Getting back to it. Working on the Z again.

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

I have taken a very long hiatus, longer than I care to admit, but I finally overcame my laziness and got back in the garage. I thought I'd share some of my progress, especially since this site has slown down WAY more than I could have imagined over the years. Remember when there were so many new posts being made that you could read for hours and hours and hours and never make it to the second page of results? Those were the days. I'm going to stop reminensing and post some photos of what I've done lately.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2017 by Grim

[rturbo 930 28]

Looks good. Any idea how much weight you've added? Looks like it should be a bit stiffer though. What rear suspension are you going to use?

 

Yeah, the site has slowed way down. I used to come home from high school, and there would be a whole page of new posts in non tech. I bet if I went and looked now, I'd see posts from 2016 still on the front page. It's sad to see. Many other forums are seeing the same lack of content though, some more than others. FB, Instagram, etc. have pretty much killed off forums.

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

I'm actually not that concerned about adding weight, it's going to be more for daily driving and cross country. Placement is more of my concern. The car was so ate up with rust that it really shouldn't have been attempted, and modifying is a lot easier to factory restoration. That small section of the stock subframes you see there by the rear wheel wells was pretty much the only salvable section, and I even had to patch the bottom corner of those. It's got all new tubing from very front to very back, even the section below the tail lights because of some rear end job that someone from decades past had filled 3 inches of bondo in.

 

I've cut out a surprising amount of weight too. You know those threaded holes for the top of the doglegs for the rear suspension? Did you know Nissan tapped those threads into fairly large pieces of what seemed like 3/8" thick steel that spanned over both holes? That's pretty good engineering because those were the only bolts that didn't break off on me, haha. I was shocked at the weight of it though when I cut it off, there were quite a few areas like that. Jan. 74' if it matters.

 

As for suspension, I'm actually quite fond of Nissan's lightweight design so I'm not really deviating too far from it. I want to make my own uprights using 2001 Intrepid hubs and instead of one big bolt on the bottom, I want to make it two smaller ones bolted in double shear. I also like JMortensen's design for the rear control arm in this topic. http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/122993-adjustable-rear-lca/ and I'll probably end up using Arizona Z car coil overs with their front control arms too.

 

Yeah, I'm still old school. I use a $5 flip phone that doesn't download anything except for mono-tone ringtones. I have 270 photos of my progress on my Facebook page, just keeping an online record incase I have computer problems. I feel records are important.

[seattlejester 21]

Goodness, that looks like a lot of fabrication.

 

Interesting choice to have an exhaust pass through. Do you have a set exhaust size picked out? My fear with close clearances were massive rattles down the road.

 

Would definitely love to see what you come up with for the rear hub, do you have a link to a build thread?

 

rturbo: it is definitely an age of instant gratification. Forums take time to register for, and chances are your question has been asked, but with instant gratification in mind searching and waiting may seem like too much of an effort. Kind of interesting to see, some people with basic understandings of automotive concepts are being hailed as guru's and authorities given the lack of information people seem to be working with. Who knows, maybe it will cycle and forums will be popular again.

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

It's a 4" pipe with a 3.5" opening and I'll be using 3" exhaust so as long as I can get the bends right it will have 1/4" all around it and I will add a bracket close to it to prevent rattling. I set the 7M-GE as low as possible and the R154 transmission was bigger than I expected, so I'm trying my best to make sure the exhaust isn't going to be dragging on the ground too much. I'm planning on adding a Y under the driveshaft where it will become two 2" pipes so they'll tuck up under the sides of the 8.8" better, and then cross-over to a Z432 style muffler.

[seattlejester 21]

Oh, you are running a 7mge. I was running a 7mgte till last year. Definitely be wary of the oil issues.

 

The R154 was indeed pretty massive, when I tried to route along the floor it caught on bumps at my ride height. I remade it and tucked it under the trans tunnel the second time it is tight, but if you build brackets off of the transmission you can get really close without worrying about rattles. 

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

What kind of issues have you had with them? I only really chose the motor on 4 accounts: It's still an inline 6, the exhaust is on the passenger side (more room for turbo), at 3.0 litrs it's a really like a big motor in a small package, and it's cheap. This is all I have done motor-wise so far. I started on the exhaust manifold one day when I couldn't afford parts.

 

 

[rturbo 930 28]

I asked about the suspension because I saw you got rid of the mustache bar bolts, but I didn't put it together in my head that you only need those for the stock diff. I'm really interested in seeing what you come up with for the suspension components though. A lighter, stronger, more serviceable package using easily obtained OE parts would be awesome. 5x4.5 bolt pattern would be cool too.

