Resources for someone starting out without a clue?

I am completely new to racing, and mostly lost. I'd be very grateful for any assistance and/or advice.

I'm getting my car sorted out, and it's mostly terrific now. I'm running a 1973 240z in ITS (hopefully ITE, too, in the future). Some of my issues are car-specific, some are racing general - everything from finding a cheap trailer to finding parts for my Z. I'm learning (and buying) EVERYTHING from scratch as I go along.

My most critical questions first:
- Where can I get a cheap transponder?
- Does anyone know of any inexpensive vehicle storage space in the East Bay that would allow me to work on my car during weird hours?
- I'd be grateful for any leads on parts for Z cars. I've picked up some of the links from other topics here on the board, but haven't found all the parts I'm looking for (immediate needs: upgraded distributor cap, heavy-duty fuel pump, shifter bushings).
- Cheap, reliable, race-friendly, Datsun/Nissan mechanics in the Bay Area for problems I can't handle on my own? (Particularly mechanics that would be amenable to teaching me)
- Any suggestions for beginner resources? Right now, I'm trying to get organized and come up with checklists for pre-race-weekend, pre-race, and post-race and figure out which tools are simply useful and which are essential. But I'm getting hung up on everything from selecting the right parts to selecting the right tow vehicle to how paddock space is marked.

Thanks!!!

Welcome aboard!

It is not likely that you will find a used cheap transponder. You better be prepared to buy a new one.

Join a Z club and surf various Z web sites to get a handle on parts. Buy your shop manuals and even try to get an old dealer's parts book so you can have all the part numbers!!

Frequent e-Bay.

Cheers.

Thanks for the welcome, info, and advice!

I bought my car thinking it was done enough, and I could concentrate on learning to drive this season. Ha-ha!

I guess my biggest challenge right now is figuring out when I need race parts rather than OEM - and then double-checking against the GCRs whether I can do that. I don't speak race mechanic-ese yet, and my street-car resources and knowledge are rusty, largely inapplicable, primarily outside of California - not much help here.

My new mantra "Just let me be running at the finish. PLEASE, just let me be running at the finish." I love small goals that sound impossible.

For the most part, it will be OEM. Bearings, brake rotors, seals and the like are in acategory of "consummables" (let's hope that doesn't include sheet metal and glass in your case!).

Race consumables would be brake pads (use race pads only!).

Many items are in an in between category, like struts where you might modify a stock strut to shorten it and put a coil-over sleeve on it but use a racing insert and race coil-over spring.

Batteries are stock and the engine is stock except it should be carefully built, balanced, match ported, etc, so it will not be "OEM".

Surf those Z sites.

Cheers.

For OEM parts, try Courtesy Nissan in Texas (www.courtesyparts.com) The counter guys there, if you call, seem to be a notch above the usual.

For some other Z high performance parts, try www.strictlyz.com Best prices I've found on Nismo brake shoes and Hawk blue/black pads for S30 applications.

Not sure what you mean by a 'upgraded distributor cap'. I use a brass terminal version from NAPA. Seems to work fine. I think MSA (www.zcarparts.com) has a high flow, low pressure, electric pump.

For shifter bushings I'd try StrictlyZ or Courtesy Nissan.

There's lots of links to Z specific sites on www.zcar.com

Ty

You must drive the orange Z with the black hood that was at Infinion last weekend. I wanted to stop and say hi, but I was way up on the hill busy with my own car ( I drive the blu/wht #30 ITS-Z car).

X-ring is right on the money with the places to get info and parts for the Z.

For your car, I would focus on getting the handling working and the weight down to minimum. Leave the engine alone.

When it becomes time to replace your 60-series Hoosiers (8-12 heat cycles), go with shaved Toyo's in the 50-series profile. I assume you are still running a stock open diff. That, combined with the tall 60-series Hoosiers creates too much gear to pull. Also, the Toyo's will last much longer and if you learn to get fast with the amount of slip angle they require, you will be much faster when you move back to Hoosiers.

The SF region ITS group is a great bunch of drivers that seem to respect each other's hardware and are willing to share information and track experiences. It's good to see another 'Z join the group.

You also may want to explore running with NASA HPDE group 4 to get some seat time. They run both days in a weekend, and you get 1hr 20min each day on the track.

- Todd

I guess I have a couple of things to add to Todd's post.

He's exactly right about 60 series tires and a stock diff. Even with 50 series, get a 3.90 or 4:11 gear set in there. The 3:90 set is easy to find and inexpensive. They are stock on 280ZX NA's and for sale on zcar.com frequently for $200 or so. Figure on $50 or so for shipping. Oliver at zspecialties in Washington would probably set you up with everything you'll need too.

As far as Toyo's go, they are a great tire, but in my experience they wear too fast if you don't have camber plates installed. The offset bushings just don't allow enough change to be optimal for the Toyo's. If you do have camber plates, then by all means get some.

