Z-Fever

August 13, 2013

Out of curiosity, would you consider making more of the rear brake brackets to sell in the future?

I have them on the shelf and ready to go. We are also making a front adapter to run 8-piston AMG calipers and 15" rotors

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350846964054&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

August 13, 2013

First off, congratulations on acquiring a RHD 280Z! I was beginning to think NO ONE ELSE in the US had one of these rare lil' nuggets of goodness! I've only owned mine for about 10 months, and took it from "mothballed over a decade and not running" to now a daily driver. there are still issues, of course, BUT...

Ya just don't see these things on the road!

I'd be interested in knowing if you had to fab any parts in getting the 5-lug to fit, and if so, whether you could fab/sell them to me. I'm a technician at a local indie shop, but we dont have any of the expertise to fab brake/suspension parts... at least, not to a degree i'd be willing to trust my S130 on!

Thanks for sharing this wonderful project, and i'll probably be calling you about this!

Sorry I never responded to this... I had my settings wrong and was not getting email notifications. We can build these anytime and in fact are buidling another Z like this in our shop right now. Call me at 813-877-7600 if you are interested

Doug

March 10, 2012

We just started a really cool build. We had a customer bring us an 03 350Z and he wants a truly unique set up. It is getting an S14 SR20DET. We are fully building the engine, making a top mount manifold (custom) with a Garrett 3076 (GT30R) turbo and 850cc inj's. our goal is to do something no one has done before though. We are keeping the OEM drive by wire set-up from the 350Z and running a dual ECU set-up. This will allow us to manage the engine as well as to maintain the VTC, traction control, cruise control, and all factory gauges. The S14 ECU does not run can-bus but the 350Z's does. This is a cool build. I hope you like it.

Here are the pics as it is coming together. I will add pics as the build continues.

and here are all the parts we are using to build the engine:

850cc injectors

New OEM S14 oil pump

New .20 over CP pistons

New HKS 264 step 2 camshafts

New Supertech performance spring and retainers

New Cosworth 87mm x 1.1mm metal head gasket

New SCAT forged rods

New ARP head studshttp://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/301868_10150373688798296_296402898295_9772422_5538780_n.jpg[/img]

New ARP main studs

The engine has been sent out, hot tanked, bored .20 over, and honed. The crank was polished and balanced.

The head has been completely reconditioned and the new springs, retainers, and cams are installed.

And of course, this is the heart of it all... the Garrett GT30R (3076) fully ball bearing beast. This power plant should make an easy 500whp on pump gas.

I know that some people will not like this build because we have taken out a perfectly good running VQ35 that we could have boosted and made 400whp or built and gotten more than 600whp. All true, but we have done 100 350Z's just like that. This is something unique that you won't see 50 of at a car show. And the way we are doing it is truly inspiring. I don't think anyone has maintained all the OEM functionality of the gauges and drive-by-wire.

I hope ou like it.

We have finally built the engine and are getting ready to install into the chassis. Here are pics of the engine build:

Installing the Supertech springs and retainers

The powder coated S14 valve cover. It is polished then black satin coated

Now we are putting the bottom end together with all new pistons, rings, main bearings, rod bearings, ARP's and metal head gasket:

New performance oil pump gears:

Then we installed the front timing cover:

Then we installed the ARP head studs, Cosworth head gasket, and cylinder head. Along with in the intake manifold, valvecover, and custom made exhaust manifold:

I will post more pics after we get the engine set in place and start building the custom engine and trans mounts...

Here are the engine mounts we made for this build:

And here is what the engine looks like in the car

Here is the VQ35 drive-by-wire throttle body installed onto the S14 intake

We are using a Greddy VSPL front mount intercooler and have it mounted already

We started making the turbo manifold today. Using T304 stainless 1/2" flange we made and schedule 10 T304 stainless bends

{img]http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/396732_10150633848578296_296402898295_10929013_1210737757_n.jpg [/img]

We went ahead and threw my ITS T72 on it just so we can see how cool it looks.

More pics to follow:

We finally got her running today. Still have a few things to do but EVERYTHING works. The VTC, cruise, speedo, oil peressure, temp gauge, etc... Drive by wire throttle body functions. It is as though the SR20DET came in this 350Z (except it is 500hp). Here is a video for you to check out:

PLEASE LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

January 12, 2012

We just finished the build on a 1971 Datsun 240Z. The customer dropped the car off here the week before he was scheduled to be deployed to Korea for a year. He wanted us to build this car using a VQ35DE engine swap. Since we are a Nissan and Infiniti specialist that have been building Nissan cars for over 23 years now AND......considered by many to be the leaders in this AND........we are the owners of VQ35swap.com it is a natural fit.

