BLOZ UP

Ordered 3 2-5/8" Speedhut gauges during their 20% off march sale, to replace the center 3 stock gauges. Boost/vac, oil pressure and fuel pressure. Realized I'll need to get a water temperature gauge at some point in the future. Believe I still have a Prosport one sitting around somewhere--and the sender's still in my lower intake manifold, heh. That will work until my bank account recovers. The other day I finish making the battery leads. I connected them to the bulkhead connectors and can actually connect a few systems to test now. I still need to wire in the fusible links--but I'm not sure I'm going to stick with the AGU fuses. Regardless, today I just planned out the battery holder. I'll be making it out of 1/8" aluminum sheet. It seems a bit on the thin side but I don't have enough 1/4" and 1/4" looks way to thick. Besides if I hit something hard enough to get the battery not only out of the holder, but out of the steel compartment--I'm likely dealing with much, much more important physics problems. So I took this picture and then realized that I measured the height wrong. I didn't take a photo of my revisions. It's going to be 5.5" tall, and as wide as the battery (7.25"). There sides extend further than the battery about 3/8" to allow for some padding against the uneven steel compartment. Then the ~1/2" mounting faces come 90 degrees of the end of each side where it will be bolted to the compartment. There's going to be a 1" lip on the bottom and a 2x3" or so tab on top to keep it in place (in addition to the steel lip of the compartment). I'll add some gussets/other reinforcements as I see fit. I see this as more structurally sound than the two fastener stock metal frame and J hook, but let me know if it sounds unsafe.

If you missed the 20% off it's worth a try to get it retroactively credited. Damn these things are spensive.

Just an FYI. I wasn't subscribed to their newsletter and was browsing the site and noticed prices dropped considerably. It's a 20% off sale through the 31st. Picked up a few gauges a little earlier than planned but I couldn't ignore the price drop.

Did you get the sale price? Speedhut's doing 20% off through the 31st. Dammit speedhut... going to order mine now I guess.

I finished both heads yesterday. The first one took a day, the second only a few hours. I could have done better on the long side radius after the valves, but the bits I had just wouldn't work with the angles I could get at. Most of the work centered around the valve opening where the cast finish of the port met the machining of the valve seat. Most of that work was smoothing out the short side radius. Otherwise I just removed casting marks from the sides of each port, and cleaned up the entire port. There was, however, a kind of "lip" on the exhaust side of the chamber on one of my heads--it appeared to be a casting/machining flaw. It was pronounced on one head, and only just noticeable on the other. I removed both. I did not radius the lip to the quench area. I've read conflicting info for/against it but decided to play it safe and skip it for now. After the carbide burrs, I used 80 grit on the entire head. Then for the compression chamber and exhaust I went to 120 grit (the finest my kit came with), then polishing rubs. I ended up destroying most of the polishing pieces and had to jerry-rig the rest to finish. It's hard to tell in the pics but the exhaust and chamber really polished up nicely. There's a few pits here and there but I think it's fine for my first P&P job. Also, the chamber on cylinder #6 (I think) polished up extremely shiney--I couldn't get the others quite like it. I must have been using a worn 120 grit roll on it or something. Whatever, can't tell by touching it. I read that most of the gains are going to be around the valve opening, so that's what I focused on. It also seemed to be where most of the improvements could be made due to machining marks. So this work plus a 3 angle valve job should match up well with my cam and give me all my horsepowers. Here are some pics. Some are in progress, think most of the last few are when it's done. Now off to get a 3 angle valve job.

I'm waiting on some wire lugs so I can't finish the battery wiring. Worked on the heads some more. Will hopefully finish one side today. They are coming out great. I've been dreading using my 1/4" die grinder, but my polish kit only has 1/4" mandrels. I've been using soley a dremel with a 1/8" chuck so far, and these really nice (considering it was like $20 for a set of 10) 1/8" carbide burrs. So, I rigged up a wood screw to fit the polish kit's rolls on to. Works great! Just have to throw them away a bit early to prevent marking up the edge if the roll goes but I have more then plenty rolls for these heads. I also cleaned painted lots of brackets and stuff. Touched up the welding on my alternator and motor mounts while I was at it. The passenger side mount's angle is also off by just a degree or two, so I ground off some material--I don't think it's enough but it should help. While doing this I noticed how shitty my mounts were. I fixed up the alternator one a bit, but it is miserably poor. The engine ones aren't bad, just the passenger side is overkill. The driver side could use another hole to ease installation. After rewelding I took some of the sharp edges off before painting. First weld of 2014! I'm going to try and rebuild the VG30 lifters. At least one of them ticked pretty bad. I have the VG33 ones but they look to be in worse condition due to sitting forever. I tried cleaning them and perhaps 2 or 3 might be salvageable. I also gathered the rest of the head parts, valves, retainers and whatnot. After head porting it's off to get a valve job. It looks like Nissan only used a 2 angle grind? I also took off the pan of the VG30 and compared the oil pickup tubes. It's going to take a welding 2 or 3 sections up but it shouldn't be difficult. The Frontier pickup goes way further down since it has a tiny sump pool way in the back. I can't use that pan as the Z31 pan sits as low as my frame rails. After dissassembling the rest of my old VG30 I placed it outside. Free engine, who wants to come pick it up?

