Had a busy three day weekend, pretty much all Z related!
Dropped her off with RJ Developments (@rj_developments on instagram) for full alignment and corner weights to be set. I thought I could get away without adjustable rear control arms, but sadly not - so we ended up with a little more rear camber than I'd wanted, but not anything too excessive. So they've been added to the shopping list, just not as highest priority.
For anyone interested in the weight of a 3.0si Coupe, here is a picture of the weights prior to me jumping in as ballast during adjustment:
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This was with a few bits and bobs still in the boot, stringing bars hanging from the front and rear bumpers and 1/4 tank of fuel. I was pretty impressed with that as a stock weight to be honest, It could easily become a sub 1300kg car!
So once done Saturday morning, I met up with some mates at my parents house so we could fit some new Stillen intakes to his 350Z. I did say all things Z related, so a 350 counts, right?
After my alignment, the wheels looked completely lost in the arches due to the extra camber. I managed to borrow some 25mm spacers from a mate that had them lying around after selling his 740i, so with some trial fitting to make sure there was no clearance issues, on they went!
So pleased with the way the car sits now! I also removed the 3.0si badges from the sides, as they always seemed to be sat on the piss to my eye, and I'm not a huge fan of unnecessary badging anyway.
Now to the exciting part, Bedford Autodrome on Monday! The car felt excellent, the chassis was well balanced and predictable with enough power to make the car rotate without snapping. The PS4's provided great performance, this was the biggest surprise to me - they almost felt semi-slick like. But... the brakes were pretty shoddy, there was enough stopping power and I didn't suffer with any fade, however I had some brake wobble early on that only got worse!
I called it a day at lunch as I couldn't bare it anymore, but at £89 for the whole day I'd still class that as cheap track time even for just the morning. A few pictures from Opentrack:
I'll be making a few adjustments following the track day:
Upping the front spring rate from 50N/mm to 70N/mm as I found I was having to over compensate with the damper adjustment, especially on some of the longer corners - I had this in my head to do prior to the day so had already bought some springs, just need to collect them, but the time on track confirmed it's the right way to go.
Upgrading the brakes, I don't feel the need for a BBK considering how little time the car spends on track when compared with the road so I've decided to upgrade the stock setup. I've ordered braided hoses, genuine BMW 2-Piece discs for the front (similar design to the M3 etc), genuine BMW rear discs, Ferodo DS2500 all round, and the relevant sensors, clips and retaining bolts etc.
I pick up the BMW bits from Sycamore on Thursday just before attending their launch event for the new Z4, and will be hoping to fit them on Saturday.
Sorry for the long update!
1066 Country
North West Surrey
