As soon as it warms up a tad, I'm going to start giving the '03 Z a once over in anticipation of track days and other driving this spring, summer. I'm planning on changing engine oil and filter, tranny fluid, differential gear oil, spark plugs, spark plug wires, air filter. I've read the threads on oils, fluids, plugs, change brake pads and bleed the brakes and clutch, etc. Couple of questions:

1. What kind of spark plug wires would you recommend? Stock? Other brand? I've used Magnecor wires on other cars and love them, but don't know if they make them for the Z06.

2. Other than what's listed, what would you suggest as maintenance items? Not looking for upgrade suggestions unless it goes with changing some of these things or as part of doing routine maintenance. I want to drive the car as it is for a while, get used to it, and then figure out where I want to go with it.

3. I'm a little confused about lifting the car. I have a Snap-On scissor lift at home, which is a 4 point under car lift. It's rated for up to 9000 lbs, so I'm not worried about the Z on it. But I'm confused about lifting points. Read the other threads on jacking, etc. Do I get the "hockey pucks" and use the factory points on the rails? Hockey pucks on rear only, other pad on front rail points? The car is nice, I don't want to screw it up. Where's a good source for the jacking pucks at a reasonable price?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Steve

 

Use the stock wires... you are wasting your money upgrading. The only time you will have any kind of issue is if a stocker is broken. I have 55k on my stockers w/o issue. They're very short and with coil-on-plug ignition there is nothing to be gained form "performance" wires. I did pickup a 2nd set of stockers off of an '04 for $20 that someone on here was selling just in-case I broke a wire when swapping plugs.

It's great that you want to get used to the car before modding.

For the track/maintenance:
1. Drain and re-fill radiator w/ 50/50 dexcool and distilled water and 1 bottle water wetter.
2. Make sure air filter is clean (if dirty swap)
3. Check serpentine belt and carry a spare (main belt) to the track.
4. Change engine oil, run 1 quart over full at the track (if running HPDE's)
5. You can slowly swap the power steering fluid by taking all fluid out of reservoir w/ a turkey baster then re-filling. Eventually it'll swap.
6. ^ Do the same with you clutch fluid reservior... it helps to keep clean fluid in there. I have a remote bleeder line so I can fully flush it, but short of installing one, the drain/re-fill works ok. To fully bleed the system with the stock setup you must pull the center section of the exhaust and the tunnel plate.
7. Swap trans fluid to synthetic ATF.
8. Swap dif lube to synthetic.
9. Swap brake fluid to good high temp fluid like Ford HD or Motul 600 etc.
10. Make sure brake pads have at leas 1/2 thickness.

As you get more advanced:
1. Seperate set of advanced track pads
2. Front brake coolers
3. Wrap tie rod ends and ball joints with heat tape (you should do this now actually)


That's all I can think of for now.

The minimum for the track is fresh fluids... but lowring the car, a performance allignment, and some good pads can make a world of difference.

 

Except I'd get the DRM front brake cooling ducts and LGM spindle ducts now. Newbies have a tendency to over use the brakes leading to fade even if you have good fluid.

 

http://www.eliteengineeringusa.com/jacking-pads.html

Elite Engineering products are great.

Jeff