Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Million Dollar Bumble-Bee


I had an appointment in Beverly Hills, just off Rodeo Drive yesterday so I took a detour to take in the sites. Rodeo is a treat in itself but also pretty cool if you’re into cars. All the big marques parade back and forth driven by the usual characters that know the price of all but the value of none. Either way it's good fun. While walking to my appointment, I saw a crowd milling around a car in front of the Bijan store. The store is named after its founder, Bijan Pakzad who is quite a mogul here in LA with billboards displaying Mr. Bijan’s smiling face and his flagship store taking prominence in the middle of Rodeo. Take a peak through the shop window and you’ll see why Bijan has the envious title, at least amongst his peers, of the most expensive store on Rodeo Drive. Well I crossed the street and this is what I saw:

A yellow and black Bugatii Veyron, yup yellow and black!

You may be asking “what the French toast, of all the colors, why would you spend $1 million on a car and order it in yellow and black?” Well yellow and black happens to be the signature colors of the Bijan brand, a brand that does not cater to the shrinking violets of the world but instead to the loud and brash captains of industry. The Bugatii looked great and upon closer inspection I could see the Bijan signature on the left quarter panel as well as what looked like the face of a Venetian Lion on the front hood of the car, painted to display a shadow effect behind the layers of gloss black paint. I’m sure I’m off here on the lion motif, if you're reading Mr Pakzad, please feel free to correct me. Again not the colour I would have picked but since the car is a promotional piece as well as one of Bijan’s personal rides, there must be a tax break in there somewhere, so I can appreciate what’s behind the thinking. Watch out for the Club Sport Z in black and green….not. Irrespective of the color, the car looked great. Heck, yellow and black, make mine neon pink I’ll be driving it around with a smile on my face.


Friday, October 15, 2010

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Last clutch fix.

With the new flywheel and clutch in place it became painfully obvious that it was time to replace the clutch master cylinder.
While in traffic the clutch pedal was not retaining pressure and would stick close to the floor requiring me to kick it back up with the top of my shoe. After reading the message boards, another common 350Z issue is for old hydraulic clutch fluid to go beyond its heat rating, forcing the OEM rubber clutch line to expand in stop and go traffic. This would occur due to the positioning of the clutch line next to the exhaust manifold. Both issues were causing clutch pressure to drop so it was of to the shop to have this taken care of. Greg at Specialty Z had the master cylinder ready for me and I purchased the stainless steel line from Techna-Fit, a high quality local builder of “fluid delivery systems”. Greg wrapped the line in heat-resistant tape for an extra measure of security, bled the old fluid and replaced it with ATE Super Blue high temp hydraulic fluid. The difference is night and day with the pedal travel allowing me to smoothly transition from one gear to the next.
With these minor mods I have increased the performance of the Z by creating a more robust clutch system allowing me to push the Z a little harder when the time calls for it. Well that’s it for the drivetrain mods; lighter flywheel, performance clutch, stainless steel clutch line with heat shield along with high temp hydraulic fluid. I’m now ready to focus on other areas of concern; brakes and engine management.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Buttonwillow

Well my target track day came and went. Work and life seemed to consume all my time but I’m not too bummed. I’m shooting for the next driver’s clinic at Buttonwillow, on December 18th; same format of HPDE with instruction. The months of October and November will allow me enough time to determine if I’m running lean and make the necessary adjustments as well as swap out the brake fluid and replace the pads and lastly save up my pennies for a quality helmet. Another notable announcement; I just hit 41,000 miles so I’m averaging 1000 miles a month since I purchased the car in January.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Differential 101

Also known as how to convince your better half that you need a Limited Slip Differential. Got this from the guys at Crank & Piston