RebekahsZ Posted October 1, 2013 Author Share Posted October 1, 2013 AZC Brake kit arrived. Ordered bolt-on 1.25" spacer adapters for the rear to use with the 15" draglites I drag with. Getting ready to order Z Force Productions BAMF carbon fiber flares so that I can go to 8" rear draglites with 28X10X15 MT ET Drags next year and 275/40/17 autocross tires on some Rota 17X9.5s. Chrome moly 6-pt NHRA roll bar planned after installing Kirkey Economy Drag 20-degree layback aluminum seats. Also plan to finish fender exit exhaust with electric cutouts. Brakes have never been the same after my trip to AMP. I am not impressed with Hawk HPS pads, although the trouble with braking could be my rotors as well. Gonna throw in the towel on the drifting hand brake when I convert to AZC brakes-that project was a total fail. Will just roll with no parking brake, cause I can't friggin' stop at the autocross, and I need all 4 wheels contributing-the maxima rears were a total fail, too. Big winter plans, but I may be finished racing for the season due to family stuff and my mother moving here from Arkansas. Will be busy every weekend getting her out of the homeplace where she has been for 42 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 tuff z Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Keith, I tried the HPS pads once-they were awful at Watkins Glen [WGI] and went through them in less than a day. I promptly went back to their HP+ and running them since. Decent compromise of street & track and seem to handle what I dish out on both with no fade and decent wear [meaning not too quickly-usually lasting my year which is 4 events at WGI, 2-3 days each event]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 Yeah. The HPS hasn't bedded to my turned rotors after two autocrosses and plenty of street driving. I am mashing like hell and the car just won't stop. Hardly any dust-the Porterfield R4S made lots of dust but they stopped really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted October 4, 2013 Author Share Posted October 4, 2013 Just got a better paycheck than expected-even the wife was pleasantly surprised! Moved some money into my paypal account and ordered longer wheel studs anticipating the need for some spacer work in back. The last ones I ordered from Summit were 2.5" long-found some with same knurl that are 3.25" long-but $33 a set instead of $13. Ordered rear CF BAMF flares from ZForceProductions (just want CF so I don't have to paint match). So far, email communications with Justin has been good-he had a set in-stock, so I don't expect a production delay. Gonna start researching the Kirkey seats and different steel bellhousings and get that stuff ordered. Checked back in with a seller for (what I hope) is a 3.36 R200-and seller has agreed to sell if I take whole car. That should let me stay with a 26" slick instead of going to a 28" slick-that should simplify some sheetmetal work on the front side of he rear fenders. I'm still running out of 3rd gear in the 1/8-mile and coming thru the timers on the rev-limiter-same problem all this year with 2d gear at autocross: hitting rev limiter a lot. Big internal debate is whether to put in a VLSD or CLSD carrier. I'm pretty tired of all the CLSD clunking I'm having, but I'm at least familiar with the CLSD and how well it performs. Can't attend ZNats at Barber this weekend due to family commitment, but I may be able to drop in on Sunday and watch the track day a little. Perhaps the expected bad weather will hold off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 (edited) This weekend: 1) Cleaned up the case of a used OBX LSD 3.54 R200 wfritts911 scored me in exchange for some used slicks. Next step on that is to see where all the metal chunks are coming from inside the carrier. If it is rebuildable, I will owe him some more money, or maybe he'll let me trade him something more. I put that on the shelf for a while. 2) Front AZC brake kit installed, hope to bleed it today and get some bolts broken loose on the rear end-maybe I'll get some work done on that next weekend. Did lots of test fitting for wheels, gonna need to order some 1/2" spacers for the front-glad I did the extended stud thing last year. Putting this kit together was SO easy. Used a dremmel tool to cut off the outer (unnecessary) portion of the TTT front control arm to prevent gouging the rotor on it. Wondering if I should spend the time and money on having rotors cryo treated. More research to do. 3) Ordered a set of (4) Rota RBR 17X9.5-19 Royal Gun Metal wheels from racinglab.com-nobody else seems to have them anymore. $900 before shipping. Initial plan is to put 275/40/17s on them and run them in back with the BAMF flares. I will keep my 16X8s on the front so I don't have to cut up the front sheetmetal yet. I have a lead on a set of used 275/40/17 Hoosier R6s lined up-hope to order them tomorrow-just waiting on production dates before sending money. The second set of 17X9.5s will be set aside waiting for a set of used A6s to surface before summer. 