We started with a basic 240Z that had been sitting for many years......

We pulled the engine and transmission

then stripped the engine bay fully and re-painted it to the color the customer wanted, an 2011 Corvette slate grey...

Then we acquired a COMPLETE VQ35DE motorset including trans, harness, ECU, and all accessories...

Then we acquired a set of Mckinney Motorsports VQ mounts for the 240Z. Be careful here because they are NOT perfect! They require some manipulation to get the fitment just right. They are designed to have a new X-Member welded onto the factory frame rails. This X-member is what the engine mounts will rest on and bolt to..........It takes some time to get it set just right. We also had to cut the exsisting factory 240Z X-member and we had to weld on support pieces to make sure it would not flex after cutting away about half of it. Otherwise the front sump engine's oil pan would hit the stock X-member.......

Here is a good look from underneath that shows the x-member, engine mounts, and front x-member after we did everything....... You can clearly see where we cut away the old X-member and the alignment to the oil pan

Then we made the custom driveshaft and fully installed the rear trans mount. We also made a custom shifter bracket that lengthened the shifter to align with the opening in the transmission tunnel......

Then we re-wired the OEM 350Z EFI harness and added the OBD-II connector as well as the accelerator pedal from the 350Z. This way the drive-by-wire system will function correctly and be controlled by the ECU. We also tuned the ECU and reconfigured it to work without the BCM, ignition key, RM module, and IPDM.....

Then we installed the radiator, made the custom aluminum intake pipe, installed the wiring harness, installed the pedal, added a fuse box to supply enough power to the ECU, made the custom aluminum radiator hoses, and installed the electric fan........

Then we made the custom 3" stainless mandrel exhaust system from front to back. We used a 3" single inlet muffler with dual 2.5" exits and added nice double wall stainless tips to give it that nice old school Z finish........

Here are a few videos of the car in action.........

November 5, 2011

Here is the finished product installed along with video

And video of it running:

November 5, 2011

Here is the finished product installed along with video

And video of it running:

November 5, 2011

Can you fit a strut bar over the VQ35DE.?

No, but you can make one that goes around it. With this custom intake manifold there might be 1/2" between it and the hood.

November 5, 2011

What ECU are you using?.

We use the stock OEM VQ35 ECU.

We remove the NATS, reconfigure it, and tune it. We also do teh re-wire service for the OEM EFI harness that makes everything work.

October 27, 2011

Here at Z-Fever we build some of the nicest Nissan vehicles around. We do a lot of unique swaps and this is just one of them. We normally do the RB25 swap into the 240SX but in this case we installed it into a 240Z which never came with fuel injection. Here is a picture diary of the build. The customer shipped us the car from Kentucky, we built it and shipped it back. This is a rather common practice for us.

I hope you like it.

We started with your basic stock 240Z:

Then we pulled the stock L24 engine from the engine bay and discarded it (if anyone needs a replacement engine for their Z you can call us, I will sell it to you):

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/21876_310258973295_296402898295_4591223_4915013_n.jpg' alt='21876_310258973295_296402898295_4591223_4915013_n.jpg'>

Then we replaced the OEM RB25 intake manifold with a Greddy style intake. They look a lot nicer than stock and make for a nicer install because the hot side is now on the L-side of the car and the cold side is completely on the R-side of the car. Requires less piping and looks cleaner. However, the after market manifolds do reduce overall torque on stock turbo applications. The stock intake manifold actually performs better (be aware of that). BUt them sure look a lot nicer!

L-Side eng mount:

Our customer wanted to keep A/C (thanks God!) so we made custom a/c lines by welding the ends that came on the a/c compressor lines to the stock 240Z lines. Basically making hybrid a/c lines...

Then we had to make the intercooler fit the car. We did not want to cut any of the factory sheet metal soooo..... We decided to fabricate the ends of the intercooler where they would line up with the openings on either side of the radiator.....

In retrospect I would do the end tanks a bit nicer and smoother. BUT, these worked well and fitment was perfect. In the future we will make the end tanks differently. Don't beat us up here. We were given the intercooler by our customer because he was trying to save money and already had the intercooler himself!

Then we made the piping from teh turbo to the intercooler and the intercooler to teh throttle body...

