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So I just discovered that my Z1 radiator hoses (and the overflow hoses) are spotting. No discernable coolant loss, but an appearance upgrade that does this isn't idea. I've emailed their tech support to see what's up. Standard blue Nissan coolant. This might be my excuse to switch to the Mercedes/GL-05 HOAT yellow coolant.
Sounds like the same issue @goldbug was dealing with.
Sorry to hear you're seeing the same rad. hose spotting I've been dealing with @rotarymike Very curious to hear what Z1 responds with, hopefully they take care of you and send out some new hoses.
This current Z1 set I have is spotting but not nearly as bad as the previous sets; more so they're slight discolored with smaller pinhole-sized dots. I've given up and will be returning to OEM EPDM hoses for the radiator. My Z1 heater hoses are flawless though- after everything I've experienced I'm led to believe it's the lining of some of these silicone rad. hoses that is either a production defect, or just not made correctly to withstand the additives in the Nissan blue pre-mix coolant.
The white spots on the outside of the hoses normally shows a coolant leak and some overspray. The insides of the hoses do have a protective liner that make them long lasting against any type of coolant, but hot coolant can cause staining to the outside. I would check for any pinhole leaks that may be spraying inside the engine bay.
I'm sure most of their customers are idiots so they start here (Hello, IT: have you tried turning it on and off again?) but my message to them was pretty detailed. Not giving up, and it doesn't seem to be actually losing coolant (and I can't smell it when the engine is warm either, which is odd) but I didn't buy water separator sieves for an in-flight AC system... (actually, those are way more expensive).
Since I have some eyes on here now, is there anything like vinegar I can spray on the cam and front covers that gets rid of white aluminum oxide deposits? My engine looks like it was used as a boat motor.
So I had a few long drives recently and I've come to some conclusions. First - I took a really nice GT car and overshot the performance level I was looking for (chassis-wise). It did need to get lowered a tad, but the combo of 19" wheels and the resulting sidewall loss plus the 370Z Nismo red springs (and maybe the Koni yellows) AND the Hotchkiss sways AND Kumho near-competition tires... if I get onto a nicely paved road with twists and turns it is *AMAZING*. I could easily track it in the current setup and expect max traction for the platform. The problem: that is 1% of my driving.
On most of what passes for roads in South Carolina, it is downright painful to live with. It tramlines, it is super harsh over any flaw in the pavement, creaks and clunks, and feels like I'm in a wagon with no springs rather than a luxury performance vehicle. I get that you lose some comfort and gain lots of NVH when you increase performance on any system, but this is too much.
I put the stock Sedan 6MT Sport springs back in the rear. That's a little better, and actually matches the drop of the front Nismos. Now I can feel the harshness in the front discretely. I have 370Z non-nismo front springs which should give me some drop off OEM but also be WAY less harsh. Last option would be to cut the factory springs (don't worry, I have air tools and can cut them underwater to not mess up the tempering). Just need to find the time to do so. Also have a bent brake backing dust cover from changing out front bearings, so I need to beat on that to stop the squeal.
Suspension gurus, I'm asking for thoughts:
Base conditions:
2013 6MT sedan; Koni Yellow struts/shocks on softest settings; Akebonos with Hawk 5.0 pads & Z1 steel lines; currently OEM rear springs, front is 370Z Nismo on OEM perches/buffers; Hotchkiss bars, Whiteline front strut bolt/swaybar link, OEM rear links.
I do not really want to change suspension geometry like by using true coilovers if I can avoid it.
I'd like to keep the Hotchkiss bars if possible.
I want about .75 - 1" drop MAX.
Am I off base with thinking the 2013 370Z non-nismo springs will give me a more OEM jounce with a tiny drop?
Do I need to be messing with the Koni Yellow settings? When I've had adjustables before it was on a track car and so they were usually dialed up to 85% - 100% stiff settings. Also not this chassis at all.
Do I need to consider a softer front swaybar?
Do I need to give up on 19" wheels and go back to 18"s? (Currently on Coupe Sport staggered with 245 front and 275 rear Kumho PS91s - those will get changed to Continentals when they are done).
Swaybar issue, side note: The Hotchkiss bars are so thick even on the flattened ends that I barely get 1 thread through them and the nut (ie, sticking out of the nut when properly tightened) and they consistently loosen, including on the OEM link/bolts and with blue loctite.
@rotarymike While I'm not sure if my setup would appeal to your individual taste, I feel that it looks OEM+ and provides much better handling over stock while retaining most of the GT characteristics of the original platform.
-Swift Springs (slightly stiffer than OEM sport springs) on what eventually settled ino a slightly ~1.5 inch drop all around - this is the most I would want on the car. Manageable.
-15mm H&R spacers all around
-Stock sport struts/shocks that still perform well at 71K miles
-Stock sport sway bars, which because of the lower profile and wider stance, are more than enough to minimize body roll
-Michelen Pilot Sport 4S tires married to 18" inch OEM sport rims
-Strut tower brace on the front and rear lower power brace in the rear, which essentially minimizes shift between the two shock towers without the need to mount a shock tower brace in your trunk
-Upgraded Stoptech Drilled/Slotted Rotors and brakes
I'm actually afraid to replace my struts/shocks with aftermarket for fear that that I will lose the remaining characteristics from the OEM Sport suspension. When replaced, I will go with Excel-Gs since they are close to the stock sport OEM dampers, at half the cost.
This setup is great 75% of the time when I am in my incorporated town which takes great care of the roads, or on the highway.
