My Dream LS7GTZ.......project underway

[cobramatt]

We had a great time racing the Chump-car World Series 14 hr. Endurance race at Road Atlanta this weekend. Was able to catch up with lots of old friends and as always make some new ones. We were three laps down when my driving partner took over and he drove great getting 2 of the laps back when he turned the car over to me. I was able to take the lead and hold it for 1.5 hrs of the race. We were looking real strong but had some issues in our next stint which did some damage to the car and with only a few hours to go she gave out. I would guess it was the crank that let go, either way we were done. 

 

Great seeing Hybrid Z member and friend Mike Kelley on track as well.

 

We had a great time and we will be back...........

[cobramatt]

You have any pics, dimensions, mounting details, etc you would be willing to share?

 

Thanks

Cameron

Cameron,

 

Are you referring to the mounting details and demensions of the side skirts or are you talking about the new front clip and suspension?

 

Here are a few shots of what we are working on up front. 

[heavy85]

Asking about the side skirt details.

[cobramatt]

Asking about the side skirt details.

 

I always start with cardboard templets. SInce the underside of my car is going to be different from yours, mounting points could vary. I stress that if you use the frame rails, rocker seam or something solid always. Remember these will not work if they warp or move around. I would try and get as much under the car as possible over to the tunnel and drop it down with spacers to lower side clearance. If you were utilizing a front splitter and undertray these would all work together to create as smooth as an underside as possible. The skirt should protrude the side of the car in relation to how wide the car is. Flares will help determine width. I found that by not having the skirt extend the entire length of the rocker it allowed for positive pressure exiting the front wheel area to escape. The air then lays on top of the side skirt and does a few things. It provides downforce and helps stabilize the sides of the car. If a front splitter and undertray are in use then it helps keep the air that is being slowed down under the car, it keeps that pressure down and under the car. The rear wheel edge that is exposed should also be taken into consideration. I just took thin aluminum and attached it to the end of the skirt (that we made out of Carbon Fiber) and then cut it to cover that space. You don't want the air on top of the skirt to exit and get into the rear wheel well. I can say that as a rule of racing a proper downforce piece should be able to handle your weight if you stood on it, unless you weight more than 180 lbs. That is not the case with these skirts. You want them as sturdy as possible but the amount of reinforcement it would take to make them that tough would weight too much.

 

Last point is that side skirts will help with stability in high speed turns but always remember that to optimize the car one needs to incorporate front and rear effect to properly balance the car. A car has to be going at least 80 mph for these effects to even start working. I have tried to work on AERO for my car that is 100% functional and actually helps my car perform better. Almost every piece of aero I see available is for looks and actually is counterproductive and causes drag. 

 

Its all about, if you want it to look cool, or do you want it to be functional?

 

Here are a few pictures to show what it looks like on my car, how it is not bending at speed and how I first constructed them out of thin lightweight pressboard for testing and fitting. I used aluminum to lower the skirt from the underside. 

Edited February 11, 2014 by cobramatt

[JIM73240Z]

dang it.  more added to the to do list.  I thought this was more of a vertical piece that kept air out from going under, not a piece that is generating AND keeping air out.

 

nicely done matt

 

jimbo

[heavy85]

Very interesting. I only care about fully functional. Last year I ran vertical skirts but they kept getting hit, had to be removed to jack, didnt notice any performance gain and overall were just a PITA. Therefore have been considering changing over to the horizontal ones but hadnt considered lowering it like you did so the front fenders feed it on top. Thats a very good idea. How does the horizontal piece attach?

 

Thanks for the pics.

[zack_280]

Matt, After we blew up and realized there was no fixing the car, we went to 10a/10b and watched the cars coming down the hill through the turn and going up.  It had to be you driving around 3PM b/c we watched you take the lead.  Me and my buddies all said "whoever is driving that E30 can really drive."  I was sure it had to be a pro driver.  It was impressive watching you storm up the hill passing just about everything and holding off the SC300 and even pulling away.  The battle with the SC300 for the lead that lasted for 5 laps or so was pretty awesome to watch. When you got by, you blew through a pack of cars and the SC300 was history.  Definitely the best racing I saw this weekend. 

