wstar's Journal

wstar · 02-24-2013, 07:47 PM

Been busy on the car the past few days. Got CJM's fuel starve kit ( Fuel Starvation Control Product / 370z Road Race Fuel Pump ) installed. It's hard, but it could be worse

Working fine so far, but I could never reliably and safely trigger it on the street anyways, so we'll see at the next track event how it holds up as my fuel level drops. I probably won't go under half a tank or so because I still need the fuel weight in the rear for now, but I was starving at ~2-3 dots down from full before on certain track corners.

I also went ahead and pulled the trigger on some real datalogging, since I was tired of Android firmware bugs causing me to not record my events and losing out on all that data. So I got a Race Keeper and did the install on that as well. I went with the Black model, a single forward bullet-cam mounted to the front glass for now, the OBD-II interface, and of course the standard Mic, 10Hz GPS, and internal accelerometers. I've done a couple of short test vids on the street and it's working out fine so far. Install pic of the main unit here:

For now it's velcro'd to the top of the airbag controller and then ziptied for additional stability. Once I remove all the airbag hardware (which is waiting for when I go forward with the cage/seat plans), I'm going to reuse that airbag controller's 3x factory bolts to mount a nice little aluminum plate to screw down the Racekeeper to (with its anti-shock mounts) for even more stability and accuracy.

I'll be back at another TDE event at Texas World Speedway next weekend to try out both in real conditions.

wstar · 03-04-2013, 09:08 AM

Made it out to TWS this past weekend, had a blast. I'm still a little rusty, but I'm getting my confidence back stronger than it was at MSR-H in Jan. This is my first weekend at this track (other than like 4 laps a year ago when my brake problems first happened really badly). Since MSR-H in Jan, I've put on a fresh set of Conti DW tires, added the CJM fuel starve solution, and the RaceKeeper datalogger.

Brakes: My brakes are still juddering. Most likely there's just some physical issue with a caliper's alignment, or a sticking piston somewhere, or perhaps a caliper is flexed out? No idea, but it's clear to me that swapping out every related soft component still isn't fixing it in the long term. In any case, I was able to mostly put it out of mind since I know the car's holding together fine and it's a rotor getting chewed up or whatever.

RaceKeeper: I don't have the HD Video export (or multi-camera) yet, but regardless the video quality is less than stunning. It's fine for review/datalogging purposes, just doesn't look great for e.g. Youtube. With multiple cameras all on a single HD export in smaller frames, though, it's probably plenty enough resolution. Importantly the video is a lot more stable than using e.g. a phone. The OBD-II data came out nice, it's interesting to see a whole weekend of data graphed out with things like coolant temps, and to see how my intake air temp varies in different sections of the track. Their comparison features are also really awesome for seeing what you did different between two sessions/laps. In general I'm pretty happy with the system, and it's way less buggy and troublesome. Just jump in the car and hit the record button at the start of the session, pull out all the data later via USB stick.

CJM Fuel Thingy: Worked great. I was starving out on certain bad right-handers at over 3/4 full on the gauge before, and topping off between every session. This weekend I just filled up once each morning, and ran the car down to just under 1/4 tank by the end of each day. Never a single fuel hiccup

I uploaded most of my final session from Sunday to Youtube, shown below. The first few laps are the best part. Chased down a red 'vette, finally closed the gap when the other vette in front of him spun out, tailed him for a while, then he blew me away on the main banked straight, and then I reeled him right back in when we got back into the corners and he had to give me the pass

Had my fastest lap of the weekend right after that stuff, on Lap 5.

Most of the issues I see in the video/data here still basically comes down to confidence, which I need to keep building up with seat time. I do some light braking consistently before 3 specific corners on this track when really they need just a little lift to nose it over at best, and then I'm usually not back in the gas hard and fast enough to really track out all the way. It's all just about overcoming fear and becoming more confident in the car's (and my own) capabilities. Made a lot of progress learning the track in any case. My best lap of the first session of the weekend was 2:21.50, and my best lap below at the end of the weekend was 2:08.49

I think the real badasses in the higher rungroups all run somewhere in the neigborhood of 1:57 -> 2:02 -ish.

