Mikelly Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 Ugh. Wife's aunt died this morning. She was the maid of honor at our wedding and was a really special woman. She went into the hospital a year ago for a hernia repair on an existing problem and the Doctor operating nicked her bowel. Mary suffered for a YEAR trying to fight off septic infections until it finally took her. Word to the wise, always make sure you seek a second opinion and always make sure you know what it is you are signing when you sign a release of liability before surgery. I needed a distraction while my wife was asleep so I went out to the shop and replaced some valve cover gaskets. Hoping my oil leaks are finally put to bed. These Edlebrock units are like 1/2 inch thick. Next up I am going to tackle the sectioning of front struts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobramatt Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Mike, I was wondering why you cant put plywood under one of our cars and make it work??????????? I didn't know there was an ignore feature that can be used. I took a long hard look at the brakes on my car. The wilwood big brake kit I have was the "Track pack" set up sold by AZC. Since I purchased mine 3 years ago they have since offered a larger, only by maybe .5 inches, but larger rotor. I took our new MTI / Brembo big brake kit and took the rotor / caliper assembly and test fit with my current 17" classic CCW wheels. I was almost going to bag the whole project if I had to buy three new sets of wheels in 18's. Even though thats what I should have gotten originally, and I know you like them on your car. The assembly fit, not with all kinds of room to spare, but as long as everything remains round we are ok. I will need to design and CNC some new hats that match the bolt pattern on the aluminum AZC setup. I also will have to fabricate a new bracket that will mount the caliper to the rotor, the bolt pattern will be different. Our new Big Brake kit will double the pad surface area on the rotor and increase the size of the rotor from 12.5 to 14" slotted. The front wilwood pad looks like the rear Brembo pads. I want to do the adjustable coil overs at the same time but don't have the $$$ to drop on some Moton's. I'm going to keep a look out for some used ones coming off a series car. I need to be patient with the shocks. A also noticed that the positive pressure area behind the front wheel flare really needs some relief and after you did it I forgot to ask your feedback. The more I look at it the more I might even take a hole saw to it just for this weekends races. All the brake heat goes right there which makes that trapped air even worse. Your vents, where did you get those, I really like them? One last thing...............I don't understand why you have to be so mean to those F@#KIN MORONS on the other thread. They cant help it, they are obviously a lot smarter than you or I and will always be right. LOL You saw my new daily driver I hope. I did it with plywood / cigarette smoke and a floor fan in my garage (windtunnel). She turns alot of heads so I think that means the aero is working great and yes she is a flatbottomed car.....................sorry, I meant fatbottomed car. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobramatt Posted June 12, 2013 Share Posted June 12, 2013 Mike, I'm sorry to hear that. Call me if you need to talk shop and clear your head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 12, 2013 Author Share Posted June 12, 2013 (edited) Matt, last weekend was the first weekend I got to drive the car at speed for several laps and the car was rock solid stable. I can only assume that sealing off the hood and letting the air escape through the hood vents and the fender vents helped a fair amount with stability. My car only lost grip when I hit puddles on track while passing other cars. Otherwise, it was glued to the tarmac. I know the smart kids in class will argue that my fender vents are to small or to poorly positioned as with everything else I do. Funny, but I see none of their handy work, but lots of snipes at mine, and yours!!! What's even more funny is that the smartest kid in the room is sending PMs to others to try to win their support in his cause to harrass me. Shame that I was actually the guy who went to bat for him when we first made him a moderator here... POS for sure. Be interested in hearing about your brake kit!! Mike Edited June 12, 2013 by Mikelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 Special thanks to Stacy King for pics from this past weekend!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZT-R Posted June 13, 2013 Share Posted June 13, 2013 Hood vents did a good job? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 13, 2013 Author Share Posted June 13, 2013 (edited) They sure seemed to! The car was very stable at speed and I didn't feel like it had any issues. As you can see from the suspension compression, I was really applying a bunch of grip. my trackmate was showing 1.5Gs thru that big 270 degree corner. At no point did we bottom out and I am seeing zero evidence of any rubbing on any bodywork. I also noticed that during the 6-7 laps the car ran around the course it had zero issues with oil pressure (sustained in the 30-60PSI range according to the data log), Oil temps (never got above 212 according to the data logs) and coolant temps (Never got above 193 according to the data logs). I was considering sectioning the struts but I really don't need to adjust for travel anymore. I do plan to wire in two more analog sensors and log them. One for differential temp and one for trans temp. My focus in the coming days/weeks will be to clean up the front end by installing a spoiler on the leading edge of the front end, and to fabricate some rocker lower panels. Mike Edited June 13, 2013 by Mikelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 15, 2013 Author Share Posted June 15, 2013 So what's "next" in the ever evolving Zcar? I've decided to forego the belly pan and rear difuser for a while. That said I'm going to moch up rockers airguides as well as extending the front of the spoiler down lower as a "lip of about 2 inches. I also would like to start moching up some tire facer panels to block the turbulant air as much as possible at that point. On the 28th of June I'll be going back to the dyno for some more advanced tuning. I hope to get the car more dialed in, and my laptop/datalogger more dialed in as well. Obviously more details to come. This week coming up will be a little hectic because we have a funneral/family gathering tomorrow for much of the day. On Thursday of this coming week I have a long day (generally 10 hours plus the 3 hour round trip commute, and Friday morning we're heading to Charlotte to race the chumpcar 10 hour enduro, so next weekend won't be spent on the Zcar at all. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 16, 2013 Author Share Posted June 16, 2013 (edited) Playing with cardboard yesterday evening... I got a shipment of kydex in a few weeks back, so I'll start possibly making the pieces in the coming days. My goal is to eventually get these parts made in something lighter, but for now this stuff is easy to form and isn't that heavy. Mike Edited June 16, 2013 by Mikelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 17, 2013 Author Share Posted June 17, 2013 Coming together well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsicard Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Mike: Looked at your Facebook page. Noticed flaired exhaust ducts on lower front fenders. Are these to vent higher pressure in the front wheel wells or are they for something else? I intended to do something similar by ducting the engine compartment via an electric blower to the outside or to the wheel well. If it is a higher pressure area then the latter is NOT a good idea. Please advise. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 mike, i have the same air dam and before i put it on i cut the thing in half and glassed in about 2 inches to drop it down. that way the "splitter" part is down low where the real splitter will be. i figured it would work. really like the air dams along the rocker panels. thinking of doing that with lawn and garden edging. ugly but gets the job done. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 (edited) RSICARD, If I eventually seal up the inner fenderwells, I will not need those vents. Right now the intent is to vent trapped air caught in the inner fender behind the wheel. The hood vents I incorporated are venting the under hood pressure nicely. I re-installed the hood cowl seal and due to the fact that my front of the car is completely closed off except for the opening that feeds the air filter and the opening for the radiator ducting (My car doesn't have the stock radiator core support at all) which drives the air nicely to the engine compartment. The vents are getting a workout indeed. Mike: Looked at your Facebook page. Noticed flaired exhaust ducts on lower front fenders. Are these to vent higher pressure in the front wheel wells or are they for something else? I intended to do something similar by ducting the engine compartment via an electric blower to the outside or to the wheel well. If it is a higher pressure area then the latter is NOT a good idea. Please advise. Thanks. mike, i have the same air dam and before i put it on i cut the thing in half and glassed in about 2 inches to drop it down. that way the "splitter" part is down low where the real splitter will be. i figured it would work. really like the air dams along the rocker panels. thinking of doing that with lawn and garden edging. ugly but gets the job done. jimbo Jimbo, It's been my experience that the lower lip is a consumable item. I'm going to connect the lower section to the MSA airdam with expansion nuts (rubber with metal insert). I'm also going to make two spares to have on hand. The Kydex is very inexpensive and easy to work with, and isn't terribly heavy. So I really like using it for a number of applications, like this one for example! I intend to collect data on all these aero treatments when we go to the windtunnel this fall/winter. Mike Edited June 19, 2013 by Mikelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 i have not worked with kydex. lot of guys out here use plywood for the splitters. break it, go to HD and you have a new one in less that 30 min. on our m3's, we use a honeycomb thing. not sure what it is called. weighs 8 lbs. it goes back to the radiator support and held on with a thumb screw in the center onto the air dam and 2 dzues on the sides. on and off in 30 sec. literally. strong enough to make a difference, weak enough not to tear the front end apart. ask me how i know. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 Jim, Kydex is easy to work with, pretty durable, can be formed with a heat gun, and isn't to expensive. It also goesn't "look" like plywood. It is the same material knife sheeths and gun holsters are made of. You can get it in a number of thickness and texter/colors. It also makes a great mold to pull fiberglass parts from. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 21, 2013 Author Share Posted June 21, 2013 (edited) This photo was just sent to me by Stacy King from the event at NCCAR. Might need to frame this one... Edited June 21, 2013 by Mikelly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid240z Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Mike, Is that gas coming out of the fill tube/gas cap in the photo? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 22, 2013 Author Share Posted June 22, 2013 (edited) Sure is. We removed that filler and will be filling the cell from in the hatch. With the rear hatch closeout panel in place, you cant see how full the cell was when adding fuel. I overfilled it not knowing. So when We got home after I was done troubleshooting the fuel deliver, I removed the hose connecting the filler neck to the bail and replaced it with a traditional bail. We are going with that until I can sort out how to stop this issue. Edited June 22, 2013 by Mikelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coachstew Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 Great pics. I ask Stacy whose Z it was and he directed me here. I have a 71 that I'm starting on. Glad I found it. Tons of info here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 28, 2013 Author Share Posted June 28, 2013 I just got back from 3 hours worth of dyno tuning and experimenting with induction, PCV, and afrs. We saw my latest setup kill over 60HP and 80 # ft. of torque. I moved to another air horn which was larger in volume and got half the power and torque back. I am going to get rid of both and run a base/14inch filter/top and use a vacuum pump on the Crank pressure issue and call it good. I cant see losing that much power for something like that. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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