Edited February 11, 2014 by zack_280

[cobramatt]

Zack,

 

Thank you very much. You are well aware that this is a team effort 100%. I was given the car by my teammate Rob Morrison who had battled back from 5 laps down to put us just 2 off the lead lap. The SC300 guys were a few guys from NASCAR and they were not pleased when I was able to catch they're so called ACE driver. He tried on three occasions to take me out of the race which in all honesty made it just that much more enjoyable. He tried to pit me in 10a the first time, the second he passed me with a wild move that was either move out of the way or well both crash in turn 7 where he dive bombed me (3 wide in 7 is not really ever a good thing). He evidentially got the officials attention with his superior driving skills and after he literally drove me off the inside of 12 at flat out speed right in front of the tower, I had to jump the inside curbing and then out through the grass to avoid serious snap oversteer and the inside wall. This is when his crew chief came to our stall and complained that I wasn't giving him enough room and that I was much too aggressive (imagine that). I think my guys just laughed at him and asked if he needed a fresh diaper or to be burped. Upon his return to his pit stall in his fresh diaper he learned that the officials black flagged his driver for dangerous driving and a warning 5 minute stop and hold /drive through penalty. I was able to hold the lead for another 1.5 hrs of my stint. I was relieved and our next driver (the car owner) had a few incidents (with non other than the Lexus) that caused him to spin 3 times actually and the car sustained some damage. The car gave up on us in our final few hours and thats what they call racing.........

 

Don't ever be the one that says "Too bad because we could have won"

 

We didn't.

 

We will be back for Daytona next in the same car.

 

Here is a driver change for one of my stints. (SORRY FOR MY LANGUAGE, IM A SAILOR AND I'M AT THE TRACK.) Every team is allotted a five minute pit timer upon entering the pits. You have to use it no matter what so get as much as possible done in that time, but don't rush and overlook small things or get clumsy. We are usually pretty proficient and sitting at pit out at the mark. Don't you love it when the official takes the GoPro off the roof so we get no race footage. We had it on the car in the same location for every other stint. OH WELL.........

 

http://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=tqfSwO0MBbM 

[cobramatt]

Very interesting. I only care about fully functional. Last year I ran vertical skirts but they kept getting hit, had to be removed to jack, didnt notice any performance gain and overall were just a PITA. Therefore have been considering changing over to the horizontal ones but hadnt considered lowering it like you did so the front fenders feed it on top. Thats a very good idea. How does the horizontal piece attach?

 

Thanks for the pics.

 

If you ever run into issues with the jack. Install a simple jack point by welding a steel female sleeve above the side skirt (through the rocker panel and to the frame rail) that a square male 1" rod can be inserted and then used as a jack mount for the side of the car. While on track it is not attached thus doesn't effect the overall weight of the car. Make sure to weld a small lip or tongue on the edge or flatten it out where the jack will not slip off the bar while up in the air or during a driver change. OR....You could always just install air jacks for $5000. 

 

The aluminum upper piece of the side skirts were formed with cardboard first. I've never seen a 240Z with a straight rocker panel. I determined how low I wanted them by where the splitter and undertray were in relation and if I could get it into the trailer without having to take them off. (I designed and built an aero package for a car once that I couldn't get into my trailer after I was finished......Huge Fail.) Then I cut the aluminum to exactly contour the edge of the panel. I attached it to the seam with rivets and don't be shy as you want to use enough to assure it doesn't bend or give at high speed. I then used 1/2" aluminum angle cut in 2" brackets faced inwards and created a mounting lip for the Carbon Fiber. The mounting points under the car are relative to the car you have. I modified mine greatly by adding two lower 3" steel frame rails to keep the car from twisting in half with 580 Ft lbs of torque. They go from front all the way to the back. I was able to utilize these same rails in tying into the new front clip.

[zack_280]

I'll be at Daytona in our E30 also.  Really hoping the new motor makes more power than the old one.  Granted the old motor didn't have perfect compression numbers and had about 250k miles on the clock. We were having trouble keeping up with a number of Miatas on the straights.  We confirmed the low numbers on a dyno.  We were 15hp below a spec E30 and another Chump E30 on the same dyno on the same day.

[duragg]

Matt, raced my Z at Chuckwalla (Cali) this past weekend and saw a nice picture of your car on a wall calendar. (NASA maybe?)

I knew the weekend would be good from there on.

[Mikelly]

Guys If you know of a seat, I was planning to run Daytona with another team, but have since changed my mind.  I am looking for a seat.

Mike

[RebekahsZ]

In B-ham for business. After my meeting, I hope to visit Kirk Racing and figure our where Barber is. If I deliver the Valentine's goods well on Friday night, I will see you on Saturday.

[cobramatt]

In B-ham for business. After my meeting, I hope to visit Kirk Racing and figure our where Barber is. If I deliver the Valentine's goods well on Friday night, I will see you on Saturday.

