Zetsaz

Well... That was entirely too much time spent making 3 very basic brackets. Thought at first they'd just be templates to get the right fit, but considering they'll be totally out of sight and I'm not making nicer attachment points on the firewall like all the bracket madness the guys at project Binky get up to... I'm going to call this good.

Ordered more things with some light black friday sales. -Odd ball parts I needed from Zcardepot, including the missing passenger side tail light rubber that was unavailable this summer. -Skillard window rubber wipe kit -Headliner and roof/pillar trim kit from MSA, as well as a fender cover for when I'm working on the car. Bumpers have apparenty been stuck at port, still waiting on Datsun Garage to ship. Will be checking in with them this week. Debating how much I really need CVs right now with Futofab having 20% (15?) off, vs front control arms that I need to finish correcting the caster.

Is he still in business?? I've heard so many horror stories about poor communication and many months of lead time. Sadly only other carbon dash options right now are Carbon Signal in the UAE. Tough pill to swallow

Oooooohh, where'd you get the dash? Looks great. Love the engine start button placement and overall look.

AHH! Sorry, mixed up the N47 and P79 in my head. Thank you for the correction.

The N47 head (if I remember correctly) has a good combustion chamber like the P90, but the liners can be risky for a turbo. That being said, some people have made their head flow WORSE by removing them and not doing things properly. As far as pistons go, flat tops are actually great with a P90 if you have a standalone ECU. Nissan ran VERY conservative boost and compression with the now primitive efi. You can make more power on a stock block just by improving the efi. If you don't have a P90, stay with dished pistons, as flat tops will get you into NA compression territory for these motors, and the worse combustion chamber design of the earlier heads will severely limit you if you're really intending to boost. All that being said, Big Phil (turbo280z on youtube) ran an N47 head for a long time in his turbo L28 with good results until he switched to an RB30 build.

A guy close to me said that's what he used and the only concern he mentioned was the fitment wasn't quite right but the quality overall is quite good.

Ahhhh gotcha! At this point I've replaced pretty much every single warn out rubber/oddball part in my car, and almost literally everything has been taken apart at some point or inspected, so if you have any questions, about weird items feel free to ask me! Some odd stuff specific to only a couple years I'm less familiar with, but body/mechanical/interior specific stuff I'm fairly familiar with original parts at this point.

Z car depot is generally quite good at pointing out differences between the years and whether or not the part is needed for your car. Hang onto them in case someone else has done the same. I have a friend with a late 280 who might be able to check

Do you have your door panels off? It's on the interior on the "floor" of the door. It's a rubber bump stop on the inside for when it's completely rolled down.

Weather is getting colder by the day and I think I've just had the last few moderate days of driving for a while. Time to start fixing small things (as in... My hands won't fit in these small spaces!) Pulled the dash tonight to start working on the vintage air... It's even less room to work with despite being the gen 2 mini. I'm debating weather or not to move the ECU over to the passenger side while I have everything out and it's easier to access, but for now the focus is on the Vintage Air and some patches of Dynamat on the most resonant spots of the firewall. New bumpers are also ordered! Odds and ends I need are finding some firewall AC bulkheads I like that'll fit the AC hoses I have, and figuring out how I'll get the hoses inside routed

You should consider your use for the car as well. 9k rpm sounds ludicrus on an L series, but if you're in a mostly street car you'll rarely get opportunities to get even close to that unless you're on freeway on ramps. My L28 is a pretty much stock block but with improved accessories and MS3x with sequential fuel and spark. It drives great even though the acceleration isn't like modern cars, but I rarely get chances to go past even 5.5k where the power starts to fall off in the stock motor.

Alignment done today. Left side was WAY out but somehow I got the right rear dead on. Found out one of my local datsun friends did the alignments at a Les Schwab nearby and got it done through him. He took the time to pull the spindle pin for the rear of each control arm to ensure we got the toe as close as possible. Camber all got suprisingly close too! All of it ranges from about ~ -1.3 in the front to ~ -1.5-1.8 in the rear. My current ride height is perfect and doesn't need excessive negative camber for good clearance, but it seems like the rear right tire has been rubbing slightly on the lip on the way out of hte carport, so I'll probably do a mild roll on the back for better clearance.

