G1en's 95% race car 5% stickers Zed build

[G1en]

Latest Video from Round 6 of the Harewood Championship

New PB achieved 

 

[davey_83]

Mate unreal effort, car was moving!!! WELL DONE! 

[G1en]

Latest Round at Harewood:

thumbnail courtesy of my daughter

 

 

[G1en]

Latest Update from Pembrey Circuit

Longest travel yet, around 260 miles each way

 

 

[G1en]

Final round at Harewood

Possibly the last event of the year. 

 

[Stutopia]

Bloody hell Glen, you’re a busy bloke, I can’t keep up!

[Kieran O'Quick]

Some fast times again. Great driving. The only ones ahead of you were the cheating boosted gang.. 

[G1en]

@Stutopia that's it now for the season, Zed will hardly get used till March, been a busy 7 months like you say. Zed has been flawless in the main.

[G1en]

Season Overview:

 

Now with the Sprint/Hillclimb season officially over I thought best to summarise the year up.

 

The Zed has been very reliable despite the use it gets. The engine is fantastic, and despite the gearbox crunching into 3rd it has held out and doesn't seem to have got any worse. I will flush the fluid again before the start of next season and see what it looks like. It has been great to get to so many different hillclimbs and tracks around the country to continue on from last year. The main fear of wet days has almost gone now as the car now handles a wet track as well as a dry track and i am always up near the front whatever the weather, partly due to the tyres and partly due to me now knowing the car and its handling characteristics inside out.

 

So the year started back in March with a first trip to Cadwell. It chucked it down all day, 10% of the cars that arrived, went home in bits, but I was not in that statistic and despite being well off the target time as the track is treacherous in the wet, managed to finish 2nd in class.

 

April saw a full weekend at the scenic Anglesey Circuit along with a round at my local Harewood. The weather was kind in Wales as its normally a complete lottery but 5 numbers came up for me, not perfect but good enough. A day on each of the national and International layouts provided a 1st and 2nd place finish with new championship records to boot. The Harewood round was very cold so the tyres struggled to switch on but still managed 3rd.

 

May saw trips to Aintree and Harewood again. A better time at Harewood (average for the year) saw a 4th place finish and even though I was 1.5 seconds off the target time at Aintree, I finished 1st in class on the day.

 

June was my 1st visit for Coventry Motofest where you race on public roads and I went to Three Sisters track for a first time also. It was blisteringly hot at Coventry which meant record crowds watching as the sprint is just a small part of a much larger event for the City. Red Hot meant my fastest ever start time of 2.4 seconds. 1st in class both days and new records set! Three Sisters was a good day, hot again but I think there was only me in class so a 1st place is a bit of a cheat, anyhow, new record set again.

 

July was the busiest month of the year for me. A full weekend at harewood followed by a full weekend at Loton Park followed by a full weekend at Prescott. Probably the best 3 Hill climbs in England. Harewood rounds saw me set new records in the Connaught Championship and finished 4th and 2nd. Loton and Prescott were almost identical weather wise, Saturday was wet then dry on Sunday but as mentioned previously, the wet days used to be dreaded but now i can embrace and attack them (within reason) I broke my own existing record at Loton and had 2 2nd place finishes then just missed out on the record at Prescott with a 2nd and 3rd place finish.

 

August was relatively quiet in comparison with just 2 rounds at Harewood. Both finished with 4th places but the earlier meeting with perfect conditions provided me with a new PB for the hill which after approx 250 runs is no mean feat.

 

September saw a full weekend at Pembrey and the final round at harewood. Pembrey like other venues this year was the complete opposite on each day, baking hot Saturday and mainly wet Sunday. Done on 2 different layouts of the National track then Clubman track, I finished 3rd and 2nd in class with new Connaught records to boot. Harewood finished the season off with some good times but ironically my worst finish of the year in 5th such is the competition and quality of cars now. Never the less, a very enjoyable year and can't wait to do it all again in 2024.

 

Finished the year 14th Overall in the Harewood Championship (from almost 200 entrants) and 2nd Overall in the BARC Connaught Championship (from 60 entrants)

 

Full Results (only showing times for first 3 runs at each event - as these only count as records)

 

Cadwell 113.30 WET (2nd)

Anglesey National 62.19 (1st)

Anglesey International 102.11 (2nd)

Harewood 64.96 (3rd)

Harewood 64.59 (4th)

Aintree 51.88 (1st)

Coventry 78.98 (1st)

Coventry 75.38 (1st)

Three Sisters 81.05 (1st)

Harewood 64.64 (4th)

Harewood 64.48 (2nd)

Loton Park 60.68 DAMP (2nd)

Loton Park 59.63 (2nd)

Prescott 55.61 WET (2nd)

Prescott 49.98 (2nd)

Harewood 64.05 (4th)

Harewood 64.71 (4th)

Pembrey National 125.80 (3rd)

Pembrey Clubman 134.85 DAMP (2nd)

Harewood 64.56 (5th)

 

 

 

[Stutopia]

Pretty impressive set of results and the car still in one piece - cracking season mate.

