zguitar71

275 on a -19 wheel will have a front space of 6.16" and a 9.5 wheel will have a front space of 5.99". Both of those measurements are past to fender on a stock Z and close to the edge of a zg flare. The flares are supposed to give about 1.5"-2" of extra clearence wich is about right where the set up you are looking at is. My race tires are the = to a 265 section tire and they are mounted on -12 offset wheels, they over 1" past the outside of the fenders.

I have the AZC springs and like them and have not had any problems. I got them because I know AZC has very good parts, I did not know about TEP so I decided to stay with what I know. The rates are so close between the two it comes down to the quality of the spring steel. Find out from both companies about the quality of the spring and buy the better one. $49 is not much more to spend if they are better quality, but if they are about the same in quality go for the lesser price.

An 8" wheel with a 0 offset would have a 4.5" BS not 4". On the rear they would work with 225/50/15's but might rub on the inside on the front. You wil not find much beyond a 225 width with a 15" wheel unless you are looking at drag tires but they are tall and will rub without fender flares and/or coilovers. With a stock fender and suspension you will not be able to run over a 225 on a 0 offset without issues. Bottom line to get wide tires to fit you need flares and/or coilovers.

Are you refering to studless tires like the Blizak VS a cheaper studded tire? I use the least exspensive studded tire on all 4 corners of my 2wd `87 Toyota pickup. They were $55 each for 205/75/14's and they work great for me. I never put weight in the back and I go into areas that have pretty deep snow and I have not gotten stuck yet. I look for a tread that is open to throw the snow and heavy siping on the tread blocks and as many studds as I can get. I put them on the front so I can turn and stop better not just the back. Most people do not but I think it makes a huge difference. Plowing around here sucks, only the main streets get plowed so 70% of them stay snow packed for most the winter. I use the studs because they get the best traction on the ice IMO and they are cheaper than the newer studdless tires. I have never had a stud comming out be a hazard but I have had them come out. On dry pavement the suck compared to the studdless but I am looking for traction in the snow and ice not dry. I say get the studded tires.

I do not see how you are giong to fit those under the stock fenders.

Yes that is the racing I was talking about. Unfortunatly I have not had the Speed Channel or cable for the last 6 years. Well the only unfortunate part is the lack of Speed Vision the rest of cable I could care less about.

Back a few years ago the Acura integra was the hot car on the race track in what type of racing series I forget. They used the stock body and engine block and head. The cars were very modified other wise (suspension ect) though. There main compitition was the BMW 3 series. The Acura won a lot of races with its FWD v.s. proven RWD technology from BMW. THe new MINI is amazing to watch in the hands of a skilled driver. At a NORPAC event this summer there were quite a few racing in H stock. They showed the ability and potential of FWD cars in stock form. I wish American car makers would put a little research into the handeling of there FWD cars. Non of the other american FWD cars could keep up with the Mini's, even ones in calsses that should be faster (some of that could be the drivers too).

The only DOT approved race tires I can think of that would last on the road for 5K (but that might be pushing it) are the Yokohama hard compound AO32R, Yokohama Advan AO48, Toyo RA-1, and mabey the Michelin Pilot sport cup. They will all be a compromise tire on the autox track and less of one on the road course. There are better track tires out there but they are really not suited for street driving at all. Of all of them I think I would go with the Yokohama's (AO32R) because they are on sale at the tire rack right now.

I am using a wood stove in my garage. The smoke can be piped out through an open window. I open the window and fill the space with heat sheilding and the stove pipe sits in the middle of the sheilding. The heat produced is dry so condensation is less of a problem, even when it is real cold out (Montana). I actually add humidity to the air in my garage. The stove is small too, like the garage, and does a good job of heating. I have the stove very close to the floor, about 3" off. The top of the stove is only 2' off the ground so the heat starts low. I also use a slow moving fan to help circulate the heat.

Get an Scca Legal Roll bar like an Auto Power that, later if you decide to make the car into a dedicated race car, you can add on to to make a roll cage. Get good strut tower braces, trianulated in the front. Get camber plates and coil overs and a set of Illumina's and 250lbs springs in the rear and 225lbs in the front. Get a set of 15"x7" or 8" (lighter the better) wheels and 225/50/15 D.O.T. race tires, a good set of brake pads and stanless lines. Get every thing in tune on the car including the allignment. That should get rid of your 4K and start you out into Street Prepared on the autocross course and start to get the car ready for road racing in ITS (I think) and still be streetable. For the road racing you would need to add on to the roll bar and make it into a cage as well as some other preperations not needed for autox, some of those things discussed in earlier post. Do not touch the motor until you have raced the car some. It might seam slow on the street but on a track with a good suspension it will seam much faster.

The tires are 10.8" wide and a -12 offset (5" bs) puts them at a 4.9" to the inside of the wheel well. The small diameter will have the tire below the spring perch unless your coil overs are set lower down than the original spring perch. If you have 4.9" of clearence to the strut tube then you are ok. My tires are 10.4 inched on a -12 offset so they are 4.7" to the inside and have more than .2" to spare so you should be good but I would measure the area 3 times and mabey once more too make sure, once you buy the wheels they are yours, no returns (do not ask why I know this). The clearence will be very close.

