked. It's just so badly out of whack on A:F ratio and timing for this setup now. So I'm headed to Secret Services tomorrow (Friday) morning for some UpRev tuning on their dyno, we'll see how everything goes. At the very least they should be able to fix up my A:F and timing, I want to talk them there about if or what they can do with the throttle response and transmission line pressures too. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

08-18-2011, 11:01 PM	#384 (permalink)
christian370z A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Newport Beach Posts: 3,900 Drives: 2010 370Z/Saab 900se Rep Power: 432	Very nice, that oil pan is a thing of beauty. The CNC patterns and the internal baffling are gorgeous, hope to see it put to the test! __________________ -320whp / 259wftlbs- SP Rays -- RE-11s -- SpecialtyZ Tune -- Swift Springs -- Stillen 25R Oil Cooler -- Stillen G3 Intakes -- Berk HFCs -- F.I. 12" CBE -- Stillen Sway Bars -- Es14 Spring -- INGS+1 lip -- CF Spoiler -- GTR Start Button -- VLED Parking Lights -- PWJDM V2 shift knob

08-19-2011, 01:19 PM	#385 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Just got back from Secret Services. They did a great job on the tune. They use a Mustang dyno, and I completely lost count of the pulls they did on the car tweaking and tuning after the first 10 or so . Car was running a bit lean in the low end of the range and just sub-optimal all around. They cleaned up the A:F ratio and got the tune dialed in for a nice torque curve. They also played with the throttle tables to open up the throttle plates earlier and more aggressively, and tweaked the 7AT's torque map by ~10%. The car's snappier all around now, especially in the low revs and/or at partial throttle compared to before. Just a lot more drivable, and a broader usable RPM and throttle range. Absolute HP numbers were sad looking for this level of mod, but it's freaking hot out in Houston right now, and it's a new dyno for my car, so I really don't care about the absolute numbers. Avg gains across 2K->7.4K was 7 ft/lb and 6 hp, with most of the torque gains at 3K+ and most of the hp gains from around 4.8K+. This dyno's reading of my before/after peak hp today was 278 and 285. I'm going to upgrade my license w/ UpRev either today or next week so that I can tweak on the little stuff myself (rev limits, speed limits, throttle response, valet map, blah blah), but the basic tune they did is really spot on, they seemed to know what they're doing __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 08-19-2011 at 01:42 PM.

08-19-2011, 01:43 PM	#386 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	^ Added scan of before/after dyno chart. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

08-19-2011, 01:49 PM	#387 (permalink)
theDreamer A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 30,879 Drives: 370z Rep Power: 4210	That is about what I finished off at when they did my tuning with intake/LTH/exhaust, their dyno reads fairly low and it is 100+ outside. __________________ theDreamer's Z // Fast Intentions // Uprev // GTM // HKS // TEIN theDreamer's Silvia // URAS // GREDDY Houston Zs // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram

08-26-2011, 12:13 AM	#388 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Finally the stars aligned and I was able to make time to go to Red Meat & Race Fuel @ MSR today. This was my first experience with a real road course. It's a 2.38 mile course and we were using the full course config. It was a really nice informal event. Probably around 10-15 street cars on and off at various times, come and go off the track as you please, passing mostly only on the straights with a hand signal. The other drivers were all pretty nice guys, and there were a few racecars out testing on the track too. I highly recommend it to others in the area. There's 4 more of these events coming up this year, and it's a cheap way to get your feet wet driving on a real track. Probably the most fun I've had fully clothed in a long time. I went out on the track 3 times while I was there, for basically one 30 minute session, and two more 15 minute sessions. The car held up great mostly. Keep in mind I'm new at this, and I've never seen the course before, so I was taking it a bit easy (decelerating earlier and softer than necc at the ends of straights out of fear, etc). For extra scare factor, the track was a bit wet from some rain an hour or two before the event. It was a real eye opener on how much I could stand to improve my driving skills, following some of the other regulars around the track. I really need to sign up for some kind of HPDE / instructor-led event soon. I managed to go off-track only once, during my second session (which is why I cut that one short at 15 minutes, I wanted to make sure everything was ok under the car). Tires and brakes held up fine. Oil temps were better than expected, given I'm on a 19-row and this is summer in TX. It would pull up to 240 on the dot a couple of minutes into a session and then just hang there stable. The last session it nudged up to 250 (weather was heating up, and I was getting more confident and driving harder too). I cut my third session short too, because as I was accelerating out of a tight corner, it seemed like I was being hit by a rev-limit or something right as I hit about 6K RPM. My first thought was limp-mode, but again oil temps were merely 250. Then I realized I was down to 1/2 tank of gas now, and most likely it was fuel starvation. On the next straight a few seconds later I was able to go all the way to the redline again, but I figured that was a good time to end the day anyways instead of playing with the fuel starvation on the next several corners. Got a few pics and video of my 2nd session from my windshield pov (including my run off the track), I'll upload it all later, I'm tired . __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

08-26-2011, 07:42 AM	#389 (permalink)
ChrisSlicks A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: North East Posts: 6,203 Drives: 09 370Z Sport M6 Rep Power: 653	Glad you had fun! Yes, definitely start out with instructed events, these open lapping events can be a little intimidating until you get more experience under your belt. Welcome to the fuel starvation club! __________________ Hotchkis ARB \| Stillen CAI \| Art Pipes \| Berk CBE \| Stillen AP Racing Brakes \| AE Performance Oil Cooler \| BC Racing ER Coilovers \| Doran Control Arms

08-26-2011, 09:22 AM	#390 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Two cars at the track that caught my eye. An awesome looking Datsun racer: .. and a LeMons car. The Igloo cooler on the back of the LeMons car is dual-purpose: it can run ice-water to the driver's suit, and it has a garbage disposal attached underneath that turns it into a redneck margarita machine. The exhaust comes out through the BBQ pit. There's a functional whiskey still on top there made of tubing and some kind of hot plate or waffle iron, etc __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

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