Now I'm really regretting it as I need a different switch so I don't blow up my alternator, if it's ever disconnected while running.

Well, ever done something on your Z you immediately regret? This is one of them: On the other hand, I did get one hole drilled and a firewall pass-through installed for the battery cables: It took an entire cordless drill battery and then some hand turning the last few steps of the step bit. My 12v Ryobi has pretty much had it. I had to get a new step bit from Harbor Freight. The one I can't find isn't big enough anyway. I stopped by Home Depot, but they wanted $60 for theirs. While it might last a bit longer, there's no way I'm spending that much on a single drill bit. I got 200 zip ties, a 1/2" ratcheting tap wrench, 2 stepper bits, and one more thing that escapes me for $50, including tax. The ratcheting tap wrench is actually really nice.

Got a new oil pump (OEM--which was cheaper than aftermarket), plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor on the way. Used a couple Advance Auto Parts codes for a total $40 off my order, and free shipping. So, what else do I need to do to get it drivable? Modify oil pump for remote filter, and install remote filter mount (medium) Finish head work: Port heads, valve job, assemble heads (medium) Modify oil pickup tube (medium) Reassemble engine (easy) Install engine (easy) Get new injector oring and fix fuel lines (easy) Wire up battery (easy, waiting on wiring supplies) Tune it (fun! easy if nothing goes wrong) So, it doesn't look like I'll make the first AutoX, or the second really (which is the weekend following the first one). Damn.

ah sweet. need pics. Did you get 2-5/8" water/fuel gauge? I need to see how well they fit.

Yes yes, but what style and whatnot and speedo/tach, oil press, boost?

It was real nice out. It felt good to do some stuff, but I spent a lot of time looking for tools--and still can't find my large stepper bit that I need. Also got some goodies in the mail. New cams and springs, as well as some new 8 and 10 gauge wire for relocating my battery and fusible links. So I told someone on here that these holes are metal-covered. I was wrong. The battery and fusible links are going in the passenger side one. Something like that, but with some padding and a aluminum bracket to hold it in place. I'm also looking at replacing the AGM fuse block with a maxi one. So hopefully this mess will be gone. I didn't take a photo, but I've pulled all the main accessory power wires back through the firewall and toward the back. I also remove the giant white connector mounting bracket that really just takes up space, so it will be easier to mount the battery cable firewall lugs. Whoever designed that stupid block, I hate you. These are some of the wires that are cleaned up. Also, no more battery means more space for my catch can and shit, which I probably won't get around to anytime soon. Circuit Sports oil filter relocation kit (can't use OE 3.3L attachments, from my measurements). 3/8" NPT to -10 adapters for that, and then some fuel line and fittings to better route my fuel rails. Mounted 5 of my new 750cc injectors, but I need a new o-ring for the last one. In other news, the oil pump from my VG33 is kind of whack, I think I'm going to get a new one to work with. I will need to drill and tap for the 3/8" NPT adapters, and I might as well port the interior while I'm at it. I couldn't get the old one to open--I stripped the screws. I also need to figure out what I'm going to do for lifters. I'm soaking the old ones now, but might get new ones. Also need a valve job on the heads whenever I get around to finishing the P&P on them. Doesn't look like I'll make the late March or early April autocrosses. Damn.

I should be tuning my car at the end of this month, or more likely the end of next.

Which gauges did you get?

Welcome to the internet. http://www.racing-seats-usa.com/29101.html

So my car laptop died and I picked up another one after a long while. It's ThinkPad T410, and so far everything is working great--despite an incredibly suspicious craigslist seller giving it to me for a suspiciously low price. Whatever. Yay 1440x900! I'm almost modern now! Also, the battery actually holds a charge. And everything pretty much "just works" in Linux, including the fingerprint reader--which is cool. Transferring everything from my old laptop went smoothly (despite having to purchase an 2.5" IDE adapter). Now if only I had a working engine to try it out on. I'm getting real ansy to start tuning.

You need to post the full URL (ie youtube.com/watch?v=blah), not the short URL version (youtu.be/whatever). It also cannot be a link, if you paste it and it's automagically gets underlined & blue it won't work--remove the link. Also might need to be on it's own line.

It can, but it depends on your engine setup, spare tire setup, and other things. You just need to be aware of it. In my case (moving it to the passenger side), I'd really like the battery tray area for a catch can and some other things. The weight shift (besides decreasing the angular mass a bit), I'll worry about later.

Got it, thanks. Feedback left. Can close topic.

40-80mph in ~3 seconds? Quick.

mmm hmmm

Better, but noticeable to feeble human senses? No.

Pathfinder, Frontier, 300ZX at least. Pretty sure all RWD VG30 vehicles had a rear sump.

That does not look like it's made for any highway capable vehicle to load on it...