marcg

How do I get my profile removed from this list?

Two80z4ne, I have a fairly good overview of most of the steps I took to create the 450Z. Check out: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/563982/3 The 3rd page has most of the details. The wiring diagram there is too small and out dated to help you. Send me a PM with your email address if you need the wiring diagram for this conversion.

You are correct. I got the car running last Monday and called Linda at SMP to see about track time and she let me on the Nelson circuit for about 2 hours last Thursday evening. Still feels like the clutch is slipping from time to time. We both ran it fairly hard (8/10) for most of the 1.5 hrs with the occasionally hard charge sprint at 10/10 for about 4 laps. The temps were good until we went 10/10. I may look into this thermostat issue. My son and I will be running this Sunday with the OMSC at the Mosport DDT. Like to see you if you make the time. Incidentally my son has a Z31 AE with some tweaks. We'd like to here about your VG33ET. He's talked about that conversion a lot. Let me know if your coming.

I have had some cooling issues. Still testing to see if I have them solved. I tend to run in the 195 - 210 range. With occasional peaks to 230.

Yes they are the glass packed type. When I had just a muffler ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T41-cjlksyM ) it sounded a lot better, but did not breathe as well.

Due to some setbacks the 450Z has been parked for far too long. It's now back together and seems to be running well. Hear it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1gnwez41SM It still has a sort of raspy exhaust note though. Would this be from the resonator mufflers? Or should I have put the crossover before the mufflers rather then after?

I just uploaded a few new engin ebay pics to my Cardomain site. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/563982

I know I don't post here as much as I could, but here is an update of my 450Z project. Since I got the car back from the paint shop (06 Dodge R/T mango) I've run in 2 autocrosses and one track event in the wet. The car is very strong in every way, although after the first event I found that the right front shock is "toast". I don't believe that I have bottomed it out. Still sorting some things out. The VH45DE engine is running very strong especially since I got the NICO ECU in it. It revs like my old L30 engine, yet has tons of power everywhere in the power band. I now have to make the roll over bar and then tackle how I'm going to integrate the stock wiring into my aftermarket fuse box. After which I'll throw in the an interior. My hope is to have it street ready for the Z Car Convention in Cleveland this year. Anybody from this group going? http://www.cardomain.com/ride/563982

David, Have you tried a softer pad on the front? It would give you better bite when cold and depending on how well the rotors control temps you might get away running at the Glen without brake fade. After all the Glen is not that hard on brakes, unlike Shannonville and Calabogie Motorsport park where you have several fast straights (~ 120 mph) followed by some ~55mph corners. The Glen like Mosport and Mont Tremblant have very fast corners so scrubbing off speed is not as intense. I'd be curious how your setup would respond to such a combo. We'll have to meet up next year and compare notes..........

Dave, What size rotors are you running on the 1TUFFZ? I went to a large rotor so that I could run a fairly mild grade pad (ie street) and still be able to run hard on a track event. When I had my old 240Z I concluded that the brakes were powerful enough to lock up the 225/50-15 autocross tires at speed, but only lasted about 3 corners at Shannonville before they over heated. Yes I tries drilled and/or slotted rotors and ducted. So they were powerful enough, but I needed to address the heat dissipation problem. So I built my own braking system using Wilwood 11.75" dia rotors with PBR Metal Master pads on a stock 240Z caliper with no brake ducting. I ran the car like this on countless track events picking up several class wins in our SOLO1 series with no brake fade. It did not seem to matter what track I went to or how hot it was I never had braking issues. So I went with the same attitude with the 450Z large rotor with a mild pad and I should be able to keep the temps in the range for the street pads. Are you getting brake fade with your setup when you run at the Glen?

Thanks for confirming that I am going in the right direction. I may still consider the dual master if it clears the left valve cover. On the other hand making brackets isn't a problem as I have a fully equipped machine shop available to make such items. Thanks for the link to the proportioning valve section. I agree that on a Z no one should ever put a proportioning valve on the front system. Although, I have a few friends running some very prepped (lowered and stiffened) MR2s and Fiero's that have severe bias problems getting the fronts to not lock up prematurely due to the lack of weight transfer. A couple of them are going to try putting proportioning valves on the front to try to regain some brake control. Thanks for the info.

Do you not think that if I kept the hydraulic system "as is" but, increased the dia of the rear rotors, I would then be getting more braking power due to the increased surface area combined with more effective brake torque for the same pressure. Would this not get the braking power back in check so that I could then be able to adjust the rear pressure using the bias valve.

The problem I have is not with the caliper size but rather the rotor dia relative to the rear rotor. What dia rotor are you using? As Mark indicated if you go to a bigger caliper on the rear you will make things worse because your master cylinder won't be able to put out enough volume to make the pistons move out enough to apply pressure to the rotor. It's simple math to calculate the volumes and travels to check. I'm looking for a larger dia rotor for the rear. Which will also dictate using a vented rotor as a larger dia solid rotor is unlikely. I also have some Z32 rears floating around in the basement. I may do the math to see if my ZX master will work with it.

I have spent most of the summer dialing in the suspension and brakes of my 450Z with, for the most part, great success. The only short coming so far was that I cannot seem to get the brake bias to my liking. Don't get me wrong, the car stops VERY well, but I still feel that the rears could carry more of the work load then they are presently. I designed my own front system with 12.90" x 1.25" Wilwood GT directional rotors (RH #160-4564) and Wilwood Forged Billet Superlite calipers (#120-8466-R/L), loaded with the mild Wilwood "Smartpad" (150-8854K) to give me trouble free (aka "confident inspiring") braking. For the rears, I was running out of time to do my own conversion so I simply used Modern Motorsports 240SX/300ZX rear conversion with an 11.0" dia rotor loaded with their KVR carbon fiber pads. I changed the master to suite (ZX) and added a Wilwood proportioning valve as well. I realize that such proportional valves are limited in their ability to adjust the pressure, but even with it totally "off" I still feel that the fronts brakes are doing too much of the braking. After doing some temp reading on the rear I concluded the rears were not working hard enough due to the hard pads. So I tried a softer street pad and got better temps but still not able to to get the rears to bite enough. It looks like my problem is that I have too much effective front braking torque for a given pressure in the system VS the rear. Should I try to go to a larger dia rotor on the rear to get things back in balance? Or should I try to get a dual master cylinder system and hope I can get enough of a pressure bias to make things work. Anybody had this problem before? opinions?