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The rear bumper cover was removed to reduce drag. At one point Mike experimented with some radically redesigned front fenders but, after one season, he returned to the factory fender. Photo courtesy of Skootermedia.
Another shot of Mike at Road Atlanta with Global Time Attack in 2014. While not having the power that his competition did, this was a great opportunity for Mike to extend his driving skills and enjoy participating in some of the best competion on the east side of North America. Photo courtesy of MotoLyric.
Under the hood of this 350Z, I think that the first thing that everyone notices is the intake. It's definitely not stock. This is one of SG Motorsports' prototype intakes and it works. There's a noted horsepower increase.The intake upper plenum is an SG Motorsports prototype that's proven to provide better breathing. SG Motorsports was a Canadian company that was skilled extracting power from Nissan's 3.5 litre engines (this company closed it's doors; On-Point Dyno is carrying on some of the work). Mike initially used the OEM cold air intake but found that it limited power. Cyrious Garageworks opened this up, and also installed a NWP Engineering 75mm big body throttle body kit and an UPREV GT MAF. However, as the intake was still in the engine bay Mike found that he was still suffering from heat soak and losing significant power. Working with Eric at R-Division and John Paul Ellis (whose Datsun 510 we've featured) at Stripping Technologies, the intake was enlarged to 4″ and extended into a cool air zone in front of the radiator, where a huge Vibrant cone filter is located. R-Division also installed a Koyo Radiator during these upgrades and this new combination eliminated the heat soak problems.
Fuel is provided by a Walbro 255 fuel pump and fed to the engine via R35GTR fuel injectors. SG Motorsports created a few sets of long tube headers. Mike has one of these rare setups on his car and it's combined with a 3″ Y pipe that then flows into a 3.5″ custom single exhaust. Tuned by Innovative Tuning on a Mustang Dyno the car put down 335 WHP and 278 ft lbs of torque.
The VQ35DE looks fairly standard. The intake snaking into the front of the radiator is unusual. The tinfoil on the power steering resevoir is part of an effort to reflect heat and keep the fluid from boiling. Most of the plastic shrouding/covers have been removed as being unnecessary.Mike is analytical and very intense when he reviews his track results. He is up front in identifying driver error and improving his performance. He also does not hesitate to pull out the equipment and make changes if there is something mechanical or with aero that is holding him back. He works with his race team, R-Division (James Houghton – Intergra Type R – is an R-Division teammate), as he seeks to ensure both the reliability and track setup are competition ready.
Where did the show car go? It got left behind while the brute is rushing on to set track records. In the car's first twelve years the focus was on form, now the focus is on function. If the part doesn't enhance the functionality of this track car it's gone!The drivetrain begins with a Clutchmaster Carbon Kevlar clutch, JWT lightweight flywheel, and an OEM CD009 transmission. Mike has a Cusco RS LSD 1.5 way that is currently set at 80% lock. Rounding things out are a Nismo finned differential cover and a solid differential mount.
Keeping the Z planted to the ground are JRZ RS Pro coilovers with Swift springs. 14k front and 6k rear. This setup was chosen in early 2015 to replace the worn out Konis, which had served very well, but needed upgrading. Going for dedicated track use, with external resevoirs to handle the extreme use that the Z would be put through, as Mike worked through setups with Alphamotorsports he settled on the JRZ system. The rear resevoirs have a ton of space in the trunk of the car and the fronts are squeezed in just above the radiator. The car has Hotchkis anti-roll bars, Whiteline endlinks, SPL front A arms, and SPC rear camber arms. Mike works with Alan Candelma, through R-Division, to fine tune the suspension. Obviously corner balanced, Mike noticed a huge improvement with this new setup.
