Sideways

If I'm not mistaken (And I may very well be!), I think as long as he uses the cabin as the low-pressure side again while testing the engine bay side of the fenderwell and drives at the same speed that he measured the tire side at, hell get a useable set of numbers to compare

But they can measure negative pressures

A very appropriate response, for the record haha

By all means please do My my my, My apologies- Consider that tidbit noted Chief! Now, might I make one more suggestion while were on the topic of making suggestions? Chillax Tex and holster them pistols. I wasnt being condescending to you in the slightest. There was no disrespect given- or implied. I only meant to present some friendly advice that I thought might be warranted based on your declaration of a lacking confidence in using your side mirrors- Theres zero need to be getting snippy.

Indeed I have. And Id be willing to bet your relatively tall (6 foot'ish or taller) and set the seat back pretty far. Not as much of an issue when youre sitting half way forward, but when youre all the way back, adjusting the mirrors all the way out is about all you can do at times. Might I make a suggestion? Next time youre on the highway play with your mirrors- Adjust them out until the people passing you visible in your peripheral vision by the time (preferably before!) theyre leaving your mirrors. IF you can obtain this- You should literally have no blind spots. Test this in parking lots and youll see even small things like motorcycle riders arent able to "hide" anywhere dangerous out of your vision in relation to your car. Im iffy with shoulder checks in traffic. I dislike turning my face away from the traffic in front of me (If theres no traffic it doesnt bother me as much if at all i admit, however) But then again I know old habbits die hard haha

Tell me about it. Almost everyone Ive known throughout my life feels the need to set their side mirrors up so they can see "down the side of the car". You shouldnt/dont need to see -any- of your car in your side mirror. If you can see your car at all from your natural sitting position in your side mirrors, youre missing out on visibility. Side mirrors should be set up so that by the time a car is disappearing out of your side mirror, you can already see them with your peripheral vision.

Im pretty inclined to agree with John (Big surprise!) on this one. Everytime Ive experienced this with any of my cars its been a faulty connector on the oil pressure sender, so I'd start there. It strongly sounds electrical in nature. But like stated, it COULD be something dicky mechanical. It doesnt sound like worn out bearing, the oil pressure would be bad and stay bad (99% of the time, anyways)- But the possibility of something up with pump or pick up exists, even though Im inclined to think its less likely. Start with the electrical/gauges and go from there. As for things to watch out for? Odd taping/knocking noises- Especially (but not limited to) ones coming from the block. If you hear this noise the damage is done, but if you catch it here and stop running the engine you decrease your chances of adding an optional crankcase ventilation on demand system. Check those connectors- If that doesnt solve it, try and locate an aftermarket oil pressure gauge (maybe a friend will have one if youre lucky?) and go from there.

PERFECT! Thank you so much

And this is probably one of the biggest reasons im so "aware" of driving in someones blind spot. Im pretty anal about never tail gating, and driving in someones rear 1/4 to their sides. It makes me feel pretty damn uncomfortable :\ As for the OP- Theres some pretty wicked examples of how the Zs do in collisions around here. The general consensus I've taken from it all is if youre hit from the front or rear (within reason) youll be "relatively" ok. But if you take a hit from the side? In soviet s30, crumple zone is you!

Thats a bit of a shame. I knew Kevin (Indeed the man in charge) from yeeaarrss ago and have used a small handfull of their parts on both of my cars (Ae86 and S30)- with zero issues to date. Im also running a cx racing turbo on my Z- An oldie t3/t4 hybrid style turbo. I ran it for years without a hitch- Its still working great on my car but I no longer daily it as I've moved half way around the world to aussie and the Z has been demoted to a weekend project toy when im visiting home for vacations. Its disheartening to hear bad stories like this. Ive always had good response/feedback from the company, but then again I lived locally in socal and always went down in person to deal with them :\ Sorry to hear that. I hope you get this sorted out. Give them a call if you havent already. Did you pay cash or by paypal? If they refuse to acknowledge you talk to paypal or your credit card company and try opening up a claim to get your money back. Best of luck

Indeed there is- And im super anxious to see the results if theyre kind enough to share. Sadly however as time there is rather pricey, it will be limited. Theres a lot of things many of us would love to see tested but sadly wont be able to (& Understandably so! It is their money and I cant blame them for not wanting to waste time on things they dont think will be relevant to their cars or as fruitful to experiment with as other venues) see tested in the tunnel. Like a flat bottom Z. As for if theres a handy location to snatch air for the rear brakes? Surely there will be. Ironically enough though, I dont believe the wind tunnel testing will tell you "where" exactly though (Although the operators might be inclined to divulge where they think would be good places)- However my testing will haha

Ive seen a bit of talk about it as well but sadly no results. It spurred my (amongst other things) to start gathering some tools to conduct my own testing (The most recent and probably most important to me was just a simple magnehelic gauge). One I make it back state side Ill be experimenting with as many things as I can and will be recording my results- Which I plan to share here. Mind you its not as detailed as a windtunnel testing, but it is far cheaper and more practical. I wont have the super-detailed "numbers" youd get in a tunnel (exact cds, actual measurements of lift/downforce, etc) but Ill be able to measure air speeds and pressures, which should give me (and us!) at least a moderately decent idea of whats working (or not working). Maybe I should drum up a thread with requests on things people would like to see tested. I plan to start this in december, so it gives plenty of time for some good ideas to get hashed out.

Making a picture request for the underside of a Z- as complete as possible (Drivetrain, engine, suspension, etc), showing as much of the car in a single shot as possible- Maybe on a lift or the like. For reference- Something like this: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/sluggoZ/zbottom.jpg (a 350z, for anyone who might be curious) Anyone have some pictures similar to this of their (or another) z? Thanks

Has anyone done any kind pressure tests on the hood of their Z to see where the most ideal place for vents is in the first place?