If you have a spare set of rims, get a set of Falken Azenis Sport's for practice. Discount tire can get them in a few days, and charged me $76 per tire (205/50-15) mounted and balanced. No, they're not as fast as other tires but work great for practice or open track days and let you save your expensive tires for when you really want them. A set of stock 280ZX turbo rims (15x6) or even better early 300ZX non-turbo rims (15x6.5) is good for this purpose, inexpensive, and no one will care that you have an illegal tire/rim size during practice. The 300ZX rims are ugly, but hey, at $25/ea or so who cares. If everyone is behind you they can’t see your rims anyway http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/biggrin.gif

Finally, Todd is right about where you should spend your prep time first. Concentrate on making your car turn and stop well, worry about engine performance next year. A couple of exceptions to that might be adding an oil cooler, a new (not necessarily aluminum) radiator and an electric fan. You really don't want to overheat a Z engine.

Ty

Thank you all for the great info.

Yep, I'm the orange Z. I'm easy to find at the track - rarely miss a race at LS or Sears, either driving or working. SF Region is definitely top notch - although I'm a new driver (took the Ns off last weekend!!), I've been volunteering out here for about a year.

I'm watching schedules for NASA and unlimited laps, but haven't been able to work any of the track events in yet.

The Z came with the engine done (ported, etc.), stock suspension, stock differential in a box with a 4:20 on the car, and a couple of gremlins, and, um, 14" tires. I think the gremlins are mostly gone, the suspension is shaped up, and I'm planning to go back to the stock differential before the Laguna race. And, oh, duh, it's not a distributor cap I need, it's a coil.

Question on the practice rims/race rims: Since I'm still learning to race, I'm concerned about having too many variables in the car. I have very little seat time at all, have raced the car twice (once on the blown up engine and stock suspension), so I haven't had any time to settle into the car. Will there be much handling difference between the two sets of tires you're recommending? Would it be enough to throw off my learning curve as a driver? And, uh, nobody's staying behind me for very long at this point in my racing development, but who cares if my car is butt-ugly on 300zx rims? :-)

Thanks!!

Handling difference? Oh yeah. The RA-1's or Hoosiers will stick much better than the Falkens. The question, for a guy like me racing on somewhat limited family money anyway, would be to spend big money for tires to burn off practicing so I wouldn't have to learn two different tires, or 'put up with' better handling tires in a race to save some cash I could convert into camber plates or whatever.

I don't know how stuffy SFR is, never having raced there, but here in RMDiv a guy could run illegal tires throughout his entire rookie season (as long as he wasn't consistently winning http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/biggrin.gif) and no one would say anything. Everyone here understands that you have to sometimes make compromises just starting out, and running tires that would give you no time advantage to save $85 or more per tire may just let you on track more often. Seat time is the most valuable asset you can acquire your first year. In your position I'd run Azenis all the time for the rest of the year and worry about some better tires when you can get consistent lap times with what you have. Another thing to keep in mind, if you think someone is going to complain about 15" rims, is that you can use 14" Azenis, but they're only 195mm wide in that diameter.

On the subject of the stock diff, if it is a 3.54:1 I'd leave it in the box. That's just too high a ratio to be useful. If you want higher top speed at the expense of acceleration (for a track with long straights) get a 3.90:1.

Ty

How are you getting a 3.90 gearset from a 280zx? I thought the 240z has a R180 rearend and the 280zx has a r200. You can't run the r200 legally in a 240z.

I run hoosiers, 3.90. I have alot of spares for my z. 3 spare sets of rotors and pads. Two sets of drums and shoes. Three sets of front/rear hubs. 2 spare driveshafts, two spare sets of halfshafts. 2 spare diffs. 2 spare transmissions.

The 4 speed transmission is a weak point. Shift like its an eggshell or you will break shift fork pins.

Don't expect to race a z without constantly working on it. Its the little tweaking that makes it fast. Get yourself either egt guages or mixture guages with o2 sensors to make sure you get the mixture as lean as possible without burning things up.

And vent the front brakes with as many hoses as you can legally get away with.

Tom

Well Tom, you got me there. My car is a '76 280, and I suppose I never knew that the R200 isn't allowed in a 240. Mea Culpa.

Don't get me wrong, Hoosiers are great tires, I just don't think they're the best choice for a beginner, unless he/she has lots of spare cash to replace flat-spotted tires. Or maybe other beginners aren't like me, and learn very quickly how to properly modulate their brakes. I had a hell of a time with that, and in my first few races flat-spotted half a dozen tires, one time all the way to the cord.

Lots of spares are a really good idea. Especially transmissions. I've had pretty good luck with both the four and five (again, in my 280) speeds, but some of the other Z car drivers around here seem to go through them pretty fast. Fortunately, they're cheap and plentiful.

You can't have too much venting on Z brakes.

One quick question Z18: Are you sure your diff is a 4.20:1? I've never run across that ratio from Nissan.

