Basic but mandatory track mods help needed.

jmg944t

Mike,
What did you do about harness'? Chris you have a cage correct?

Mike

Still running regular belts. Have seats and rails, but not putting them in until I can at least get a harness bar, but income tax is my primary financial concern at the moment.

As for the brakes, it was hp+ pads which I had successfully run on my 350 and my c6. They were worn to the backing plates in a twenty minute session. It wasn't ice mode, just boiled fluid. It was at znats two years ago, my first outing with the car

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NISSAN: 75 280Z / 86 300ZX GLL /87 Sentra SE / 03 350Z / 23 Z
Porsche: 93 968 / 23 Macan GTS / 93 968

ChrisSlicks

No cage. That is going in this winter along with proper seats and harnesses. Last year it was stock seats and belts, but given how fast I was going that really wasn't a great idea. After seeing one of the other very experienced drivers crash his Cayman into the pit wall at 80 mph with stock belts I knew it was time for a safety upgrade.

As for the "Ice-mode" it occurs when you get front pad fade, causing the brake balance to go wildly rearwards and totally freaks out the ABS system. This is the reason I run the sintered pads and a biased front/rear setup. Running the same compound front and rear you have to be very careful to not apply full brake pressure until most of the forward weight transfer has occurred.

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Hotchkis ARB | Stillen CAI | Art Pipes | Berk CBE | Stillen AP Racing Brakes | AE Performance Oil Cooler | BC Racing ER Coilovers | Doran Control Arms

jmg944t

Chris,
After watching your Glen vids I can believe you drive like that with no harnesses! Not simply for safety but just staying in place must be pretty tough. Are you going for a cage or just a bar? If you want we can put our heads together and come up with a harness bar that goes in using the stock top anchor points and maybe one hole in the car. Its just as easy to build 2 as one. I think we are about 1/2 hour from each other.

ChrisSlicks

LOL, I know right? The stock seats aren't awful but you do get thrown around a bit and you end up spending way too much effort trying to brace your body rather than drive.

I was hoping to do at least a rear 4-point for some rollover protection. I don't really drive on the street anymore so I'm not worried about the diagonals taking up trunk space.

If you come up with a jig for the bar I'm sure you could sell at least 10 of them right now to the folks on this site. But with the sponsorship requirement and all that it could be too much of a hassle.

__________________
Hotchkis ARB | Stillen CAI | Art Pipes | Berk CBE | Stillen AP Racing Brakes | AE Performance Oil Cooler | BC Racing ER Coilovers | Doran Control Arms

FL 4Motion

/\ first thing that ran thru my mind as well. Well that and whoever comes up with a good brake ducting kit will sell a few of those as well.

sig11

I /REALLY/ want a harness bar. I'm looking at having one custom built this winter myself. I would do the 4 point but I was talked out of it by the local cage builder.

BGTV8

I have a harness bar fitted and have found the jig used to construct it this morning (the engineer who fabricated it has only just return from his summer holiday).

You can see the bar fitted - search for my 201 posts - this post has a series of photo's following the install.

GB EOI: Z34 Coupe Harness bar

I have checked with the engineer and he has 3 bars available (powder-coated in black). I have put my foot on all three, pending confirmation of interested parties on the forum.

I have firm interest in one bar and would like to place the other 2 as well - any further bars can be made to order by PM to me. Price for any new-build bars will have to be established.

The 3 existing bars are US$220 each, plus postage (Air Parcel Post International from Australia to the continental US "should" be around A$100, so max cost will not be more than US$375 delivered to your door. If the postage is more than A$100 then the overall price will rise on a dollar for dollar basis (postage of A$110 says total is $385 and so on)

I am not doing this for profit - merely me helping forum members out - I'm only hoping to cover my costs in sourcing and shipping the bars.

Fitting needs to be arranged by the purchaser - it is not difficult if you know your way around a tool chest, but if the last spanner you used (wrench for you guys in the US) was to assemble LEGO, you may wish to seek assistance from your go-to wrench guy.

Given that the US viewed by us in the antipodes as the land of litigation - it goes without saying that these units are fitted and used at your own risk.

Any interested parties - please PM me.

RB

KevinB

Check out MotoIQ's article on Robispec. The gentleman that runs this shop (Robi) has a very cool replacement for the rear strut bar that serves as a harness bar also. It also stiffens the chasis considerably. Check this out:

[IMG]****************************370Z/Feature-Photos/Robispec-Time-Attack-370Z/JEF9450/718459214_bkKXu-L.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]****************************370Z/Feature-Photos/Robispec-Time-Attack-370Z/JEF9446/718459187_qEev2-L.jpg[/IMG]

I love the approach he has to suspension tuning. I plan on copying his setup if possible. I have not been successful getting intouch with him but I wonder if he will consider a group buy. I will try again but let me know if you guys are interested.

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09 6MT MB: Int/Ext LEDs, Stillen G3 + FI test pipes + FI cat back + Stillen sways + Clutch Helper Spring

jmg944t

RB,
I'll take one! And thank you for sourcing these.

BGTV8

All 3 bars are now spoken for. Expecting to ship on Friday this week. PM sent to all interested parties.

travisjb

Keeping the tank full will alleviate all fuel starvation issues on stock tires at most tracks in an unprepared car such as yours.

Overall, this is not a great car for the track if you're not willing to make a few mods... sounds like you are, so here's what I'd recommend in order

1. high temp brake fluid... ate blue/gold is fine for casual track days... you might consider swapping some of the other fluids as well... I use Motul for pretty much everything
2. single-core oil cooler... in your northern climate and given it sounds like you will be doing fairly tame 20 min session DE's, you don't need to get too crazy with big oil coolers
3. basic weight reduction... remove spare, etc
4. basic changes to make the car more fun to drive and control... my order: a) anti-sway bars, b) your preferred brake friction compound - Chris had good suggestions, c) upgrade the rear diff - I use and like Carbonetics, d) extra set of wheels and tires dedicated for the track

Do the things above and monitor tire pressure and temps across the tire surface of each tire in between runs and you'll both be safe and have a blast.

Your idea to add front brake cooling is a good one.

Further down the list... coilovers and other suspension parts... footnote: I've been running rear spring rates ~85% of front spring rate... thinking about altering this to ~65% of front spring rates, which has apparently worked well for the GrandAm race team running their 370Z

Further down the list... power mods
Further down the list... extreme weight reduction
Further down the list... more power mods

If you have to pick a couple power mods, I would buy used stillen g3 intakes with new filters, then buy a used cat-back, then uprev tune. Those will get you 3/4 of the way to easy NA power gains.

Keep in mind, none of these things fixes the issue of "brake ice mode" that has been attributed to the ABS computer on this car... most argue that it is caused by the computer picking up "significant" differential wheel spin rates... make sure you read about this before going to the track and understand and practice how you will respond if it happens... you can in fact learn to induce it in practice and then practice modulating (slowly) the brake pedal to reset the computer but it requires patience under difficult conditions

__________________
2009 370Z #104
*For Sale*

Mike

damn, how did I miss this?

__________________
NISSAN: 75 280Z / 86 300ZX GLL /87 Sentra SE / 03 350Z / 23 Z
Porsche: 93 968 / 23 Macan GTS / 93 968

sig11

I hope you got my PM 'cause I never heard back and now I'm nervous. :P

BGTV8

Got the PM and replied ... I pick all three bars up tonite and will box up ready for shipping pending payment - on Friday.

Mike - if you want one, PM me - I have the jig and can get more made but will need to get a quote for a one-off.

Robin Bailey