DarkMastyr

MungoZ06

Thanks for taking the time to organize and present a very well-structured discussion of the "slippery slope" of track addiction ...
Yes ... Moderator - please sticky this ...

GettReal

Great write up, I have the attn span of a knat otherwise I'd love to contribute my experiences in detail.. Heres my list, not in the order I did it but this is everything I have on my car now and the order I would do it if I did it all over again:

1) Bigger Rad, Oil Cooler, Power steering cooler
2) Front brake spindles, ducts, stainless lines and race pads
3) Roll bar, Seats and Harnesses
4) Accusump (C5 guy)
5) Poly Bushings, sway bars and end links
6) Coil overs
7) R-compounds
8) Engine Mods
9) Drivetrain Mods

Lots of little things like catch cans, engine mounts etc, but not really needed.

I am now in break=fix mode... time will tell what my next mod is, just waiting for my car to tell me.

Steve

sperkins

Zenak

Ok have made many changes... hope the fixes, upgrades and added bonus material helps!

rgg16g

Could you explain a little more about the difference between the two kits. From the pictures they both appear to send the air directly into the center of the rotor. You say the Quantum sends air into the HUB, but a hub is sealed, do you mean the center of the brake rotor?

QUIKSILVERZ

great writeup! i am looking to do my first open-track event in my bolt-on 02 z06 this year and this thread really helped with some questions i had. thanks

conecrusher

Thanks for the great write-up.... lots of great advice!

Zenak

THe ECS kit send the air as a tight circle directly to teh INSIDE fire path. Meaning it cools right on the actual path where the brake pad heats the rotor. This is a fine and simple solution for lets say AutoX or 1/4 mile cars. You get time to cool btwn events, and you are never scrubbing off speeds over lets say... um.. 140mph :-P

The Quantum kit send the air towards the hub area, and seals the air from leaking out. It gets some to the rotor also, but the air then flows form the center hub area to the center of the rotor. Most rotors are veined to allow the air to flow form the center outwards. This seems to cool the brakes more evenly inside & outside. Thus less assymetrial cooling of the metal and less warpage / craking.

THis only really matters in cases where the brakes get REALLY hot and tortured without tiem to cool down. ROad racing is the most common case. Where you have 20min to an hour or more on a track, with HIGH speeds and high friction high heat race pads. Rotors will get hot enough to need pads that can handle 1200-1600F in some cases! OUCH!

Going from 140mph+ to 60 mpg in 300 feet just can be bruttle! This means if you cant cool teh brakes, they can glaze and lose friction.

LIek I said though this never really happens in Solo Auto X or 1/4 mile applications where the ECS kit I think would be overkill even for most people.

FYI as of today I have my ECS kit for sale cheap. it worked great the first season even on teh road courses until I went to cobalt friction/carbo tech pads and really started to go fast fast.. and break deep and hard.

cjlaw73

First off, this is an excellent write up!

I second the insurance. I totalled my last Vette at Thunderbolt the 2nd day it was open. I consider myself a pretty decent driver and my instructor had told me after the crash that he was very surpirsed it happened as he thought at no time did I ever lead him to believe I would lose control of the car. Without getting into the details, I'll just say that I fall into the freak accident category at the one place on the track that walls are close by. I was fortunate that my insurance company did pay off the car, but it was a worrisome month awaiting the decision. My case also was reviewed a month after and I was told that if it happened again, not to expect such a rosey outcome. I was also very fortuante to have great people from friends at the track, to a great instructor, to great track officials, etc that helped get through that rough day. Would never want anyone to experience that.

I will be back on the track again soon, after my wife's heartbeat returns to normal, and I will be buying this policy. I'm sure the chances of this happening to someone are less than 1%, but this one percenter is not taking any chances.

I also was very lucky to walk away with nothing more than a 1-inch bruise on my chest from the seatbelt and a minor pain in my knuckle from hitting the windshiled as the air bad deployed. I was very surpised at how well a Vette holds up in a collision. If you had looked in my car, besides the airbags being deployed and the rear view mirror falling off you would have never known it was in an accident. However I know my head took a nice jolt by the size of the chip in my helmet - we still debate whether I hit my a pillar or perhaps the armco. Thus, besides a helmet I strognly suggest getting a hans device:

http://hansdevice.com/site/index.html

rgg16g

Thanks for the clarification, as I said before, I thought they were all (ESC, LG ect) routing the air to the same place but after your comments and closely examining pictures from all the different manufactures I can see how different the Quantum kit is. The only reason I'm hesitating on the spindle ducts right now is that I'm undecided on the brakes I will use next year. If I go with a BBK like Stoptech then anything I buy now might not function properly on the aftermarket brakes.

Zenak

Aftermarket BBK will not be affected by the quantom kit. it does not mount to the caliper at all. Changing calipers or rotor size makes no difference. the C5 kit is the same as the C6 and C6z kit as well.

Just make sure you get the whole kaboodle and not just the small duct that bolts on.

rgg16g

Typically a BBK with a larger rotor, say 14”, has a larger ID then the original smaller rotors, the ID of the new rotor will be larger than the backing plate from the quantum kit, therefore it won’t seal correctly.

Zenak

Updated information as of 10/2009. Enjoy my misery in $$ lost to learn what to do & not do all in one easy reference guide. :-)

Ms Eliz

dbirdz06

Wow lots of great advice in here. Thanks everyone!

XFordGuy

Great write up. I've already had to make many of the same choices.

One of my first track failures was a power steering pump bearing. It seems to be more common here in the south. The Z06 PS cooler isn't enough. TurnOne has a great replacement pump.

Zenak

Edited after install of the new bushings, ball joints, tie rods ends, and a replaced hub. My thoughts and observatiosn added, as well as a few tweaks in the whole thing after rereading with another season firmly behind me. Enjoy, come back and check in often, and feel free to post your tid bits i may have left out to add to future revisions. merry Xmas & happy new year!

rdwiv

Wow! Nice writeup. This is really good info and makes it much easier to find the best mod path for how you want to use your car. Thanks for the time you took to do this

Autobahn93

Thanks a lot for all your useful information. This makes it much easier for me/us and saves a great deal of time