VikingTrad3r

Im super stoked to see all the track day threads starting up. Here is mine. Im new to it, started three years ago.


Based on one eyed ******* recommendation of the dynamic friction pads over the powerstop pads i thought id try them. Powerstop trackday pads work well but EAT ROTORS. 3 sets of front pads ate two front rotors. huge lips. ive kept thrm and will find a way to grind the outer ring lip off.

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so installing dynamic frictions for tomorrow:

first snag: i felt by the end of last season i was getting everything out of my j55’s....these are grandsport j55’s.



its the upper caliper piston seal



must have cooked them last season. drove a very dusty track first run of this year and i can see plenty of that dust in there.

will install the factory j55’s back on the car for tomorrow. picked up a spare set of steel lines i think ill swap them on and pull these gs calipers out for a rebuild!

I came close to *not* inspecting my brakes before tomorrows session. This is a good example of why you need to!!!!

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picked up a garmin catslyst and look forward to trying that out. will try my best to get video from the session so i can keep up with some of the other guys sharing video on here. 👍

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on second thought i may scab a seal off an original j55 as i can see the gs j55 are infact quite a bit beefier than the j55. pics for your pleasure.


from this angle it’s mostly the rib thickness and ticker reinforcement on the top and bottom

from this angle its easier to see the added material on outboard side. the side that gets pressed into. i think this is the side that spreads under hard hard use.



*edit: turns out my rear driver side caliper seal is buldging like a balloon at the top of the piston. sooooo......i dont have a spare set of rears.

I have already placed the order for both front and rear seal kits.

I guess this means i am almost maxing out the j55’s. next i guess will be spreading them.

track day for tomorrow looks like an unsafe idea given two of four calipers have obviously overheated and i do not have a spare rear anyway. booooo

edit 2: so i googled it and back when c4’s were being raced all the time in 02 ish there are heaps of racers saying they burn up the j55 dust seal all the time and continue to run the racecar with no ill efects. they do specify when you push the caliper back in you be sure to give a good sudsy wash to the caliper so u do not push junk in before you have time to replace dust seal.

sooooo i cleaned it up and im running it tomorrow.

Ray Quayle

Ryan, are those the brakes you got from me? Hope you’re getting good use out of them.

MatthewMiller

Keep in mind that on these calipers there is a dust seal and a separate pressure seal on each piston. In the pic below, the larger/thicker seal is the dust seal, and it's the one you see when the caliper is still assembled. The thinner "o-ring-looking" seal is the pressure seal, and it's down in the bore as long as the piston is still installed. It's the pressure seal that keeps the fluid in and keeps the caliper working well. If the caliper is not leaking fluid past the piston and the piston is still retracting properly into the bore, then it's functionally still good. They still function fine without the dust seal, although of course you risk exposing the piston and pressure seal to dust/dirt that can degrade it. I'm not telling you not to rebuild these calipers. The thing is, I think that dust seal is prone to melting during track use, so I'm not sure how long even a freshly rebuilt PBR will keep it intact. I guess I'm saying don't let a degraded dust seal ruin a track day...and maybe learn how to replace the dust seals quickly, because if you do track days you will probably be replacing a lot of them!

VikingTrad3r

Yes my friend they sure are. I have worked them very hard, and they have been fantastic.

i am a huge fan of the j55. simple and direct fit.

i think most people put brake upgrades beyond j55 far far before they get thier driving abilities beyond j55 capabilities.

the gs j55 u sold me i originally had on my 86 4+3. 100% stock base car other than your j55.

in that cars case i had one seized base caliper so may as well get j55.

when i picked up the z, i ran the first year with the normal j55. then sold the 86, kept the gs j55. i wanted to get steel lines onto the z as i was running 30 year old rubber lines. i just swapped the gs calipers onto the z as u sold them to me with steel lines. i didnt notice any difference in braking but that was 2yrs ago and my speeds were lower.

really looking forward to comparing the dyn fric to the ps pads today.

Z got a wash en route today



stock 91 Z

it was dirty anyway

3hr drive to track. be prepared.

VikingTrad3r

Thnx for chiming Matt. i found what you said here in my research last night. so yep i signed up and im en route as we speak. 👍👍👌👌😎😎


parts are ordered so we can compare how long the fresh seals last later this season.

