Mikelly

Rick, Glad to see you're still picking at it... Mike

Hahaha Dave, I have to work out the interference issues with the carbon fender to front tire. The issue is these 275-35-18s are 25.5 inches in diameter. The Kumho Victoracers were narrower and 24.8 inches tall. I'm going to have to move the flares, which will likely take a day or two. My weekend is pretty full right now... Maybe next week. Nobody wants to see it outside for beauty pics more than I. Mike

Working on it!! Got four of the 9 punchlist items wrapped up this afternoon. It's much closer to being "truly" ready!

Beautiful thing about the XFi. You can nail down each cell for what AFR you specify based on what the motor likes. we have it pretty much at 12.9 according to the logs. I'll play with it at the track a bit. They noticed a bit of negative pressure on the TpS, which indicated to the operator that the car will really perform better and pick up more power with the airbox in place and the hood on the car. They knew they would have a hard time replicating the efficiencies of my ram-air setup. I'm very happy overall and hope it performs as well on track as it should. Mike

Matt, Seriously thinking about going with a Gnose/IMSA setup as well... Love the flow of the bodywork on your car... If mine doesn't sell, I may well convert it over the winter!

Finally got an overlay of the dyno charts from last time to this time... Comparison between EFI (better line) and Carb (Lower Line in each overlay). Before people get all hung up on the data, this is NOT a traditional "free spinning" dyno and has a load of 8% applied to the rollers. It's an Eddy Current Superflow Dyno and isn't designed to give impressive numbers... Typically C6Z06 Vettes turn somewhere in the 375HP range on EB3's Dyno, for comparrison... The calculations show close to 500BHP and right at 500#ft. torque on their dyno. Owner of Excessive Motorsports, a dynoshop and competitor who was present during the dyno session in August 2011 swears I'll roll about 420-430 on his Dynojett and way more torque to the wheels, as it's a "Free" roller. The falloff at 6K was the MSD Digital6 rev limiter interfering. I apparently need to turn it all the way up and let FAST do the control of revs. Mike

Thanks Matt!

Gonna adjust the fender flare mounting, but we've also pulled some caster out at the front and installed some stiffer front thrust bushings. Should have it resolved over the weekend. Mike

So as promised, I weighed the tire combos... Each Hoosier R6 in 275-35-18 with CCW 10X18 weighs in at 41 pounds on my scale (two per car)! Each Hoosier R6 in 295-35-18 with CCW 11.5X18 weighs in at 43 pounds on my scale (two per car)! Each Kumho VictoRacer in 265-45-18 with TSW Thruxton 9.5X18 weighs 52 pounds on my scale! That's a pretty decent weight savings on the wheel/tire combos! Few more teasers... Mike

The car is home... Still got a list of things to address, and the front wheel/tire combo is slightly to wide, causing some fitment issues... But here's a few teaser pics... Mike

Gonna pick the car up tomorrow, as they've called and said it's done. We picked up an average of 20HP and torque across the board from the switch to EFI. I'll have everything back tomorrow and a better idea along with the dyno charts... They said the car is very drivable and exceptionally "Crisp from off throttle all the way through redline. Mike

Jon, It's been five years since that test and I'm just bringing up the experts advice that was given to us at the test. I don't "know" enough about aerodynamics to claim to be an expert. So when someone who works in a windtunnel every day, with NASCAR Pro teams tells me (and the others who were present, about 12 members) that it would be a waste of effort and you could better spend your time elsewhere on the car, I listen. Not trying to argue with you, just relaying what an expert told me. Matt, We used the Aerodyn2 Facility in Mooresville North Carolina. There are two facilities on their grounds. One has a rolling deck to simulate rolling resistance. The other, which is the one we used, has a solid wood floor with the ability to trail smoke. Using smoke is more expensive and time consuming, so we did tufts of yarn. I believe we spent about $4200 for a total of 32 runs. We were in the tunnel for 9 hours with four cars. I wrote an Article in NissanSport Magazine and they host all the footage on youtube. Again, I'm not "resisting" the tests. Just relaying what was told to our group. Mike

I want to recap a couple of design/specs items here, becuase after 21 pages some items will always get lost in the noise... Based on feedback from sharp guys like John Tedder and Mark Icard, I chose to go a different route with regards to the suspension and upgraded to 500# springs up front with 400# springs out back. My car's ride height was also adjusted based on specs based on John Coffey's recommendations from a couple years ago. My ground clearance from bottom of Xpipe (lowest spot on the car) to the ground is 2.75 inches. We're running a front 1 1/8th inch bar, with no rear bar. Using Koni 8610 struts and I plan to section the front strut tubes in order to allow more adjustment. Camber is adjustable both top and bottom with control arms and camber plates. Mike

Actually the Engineer stressed that the whole underside of the datsun Z does not lend well to a rear difuser. The lack of solid bottom panels front to rear add to the mix. He also advised us that working to get rid of dirty air in the engine compartment was futile. Both were better off left to "fill" to capacity, much like the interior filling up with air. As you mention, Jon, It's going to be hard. The engineer advised to spend attention elsewhere... closing off the front end, ducting the radiator, adding splitters and well balanced rear treatments...Matt clearly has the talent, but will it pay out in functional pieces or be a wasted effort? I'll offer this much up, When My car is put in the tunnel I'll be happy to test ANY PART ANYONE can get to me before the test. We can put all the questions to bed by doing real tests and colleting real data, Again.

