Armand

Hey guys, Im currently making a bunch of changes to my interior(sound deadening, seats, 3-point belts, stereo, gauges, etc.) and I was thinking of safety. Now most of the time my car is going to be driven on the streets. Just once in a while to school and back, on the weekends, the occasional weekend canyon run with the buddies, and some autocrossing here and there when Im completely done with the car. I'm going to be adding Corbeau Forza's w/ Corbeau 3-point harness's, but I want some more protection. I am contemplating on adding a roll bar, but I've heard some people say that adding a roll bar/cage can be more dangerous if its going to be just street driven. I've thought long and hard about this and I just can't see how it can be more dangerous. I keep thinking how one of these days some stupid mom on a cell phone in an SUV is just gonna crash right into the side of my 240 or rear-end me and Im going to be seriously injured. What I'm asking is besides a roll bar, is there anything Im not thinking of that can add some safety to the car? I was also contemplating installing a 4 or 6 point roll cage with a small door bar. What do you guys think? Im 16 years old and I've read several books all about racing, and I know all the sacred rules of canyon driving, what lines to take for certain types of turns, controlling oversteer, all that stuff, but I know being 16 Im going to be trying some stupid things, and I just want to be safe. As far as price, I want to try and keep it under $500. It's ok if it goes over a bit. Im lucky enough to have my parents pay for this since its a safety option and not a performance thing. Thanks in advance, -Armand

I'm Armand, and in Calabasas, CA.(san fernando valley) I'm down to go, my Z currently isn't running but it will be within a couple of weeks. I'm really surprised there aren't too many clubs in the so cal area for Z's.

Correct me if Im wrong, but isn't toe-out in the rear always a no-no? I believe it causes instability.

Hah! I've seen that car at a car show before. It is BUTT ugly!

Man I wish I can come, I'm outta town though. Woulda been sweet to finally "break-in" my Z on a driving course. (im 16)

Dude that looks awesome! You even got the watanabe's to match.

Good luck keeping the drivetrain together. You'll be replacing outdrives and dogbones every other tank. Good pick on the tc3. I've driven several on the track, and I've personally worked on my cousins, it's a very very well designed car. Pretty cheap too.

Obviously you are looking for on-road. You should get gas-powered just because well, its gas powered! Nothing like a nitro engine screaming up and down the street. Like the others said, the Associated Nitro TC3 is an EXCELLENT car with lots of parts availability and it just plain handles very well. The Nitro 4-tec I would be iffy about. Yes it's insanely fast, but its very hard to work on, plus aftermarket support isn't that great. I used to race a Nitro 4-tec Pro for a couple of years, and the car was just too outdated even 3 years ago. There are several better, more modern on-road cars on the market now. As far as the shumacher goes, I would not recommend it at all. First off, good luck finding parts or getting any good customer service. Second, the 3-speed in that car is extremely impractical especially with the big block engine. The off-road track I race at had a 1/5th scale size on-road track, where 1/10/8th scales also race on. I once saw a fusion on the 300ft back straightaway and as soon as that thing shifts into 3rd it completely loses control with all the torque from the big block at those speeds. Stick with the basic 2-speed and just get a sick .12 size engine w/ a nice exhaust. So go for the associated nitro tc3, I would recommend you look into the mugen mtx-4 if your willing to spend the money, and I would also highly recommend the Hpi R40. Normally I hate HPI, but for the price of the R40, it's an extremely well made car and is very competitive with the Mugens/serpents/tc3's. If your looking for electric, Im no help, I'm a nitro guy. Unless you want a brushless mini. I had a kyosho mini inferno with a wraith 7k, 11v lipo and that thing would destroy any nitro car ever made, and probably any car up to 60mph. 0-60mph in 2 seconds baby.

There shouldn't be any problem switching out the ricey blue bulb to a normal bulb while retaining the angel eyes right?

Very nice! When I housed a foreign exchange student from Argentina, he had an Uncle who lived in Pasadena who happened to drive a CL55 AMG. He took me for a ride it in and its simply amazing. The car has so much torque its ridiculous. I've been in a VERY modified M3, a 350bhp 240z, a 380hp wrx, and this thing puts them all to shame.

AhhhhHhh I'm blind!

I started installing the fatmat I got the other day. Very very easy job. It's easy but time consuming. In about an hour of work I got half the trunk fatmatted. The material conforms to curves and such very well. That roller they give you doesn't do squat though. I did a small test with some scrap fatmat. I put it on one side of an aluminum sheet I have, which is very loud if you drop it. It was really amazing how much quieter the drop was after putting fatmat on it. I'll let you guys know how the outcome is. I will be doing it in every single place in the interior except the roof. Firewall,floors, rear quarter panels, trunk, doors, hatch, everywhere.

The first week I bought my 240z, my one and only key snapped inside my door while trying to unlock it. I found out that same key I used to start the car wasn't even made for the ignition. It was at a gas station when it happened, and I used my house keyes to start up my car. I pulled the broken key, jb-welded back together, got spares made, bought an ignition lock cylinder for 8 bucks off ebay, installed it, and wallah. Only my key will start my car, and believe it or not you can't take it out while it's running. Unlike before.