SPOHN · 03-04-2013, 12:26 PM

Great day it sounds like.

wstar · 03-22-2013, 08:46 PM

Bit the bullet and ordered a BBK, because I'm tired of trying to diagnose whatever keeps going wrong with my calipers or whatever the case may be. I went with Stillen's AP Racing kit (just the rotors, calipers, brackets, but not their pads and SS lines, which I'm sourcing separately because they don't offer what I want). I'm still waiting on pads to arrive, but I went ahead and tested fitment (I mean, you can hear things and measure things, but it's always nice to get a physical confirmation after the parts arrive), and everything fits perfectly.

The calipers are just amazing. By far the most well-built looking things I've ever seen. The bracket's pretty solid too, and everything's super light.

Pics:

Front Caliper + Bracket:

Testing fitment, just hand-tightening everything with no pads installed:

Test fit worked, but check out how small the clearance is on 18" Forgestar F-14's. If those wheel weights were stuck on an inch further to the inside, they'd rub the caliper:

I can't wait to put this on the car, but for now I'm held up while Essex orders some CL pads in the right shapes. Odds are good between that and me going out of town the first week of April, this stuff won't get installed until April 8th or later.

SPOHN · 03-22-2013, 08:50 PM

Awesome. I have the same kit on XP 10's

wstar · 03-22-2013, 08:58 PM

What are you running for rear pads?

I know on the stock setup I liked to bias the compounds a bit. I also really like the feel and bedding and whatnot on these CL-brand pads, but CL's low-end compound I was using in the rear (RC5+), they don't make it for the larger APRacing rear. And RC8 is just too aggressive given I'm still on street tires, I think, in the front. So I think my first pads experiment will be RC6 front and RC6E in the rear, which are only marginally different in bite/friction characteristics from each other:

If that doesn't work out (rear locking up too quick), then I may just have to go RC8 on the front and learn to use hardcore brakes on shitty street tires without hitting ABS all the time

SPOHN · 03-22-2013, 09:05 PM

XP 8's

Boost_lee · 03-22-2013, 10:23 PM

very nice!

wstar · 03-29-2013, 10:59 AM

Ended up ordering RC6E pads at all four corners for the first experiment with the new brakes setup (because other CL compounds had to be ordered and would take forever), hopefully they arrive today. They're not super-grabby, so even if the lack of F<->R bite differential puts me back in ice-mode a little, I'm sure I can drive through it and/or tune it out via tire pressure and rear sway.

Also, I've got more new toys stacking up in the garage. Picked up a set of JRZ RS1 from Forged, and they look amazing. This and the APR brake setup are both in line with my new theme of "For a given chunk of cash, spend it on a lesser-featured product from a very high quality mfg, instead of a maximally-featured item from a lesser known mfg". They look pretty amazing so far on build quality, and I expect they'll do well on the car once I put them on. I'll probably stick them on the car and play with ride height today, but alignment and corner balance will have to wait a week while I'm out of town all next week. Any general advice on getting my initial ride height set up quickly (which I want close to stock, or maybe 1/2" lower) with this style of shock (helper springs, no adjustable shock body length) other than "guess at where to set the spring seat, set the car down, measure, iterate?" Is a "normal" setting on these kinds of shocks usually with the helper mostly compressed, half-compressed, or "as close to zero preload as possible, but just a little tension to keep things from bouncing off the mounts"?