Finally had a reprieve from the rain and took advantage. Control arms are in. Whole assembly is very adjustable so it's now in desparate need of an alignment. Was having a rough time with the C Clips on the half shafts. Took them to a shop and they said they'd basically have to go to a machine shop. They're basically chemically welded from the rust at this point. I could grind them off, but considering I only found play in one joint and it was almost completely unnoticeable, back in they went. They'll be staying as is until maybe spring. Would rather spend the money and effort just going straight to CVs at this point

This is exciting to see! Was talking to a friend recently and have started reconsidering the VQ as a swap. Since I care more about something fun, than all out power, and I'm aiming to for a modestly lightweight but daily driveable car, the VQ fits the bill perfectly. VQ37 even more. I love the responsiveness of the VVEL system, though I know aftermarket support isn't the best. Most I have in my G37s is an Ark Grip exhaust and I honestly love the sound. It's a far cry from the "trumpety" reputation VQs have from cheap 350z owners straight piping their cars.

Well, we're getting extensive rain this weekend, but I'm fairly determined to get the back end put together even if I can't do the Vintage Air this weekend. We'll see how far I get. i moved the Z over to the more elevated side of my carport but it remains to be seen how wet things will be.

Probably by this weekend. Back end is already on jack stands and taken apart, have just been a bit lazy finishing up other stuff.

Time stamped the intro for you

Apex rear control arms arrived today! Got good communication from Ohm,and I sprang for them after asking about set backs and his honesty about new products and outsourced axles being the main set back. Products like this are in stock. They shipped last Sunday but I got cheap shipping so they only just now arrived. Vary satisfied with how everything was packaged and I got a prime example of their new packaging on hardware to make sure everything is included. All in all, I really like these and I'm happy to support small businesses making parts for these cars. Plus! The best part about new parts... Free stickers haha

Yeah we've talked about the side drafts vs ITBs haha. Huge horsepower JZ engines are all the rage, but it's nice to see more out of the box stuff like this being more seriously considered. I think a lot of people get too caught up in numbers games and often don't even finish their builds or lose sight of the fact that modest engines with fewer issues and less $$$ can be so fun. Keep updates coming on the progress Chatapokai! excited to see it.

I've seen the exact Jalopy thread you're taking about probably, and other posts I've seen make me remain skeptical

I had just the ceramic and sound control on before I painted (no dynamat), and I drove from Seattle area to northern Utah and back in the middle of July. Was ALMOST better to have windows up the whole time until greenhouse affect started taking place and I rolled them down for circulation in Idaho after 6-8hrs of driving when it got to the hottest part of the day. Don't have any HVAC even now and it aside from a tiny bit of sweat on my brow it was dramatically better than I expected. Far more impressed with it's effect on heat than I was with sound, but if you're running resonators like I now am in my L28's exhaust, most of the noise is just from wind or poor aero. If you're concerned about weight and just want to get away from droniness and want to be able to have a normal conversation without raising your voice noticeably, I would recommend ceramic coating for heat, then a couple decent coats of their sound control OR dynamat, but not both, along with resonators. If you apply it properly in key areas that should take care of most issues. I will say adding a resonator was probably more noticeable than adding the dynamat on top of already having Lizard Skin SC, at least in the RPM ranges I was getting drone. If I'd had the resonator, and all my seals properly installed on the drive back, along with AC, it honesty would have been about as pleasant as you can get for a 13 hour drive. EDIT: Quick notes on weight, Lizard Skin ceramic control, pound for pound, will be more effective against heat than something like Dynamat. As far as sound goes, the Dynamat "megapak" shipping weight is a bit over 30 lbs, and I think the dry weight of 2 gallons of Lizard Skin Sound Control is somewhere in the 20's. Having experience with both, I think unless you're going for about 3 gallons of it, Dynamat will be the more effective sound deadener for the weight. I did 2 gallons of Ceramic, 2 of SC, and the Dynamat Megapak. Probably added 60-70 lbs total, but I also dropped however many pounds the original tar stuff weighs, on top of losing the heavy bumpers, emissions stuff, and moving to Vintage Air which weighs less than just the OEM fan unit, on top of getting rid of dated electronics/vacuum canister. I'd say I'm still ahead as far as weight is concerned.

I have lizard skin sound control and ceramic in mine. Definitely helps deaden the panels and reduces resonance of big flat panels dramatically, but it won't be "quiet" per se. Not like even modern commuter cars at least. For that you'd need carpet at a minimum on top of it and possibly foam materials. I now have Dynamat on top of lizard skin and even that isn't as quiet as I want. if I was doing things again (weight goals aside) I'd do Lizard skin ceramic to get full coverage against heat, top it with dynamat at least on large flat areas, then some closed cell foam on the floors on under carpet.

What you want is Kazuaki Kadowaki's build. It's so goooood. He was in an accident that totalled the car a few years back, but I've been following his progress on Instagram for a long time and it's coming back better than ever. You'd be able to understand some of his posts far better than I can, but I enjoy seeing his progress pics. https://www.instagram.com/kazuakikadowaki/

Despite the insanity of your current build, this one remains one of my all time favorites