Couple Car setup questions

[Scores240]

Well first i have my valve cover and oil pan removed right now and got most of all the old oil out of the engine and figure it would be a good time to switch to full synthetic

1 ) What oil's do you guys like to use in your auto X / HPDE cars? like what brand / and weight. ex is 10w30 full synthetic good for hpde or is there something else better?

2 ) And a question about brakes. Is it alright to use my hawk blues at the track on my street driving rotors? Or should i get new blanks?

3 ) And is it alright to have a more racing oriented pad in the front but still use a regular street pad in the back? Ill be using hawk blues up front and pbr metal masters in the back. Unless i should upgrade the backs to hp+ or something else?

4 ) For mounting a 5pt harness in a s13 is it alright to bolt the shoulder straps into the bolt holes that were for the rear seat buckles? Or is that too much of an angle? Ive seen the diagram of correctly mounting harness but a harness bar/ roll cage is really in the budget right now.

thanks for the input if you can help answer my questions i know its alot haha. just some stuff ive been wondering about these last couple days.

[Def]

Well first i have my valve cover and oil pan removed right now and got most of all the old oil out of the engine and figure it would be a good time to switch to full synthetic

1 ) What oil's do you guys like to use in your auto X / HPDE cars? like what brand / and weight. ex is 10w30 full synthetic good for hpde or is there something else better?

I use Mobil1 just because it's easy to get. 5W-30 is what the FSM calls for and it works just fine for me after I got an oil cooler and stopped getting the oil too hot

2 ) And a question about brakes. Is it alright to use my hawk blues at the track on my street driving rotors? Or should i get new blanks?

The Blues will eat up any other pad deposits in about 1 mile of cold driving. You'll be fine, but make sure you rebed your street pads.

3 ) And is it alright to have a more racing oriented pad in the front but still use a regular street pad in the back? Ill be using hawk blues up front and pbr metal masters in the back. Unless i should upgrade the backs to hp+ or something else?

That'll be fine. I use Axxis Ultimates in the back and they work just fine. The HP+ in the back is a good idea. I'm planning on going that direction after the Ultimates die. They are hanging on surprisingly good for having been hot for so many times.

4 ) For mounting a 5pt harness in a s13 is it alright to bolt the shoulder straps into the bolt holes that were for the rear seat buckles? Or is that too much of an angle? Ive seen the diagram of correctly mounting harness but a harness bar/ roll cage is really in the budget right now.

No, way too much of an angle, and you can feel something like that in casual driving so I'd hate to see what would happen in a wreck. I'm imagining you might painfully lose a few inches of height which is exactly why everybody says not to do it. If you can't do at least a rollbar right now, then skip the harnesses. Stock S13/S14 seats aren't that bad for holding yourself in on the track as long as you've got cloth. Just replace the decapitor belts with some manual S14 belts if you've got an S13 and you're good to go(and saved like 10-15 lbs).

thanks for the input if you can help answer my questions i know its alot haha. just some stuff ive been wondering about these last couple days.

Answers in bold. Been there and done that on every question you've had. Some people might have had different experiences, but those are mine and how I'd do it if I was in your place.

[Scores240]

Cool thanks for the help.

I have s14 manual belts in my s13 so i got some weight savings from taking out the old automatic crap. I had seats from my old 1990 s13 the ones without adjustable headrest until i broke the backrest part of the driverside seat which was worn out so i could sit farther back in it between the metal braces so it felt kinda like a bucket, but now its broken so i put an order for 2 memory fab seats and driverside rail and mounting brackets.

Think it'd be fine to run bucket seats but still use stock seat belts lol?

[LAWL]

Def what's your opinion/experience on this as a solution to his problem?
:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Seatbelt-Harness-Bar-Nissan-240sx-89-94-300zx-R33-9059_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a570Q7c66Q3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a1Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem200301706020QQitemZ200301706020QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories#ebayphotohosting

I am having a similar dilemma as I really don't want to put a roll bar or cage in a daily-driven car but I do want a harness...