4) Bought a Mr. Gasket 2-pole battery shutoff switch at Advance Auto. It had a fairly long mounting stud and a switch handle that can be cut down some if more clearance is needed. Will start on that if I run into a parts delay on the brakes. 5) Put all my racing tires in trash bags and moved them to climate controlled storage. 6) Tried to finalize plans to pickup the 3.36 diff parts car, but the owner wigged on my AGAIN! I can live without it if sale blows up-I'll just go to 28" slicks. 7) Got sniped out of a solid axle V8 280z. Never could get the owner and me in the same place. It sold to somebody else for less than I would have paid to be able to stop using my car so much like a chameleon. A pretty good start on winter mods! Edited October 13, 2013 by RebekahsZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 Invoice for Konis from johnc came thru today and RBR order was finalized. I'm out of money and brake fluid (a crappy combination that seems to always rear its head when I'm doing brakes). Gonna try to get all these parts on the car and hopefully have a good month and re-charge my car account, so long as Congress keeps paying thru Medicare I should be ready for more spending come Nov 1. Dropped exhaust and pulled CV axles (I love those things) and got the big ass nut off the axle stubs. Thanks to my lovely wife for mashing the brakes while I broke fasteners on the drivetrain loose. With the crappy Maxima calipers, it took full force on the foot brake, hydraulic handbrake and cable-operated parking brake to hold the wheels still enough to get the stub axle nuts broken loose. Luckily I anti-seized the crap out of everything, so the CF companion flanges came off by hand-the M2 flanges needed a gear puller to remove. Got rid of the aluminum/delrin rear LCA bushings and swapped in polyurethane bushings (liberally greased per a recent thread about squeaky bushings). The delrin gave me more tire clearance, but gosh they were clunky and noisy, and photos show that they did nothing to control LCA flexing on drag strip launches. Tomorrow night I hope to get to the point of pulling stub axles. Then out of town for three days, then I should have all my rear brake kit first mock-up done before the weekend is over. I think the driveshaft is gonna have to come down AGAIN to remove the parking brake assembly. Oh well, anything worth doing is worth doing twice, or three, or four times.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted October 31, 2013 Author Share Posted October 31, 2013 How often in life does EVERYTHING go right? 1)17X9.5 Rotas arrived today, no shipping damage, gun-metal paint lot is consistent and matches the 16X8s I bought 2 years ago and plan to run on front so I don't have to chop up front fenders yet. 2)A pair of 275/40/17 Hoosier R6s are here, nice and soft rubber, recent production date, ready to be mounted on above tomorrow. 3)Still waiting for used tire dealer to find me a pair of A6s to go on the other set of 17s. 4)Second set of rear AZC disc brake brackets arrived and look great. 5)Spanner wrench recommended by johnc arrived from McMaster Carr and fits the Konis perfectly. Need to get handle lengthened. 6)New and hungry welder opened up shop a mile from my house: has mig, tig, arc, mobile truck. Looked at an aluminum tig welding sample-looks good. 7)Konis arrived a week earlier than projected from johnc. Overall a great day. Stub axles are out and rear brakes are totally torn down. Starting to mock-up for modified AZC rear disc conversion, modified for second Dynalite drifting caliper/staging brake/hydraulic handbrake to make trailer loading safer. Will have bracket for cable parking brake and will save the stock handle/cable assembly in the event that somebody makes an easy to install cable parking brake system in the years ahead. Current AZC parking brake system looks like it still needs development to me. I got lots of chalk blocks laying around. Still waiting on rear carbon BAMF flares. It has only been three weeks and distributor has gone into the "black ops" mode (no email or facebook responses). Will give it at least another week, struggling not to cancel order, but also contemplating adding front flares to order (just in case) so I don't have the same delay later...I guess it is disrespectful to say so, but this is starting to smell like a re-run of my experiences with a certain Canadian vendor: accept money then go dark for an extended period...I still have a lot to do before I need the flares, but glad I didn't try to start this until the local drag strip closed for the winter. Already dreaming of 315s all the way around, perhaps next year. Maybe that will be my tire limit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socorob Posted October 31, 2013 Share Posted October 31, 2013 I need to order flares soon and trying to