yep... another trackday preparation :P

did some trackday prep-work last weekend. thx to kenny for the help it was a cold saturday morning.

the battery on the zed is dead, coz i haven't drove it for a while T_T. so had to go to repco and bought new one.

so the prep work was:

• fit semis to the stock 18inch rims - i was gonna go again with street tyres but then i found this cheap 2nd semis (thx to Takahasi) and bought it. hehehe i couldnt resist a cheap semis... cheap way to get faster on a stock 350z cheap way to compromise a lack of driving skills too haha
  
  
  
  
• check all the fluid levels, nothing really need topping up
  
  
• i have only done 400km plus since last oil change, so when i check the oil, its still fine and thick. i just top it up to the maximum
  
  
• replace the worn front brake rotors with another 2nd stock rotors but better quality. thx to jimjim.
  
  
• check the spark plug
  
• replace the battery with new one
  
• regular check for any leaks, worn mounts and any mechanical damaged.
  
• clean the AFM and Throttle Body
  

Replacing front worn brake rotor

1. remove the brake pad. depending on the pads and rotors condition, you might not need to, but in my case, the rotor have very high lip and the pads are fairly new, so its not much space in to move the rotor out
   
   
   
   
2. quickly check, and clean the dirty and deposit inside the caliper. above the rubber seal and piston. and check for any leaks or damage. mine was fine. just dirty
   
   
   
   
3. check the rotor thickness... depending the type of vehicles, please follow your workshop manual. mine was supposed to be 30mm new and minimum of 28mm (2mm wear max). after measured mine, lucky i decided to change... haha... my rotor was less than 28mm, around 27.8mm...
   
   
   
   
4. the replacement 2nd stock rotors from jimjim is 29.4mm so still plenty to go...
   
   
   
   
5. 350z have flex line and then fix line just before the caliper. i need to remove 2 x 12mm bolts that holding the fix line, so i can move the caliper out of the way...
   
   
   
   
6. remove 2 x 22mm bolts that holding the caliper, and the caliper should move freely. remember to torque it back to the manufacturer spec. i follow the 350z manual which are 114 ft-lbs
   
   
   
   
7. lift the caliper up. and third hand would be handy here , remove the rotor and replace with the new one... voila!
   
   
   
   
8. now i cbf taking anymore pictures , pretty straight forward after this. just reverse the step to put everything back. remember to torque everything back correctly.
   

the prep is done... lol... well maybe thats one of the good thing for having a stock car. less thing that can go wrong, and less thing to prepare too...

can't wait for the track day. ^_^

GA15DE Throttle Body and coolant bypass - PART 1

i bought this Pulsar GA15DE throttle body from yahoo auction (thx to mic - MYJAPS). its from a jap spec pulsar. it bolts onto micra CG13DE engine and it has bigger diameter...




45mm VS 50mm :)




installation are pretty straight forward, unclip all harness, remove 4 allen key bolts and unplug the coolant hose.




i decided to bypass the coolant hose. hot coolant goes thru the TB and heat up the TB, this is to prevent the TB from stuck / freeze on extreme cold weather. removing this made the micra pull stronger thru rev range coz of colder air that goes thru the TB.









Link




after the install, it ran really crap on 2000rpm onward and wouldnt let me rev higher than 4000rpm, which is really weird. i asked around and ppl suggested it might be the in built AFM, so i decided to check it out.





so i pull the GA15DE TB out again and install back the CG13DE TB on my micra. T_T damn...








the plastic connection to the AFM is broken. this could be the problem. but i cannot pull it out after removing the 2 screws. so i might have to open the AFM module...








so i prey open the silicon seal and open the metal cover. then i re-heat the solder join and remove the top PCB. still nothing wrong with all the connections








now i get to the main 3 AFM connector. it turn out that one of the connector wire is broken / cut








the broken connector removed and replaced with some other wire with similar size. then i solder everything back together.






havent really test it out again. will update with PART 2...





but now the stock TB + coolant bypass has been really great! it pulls stronger and no more performance drops / hesitation after caning the car for a while...

AHIRU Photochopped

so i made this Photoshop image of how i want my micra styling would be... nothing special... just simple stuff... :) its a quick photoshop job... so please pardon the imperfection...





well... most likely its going to be white...











but this is how it looks if its red or matt black

350z - EXE TRACKDAY 10th March 2008

EXE TRACKDAY 10th March 2008 - Winton raceway



ok... back from hot day at winton. i didnt really have time to write it up since i've been abit busy preparing for the test that im gonna have tomorrow. so here we go...

this is my first time going to the track with street tyres on the 350Z. why? coz my semis all bald lol... also the 350Z is back to stock coz i'm selling it, now with full interior trim. except for the type NR brake pad (which are around the same rating with stock brembo pads but somehow cheaper o_O)

my street tyres PB was in the morning session: 1:45.9200 (with a passenger) and the rest of the day i couldnt even get closer to that.

my semis PB was: 1:41.0680 with semis, weight reduction (37kg off), lighter wheels, catback, pod filter, spring and front camber arm. thats more than 4 sec differences T_T... why? i think i know why...