I'll see you there. I should be pushing off from Atlanta around 1 - 2 tomorrow. Way behind on packing trailer, tire changes aren't done, the weather has really played havok on my schedule. I'll get there when I get there and have fun while I'm there, just might not have a very good parking spot for our trailers. Sometimes we tend to forget or overlook how fortunate we are. I am very grateful that this weekend is going to be beautiful weather and a very fast track. I've been snowed in all week and so far behind on work, I'll just deal with it next week. Bring your helmet as I might be able to manage getting you on track in our C7 track car.

[RebekahsZ]

Thanks, Matt, for a great day hanging with Team MTI! I'm sorry I missed your big race; I don't know enough about road racing to realize that you weren't racing every time you went on the track-I just have to learn the protocol and order of business. I will post some video i took of some qualifying laps from the viewing stand early in the day. Thanks for getting me the seat with Reese-I'm thinking of a dog box in two years, he was selling me on it and it didn't take much to get me excited. It sucks that MTI is so far away.....

 

Two videos: 

The first is of Matt Isbell in his C5 World Challenge car during qualifying.

The second is of Reese (owner of MTI) in his C6 Z06 equipped with MTI's sequential T56 in the process of setting a lap record.  The Porsche led until Reese got his tires warmed up, then he blasted past him like he was standing still.  The Porsche driver was so dejected that he came off the track before the session was over.  At only 25K for the kit, I'm thinking about selling a kidney. 

Matt Passing.MOV

Reese passing.MOV

Edited February 16, 2014 by RebekahsZ

[cobramatt]

Keith,

 

It was great seeing you this weekend and also have you spend time with the team. I'm glad you enjoyed your C7 experience as Barber is such a wonderful layout. I know you were having so much fun looking at all the race cars you didn't get to see my race. Here's what it looked like from in the car. The blue Boss 302 is Dean Martin with Rehagen Racing. They are a Grand Am team and this car is a Trans Am 3 car. He's got me on HP by about 60 or so and I did everything I could but he did a textbook job of defending the line. I am very satisfied with a second place overall in a field of 60 cars. Great weekend.

 

Edited February 17, 2014 by cobramatt

[cobramatt]

I just can't tell you how light the new CF G Nose is..............

 

The air dam is 1 lb.

 

Here is one of the guys holding up the Gnose with one finger.

 

These are 30 plus year old molds and never were intended to have CF Composite in them. When something like this is made it is vacuum bagged to get really good mold adhesion and contour. I made the executive decision to add a little more resin to the edges to compensate for the CF not laying down good. Because in this application the car will be wrapped and the CF is not actually exposed this is not an issue. Function over Form in this case.

 

I laid some of the panels out and when we get our suspension in place we can mock the panels and at this point I'm leaning towards just modifying the flares outward over the wheels instead of widening the nose and hood. 

 

ALL the credit for these new incredible pieces goes to Brian Kostrba at Z Car Customs in Oregon. He and I have been working hard at the design and layout of these pieces as this is not exactly OEM "off the shelf" stuff here. We have developed a new custom Carbon Fiber 3" cowl hood that I am extremely excited about its look, weight and functional application. It is going to be offered for sale on his web site soon. We are in the process of also offering a 100% Carbon Fiber roof skin that will be not only the single most item for weight reduction you can do but it also is the "no brainer" move if your car is an old sun roof car (like mine was) and want the smooth roof line back. These items are not yet available but when they are and I have them installed you'll be the first to know.  

[cobramatt]

I just couldn't wait to post a picture of the new Carbon Fiber 3" cowl hood for the MTI Racing Datsun 240GTZ. This is fresh out of the mold and hadn't even been sanded or polished. Noboby has seen this IMSA hood in production for over 30 years. The mold was actually found in a barn with some other old IMSA Racing stuff. I know there are some Z Guys out there that are gonna love this......I would estimate that the end cost for anyone that is interested would be around $1200ish in Carbon and FG would be $700ish. To put that in perspective, a CF World Challenge hood for my Corvette is $2600.

 

 

I will weight it once it's sanded and polished out.

 

 

[cobramatt]

A few pictures of the new front suspension on the Z.

 

This is what I should have done all along..............put a proper Racecar build on it. The crazy thing is that the hubs and bearings cost me big $$$ for the old Datsun setup. These are 100 times bigger, stronger and only cost $35. You can see we are making our own lower control arms and everything is fully adjustable. BEEFY = STRONG and to think this is going to be lighter than what I had.

 

This car is going to turn and stop like it never did before.

 

In a nutshell. This is going to be a completely different car.

 

You think I'm excited? 

[RebekahsZ]

Then the race is on to see who puts the first full sequential in a z-car! I'm just not yet a fan of the 2.437 first gear for my application-probably great for a road race car, but I know an instant gear change would be better for my slack driveline surviveability. Maybe if I geared the heck out of the diff. Looking good, wildman!