2.2Lude

iTrader: (1)

Talk to me about the PS trackday spec pads. They are hilariously more cost effective than the Carbotech XP12/10 combo, even more so if I run them on the same rotor with bobcats. Not a whole lot of information on them out on the web and when I call PS, the tech doesn't sound very confidence inspiring.

Hugh Jorgens

Sure, bruv, I'm happy to post.

They can't fairly be compared to XP12/10. The cost is astronomically different.

There are two PN's for Powerstop track day pads. There's the milder Trackday PST, which seems closer to the Stoptech 309 Sport. The track day SPEC (PSA) is what you want as a track pad.

Depending on the track I was going to, I used to use Carbotech XP (12, 10, 8) on my S2000 for track/TA use solely because they were the only track pad whose dust wasn't corrosive to my nice wheels.

This is a very nice S2000. I had a friend who also had a nice S2000.

Recently, him and I decided to build cheap "spec" S2000's. F tracking nice S2000's.

So we both bought S2000's and built them with the purpose of trying out where one could be shrewd about setup cost while making an effective setup.

Now there's way too many S2000's here.

Combination for brakes? Powerstop PSA pads, cheap rotors, and cheap wheels (Enkei's) that are OK to stain and ruin.

Getting into the pads themselves...

They don't have the same powerful bite as Carbotech XP12 or even XP10. You'll need more pedal pressure. BUT...they keep working and working.

The dust is corrosive and cakes on. I've been able to take it off with iron remover. But...some of it is stubborn AND...I don't really care. So...there's iron stains on my wheels, lug nuts, rotor hats...and soul.

They last pretty good! Which tells me they can actually take a ton of temp. IIRC Powerstop advertises 1400-1500F as MOT? That's like an XP10. But obviously, its not going to do all the finer things in life like an XP10 does.

They're fairly rotor friendly in terms of abrasion. But....I only get ~3 or 4 days out of a rotor before cracking it from heat cycles and pressure. I think at one event, I only got 1 or 2 days....but that's because 3 of us were driving the car. Either way...rotors are cheap.

They're metallic. So they're less picky about rotor prep than Carbotech. Carbotech needs a dedicated, mated rotor. Because they're serious pads, them (stern face).

They're metallic. So until they do have a transfer layer...they're going to shoot sparks and fire from your wheels and scare the public on hard stops on the street.

I leave my PSA's on after the track day. Something that would be stupid to do with Carbotech. The PSA are simply cheap enough to waste a little...and they dont make a LOT of noise. A little noise, yes.

I buy a few boxes of rotors and a few boxes of PSA pads at the start of each track season. I kept my XP12/10 combo on the shelf for tracks that eat brakes (Autobahn full, Road America, BHF, etc) But have found that the PSA can hold its own. I just have to brake less.

The positives outweigh the compromises for me. I think they're a great product for casual HPDE use. If you have a light car with bad power but relatively big brakes (Miata, Integra R, etc), then these would work for serious competition use also.

If you're just HPDE'ing...what's the big deal about pad compound tuning? Just go with something that works, IMO.

ILM-NC G37S

iTrader: (3)

All this S2K talk has me getting itchy... again...

Good information!

Hugh Jorgens

No problem! And an S2000 is always a good decision. My wife sold hers to buy a station wagon. What a loser!

2.2Lude

iTrader: (1)

Thank you! Thats exactly the the information I was looking for, albeit not what I wanted to hear. But then again how the hell would a pad that cost soo little actually compare in all aspects to something like the carbotechs.

The Track day SPEC (PSA) were the only ones I was looking at. I could easily deal with the extra/less confidence inspiring brake pedal pressure but the deal breaker for me is the corrosive dust. Blah. Troubles of HPDE'ing in a car you want to keep clean. That and the fact that I would be pissed if I stained my TE37's with brake dust.

For your S2k scenario they make perfect sense though and I'm glad I have a cheaper pad I can go to once I get a cheaper track only car, likely a cheap Honda.

Hugh Jorgens

I feel you. My Ray's Eng wheels say Volk Racing on them...but its hard to see them all ironed up.

I think, to this day, if you want to be able to clean your wheels off easily, Carbotech or GLoc is the only viable choice.

Hugh Jorgens

Nothing too exciting.

The timeline is now at Nov 2020.

The car had a pretty good service history from Beverly Hills Infiniti.
But since I didn't know the condition of the fluids....I changed all the fluids in the car.






The oil was in great shape. I think it had been changed before I got the car.
Whoops. If I knew that, I would have just conserved resources for the sake of my Earth mother.

But look at what one person did to my oil drain plug!

I didn't have one to replace it. I have a SPOON one (obviously for a Honda) kicking around.
I figured it would fit. But...a SPOON part on a Nissen?? Surely you jest.

I'll replace this with a new one from Infiniti whenever I need the next oil change.
I was easily able to torque it to spec for now.


The trans fluid was original! I was pretty stunned. It was dirty asf and there were no tool marks on the drain plugs. It smelled bad...but bearable.

As far as the diff...
I'll say this calmly...


I THINK THIS IS ORIGINAL DIFF FLUID AND IT SMELLED SO BAD I WAS LIKE WTF IS THAT SMELL MY wife is coming down the stairs complaining my eyes are tearing up....

COT damn, boy.
That was some smellyassed fluid.

I had to pour it into a sealing container right away and seal it up.

Look at the state of the diff drain plug!



Took me a bit to clean that mess from the drain plug.

Look at how thick and pasty the diff fluid is. Po' it up, sip it up....as they say.

Had to clean my pans off for a while also.



The new fluids I'll be using...

• Castrol Edge 0W40 for the engine. Picked this because now all the cars I own can use one oil. And it's 0W.
• Redline MTL-85 for the trans. Picked this because it's GL4 and I figured it would be ~the right weight. Didn't know this stuff had the Infiniti/Nissan spec. Nice bonus.
• Redline 75W90 for the diff. Picked this because I figured 75W140 would be worse for efficiency.
• OEM Nissan washers for diff/trans/oil pan.

I got the Redline trans/diff fluids and OEM washers from Z1 Motorsports.
Them had awesome pricing, my order shipped FREE (I think it' free with over $100 worth of merchandise), and ship time was as good/faster than than Amazon.
So support these guys!
If they're on this board...thanks for shipping my stuff so quick!



Thanks Nissan...for the 4.2QT capacity. Had to open up 2 jugs of this stuff. Good thing I had some, eh?


The trans is thirsty (Lamborghini Murcy).
It takes 3.x quarts and I only bought 3 quarts of the MT-85.
I was unwilling to put regular GL-5 in there. So I wasn't counting on the leftover 75W90 diff fluid.
I found some Torco MTF that says it's yellow metal safe....even though it's GL5. Seems strange...but I'm no doctor. So I trusted the bottle.


Refilling the diff was all well easy.
Pumping air into the diff did make the smell in the garage much worse, however.

Driving impressions?
The engine seems to be quieter? Or...the more likely thing is that I'm going more deafer?
WOW the trans shifts smoother, though. My brain isn't making that up.
Diff? Idk. I'm ...indifferent to any change? I'm not...biased towards any opinion on improvement? Just slipping in some #diffpuns
The diff had no difference in feel at the driver seat. Why would it, right? But it is lubricated better now.

More to come

Hugh Jorgens

I've lowered the car.

this info can be found here.

I've been told its confusing to read, so when I get a bit if time, I'll clean it up.

https://www.myg37.com/forums/g37-sed...ml#post4289902

For your viewing convenience though....

The end product looks like this:

Its on:
Swift Springs
Tein Endurapro + shocks
Energy suspension spring boosters to raise it up about 0.5"














As you can see from the above....I tinted my windows

Went with 15%. But wish I woulda done 5%.
Comparison below





I also used clear and black POR15 to coat as much of the underside as possible.

I then used fluid film and CRC rust stop to coat the entire chassis.

This stuff is disgusting.




Apparently lanolin is derived from the secretions of some gland in wool bearing mammals.

Look at the state of my wrists.



I'm forced to choose between my two most hated things:
getting dirty
seeing rust

Le sigh

We'll see if getting secretions on me was worthwhile. I'll do a rust update after winter. Its been a salty one

Hugh Jorgens

Did some small things whilst I was at it

Got some black "mag" style lug nuts to replace the rotted stock ones.





And did some OEM genuine Lexus valve caps. No huge deal or anything.




And after getting hopelessly stuck in the snow a million times in my all season Pirelli's...



Got some Xice Snow. My new favourite snow tyre.

BULL

If you havent tossed your old oil it would be nice to save for comparison. I tried 0W and after 1k of driving oil looked like pearly metallic paint. 10w-30 is almost new after 3k worth of the same driving.
My car did get used and abused and I'm certain most of it's previous life it saw thicker oils and possibly no oil at some point. Just find it crazy the differences in weight after such a short period.

Hugh Jorgens

Glad you've asked.

10W30 is thicker at cold temps as compared to 0W40. Once at operating temp, 0W40 is the thicker oil. It maintains the equivalent viscosity of a 40 weight oil at operating temp.

So...with 0W40, you win twice. Nissan specs this weight in the GTR, I think?

0W also typically has more synthetic content.

Idk much about oil. But there's plenty of info on all this on the webz.

I looked down into ze oilingshäft and it looks like my engine is exceptionally clean. PO must have done synthetic oil changes regularly. Thanks PO.





Here's my oil at 3K miles of use. It hasn't burned any. I guess I just didn't fully top it off when I changed it.



And 5K miles of use. Level is still rock steady and oil is still super clean.




To be fair, its probably this nice partly because:

I never let the car "warm up". I'm in...and I'm off. If the weather is in the negatives (F), I'll let it idle for 10-30 seconds before taking off.

Its a lot of fairly easy use. ~2200 mile road trip. 80 miles a day for work. I do floor it and downshift and blast thru stuff a LOT too, as I've given up trying for any decent MPG.

Currently, I have the "maintenance warning" set to 8500 miles or something.

I'll see how it looks around 8K.

Side note. I LOL'd at the manual maintenance reminder schedule. Shoutout to old world tech. This is the same kinda system they used on the Mayflower, probably.

BULL

0w is thicker up until higher temps where it turns into almost water which is the problem most Floridians experience. 0-5w is great for your climate however not ideal for Florida. We dont see anything below 10C/50F, what I have seen is oil temps of 93-121C/200-250F.
If you have or can download the Torque application it can show you your oil temps and you'll be able to tell from the monitor your average oil temps with 0w. Due to your climate you'll see lower numbers than folks closer to the equator.
I've ran 5w on three separate times and was not comfortable with my findings, possibly some previous wear from a previous life.

On another note I've been interested in results from running Ester oil which is what Nissan/Infiniti reccomend for the VHR.

Hugh Jorgens

@BULL , I cleaned up my explanation a little. Hope that makes it more clear.

I actually don't see any advantage to using 10W30 in any climate. Ideally, you want an oil that's thin enough to lubricante and cycle quickly on cold starts. But retains enough viscosity not to thin out at hot temps.

0W40 does both of those things.

I use 0W40 in the Infiniti that I'll DD year round because it helps with cold starts.

I use 0W40 in my S2000's that are only summer driven. One of them is also tracked all summer long.

0W40 is THINNER at cold temps compared to 10W30. So it helps at cold starts.

But is THICKER at operating/hot temp compared to 10W30.

10w30 only retains enough viscosity to act like a straight SAE30 at 212F.

0W40 retains enough viscosity to act like a straight SAE40 at 212F.

Like I said...you win twice with 0W40.

Of course, you don't want too much viscosity at high temp.

Castrol 0W40 acts like a "thin side" SAE40 at operating temps. Something like a 0W35.

Perfect for this Infinti.

From my 3rd grade understanding of oil...0W's also (typically) have less viscosity modifiers and more actual synthetic molecules. So they're more shear stable than apples-to-apples 5W30 or 10W30 synthetics.

Long story short? Use 0W40 because its readily available nowadays. I see no advantages in any climate to using 10W30 over 0W30 or 0W40.

Hugh Jorgens

Remember that debadging I did?

I wanted the Mt.Fuji and G37S badging back on.

So I eyeballed up a template and remounted everything with 3M trim tape.

Hugh Jorgens

Decided to return the suspension to stock and remove the spacers.

Obviously the car doesn't look great this way. BUT...it's nicer to drive. And I'm not the one looking at it when I'm driving it.

The night before, I used clear POR15 to lock in the original finish on the springs.



I have NO recollection of:
-Writing this
-My reasoning for writing this




I did this whilst I was in the middle of a (probably never ending) project on one of my S2000's.

So...lucky I'm skinny and swapping the stock springs back in only took me about 1.5hrs or so.

Look at all the space





I do like the colour scheme with the stock springs a lot better.