BLOZ UP

Got my crank spacer machined for a not so small fee. And it's running again. Timing marks on the crank appear to be way off. Then again, maybe my megasquirt has decided to change the base trigger angle again. Also wired in the Oil Temp., Coolant Temp., and gas gauge, and they appear to work. I broke the rheostat wiring for the night illumination, but that's an easy fix. Also need to pull the console back to fix the gauges in place. Also need to modify my seat bracket and install the harness. Then maybe and oil change and some transmission fluid. And I should be good for an autocross. Although I haven't solved my front RCA interference problem, so I can't run my slicks on the front.

Installed! Only took 5 hours or so. I went by the auto parts store and got a crank pulley install/uninstall kit. None of it really fit. The threads on the crank are recessed, so none of the adapters were long enough. So I went to the hardware store with the intent that I would weld some long reach bolt and use the rest of the kit. Nope. Rest of the kit hits the turbo, it's too long. So, went back to the hardware store and got a nut and some washers... And here you have the custom crank pulley installer for my car. This is v2.0, since the original didn't have enough heat in the weld and snapped apart. Luckily I was able to retrieve the end from the crank with my fingers. Very lucky. I also installed the shorter bolts that ATI said to use, no problems there. I dropped of the crank spacer at the machine shop, and he said he could do it, so that and torquing the bolt back on and I can start the car up again. An interesting side note. The crank pulley went on with about .5mm clearance with the steering rack. There's about .25" at least of clearance now that it's pressed on all the way, but the top of the intake has about .25" of clearance with the strut bar. When making the motor mounts I didn't intend for this tight of a fit, but it somehow just worked out. All I did was use a level to determine how high the mounts would be.

Note that if I had read the instructions, I would have learned that the Speedhut temperature senders are trimmable without having to contact their email support. Whoops. Speaking of support, I contacted ATI since the instructions insist that all bolts must be installed, but the bolts that hold down my optional front pulley won't tighten completely (and I can't see what's in the way since it's half-way installed). Their response? "Find shorter bolts". Gee, thanks, I guess. Expected a little more sympathy since the damned thing cost more than my engine but I have a feeling they don't give two shits about imports... The ATI Damper fits. Just so. About 0.5mm of clearance with the steering rack when installing, but when fully pressed on it should not be over the steering rack much at all. I managed to damage the first threads in the crank by being stupid when installing it on. So, I'm going to need a pulley installer to finish the job. My spacer, however, doesn't fit. It needs to be turned down a lot. In other news, I installed the CTS and OTS. The CTS didn't appear to need to be shortened. And I started working on installing the gauges, but didn't get far. I'm going to tie these gauges into the accessory circuit, since they aren't needed while cranking and I have issues with the other gauges when cranking sometimes. I found my aluminum gauge panel I knew I had. And I'm going to see if I can get some LED replacements for the center console/vent cover lights since the car's going to be down anyway for the crank spacer.

ATI Damper arrived. Came with complicated instructions. Luckily for my application you just install it, as far as I can tell. I contacted speedhut about the temperature senders. The notch is for cutting if needed, as I thought. So, Dremel time: After cutting: Cleaned up and installed: Now I can do the same for the coolant temperature sender (I'll need to drain a bit of coolant first, though), and install that. Then wire them all up.

I think I'm pretty much ready for race season. Would like to get it dyno'd soon, since its rich in boost. But I might go to an autox or two first. I've still got some minor things I've yet to install. Gauges, catch can, coolant overflow, urethane bushings, toe hooks, harness belts... and that's about it. I wanted to do suspension work, but I think I'll wait until the winter as the car will be down for a while for that. I ordered a couple other things for this season. A Nardi wheel to finish off the interior (including some NRG mounts and detach), and a ATI Damper to replace my crappy eBay one--although the ATI Damper will be a close fit (about .25" closer to the rack). Hopefully now I can focus on the racing season!

What other automotive communities have people making their own heads... This is amazing...

Here are some pics of the trailer. One of the utility lights. Ammo can power distribution center. I might need some kind of shield on the trailer since the left side and fender had soot from my tail pipe. It might cover the switch panel. Forgot about that when making it, should have put it on the other side. I'd flip it around but like to have the hinge in front and the typing facing out. The utility lights are from Amazon. The ones from superbrightleds.com were a bit too pricey for me. I also shortened the battery hold down thing and painted it. Ideally the battery would be in a battery box, so I left as much length as I could to hopefully allow for that. Main switch and voltage readout. Trailer runs accessories off it's own battery, so this is so I can keep tabs on how much power's left. Lights both wired in and switches installed. The lights are plenty bright. The new marker LEDs should help visibility.