[SoSideways]

^ There was another place that made a much more beefier harness bar for specific vehicles, not a sort of "universal" one like this one...

I forget who made the harness bar, but I think the thread about it was over on Zilvia, and Def might even have made a post in that thread.

[McCoy]

1 ) What oil's do you guys like to use in your auto X / HPDE cars? like what brand / and weight. ex is 10w30 full synthetic good for hpde or is there something else better?

Mobil1 10w-30 for track days and have used 10w-40 on hotter months... this with no oil cooler, so my oil temps are in the 230-260F range. Once the cooler is on I'll switch back to 5w-30. As Def mentioned it's easy to find and does the job.

2 ) And a question about brakes. Is it alright to use my hawk blues at the track on my street driving rotors? Or should i get new blanks?

I always do, but really try not to drive on the street with the blue's on. I eat about .2-.3mm of rotors each track day with the blues on. Did I mention I go through a set of rotors per year typically. Surprisingly enough, the Z33 brembo rotors have very little wear even though I got in 8 full track days last year. I'm still buying another set of rotors for backups though.

3 ) And is it alright to have a more racing oriented pad in the front but still use a regular street pad in the back? Ill be using hawk blues up front and pbr metal masters in the back. Unless i should upgrade the backs to hp+ or something else?

I've done blues up front and HPS's in the back and really didn't like it on track (Z32 F/R). I found blues F/R feel alot better when threshold braking from 120+ MPH. I still have alittle more rear bias than I like at times and am hoping getting the Z32 BMC in will fix that issue... I hope.

[LAWL]

CorSport maybe?

http://www.corsportusa.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1663

I searched and searched but couldn't find a thread talking about harness bars... That's not to say it doesn't exist though. Zilvia's search function sucks.

[Def]

I would not run one of those harness bars, and I wouldn't go with a bucket seat and stock seatbelts - that is way dangerous and doesn't hold you in for crap.

Honestly, $150 for a cheap harness bar is about a third the price of a basic bolt-in roll bar, and you can get a decent one made locally if you look for cage builders. Doesn't need to be anything fancy, a main hoop, harness bar, cross brace for main hoop and two down tubes to a tube between the rear shock towers. Save up the pennies and just do it right.

Z32 MC helps a ton for the rear bias with full Z32 brakes, if you think the stock MC is driveable on the track with big rotors up front you'll likely think you'll have too much front bias with the Z32 MC.

[SoSideways]

Well, I can't find that thread on Zilvia, so it might have been another forum... Fresh Alloy perhaps?

[McCoy]

Honestly, $150 for a cheap harness bar is about a third the price of a basic bolt-in roll bar, and you can get a decent one made locally if you look for cage builders. Doesn't need to be anything fancy, a main hoop, harness bar, cross brace for main hoop and two down tubes to a tube between the rear shock towers. Save up the pennies and just do it right.

My cage builder quoted me a starting price of $700... not sure if that's what it's going to come to or not, but goes to show that it doesn't cost that much for a simple 4pt cage. This is about the price of a crappy bolt-in cage shipped to your door.

Z32 MC helps a ton for the rear bias with full Z32 brakes, if you think the stock MC is driveable on the track with big rotors up front you'll likely think you'll have too much front bias with the Z32 MC.

With street tires, I got rear lockup at times if I hit a bump or let out the clutch to abruptly while threshold braking, and overall did not like the feel that much. But with the bigger RA-1's I had almost zero issues and had no issue late braking without fear of locking up a rear tire. I'll be trying out the Z32 MC soon enough so I'll give more feedback then I guess.

[Scores240]

Im using the 17/16ths z32 MC and didnt have any noticeable issues when i was at the track in august. Didnt lock up any wheels, running star specs front rt615s rear. Although i did over heat either the fluid or pads because my braking performance toward the end of the day got real ****ty. since i started feeling better about later braking/ harder.

I looked at the corr sport bar but it seems like a lot of money for what it is, just a bar and 2 rods to hold it in position. Something you could probably make your self for less then half the price if you knew how to do that stuff.

Wish i had a welder/ know how, i have a really simple idea in my head to build.