 

Yeah, I'm still old school. I use a $5 flip phone that doesn't download anything except for mono-tone ringtones. I have 270 photos of my progress on my Facebook page, just keeping an online record incase I have computer problems. I feel records are important.

Even I have a smartphone. I guess I don't really need it but I've found that it makes for a great tool, kind of like a new age swiss army knife. Don't knock it till you try it. Pricier phone bill leaves less money for the Z though.

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

I'm interested in seeing what I come up with too, haha. I have a couple plans in mind, but I've learned that plans end up changing along the way. I need to go to a local machine shop and see if they can make me a couple pieces of 3/8" steel with the holes cut for the Dodge hub so I can have something to work with. People are always needing something on my days off though, leaving little room for myself. I highly doubt I can make anything as light as Nissan, I just hope I don't make anything too excessively heavy.

 

I'm 27 now and never came across a situation where I wish I had a smartphone. When gas stations stop selling maps, I might find one useful, haha. When my laptop from 2007 died 1.5 years ago, I got an 11" tablet with keyboard for half the price of a new laptop. I can't stand the touch screen stuff, very hard to control. Even the 2015 Tacoma I bought has a bunch of fancy stuff I can't find a use for.

 

 

[rturbo 930 28]

I don't want to hijack your thread on this topic more than I have (sorry), but I find this subject interesting in today's world of technology dependence, so last one.

I'm 27 now and never came across a situation where I wish I had a smartphone. When gas stations stop selling maps, I might find one useful, haha. When my laptop from 2007 died 1.5 years ago, I got an 11" tablet with keyboard for half the price of a new laptop. I can't stand the touch screen stuff, very hard to control. Even the 2015 Tacoma I bought has a bunch of fancy stuff I can't find a use for.

I guess it depends how much value you place on these things, and what you need. I don't care for the latest and greatest, and I typically get last year's phone when I think I need a new one (I'm on phone #3 in 10 years). My old laptop, also from 2007, was already lacking when I replaced it at 5 years old, and the one I replaced it with, now nearly 5 years old as well, is just fine. Just the same, I find my phone to be a useful tool, for taking pics (vs lugging around a camera), maps, flashlight, data connection for my laptop when I have no connection otherwise, easier to text with, you get the idea. I could do without, but it's useful.

 

I can't stand all the ridiculous shit new cars have though, and why on earth does EVERYTHING need to be interconnected? There was an article a few years back about how you can hack into a new Jeep, and control everything from the radio, wipers, throttle, brakes, etc. Insane. And what happens when it fails, or becomes obsolete as technology tends to rather quickly? The whole car is non-op then.

 

I recently saw a commercial for a Craftsman mower. And it comes with an app. Yes, a mower with it's own app. Apparently it tells you when the oil or battery needs to be changed, when to mow your lawn, I guess based on the weather, etc. and I think we're at the point where injecting technology into things has completely jumped the shark. There is no need for that, period. It just another business gimmick, and with the reliability (or lack thereof) of these things, I'm guessing it'll be a money maker.

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

I think it's getting out of hand and starting the de-evolution of man. From what I've seen, the amount of people who are capable of thinking is getting smaller. Sometimes I wonder if that's the intention, stupid people are easier to control.

[seattlejester 21]

Lol, we are going into the deep end here. Granted the number of people who I've seen walk into doors, or worse straight into the road while their eyes are glued onto the phone has grown astronomically, guilty myself sometimes I have to admit. Although to be fair the number of time I've also been run over by someone looking at their phone in their car has gone up too. 

 

I went into the 7m thinking the same, and for the most part the engine seems to be a pretty good choice. Cheap, inline 6, stock turbo, etc etc. I figured all the rod knock stories were poor maintenance. Mine ended up being my fault with me loosing all the oil on the freeway, but my brief stint in that world introduced me to a good half dozen people. All of which have spun a rod at some point (sad part is not even making that up, I met 6 people for parts and such, every single one of them had a blown 7m at some point). It runs pretty low oil pressure at idle/low RPM so it can be hard to catch it fall. If you look up the cross over pipe problem you will find a couple better replacements with ARZ who was actually on this forum making one of the better options to keep oil flowing nicely. Overall one of the best analysis of the main problem was one of the simplest, although I never got around to verifying. If you measure from the bottom of the motor to the pickup tube for the oil and from the depth from the pan apparently there is a sizable discrepancy. Run the motor hard or on a turn and you can imagine just sucking up all the oil that is able to reach it very quickly. The suggested fix was actually to modify the pickup tube so it reaches further down. All in all after I lost the motor and looked into the fixes to make sure it didn't happen again, the parts just added up to way too much (cross over pipe, modified pickup, and upgraded oil pump). I think people eventually go with a jz motor eventually although those have problems of their own.

