When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
So all the extra shifting and quicker shift points weren't an issue on the course track, and I'm guessing all the low-end grunt is a welcome change on the street. Is that about right?
Gears can climb into $2k mod territory. Was it worth it to you?
At Road America I was just worried about running out of rpms with the long straights. Especially since someone calculated that the car would top out at 138 mph with these gears. Fortunately, I was hitting that toward the top of 5th gear if I remember correctly (and averaging 6.8 mpg ). Having a little extra torque coming out of corners was nice. I really like the length of the gears now compared to how they were. It definitely has a sportier shifting feel like my Evo rather than feeling like your gears are way too long most of the time.
On the street it is nice to be able to accelerate harder much earlier. Before, I always felt like I had to gun it to make it feel as fast as it sounds. For that alone the mod was worth while. Thanks to my parts department and my Infiniti service department hooking me up with favorable discounts, it was a lot easier to stomach the costs.
I really debated getting a different limited slip differential too, but I am glad I did not waste the money. Even at a track with very fast corners like RA, I never felt like I was giving up any traction with the factory LSD. In fact, I did the first few sessions with the TCS on because the track and tires were pretty cold. Glad I did, but later on I could tell I was losing power out of corners because the TCS was kicking on too soon. Even with TCS off I only gained .5 seconds/lap and it felt drastically different. If there was any advantage to be gained in traction from a different LSD it probably would have to be measured in nanoseconds.
So I just got my Outerwares water resistant filter covers now that my new grille exposes them to a lot more water (and air). Only one problem... I didn't order bright green.
I had a chance to install the Outerwares air filter water resistant covers today that I had custom made for my Z1 Motorsports filters. It only took about 1/2 an hour to install from the top. Not too bad, but cramped quarters to pull the filters on all the way. Very nice fit and finish to the product and a perfect tight and secure fit. Now I don't have to worry when it rains.
Today we had beautiful weather so I installed my Z1 2pc. slotted front rotors. They shave 8.2 lbs/corner which is a ton of unsprung/rotating mass. (I have now shaved just over 80 lbs. off the car)
They should aid in cooling too with directional vanes inside to help flow air and the 2pc. design.
I hope I can feel a difference on track. I swear it felt like the car accelerated better from a dead stop, but that had to be the placebo effect. I am excited to try these with my new Carbotech XP12/XP10 brake pads at Road America next week.
No more surface rust on the rotor hat. Yay!
If you look closely at the hardware you will see I chiseled an indent so I can tell if any of the fasteners come loose.
Yes, those OEM rotors are heavy.
The Z1 rotors are lighter, but they don't quite shave off the 10lbs. that Z1 claims.
On Monday I got my chrome window trim wrapped with the same carbon wrap that I used on the bumpers & side sills. At first I was not so sure as the chrome looked nice with the wheels, but it is growing on me now. I was originally thinking of carbon wrapping the mirror covers too, but the verdict is still out on that one.
You can begin to see the carbon weave in the 3rd pic. It is visible in the sunlight, but on a cloudy day it just matches the other gloss black. I like how it changes appearance a bit based on lighting.
From this distance the wrap matches the gloss black on the door trim
Ties in nicely with the grille, splitter, side sills, and other black trim. Do I wrap the mirror covers too?
Here you can start to see the carbon weave in the sunlight, especially if you blow up the pic.
On Saturday I had Z1 rear subframe bushing inserts installed. On the street I noticed very little if any difference. The good news is that there was no additional NVH added on top of the already increased NVH due to all the other mods.
Yesterday I did a track day at Road America and it seems like they make a little bit of a difference at the limit. The back end felt a little more precise and predictable which is always nice on track. The rear also felt a bit more planted under threshold braking and that is always a good feeling. However, that feeling also could have been due to me changing my braking points and upgrading the front rotors and pads at the same time.
This is a decent mod if you track your car, but I don't think it would be worth it for the street.
Today we are putting in the new condenser for my Mishimoto radiator and making sure that nothing got goofed up when I overheated at Road America. It will be nice to have A/C again, but ironic since now it has finally cooled off around here.
I ordered a new ZSpeed under tray on Friday night after finally throwing away the old one at Road America after covering it in coolant. (I put a gasket under the overflow tank cap to keep it from spitting coolant on the engine bay during track days only to later realize I created the much larger problem of pressurizing the overflow tank which created a vacuum pulling the coolant out of the engine and overheating. Whoops!)
Anyway, the tray served me well for almost 3 years, but was pretty beat up from multiple impacts. One of the rear mounts finally gave up the goat a few months ago and the part that folds over in the back to create a hole for the two rear bolts was bent over so far that it took considerable time to bend it back to remove the under tray. It also had a hole from one of my zerk fittings and plenty of scrapes. Yeah, it was time for a new one.
05-09-2018, 11:15 AM
). Having a little extra torque coming out of corners was nice. I really like the length of the gears now compared to how they were. It definitely has a sportier shifting feel like my Evo rather than feeling like your gears are way too long most of the time.