Anyways, pic with the springs installed, still sitting in a box:

SPOHN · 03-29-2013, 12:07 PM

Nice!!

wstar · 03-30-2013, 09:37 AM

If anyone else ever wonders the same things I was above, re: what's a sane starting point on helper spring compression on the bench, the answer is "almost fully compressed". Got them installed a test driven a little, but I ended up leaving the car with the ride height a little lower than I want, because I was out of time and energy to go adjust them all again. Feels pretty awesome so far.

wstar · 03-30-2013, 10:07 AM

A couple new pro-photographer pics from the last track event (crushed in quality by uploading to the albums here of course :P):

wstar · 04-09-2013, 08:06 PM

So, a couple good updates:

1) I got the ride height finalized on the JRZ's, at around ~1/2" lower than stock, today. Took the car for a pre-alignment test run on some twisty back roads around here, and it feels *amazing*. They're still set at full-stiff, and while that might not be very comfortable for any passenger, the car has tons of traction and even manages ripply pavement pretty well at that stiffness. I may back it down a few notches as a starting point on the track, but not much. The car feels so much more stable and predictable. Combined with the existing hotchkis sways, it's just damn near impossible to get the body to sway much on a corner anymore on the street. Also the nose movement on braking/accel stuff has a much smaller travel range now and the transition is so much easier.

2) I got a callback from Rick @ TDE today and a standby slot opened up for MSR-Houston this weekend in the Yellow rungroup, so I'll get to run these new coilovers on-track this weekend. I'm excited

I'm gonna leave the new APRacing brakes in their boxes for now. Between Real Life and alignment and misc track maintenance, I don't have time to put the brakes on before this weekend and be satisfied with testing and re-bleeding, etc. Too much risk. So they'll go on next week after I get back and get tested in May. I'm sure I'll have more to report on the JRZ RS1's after this weekend

SPOHN · 04-09-2013, 08:11 PM

What the spring rates?

wstar · 04-09-2013, 08:12 PM

I'll have to hang my head in shame and say "I have no idea what spring rates are on my car"

It's the JRZ RS1 setup from Sharif@Forged. Whatever spring rates they picked

(Edit: actually, I think it was written somewhere, maybe I can go find the numbers, on boxes or something).

02-24-2013, 07:47 PM	#526 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Been busy on the car the past few days. Got CJM's fuel starve kit ( Fuel Starvation Control Product / 370z Road Race Fuel Pump ) installed. It's hard, but it could be worse Working fine so far, but I could never reliably and safely trigger it on the street anyways, so we'll see at the next track event how it holds up as my fuel level drops. I probably won't go under half a tank or so because I still need the fuel weight in the rear for now, but I was starving at ~2-3 dots down from full before on certain track corners. I also went ahead and pulled the trigger on some real datalogging, since I was tired of Android firmware bugs causing me to not record my events and losing out on all that data. So I got a Race Keeper and did the install on that as well. I went with the Black model, a single forward bullet-cam mounted to the front glass for now, the OBD-II interface, and of course the standard Mic, 10Hz GPS, and internal accelerometers. I've done a couple of short test vids on the street and it's working out fine so far. Install pic of the main unit here: For now it's velcro'd to the top of the airbag controller and then ziptied for additional stability. Once I remove all the airbag hardware (which is waiting for when I go forward with the cage/seat plans), I'm going to reuse that airbag controller's 3x factory bolts to mount a nice little aluminum plate to screw down the Racekeeper to (with its anti-shock mounts) for even more stability and accuracy. I'll be back at another TDE event at Texas World Speedway next weekend to try out both in real conditions. Boost_lee and Mr&Mrs like this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

