Winter 08 build: The track package

[Bumnah]

Sweet. A simple piece of aluminum has made my car "way sick". I am so happy.

[StylesCD]

Sweet. A simple piece of aluminum has made my car "way sick". I am so happy.

whoah dude, thats "sic"...its twice as awesome as "sick" meng

[Bumnah]

So uh. Here's another minor update.

My aluminum steering rack bushings came in. My steering feel is pretty good, I'm hoping this will help. It'll probably do nothing; another waste of $ like the cooling panel.

Yup, Ichiba hubs can take OEM wheel bearings. The bearing went right on. I am pleased. Sadly I've been working 55+ hour weeks, and everything is just sitting there.

I'm reviewing my finances, hopefully I can do an HPDE with Nasa in October @ VIR. I'd like to bleed my brakes, and get fresh Motul RBF600 in there. I'd like to check my ignition timing, as well as change my spark plugs. I'm also going to try and roll my fenders. Here's hoping.....

Enjoy.

[White Comet]

good game plan. i really like those bushings. who makes them i've never seen any like that before

[rbforsale]

i was skeptic on the steering bushings as well,but they actually made the response more crisp,and my steering rack doesn't travel when i hit a bump or max out the steering travel, but then again i do mostly drifting. so your experience with them might not be as noticeable as i have seen.

[rbforsale]

those are the yanack models, if im not mistaken? or yoshio factory

[Bumnah]

I got 'em from SPL parts. He got 'em from Japan. So I'm thinking Yanack.

[mattblancarte]

I'm reviewing my finances, hopefully I can do an HPDE with Nasa in October @ VIR. I'd like to bleed my brakes, and get fresh Motul RBF600 in there. I'd like to check my ignition timing, as well as change my spark plugs. I'm also going to try and roll my fenders.

I feel you, man. I just spent about $300 on fluids for my next track day... and that doesn't include the 15 or so gallons of fuel I need to pick up. Oh well, it's only $8.50/gal.

Still on the fence with my brakes, too.

I'd give you a solid high-five if you had that cooling panel powder coated to match your sub-frame.

[Bumnah]

Stoptech for sure on the brakes Matt, and yeah you're right. Going to the track is not cheap at all, but god damn it's fun!

[Bumnah]

So I installed those aluminum bushings. WHAT A HUGE PAIN!

I had to remove the steering rack to get enough clearance for the bushings to go in.

Hopefully it was worth it.

[killernoodle]

I approve of yer modz.

[Bumnah]

I approve of yer modz.

FINALLY! My life has meaning.

[Bumnah]

Since I had to reinstall my steering rack to get use the new aluminum bushings. I'm also going to have to realign the car. So I decided to finish up my rear uprights as well.

Here's my progress.

Uprights removed:

The last of the spherical bushings. Again through a group buy setup buy a user named "Def".

Ziptied the new bearing to where they belong. Should be self explanatory to shop pressing them in.



I'm also fixing my power steering puking problem, so here's a 350z power steering reservoir. An ebay purchase; the picture in the auction showed the bracket. Sure enough I didn't get it. I should have just bought new from the dealership. Rather pay more and get exactly what I want instead of getting ripped off.



More this week. With a little luck I'll have it put back together this Friday in time for the autox on Sunday. Looks doubtful. Nov track event at Summit Point is my next track event. Hopefully.

[Bumnah]

It's official, no more rubber in the suspension:



Just need to enlarge the holes on the arms, and these are ready to go back in!

Props to Def for the group buy.

[SolaraOnBronze]

Nice work man, should be pretty nice!

[hbpignosePA]

looks legit as always

[Bumnah]

So I finally got some time to work on the car. Got the 350z reservoir in, and I reinstalled the uprights.