decide which ones to go with. I like the BAMF but my friends 10 + month wait for his kinda doesn't give me a good feeling about buying those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Overall a great day. Still waiting on rear carbon BAMF flares. It has only been three weeks and distributor has gone into the "black ops" mode (no email or facebook responses). Will give it at least another week, struggling not to cancel order, but also contemplating adding front flares to order (just in case) so I don't have the same delay later...I guess it is disrespectful to say so, but this is starting to smell like a re-run of my experiences with a certain Canadian vendor: accept money then go dark for an extended period...I still have a lot to do before I need the flares, but glad I didn't try to start this until the local drag strip closed for the winter. Already dreaming of 315s all the way around, perhaps next year. Maybe that will be my tire limit... That seems to be standard practice for that vendor from what I've heard. If it were me, I'd cancel and order elsewhere. I was hoping to hear he had gotten things running smoothly since he first started, but I guess that's not the case. I know you wanted CF so you wouldn't have to paint match them - why not just paint them black? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 The only other vendor I know of with the wide flare is the one in Japan Maugan (sp?). (I missed a set in the classified forum last week!). I have a lot to do on the car, so for now I can afford to wait. I think I can get my money back via Paypal dispute if I need to. Will just be patient for now. Really want the big flares because I might go all the say to 315s before I say "enough." Do you know of any other dealers for the extra wide flares? I eventually got my order from Modern Motorsport by being patient, so I will do same tactic for now. Thanks for the encouragement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted November 3, 2013 Author Share Posted November 3, 2013 The old dude with the pipe wasn't at work on the day I took my tires to get mounted. The young guy with the tattoo only gouged one of them...honestly, I don't know how you avoid gouging a soft metal rim when mounting super stiff race tires, so I wasn't too broken up about it-its a race car and an off-track excursion would likely do far worse. When I ordered my wheels from racinglab, I went ahead and ordered 4 of the 17X9.5s just in case they got discontinued at some point. I have accepted the need to flare the rears, but I am just not ready to flare the fronts, but it is a much easier process should I decide to do it in the future. I'm starting to think about sending back the two that I still have in the boxes and buying a pair of the 17X8.5s that have an offset that is more toward the strut. The 9.5s only come in one offset and are spaced pretty far away from the coilover strut, so I could afford to push under more. Plus the Hoosier R6 275/40/17 is a little "stretched" on the wheel even though Hoosier's fitment guide recommends at least a 10" wheel-I think I'd be fine running 1" more narrow if I limited my width to 275s up front. At the moment, the 17s look huge, but they are actually only 1" taller than my 16s with 245s on them. Plan for the moment is to run 17s in rear and 16s in front-we'll see how that works out. Made some progress on the rear brakes. Made a drawing using an elementary school compass, then scribed and cut the extra brackets ($39 each). This was super easy. Drilled holes in a piece of 1/4" steel to use as a fixture when the welder tacks everything up. Hopefully, everything will stay straight. Had to "clearance" a little on the cast portion of the rear hubs to be able to install and remove caliper mounting bolts; the brake line will clear well too. The brake line will likely conflict with my droop limiter, but I usually don't run them in back. Will need custom flex hoses for the rear, but I think this is gonna work and work a lot better than my Maxima setup. Hope to finish the bracket trimming and sanding today and have the brackets ready to go on next weekend. Final picture is the door bar arrangement I hope to use, or some modification thereof. I really want to connect my firewall to the back of the car to stiffen up some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted November 6, 2013 Author Share Posted November 6, 2013 Brackets at welder. Tracking number says rear flares in transit. Patience pays. Next step is custom-length braided brake lines for hand brake calipers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted November 10, 2013 Author Share Posted November 10, 2013 Got one side of the rear brakes mocked up-perfect fit so far. Trial fit all my different wheels. As expected, need the ZG flares-they are to arrive Monday. Hope to get passenger side mocked up tomorrow, then start on modifying hard brake lines. Will definitely need the 1" bolt on spacers to use my 15" drag wheels, but looks like it is going to fit fine with that modification. The 16" and 17" Rotas fit fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socorob Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 That's some back plate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted November 10, 2013 Share Posted November 10, 2013 (edited) Sorry if I missed it, but what was the modification for? Looks like you're gonna have 3 different calipers mounted there. What bolt patterns are on your stub axles? 