But for the other 25% where I am driving on San Diego city's neglected concrete roads, I wish I could snap my fingers and return to the greatly dampened ride I remember from back when I rented G37 Journeys or Q50 base models when travelling for work. I have avoided so many cracks in the road, potholes, excessive dips and steel grating that extends too high above the surface for so long that it's only a matter of time before I miss something and break the UCAs loose. I feel that if I ever sell my car that I will need to host a short driving course before I hand the keys over to someone else, otherwise, the new owner will tear things loose from the bottom and destroy the front lip within the first week of ownership.
I fully understand why manufactures compensate for all these tradeoffs when building mass produced cars.
With what I have now, I wouldn't let my wife (or anyone not used to track cars) drive it. The tramlining and twitchiness are pretty severe, and you have to constantly wrestle the car to keep it in the lane you want, and when changing lanes hang on buddy. My only comparo would be to an early viper with NONE of the nannies.
I've hypothesized an oversensitive (or affected by the increased NVH) yaw sensor, the tires, the new scrub radius going from Duckfeet to Sport Coupe wheels... no idea. The definitive change was the Sport Coupe wheels with PS91s on them, but the old wheels were these cheapo 20s with butter-like tires... never drove it with the duckfeet. So I don't have an honest comparison.
I think my goal is about 20% additional stiffness over stock, no more. That should tighten it up enough to not wallow in sweepers (which it did before I started messing with it) but not be a buckboard wagon. And while I'd love a slammed car by looks and for actual performance driving, it isn't practical. Heck, my company Ford Escape has issues with some of the roads around here.
Random question spurred by driving today with the roof open: how far up is the comb-like wind diverter supposed to go with the roof panel back? IE, does it stick up above the metal roof at all?
Random question spurred by driving today with the roof open: how far up is the comb-like wind diverter supposed to go with the roof panel back? IE, does it stick up above the metal roof at all?
Yes, the deflector should pop up when the glass slides back to redirect the airstream. Here are some pics I took this weekend of the revised deflector I installed over 4-years ago.
I think my goal is about 20% additional stiffness over stock, no more..
Hey this is a bit late of a reply, but I just wanted to comment because I don't know if you remember my old thread about the Nismo springs. I saw that you went back to the Sport rear springs, which is a pretty good solution while paired with the Nismo fronts.
You mentioned that the front seemed too stiff but I don't think it's being caused by the springs, so it's most likely your sway bar. In my thread, my research (accurate or not, IDK) showed the Nismo spring rates to be either 8.1f / 9.1r or 8.6f / 9.3r, while in comparison the G37 Sports are 8.4f / 7.8r.
If you were to switch to base 370z springs, I'm not sure how it would ride. Spring rate would be softer, but the ride height is higher than the Nismos. So due to the added weight of the G vs Z, maybe it would ride at about the same height as the Nismos? I don't think it would be worth your time trying them.
I'm also running sways but I have the Eibachs, which IIRC are slightly smaller sized than your Hotchkis. Because of the moderate increase in rear spring rate from the Nismos, I thought I should set my front sway to the stiffer setting to compensate so that I wouldn't get too much oversteer. (that makes sense, right?) After driving on it for a long time, I'm pretty close to switching the front sway back to the softer setting because the ride is fairly harsh for daily driving.
I'm still happy with the Nismo setup though. It's a good compromise when compared to the Swift or other options due to it's affordability and moderate drop. I have a bit more wheel gap than I prefer up front because I'm still running on an older tire setup that I used with my previous wheels. Current setup is 235/45/18 on 8.5" wheels in the front and 255/40/18 on 9.5" wheels in the rear, but I need to upsize to 245/45 and 275/40 to properly fill the gaps.
Maybe part of your twitchiness is the 19" wheels and your tire setup too. Mine doesn't tramline at all and feels very stable, it's just a bit stiff over bumps.
I think you're on to something - the Hotchkis bars are super duper stiff. In conjunction with the Red Nismos, the front is noticeably stiffer than the Sport Sedan oem. I had the sway bar on with oem before I went to the nismos so I've got a solid comparison point. It rides like a buckboard - the smallest line in the pavement I can feel. We're talking the painted road lines feel like they're an inch thick.
I'm sure the Sport 19s contribute some, since it moves the steering axis and wheel centerline some. Oddly, with the older 20s that were on it when I got it, even though that was 8.5 front and 10.5 rear it didn't twitch like this. I'm also pretty sure it's tire related - plenty of folks have Coupe Sport 19s with 245/275 tires and no issues.
It's all about optimizing the system. Although I'd hate to do this, I might have to go to a lighter bar in the front. I'm not trying to make this car a track car LOL.
So I've not been driving the G much due to the company car. Took it on a 315 mile trip to go shoot guns with the CMP/Army Marksmanship Unit folks, and the last day on the way home to my buddy's house in Durham the heater hose connector cracked. I think right before I pulled into his neighborhood - when I realized what happened, there was some coolant coming out and steam, but the OBD dongle said the car was at 192F.
I had my junkyard bag but no really long pliers, so I had to get some of those. Destroyed a double-clamping OEM clamp but got the hoses out (didn't want chunks of the connector getting in there) and got a brass hose connector from Lowes as well as some asian blue coolant.
Hands mangled but it's fixed for now after road testing and suction bleeding. I'll bleed with the proper tool once I'm back, have replaced the hoses and the connector with a proper one (I've got the Z1 version).
Oh, out of order: before I left on this trek I swapped the Z1 radiator hoses that were showing pinpoints of coolant seepage back to OEM rubber, and installed this bad boy:
Supposedly Alcantara fake suede, red directional stripe, and a carbon (not a dip or wrapped) finisher. NOT a plug and play - to get it all to work I used parts of my original wheel, the new wheel, and one I had gotten from a salvage yard years ago in the idea that *I'd* try to wrap it.
So far, I like it. No more eating fries in the car though (tbh, no more fries for me ever).
08-10-2023, 04:41 PM