VikingTrad3r

pid say the dynamic friction pads are BETTER than the powerstop trackday pads. marginally but they are better. at least my top speeds are higher and thats the only thing i changed.

my 3 year old nitto 555 are worn bad. anyone know where i can find zr-1 sizes in the nt01?





looks like i lost a center cap today. booooo.
the dynamic friction pads PRODUCE AS MUCH DUST AS ANYTHING ELSE. oh well.



ha. as i was taking the pic a nice guy in a white subie informed me it came off btwn turn 1 and 2. now i have to see if i can find it

MUSTANGKILLA

Love to see em go do what they are bread for !!! I’m also looking at new pads this year. So I penciled down DF’s you suggested and now have tested . I was going to go with the EBC yellow stuff ( but ☝️) I’m about to do some due diligence on your suggestion. Heads up gentleman …. I will have a full set of j55’s ready for a new home here in a few weeks when I install my ( new to me ) SSBC 4pots I got from a forum brother . ( thanks Rick ) fresh set of Hoosiers for all four corners on Black A-molds ready to go on !!!
Thank you for taking us Racing with you !! Hope you find the center cap . Be fast 💨 stay safe !!! Oh, shoot , I was going to ask about your fluid ? With the rears ballooning did you cook it ? If not , what are you using if you don’t mind me asking .
GOD bless ,
Robert

VikingTrad3r

cool im interested in how you find those calipers. For brake and clutch fluid, I use Motul 660. It’s getting kind of pricey. For oil, transmission, and rear diff our use Amsoil. I think Amsoil must be a network marketing gig. I buy it from a guy out of his house! the fluids have been awesome. For power steering fluid I use synthetic ATF. For coolant I use Prestone 50-50. there’s nothing special about any of the fluids are use, no particular reason, with the exception of the Amsoil in the zF6. That has always worked well for me in the zf.

track day up in Edmonton Alberta at red torque raceway was awesome as usual. The ZR one held up perfectly as it always does. These cars are like anvils. The Garmin catalyst which was a Christmas present might end up being the best thousand dollars I’ve spent so far!

I really need to get new tires, new bushings, and fresh FX three suspension. If anyone knows where I can find a set of Moraca FX3 shocks, I will buy them! I have not been able to get BilStein to commit to custom valving.

We did find my centre cap after it had been run over a few hundred times. I will put it on the wall as a decoration. It was in three pieces

I got five sessions of footage using the Garmin catalyst, I will figure out how to extract those videos and then upload them to a YouTube channel. Thanks again for all the new track day threads on here, they inspired me to set this Garmin up and actually take some footage!

MUSTANGKILLA

Congrats on the new Garmin catalyst !!! Let’s see some pictures!!! Motul 660 is amazing stuff , I run the 600. Annnnnnd you can never ever go wrong with Amsoil anything !!! Super glad that the “King of the Road” is still takin Names
💪🇺🇸💪!!! I’m excited to get out this year also ! I have about 50 miles on my new Golen 396 stroker from last summers project . I did the Dana 44 swap also. I just bout Performabuilt’s Dyno tested and guaranteed for 700 hp at the tire 4l6Oe. It’s sitting at my local trans shop waiting to go in tomorrow!!! 3200 stall also !!! I have to get my mallory box on for nitrous timing and I just got a new TCI pistol grip gate shifter to go in also . Little stuff and I have a brand new monster !!!! I’m stoked . The calipers came from Rick here on the forum , he sure did me right !!! I googled the Dynamic Frictions ( pretty dawg gone good secret ) I’m gonna go with them on all four corners also 1/2 the cost of the EBC yellows . From what I read and your rubber meets the road thumbs up 👍 I’m sold ( thank you sir ) . I hate to tell ya the deal I got on the Hoosiers and Amolds , because I know your looking . Let’s just say , I’m still smiling.

As I wrote on an earlier thread today “ On the 8th day , HE created Bowling Green !!!”
💪🇺🇸💪. Thanks again for takin us to the track brother !!! And the awesome advise ! Be well Amigo !
GOD bless ,
Robert

VikingTrad3r

So here is my 1991 ZR-1 full stock including bushings shocks everything. I do like the tone of this engine and will see if there is a way to improve the engine sound captured in the future vids.

This is the beginning of my third season. Weekend Warrior, the usual. Don’t be afraid to hurt my feelings with pointers and tips.

200 or 100 tw tires coming soon. Currently on nitto 555’s

first video:





second video: had some trouble when tried different shifting into the kink.







i found out what the clunk was: sway bar end link rear ds bushing left!



clunking noise and distict change in “flopping over” feeling



funny cop story today. at these trackjunkies events all cars need a number.

well the rcmp (canadian cops) called me on the way home this evening..... i wanted 55. it was taken. so i did 505 with tape. which........looks like SOS ......and someone on the highway called rcmp saying “there is a guy in a red corvette with SOS taped to his window”

lol!!!



i guess that looks like sos?

