April's going to be busy for me so the next track day will be May 7th. While switching out the R12/R10's for the GS-1 street pads I discovered that 4/8 of the caliper piston dust boots said bye bye. According to the 370z boys this is common and replacing them is just not worth it.




The tires appear to be holding up okay as well, front's have more wear than the rears. I'll rotate them the next time I swap in the track pads.

 

I was back out at Thunderhill West with Turn8 this past Friday 5/7/21 and while I was only able to match my unofficial 1:34 PB, the car felt a hell of a lot better. Previously the back end just felt far too lively for me so I decided to swap back to the stock Sport rear sway bar while keeping the front Eibach bar on full stiff and man did it help. The car is far more neutral now, which suits my driving style much better. I'm getting much better at driving without engaging traction control as well. I also rode with an instructor and in the last session had him ride along with me. Picked some really good pointers that I'm excited to put into use next time out. He was really impressed with my smoothness and ability to take coaching but pointed out that I need to keep my eyes further down track and adapt my braking points as I gain confidence and carry more speed down the straights.

With ambient temperatures around 85F my oil temps got up to 247F which is starting to push it IMO.
The 245/45r18's Indy500's certainly aren't enough for the car but I'm content running them for now. I can manage them fairly well until the end of each session when they get greasy, but like Hugh was mentioning earlier, the G-Loc R12/R10 combo paired with the Indy's isn't all that fun and requires some gentle braking. Plans for a set of 18x9.5 +35 wheels with 265/40zr18 RS4's is in the works but likely closer towards the end of the year.
The Tanabe Coilovers will be going in next week as well. No adjustable endlinks yet as I'll only be dropping .5" all around, though I do suspect the OEM units will fail sooner than later giving how much track time they're seeing. Alignment wise, I'll stick with natural camber in the front with matching or slightly less negative camber in the rear so long as I can get 0 toe all around.

I'll get a video up tomorrow for now here are some pictures:






Edit: Video uploaded:

 

I like the very first photo with the others chasing you. How did your car do in comparison to others in the group?

Looking forward to your coilover review, I have the Swifts sitting in my garage but I am thinking the drop will be too aggressive and uneven for my liking

 

I don't time my laps in car yet, just off my GoPro's SD card post session or when I get home. I have a AIM SOLO DL the wife got me that I'll start using next time out though. I was running consistent 1:35's throughout the day which put me in the upper quarter of the group from what I could tell by speaking with other drivers in the group, I was getting a lot point by's and a few drivers that I was trying to hang with were surprised and said the feeling was mutual. Most were just impressed to see a boat like the G moving the way it was

Here is a list of drivers that were recording their times with official transponders, this list includes beginner, intermediate 1, and 2 groups :




I'll be sure to get a review up for the coilovers, I know you've been patiently waiting lol

 

Video has been added a few posts back.

 

So I got some new things and the wife isn’t pleased with the stacks..stacking up..

Order from left to right

OEM 18” Sedan “Duckfeet” Staggered Sport Wheels ——> Square 18x9.5 +45 PF01’s with 275/40 Pilot SuperSports ——> OEM G37 IPL Staggered Wheels with Pilot A/S 3+







I now have four sets of wheels for this car lol

- The Duckfeet will be for sale soon. Almost new a/s tires front and rear.

- PF01’s are my new track wheels. Local track guy sold them to me for next to nothing.

- The IPL’s I’ll run for a bit as daily’s and then put them up for sale.

- My current TE’s with the Indy500’s will also go up for sale soon. They’ll be funding the PF01’s RS4 tires, IPL wheels, and eventual new daily wheels.

 

That is a lot. Fascinating how they stack to different heights.

They all seem so purposeful, too. No gratuitous being here.

 

No kidding, the PF01's with the 275/40's look huge compared to the two factory wheels/tires on either side.

 

Good to see you are still having fun on track. The square 275's should help even out tire wear up front and get rid of some understeer if you have any left. You may need to revert back to that larger rear bar to wake the back end up again.

 

Thanks, car feels pretty neutral now and I’m hoping the 275’s keep the same balance with increased overall grip and heat capacity.

 

Got the Tanabe’s in, Z1 intakes with AEM dry filters and Spectre covers, changed the oil(sending it out for a UOA), and swapped back to street pads.




Oil catch cans blow by :


Passenger side and driver caught about the same amount in 1,730 miles/2 months/2 track days.


Test fitted the PF01’s and the +45 offset didn’t clear the front knuckle upright, rear is good to go.
3mm spacer got the wheels to clear the upright but it is still very tight. With the 3mm’s I can get a little over 8 turns on the lugs so that’s good. I’ll order up a set of 5mm spacers and retest next week.

With the Tanabe’s at max height ground to fender measured in at 27” for the rear and 28.18” for the front. I wish could go up another .25” in the rear but I think I can live with it. Fronts will need to come down .25” and I should be happy. Then alignment.



Shorter shock body with more travel. Win.

Maxed height on the rear coilovers is very close to OEM sport springs height. Different spring rates though. Also the rear tanabe springs are progressive.

Installed.

Front coilover comparison prior to top hat swap.

Red and gold looks to be my theme.

