Ben280

First, a dumb question. I know Mid-Ohio has two configurations, were these laps done on the same track layout? Second, an essentially OEM strut and spring, refreshed balljoints and poly bushings do not a race car make, even with a sticky tire. All that with a stock front bar make me think that if the car felt great and you were getting loose on corner exit, you probably aren't anywhere near the performance envelope of the tire. If this is going to be a track car I'd look into a good alignment, making sure you have good brakes, verify power levels/healthy motor, then start ticking off bigger projects like a good coilover setup (Koni or MCS), lowering the car and putting heavier springs/sway bar on it.

Looking good!

Drill and tap the intake runners!!! I'm assuming the intakes you are all using don't have bosses already, but that's where you should be drawing vac from if you don't have dedicated ports. The kit for the Jenvey ITB's from Datsun Spirit have these ports built into the manifold. Boogering up the ITB bodies are not the way to do this, the OER piece tioga mentioned is a nice way to add the port as well if you don't want to mess with drilling and tapping the intake.

Fair! My motor rarely lives in a high vacuum area of the VE table, I guess I am/was assuming OP's motor will be in a similar state, which isn't a good position. In my initial post I think I was hung up on the idea of a rising rate FPR in terms of boost, and was confused why OP would want that on a NA car. (I also mis-read IAC as IAT, soooo maybe I should have my reading comprehension skills checked lol!) Thanks for clarifying and adding some facts!

Jump on it, say thanks and don't look back! A quick craigslist search on the left coast shows precious little for under $5000, and nothing with even a third the parts you have in that car. Grab it, fix the rust and enjoy having your car back, it's a feeling I know numerous members of the car community wish they could have.

Which one are you running on your spindles? Was tough to tell how they sized them from the website and I'm not THAT ready to take my hubs apart. I see they have a Datsun roadster one on the shelf? I do really like the advantage it provides when tightening the hub! It's been a real adventure seeing what will break on this car with the different loads that I'm subjecting it too. So far nothing critical, but I need to go through it again this winter!

On a street driven car traditional plenum style intake sure! Referencing engine vacuum is useful while the car is at idle to improve fuel economy and maybe a LITTLE drivability, and in a boosted configuration it's essential to a safe motor. In my particular case, (NA, spends a lot of time at WOT) I would rather provide the ECU with a good MAP signal, and use the VE tables in the computer to control fueling. I think particularly with ITB's they develop such poor vacuum at really anything above 30% throttle, having the FPR reference anything is diminishing returns. For me, it's one more thing that can break, so I ignore it. I'm not a tuning wizard, but I've been running my fuel setup like this for 6+ years and have made pretty good power so far!

Those look great! For getting good MAP signal, be sure to run all the lines together into some sort of manifold. ITB's are annoying to tune already, having weak MAP signal will make it 10x worse, particularly at low end where presumable the ECU is going to actually attempt to reference MAP. Not sure that you need vac signal to your FPR, most EFI installs want constant pressure. Personally, I would put the IAC sensor on a bracket near the intake horns. Something about trying to get a temp signal from vacuum seems off to me.

Sorry, I was confused about the bearing spacer that you and Jon had mentioned. That part seems very trick, but I'll likely move towards a custom upright like you've pictured, so I'm not sure how much more optimization I care to give to these old parts. I think I'll take up up on that. PM sent.

Thanks @tube80z! I was hoping you'd reply. Good tips on what to look for. I was thinking that the GTX2/AE arms are close enough to what I'd build that it might be worth it to just get them, and then modify as needed. The T3 stock style arms are a good option, and could likely be beefed up to suit my needs with some more structure and weld in sleeves for sphericals. No gussets on my struts yet, or bearing spacers yet, care to enlighten me on the bearings?! Sounds like a good mod for the off season! I need to do some testing and see where my bending is coming from. I'm using an aluminum hub and custom 2 piece rotors with aluminum hats. These issues became apparent after the most recent event in Canada with a couple almost full lock turns, so I suspect the "bending" is largely steering lock and some goofy interference. Car is in the air at the moment, I need to pull a spring and run the suspension through its range. @JMortensen I don't have issues with pad knockback, although with the scalloped rotors there is a LOT of feedback through the pedal. I'll keep y'all posted.

It's time for a new set of front control arms on the Z. My rotors are flexing enough under load that they are grinding away the corners of the Arizona Z arms, so I need to change to different style. Looking between the Apex Engineered and the Techno Toy Tuning arms, but I'm torn on both so I'm reaching out to y'all! Initial thoughts are that the -Techno arms look to come with better heim joints (3 piece teflon lined) compared to the AE arms -AE ball joint is a circle track style (re-packable/greasable), Techno arms look to be a spherical bearing? Tough to tell from photos -AE arms look to be more rigid because of the way the tension rod mount connects to much more of the arm compared to the techno arms. Can anyone with experience with either of these share some thoughts on their likes/dislikes of these designs? Specifically curious about the heims/balljoints. THANKS!

What ECU are you using? To me, splitting the engine harness to exit through two holes and then rejoin at different connectors sounds like an easily avoided nightmare. I'd suggest running everything out of the tunnel, unless you wanted to install some kind of bulkhead connector in the choke hole.

Sorry, mis-spoke! I was using the LS1 coil packs, and upgraded to the Pertronix Flame-Thrower version (more voltage and better performance at high RPM), which outperforms the factory LS2 and is on par with the spiffy aftermarket LS2 replacements.

Yes I am. Works pretty well, I was running into an issue with the LS2 coils not being hot enough, but switching to a Pertronix style seemed to have sorted it out. I think the 350z coils are super robust, so you should be all set! That bracket is amazing looking, kudos on some trick CAD work!

I'm running the Hoke kit (mine came with a 36-1 wheel) but yes, the ECU can get by with just that for input! Cam sensors are useful if you wanted to do truly sequential fire, but I think that's overkill in most "normal" applications. Kit looks awesome, excited to have more ITB cars in the world!