Then we moved to the cooling system.... We used a 3" core aluminum radiator made by CX Racing for the 300ZXTT. We did have to move the outlet to the passenger side and make the mounting points to from the radiator to the front radiator support. We also mounted a set of Flex-A-Lite 440 dual electric fans for ubber efficient cooling capacity....

We used the stock RB25 transmission and this one was extremely clean...

Then we moved to the exhaust system... The stock RB25 turbo elbow cleared the steering shaft so we made the actual downpipe...

Then we made the complete 3" single side exhaust system ourselves. Noone make these for the Z chassis. It is 100% T-304 stainless steel and 100% mandrel bent with a tuned muffler... You should here this RB sing when revving up!!!!! Sweet music to your ears...

Now, the job is almost finished... The engine is installed, the intercooler is mounted, the piping is done, the exhaust is done, the cooling system is done, the a/c is finished, and we also made a custom driveshaft....

The wiring is done by us here in house also... We use the stock RB25DET wiring harness and ECU initially. Then the customer decided he wanted to be able to tune the car in the future with larger injectors and turbo so we switched out the RB25 harness and used the Z32 harness and wired it up using the Z32 MAF and ECU... They work 100% perfectly and are fully tuneable...

Here is how the whole product looked when finished:

Then our customer decided he wanted us to make all his gauges work however the OEM 240Z gauges will not work. The speedo is mechanical on the car and uses a speedo cable. The RB's trans uses a digital (voltage) signal to generate a speed sensor reading. They are not compatible. The same is true for the tachometer. Car's is analogue and engine is digital....

So, we purchased all white digital gauges from Autometer that fit the factory dash sizes and installed them and then wired them all up. Pay special attention to the gauge in the L-side a/c vent.... It is the boost gauge. I think this is pretty cool!

The finished gauges

Everything fit under the stock hood perfectly. You can't even tell the car has anything done to it from the outside until you start it and she takes off... The stock turbo with the Z32 MAF and OEM injectors only put down 260whp but when we upgrade the turbo and injectors those #'s will go way up. Even at these #'s the car is extremely fast. Especially considering that the stock L24 only put down 140hp and approx 90whp.... The 260whp is almost 3 times what was stock and the car is only 2000 Lbs...

I hope you like it..

Doug

October 27, 2011

I am Doug from Z-Fever. We build custom cars and do a lot of custom fabrication. We are currently building a VQ35DE powered 280ZX (old school but cool). We had to make a custom upper intake manifold to get the OEM hood to fit without hitting the engine. So, I figured I would do a tutorial of what it takes to make a custom intake manifold from start to finish.

I hope you find it interesting and educational.

Enjoy....

We start by scanning the stock gaskets where the lower plenum meets the intake manifold and the throttle body gaskets. Once we do that we digitize them to work with our design software. The images look like this:

Then we create those 2D image into 3D images:

Then from those images we create the program that will tell the machine how to cut the blocks of stainless into these shapes. This program details the speed the machine rotates each bit, what type of bit to use on each cut, in what order to make each cut, and more. The finished products look like this:

From here we create the image of what we expect the finished part will look like. We take the finished 3D images and fuse them together into a complete image. We also rotate and measure as we go making each piece fit so that we can get to the bolts on the intake flange. We map out exactly where each mandrel bent 2" tube has to be welded to the flange so that the clearances are accurate. This is what that looks like:

Then we make the intake plenum side wall where the mandrel bent tubes meet the intake. We make this ONLY after determining where the holes need to go in order to be able to get to the mounting points of the lower flange:

Then we put all the pieces together and cut out the 15"x15" piece of 16 gauge stainless that the intake plenum will be made from, the 4"x7" pieces that the front and back plenum walls will be made from, and we start welding.

Here is a pic of all the pieces before welding:

Here are the (6) - 2" 90 degree mandrels:

Here is the folded 15"x15" stainless section:

We start by welding the mandrels to the intake side wall (you will see that the folded intake section is attatched to this side wall at this point but only to keep the side wall from bending and contorting its shape while being welded on):

Then we weld the mandrels to the lower flange:

Then we cut off the sections of the mandrels that are sticking through the side wall of the plenum:

Then we fit the rounded plenum section to fit the side wall. Making sure that the clearance to the valve cover is accurate and also making sure that we increase velocity of airflow away from the throttle so that the cylinders furthest from the entry point get an equal amount of air as the one's closest to the entry point:

Then we weld the throttle body flange to the 3" stainless mandrel intake pipe:

Then we weld the 3" stainless mandrel pipe onto the intake plenum at the angle we need to make the clearance to the valve cover and the hood.... It looks a little something like this:

(BTW... you may notice the Z-Fever logo plate on the intake tube. We already made the cold air intake pipe with the air flow meter flange we made welded to it rather than using the stock black plastic air flow meter housing, looks a ton better in IMO)

This shot offers you a good look at the inside of the intake after it is all together.