4x4.5, 5x4.5 and something else? Did you order them like that to keep your options open or are they all like that? Edited November 10, 2013 by rturbo 930 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted November 10, 2013 Author Share Posted November 10, 2013 2 calipers per side for now, plus parking brake caliper if I can figure out cable routing. Car is multisport: street, drag, autocross, road course track day, and is like to even do a solo drift event if I can find one that is in a super safe venue (cones with no walls or curbs). The hydraulic handbrake I ran for the past year was really helpful for trailer loading and drag racing. And, if it cost me any horsepower, the dyno didn't show it. So I'm just having fun. The chequered flag billet stubs come in dual pattern. If I had owned them before I bought like five sets of four-lug wheels, I would have converted to five lug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ask92 Posted November 13, 2013 Share Posted November 13, 2013 This thread is awesome, I love how you documented every stage of the build! Excited to see what is next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted November 14, 2013 Author Share Posted November 14, 2013 Thanks! My kids never thought I would get a smart phone, but now I'm out of control. The BAMF flares arrived. I have a lot to study on them. They fit poorly, but my fenders were very rusty when I got car and there is a lot of welding and a fair amount of bondo, so it is probably on my end. Will start on flares after brakes and shocks. Hope to make more progress this weekend. Times a tickin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted November 17, 2013 Author Share Posted November 17, 2013 OK. The basic 4-piston AZC kit is completely installed and bled. Why do all aftermarket brake kits position the caliper so that you have to remove it to bleed it? What a PITA. While I was at it I flushed the clutch hydraulics too. Let the clutch reservoir run dry (heard the dreaded sucking sound and thought: "Oh snap!" Spent the next 3 hours getting air out of the clutch system only to learn that the thing making bleeding so difficult was, once again, insufficient pedal stroke. I gotta ponie up and remove the clutch pedal and weld up the oval hole. Readjusted pedal stops and it bled no problem. Got the 9" slicks mounted on the 8" drag wheels after doing the mods needed for bead lock screws and tubes. One wheel took 8oz of wheel weights to balance-dang used ebay wheels! Looking for a second set of drag wheels for some 28X10.5s. Ordered parts to finish up the hydraulic handbrake and put new studs in the spacer. Also ordered fender welting from Speedway for the BAMF flares. Gonna straighten up some things in the tranny tunnel tomorrow and start planning to tackle the Konis. Perhaps I can make that 10X more complicated than it should be? What I do best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsicard Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 OK. The basic 4-piston AZC kit is completely installed and bled. Why do all aftermarket brake kits position the caliper so that you have to remove it to bleed it? What a PITA. While I was at it I flushed the clutch hydraulics too. Let the clutch reservoir run dry (heard the dreaded sucking sound and thought: "Oh snap!" Spent the next 3 hours getting air out of the clutch system only to learn that the thing making bleeding so difficult was, once again, insufficient pedal stroke. I gotta ponie up and remove the clutch pedal and weld up the oval hole. Readjusted pedal stops and it bled no problem. Got the 9" slicks mounted on the 8" drag wheels after doing the mods needed for bead lock screws and tubes. One wheel took 8oz of wheel weights to balance-dang used ebay wheels! Looking for a second set of drag wheels for some 28X10.5s. Ordered parts to finish up the hydraulic handbrake and put new studs in the spacer. Also ordered fender welting from Speedway for the BAMF flares. Gonna straighten up some things in the tranny tunnel tomorrow and start planning to tackle the Konis. Perhaps I can make that 10X more complicated than it should be? What I do best. Keith: What is the part number of the spanner wrench from McMaster that JohnC recommended. Also have Koni Racing Shocks and need tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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