Need help building a track car.

[NFSP 350]

Hi my name is Wes and I just bought an 04 red 350Z with 57K miles. I am building a weekend racer, mostly autocross but occasionally a road course. Parts ordered so far are Tein Flex coilovers, Hotchkis swaybars, SPL endlinks, cusco front A-arms, Kenetix rear traction package, Kenetix SSV intake, Injen Cold air intake, carbon fiber intake duct, APR front splitter. I have no idea how stiff to run the swaybars, or setup the coilovers. Also if you could recommend any needed upgrades I would appreciate it. The car came with slotted rotors & staggered wheels with 245X18 F 275x18 R

[Isr]

Are they the factory sized slotted rotors? I think most people on here would really recomend getting a big break kit, if you don't already have one.

[NFSP 350]

Yes they are factory sized rotors. I am going to buy some NISMO R tune pads, unless someone recommends another pad. As for the BBK, I intend to purchase one but its not in the budget right now. I have a light chatter in the trans. and the dealership says its in the clutch, so next purchase is a Fidanza 3.2 clutch and nismo flywheel. Then I had thought I would get the NISMO LSD. Thoughts?

[ldstang50]

Are you building the car to have fun or be competitive?If competitive, you need seat time before modding. Tires would be my next mod with alignment. Diff would be right after that.If you're making a dedicated auto-x car, do you have any idea what class you want to run in? That right there will tell you what your next mods should be. But me personally, I wouldn't have bought anything without driving it first.

[NFSP 350]

Just something fun and expensive to do over the weekends. I have been helping my cuz build a 91 Miata for autocrossing and got the fever. I have always built show vehicals and now its more 80/20 Track/show. I dont claim to know much, but I understand the most of it.

[aris_unlimited]

I have a light chatter in the trans. and the dealership says its in the clutch, so next purchase is a Fidanza 3.2 clutch and nismo flywheel.

Talk to the previous owner, it may already have a lightweight flywheel on it. They do tend to make a little bit of noise, ie chatter.

[JETPILOT]

Hi my name is Wes and I just bought an 04 red 350Z with 57K miles. I am building a weekend racer, mostly autocross but occasionally a road course. Parts ordered so far are Tein Flex coilovers, Hotchkis swaybars, SPL endlinks, cusco front A-arms, Kenetix rear traction package, Kenetix SSV intake, Injen Cold air intake, carbon fiber intake duct, APR front splitter. I have no idea how stiff to run the swaybars, or setup the coilovers. Also if you could recommend any needed upgrades I would appreciate it. The car came with slotted rotors & staggered wheels with 245X18 F 275x18 R

I wish you would have consulted the forum before purchasing any parts.

Tein Flex: Junk! There is no other way to put it really. The spring rates included are too soft. They are heavy steel instead of aluminum. The valving on each shock will not match the others.

Hotchkis sways: Good choice.

SPL end inks: The Powergrid end links are much beter.

Cusco A-arms: I don't think they have enough range for propper agressive camber settings. Rubber/urethane bushings suck. 350EVO are much much better. There is a usedset for sale for $400.

Kintetix rear traction package: Suck because of rubber bushings. Toe arms are worthless because you can't adjust toe from that position. battle Version are better.

Kinteix SSV: Huge waste of money as it will lose power on NA aplications.

APR front splitter: You better have a big rear wing to balance the front downforce of the splitter.

NISMO R-tune pads are a waste of money. There are much better pads.

A lot of FAIL here!

[NFSP 350]

I think maybe I posted the thread wrong. Its not going to be a track car in the sence you built. By the way awesome car. Im just building a car capable of running an auto-x course. Your car is serious buisness with likely some real money. Im not trying to win a single race, I just wanna feel some G force. If you could refer me some good pads that would be great.

[evildky]

the great thing abotu coil overs is if the spring rates they came with are wrong you can get whatever spring rate and free length you want, and while i have no experniece wiht tein, most quality strut manufacturers will rebuild and revalve your struts to suit your needs, if tein does not offer this service then I fail to see what anyone woudl buy any of their products

[ldstang50]

The z in stock form is more than capable of being a competent autocrosser.Figure out what class you want to run in, that will help you decide what mods you should be doing.

[NFSP 350]

I wish you would have consulted the forum before purchasing any parts.

Tein Flex: Junk! There is no other way to put it really. The spring rates included are too soft. They are heavy steel instead of aluminum. The valving on each shock will not match the others.

Hotchkis sways: Good choice.

SPL end inks: The Powergrid end links are much beter.

Cusco A-arms: I don't think they have enough range for propper agressive camber settings. Rubber/urethane bushings suck. 350EVO are much much better. There is a usedset for sale for $400.

Kintetix rear traction package: Suck because of rubber bushings. Toe arms are worthless because you can't adjust toe from that position. battle Version are better.