By tomorrow morning (maybe 30 mins after we open) we will have this all closed up and the engine will be running. We will post dyno #'s after we get them to see if we have any actual realized gains.

As always, I hope you appreciate our post.

October 20, 2011

We are building a 1982 Datsun 280ZX. The car came from Georgia and has been sitting in a barn for nearly 10 years. The customer is very attached to it and wanted to update the car and re-power it. He wanted a VQ35 from a 350Z. After doing his research he found us and had seen all the VQ35 swaps we had done and sent to car to us. This is the build:

Here is the car when we first started the build. First things first.... let's get rid of the L28. Great old engine but no balls!

Look at all that Georgia clay caked onto everything, nice!!!

this is all the rust that came out of the old fuel tank, NASTY!!! We will have to pull the tank and have it resealed before we start the new engine.

Plus, as an added bonus we had a trashed steering rack and the whole suspension was garbage... Here are some before and after pics...

So, now that the suspension was addressed we are on to the engine bay. First we have to strip it completely for repaint:

Now, we have to sand EVERYTHING BY HAND!!!!! Because it is a nightmare trying to get a DA sander into the cracks and crevices of the engine bay:

Now we start to paint the engine bay:

Now we installed the engine mounts and set it in the engine bay.

Now we made a custom transmission mount:

Now we made a custom shifter bracket out of 6061 Billet aluminum and removed the factory rear VQ trans bracket and installed ours:

Now we made a custom conversion clutch line from stainless braided hose:

We have already finished the wiring harness and tuned the ECU. We have installed teh 350Z accelerator pedal and are making the custom p/s steering lines and radiator. These will all be finished in the next couple days. We also made a custom driveshaft but it still neds to be installed. She will be finished and running by next week. Call us if you have any questions about this build of if we can help you with your project.

http://www.zfever.com or http://www.VQ35swap.com

Here are a couple video os the start up. We just finished the build:

October 7, 2011

It is an ITS T76 turbo

October 7, 2011

I own Z-Fever and have been building Nissan cars for 23 years now (2011). I used to work on this car when the Original owner brought it back from Japan. I always told him I wanted to buy it. One day his wife sold it to some guy because he was going through a divorce. As luck would have it, the guy called me looking for an alternator. He couldn't find one and was fed up with it. He had only owned it for 2 weeks and hadn't even titled it yet. He kept asking the parts stores for an alternator for an 81 Fairlady Z. Of course, the genius' at the parts store couldn't look it up because the books don't use the name "Fairlady". He was all too happy to sell me the car for $500.

I stuck a 280ZX alternator in it and 1 hr after getting the car towed in, I was driving it home.

I promptly began working on a dream project of mine. Here is the build:

Here is the stock suspention:

We removed the struts:

Then I pulled a set of front spindles from an S13 240SX and pulled the 4-lug hubs off and replaced them with new 5-lug hubs:

Then I pulled off the stock steering knuckles and ball joints and installed new OEM ball joints:

Then I installed a set of Tein Basic coilovers for an S13 240SX:

I had to open up the top mounting area of the strut to make room for the coilover camber plates:

Then I installed a stock set of Z32 300ZX twin turbo 30mm calipers along with 13" Brembo rotors from an 03 350Z and some custom caliper adapter brackets that space the caliper out further. I also added some custom stainless steel braided brake lines. This is the result:

Now I started working on the rear brakes and suspension:

This is the stock brake caliper and driveshaft:

We removed the factory calipers, rotors, axles, and differential:

I also removed the factory 4-lug stub axles:

Then I removed the stock backing plate:

Then I acquired a set of 5-lug stub axles from one of my many parts cars (a 1987 Z31 300ZX):

You can see the difference between the stub axle spacer on the left from the Z32 and the one on the right from the S130 280ZX:

Then we worked on the brakes. I machined my own mounting brackets for the Z32 calipers and using Z32 x-drilled rotors and custom stainless braided brake lines:

Then I started on the rear suspension. I again chose the Tein S13 coilovers. The only real difference is the upper mount inside the chassis. The stock mount uses a 3 wide bolt pattern. Whereas the S13 uses a 2 bolt pattern. I simply used one bolt hole and drilled one bolt hole to mount the strut to the chassis: