At 10 AM I was the first customer for the day, and rolled right up onto the ramps as I arrived. The first task of the morning was to check all the ride height's I'd set and make sure they were close enough to be within reason. I'd do this at home, but I don't trust the concrete slab in my garage as anywhere close to level.
Next up was the front camber. Shockingly, this needed to be dialed BACK. The listed adjustment range on the Megan arms was 1.0 to -2.5. I thought I'd get 3 out of it after the car was lowered, which would be enough, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'd set them at maximum negative when I installed them.. and when we put the alignment gear on, they read -4.9 degrees. Holy crap? Why are people futzing with the Kinetix arms that are $20 less a set, but have to be modified to gain this kind of camber, when these straight bolt in and work exactly as I want? And I don't even have to unbolt the upright to adjust them... Not saying their easy to adjust though.
[caption id="attachment_136" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Jeff, elbow deep in some 350z[/caption]Next up came pointing the rear end the right way. This was all kinds of wacky. this car likes to toe in as it loads up the rear end, so with the car being lower than stock there's more than a bit of toe in to dial out. In the end, we had to add a little more camber than I'd like, and a little more toe in. That may hurt the power on rotation more than I'd like. After reviewing some of the rules and discussing any sort of interpretation with a few very rules literate people (members of various advisory committees).. all the common options for fixing the toe problems on the back of a 350z (replacement arms, aftermarket toe bolts and notching the subframe)are all not legal. The only method I've been able to think up is some offset bushings for the rear lower control arms. I haven't found anyone producing these yet, or even anyone mentioning them in any forums.. which leaves me slightly concerned for some of my competitors.
With the alignment done, the final task of balancing out the front endlinks and attaching the front sway bar was completed and the car was done.At that point it's early afternoon, on the Friday of memorial day weekend. to say there was some traffic around would be an understatement. So effective fun was pretty well halted, but did get a run at a decent on ramp on my way home, and ho-ho does it feel good.
so. much. grip.
After a bite for lunch, I had to decide how I'd spend my Friday evening. Two options came to mind.. a throw back to the old days, and head on over to university avenue in St. Paul to watch the ricers try show off how big their balls are in mom's Volvo, or down to DCTC to hang out at RS Motors' sort of pseudo PDX event. I opted for the latter, figuring if it got boring, I could still get to St. Paul with time to spare.
Immediately upon arrival, Sean Carroll came up to me parking noted I had the Z in good shape, and asked if I would like to instruct for the night. A little hesitant due to the higher speeds and novice drivers, I had a chat with Ron Solomon and Brandon Ranvek about the standards, minimums, and the driver promotion system. Feeling a bit more confident, I agreed. As an added bonus they said I could take the Z out later as a thanks for instructing. Well, twist my arm why don't ya.
Instructing was pretty fun, and it didn't hurt an old buddy threw me the keys to his GTR for a few hot laps. That certainly reset my perspective on speed. It's like driving a sledge hammer.. with some finesse.Finally, it was the last heat of the night, the defined "Volunteer" group. Another buddy Jacob hopped in the car, and we tore out onto the course. I kept thinking to myself "you're going to take it slow.. you just put it back together." yeah.. that's me lying to myself again. Hammer down on this bitch, and lets see what she can do.
I got around a couple tight corners, thinking how well it gripped, before I got to the point of revelation.. the slalom. after about 3 cones in at some good pace I uttered gently.. "HOLY SHIT CAN THIS THING CHANGE DIRECTION!". I'm not a poet, never said I was. Jacob seemed surprised, but agreed. It's ability to dance is astounding, and this is riding around on terrible stance shocks with no diff.
All this joy was repeatedly dashed by the fact I kept catching up to other cars on course.. but probably for the best. It gave me some cool down time while I'd pull off and wait to go back out, or slow way down and let the car in front of me get some distance.At the end of the night, I'd probably done 5-6 laps in the z, and had a riot doing it. It was a great shakedown at speed, and gave me an excellent test to find out a general idea of how fast the car can be.
In the end, after all the money and time invested so far, I really feel like I made the right call in starting this build.. and that's what matters
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