driving on the track with stock 350z with street tyres are hard for me coz im used to the amount of grip i have from the semis. i think the semis have covered up most of the lack of my driving skills and smoothness... my lap time on the day wtih street tyres was not consistent at all compared to using semis.

my Winton 3KM lap time record
--------------------------------------

• 11/12/2006: 1:43.9470 sec (235/45/17 RE55s, APS catback, race pipe, K&N filter, HC+ pads, 37.2kg weight saving, 164kw atw) - first time ever @ winton
  
  
• 26/01/2007: 1:42.2420 sec (same mods as above, 164kw atw)
  
  
• 11/03/2007: 1:41.3410 sec (same mods as above, 164kw atw)
  
  
• 16/04/2007: 1:41.4970 sec (front tyres finished, so i changed to a 2nd hand 225 dunlop semis, i also added RSR spring, 164kw atw)
  
  
• 01/07/2007: 1:41.0680 sec (bought 2nd hand from takahasi: 245/40/18 RE55s semis**, 164kw atw) **CURRENT PB with semi slick**
  
  
• 30/10/2007: 1:41.2250 sec (installed Cusco Front Camber arm**, put 'X' pipe on the APS catback, 160kw atw*)
  
  
• 10/03/2008: 1:45.9200 sec (stock, full interior trim, street tyres) **CURRENT PB with street tyres**
  
  

now the boring bits... this is what i think:

STREET TYRES
with the street tyres, i found it that i cannot be careless, have to be extra smooth. some corners, had to take it on 2nd gear when im using street tyres (instead of 3rd gear when im using semis). this is due to if i enter too fast like i enter on semis, i will understeer on street tyres, but then when i enter slower, the rpm on the corner entry was abit too low so i had to use lower gears... hope that make sense...

plenty of sideways which is very fun but slower i think i need one more track day on street tyres to be able to drive more consistently

a stock 2003 350z did 1:43s at winton with a pro driver on the magazine review, so my bench mark is to get within 2 sec off his time... CONSISTENTLY... so i think i stil have alot of room for improvement since my laptime with street tyres was not inconsistent...

the whole day i had passenger except for the end of the day which i did slower anyway. so i think passenger dont make alot of differences on a big engines. not at much as a smaller engines i guess...

SEMISLICK
with semis i can be more aggressive, enter the corner more agressively although it doesnt have as much warning as the street tyres... however, i should've gone the other way, learnt to race with street tyres first and then move up to semis. maybe thats why i was stuck on 1:41s for so long. but now i realise i abuse and rely on the grip so much without paying more attention to how to drive better and smoother.


conclusion:
at the end of the day, i'm pretty happy with it coz its always fun to go out there and drive! i'm also thankful that i found so many driving skill defects that i had, that i would never seen if i stayed driving on the semis at the track.

hopefully after i maximise and improve my driving on street then i would be faster on semis. *finger crossed*

here is my individual lap times for the day

Practice Session
1:46.7300
1:46.0400
1:47.7800
1:45.9200
1:48.4800
comment: with passenger, lap 1 - 3 i was driving the same way i drive with my semis. lap 4 i tried using 2nd gear on turn 4,5, and 6. last lap i got sideway on turn 4-5-6 >_< src="http://www.exe-crew.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_razz.gif" alt="Razz" border="0">

session01
1:47.7600
1:46.3900
1:47.4400
1:47.1900
1:50.5000
1:58.0900
comment: i put the pressure down from 40psi hot to 32psi hot. still with passenger, lap 1-4 i use 3rd gear, lap 5 was my drift lap last lap was my cool down lap.

session02
1:47.0900
1:47.2400
1:48.3100
1:50.9500
1:51.2000
1:48.2600
comment: with passenger, put the pressure up to 36psi hot. still wasnt good.

session03
1:48.2700
1:47.7700
1:48.6800
comment: no passenger, put the pressure up back to 40psi, but then it was too hot and the tyres got very slippery

session04
1:49.3600
1:49.4000
1:48.3000
2:29.4600
comment: drift session with josh in the car . i spun out on the last lap oops

session05
1:49.0800
1:48.9600
1:48.0800
1:50.1100
comment: last session, no passenger, most ppl have gone home by then, only me and dan left on the track... i gave up after 4 laps coz its just too bloody hot...

Result of the day can be found here:
MORNING PRACTICE SESSION: http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?10/03/2008.WIN.P1

Afternoon SESSION: http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?10/03/2008.WIN.P2



PHOTOS - Thx to Jason Ho for these great photos

Weigh Bridge

HOW FAT n HEAVY IS MY ZED???? i wanna know :P

Went to weigh bridge to weigh the car yesterday together with SenK9, KTHL and ES. my car is all back to stock now, and I had myself in the car, a full tank of petrol, spare tyre and full interior trim.

the result was 1580 kg, (minus me, 70kg) so my car's curb weight is 1510kg



Nissan quote the 2003 350Z Track model's weights as follows:
Curb: 1465 kg

so i dunno where was the extra 45kg came from


READY FOR MONDAY!! ^_^

Spec for monday:
*i have remove all the mods to be sold... so its stock everything except brake pad (project Mu) however i will leave the spare tyres, tools and the scissor jacks at the pit lane
*street tyres F 225, R 245
* all fluid is up! and i'm aiming for 1min 45s... may god be with me....