Carbon Fibre Canards

Picked up some cool CF canards or side spliters for the front bar, have to pull my finger out and install them. (there are two of them just didn't take a photo of the other one)

Wrong Rod Ends and DL1 Sensors

Bit of an update, the rod bearings were the wrong thread size so have to take them back and get the right thread size. Quiet frustrating but hopefully will be ok except for another wheel alignment being then needed but will set it up for the next track day at the same time rather then doing it twice.
Andrew made a better mount for the DL1 for me and added in TPS and brake switch which will be handy to see throttle control through the corners and combined with the G sensors pick under/over steer up easier.
Need some new discs as the rotors are about stuffed, went to Tony @ V-Sport who no longer works there but aparently DBA don't make the curved vein rotors and only have the kangaroo paw. Not sure about these as have had some previous bad reports on the design but becasue i have the hats it means i need to either suck it up or buy another brand and pay the extra money for the hats and donunts.

Rod Ends and Dyno Day

Have not done much since the Oran Park track day but have a few things to try and sort out, has been difficult with work and EOFY.

Have to fit the rod ends which Unique Autosports got for me, they are a chrome moly 14mm teflon coated type used in motorsport. I am hoping they will do the job and i won't have any issues like with the Kazama ones, John sorted out some good prices as well considering some of the other places wanted close to $200 each for them.

Pro Photo Shoot - Amazing shots thanks Chris and Kevin

Chris and Kevin last week took some photos of the car at night and i must admit the results are amazing, both of them have a real talent and the photos are better then i expected.

Here is a couple of the photos that they orginised,

Resized to 87% (was 1024 x 739) - Click image to enlarge

Oran Park Grand Prix (GP) Circuit - PB 1:19.69

Went to Oran GP last weekend and had a good day, the unique guys could not get the bearings in time as the vendor was bringing them over from the states which was a bummer but they arranged at cost to them to ship in another type to make sure I was ok for the event. I was pretty impressed.

New Steering rack and replaced Kazama tie rod ends which were bent!!!

A bit of an update,

Had some issues for a while when after pulling the car off the trailer noticed what I thought was oil coming from the driver’s side, now originally I thought it was the remote mount for the oil cooler and filter but noticed the driver’s side steering boot was damaged.
The Passenger side one had been replaced when the car was last at Powerplay as when it came up for rego the car got knocked back because of play in the passenger side wheel, I thought this was the hubs but it ended up being a shagged relatively new Tein tie rod that had gone mainly because of the boot was damaged on the passenger side.

The passenger side boot was replaced along with a new tie rod and got it passed rego and the car hasn't done a lot since, now after noticing the oil leak on the weekend I bit the bullet and got a new boot for the driver’s side and pulled off the old one and noticed it was not oil from the motor but power steering fluid.
Decided then and there to pull the rack out and arrange to get it rebuilt.

When I pulled out the rack I noticed the new Kazama tie rod ends the passenger side one was bent, they have only been on the car for two track days and have shat themselves.

Ringing around on Monday rang Pedders @ Blacktown and they quoted me just under $800, after I picked up my jaw from the ground I have rung around and was speaking with Martin a member in the NSCC who suggested Mr Racks @ Unit 2/ 20 Tucks R Seven Hills which is next door to Unique Autos. They quoted me $350 for a reconditioned rack and actually had one there already to go when I went there but as I had the different strengthened tie rods and had to wait a little bit for the new ends they thought it best to just rebuild mine.
(Should have just taken the reconditioned one but no silly me, more on that later)
With the tie rod ends I had the Kazama ones and they are ****, doing some searching there is a wide variety of spherical bearing ends and in various metal and strength types.
Passenger Side One Bent

New Bilstein Suspension Adjustable Dampning

I ended up going with the Bilsteins after much deliberation, i was so close to spending a little more and getting the Murray Cootes with remote canisters and separate bump and rebound adjustment but the main thing was ease of service.

The Bilsteins ended up costing me $4686 and i supplied my own camber tops, they have the adjustable shafts in them which allow me to change the range but not independent bump and rebound.
Front – Bilstein inverted monotube shocks in custom made front struts, with strengthened and braced mounting brackets, Eibach ERS main springs
Rear – Bilstein Monotube shock with coilover sleeve, Eibach ERS main and helper springs

The remote mounts for the Bilsteins were a further $2500 which i could not justify, these are made buy Murray Coote anyway.

Initial impressions around town are they absorb the high speed bumps very well a lot more then what i have experienced with japanese coil overs, impressions on the track are good and allow good consistant contact with the surface and the digressive valving on the front coil overs helps with hitting the ripple strips.
I have made a few changes with tyre size and alignment as well as diff ratios but managed a PB at wakefield on the weekend with a 1:06.5670 which i was quiet happy with, the car felt so fast and the first session peeled off a 1:07 flat and to come out with a mid 6 is so great.

Here are some pictures of the suspension and putting it in

NSCC (Nissan sports car club) Trackday @ Wakefield Video

Here is a video from the NSCC track day at wakefield

Decisions around suspension

Well been quite some time so thought i should do a bit of an update. The car has not moved much since the clevis plate snapped and after I got it back home I pulled out all of the suspension and after Christmas sent it up to Fulcrum to see if they can repair it.
There were quite a few problems that were not worth fixing with it so I have been looking at some new suspension for the car and researching around at different options. The original Teins from the report that Fulcrum gave had bent shafts in the front and rear passenger side's, the oil was burnt. The clevis plates needed replacing obviously and with the passenger side snapped and the drivers cracked. There was a fair few other things that needed fixing but just looking at the above I could have bought a new set for the price to get this fixed so was not really an option.

A few options for replacement suspension were DMS, Murray Coote and Bilstein from Heasmans as well as some of the high end Japanese stuff which looked quiet interesting. I will get some more details and when I finally make a decision and put up some more of the info etc.

Wiring the Race Technology DL1 and Dash 2

The dash has been taking quiet some time and basically has been ongoing since before the Autosalon and kids race day when the suspension broke so getting the shits and wanting it to be finished. The Kids race day was the first test for the dash and beside looking cool i didn’t get to test it out much.

Here is how the car has been since the Kids race Day.


Some of the sensors

Air Inlet Sensor just before the throttle body