First track experience today ! Some good, some really bad

Slidefox

You should see if Hawk is making pads yet... or if you want to spend the money; I think Endless has released there pads.

Edit: I know Hawk makes the HP Plus pads for the G37, but they are not listing the 370Z yet.

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M.Bonanni

Hawk is making pads. I should have some HP+ on my doorstep within the next few days.

travisjb - I am a little worried by your comment about the brakes being the last thing you upgrade. Pads and fluid should be the FIRST thing you do. Its like buying a cheap parachute. Sure it may work, but its an area that I want to make sure I am overkill on.

Again, my questions though are were you running the stock detergent oil that came with the car? How were water temps?

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Slidefox

Maybe some slotted rotors and upgraded pads would be a nice little investment!!!

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RCZ

The porsche has very different handling characteristics because of it's layout. Chances are what you are feeling is the rear end getting light because of a slightly abrupt weight transfer during turn-in. You should be able to minimize this when you get used to the car or if you get a stiffer suspension. Probably diving a little under brakes, minimizing contact patch in the rear...

travisjb

Re brakes... that's exactly what I meant, sorry if i was unclear... I'm going to upgrade the pads, change to ATE high-temp fluid, but that's it for now... will do slotted rotors if i ever start getting fade or if the stock set wears out, but i think the calipers do their job well... my sense is that big brake kits are a lower priority vs everything else

Missed the water temp question... it was dead-nuts in the middle of the gauge the entire day ! Water cooling is robust on this car ! ask me again in July (arizona) !

Re handling per RCZ... you're absolutely right, it is a simple weight transfer issue, i should have thought of that... i was thinking uneven braking b/c it always seemed to break loose to the right, but that's b/c i was turning slightly left... the boxster is the only car i've tracked before this one and I was used to the heavier mid/rear and extremely stable trail braking... I believe you're right that a stiffer suspension and some practice will help me manage this better. if it continues to be an issue for me, perhaps I can have the brake bias front-rear tweaked ?

And, yes, all the fluids in the car were 100% as set by nissan / dealer

Cheers

M.Bonanni

Ok good. I believe that the stock sport package brakes should be sufficient far into the modification process with the proper pads/fluid/rotors.

Sweet!

I will try changing mine before hand then to see if that helps at all.

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RCZ

I wouldn't touch the brake balance just yet. I think you just need to upgrade your suspension and adjust your driving a little. If it were one of your first trackdays I'd say to leave it stock for a while and learn to adjust your driving, however since you have as much experience as you do, I think you could just jump to a nice set of coilovers and perhaps an anti-lift kit.

Also Mike, why don't you slap on an oil cooler before taking it to the track?

TerribleONE

agreed ^ i know on my G37 the weight transfer was terrible before i installed my coil overs.

ArtVandaleigh

Thumbs up on tracking the car already! Did you happen to play around with the synchrorev at all for a lap or two? Curious to hear a first hand experience using that at the track.

Endgame

I would def reccomend Intense.. They LOVE Z's and G's and are extremely knowledgable.

travisjb

Re coilovers, yes, definitely... in fact, here's my current shopping list:

1. oil cooler... A BIG ONE ! maybe central 20
2. swap fluids for higher heat ones... ATE for brakes... trans ? diff ? 80-20 water to anti freeze... Pure Power Motor Oil (thanks DDM !)
3. HP... intake kit, pulley kit, test pipes, cat-back (agency power)
5. enkei wheels + Toyo R888s... likely 18x9.5 and 18x10.5 with 255s and 305s
6. Hawk + brake pads
7. find the right coilovers... not sure which... 700+lb/in springs
4. possible rear dif cooler... trans cooler
8. swap battery for oddyssey pc680
9. remove another 200 pounds... already pulled 100 lbs of plastic/spare tire... try to shift weight to rear
10. racing seat + harness (can i do 6-pt w/o roll cage ?)
11. continue race car mods... full roll cage, fire supression

I will probably hold off on '11' until at least the end of the year... welcome any critiques or suggestions on this list

RCZ, I'll look into anti-lift kits too, thanks for the tip !

Re synchrorev... yes, flawless... I haven't mastered heel / toe, so of course it just gave my buddies extra fodder to flog me with, but I have to say that synchro rev is def the way to go... one less thing to worry about and I consider it a safety feature b/c it gets you around the track faster and and takes some risk out of downshifting in a turn... especially helpful for those like me not used to trail braking a car with forward weight balance... not many technologies do safety AND performance - I'm sold ! and I think folks will stop ripping on it once these cars start winning races !

thanks

Slidefox

You can have a custom oil cooler made for probably cheaper than the Central 20. All you need is a sandwich plate for the oil filter, a universal cooler, and lines cut to length. I have seen Intense do this on a few 350's. I'm sure Vivid can make something.

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travisjb

thanks, I'm definitely looking for 'go', not 'show', so the no-brand oil cooler is prob the way to go... once that's all done, i'll grab some pics and post in the engine section

TomatoEvo

Thanks for confriming that the 370z needs an oil cooler.

Just a note to the OP:

When your oil temp gets "buried" at 300+ degrees, its might be a good idea to slow down! We don't want to see "the first blow engine" thread anytime soon.

Again it really pisses me off that Nissan knows this is an issue.

travisjb

LOL... As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I ended my runs earlier almost every time b/c of the overheating... once the oil hit 300, the rev limiter kicked in aggressively and I'm not sure I could've blown the engine at that point if i wanted to... but I agree, the last thing any of us need is to blow an engine when we should be spending that money on coilovers ... thanks for your note