MUSTANGKILLA

Hahaha , great story !!! Glad the public answered your cry for help !!!! Dang , that LT5 is putting in work !!!! Sounds great!! Nice driving my friend !!! I only heard tire chirp a couple of times . Those Nitto’s grab nice . Great Car ! Excellent driving !!! Awesome video’s !!! Five Thumbs straight up !
GOD bless,
Ribert

VikingTrad3r

what im finding toughest right now is consistency.

my lap times tend to vary by 2 seconds which is alot.

until i saw my own driving from the garmin catalyst ...for the first time which was yesterday.....i dont think it had absolutely sunk in that the difference of 3feet off line into a corner or a little twitch of the back end just nickels and dimes a persons lap time.

conceptually yeah but in practice was not grasping the significance

KnightDriveTV

I've been considering the garmin unit. Its nice to see your overlay and video quality, etc. Is there a way to add rpm/brake/throttle or obd based data? I asked Garmin and they don't respond.

VikingTrad3r

yesterday was my first day so im not a power user yet. its a breeze to setup, “it just works”. ill be getting my wife one too. she cant havemine!

i can tell there is alot more car here than i am currently driving, id say another 3 seconds at current setup before the tires become a bottle neck.

i wouldnt hesitate on the garmin. you can always resell it to regain 75% of your purchase price if you dont like it.

VikingTrad3r

neither my “complete” superpro nor my “total kit” prothane kit, both on the shelf, do not have a sway bar end link bushing included. looks like for this weekend ill be borrowing an end link of the coonvette.


and i found this great video of heel toe on a c4. if deanotorious is on this forum, i appreciate you posting this vid.

VikingTrad3r

So the “race shop” that i have been buying tires from, refused to carry out an alignment on my ZR-1 yesterday. They charged me a “custom alignment “ and then told me they couldnt remove any shims.

This has happened twice now with two different shops.

Im not the kind of guy who is going to rant over it to them, but it now demonstrated that if you want to get into tracking your car, you will need to gather up your own alignment gear. Which doesnt have to get that complicated will ultimately cost me less than the two failed alignments that i have so far paid for.

i plan on following this thread:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...nt-method.html


seeing as there are a few of us who recently started up threads here about tracking a c4, i will try to make a video about my journey to “get camber”.

I see @yakmastermax has certainly achieved some camber at least in the rear. did you also adjust toe and caster?

I wonder what we can do as far as driving to and from the track? For moi, i drive 3hrs each way to the track. crazy i know but we are getting a local track again so that should end soon.

A dedicated track/race car is different and im sure a person would have a trailer at that point.

MatthewMiller

I guess that shop has no idea how to align an old-school GM front suspension that uses shims. It used to be that literally every car they made (and many others) was done that way. Pathetic!

If your car still has stock suspension links front and rear, then I doubt you'll be able to get enough camber to worry much about tire wear. Up front you want all the camber you can while still keeping around 6-deg caster (camber takes away from caster range and vice versa). My guess is you could get maybe -1.5 at most. Zero toe is good. In back, if you have the stock camber rods and eccentric adjusters you may not even be able to get -1.0. Max it out to whatever you can get and put toe around 1/16" in. Those eccentrics are prone to slipping and losing your camber, even if you torque the hell out of them. If you are willing to replace any suspension pieces, you can get rod-ended camber rods that ditch the crappy eccentrics, and then you can get all the camber your heart desires and the settings will never slip. That's the one place where aftermarket links make a real difference.

If you have less than -2 camber front and rear and the toe is what I recommended, then you won't have bad tire wear driving to and from events.

VikingTrad3r

Appreciate the comments/instructions Matt.

A friend directed me to the afterdarkspeed website and i saw the solutions to the stock setup limitations there. i think ill do it all including the front upper a arms.

yakmastermax

I had my alignment done by some guys at Firestone, no shade meant but they just sorta went at it I assume without much attention to detail.

I am not sure how they got the -3 degree rear camber, but IMO it is too much based purely on aesthetics. It might be good for the track but it tucks my 315s a bit inside the fender and I wish it were flush.

Attached is my alignment sheet!

MatthewMiller

After Dark is a good source for these things. Banksi is out of business now. You can certainly do their whole rear setup, but the camber rods are by far the most important upgrade. For the front they don't have replacement links/arms, so I assume you're talking about their shim kit? I honestly don't think you'll need that, because for each UCA you're going to probably end up with no shims on the rear bolt and enough shims on the front bolt to get the caster you want. On these cars, the shims push the UCA out and reduce negative camber, whereas you're pretty much trying to get all the negative camber you can. Also, you can get different thickness of the "conical spacers" that go between the shims and the control arm shaft, and you may want to get thin ones to pull the UCAs in as much as possible. A few years ago I found a variety of them on ebay.