And more recently with flares Toyota spectra mica blue

I was always under the impression that itd be pretty redundant to do that like that without a cage on the otherside to support it. Isnt it pretty thin/flimsy right there? I think the general arguments I've seen is theres some merit to triangulating them together, but making a big, whats essentially a box, is pretty pointless (again, unless its actually tied to something structural- Like a cage on the other side going through the firewall )

Sadly im not too sure to be honest, I bought them back at the end of 2010 lol- Am only just now getting them installed. I moved to Australia 2 years ago and the car has become a slow project car on the other side of the world. There is a seller on there right now listing some for 200 bucks shipped that is 110% using the photo that the seller I bought mine from was using (I recall because it stood out- Its a single flare perched standing up against the edge of a cardboard box), but im not too sure if its the same seller. Theyre also charging a smidge more than I recall paying at 200 shipped, I paid less than 200 for mine. 150'ish is about what I had in my head. The person I had install these flares actually took them and had a mold made of them by his body work guy and can stamp out copies for a good price. If youre interested let me know and Ill see what I can work out.

Cars in need of a wash but figured id share. Jumped on the rota group buy band wagon. Tires are 255 Rs3s if anyone is curious. Flares are generic ebay, have a smidge bit of gap at the rear/bottom thatll need a bit of finaggling but the fitment was good beyond that, especially when I weigh in the price. Also showing off my shaved rear bumper.

Well this brings up a rather tricky question. Whats a good "ball park" front/rear bias to be aiming for on a z car? I know this is a pretty loaded question, but just something in the neighborhood would be interesting to know. I can gather that 70/30 is less than ideal considering everyone complains that set up doesnt have nearly enough rear bias. So hows 60/40? 50/50? Etc. Any "ball park" figures to aim at?

How to correct understeer: More loud pedal. How to correct oversteer: Less loud pedal. S'worked good for me so far.

I see a lot of talk on the forums about how fast someones car does 0-60 or 100, how quickly itll shoot down the 1/4 mile, how much power they were able to put down on what kind of dyno, how many Gs they can hit/hold on a skid pad, and etc. But what about brakes? Brake upgrades come up all the time here- Larger calipers, vented rotors, disc conversions out back, etc. Weve got a lot of options available to us now and a lot of us are experimenting with these options to find whats "better". But I've never seen anyone talk about actual measured results. Id like to see this change, Id like to see us create a source of results to help others dial in their brakes and help establish some benchmarks. Id like to welcome anyone and everyone who has measured their braking distances to share what theyve managed, or to ask others to go out and (SAFELY) find out their own to share with the rest of us. Please include relevant information no matter how trivial. Master cylinder swaps, rotor swaps, caliper swaps, what pads you were using, if you have a proportioning valve or brake bar installed, what tires and their size, etc. I know a lot of this will come down to tires and brake balance, but im extremely curious to see what kind of "balance" were hitting with some of the readily available upgrades/swaps/kits, etc. Again this is just to help us establish some base line benchmarks in hopes that we can help eachother dial in (or down) what kind of braking distances were seeing. Think your brakes are awesome? Come and compare! As a reference- Most sources Im able to track down place a stock early 70s 240z at doing 60-0 in 150 feet. Anyone else care to contribute?

Haha no worries. It sounds like it has the potential to be an awesome kit. I may end up getting this just yet down the line if I decide my 240sx kit isnt adequate. I was worried about the bias of the set up (Im using the toyota calipers up front with vented rotors as well) and went with staggered pads (more aggressive pads out back) to see if i could get a feel i like. If not your kit sounds like it might be a good way to go. I like the idea of being able to make use of a proportioning valve to dial back the rear because theres too much bite, instead of just having too much stopping up front at all times.

What do I think? I think you shoudlve made this kit a few months ago when I went ahead with the 240sx change :\

Didnt even think of commenting on that aspect haha. For what its worth, the pedal feel, albeit firmer than a stock clutch, is still relatively light and very manageable. The engagement itself is fairly aggressive, the point between slipping and full contact is diminished over a factory clutch, but by no means is it an "on/off" switch either. 15 minutes later and youll be taking off without launching the car and chirping the tires. Mine does chatter if im not giving it enough gas or releasing the clutch too abruptly. But give it a bit more throttle and let it slip just that hair more and I can take off like the clutch was factory (Ie smooth, gently, and easily). All in all for me the clutch demonstrates the traits youd expect from a "more aggressive" clutch, but all of them can be compensate for with a bit of care/practice if youre into the "not driving roughly" thing (Im prety anal about driving what I consider smoothly, i dont like "feeling" my shifts up or down). Ive had the clutch for a few years (which is worth pointing out, as I dont know if the current quality has gone up, down, or remained the same). At one point for about a year it was a daily driver- and has been downed to "light use" a couple of times a year (Ive moved to australia and the car has stayed in america as my weekend track toy/hobby/source of vehement). Ive had absolutely no issues to report of any kind with my clutch. For the money I spent im quite happy and would gladly do it again. Especially you consider that im making 360 pounds of torque at my hubs, which "should" be well over 400 pounds at the back of the flywheel itself.

Just joining the party. I'm using an xtd stage 3 on my Z as well. Running it on an l28et that I rebuilt to stock specs and tossed bolt ons onto (NPR Fmic, 3" exhaust from the turbo back, 450 injectors, haltech stand alone, thats about it for power). The cars tested a hair over 300 whp and 360 wt on a dyno jet. Have had 0 issues with my clutch (knock on wood) thus far. Didnt do anything special to it- Picked it up in socal and bolted it on out of the box. I dont rev my engine past the stock (l28et) redline.