ZonixX

soooo the first review is in the Brakes section

I thought it would be nice to share my experience with Ferodo DS1.11 pads in a structured way, so that this info does not disappear in my build thread. I had 2 sets of these pads and driven around 20k miles with them, including track driving. Not so common pad - with I guess - perfect braking performance.

Car:
350Z RevUp 2006, OEM Brembo calipers, stock suspension, tyres: Potenza RE050 + Michelin Pilot SuperSport 225+245/45  R18, brake fluid Motul RBF600, HEL brake lines

What I expect from my brakes:

Priority #1 = brake performance only, to withstand prolonged full braking cycles on trackdays and good characteristics on street

Priority #2 = pads with as constant coeficient of friction as possible - I personally don't like pads, which characteristics rapidly changes through operational temperature range

No priority = I don't care about dust and noise, price, will appreciate a pad that does not eat through discs extremely quickly

After considering several other alternatives, I decided to go for a full set of DS1.11 pads, as these are the only ones which on paper fulfill my expectations above. These are mated with OEM, high-carbon plain Brembo discs.

Theoretical characteristics:

The DS1.11 have the highest coeficient of friction out of the Ferodo range, designated as endurance racing pads only.

http://www.ferodoracing.com/products/car-racing/racing-brake-pads/ds1-11/

Bedding in:

These NEED to be warmed up between 500°C and 700°C, 15 cycles 50% up to 100% brake pressure. How I measured mine

Cold + street braking performance:

Big surprise. Even in cold weather close to 0°C, the initial bite is better than OEM pads. Excellent initial bite, NO spongy feeling and sub-standard performance, that I have experienced previously from YellowStuff pads when cold, for example.

Track performance:

I was never able to overheat these pads, they were able to constantly deliver a maximum of 1.5g (!) deceleration on a stock car from speeds up-to 120mph. I never had any signs of pad/brake fade. But due to their high coeficient of friction, a really good tyre is needed. On my first track day with DS1.11, I still had Potenza RE050's - these were incapable of providing sufficient grip during high-speed braking, which was very frustrating. Once I switched to Michelin Pilot SuperSports, the braking drasticly improved. The tyres were no more the biggest limit to utilize the maximum of the pad (under current setup, considering my driving skills).

If you use these as an all-round pad, they will have to be bedded-in again prior to full trackday abuse as light braking/street driving scrapes off some of the bedded-in material from discs. If you don't "rebed-in", the brake pedal is mushy and the absolute performance is, let's say, 1/3 lower under full, high-speed braking. BUT - once bedded in before track driving, they perform 100% again.

Durability:

Front pads life expectancy with my driving was at a maximum of 8-9k miles (incl. a couple hours of track driving), rear ones will last around 2x more. I experienced no pad disintegration, no matter the abuse they got - what is very interesting, even with a significant wear, with let's say 3mm material left, they still did not overheat. The OEM brake discs will last approx. 15k miles maximum with 1.11's.

Noise and dust:

Cold, and not bedded-in 1.11s are EXTREMELY noisy, especially during light braking within city speed limits. Pedestrains and fellow motorists will NOT be happy about the insane scraping, that these pads produce ...this is their biggest negative, that can be partially solved by braking later and more aggresively. They do produce a lot of brake dust.

...bonus photo, this is the abuse they received from me ...TLDR, I love DS1.11's

Amazing progress!!! Can't wait to see the whole ITB assembly

My experience with heat wrapping is positive - wrapped headers significantly lowered under bonnet temps on my ex car (V6 Mondeo). On the 350Z, I had two different decats, silenced Japcrap and straight ones, after heat wrapping them with the Japcrap Y pipe too, some of the vibrations and a liiiiiiiitle bit of high pitched noise disappeared. My recommendation would be: ...paint the wrap with something like DEI heat wrap paint, so that the exposed parts like Y pipe won't trap road grime and water. The paint protects the wrap absolutely, I did not have any problems with the wrap even after winter driving my ex car. Plus, no nasty smell after driving through a puddle, as the porous wrap would cook all the dirt it traps on the hot exhaust :D

Also, buy a decent wrap, cheap ones will get brittle and loose after a short period of time when exposed to high temps, no matter if you paint them. I had good results with the so called "titanium" wrap with goldish coloured weave. I never had to use expensive ones, like Thermotec.

