260z How Does it Do? And, how does one do it?

[Ron Earp]

There is a 260z ITS car in my garage. Since it is there, I'm working on it getting it ready for tech next weekend and, since it is there and is a running car, unlike the Jensen, I place to race it at CMP in Feburary.

How are these things in the grand scheme of ITS?

I've driven it and it *seems* to have a reasonable amount of power. This particular car has been an ITS car since 1992 as far as I can tell and has run at a variety of tracks. It is built well, seems to have the right bits, and I'm just going through it correcting some issues and adding some safety equipment.

The motor is marginally larger than the 240z, but weight is up quite a bit too. How does one go about driving a Z car, in comparison to the only other car I've had on track, a Miata? Brakes are not up to Miata levels I'm sure, given the brake and weigh difference.

Thanks for any help,
Ron



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Ron Earp
http://www.gt40s.com
Ford Lightning
RF GT40 Replica
Jensen-Healey ITS
My electrons don't care if they flow through OEM wires, do yours?

[dspillrat]

HI Ron,
You'll have a blast with the car. I've driven a friends 260z several times, and handling basically the same as 240z.....
In my limited opinion, the 260 should rank around 5th-7th on the "cars to have list" Of course I enjoy bout any kind of zcar!!!!!
Can't wait to see the Jensen on the track.

david

[Joe Harlan]

Ron the 260 should be a pretty good car. I think it will be down a bit in W/P ratio to the 240 mostly because the OE carbs a not real great. Headers exhaust and yes a muffler will be the biggest gains in the engine area. The setup will be very close to a 240 depending on what tires and diff you run.

[Ron Earp]

How about driving it, any tips?

Braking, I assume I can't dive deep in the corner like I can with the Miata?

Trail braking? I assume the Z car will not tolerate such foolishness?

4 speed tranny? Difficult to use or does torque set you free? 4 speed would kill that Miata.

I don't know how the car is set up so I can't comment on turn in and understeer, but I assume it'll get tail happy easily? I like being loose so that I think will be okay for me.

Rear drums, do they do anything at all?

Thanks,
Ron

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Ron Earp
http://www.gt40s.com
Ford Lightning
RF GT40 Replica
Jensen-Healey ITS
My electrons don't care if they flow through OEM wires, do yours?

[dspillrat]

Originally posted by rlearp:
How about driving it, any tips?

Braking, I assume I can't dive deep in the corner like I can with the Miata?

Rear drums, do they do anything at all?

Thanks,
Ron

It'll brake with anything, with correct pad/shoe "carbotech" my choice...gotta swap out stock brake porportion valve w/adjustable to get drums to work. plenty of air blowing on front rotors, if more then 2-3 laps required at CMP or Road Atlanta.....as in most rides, smoothness pays off, on/off throttle and brakes...if in doubt mid turn, don't lift. CMP you'll need 4:11 or even 4.3 ...3.9 will work, won't need much of 4 gear. Enjoy!!

[Joe Harlan]

Agreed except Hawks are the pads to use. The cars are excellent on brakes be a little conservative until you figure out the brakes.

[kthomas]

Originally posted by Joe Harlan:
Agreed except Hawks are the pads to use. The cars are excellent on brakes be a little conservative until you figure out the brakes.

Which Hawks are you recommending and what do you mean by excellent?

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katman

[Joe Harlan]

I sell mostly HT10 compound to my guys. I have a few that like the blues(9012) I say excellent compared to a few other cars I have raced. They don't last like an E36 or a second gen Mazda.

[kthomas]

Okay, HT10's. I miss the HT-9 terribly for Z's. Ron, pray for tracks that don't need a lot of brakes. If you must come to a Road Atlanta or Road America, you'll need HT-10's up front, Carbotech Kaelite Metallic shoes in back, perfectly trued rotors and drums (we also cryo treated ours), a proportioning valve and appropriate tuning so your rear brakes ARE doing their share (if the drums aren't turning blue you don't have enough rear bias), and more air to the fronts than you can imagine. We ran a 3 inch hose to the bearing area of the hub (plus synthetic bearing grease of course), a 3 inch hose split to either side of the disk, and another that emptied into a fabricated shroud that went between the caliper and wheel that blew air to the outer diameter of the pads. We also ran the parking brake to make rear adjustments during the race. That was on a 240Z, I can't imagine how bad another couple hundred pounds of car will be at a place like Road Atlanta. Brakes are by far the biggest regular maintenance item on a compteitive ITS Z of 260 vintage. Best of luck, they are a hoot to drive.