Look into Fatmat. A LOT cheaper than Dynamat with practically the same sound insulation. I recently bought a 100 sq. ft of it and it should arrive any day. My interior is completely stripped and I plan on installing it everywhere. I will post how the results are afterwards.

If your just show respect to cops, treat them like they are God, admit that you screwed up big time and broke the law, and make sure you show them that they are right, you can get away with a lot of things. Here's my story: The 3rd day I got my 240z one of my buddies who is also lives down the street came over to check out it out. So we go for a ride, and I see his older brother in his 350z go past a turn. So I just say, let me catch up and say whats up, maybe race. Now, the area I live in is always empty, I haven't seen a cop in over 3 years in the neighborhood, plus the roads are very wide and safe. Yes, I am also 16, but I'm not like the other dumba$$ 16-year olds. I actually know what I'm doing if I ever decide to hit the canyons. When I see some of my classmates who haven't had their license for a month, driving their mom's cars doing 60+ on 35mph streets I feel like slapping them, especially when they don't even know how to use the 3, 2, and 1st gears in their automatic cars. (agh...idiots) Anyways, so when I see my friends brother, I almost red-line 1st, keep going a little into 2nd, shift to 3rd and cruise, heel-n-toe down to 2nd, take a turn relatively fast, almost red-line 2nd and cruise in 3rd. I meet him at a stop sign, say whats up and everything, and right before we have our engines revving ready to launch, cop lights are flashing behind me. Mind you, if he came 1 second later we would've taken off and both of us would have been dicked for street racing. So he pulls up behind me, with the P.A. system "Pull over". Ok. "Turn the vehicle off." Ok. "Throw the keys out the window" (wtf) Ok. "Passenger hands on the dash, driver hands on the steering wheel, don't move!" I'm just like Okkk, what the hell did I do. By the way, my speedometer didn't work at the time, plus the speed limit is 45mph, and I thought I was going around 55-ish. So I'm thinking what I'm going to do, because Its the 3rd day I have the car, I don't have it registered, I don't have plates, and I don't even have insurance on the damn thing. All I had was my license. So he comes up, opens my door and yells in my face(with some spit too) "Do you have any idea how fast you were going?!" I say my speedo doesn't work, I realize it's my responsibility to have it in proper working order, but its the 3rd day I had the car plus I had to fix my left headlight and my taillights. I start saying how I know what I did was wrong, blah blah blah, I'm completely wrong and stupid and you are right and almighty. He takes my license, goes back to his car, comes back. He says how he can impound my car, suspend my license for a year, give me a speeding ticket worth $450+, give a ticket for having a minor on me, plus not having plates, registration, or insurance. At the moment I was just like whatever, the only way this can get worse is if I was drunk. I just said to myself whatever happens happens. He makes me call my mom and he talks to her. Comes back and says "your getting off with a warning, your lucky your moms a nice lady." He then says how he wouldn't hesitate to ticket a "punk" 16 year old like me, but i acted maturely and respected him. Btw, my mom told me that he supposedly clocked me going 74mph. Which I think is complete BS. I go through that street every morning and every night and I KNOW how fast is 75mph on that street. Plus I wasn't even that close to red-lining 2nd before I shifted to 3rd and let off. So ya, its something to laugh at when you look back on it.

^^^ I believe you can't have anything darker than 75% in the front windows in CA legally.

Hah sweet. I would rather take a turbo'd hayabusa RWD Mini over that though.

Ah brings back good memories. One of my brothers buddies used to have one of those. One of the best handling cars I've even been in.

Nice! Man, I don't even want to know how you acted when you were in your teen years.

A limited slip R200.

Sorry if you like the show but I think that show was always horrible. Very anti-climatic and they make it so hectic it gets to the point where you laugh at the things they yell and argue about.

You are very correct by relating skiing to driving. In one of my racing books, The Technique of Motor Racing, by the famous Piero Taruffi. There is a small section where he relates his skiing experiences with his racing career. He highly recommends that and bob-sledding also. Great book I might add, I highly recommend it. He recommends it not because it teaches you where to hit an apex or things like that, it does help, but the main purpose is the mental aspect of it. I myself LOVE skiing and am a hardcore skiier and I completely understand how you relate it to driving. As you probably know, while skiing you can go as fast as you possibly want without falling. It is ALL mental. If I ever fall, it is only because I said to myself, "Oh crap I'm going to fast." or "Oh I really gotta slow down for the next turn/hill." Taruffi says that this same mentality should be applied to racing. To always be confident you can make the next turn and never panic if you come in too hot.

The flat black looks TIGHT but it would just look plain ugly in a 17-inch size on a 240z. If they were 15-16 in black I would tell you to pick them up.

Thanks for the help everyone. I really appreciate it. The more the merrier. I will check all the things mentioned when I have some time.

....where is the movie?