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

I have seen some crossover alternatives on the interwebs, mainly people replacing them with braided hose, but I prefer ARZ's solution with using bigger tubing. I heard about the pick up being too short as well, seeing as I was planning on adding kickouts and trap doors, that's already something that would have to be checked. I also heard about welding up oil squirting holes in the connecting rods to prevent pressure loss, or using aftermarket ones without the holes. I figure any motor is going to have it's own problems that needs addressing, nothing is perfect.

 

I have to admit, when I first received the engine my plan was completely different. I was originally thinking of a high-revving N/A motor with DCOEs and custom valve covers to make it look more like a flipped image of an OS Giken/S20 hybrid. I've never had a power-adder before and I figure after you get used to it you'll just be craving more power. So with the turbo I can start out with 5lbs, then when that gets boring I can go to 10, and so on and so on. Back when I bought the GTX35, mathematically it should max out around 25lbs and still be in the 'efficient' range. I've been thinking up to 15lbs on pump gas, then go up to the 25 mark with pump gas and meth injection. Always been a firm believer that street cars don't use race gas.

[seattlejester 21]

Good to see you will be on top of it. Really is a simple thing to check, but even when I had the engine apart never occurred to me to check that the pickup height is about right. 

 

Heh that thought did occur to me, I did even get custom valve covers to and wanted to change the front timing cover so none would have been the wiser. Speaking of which those valve covers are kicking around somewhere. Definitely feel like boost is fun. It is just something a little bit more special the noise and theater that accompanies it.

 

I've never been too much of a fan of any supplemental system, feels like a bummer if you can't run your car at peak because you are out of nitrous/race gas/methanol etc. Granted it stays fairly cool over here so you can get by with just an intercooler.

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

I've got the room for sure so I was actually doing a V-mount intercooler set-up. I'll definitely see what I can get away with, I just keep my expectations low so it's easier to be happy. That's assuming gas is still available when/if the car is ever done.

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

I think I should have enough exhaust clearance now.

 

 

[grannyknot 13]

Nice work,

[HuD 91gt 4]

Very nice!

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

Thank you. Been working on it since 2010, it's a little behind schedule. Haha.

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

Got some more done. When I had the idea to make these strips to reinforce and beautify the floor joints, I didn't realize it would be this much work and take so much time. I love how it looks even though it may be nothing more then excess weight. I'm going to do inch long beads spaced out to finish welding it up, then it's off to the driver's side which should be a LOT easier since it doesn't have the exhaust clearance made into it. When that's done, I'm going to start focusing on the front suspension.

 

[JSM 16]

Great work. I walk by my Z's everyday and have some reason or another not to do anything. I tend to go through spurts. Sometimes I just sit in her for that Z smell. Maybe that's weird, but to me most old Z's have a smell that is just their own.

 

Have to comment on the technology side of things. To me it's the realization of the movie Idiocracy coming true. People are just getting dumber and lazier. Hearing more reports of "homeless" being offered jobs, then turning them down because they are dumb enough to admit they make more money panhandling.

 

I swung by my local hobby shop that is closing after 35 plus years being open and the owner told me that the had to insert special instructions to charge the batteries! The assumption and expectation is that they will be charged out of the box. He said today's youth can do next to nothing. Barely a clue how to turn a screwdriver.

 

I think one day mechanics may make as much as Dr.s!

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

I used to sit in the car and act like I'm driving all the time, but it makes it hard to do when there's no seats, steering wheel, or pedals left in it, not to mention the fact that it's essentially standing on it's side.

 

I  absolutely agree with the Idiocracy thing. I won't be surprised if I hear people start watering their gardens with Gatorade and wonder why nothing is growing. And the way cars are going, I don't think mechanics will be getting doctor wages, but instead the mechanics will probably be replaced by electrical engineers and computer geeks. No one is going to know "lefty loosey, righty tighty" anymore and they'll have to use power ratchets with two buttons, one labeled "In" for tightening and the other labeled "Out" for loosening.

[1969honda 2]

But then what will they do for a left hand thread!

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

But then what will they do for a left hand thread!

Probably the same thing my old co-worker did when he couldn't get the clutch fan off a Dodge pick-up that was left hand thread, mess with it for an hour and then ask me for help. I tried to show him that you can tell which way to go by looking at what side of the belt the pulley is laying on, not sure if it stuck with him though.

[AkumaNoZeta 10]

Well, driver's side is almost done. Ran out of MIG wire so had to stop, coincidently I also ran out of cut-off wheels, needed some bigger drill bits, and also got me a pack of new tips for the welder.