Ty

I agree about the hoosiers. One braking mishap, a big flat spot, and a totally new tire wasted. When I first started, it was a set of hoosiers per weekend. Part of the problem is heat cycling. If you get one session on a new set and then put them in the basement for at least 48 hours, they will last 2-3 times as long. But thats still a very expensive, very short life.

Almost everything on the 280 is stronger.
I don't know about the 4.20 either. I think Eprod cars run a 4:34 or something like that.
Anything over a 3.90 and there go the stock valve springs.

We need to get more out of katman before he forgets about z-cars completely.

Tom

Well, I have my NISMO catalog here in front of me (you know, the one you can't order from anymore http://Forums.ImprovedTouring.com/it/frown.gif) and they list 3.36, 3.54, 3.70, and 4.37 for the 'early' R180 and add 3.90, 4.11, 4.62, 4.87, and 5.14 (!) for the 'late' R180, so I think that Z18 may have been misinformed about his diff ratio.

I'm not sure if have stock valve springs or not; I've never noticed any valve float. I bought my car partially prepped and if they're not legal I guess that right now I just don't want to know.

Do you think there's any chance we could pin Katman to the floor, pour alcohol in him, and suck his brain dry? Just a thought.

Ty

1) 'Early' R180s had a 110mm ring gear, and were used up until 7/76,which is well into the first year of 280Z production.

2) 'Late' R180s had 115mm ring gear, are were used beginning 8/76.
- Since the 3:90, 4:11, etc are only
supported by 'Late' R180s, this is the
diff of choice for 240Z racers.

R180's with 3:90 gears are extremely rare (unless built with Nissan comp gear$) Here in the US, they only came on the front of a 1983 Datsun 4X4 truck (built before June). It recently took me a year to find mine (Tom wouldn't sell me his...).

Demand for these should rise as the 60-series Hoosier guys running the 4:11 want to keep their gearing and move to 50-series (due to Hoosier EOLing the 60s). So if you want to invest in rare R180 futures......

- Todd

Well, in 2 races, I haven't flat-spotted but I've got Hoosiers, so I figure I'll worry about spending more on tires when the Hoosiers are dead (probably one more race weekend). The Hoosiers saw 1 race, then got stored for 2 years, so they were nice and hard and durable for my first race this year, and warmed up just in time for my gas pedal to wedge on the floorboard, which, oddly enough, didn't give me a whole lot of speed, just an opportunity to learn what can break *inside* the engine.

The diff - well, I'm going by what the PO told me, which was that it's a 4.20 from a Nissan pickup. I just don't know. Choosing and changing differentials is not something I've ever dealt with before. I'm strictly a maintenance kind of mechanic (and almost 10 years rusty at that), but I'm learning.

Some of what the PO did has caused me problems already, some of it just makes no sense. For instance, the engine was ported, etc., when I bought it, but it came with stock suspension. Before I blew up the engine, I was slipping and sliding and spinning all over the track. My second race, with a newly rebuilt engine and completely redone suspension, I didn't place (imagine that!), but I ran clean and fast enough to suit me (for now).

Tom, what are these guages of which you speak? Are they used in the mythical carb rebuild that I haven't had the courage (or time) to attempt yet?

NISMO? Nissan Insurance Sales Marketing Organization? I though they only sold BMW parts. Oh, wait, they must be the t-shirt company.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by x-ring:


Do you think there's any chance we could pin Katman to the floor, pour alcohol in him, and suck his brain dry? Just a thought.

Ty

---

Me drinks better sitting up, at least in the beginning.

"You aren't drunk if you can lay on the floor without holding on" - Dean Martin

------------------
katman

EGT: Exhaust Gas Temperature

NISMO: NISsan MOtorsports

Hang in there, every sport has it's own language.

Ty

I agree with Todd. Toyo's will work fine while learning to get faster, will last forever, and they are a lot cheaper. I've got a few used sets that I will let you have cheap. They are still good, I just got spoiled with Goodyear when I started running with SCCA.

For the coil, try a MSD Blaster 2.

Fuel pump... try a Holley. I've never had any problems with the one I ran for 5 years. I may have a spare if you are interested.

I also have several sets of Porterfield R4 front brake pads I will sell you at cost. Plenty of grip, heat up faster than Hawks, and are less likely to lock up a tire. Good until you get really fast, then go to the Hawk Blues.

I should the car fixed for Laguna Seca next weekend. Stop by and we can discuss anything else you need. I'm on my second race Z and have lots of spare parts.

Phil
240Z #17

Thanks for info, inspiration, and translation, guys. You guys really know your cars!

My niece ran street school in my car Friday and it ran fine THE WHOLE DAY. I'm so excited! Bodes well for Laguna next weekend (in spite of the small contingent of Z's entered).

Phil, Glad to hear your car is back up. If you don't carry all those spares with you, e-mail me to commence negotiations (tracy [at sign] webtracy.com). I may want to take you up on those tires ~yesterday.

(Edited in the interests of preventing spam.)

[This message has been edited by ITS240z18 (edited August 11, 2003).]