If you're interested in purchasing the 350z reservoir and all the parts needed. Here are the part numbers:

350z power steering reservoir, comes with cap (the girl at the parts counter stated that, not sure if she is right or not)Part #: 49192-AA000

350z power steering reservoir bracketPart #: 49190-AM60A

350z Power steering cap by itself (if you need it for some reason).Part #: 49181-AA000

The bracket needs to be modified. Here is how I did mine:

The clearance with my bov:

View from the top:

Overall I think the swap was fruitless. If it solves my PS leaking problem great, but I don't recommend the swap right now. Takes a bit of work to make it mount up, and it doesn't fit nearly as well as OEM. I also had a bit of an issue finding the parts at a junk yard, and on ebay. The cost went up as I wound up purchasing a new cap, and bracket (destroyed the original trying to bend it to sit more like the original reservoir).

Do s14 owners have an issue of the PS reservoir leaking? If not swapping in a s14 reservoir may be a better idea. From pictures the s14 reservoir looks similar to this reservoir. Perhaps the s14 bracket can swap over to the 350z reservoir, and it may sit better.

I also got my rear uprights back in. Didn't take very long at all. I took a short video instead of pictures, since they don't look any differently than before. You can see the how much movement the bearings allow for.

Video here:http://www.bumnah.com/temp_stuff/arms.html

[mattblancarte]

The new bushings look very nice.

Did you get the new p/s rez to reduce boiling, or was your other one just crapped out?

[Bumnah]

I got it because my PS reservoir pukes up fluid at any event I go to.

I just don't see the fluid boiling so quickly. I think the issue is the design of the stock PS reservoir.

[Steve Lloyd]

where did you get the steering bushings and the upright bushings?? I would like to get these for my build as well.............

[Bumnah]

Steering rack bushings are from SPL

shock mount bushing is from SPL

the rest of the bushings are from a group buy on ziliva and nissanroadracing by a user named "def"

not sure if any more are available.

you can get all the bushings except for the toe arm bushings from SPL.

[Steve Lloyd]

Yeah, I seed out on that group buy, I was hoping they were from a company though, oh well, I guess I'm calling SPL because I don't see any of them on the website.

Thanks for the quick reply, and things look good.....

[Chris28]

Looks great man. It's amazing how much time and effort you have put into your suspension setup.

I got to drive VIR a few weeks ago, and man it was a blast. It was just a fan lap, but it was still pretty quick. It was the whole track minus the patriot course. Hopefully I can go back someday to actually drive an event there.

[locoluna825]

daaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmnnnnnnn just read through the whole thread. i wish to do all my bushings one day as well.

[mattblancarte]

I got it because my PS reservoir pukes up fluid at any event I go to.

I just don't see the fluid boiling so quickly. I think the issue is the design of the stock PS reservoir.

Hmmmm... that's weird.

Either way, I'd pop a sock or something absorbent over the new p/s rez prior to heading out to the track. That way, if you have fluid coming from there, it'll be collected and not flying around your engine bay.

[Chris28]

Hmmmm... that's weird.

Yeah, that is strange. I've never had a problem with my power steering system at track events. Even going from full lock to full lock in a matter of seconds, I haven't even heard it whine. Perhaps there is something else wrong with the system?

[Bumnah]

It is certainly feasible that I may of been putting in too much fluid in the system and it was puking out the excess fluid. Perhaps 3rd time is a charm????

Thanks for the compliments gents. The car is a joy to drive. VIR is an amazing course. I hope to do Mid Ohio in the spring. I'm probably not going to have a trailer by the time the event comes up so I'm going drive it all the way up there. A true test of reliability.

[Chris28]

That really will be a test of reliability. I'm scared of driving 1 hour to the track, I can't imagine driving all the way up to Ohio.

[mattblancarte]

It can be done, and especially with Amrit's car. The beast is well restored and maintained.

I'm so happy that I have the main WA raceway 20 mins from my house, and it's all scenic driving through the woods. Lucky me muwahaha.

The good old days of driving an hour to Phoenix International and Firebird for a track day, then driving an hour home are gone. Pretty much every time I would do that I was battling sleep the whole way home...

[Bumnah]

Speaking of drive. Matt I'm flying out to the bay area in April for a wedding. I'm planning on taking a week off and heading North. I primarily want to see the redwoods, but I may head as far North as Seattle. I'll be more inclined to heading that far North, IF I get to get behind the wheel of a particular white s13 with an RB26.