The Tein Flex can be ordered with stiffer springs, and be revaulved. Seriously I dont think they will weigh any more than stock setup. I did cancel the SPL links and ordered PowerGrid.I dont want a very aggressive camber, i will be driving the car on the street. Traction Package I dont know about to defend, maybe not what I wanted.

Kinteix SSV: Huge waste of money as it will lose power on NA aplications.

A lot of FAIL here!

Where did you come up with the idea that Kinetix SSV intake losses power N/A? Do you have evidance of this? I have evidance of the contrary. http://www.importtuner.com/tec....html Alot of fail in you ability to criticize! Thank you for the usefull suggestions you did make.

[spitalul2bad]

Some on the my350z forum tested the Kinetix SSV and found it to be lacking in N/A performance.

I agree, it looks awesome on the car, engine bling and all that, but I'd doubt that dyno. Cheaper and better and more proven is the Motordyne plenum spacer + MREV2 manifold.

[evildky]

the mrev si pretty much proven waste fo money, read through the stickies

[spitalul2bad]

mrev 2 + spacer on the REV-UP seems to be working just fine

[evildky]

MREV+ spacer makes aobut as much power ad the spacer alone

[NFSP 350]

I havent heard from the company shipping my Flex coilovers. If someone could recommend what are the best for my money, budget is 2,000.00 Also my A-arm is on back order so I have the option to improve it, recommendatoins?

[JETPILOT]

TEIN when put on a shock dyno shows some of the worst results I have ever seen. Each setting on each shock is different from the other shocks. In some cases increasing the dampening actually showed a decrease in dampening on the dyno. TEIN has consistently shown dissapointing and completely unnaceptable performance.

If you want good shocks for your budget go with Bilstein. They show very respectable results on the dyno for the money. If you want a really exceptional set of shocks look into ZEAL, Penske, MOTON, or the 28 series Koni's. A set of ZEAL Super Functions will run $2800. It's a much better damper than the TEIN. Aren't we all too poor to buy cheap stuff? Don't buy something becasue the name is familiar on the internet.

The SSV is garbage. Do the research yourself. The best intake for the DE motor is the Rev up lower plenum for more power up top. It will cost you about $50 used. it's not glamorous, but it does work.

[NFSP 350]

Revised parts, all should be in by next Friday. Coilovers: Bilstein PSS10

Handling Arms: Kinetix Rear traction package,350EVO Front A-Arm

Sway Bars: Hotchkis F/R

Endlinks: PowerGridInc

Engine: Kinetix SSV Intake , Injen MR Intake,

Aero: Titek C.F. Intake Duct, APR C.F. Splitter

Now what I am looking for is how to setup these parts. Im not building a dedicated race car! Im building a 60% track, 20% show, 20% daily driver.

How stiff do I set F/R sway bars? How much F/R toe and camber? How stiff to run coilovers? Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

[JETPILOT]

Revised parts, all should be in by next Friday. Coilovers: Bilstein PSS10

Handling Arms: Kinetix Rear traction package,350EVO Front A-Arm

Sway Bars: Hotchkis F/R

Endlinks: PowerGridInc

Engine: Kinetix SSV Intake , Injen MR Intake,

Aero: Titek C.F. Intake Duct, APR C.F. Splitter

Now what I am looking for is how to setup these parts. Im not building a dedicated race car! Im building a 60% track, 20% show, 20% daily driver.

How stiff do I set F/R sway bars? How much F/R toe and camber? How stiff to run coilovers? Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Nice move to the 350EVO A-Arms. It's the best A-Arm out there. The kintix rear arms aren;t a good choice as I mentioned.

Unfortunately there is no way for someone to tell you how to set up your suspension. However people will do so anyway. Your going to get out there on the track and put the time in to set it up the way you want it.

As far as camber if your on street tires start with -2.0F .1.5R. if your on R-compound tires I would start with -3.0F -2.0R.

[NFSP 350]

I have all my parts installed now. Only thing is as jetpilot said Kinetix rear control arms sucked! I put the camber arm on and tightened down to crush tube. I could move the arm back and forth 7/8 of an inch. So Im shipping them back and going to order Battle version arms. I put adjustable endlinks on my swaybars but I dont know what to adjust them to. How do I set them up?

[C-Kwik]

Aren't the Hotchkis bars already adjustable? Just put the end links in the different holes to adjust. Holes closer to the end provide less resistance. Unless they changed their design or I'm remembering them incorrectly.

I think best setting to start at is the middle setting on each bar. One magazine that reviewed a set of these early on said they worked best at this setting from them. I think the instructions recommend starting at the middle as well. How they actually work is going to depend on the rest of your set up though. Keep in mind that adjustments to one part of your suspension can affect other parts. Sometimes they work against each other and other times they work together.

[NFSP 350]

You didnt answer anything. Yes Hotchkis swaybars are adjustable. I am running them full stiff. My question is how to adjust my power grid swaybar endlinks?