Interesting, looking at the filler neck, how about cutting it off the existing rocker cover, then draw a suitable shape that could then be 3D printed and bonded to the OEM rocker cover?

Nice progress - let me guess, did the old Japsh*t Y pipe crack? ...mine did

No updates in 2 years - I should be ashamed!! ...let me fix this and post some of the more interesting stuff from the past two years. For now, the list of maintenance and mods in the very first post is updated.

Those 2 years since the last update were more than 35 000 kms, the Z now has around 88 000 kms (bought with 34k).

I will post individual stuff about the following 5 topics later on:

• my WiFi rear view/reversing camera that I use in my smartphone
  
• my experience with Ferodo DS1.11 brake pads
  
• Michelin Pilot SuperSports
  
• PU vs. OEM bushes in the compression/banana arms
  
• details on custom modification of my Cobra exhaust to an active, valved version
  

I have to do some photography archeology to find older pics from those 2 years so please bear with me for a while

what an epic project!! ))

aaaaw, that's exactly what I need PLEASE Lewis, could you post a video? :blush:

this is behind the rear drivers wheel, the rusty metal is holding a plastic deflector, part of the underbody aero... by the way, whilst cutting the metal piece - an excellent opportunity to get rid of the rust

Unbolt the cover, cut a small hole in it, refit

Have you done any suspension job recently, like changing springs, poly bushes etc? If not, the first thing I would check are the compression/banana arm bushings.

Has anybody succeeded in reading the oil temp data through some OBD2 app, maybe through adding a custom PID, or is the data read by the sensor not accessible by any means? I see that the sensor used is exactly of the same type as the one used to read water temp.

What a rare find! Have you been searching for this particular version, or was this a coincidence? Absolute beauty!!

How about Wavetrack?

I would like to thank Cougar Store for an excellent after-sales support! My Cobra backbox cracked - and this has been promptly sorted out via Cougar Store without any delays.

I simply cannot imagine a better service, THANK YOU!

I just had mine dynoed, I have a 2006 Revup, the only mods done are nonresonated decats, Y pipe and a Cobra resonated exhaust, everything else is bone stock, with ~45k miles on the clock atm.

[IMG]http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b639/ZonixX85/Mobile Uploads/Screenshot_2016-02-19-01-22-20_zpsgji2u0bs.png[/IMG]

[quote name='zippypooz' timestamp='1452880727' post='1574460']Ok, so did dyno run with Art Pipes fitted, heres the results...
[URL=http://s100.photobucket.com/user/350Zippypooz/media/IMG_8875_zpsdjffw6hl.jpg.html][IMG]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m29/350Zippypooz/IMG_8875_zpsdjffw6hl.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/quote]
I see you had your measurement done on a MAHA LPS300 too, could you please post, or send me a full dyno sheet? Many thanks!

I would add just one little thing, the track is overly complicated with lots of surface changes and bumps, really a one-way country road with many blind horizons, so be prepared for nasty surprises in them and in blind corners as well - also use your mirrors frequently and don't push it too hard ..you will love the Ring!

if you want ultimate braking performance and would be willing to live with very noisy brakes eating through your rotors quite fast, I can recommend Ferodo DS1.11 ...they are brutal

What a stunning build! Love it, thanks for posting so many pics

I have the CG Lock in both of my cars and absolutely love it. Sitting in a seat without one feels like not having a seatbelt at all ...great little device, helps with control and feeling of the car a lot

Richf, are you sure, that the exhaust, especially the decats part does ABSOLUTELY perfectly seal? Even a tiniest blow-by throught the gasket will cause a significant amount of noise.

bump, still searching 😃

Gentlemen, I am searching for a THICK, prefferably OEM carpet for the 350Z coupe's trunk/boot. The item would be sent to Prague, Czech republic, so if you have one for sale, I would welcome P&P costs quote. Many thanks!