03-04-2013, 09:08 AM	#527 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Made it out to TWS this past weekend, had a blast. I'm still a little rusty, but I'm getting my confidence back stronger than it was at MSR-H in Jan. This is my first weekend at this track (other than like 4 laps a year ago when my brake problems first happened really badly). Since MSR-H in Jan, I've put on a fresh set of Conti DW tires, added the CJM fuel starve solution, and the RaceKeeper datalogger. Brakes: My brakes are still juddering. Most likely there's just some physical issue with a caliper's alignment, or a sticking piston somewhere, or perhaps a caliper is flexed out? No idea, but it's clear to me that swapping out every related soft component still isn't fixing it in the long term. In any case, I was able to mostly put it out of mind since I know the car's holding together fine and it's a rotor getting chewed up or whatever. RaceKeeper: I don't have the HD Video export (or multi-camera) yet, but regardless the video quality is less than stunning. It's fine for review/datalogging purposes, just doesn't look great for e.g. Youtube. With multiple cameras all on a single HD export in smaller frames, though, it's probably plenty enough resolution. Importantly the video is a lot more stable than using e.g. a phone. The OBD-II data came out nice, it's interesting to see a whole weekend of data graphed out with things like coolant temps, and to see how my intake air temp varies in different sections of the track. Their comparison features are also really awesome for seeing what you did different between two sessions/laps. In general I'm pretty happy with the system, and it's way less buggy and troublesome. Just jump in the car and hit the record button at the start of the session, pull out all the data later via USB stick. CJM Fuel Thingy: Worked great. I was starving out on certain bad right-handers at over 3/4 full on the gauge before, and topping off between every session. This weekend I just filled up once each morning, and ran the car down to just under 1/4 tank by the end of each day. Never a single fuel hiccup I uploaded most of my final session from Sunday to Youtube, shown below. The first few laps are the best part. Chased down a red 'vette, finally closed the gap when the other vette in front of him spun out, tailed him for a while, then he blew me away on the main banked straight, and then I reeled him right back in when we got back into the corners and he had to give me the pass Had my fastest lap of the weekend right after that stuff, on Lap 5. Most of the issues I see in the video/data here still basically comes down to confidence, which I need to keep building up with seat time. I do some light braking consistently before 3 specific corners on this track when really they need just a little lift to nose it over at best, and then I'm usually not back in the gas hard and fast enough to really track out all the way. It's all just about overcoming fear and becoming more confident in the car's (and my own) capabilities. Made a lot of progress learning the track in any case. My best lap of the first session of the weekend was 2:21.50, and my best lap below at the end of the weekend was 2:08.49 I think the real badasses in the higher rungroups all run somewhere in the neigborhood of 1:57 -> 2:02 -ish. travisjb and Mr&Mrs like this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 03-04-2013 at 10:47 AM.

03-04-2013, 12:26 PM	#528 (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	Great day it sounds like. __________________

03-22-2013, 08:46 PM	#529 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Bit the bullet and ordered a BBK, because I'm tired of trying to diagnose whatever keeps going wrong with my calipers or whatever the case may be. I went with Stillen's AP Racing kit (just the rotors, calipers, brackets, but not their pads and SS lines, which I'm sourcing separately because they don't offer what I want). I'm still waiting on pads to arrive, but I went ahead and tested fitment (I mean, you can hear things and measure things, but it's always nice to get a physical confirmation after the parts arrive), and everything fits perfectly. The calipers are just amazing. By far the most well-built looking things I've ever seen. The bracket's pretty solid too, and everything's super light. Pics: Front Caliper + Bracket: Testing fitment, just hand-tightening everything with no pads installed: Test fit worked, but check out how small the clearance is on 18" Forgestar F-14's. If those wheel weights were stuck on an inch further to the inside, they'd rub the caliper: I can't wait to put this on the car, but for now I'm held up while Essex orders some CL pads in the right shapes. Odds are good between that and me going out of town the first week of April, this stuff won't get installed until April 8th or later. VDC_OFF likes this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

03-22-2013, 08:50 PM	#530 (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	Awesome. I have the same kit on XP 10's __________________

03-22-2013, 08:58 PM	#531 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	What are you running for rear pads? I know on the stock setup I liked to bias the compounds a bit. I also really like the feel and bedding and whatnot on these CL-brand pads, but CL's low-end compound I was using in the rear (RC5+), they don't make it for the larger APRacing rear. And RC8 is just too aggressive given I'm still on street tires, I think, in the front. So I think my first pads experiment will be RC6 front and RC6E in the rear, which are only marginally different in bite/friction characteristics from each other: If that doesn't work out (rear locking up too quick), then I may just have to go RC8 on the front and learn to use hardcore brakes on shitty street tires without hitting ABS all the time __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