[davey_83]

Absolutely doing the Z world proud fella, amazing results you must be chuffed. Such a great set up this car has, unbeatable for the £££ I'd say. Have you done much circuit outings? 

[G1en]

If you mean trackdays then no, it’s expensive enough paying for new tyres and brakes every year and a clutch every 2 years not to mention all the fluids which i do twice a year. 
there is still a fair few venues i still havent done so will prob include some of them next year.

[Ekona]

This is one of my favourite threads on any forum, not just here. Passion for the car, a very reasoned build with details and logic behind everything, and such a down to earth guy behind the wheel with some remarkably relaxed driving on the hills. Keep up the good work mate 👍

[G1en]

Thanks man, its not that relaxing when I'm behind the wheel. The go-pro does great at making everything look smooth but doesn’t convey that feeling in your bum cheeks when the car is right on the limit.

[Kieran O'Quick]

2nd in the flipping Connaught Championship? What a result. To almost win a championship is a hell of a thing. Damn, I wish you'd won it. Who got it in the end?

 

There's bound to be more entants next year isn't there? It's a great series. The choice of circuits is amazing.  

[andy james]

Well done mate.

I started Hillclimbing at Gurston Down in 1992 for a couple of years in Sports Libra cars.

Stupidly I got interest again in 2009 with the Z and spent a fortune trying to chase the EVO 4x4 elite.

To compete at the level you are at requires a time and financial commitment which doesn’t make sense to anyone that’s not got the bug!
Looking forward to following you next season.
 

 

[G1en]

Yep, i mean the Zed will never be the “best” car at any event but its a great all rounder that when setup right is a very capable car. I love giving the better/faster cars a run for their money and beating some. The only way it might get to the top of the timesheets would be to turbo it but initial expense aside, you then start running into regular issues as everything is stressed so much more. I see the guys with the 600hp evos spending more time under the car than in it, most trailer them as well. You also increase the chance of an accident and then said accident costs fortunes to sort. I love the reliability its shown where i can just turn up anywhere, drive to and from event and give it hell in “relative” control and also enjoy the day in between runs talking with and about other competitors cars and setups.

[G1en]

Kieran, they are looking to get the Connaught championship back to what it was a few years back. Apparently its tailed off recently so will see what they come up with for next year.

 

contemplating entering the classic marques championship. This is run completely different to all other championships as far as i can tell.

 

you have to get your car dyno’d and weighed at their designated dyno to give a base power to weight figure. This is then adjusted with several other factors eg tyre type 1a/1b/1c/slicks, 2wd or 4wd, manual or auto and several more. This then produces a multiplier that they apply to your actual times to produce your classic marques event time.

 

its been tweaked over the years and apparently works really well so the “best” drivers usually win (as the car is taken out of the equation as best possible due to above adjustments) 

 

its appealing as the zeds main achilles heel which is weight would actually be a benefit in the calculations. 
The downside is a lot of the cars were running road tyres as semi slicks carry a 2% (or maybe 2 secs) time addition i think so at a lot of places you would finish with a better classic marques time on road tyres and you also save money not buying semi slicks. Problem is it puts you 2 seconds down on everyone else in the class competing in other championships so your times would look poor and on the day you would maybe finish 8th instead of 3rd for example. 
Anyhow, plenty of time to look into things and make a decision.

[G1en]

Merry Christmas and happy new year to all!

 

Santa got me the fantastic prezzie of redundancy for Christmas and I was over the moon, just what i wanted. No, thats not sarcism you hear, it realy was what i wanted, I even asked for it after being told i wasn't at risk. I kinda had another job lined up and was half leaving anyway so with the prospect of a few grand and a final handshake I thought why not. It does allow me to now rebuild the gearbox that's been annoying me for the last couple of seasons plus some other maintenance/preventative measures that I will contact the guys at Horsham about.

What it does mean is I have had to setup another youtube page/channel as the old one was linked to my works google account and as thats now closed/defunct I cannot log in or transfer the existing videos which is a little annoying. I am sure some IT geek will know a way but sick of google searching and nothing working or the options not available. Anyhow, new intro video below from the new channel. username is now @Glen_350z rather than the old @Glen-350Z

Please subscribe if you did to the old channel.

Lots lined up this year if all goes to plan, will be doing 3 different Championships in the Zed.

 

 

[davey_83]

Subscribed fella, be sure to sub to my channel too 😊

 

2024 and new balls please then. Wad of cash in your back pocket and new adventures to come 👍

[Stutopia]

Congratulations on the redundancy mate, played a blinder there!

[G1en]

Yesterday saw me back in action for the first event of 2024.

