turbowhistle86

iTrader: (7)

Guys, I wanna start auto-crossing my 02 Z28, not every weekend, but it would be nice to go out and have some fun 4 or 5 times a year. This car is an A4, and is not a daily driver, but I probably put 30-100 miles a week on it (nice weather only) so I am still somewhat concerned with street manners. What do I need to do to my car to both protect and enhance it?

the car currently has revalved Strano Bilsteins and no other suspension or brake mods. I WILL NOT lower this car, due to headers and true duals creating enough of a ground clearance issue, so keep that in mind.

Carlos01SS

iTrader: (4)

Swaybars will help too.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Might be best to talk with someone who autocrosses these things, and does it well. Now, where could you find such a person???????

turbowhistle86

iTrader: (7)

hmmm I read about some guy like that in GM HighTech the other day....but its probably just a fluke, he can't be THAT good. Oh well, I guess I will just have to search for someone else who is good at this twisty stuff. Sam, I will give you a call tomorrow...I'm trying to piece this together and get the budget set, so when the local spring season starts, I am ready to go!

NU_BLUE

iTrader: (4)

You might want to know what class you want to run in...
This may not be 100% of the rules but its close enough...

FStock?
They allow only shocks and swaybars and thats it......No aftermarket LCA's (Frt or Rr.), and no springs.

ESP- E-Street Prepared
shocks/springs anything else..No subframes (unless thats changed... )

SM - Street Mod.
Your budget is the only limit...Basically whatever you want. This is a big money class... I run in this class but only because I'm not removing my SFC's...

CP - C Prepared
Seen 4th gen Fbodies run this class though they are not anywhere close to street legal..Don't worry about it.

Given you mods list I'd say ESP easy just because of the headers...

Urban Legend

iTrader: (5)

You are saving a ton of money by talking to Sam straight away.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Just to add a few items:

In stock, you can only change the FRONT bar, shocks are open, but springs have to be stock, cat-backs, air filters (not lids, intakes, etc) are ok. Brake pads, fluids, wheel size must be stock.

In SP, not everything goes. SFC's are not legal (at least for now, that might change we don't know yet). Springs, bars, PHB, TA's (most), brake lines, headers, different seats, tuning, etc. are legal. Control arms have to be stock.

SM has some limits, but most are way beyond what most of us would do.

Get a rulebook, read it, ask questions.

EchoMirage

iTrader: (3)

ive lowered my car with headers, catted Y, and a loudmouth. dual would be easier to lower with. my exhaust hangs VERY low....almost so low its nearly undrivable. or used to be until i scraped enough to get more clearance. the shop who installed them did a pretty shitty job, i wasnt happy with it at all. that being said, you may not be as bad off as you think. i dont have more then 3.5-4 in. of clearance between the lowest point and the ground. speedbumps are of course off limits, but ive autoxd her twice in a shitty parking lot, and no scrapes. dont rule out lowering it a little at least, its probably not as bad as youre thinking.

Ironhead

If you are a person who has even the slightest competitive nature, you DO NOT want to run SM at anything more than the local level. Trust me on that one. Sheesh.

Now that doesn't mean you won't get beat in ESP. I'm still getting killed at big events, but now I'm getting beat by apples, not oranges. I know it's the driver now though, not the car. I can't tell you what a difference that makes.

I'll eventually fix the driver, but there was no way I was ever going to make the car competitive in SM for any amount of money.

z28bryan

iTrader: (7)

What do you need the true duals for? Go back to a normal catback and regain your ground clearance. The guy who built my engine I heard mention that true duals don't offer much of a big power increase over a catback unless you start pushing big power. I've got Strano springs and Kooks headers with cats and I only rub over really steep speedbumps or sharp hills. It scrapes the cats just barely

What have you done to the engine and for bolt ons? Cam or heads bumps you into street mod class.

turbowhistle86

iTrader: (7)

I don't care what class I am in....I will probably just run the novice class. I'm not going out there to try to win a championship, I just want to go out, have a good time, and beat on the car a bit.


I have true duals because I love the sound and it was done for free....BTW

Urban Legend

iTrader: (5)

Sure, not at the beginning.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

"Novice" classes don't exist everywhere, and when they do you can't run them forever. They are also based on indexes off of the real open class you car falls into. FWIW.

z28bryan

iTrader: (7)

You COULD run your car with whatever it has on it. If you have Bilstien revalves you probably have a decent setup. If your going to just have a good time and don't care about your time results you could run on snow tires with crappy shocks and springs

Though after going to a few events, I'm going to guess that you will wish you had the right mods so you can compete in a particular class like FS or ESP

turbowhistle86

iTrader: (7)

the local group I will be running in meets twice a month, and we run on an abandoned air force base...needless to say, the surface is bumpy as hell, since it hasn't been attended to in 20 years. They do have a novice class, but you are probably right....it will become addictive and then I'll want to start being more competitive. Right now, my interests lie in beating the pants off my dad and his new GTO.

EchoMirage

iTrader: (3)

if its a local group, it could very well have its own rules, and you wont have to worry about the SCCA sactioned rules everyone is crying about. my local club runs its own gig....has their OWN rules, NOT the SCCA ones. i have no desire or plan to get into the SCCA events, so i dont care what i do to my car according to that set of rules. no me, there is NO such thing as ESP, SM, whatever......theres A, B, C, D, E, F, etc etc. if this is the case with you and your local club, then DONT WORRY about the rules or classes or whatever. like you said, just go out and have fun, learn, upgrade how/when/where YOU want.

youve already modded your car....like i did when i started autoxing. i really doubt youre going to demod your car and put all the stock parts back on, just to run in some autox class that might meet once a month. if i was ever to actually join the SCCA runs and compete, i would rather buy another car, make it to fit in whatever class i want, and run that......NOT my weekend toy/driver/whatever you use your Z28 for.

again, if this is the case with your and your local club, just run what you want and compete in whatever class they put you in. what alot of people dont realize is when someone says theyre autoxing for the first time, chances are its not going to be an official SCCA event following their rulebook. 9 times out of 10 itll be some small local club with their own rules and regulations. just read up on what rules they put out, see where you fit, and enjoy yourself. worry about competing on a regional level later.

Ironhead

I did.

*shrug* To each his own.


Funny thing is, I was faster after I took that stuff off....

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Amen brother.

z28bryan

iTrader: (7)

Honestly, if I didn't have a modified engine I would probably cut off my subframe connectors and remove my ground effects and run my car in ESP.

Some clubs don't use any SCCA rules and some do. I run in an event that does. To each his own

z28bryan

iTrader: (7)

I missed the part where you said "protect it". Well for one thing, make sure you keep your eye on your oil and change it more often. I use 0w40 mobil 1 synthetic and change it after every 2-3 events, well before I get to 3000 miles. The long run will tell how well it works out. I started getting an internal engine knocking when I didn't pay attention to my oil. Keep an extra quart with you. I would not recommend 5w30 mobil one or 10w30 like the manual recommends.

I'm not sure if it happens on the later cars either, but I had the problem where oil would go up through my PCV hose into my intake. Either a catch can or a breather with the pcv hose removal will help prevent this. I'm a dumbass and haven't done either yet, but I've been keeping my eye on my oil.

Better brake fluid and changing it more often will keep your brakes running strong, along with good pads and rotors. I was getting power steering whine so I went with Redline PS fluid, and it seems to be pretty durable.

I can't think of anything else at the moment...