Did a few things this weekend. Installed Sparco Torino driver seat (pictured). Worked on the trailer (not pictured), and started working on a 280Z office chair for my welding table (not pictured). So I impulse bought this Torino 2, used, from the local race shop. I knew it had been installed in a S30 before but forgot it was a pre-cat hump 240Z. Steadfast to avoid additional buyers remorse, I insisted on making it work. So I ordered a planted seat bracket and Sparco rails to avoid having to chop up my stock rails. First, the Sparco rails are stamped "Made in China" which isn't necessarily bad since they seem to be 'OK' quality, but they were a bit pricey. Second, the instructions are next to worthless. It can be summed up as follows: "One side allows 320mm bolt spacing, flip it around for 270mm. Make sure the tabs face inward and forward for the slide adjustment bar": The instructions show putting the washer/tabs between the rails and the seat. This felt and looked wrong so I placed them were they seemed better suited, in the rail itself. It would also raise the seat 1/8" or so. Now, the planted seat bracket. It's well built, but does not fit my seat directly (if you skip the sliders). You would have to drill a couple extra holes. It seemed to fit the car well, though. More on that later. All the bolts installed. Note that the rear two are right over where the frame-to-chassis bolts will go. Ugh. And viola, it's installed securely: One problem, as others found before me, is the door doesn't shut. You can slam it, but I don't want to damage my door panels. I may bend, shave, or cut so that the the shoulder pad moves inward. Another problem is the right side of the seat bracket doesn't seem to tighten all the way down easily. I believe the cat hump is interfering with either the planted seat bracket, or the seat itself. I may cut/grind down the bracket and find out. It's large. I'm trying to like it because I spent money on it, but it's hard. It's comfy, no doubt, and way more secure than the stock seats. but we'll see. If I can't fix the shoulder bolster, I'm might move on to something that will fit. Next up is installing the harness belts. In other news, I modified and painted the battery bracket for the trailer. I also installed the 4 remaining LEDs for the top of the tire holder thing. 2 red, 2 amber for the rear and sides respectively. I reinforced one of the fenders (the fender metal is of poor metallurgy, and only held on with two bolts) and then attached a vintage ammo can to it. I will be installing some of the electronics in it (main switch, voltmeter, perhaps the power inverter).

It was a good weekend. Welded up and "painted" a tire rack for the trailer. Here's the idea. Note that I've drilled spots for my left over clearance lights, as mocked up below: Since the tail lights themselves are kind of crappy, low, and hard to see from off angle, the higher up clearance lights should help night visibility from the rear and sides. I got real lazy and barely cleaned up the metal at all before welding and painting: Here it is complete (minus wiring): Tested it out by driving to the first Z meeting of the year: Good turnout for the first meeting: The trailer tongue weight appears to bit a bit too low with wheels in the back and a battery up next to the tongue. That's good though, as I haven't finished adding everything to the front. Still need to find/make a tool box (or two), control panel and fill it with crap. Also need to weld the trailer jack on somewhere, as it doesn't really work where it is. First drive was a success. Bumpy NJ roads gave it a great shakedown. Hit one set of bumps that sent the trailer flying in the air. I could see the black fenders in my rear view mirror, when I can normally just see the tops of the tires. Fun times... I also started the car with the trailer's battery hooked up, and the fuse didn't blow so I guess it's not helping out that much.

Well, I can remove it alright. The mounting plates I have don't even have a hole/slot for it to fit through. Guess I should contact MSA to see what's what.

Hm, I hope I have the right ones. What's this metal rod for? There's also a plastic cover for it.

For the flush mounts... how does the adjustment knob thing fit? It looks like it extends into the window....

Some people only care about peak numbers. Others it's just a tool to finalize a build, so they just want consistency during the day and only care about area under the curve, not peak numbers. And for that, it's pretty damn accurate. Also, I think you'd find manufacturer standards not "strict" so-to-speak, but more realistic. Take your brand new car to your nearest engine dyno shop, and the numbers will line up just fine. So, no. Your original request for a 3000 RPM torque spread doesn't look possible with stock top end. The VGxxET just dies after 5000 RPM. Maybe... maybe you could get close with a drastic compound turbo setup to boost the low end, but that's a lot of effort. Like a stock T25/T3 with a 60mm or whatever turbo taking over. If I had more time and money that's one of the things I've always wanted to do with the VG.