 

It's been in at the guys at Horsham Developments for a few weeks to do some work including new rear wheel bearings, new coil packs and plugs, the gearbox rebuilding (3rd and 6th syncros) along with fitting a coolerworx shifter and finally a radium fuel hanger surge tank kit (which has caused a few issues)

Yesterday was the first time I had driven the zed in anger since the work and overall the day went well but there are a couple of issues. We had lots of problems with the radium kit leaking fuel, I Think (because we don't know for certain) that the fuel tank opening is slightly bowed so where you have the oem plastic level sender unit fit, it probably sealed ok as the plastic is slightly flexible, the radium kit is machined metal and was rocking on the opening, because solid metal doesnt flex the fuel was getting past the o ring which wasnt sealing properly as you would drive around sloshng the fuel about. I have since siliconed around the unit which has stopped 95% of the leaking now but there was still a little yesterday so have added even more on today,

 

fingers crossed the sealant lasts a while, I got it from work as it states it can be used to seal leaking, oil, petrol and deisel tanks as well as other chemicals. The shifter is very different to the oem one and will be marmite to lots of people. I love it but it does have some drawbacks, 2nd gear is hard to engage and 4th gear doesnt feel like it engages at all (but it does) so i'm hoping once i get used the the operation and how it is, i will be fine. I do love the precisiona and clunk of it. No grinding/crunching now from the gearbox which s a big positive.

Strangly on the dyno, it made 10hp less than last time (all top end 6500-7500rpm) but more power/torque all way upto 6500rpm I can't notice any difference after driving and as the 2 runs were 3 years apart and very different times of year probably non comparable date anyhow.

 

So latest video below from Cadwell, still probably only committing at 8 tengths. Its a hard track to figure out trying to go fast and not trash the car at the same time. Really would benefit from a track day here.

 

 

 

[Stutopia]

I'm there with a couple of mates on 14th June for a track day, be cool to see you there and maybe get a passenger ride...

[Kieran O'Quick]

Damn, how annoying is that?

To go all that way and the loud pedal doesn't turn up. Exact same place every time. You seemed to take it pretty well mind.

[G1en]

Well, just before I post my video from the weekend, back to the fuel system. 

After getting back from Cadwell, I went to get some new tyres fitted, and on way back car started cutting power every turn, realising i must be ruunning empty i pulled into the nearest garage and brimmed up the tank.

now the Zed apparently holds 80 ltrs, I put in just over 79 lts so it literally was on dreggs. I went inside to pay the £133 (new record) only to come out to find a river of fuel running out from under the car. after informing the attendant of this potential hazard, i set off back home leaving a trail of petrol down the A1. It was still leaking when i got back home so put a oil pan underneath and went inside to cry.

so just to confirm, Horsham-D had replaced the O ring 3 times in total and i had put mastic/silicone round as well, as whilst at the garage we just could not get it to stop leaking. the opening for the pump/level is slightly bowed. so this is how it looked at first:

 

After brimming up and losing what felt like 20 ltrs I decided the only thing i could do was what a plumber once told me, if in doubt use more silicone, so i did. left it to cure then went for a short drive. unfortunately this was no help and resulted in the picture below:

 

 

Fuel was still finding its way out, and as there had been so much it had eaten through the electrical connections so as i was fiddling around, 3 of them just detached meaning no engine starty, I decided to disconnect the battery at this point as having current run down a positive cable hanging loose next to liquid petroleum was starting an alarm bell ringing in my head.

So i decided to strip off all the silicone and have a rethink, back to below: (the fuel has eaten away at the tank coating as well!

 

 

So in my head I thought the best solution would be to make my own gasket and do away with the o ring that for all intensive purposes was doing diddly squat. I consulted the google AI to find out what rubber would be best as Petrol can eat its way through most things. I found out that Viton Rubber is highly resistant to petrol, even more so than nitrile rubber that the o rings are made from so i ordered some of this 200mm x 200mm x 2mm thick to make my own gasket.

drew a template the best i could, as i couldn't remove the fuel hanger from the tank without disconnecting the fuel hoses and the level sender that has tiny screws that looked like a recipe for dissaster, i could pull the unit up an inch or so to give me enough room to fit a gasket in. template below:

 

 

Rubber arrived and gasket cut, note: as i couldn't remove the unit easily i would have to split the gasket so i could wrap it around the hanger, i cut a wedge interlocking shape so it would hopefully link back together ok and limit any leaking, see below:

 

 

I then fitted it and screwed down the bolts, all went went apart from losing the o-ring into the fuel tank never to be seen again, I put a bit of silicone on the area where the cut was and prayed to the car gods. finished pic below:

 

 

You can make out the gasket just sicking out from the edge of the plate. Amazed to say, so far this has worked and when i got to Anglesey after 160 miles of driving, no wet patches. Although there is a smell of fuel sometimes, so at some point i need to check all the hoses as i think one may need nipping up.

 

 

Edited April 8 by G1en
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