Progress and Rage

The work on the z continues since the last post.. I've finished off the Brembo installation on all four corners, and managed to get the old headers extracted. On the driver's side, this did include yanking the steering column, but the rack go to stay in place.



With the headers out, I got the Z1 engine and transmission mounts installed. Everything is out of the way for the headers to go in.



In removing the factory headers, all the studs came out with the nuts. Not great. I contacted a local Nissan dealership, and they actually had everything within 24hrs range. So I opted to replace them all and get a fresh set of factory gaskets, as I didn't really trust the ones that came with the headers.

It was now time. I slid under the car with the passenger header and dropped it onto the studs. Not bad. Added a few nuts, and began tightening. Everything seems good. No contact, position appears to be close to stock, and nothings contacting anything. Great. Tighten everything up and it looks great. Hawtness.

Now, time for the driver's side. The bane of my existence. I'm going to have to slide it in, check clearanced, mark where i need to dimple the tube to clear the steering rack, pull it back out, dimple it.. and finish installation. I never got nearly that far.

the first problem showed up just trying to slide it in the first time. The angle was different due to conflicts from the steering rack, making it impossible to complete at the height the car was at. Okay, i haven't maxed out the jackstands yet.. just jack the whole thing up again, extend the stands a few more notches, and it should get me the clearance to the ground i need.

Wrap that up, slide back under it, and YES! i can get it into the engine bay.. now just line it up with the studs and slide it... nope. the header is hitting the firewall on the rear cylinder primary. I'm thinking, maybe it's an installation angle problem... as i can't line up the rear stud either.

I yanked out the rear stud, and tried again.. more progress, but it's still trying to occupy the same space that the firewall is. I begin to think about the angles... i just replaced the motor mounts with the Z1s.. and they're adjustable. Maybe they're not set right?

So, jack the engine back up, and yank the mounts back out, and checked it with a caliper.. they're about an 1/8th of an inch taller than the oem ones.. and those are rubber... so i imagine there's at least another 1/8 of deflection.. so a full 1/4" too tall by rough numbers. I fight them down into position and preload the urethane bushings inside. drop 'em back in the car and....

They're closer to fitting. But not close enough, and i'm now contacting on the underside of the chassis too. I'm done. These things just don't fit.

So, now i'm torn between my remaining options. Being i didn't originally think i'd have the budget to do LTHs at all, i scored some used berk test pipes to use to remove the stock cats, and let me put the high-flows in the y-pipe as preparation for a set of LTHs to be installed the following year. but i'd hate to throw away all this work to get clearance for the LTHs to have to do it again next year. I'm a big fan of doing things once, the right way.

The other option is the expensive one, spring for the PPE headers right now. I have no idea if i can even get them, or if they're an "assembled as ordered" part like the MCS shocks (that i'm still waiting for). I got a tip from a friend on facebook that Enjuku racing is a dealer, and is consistently the cheapest seller of them, so i called them this morning.

Right now, i'm waiting on a call back from Enjuku. to see if there's a set on the shelf right now or not. If not, it's berks and put off headers to next year. If they do, i may do something stupid.

Construction Begins

Remember how I said that there was really only one big part left to order? Well.. I lied.

I made that purchase.. and have been twiddling my thumbs waiting for it. Might as well let the cat out of the bag.
Currently being constructed for me are a full set of Motion Control Systems Two-way adjustable remote reservoir shocks. This is me not fucking around.

The order time on them is generally 4-6 weeks, and I placed the order with Mike "Junior" Johnson at Evolution Performance Driving School. He was super nice, and we wound up having about a 45 min chat regarding the basics of setup, how much he loves them vs Konis he's used, etc.. Even when I talked to Lex over at MCS directly he was very responsive and had a great conversation. So I'm pretty sold on the product.

Last word I heard is that they should be assembling the shocks as I type this, and hopefully I'll see some tracking info soon.

Backing up, remember how I started this whole post with me lying? Yup. The MCS were supposed to be the last big dollar item I threw at this build this year. But I started thinking about how much I'd like to do more PDX and HPDE events with this car, and I began working my way down some check boxes. Oil cooler? check. Brakes? uhh...

