Shockworks Suspension

Time for a change in suspension, the Z has outgrown the old Cusco Zero2's. I picked up a set of Shockworks due to good feedback from others and local support. So after chatting to Chris at Shockworks, he supplied a set of 370Z shocks valved for use with semi slicks. Spring rates are 14 kg/mm front and 8 kg/mm rear. Initial driving on the street showed that the car has good ride compliance and the steering feels more direct now. The ride is more firm than the Cusco's but doesn't crash when going over bumps. It also seems flatter around sweeping corners at moderate speed. A big thanks to Macgillaz for the installation help and Chris for the setup advice. I'm looking forward to test and adjust these soon at the track.

Tomei Expreme Ti Exhaust & Z1 Motorsports Rear Subframe Collars

A big thanks to @macgillaz for the help and support installing a couple of things on the Z. Finally got the @z1motorsports rear subframe collars installed as well as the @tomei_84 cat-back exhaust. Don't mind the dirt on the car.

On a roll

Looking back through my blog, the last time I made any suspension related changes to the Z was all the way back in 2010. So I started thinking about how I can make the car go faster around corners. After reading a post by my friend Tom at Honed Developments, I started thinking that I should fix the roll center on the Z and attempt to return it to factory specifications. As Honed doesn't make roll center adjustment kits for Nissans, I jumped on to the interwebs and found a company called Moon Face in Japan. After a few emails to Jesse Streeter, these arrived a few weeks later.

The roll center adjustment kit for the Z33 consists of three parts.

1) The ball joint kit (SAB14). Seems like I bought the last one as they announced that it is no longer in production.

2) The low angle adapter for the front upper arm (SLD11).

The ball joints and tapered collars fit at the points indicated below.

These images from Moon Face show the difference in angle of the upper arm (when using lowered suspension) with the factory tapered collar (left) and Moon Face tapered collar (right).

The difference between the Moon Face ball joint (left) and factory ball joint (right) can also be seen. It will reduce the distance between upper and lower arms to match the shorter strut.

3) The low angle adapter for the rear upper arm (SLD12).

The tapered collars fit at the point indicated below.

Below is the difference in angle of the upper arm (when using lowered suspension) with the factory tapered collar (left) and Moon Face tapered collar (right).

  

For someone like me who's not so mechanically skilled, I reached out to my friends Jim and Tom (from Honed) for help. Firstly, Jim helped me dismantle my suspension to remove the front knuckles.

The front suspension in pieces.

Then Tom pressed the factory ball joints out of the knuckles and pressed in the Moon Face items.

Pressings completed.

I had to use a ball joint puller, WD-40 and Loctite Freeze & Release to get the factory tapered collars unstuck. This is the ball joint for the front upper arms.

With the Moon Face ball joints fitted into the knuckles, Jim came over to help assemble everything again in the front. As a track day was looming, we ran out of time and didn't fit the rear new tapered collars as that would probably require an entire afternoon in itself. Now all that was left to do before track day was to get a wheel alignment.

A massive thanks to Jim and Tom for their help.

2E or not 2E, that is the question

So I ordered a set of Cusco Zero-2 suspension for my car... and received a set of Zero-2E. The only difference being that the E variant has the ability to use the optional electronic controller for damping for in-cabin adjust-ability. These are height and damping (5 levels) adjustable.

With the combined help of c2888, JimJim, senk9 and Drew, we fitted these yesterday afternoon. Thanks to you all including Laura for just coming around to hang out.

More negative camber also results... :D

I can't wait for OTR track day!

Sway Bar Upgrade

Today I upgraded the sway bars by fitting a set from Whiteline.

A comparison shows that they appear to be of the same diameter as the factory variants, however the Whitelines are solid and are adjustable.

Front comparison:

Rear comparison:

Front fitted:

Rear fitted:

Initial impressions:
- I have them set on the softest stiffness at the moment, however that is still stiffer than stock.
- Initial turn-in is improved and very obvious.
- Car is noticeably flatter around corners.
- Rear end is looser and more caution needs to be taken not to induce too much oversteer.
- In a straight line, the car feels bumpier as well.

My plan is to try the softest stiffness settings at Winton next month and adjust accordingly.

A big thanks must go to Shaun (Senk9) for helping me fit the bars, as well as Ray (crazyray), Kam (Kam80) and Anja for the company.

Installation of Cusco Upper Arms

After I received the Cusco upper arms, I realised that they did not include a metal collar which is a seat for the ball joint as it meets the knuckle. After numerous emails back and forth between the vendor and myself, I was told that Cusco "redesigned the ball joint and the metal collar from the stock A arms can be reused". So, I purchased another pair of collars from Nissan (because I couldn't get the originals off the stock A arms.

One day before the Tampered Motorsport track day, Shaun installed the A arms for me. Thank you very much. I set them on maximum negative camber (-12mm) and was ready to see what they could do for me.

Cusco Upper A Arms

These arrived today at my office. I decided to get them because I felt it was time I had a little bit more negative camber at the front for the track. The A arms allow for -12, -8, -4, 0 and +4mm camber settings, which equates to -1.5, -1.0, -0.5, 0 and +0.5 degrees respectively.