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So of course the new Greddy oil filter adapter/thermostat led to a re-examination of the rest of the oil cooler assembly…

 

We decided that the lines from the adapter to the cooler could stand some improvement…not to mention the mess of wires that surrounded it...

 

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First step is ...remove the mess of wires

 

 

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I have an OCD like phobia of cutting anything on this car, but we had backed ourselves into a bit of a corner now so I acquiesced knowing that Doug would make the cut very nicely and leave it looking factory.

 

We decided on a location just above and slightly to the left of the original hole...then marked it off carefully...

 

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Doug then cut a perfect hole in just the right location for the harness to pass through to the engine bay...

 

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Then we finished it off with a nice grommet...

 

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On to the fun stuff....

 

The turbo system!

 

The car was using a stock RB25DET exhaust manifold and an aged GT35 with a .63 A/R and an ATP Ultimate internal wastegate. It was a simple, and easy to package, setup. Boost response was good but it obviously restricted the power ceiling.

 

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As I mentioned, the snowball was in full effect...needing to fabricate new plumbing anyway, I figured might as well get a tubular manifold for top mount and upgrade to a bigger turbine housing and external wastegate.

 

Out with the old...

 

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And in with the new...

 

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As this (RE)build was snowballing...I decided to pick and choose my battles.

 

Although the turbo was dated and there are obviously more modern units that would deliver much higher and more efficient power, I opted to maximize this unit for the time being...

 

New .82 A/R turbine housing...

 

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The previous owner for some reason used bolts for the exhaust manifold rather than studs…

 

for those that have had the unfortunate experience of stripping a head, it was not the best decision.

 

A trip to the Nissan dealer and consultation with a friend who is the parts manager there yielded me some very nice exhaust studs that were exactly the right size, from a Sentra of all cars.

 

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And everything buttoned up with ARP of course...

 

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Throughout all of this, chasis integrity has always been in the back of my mind.

 

In fact, I have the Chasis prep thread on my favorites toolbar.

 

Ultimately I want to install a roll cage, but in the meantime The car only has a strut tower support in the rear and a triangular version in the engine compartment.

 

Here's the front strut brace from an early pic...

 

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Knowing that I was going to be making more power in the future, I knew this obviously wasn't enough.

 

Since the roll cage is a down the road goal, I felt the most bang for the buck I could achieve in chasis reinforcement for the time being were frame rails.

 

I mean pretty simple...just weld 'em on right?

 

 

Riiiiiight.

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I quickly discovered how much fun it is not to scrape off undercoating.

 

In the process, I discovered the mortal enemy of early Z cars...rust...on the rear edge of the passenger side factory "half" frame rail.

 

This was not only surprising, but disappointing in that the car had been advertised to me as a "rotisserie" and had no miles on it to have developed this much rust, this fast...deeeeeep siiiiiiigh.

 

Hoping that it was very minor I began chipping away...and soon it was apparent that it wasn't really minor and extended under the factory rails.

 

I got a mallet and began banging on the rail and could hear the sound of what I was sure were rust chips rattling around inside....ugggggh.

 

We cut the piece off to get a better look...

 

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Sure enough...

 

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