Front ends. Show me your lower valence!

[wheee!]

I just found this one on the Zstore page! Very nice and I will be ordering one eventually.

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/classic02a01g/50-1569

[SteveJ]

35 minutes ago, jfa.series1 said:

Actually Randy Jaffe who built  the #46 tribute car has shared one of my photos with Peter who authenticated it - I have the email from Randy with Peter's comment.  He used the 2nd gen. Spook on his car and I was kidding Randy about coming for my Spook for greater accuracy.  The BRE2 web  store has the photos of John Morton in 1970 with this style Spook.

You better be careful. If Randy thinks his car will be more historically accurate with your spook, he'll stop at nothing to get it.

[ktm]

1 hour ago, wheee! said:

I just found this one on the Zstore page! Very nice and I will be ordering one eventually.

http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/classic02a01g/50-1569

That is the one I am running on in carbon fiber.

[dhayes5]

My very stock '72 240Z starts starts to have a light steering feel above about 65mph on the interstate.  New tires, fresh alignment, stock ride height - all of this is good and on curvy back roads at speed it handles and corners very well.

I would like to cure the light steering feel at highway speed (for me defined as up to 80mph - just normal highway driving).  Have those of you with the BRE spook found that this addition helps the light steering feel at highway speeds?

I am hesitant to drill into my stock Z unless there is a real benefit.

[Namerow]

I'd like to hear some comments from owners who have experience with the small, hard-rubber 'chin' spoiler that was installed (by Nissan, I believe) on the Z's sold in England.  Was it effective in reducing front-end float at speeds in the 120 - 130km/h (75 - 80 mph)?

For reference, the Z that appears on the cover of the Haynes repair manual has this spoiler.  There are also some good close-up pix of the part in Ray Hutton's book, 'The Z-Series Datsuns'.  It appears to be pretty much vertical in orientation and only about 4" deep.

[dhayes5]

1 hour ago, Namerow said:

I'd like to hear some comments from owners who have experience with the small, hard-rubber 'chin' spoiler that was installed (by Nissan, I believe) on the Z's sold in England.  Was it effective in reducing front-end float at speeds in the 120 - 130km/h (75 - 80 mph)?

 

I would be interested to hear from people with this type of spoiler as well as far as front end float.

[7tooZ]

I had the exact feeling in my 71. I added a larger MSA sway bar and the spook spoiler which solved the floating feeling at and specially around large trucks. Your toe in setting can improve it some also.


Don's iPhone using Classic Zcar Club mobile

[dmorales-bello]

With the stock valance I had the same floaty feeling along with a shimmy on the front end above 75 MPH and couldn't get rid of it with balancing, alignment and tightening BUT it miraculously and unexpectedly disappeared when I installed the Xenon airdam.

[Namerow]

1 hour ago, dmoralesbello said:

With the stock valance I had the same floaty feeling along with a shimmy on the front end above 75 MPH and couldn't get rid of it with balancing, alignment and tightening BUT it miraculously and unexpectedly disappeared when I installed the Xenon airdam.

The Z's front-end aero lift problems were/are well documented and date right back to the experiences of the car's original owners in the mid-1970's.  The cure was lifted directly from the race track in the form of front and rear spoilers.  Stiffening up the steering rack-to-frame bushings was also common practice.  I'm not sure that beefing up the roll bar would help, though (unless you've lowered the car and have a bump steer issue).

'Car & Driver' magazine's editors carried out a nice cut-and-try, D-I-Y project somewhere in the late 1970's in which they fabbed, installed, and then track-tested bent-aluminum-sheet spoilers of progressively greater height (rear) and depth (front) to see how they worked and find the optimum front/rear combination.  IIRC, the car was fitted with force transducers to measure the lift.  Now that I've brought this up, I guess I'm obligated to dig into my back issues and find the article.  If I'm successful, I'll post it here later in the weekend.

From my perspective, it's not really a question of whether spoiler work but rather one of how small a front spoiler I can get away with (or front/rear spoiler combination, if one at the back is absolutely necessary) to achieve adequate results for modern highway driving speeds.  I'm not really a fan of the way big front air dams and rear spoilers affect the Z's look.  I've always found the car's styling very 'fragile' and not well suited to customizing.

Your needs and preferences may, of course, be different from mine.

[psdenno]

The first modification I made to my '71 Z in 1972 was to add a BRE Spook.  I did that after severe lifting in crosswinds at highway speeds.  Problem solved.

Dennis

[dhayes5]

Ok that was enough of an endorsement for me - I bought a spook from BRE2.com yesterday and should have it Friday.  I plan to either use it as is with the black gelcoat (don't want it white like the car) or, depending on how that looks, paint it flat black so it will be more subtle under the front of the car.

I was planning to run a silicone bead around the perimeter where the spook attaches to the car to keep water from getting between the spook and the lower valence - and hence prevent rust.  The car typically never sees wet weather but I do wash it from time to time.

Did any of you seal yours when you installed them?  If so, did you do something similar?

Edited April 11, 2017 by dhayes5

[wheee!]

Single sided adhesive rubber foam tape. The kind you buy in a roll. That will seal the gap without a permanent adhesive.