If you are running your car with the full interior like mine then weight penalties for wheels over 10" do not matter. The penalty is 100LBS for wheels over 10" (per inch I think). Your car is at least 2300LB, 200 LBS over the minimum. I use the r250 compound (like the Hoosier 25A) with out any problems like over heating, and they have lasted 2 years and I have raced in 100 degree heat. Your car will not be competitive with most FP cars so I would go for the lighest wheel/tire combo and less $$$ you can. A set of 15x7 with cantalivers is fairly light and so are 13" combos and they cost much less. I paid $980 for my new Diamond wheel and New Goodyear 23x9x15 R250's. Even though most are running 16x10 wheel you will be amaized at the handeling of the cantilevers and smaller wheels. You will have to run a -12 offset with the combo like I run. The tires are about 1/2" from the strut tubes and 1/2 under the spring perch (small diameter). You might be able to find a set of alum. wheels in a 0 offset and run a 1/4"-1/2" spacer and loose 8+ LBS over the Diamond wheels (mine weigh 21 LBS each, too heavy).

www.kodiakracingwheels.com has some nice wheels and about 5 different center styles to choose from and any offset and width you want.

Most places will probably say the wheel is too wide for the tire. Shop around and you will find a shop that will mount a 225. Tire companies have max and min widths for the wheel size for any specific tire size. Tire shops do not want to stray from those guidlines due to liability issues.

One of my wheels was bent mounting the tire and it was not the lighter type like you are talking about. But they have survived 2 years of autoxing on some rough courses but no wrecks or curbs or anything like that. I bet they are a little week for the street.

Very nice but about $650+ per wheel.

If you can fit them a set of 16x10 (-12 offset I think, you would need to double check that though) wheels with goodyear 23.5x16x10.5 in the r250 compound would be great. You would need coilovers and flares (which you have). You might have a hard time fitting them in the car to go to the races. That is why I use 15x7 (-12 offset) wheels with 23x9x15 r250 goodyears (+ I do not have flares). The difference between the larger wheels and mine really is not all that huge. What ever size you get get the r250 compound. The higher number compounds are not sticky enough and the lower numbers are too soft and over heat on warmer days. I race a guy in a `02 vette in SS, he beat me for the first time at the end of the year (after 2 years of trying). Of course my tires were 2 years old and his were new, I drove like $hit that day too. You should be able beat a SS vette with the slicks and some good driving.

I am the one selling the Mbar on Zcar. I have not posted it here yet because I want to post a picture of it. The price may seam high but what it is posted at does not mean it will sell at that price. I have never bought something used without haggeling over the price and assumed that people would do the same with me.

I do not have coil overs but my springs (Arizona zcar) are short enough they will unseat when the car is jacked up. We have a nasty autox course here with a driveway that I gets the front wheels off the ground very time I go over it. I have never had a problem with the springs seating wrong but I do have to make sure they are seated right after I let the car off the jack. Don't worry about it the springs will be fine.

I run in FP with a full interior. My suspension is a little soft but (200r 180f, illumina's) it does work. I use 15x7 wheels with 23x9x15 r250 goodyear cantilever slicks. I could go with 16x10 wheels but then I could not fit all the wheels/tires into the back of the Z and I would have to run flares. I decided to run FP baised on the thrill of the ride. The slicks are very fast and stick like glue. The car is much faster with slicks than DOT's. My car weighs 2300 pounds with a 1/3 tank of gas and has probably 200 HP. This year we hosted a NORPAC event, there was a SM2 `70 240 there with a full cage, better suspension, higher power motor and a good driver (heavier at 2400 lbs) but I still ran the course nearly 2 seconds faster than he did. It is all in the tires. I would never be competitive at the nationals but I will never go back to DOT's either. I say get some slicks in the stickiest compound available in the size you want and have a blast. Too my surprise the tires last longer than I thought they would. I used them 2 seasons (20 races) and they still have some life left in them (mabey 2 races) but I am getting new ones for next year.

That would make the wheel have a +6 offset not a -6. It would bring the wheel/tire closer to the spring perch and away from the fender though. Negative offsets push the wheel out and + bring the wheel in. To get the equivelent of a -6 you would need to run a 6m.m. spacer which is what you do not want to do if you are already hitting the fender.

A front bar that just goes across from tower to tower does not do that much compared to the triangulated bars that tie to the fire wall. If you have a stiff suspension and sticky tires or your are giong to autox the car I would only go with the triangulated type. The PDK goes one step farther and mimics the welded tubing that racers use, that would be my choice.

I have been looking at those for my autocrosser but I was not sure if they would have clearance issues on the front. Do you have any issues with clearance? Are you running 16x10 wheels, if so what is the offset?

That is what I did and it worked very well. I think no matter how you do it it is labor intensive and takes time.

A 3.54 in your car is not really higher overall than a 3.9 in a N/A car. Your 1st gear ratio is 3.5 and a diff of 3.54 = 12.39 overall 1st gear ratio. The N/A trans 1st is 3.06 with a 3.9 diff = 11.93 overall ratio. So the turbo's overall ratio is actually lower than a N/A ZX. I would drive the car like it is (in a race that is) and see if you are staying in the power band or not. You could go to a higher gear diff and mabey stay in 1st on an autox race or you might find going to a 3.7 or 3.9 is better and then stay more in second gear. Remember that racing tires are usually smaller in diameter than the street tires you use so that alone can be like using a different diff. If you do end up running large diameter tires then you will probably need to go to a lower diff. If you are staying below your power band too much then you need lower gearing is you are running up by the red line too much (running out of room) then you need higher gearing. Typically cars that run very low diffs also rev very high too. The gearing that works with your car probably will not work well after you have built the engine up a bunch. You need to figure out the set up of your car and then gear it to suit, until then it is hard to say what way you should go.