If you're not dead set on a mopar, I'd look into an LS1/2/3/6 based platform. So much more capability. Mike

That's what I'm seeing, yep. Mike

Matt, Let me give you a little advice... Don't let this car sit forever while you're sorting all the small details. If you can get the car out on the track and start de-bugging it (enjoying it) you'll be happier. Mine has less than 200 miles in 10 years of long, drawn out build. I'd get it on the track as soon as you can so you can chase down all the other "little" things. I've been working with kydex for about two years now. You'll probably get away with about 3/8th inch kydex for the splitter. I'd also think long and hard about that rear difuser. We got some really good advice from the engineers when we were at the windtunnel in 2007. There's good reason why I've not bothered with it. Enjoying reading about your build. Takes away from the frustration and Thousands spent on mine! Mike

I'd correct that in saying you'll be able to leave "some" porsches behind. I know this is a "Zcar" forum, but some of us have had experiences from both sides of the wheel. All that said, I'd much rather be evenly matched to have some other cars to play with. The faster I got in my Porsche Twin Turbo, the less fun track days became. By the time I sold it last fall, there were very few RACECARS that would keep up with my street car. You want to have someone to chase and play with... A bunch of someones, even better!

Based on what I'm seeing here: http://www.mymopar.com/enginespecs.htm I'd probably go the 383 route. Happy modding... Mike

Things left to do at this time once the car is back home: Pull both front hubs and install ARP studs Get R6s mounted up to CCW wheels and on the car Collect parts for AIR tube evac on the exhaust and fab that up Locate a catchcan that will receive plumbing from valve covers and exhaust Order OEM CV Axle boots Install the Fuel Cell Suround panels. I still need to order a fire supression system and a coolsuit kit. Mike

Nope... But good guesses... I was at the shop today and actually got to hear the thing run, and it's sick... Car is going to be so impressive with this stand-alone setup really... So I took the old Steel flywheel to them and chatted about a number of things, all related to the work I authorized. I then paid the current balance of $3500. It's pretty friggin' expensive to get professionals to troubleshoot and resolve issues like these... $900 dollars was due to parts replacement... So the parts... I kept that fuel injection so long that the injectors wouldn't flow even numbers, remotely. So the troubleshooting, the cleaning/ultrasonic activity to try and resolve them, and then the replacement of them, ran me about $750 for eight 42# units. Then there's the traction control hardware. Nothing right now available for my driveshaft, so they had to fabricate "stuff" for the sensor and make it work. There was also the broken starter... Yea, broken starter... Now we get to the crux of the issue with my clutch/trans... Remember the aluminum Fidanza Flywheel I just bought? Well I didn't get what I paid for and I didn't triplecheck the unit. And I installed it. Apparently it was the wrong flywheel, not being thick enough, by over 1/2 an inch. That flywheel ended up costing me what will likey be $2000 worth of troubleshooting (trans has been out a total of three times by the time this post has been made), and broke a starter, the clutch fork and release bearing. Yea, F' trying to get the car down on weight... I'll have it functional over form... The car will likely be done, and be home by Monday. We expect that the car will make much more power. The shop will be doing between 10-20 dyno pulls trying to simulate roadcourse laps on their Superflow dyno. It's been a long grind to get to this point. I think the move to FAST efi was the right move. I just wish I'd done it sooner. Mike

Uhhuh... I've owned 22 Zcars... Bitter? Yup. Mike

Just got off the phone with the shop. They dropped the trans, replaced the clutch fork and release bearing. Saw now evidence of damage to the clutch or pressure plate. However, once everything was back together we still have zero clutch travel. I'm guessing there is damage to the clutch disc or pressure plate. More $$$$! My Porsche 996TT, yea I miss it sooooo much... Mike

Clutch will not travel... Can't push the pedal in more than 1/2 an inch. Mike

I guess I spoke to soon. The trans apparently has to come out of the car. It's at the shop, and the bill is just climbing while I say to them "Go ahead, fix it" every single time something else pops up. Pretty disgusted with this 9 year project. I'm sure I'll be "excited" to get the car back running, but I'll be equally excited to see this MotherF'er go to a new home. Mike