No driving impressions yet. Just did a quick drive up the block to confirm the install went well.

Not the best picture but the Tanabe’s and IPL’s as is, no coilover adjustments yet :





Front bumper is still off because I just dropped off my OEM grill for the midnight grill treatment.

 

Build Updates:

• Grabbed these AustinTaylorDesign *****: https://www.ebay.com/itm/254931449770 The climate control ***** went on perfect. The radio ***** required a little bit of teflon tape but function without issue. They are aluminum and not cheap plastic so they feel the biz and stay in place great. Good recommended alternative to the premium people are charging for the original ***** these are no doubt modeled from:

• TE37's and OEM Sedan Sport wheels sold fairly quickly.
• Midnight Grill didn't happen because my painter said he wasn't comfortable with the long term paint adhesion and advised I get it wrapped instead so I'll look into that.
• Z1 Intakes are in and I feel a little bit more pull in the mid to upper RPM range but its nothing crazy or day and night. I need to do more testing but the throttle lag associated with heat soak appears to have returned. The stock boxes eliminated that when I swapped out the K&N Short Rams.
• IPL's, new suspension, and alignment have been done for a few hundred miles and I've been absolutely pleased with the suspension results:

Final height wasn't as advertised, but still very manageable compared to other systems. I was hoping to settle around 27" G2F in the near. If you have been following my other posts you'll know I wanted as minimal of a drop as I could get in the rear and Tanabe tech sheet specifically notes the sedan MAX rear height could be set with just a 1/4" drop from factory. This unfortunately wasn't the case as stock height measured 27.8" G2F and with the coils I was only able to manage 26.87" which isn't far off my goal and still very manageable. The front I set to 27.25" G2F and have no issues with ride height while driving around. No bottoming out and speed bumps haven't posed any real road blocks. I could probably take them straight on but out of habit I end up angling every car over speed bumps.

Spec alignment with a bit of toe-in in the rear. We'll see how well this performs on track next month, obviously not enough front camber but it's a street car first so whatever, on the street she feels spot on. No aftermarket alignment arms or bolts either, all OEM stuff:



As for the Tanabe Coilover review, Short and simple : Ride quality is nearly identical to the factory sport suspension with better control and composure. No joke, I honestly cannot say I've ridden in any aftermarket coilover system that rides this close to the factory system it is replacing, that includes this exact suspension for my old TSX. For reference I've either owned or ridden in cars with the following : Basically all TEIN coilovers from Basics to Flex's and MonoFlex's, BC coilovers, BuddyClub coilovers, Function and Form, Ohlins DFV, Koni Yellow/GC, KW V1 and V3's, and bunch of different spring and shock combos.

Overall road feel and stiffness went up by an estimated 10%. I can barely tell the difference in ride quality over basically every type of road surface myself, my wife and Dad can't tell at all. Keep in mind this is also with stepping up to a 19" tire from an 18" set up. Another important note to mention is that even though the ride is slightly stiffer than factory, which is expected due to spring rate, the ride quality has actually improved over broken pavement and uneven surfaces. Where the factory suspension would skip and bounce over the road imprefections the Tanabe's KYB dampers just soak up bumps, settle, and carry on smoothly with no drama.

Handling wise I'll need to circle back after another track day, but freeway onramps feel a little better than the factory suspension and Eibach front bar did(which I think is a perfectly good set up on the road and for light track duty). The Tanabe's do reduce body roll a bit more and steering responsiveness/inputs are notably sharper.

Over all Im very pleased with the Tanabe's and would recommend them as a good solution for those that want to maintain and, in some case, improve their ride quality. Another nice touch is that at max height they can and will allow for a factory alignment without any aftermarket components.

Up next:

• I'm not 100% on the IPL's, I'll be putting them up for trade for a clean square set of 19" Sport Coupe wheels.
• The PF01's +45 offset doesn't clear the front uprights so I tried a hub centric 5mm spacer but can't get enough lug engagement. Too makes things worse the IPL wheels and 5mm spacers, while having enough lug engagement thanks to the shank style lugs and wheel lug hole design, had some vibrations over 80mph. The OEM wheels have a deep and tapered hub bore and the 5mm spacer doesn't leave enough hub protrusion for the wheel sit with enough hub engagement as intended.
• Z1 10mm spacers and extended studs just arrived today, hopefully the 10mm isn't wide enough to ruin the scrub radius and cause unwanted road tracking.

 

Tires look a little stretched, am I wrong? IPL wheels are quite beautiful, but they look better on their own than on the car, if that makes any sense. Maybe it's the color contrast with Moonlight White.

There's so much OCD in your build, it's both humbling and exhausting.

 

The front tires do look stretched but that’s the factory wheel and tire size at 225/45/19 on a 19x8.5 wheel. If I kept them they’d for sure get 245/40’s to match the rear or better yet 255/40’s all around.

Agreed the IPLs are a fantastic looking OEM wheel, they just don’t seem like the right design for the Sedan or even the coupe IMO.

Lol oh trust me you don’t want to be inside my head.

 

Added a GTR clear lenses, GTR start button, Diode Dynamics LED's. Also nabbed a Raceseng Sphereology **** on their 4th of July sale that I'm waiting to arrive.