Driving tips: The fast guys treat the throttle like a switch- its either a "1" or a "0" baby! And when in doubt, stomp on the gas, the tail end is happier that way.

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katman

[Ron Earp]

Joe, do you have the pads and shoes I need? If so, please let me know how to get in touch with you and I'll order up a set.

This car has a biasing valve and have the parking brake still connected. With any luck it has been setup right, but you never know. I'll drive it and adjust the thing so that the rears are doing as much work as possible.

Up front it has brake hats for cooling and I'll duct another vent to the caliper. Its already got air picks in the bumper, just no ducts to the caliper.

I'm looking forward to wailing around in it, even if I suck it seems like it'll be a fun drive!

Ron

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Ron Earp
http://www.gt40s.com
Ford Lightning
RF GT40 Replica
Jensen-Healey ITS
My electrons don't care if they flow through OEM wires, do yours?

[grayracer]

Fun car to drive? Yes. Competitive? Doubtful. Reason: an extra 200 lbs, low comp/EPA heads, sorry carbs. The only reason you can make competive power in the 240's are with the SU style carbs and an E31 head...even the E88 in a 240 will put you down by atleast 10-15 hp. The brakes are the weakest link...just make sure you duct as much air as possible to the fronts lest you find yourself with no stopping power after 5 or so hard laps.

[specialtyautomo]

competitive? Chet whittels 240z i now own was the its record holder at road atl till he droke this past summer in his e36. he lowered the record by 1 second but did not run under that at this years arrc. Oh yeah he won the arrc twice in that car. It is running an e88 head to boot. As far as brakes, went testing a barbers motorsports track down the road and I must say the brakes were perfect turning 1.43's on a green track. If you do your homework on the brakes the are not much of an issue. btw That 240z is probably the legal front running IT car I have seen.

[specialtyautomo]

pardon the grammer. catching the phone at the same time.

[JeffYoung]

I know folks get nervous about dyno sheets, but I own half that car and it came with dyno sheets showing 236 hp at the crank, and 210 ft/lbs at around 5500 rpm I think. Motor LOOKS legal -- flat top carbs, etc. But that sure sounds like a lot to me out of 2.6 liters.

David S -- car was the silver 260z run by Jim Dunn at others at Road Atlanta up until 2002. Ever see it race?

[Ron Earp]

Hey, is that the same car I own half of? Holy sh^$!

R

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Ron Earp
http://www.gt40s.com
Ford Lightning
RF GT40 Replica
Jensen-Healey ITS
My electrons don't care if they flow through OEM wires, do yours?

[JeffYoung]

Well, yes, once you actually pay me for the half you own, you will own half of it.

That's a joke.

[Joe Harlan]

Hey Ron, Yes I have pads shoes ect. I will be in the shop all day tomorrow. I just got a little lazy for a couple of days.

[Ron Earp]

Well, yes, seems I've been waiting on that part. I want to own the good half, the half that is reliable, and can't figure out which half that is until we get to the track.

Yes, the dyno sheets are somewhat strange on the car. On one hand the shop that did the build seems to be a respectable shop and all, but that is a lot from a 2.5L motor, unless of course it is a BMW 2.5L motor and then we're still short. Anyhow, as mentioned here those carbs are poor and after calling all around the country there was no good news on them nor any real way to do much about them.

Car doesn't feel like it has that much power but it does feel strong, however you can never tell just driving it up and down the street. Looks like the brakes are done right and sorted, I hope so.

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Ron Earp
http://www.gt40s.com
Ford Lightning
RF GT40 Replica
Jensen-Healey ITS
My electrons don't care if they flow through OEM wires, do yours?

[JeffYoung]

No, Mark gets the unreliable part.

Maybe it doesn't fit the "racer" mold, but a sectio on this web page where people could post dyno sheets so we could have decent baselines would be interesting. Of course, it could also be a disaster (fake plots...).

[Ron Earp]

No special section but here is a thread with the plots I converted from the text data on the printout.

http://forum.improvedtouring.com/it/Forum3...TML/000210.html



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Ron Earp
http://www.gt40s.com
Ford Lightning
RF GT40 Replica
Jensen-Healey ITS
My electrons don't care if they flow through OEM wires, do yours?