clarkspeed
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Posts posted by clarkspeed
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Sorry for multiple posts but I am at a bar typing. The reason you take 40 hours to do it is you will probably find something that it not what you thought it was. Lap times depend on what that thing is.
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If you do decide to go down the measurement path, I found the FSM helps in establishing the datums. I also realized after spending a lot of time measuring the car out that I really didn't want to share the info with anybody because it's really car specific.
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Its what you do if you are serious about alignment accuracy. For general guideline, make sure the front control arms are pointed down. And I made a cheap bumpsteer checker out of plywood and a piano hinge.
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Do you want the most recommended or the most used aftermarket performance suspension for the s30? By far the most used is Koni or Tokico shocks in shortened strut tubes with welded on collar rings, aluminum threaded collars with adjustable lower spring perches, camber plates on top, and 2.5" springs. In addition, front and rear sway bars with poly bushings or spherical bearings. That's it. Stock control arms and lot of other stock parts. A lot of lap records were set with that simple setup.
Yep, that's pretty much it. Can be very effective in the hands of the right driver.
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In my experience, if you are lowering the car, the spacer seems to work best for restoring the roll center. Then a tiny slotting of the inner pivot is very effective at eliminating bumpsteer. But dont lower the car too much.
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Good luck. Thats a nice rig. You are gonna love that diesel as much as the race car:-)
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Sorry for the general advice, but I will now give more. There is not a hell of a lot you can do with McPherson struts from the 70'S. Like Jon says, shocks are the only things that have advanced. Good alignment is required, and "trick" parts to solve any problems with achieving desired alignment (camber/caster/toe/bumpsteer/ride height)
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Maybe its me but that spring looks way too short. You can purchase 2-1/2 springs in 8 or 10" length in any stiffness you want. Those look like 6"?
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Wow this was an old post. Anyway it is not unusual for custom race wheels not to have a true center hole. Most race tire shops spin balance with a Hub and lug nuts.
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For what its worth, My research showed MTL about the right viscosity for the NWC T5 and MT90 about right for the Nissan box. But i was only looking at Redline products.
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I still have one buried in the for sale forum about 6 months ago.
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Please spend your money wisely. Safety, reliability, and driving skill are more important than the latest suspension. Is your car safe enough? It must protect you so you can come back to the track again and again. Is it reliable? Paying for 1-2 days of track is expensive and you don't want to be sitting on the side, or worse, on jack stands in the garage at home. Professional driving instruction can cut many seconds off lap times and is much cheaper than a new suspension or engine. Just let a fast guy drive your car if you don't believe it. Your initial goal should be getting the most quality track time, you can worry about go fast parts later when you damn sure what will help you.
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Balanced Performance should be able to help you.
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I dont recommend shifting at 120mph. The CD alone will wipe 10-15 mph off combined with a poor 5th ratio will put you in a hole. Your options are to find a better 5th gear box, change gearing where you shift to 5th at lower speed, or change gearing so you can stay in 4th. With a $5k budget you might get into a used Jerico 4sp with convert parts from Taylor. Or convert a WC T5.
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Depends on a lot of things. Tire size, diff ratio, top speed at track, RPM's in important corners at track, power of engine, how hard and fast you want to shift, Availability of parts, and finally, how much you want to spend. For example, that ZX tranny you listed above is a good compromise, but if your gearing and track requires you to shift to 5th at 110+ mph, it sucks.
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What happened to the LS? I know that was not a mild build up. Did you do a post mortem?
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We run both Centerforce and ACT with no problems.
Duragg, you might want to reconsider the Accusump even if it's not feeding. I lost an oil pump at Road Atlanta and did 3 laps with low to no oil pressure to finish race. No damage on tear down. Plus I like looking down at the direct pressure gauge when my dash gauge/sender looks funny.
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Good luck with the machine work ahead of you. Hope the casting is sound.
We've been working now with 3D printing the tooling in metal (smaller stuff) for investment casting cores. Technology is moving fast.
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Derek you have been busy!
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I don't have a Rebello or a 3.2L but a lot depends on your compression ratio and gas you will run. Either way, I prefer running an Accusump if you have any sort of sticky tires on there. Good luck with the carb settings.
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Come to the season ending HSR race on December 3-7 at Sebring and watch 3 to 5 Z cars tear it up with some vintage Porsche, Jaguars' and Fords. This year celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Mustang. Driving a Z car makes you a VIP and you are welcome to park along side our S30 Motorsports trailer in the infield and talk about Z cars all day.
http://www.hsrrace.com/2014_Events/Sebring/2014SebringHistorics.html
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Everything Tony said, and he said a lot.
I will add the NISMO gasket just happens to be 0.6mm which is .023", which just happens to be lower clearance limit recommended by 1fastz and others on this forum. I can also say from experience if you spin a rod bearing with this clearance the piston will hit something.
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Some interesting comments here. Dan I'm probably not too far off your set up, and I keep my RC's in the 2-3" range, higher in the rear. I'm not lifting a front wheel but very close to doing so. I know that 4 wheels planted on the ground is desired for faster cornering speeds, even when dirt track racing, but trading some of that front grip for rear traction really helps a Z car if you have some HP to put down and are pushing a Quaife. Call it an old school set up and I know a few other fast guys that run this way.
As always, Cary has some good insight and probably has the correct recipe for getting traction AND maximizing cornering grip. I can only say what worked for me and I don't run any real aero. I may be at a bigger disadvantage, I just discovered my rear strut housings that came with the car were cut 1" too short. I don't have much travel at all to max droop.
I think we are all in agreement that you shouldn't tune this with a sway bar. A 1" solid bar on the front with no rear bar should be a recipe for serious understeer. When removing the rear bar, I caclulated the reduction in rear stiffness and then sized the front bar for the same reduction. Came out almost perfect balance.
Are you running a Quaife? Yes when it drops it feels just like a clutch slip and takes a second to catch up, which seems like minutes when someone is on your bumper. Very uncomfortable. I'm sure you want it fixed right now.
I agree with Cary, you may be a little off on RC's but I can't say that would cure your problem. Just guessing and assuming you have stock based components, I think your rear RC is probably 3-4"+ and front is JUST about ground level. I don't really like to go that low on a strut suspension. I put together a chart of control arm angle vs. RC height for my car. I set my front RC's (ride height) with a digital angle gauge on the CA.
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When you are running relatively stiff springs, controlling body roll with ARB's is not so important. You really only need the bars to balance Front and Rear moments (understeer/oversteer). So if you removed the rear bar, it shouldn't take to much stiffness in the front bar to balance out. I reduce front bar stiffness until I get some good oversteer and then put one adjustment back in.
In Mark Donahue's Unfair Advantage he talks about setting up his cars by changing spring rates with no ARB. He only adds the ARB so he can fine adjust at the track. And if you notice most pro level cars run pretty light bars.
On track it is very important to rotate the car and get on full power as soon as possible. If you are having problems like you describe, reducing rear spring rate should help plant the rear. But there are other factors involved like tire size and stiffness so it's hard to say what spring rate will work. But I know plenty of other fast Z's that run a large delta between front and rear rate. You just have to try and see what works for you.
Suspension configuration help...
in Brakes, Wheels, Suspension and Chassis
Posted
My 2 cents. You don't want the front CA's parallel, but at a slight angle down. That will keep the front RC above ground.