Fortunately and unfortunately, the HR 350Zs came with a significantly larger brake setup from the factory when you didn't get the Brembo package. The two piston front, one piston rears with rotors larger than my head should be more than enough to get the job done under the situations that I'd planned to put it through.. as long as I could get pads.

That last line is the hangup. The HR calipers are also larger, and were only used on this, and the later G35 without brembos for two years. This is not a lot of cars. So most brake parts manufacturers have stopped short of providing aggressive pads for the car. The set of HPS I put in last year did a decent job, but their shortcomings made themselves very apparent at the DCTC PDX I did at the end of the season. I can't imagine trying to put them through the heat cycling of something like Brainerd or Road America. They'd melt. And they're some of the best pads available for these calipers.

So, what's a guy left to do.. but upgrade. I kept my eye on eBay.. and one day it paid off and a recycler put a full set of Brembo calipers from a track package 350Z up for sale. I Fought long and hard (and not smart) on the auction, but ended up with the win, and got away with a pretty good deal regardless.

With the calipers here, I just had to order pads and rotors to complete the system. While I'd love to drop more coin, and get those lovely Z1 2 peice rotors to cut down some weight, the budget's feeling pretty injured right now. After chatting with some track 350z guys on facebook, I decided to go with a set of duralast rotors from AutoZone. They have a good history, and the full set of four, Brembo sized rotors, shipped to my door... was $126. I feel like I found a loophole, and could start scrapping these to make a profit.

lastly, I ordered a set of Hawk DTC-30 pads. These interested me because they have a very wide temp range (low enough for autox, high enough for RR), but are meant for dirt track guys, so they claim there's excellent pedal modulation available. A few people I know have used them and been very impressed, so I've ordered up a full set from Porterfield.

So, that big ol' hit to the wallet is out out of the way... but this article is titled "Construction Begins", right? Where's the construction?

The Z has been in my garage since fall, sitting on the stands and just waiting for me to dig in. Mocking me, really. With everything on order or arrived, it was time to start tearing into it. The first thing I needed to do is get all the suspension arms detached, and over to Jeff's for some bushing work. I managed to get most of that out of the way within about a week, and Jeff returned the arms with their fresh Whiteline bushings within a few days.

next up was putting all these bits back in. Before reassembling, I took the time to squeeze in all new longer ARP wheel studs. There were questions raised last year about thread engagement, and these will definitely take care of that, and aid in spinning the lug nuts on. With all those out of the way, I started with the rear end, as I'd be able to get farther with it than the front before the shocks come in. Additionally, it was sunny and warm at the rear of the car with the garage open this past week, so I enjoyed that immensely.

I've gotten fairly good at the rear suspension in this car. Reinstalling the arms, torquing to spec loaded, dealing with the annoying e-brake system... etc. I wrapped up the rear end suspension in a reasonable amount of time.. I decided to tackle the rest of the upgrades on that end too. The Brembos were next, and the first thing I had to do was trim the lip off the backing plate, as the rotors are about 3/4" bigger in diameter than the stock ones. With sore hands after doing it with a pair of aircraft shears, I slid the rotors on, and bolted the new caliper in place. Fits like a glove. With everything mounted up, I figured now was the shortest time to switch out the brake line. Fresh Goodridge lines replace the very worn looking stock lines and should help with brake pedal feel and feedback. I'm still waiting for those pads though before I can really wrap up the system. The pads that came with the calipers are in there now, but they're very shot. I'd rather bleed the system with full pads, so that'll have to wait.



With some help from my Co-Driver Jake, we started tackling the headers. They're a pesky bunch, with the bolts/studs in difficult places. Progress is being made, but very slowly. The passenger side has much more access than the driver's so we'll be starting there. We've learned that we'll probably have to pull the steering column, and possibly the rack to clear the driver's side. Wrapping this also slows the reassembly of the suspension, as we need the lower chassis bracing out to get access to much of  the header work. I did manage to get the front left brake upgrades done though.. with the hub just hanging there.

That's pretty much where we've stopped so far. The parts pile is slowly getting smaller, but a lot of work hinges on getting those headers done. I had a feeling they wouldn't be a fond memory of this car.

The Parts pile is getting a little smaller...