Leaderboard

It would be helpful certainly, but I think in general, Apex and Techno (to name a few) aren't making parts which require that level of explanation. Quick steer knuckles, adjustable sway bars and RCA blocks are about as intense as anyone has gone until Apex started doing their subframes, allowing for roll center adjustment. Otherwise, listing a spec as "Up to 4* more camber over stock" or "3" wider front track than stock" or "Stronger!" are just, to my mind, stating the obvious. As a counterpoint, GKTech who makes a huge variety of drop knuckles and extremely modified components does a fabulous job detailing their R&D and decision making: https://blog.gktech.com/blog/gktech-rear-suspension-uprights/ I think if companies for the Z were making parts like this, it would make sense to detail choices.

I'll take a moment to reply to the tone of this comment. On HybridZ we (admins) are not suppressing feedback about vendors. What we are doing is trying to make sure a thread stays on topic so that future users will be able to use search and find good quality content that is helpful and relevant to their search. Ideally the original thread should have stayed on topic and a new thread started about vendor feedback. A link could be left in the technical thread and both discussions could happen and be more likely to be found be search in the future. Hope that helps, Cary

I did lots of things to the car this year, but didn't feel it was necessary to update here until I had some results. The main outstanding issue with the car after Thunderhill was the cooling system. Got a TIG welder earlier this year in February and learned how to booger weld aluminum enough to start on cooling modifications. I started with building an intercooler setup. Since I'm staying with stock EFI, I wanted to add a recirculating BPV so that required the intake boot to be replaced. The factory intake box does not fit with the intercooler, considering my options I was unhappy about just running a pod filter in front of the radiator. After a bit of angle grinder action, I found room for the intake under the headlight bucket. I bent up a piece of aluminum to box in the filter. Took one out of the lemons build guide and secured it with self tappers. Rivet nuts can be added later. Welded up the internal water pump bypass. Welded up the radiator cap, removed the restrictive shroud, and relocated the oil cooler behind the radiator. Methodology here is that the cooling stack is supposed to run from coolest to hottest. Added in a cheap ebay expansion tank and overflow bottle with a 22psi cap. I extended the fuel pump bracket to add a pre filter and upgraded to an 044 pump and changed the differential to an open unit. Built another set of axles, and tired of killing them I raised the rear ride height by 1". Also adjusted the camber back to negative since I'm not drifting. I modified the wilwood combination prop valve bracket to fit on the z32 bmc. Changed the cam to a factory 'A' cam. The extra RPM wasn't doing anything for me. I decided it was time to rebuild the rear brake calipers even though they were not leaking. After pulling them apart I found the cylinders were complete junk full of rust pitting. Got a set of reman calipers and now the rear brakes are working well again. Built a bracket for a generic ebay adjustable wastegate actuator. It seems to work better than the old worn factory units I have. The ZX engine bay looking even more crowded than it did from the factory, however its now at the best state its been in since I got it. Back to Buttonwillow for the yearly SpeedSF black Friday event. Last years event they lost the lap timing for my fastest lap, but it was somewhere in the 2:13 range. I had some issues in the morning but was able to get out for the last two sessions and managed to get down to a 2:08.582 with the same tires from last year. Positives from this event, the car is making a lot more consistent power in spite of running rich. Still on low boost around 8psi. The cooling issues are completely gone, the water temp stabilized at 185-190 and didn't move pushing it for a full 20 minute session. Oil temp stabilized at 250. Now that the car is running faster the oil pressure is dropping on almost every right hand corner. A baffled oil pan is next on the list before I can get back on track. I changed to an open M30 differential, but raising the ride height gave a huge oversteer bias on the car and now the thing is really skidding around everywhere. Going to move to softer springs and adjust the suspension geometry a bit. Going to be interesting from this point on, I feel like the car is at a stable baseline and I can start actually tuning things rather than fixing major issues.