260DET

Passing 240Z's is highly acceptable Dave, that's why I do it as much as possible A bit more seriously, some of those blokes are first timers, Lakeside's run off areas mostly consist of armco so take it easy Newbie Narelle

Well Beta Motorsports are the best, don't care what you think

Update. Got a credit card charge back eventually, now for some reason the dispute has gone to PayPal, apparently the items are to be returned but this has already been done, so..........

Our club's annual track day when we encourage newbies to motorsport to come and have a go at doing some laps. We get 80-90 cars, almost all the drivers go home with a smile on their face

Fabrication/welding section may be the best place to go for good structural mod advice but to get a reasonable ride height the rear mounts should be up against the Xmember and not spaced down. Remember too that the angle of the suspension subframe front to back affects anti squat, generally speaking the lower the front/the higher the back the less anti squat effect. When doing this job its a good idea to be aware of the effect different alignments will have, it's not simply a 'how can I fit this' job.

The delay and extra expense the first set of dud pistons has caused is a *****, piston faults were not picked up until the engine was ready for assembly. So everything had to be done again, bores rehoned, all balanced again until it is back to the engine assembly stage for the second time. JE pistons took four weeks as against almost three months for the duds, if I had ordered JE's back in Novemeber last year instead, the car would have been back on the road/track ages ago. Latest news is the builder should have everything back by the end of next week, assuming no more problems. So people, take care when getting custom pistons.

I'll stick to just one aspect, front aero, seeing that's what I'm working on right now and assuming you that have read all the other comments. You need a splitter and undertray to start with. Splitter is pretty simple, there is plenty of info around about them. The thing I found difficult to get was info on was an effective undertray. My conclusion was flat is fine provided it's angled slightly higher at the back than the front by a few degrees. Diffusers into the front wheel wells are good (it's a low pressure area) as are big front guard vents to exhaust wheel well air, either out the top of the guards or out along the side, or both. You are on the money with querying aero, with big power aero is crucial. But, bugger me, front aero is hard to work out

Does Yurrup get the GM Ecotec V6? I have no idea what they are like but it's not on any lists here. Besides, anything but a rotor

The good thing to know is that the rear cradle mounts line up with the S130's rear Xmember, the one the diff mounts on. Having a rear structural member right where it's needed is a big plus for a lot of reasons.

Info on someone making swap parts for the Z31 which look like they may be able to be used for a S130 swap as well, here http://z31performance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=27070 Anyone who can contribute more knowledge on this topic? Post away.

Do NT01's have the same compound as RA1's? Or is this claim one of those self perpetuating internet 'facts'?

The general rule is the better the initial grip the less the effective life eg Yokohama have a semi that a lot of the top time attack teams use but their effective life cycles can be measured on your fingers. Semis are getting better all the time, it sounds like they would suit you providing the suspension is compatible. R888's get varying opinions, my impression is that they are reasonable but that there are better semis around.

If the car is handling well now I would be very careful about changing to slicks, I know where this has been done with detrimental results. Basically the suspension setup, particularly damper valving, is different. What tyres are cantilevered? Know what it means but am not aware of any tyres with that feature.

Glad that pic of mine above no longer exists, after doing some more study I've concluded that its crap for downforce. Not because of the vortex generators, because it curves up in the middle when it should curve down towards the ground, keeping in mind my Z has to have 100mm minimum ground clearance. So I'm designing another one.

What yellow springs? Anyway, King Springs in AU are yellow, may be sold in the US?

Apparently it lifted the front wheels for about 100 meters (just before the Corvette passes him) old school aero 427 LS7 engine. http://www.youtube.com/user/cossie55#p/a/u/1/Znp3b9XdxdI And at the start, Supra gets owned

All things being equal, a twin scroll will spool quicker and deliver slightly more top end power, definately a good thing. A properly designed equal length fabricated manifold will also improve performance, note the 'properly designed' bit.

Pics of the GTX3582R as received.

Whaletail setups can effect airflow around and under the back of the car for sure, but to get any real benefit would usually have to be combined with something like a rear diffuser. Any air attachment to the bottom of a car due to the effect of a whaletail is a secondary effect at best I think, its primary effect and main benefit is as I have already described. Having said that, the problem with discussing aero is that the effects always depend on the physical shapes and their interactions so it gets complicated very quickly and makes it difficult to be definate about anything.

JE pistons, to replace the crap brand ones, have arrived and look very nice. Particularly like the crown design which mimics the stock shape and should work well with the combustion chamber shape. Have also ordered a Garrett GTX3582R turbo, seeing everything has been delayed so much and the turbo can't be changed without lifting the engine now is a good time to do that. It comes without a turbine housing, the new twin scroll/divided housing I already have will be used on it and I'll sell the present GT3582R which has done little work.

It may be worth looking at how Gurney flaps make downforce to understand how flush fixed aero devices like whale tails do it. My understanding is that a Gurney makes downforce simply by deflecting air upwards and thereby placing a load (downward pressure) on the surface it is attached to. Look at the S30 bob tail spoiler, it's basically a big Gurney. Then there are the 'bath tub' rear spoilers used on RX7's, Walkinshaw Holden Commodores and some Porsches. They basically seem to deflect a down flowing air stream towards a horizontal flow and then force it up with a Gurney type lip at the back. Anytime you deflect airflow a force is created, its just a matter of harnessing that force for your purposes. A wing had the added advantage of being able to use both sides of its structure to produce an aero effect, plus it is able to be placed wherever it is most effective. So it is potentially a more effective device than its flush fixed aero alternative. You have PM by the way Jon.

Haha, yeh I've done that, back it into a corner using rear brake. But Neil Roberts in his book says you should not do that because its a slow way to negotiate a corner. Bit of a spoil sport NR is

Interesting reading, particularly the North American 'moving on up from the Z car' bits. In my Z car club, where most of the active members participate in motorsport, there are several who could easily afford P cars for example but chose to compete in Datsuns. One member, a good driver, bought a MX5/Miata to race but does not use it because he says its too easy and prefers driving a 240Z. Basically they love the challenge and the personal input associated with a competition S30, something you don't get with an 'off the shelf' factory racer or a 'buy all the bits' replica. As to what to buy for a road car, for something different try a Mazda3 MPS. One of them in the recent Targa Tasmania Showroom Class came fourth outright and was driven to and from the event. Thats fourth outright in all classes, in front of all the P cars including the factory entry, in a gruelling four day speed event over ordinary roads, amazing. From memory a GTR won, RX8 came third with an Evo or WRX in the mix somewhere.

Something to round up the MX5/Miatas, like a Corvette

You have it, add rear toe in and/or reduce rear brake. Actually a fair bit of rear toe in can give some rear steer effect too, particularly in slower corners.