03-22-2013, 09:05 PM	#532 (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	XP 8's __________________

03-22-2013, 10:23 PM	#533 (permalink)
Boost_lee A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: SATX Posts: 2,813 Drives: 09 370Z TT 6MT Rep Power: 29	very nice! __________________ My TT Z

03-29-2013, 10:59 AM	#534 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Ended up ordering RC6E pads at all four corners for the first experiment with the new brakes setup (because other CL compounds had to be ordered and would take forever), hopefully they arrive today. They're not super-grabby, so even if the lack of F<->R bite differential puts me back in ice-mode a little, I'm sure I can drive through it and/or tune it out via tire pressure and rear sway. Also, I've got more new toys stacking up in the garage. Picked up a set of JRZ RS1 from Forged, and they look amazing. This and the APR brake setup are both in line with my new theme of "For a given chunk of cash, spend it on a lesser-featured product from a very high quality mfg, instead of a maximally-featured item from a lesser known mfg". They look pretty amazing so far on build quality, and I expect they'll do well on the car once I put them on. I'll probably stick them on the car and play with ride height today, but alignment and corner balance will have to wait a week while I'm out of town all next week. Any general advice on getting my initial ride height set up quickly (which I want close to stock, or maybe 1/2" lower) with this style of shock (helper springs, no adjustable shock body length) other than "guess at where to set the spring seat, set the car down, measure, iterate?" Is a "normal" setting on these kinds of shocks usually with the helper mostly compressed, half-compressed, or "as close to zero preload as possible, but just a little tension to keep things from bouncing off the mounts"? Anyways, pic with the springs installed, still sitting in a box: VDC_OFF likes this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

03-29-2013, 12:07 PM	#535 (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	Nice!! __________________

03-30-2013, 09:37 AM	#536 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	If anyone else ever wonders the same things I was above, re: what's a sane starting point on helper spring compression on the bench, the answer is "almost fully compressed". Got them installed a test driven a little, but I ended up leaving the car with the ride height a little lower than I want, because I was out of time and energy to go adjust them all again. Feels pretty awesome so far. travisjb likes this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

03-30-2013, 10:07 AM	#537 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	A couple new pro-photographer pics from the last track event (crushed in quality by uploading to the albums here of course :P): Mandingo likes this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

04-09-2013, 08:06 PM	#538 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	So, a couple good updates: 1) I got the ride height finalized on the JRZ's, at around ~1/2" lower than stock, today. Took the car for a pre-alignment test run on some twisty back roads around here, and it feels amazing. They're still set at full-stiff, and while that might not be very comfortable for any passenger, the car has tons of traction and even manages ripply pavement pretty well at that stiffness. I may back it down a few notches as a starting point on the track, but not much. The car feels so much more stable and predictable. Combined with the existing hotchkis sways, it's just damn near impossible to get the body to sway much on a corner anymore on the street. Also the nose movement on braking/accel stuff has a much smaller travel range now and the transition is so much easier. 2) I got a callback from Rick @ TDE today and a standby slot opened up for MSR-Houston this weekend in the Yellow rungroup, so I'll get to run these new coilovers on-track this weekend. I'm excited I'm gonna leave the new APRacing brakes in their boxes for now. Between Real Life and alignment and misc track maintenance, I don't have time to put the brakes on before this weekend and be satisfied with testing and re-bleeding, etc. Too much risk. So they'll go on next week after I get back and get tested in May. I'm sure I'll have more to report on the JRZ RS1's after this weekend Boost_lee and SPOHN like this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

04-09-2013, 08:11 PM	#539 (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	What the spring rates? __________________

04-09-2013, 08:12 PM	#540 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	I'll have to hang my head in shame and say "I have no idea what spring rates are on my car" It's the JRZ RS1 setup from Sharif@Forged. Whatever spring rates they picked (Edit: actually, I think it was written somewhere, maybe I can go find the numbers, on boxes or something). __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 04-09-2013 at 08:15 PM.

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