Yup. I've run mainly SCCA events there. Should run some MSNE/PCA events there too. Would also like to do the NY Region SCCA out at Nassau Stadium, and Philly at Warminster Park. Next autox I plan to be at is in Philly on the 12th.

Uh, #1? The cylinder closest to the front of the car, IIRC. You didn't cut along the diameter, causing an elongated/oval cut. I imagine you did it to get more angle so it would fit. Also known as "cheating a bend". The flow suffers a bit, especially if you leave it as is. Just hammer it in to smooth the transition a bit. It's not a huge deal, though. It's unavoidable sometimes.

Man I was a terrible driver at that event. Also my camera placement sucks. I was experimenting!

I just remembered the Virb also supports and external mic. For my first AutoX of 2013 I put a 'mic' (aka a cheap camera in video mode) on the rear bumper to get the exhaust sound. It turned out well. I mixed it in with the interior camera. Very little wind noise back there.

That looks better. A little cheating on that one bend, but otherwise looks good. I'd hammer the radius in to help it fit better if it were me.

Tried my new wheels and tires on one side. Huge fender gap. Keep in mind the other 3 wheels are taller, and it hasn't settled 100% Even though it's a slick, it looks less aggressive in 205R15 than my 225R16s. Not gonna happen on the front with my RCAs. A wheel spacer might help, but I hate spacers. Other news: Inspected ball joints and tie rods. All seem okay. Tuned cold starts. Found my 3 gauge panel! I got a real action camera. A Garmin Virb Elite. I like it a lot. I know about GoPro, but thought they were a bit pricey for what they offered. Also, no screen on the HERO3 Silver (or whatever) and below. Brief pros/cons: Pros: Non-backlit display (saves power) Can use phone to change settings, start/stop recording (wireless) Simple record slider switch (easy to use with gloves on) Huge battery life Can link multiple cameras to one 'master' camera Supports external mic Has GPS, accelerometer sensors and stores data in non-proprietary format (GPX (XML)). This was a huge plus for me. Pretty good video editing software (can overlay GPS speed, g-force, etc. gauges and crap). Has GoPro adapter (so you can use GoPro mounts) Cons: Doesn't come with tripod adapter nor suction cup mount (it has a couple adhesive ones). The price dropped $30 a couple days after I got it

Updated to v0.60b: Added engine make/code to upload form. Added views for each msq. Other invisible changes were configuration management and a big codebase rewrite. That's turned out to be a bit more complicated. But I am working on more INI file compatibility that relates to this, so it's being worked on.

Interesting. I ordered the flush mounts from MSA. I don't like the idea of drilling into things, but I can compromise if they are as sturdy as they seem. I suppose crashing into things is worse that a couple more holes in my doors.

That's not too bad... Think I might order those.

Do you have to chop up/drill anything on the body/door?

The Pegasus ones aren't bad looking. And really, as long as they don't shake or fall it will be a massive improvement to my effectively nonexistent mirrors now. Those other ones, I'm not too sure. Also, although I think my doors have already been drilled for my current mirrors, I'd prefer not to have to modify them anymore for them. Does anyone have the flush mounts? Do they require anything crazy?

Drove the Z to work and back, and tuned it. I've been tweaking the cold starts and they are getting better--although it occasionally kicks back, despite having really low timing during cranking. I'll have to double-check the timing with a light just to be sure. I've also reduced the accel enrich a lot, as that was a tad too rich to the point of misfiring occasionally on hard accelerator pedal changes. The engine is responding very nice. Might take it to the dyno soon. However, my suspension seems a lot "looser" and shaky than I remember, so I'm going to have to go over all the ball joints and whatnot. Also, my fuel pump is making really, really bad noises occasionally. Hrmph. Time for that fuel lab pump and a new filter I think. I ordered a Sparco seat mount, slider, and hardware. I was going to try and fabricate something with the stock slider, but this just makes things a lot easier... and probably safer. I will need a harness bar, or at least a nice harness attachment mount (the rear strut tower/seat belt point doesn't seem bad). That I can make. I have some 1/8" steel left that'll do the trick.