Looks like a good score. A friend down in Charleston decided to pick up a G37S not long ago, and between this and what he said about his, I'm taking another look at these cars.
Looks like a good score. A friend down in Charleston decided to pick up a G37S not long ago, and between this and what he said about his, I'm taking another look at these cars.
The G35 is still soldiering along. Still no wheels. They are supposed to ship tomorrow.
I tore into the drivers door to see what was wrong with the window.
It's a pretty complicated door. I've never come across one that had a removable steel panel to access the regulator and motor.
It does make getting to the inside of the door easier than usual.
It also looks like the gent I bought it from was a firm believer in sound deadening. Just about every flat surface in the door is covered with it.
The new window motor should be in tomorrow.
Sound deadening, while adding weight, does make the radio have to do less work to play over the ambient car noise. Less noise in the car = better stereo sound.
Great score Toyman. I've got a 350Z now and these two are very similar. Are you going to track this or only autocross?
In reply to Xceler8x :
It's going to see a bit of both. I'm not going to sacrifice comfort for performance though. I already have one car I seldom drive because it's uncomfortable.
Got the window motor installed this evening. Pretty easy job. Window goes up, window goes down. Success right?
Wrong. Put up all the tools, pulled the keys out, closed the door, window goes down half way. WTF? Open door, ignition on, roll up window. Ignition off, close door, window rolls down half way. berkeley...
Apparently you have to teach the new motor where the closed position is. So tomorrow, I'll pull the door panel again and see if I can teach a new window motor old tricks.
This is why I like old cars with manual windows.
Do you have to take it apart? On my BMWs that had a similar thing there was a procedure that invoked putting the window up with a closed door and holding the switch up for a few seconds and the down and back up and hold or something like that
In reply to Sonic :
Yep, the reset/learn button is on the motor itself. I won't have to pull the inner panel, just the door card.
As a bonus, it has a outstanding head unit in it. It's taken some figuring out, but I really like this thing.
More to come.
I have that same one in my Vette or at least one nearly identical. Came with the car. Overall it's pretty cool. You can connect a USB cable to the back of it, but unfortunately the one I have doesn't supply enough power for the newer phones to actually charge them while they are doing anything.
So, to update this again.
Window motor is reset. I pulled the door panel and after some digging didn't find a button. The picture on Amazon showed one but the motor itself didn't have one. A little more digging found a set of instructions for the aftermarket motors. Roll the window up and hold for 10 seconds. Roll the window down and hold for 5 seconds. That's it. I should have listened to Sonic.
Wheels have arrived.
They are rather large. Front end clearance is going to be very tight. 3/8" or less to the upright.
Tires are ordered. I didn't go with the latest and greatest. Sumitomo HTR-Z IIIs are going on it for now. They will be good enough. That will let me put some runs on the car without burning up $1000 in tires.
Since the hurricane is destroying everything I spent the morning working on the car.
Here is the total clearance on the front wheels.
Caliper.
Upright.
Koni Sports installed on the front.
Front LCA bushing might have seen better days so while it was apart it got a new control arm and bushing.
Now if the tires would just show up.
Can you run a 5mm spacer on the new wheels? Seems like you need a little room for a tire on there....
Have you checked how much thread engagement you have? That might determine how much spacer you're able to put on... or if you have to decide between a spacer with lugs on it or putting longer studs in.
I had similar clearance with 17x9 949's on the my TL, and 949 recommended I run a 10mm spacer... but I don't think there was anything "scientific" in that recommendation.
Once I get the tires mounted I'll check everything again. If things are too close, I have ordered a set of 5mm spacers.
The tires finally showed up today. A quick trip through the tire machine and presto...
I think the bigger setup looks better, but the new setup sure drives better. It will be interesting to see how they do on course.
So, at the last autocross, I had a guy codrive with me. His usual AS car didn't make the event and he needed something to drive. He used to have a 350z. His comment was he loved the car but it needed more tire. I agreed. At the end of the day, he said he had his old autocross wheels from the 350 sitting in the garage that he would give me. Through the SCCA delivery service, they showed up today.
Holy Steam Roller Batman. These things are huge!
On the right is a 245/45R18 on a 9" wheel.
On the left is a 315/30R18 on a 10.5" wheel.
That ought to get the power down to the pavement without spinning. Assuming it fits under the wheel well.
The fronts are a 265/35/R18. Also much larger than what is on the car now.
And they are colorful.
Rears,
Fronts.
They might have to get painted again.
Toyman01 said:So, at the last autocross, I had a guy codrive with me. His usual AS car didn't make the event and he needed something to drive. He used to have a 350z. His comment was he loved the car but it needed more tire. I agreed. At the end of the day, he said he had his old autocross wheels from the 350 sitting in the garage that he would give me. Through the SCCA delivery service, they showed up today.
Holy Steam Roller Batman. These things are huge!
On the right is a 245/45R18 on a 9" wheel.
On the left is a 315/30R18 on a 10.5" wheel.
That ought to get the power down to the pavement without spinning. Assuming it fits under the wheel well.
The fronts are a 265/35/R18. Also much larger than what is on the car now.
I will be interested to see how easily these are fit on the car
In reply to sleepyhead :
From what I have read, the rears should fit with no problem. The fronts should also fit but with the car being lowered I may run into problems. I might be searching for some coil overs or stock springs before the end of the week. Hopefully I will find out this afternoon.
Well they fit. Sort of.
There are a couple of issues.
Front brake clearance it super tight, even with a 5mm spacer. It doesn't hit, but there is zero chance it wouldn't hit under cornering.
Rear clearance is pretty good but the fenders would need to be rolled to run these tires and I'm not going to do that. I could put a set of coil overs on it and raise the car some but I'm not sure I want to go that route either. I could also run a narrower tire on these wheels to get some clearance. That's a maybe.
For now they they are in a stack in the shop while I think about it.
I sat down and read the STU rules this afternoon. I can't run the rear tires. STU is limited to a 285 tire so a 315 is out.
In the interest of more traction, I did pull the 265/35-18s off the purple wheels and mount them on my Traklite wheels. The purple wheels are only 1/4" wider than the Traklite but they are almost 5 pounds heavier. The Traklites also clear the calipers nicely.
The wider tires fit front and rear with a fair amount of clearance to everything. I think the next step is going to be ordering a set of 275/35-18 RE-71Rs for all four corners.
I might have a set of lightly used 245/40-18 for sale shortly. I'm glad I went with a cheap tire first time around.
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