I have a track day coming up and I'd like to get something. I only have a JWT popcharger so far.

Options are the:

JWT Flywheel which is a very expensive install.
Tein Basics or some springs
Sway bars, no idea which type

Please suggest the one mod that will net me the most road racing gain.

Bang for the buck is very important.

 

In my opinion suspension mod will benifit best on track and from the 3 item that you post I would go with swaybar first.

 

Don't forget track pads for the brakes, plastic-coated stailess steel brake lines & upgraded brake fluid.

 

Just get the Hotchkis Sway Bars you will love them and its the best bang for your $$$.

 

Definitely the Teins ....

The first mod that was put into my coupe for tracking it were the Tein Flex w/EDFC - it made the very good handling of the coupe into great handling. Also put stiffer polyurethane bushings on the stock sways.

Brakes are the next step to take - upgrading rotors, higher temp pads, DOT 4 or 5.1 brake fluid, SS lines. The coupes brakes tend to overheat, especially on fast courses. This is because the G is a bit of a porker in weight and those brakes are having to work hard. Also there isn't real good ventilation of the brakes as well - Nissan was more concerned with splashguards and sound deadening on the G than running air over the brakes it appears.

THEN comes power. FI, chip, flywheel, pulley, whatever ....

But actually the best upgrade for tracking the coupe is yourself - spending some bucks on a performance driving school will lower your lap times FAR more than any mechanical mod outside of a full-fledged FI upgrade.

And even then, the idea of an FI'd coupe on a fast track with an inexperienced driver kind of scares me. The coupe is powerful and heavy enough without FI to get you in bigtime trouble very fast if you don't know what you're doing. With FI, the introduction to T-R-O-U-B-L-E is that much quicker.

- Riff

 

I'd say the sway bard first if you are just getting started with road racing. Tein FLEX is probably the next best thing, but it also costs about 8 times as much as a set of sways. The sways move you in the right direction with minimal cost and noticeable benefits.

As time goes on, you'd probably want to buy track dedicated tires as those Pilot Sports are so damn expensive.

 

TIRES! You gotta have good tires man. And brakes are important too. Focus more on your driving skills, then fixing up your car. After you're DONE with the car, then you can start modifiying the performance.

 

If it's going to be one mod, definitely brakes, brakes, brakes. The deeper you can go into turns, the better your lap times will be. And while the stock Brembos are good, they can't handle lots of track work for extended periods. You'll want to go with different rotors and pads for your track days (like Hawk HP+ pads) because you will go through them quickly. And take Riff's suggestion on stainless lines and better fluid. This is the FIRST track mod you should do, hands down.

 

hear, hear!

the tires are the *only* parts on the car that make contact with the pavement. the pilot sports are good, but dedicated track rubber is better.

after tires, dial out some of the body roll with springs, or sway bar.

then drive you and your car to a racing school.

 

Wat he said.