Blakt Out

Thanks guys. So much. I still am not enjoying her as I should, as the battery dies too often and the fan blows fuses. Little things that keep me from feeling that this has been a race well-run. We've got the alternator at a specialist now.

440man: I'm from Bristol too, but the other side. Went to Sullivan East! Jared

Anybody else going to ZCON 2010 in Franklin, TN this coming week? It'd be cool to have a HybridZ get together of some sort... if it's more than just ME!

jbehuniak, Glad you had something tyo read while over there! I look firward to seeing what you put together when you return. Hey guys, is anyone else going to ZCON in TN this coming week? I'll be there, with my Z.

Actually it's totally different. That was a campaigned race car that Porsche actually did the R&D on, not just a cluster of wings and such. BIG difference, buddro.

Hey guys, Thanks so much, again, for the kindness. I'll be posting up vids and such next week once I get everything just right. I've lost some time on it, as I've been gone a week to do a big road test on 3 new Porsches for Excellence magazine. Not a bad excuse, right? I also got to have dinner (2nd time) with Peter Brock. Last time I hang out with him was October of 2008, and I showed him all that was done on the car at that point. This time, I got to show him all the pics of the completed car. I took one to Kinkos to print as a poster, and he signed it "Bitchin! Peter Brock". I took it to get framed today. That's gonna be sweet hanging in my office! As for the wheel and tire offsets, I'll have to get those tomorrow, as the car isn't here at my house. However, the offsets won't apply totally to someone without the same suspension as me, I don't believe. Yall have a good night. Jared www.jaredcullop.com

Thanks everyone! I can't believe it's actually a "Desktop" car! I've had so many cars of other people as my desktop. To think mine is on someone elses... wild! iCapture - I'm 31. I've worked haaard, as I'm sure we all have. But things have gone my way more often than not. I've definitely lost a lot, but I've done fine and learned some big lessons along the way. I am a partner in a Business Advisory company, and I'm President of Strategic Marketing. Inventors, small business owners, physicians, etc will bring us in and either pay a fee or give us equity in their businesses to turn them around and make them more profitable (or profitable at all), so it's a win-win arrangement. My partners are all very solid businessmen. I'm the dreamer. I help people think outside of the box to find a solution that no one else has thought of yet. That's what I do. I also write occasionally for Excellence Magazine, which is a Porsche rag. I'm actually doing another test next week in Northern Cali. Should be cool. jake - I expected that I'd do the RB26DETT, but when I realized how much I could get out of the much lighter, much less finicky, and much more aftermarket supported SR20DET, why would ANYONE go with the RB? Makes no sense to me. After driving my car, which put down 434 at the rear wheels on pump gas and a mild tune, I can't imagine it making sense to have more... especially with having to put a substantial amount of weight in the nose. It never was a money decision. It's that I am not the kind of guy to do something just because it's cool. It's gotta make sense. I'm totally, 110% convinced that any more than this engine would be less fun and just not what I was going for. BUT, we each have our own opinions, and I definitely respect all those who have put RBs in their cars. It just made no sense to me whatsoever. For a continual following of the Z, if you're at all interested, (and also if you want to see more of what I do for work, since it involves NFL pros, writing for a Porsche mag, car mod shops, the DOE, and everything in between) it might be easier for you to go to my website at http://www.jaredcullop.com/car-life/. This Z is on quite a few forums now. I will definitely post here as much as I always have, but I'll be posting on my site throughout my lifetime with that Z and more often. If you like, you can click the RSS feed for this page (Car Life RSS) on the right of the screen and just get an email when there's a post. From magazine shoots to car shows to blown bulbs and my exhaust leaks, I'll be sharing my life with the car on this URL. It's just easier. I'm also a web developer and I've got an app for my iPhone to make updating the site easy, even while behind the wheel! (At a stop light, of course!) Jared

On the drive home (510 miles) I had no issues. Everything went wonderfully. What a car! I'm so happy! I stopped about halfway to meet up with photographer Kyle McManus. Here's a shot he took.

Thanks again, everyone. Well, here's the story: I flew into Wilmington, NC (where National Speed, Inc is) from Knoxville, TN (where I live) to watch them finish up a few jobs on the car. They just got it the Saturday before that, and had some things to do. For example, the throttle cable wasn't ideal coming out of the firewall, so they were going to fabricate a bracket for it. These guys are amazing fabricators, by the way. Also, with concern for the turbo getting the bottom of my freshly painted, non-vented hood hot, they were going to fabricate a heat shield. I was sort of bummed by this, because it would hide my turbo and not look pretty. But I'd be more bummed if it bubbled my paint or melted my plastic brake fluid reserviors. They were going to hook up some of the gauges, including the tach. They found a way to make the stock tach work with the 4cyl S15. They're going to tell me who helped them on this, because they deserve a ton of thanks. I apologize that I don't recall the name, but I'll make sure that fellow gets a public sign of appreciation, for sure. Anyway, plans were to fly in Wednesday, them finish the car on Thursday, I drive the car around in celebration all day Thursday, in case anything came up that needed to be addressed, and then leave out early Friday morning for Tennessee. This is an 8.5 hour drive, a real maiden voyage, for sure. Before flying out, I was very excited. This would be my first time seeing the Z fully assembled, as well as my first time driving it since it went into the shop 36 months ago. Late one night earlier in the week, when I was still in Knoxville, I got a call from Chris Polanski, President of National Speed. I could tell in his voice that something wasn't good. My heart sank. "There's bad noises coming from inside this engine. I don't know what it is. We'll find it." The next day, he calls me back. One of the rocker arms has sheered, flopping all around inside the top of the engine. A valve shim is damaged, and the valve guide is missing, likely in the oil pan (which is was). The camshaft might have suffered some too. Gulp. I started reading all the SR20 threads online that I could find. I then found something of interest: When you build one of these engines, especially with upgraded cams, you have to put rocker arm stoppers in to keep them flop slapping everywhere at high rpm. I sent Chris and Jordan (my customer service superhero at National Speed... Zedex on this forum) some links just before I went to the airport, showing them what I'd found. When I land in Wilmington, I immediately drive to National Speed. In 5 minutes of talking with Jordan, including the greeting, I find out that National Speed has a new cam, all hardware, the stoppers which were omitted before... all coming next day air. Some parts they already had. They had John, a head technician, already working on it. I was happy about this, but I said "what about the cost? The time?" Jordan looked at me and said, "It's been a long time since I missed something on a build. I missed it on this one. We're taking care of all of this for you, and we intend to have you out of here and on your way back to Knoxville on time, with all the fabrication completed as well." I couldn't believe it. I actually COULD, because I've been working with these guys for a while now. But wow. When it actually happened, I can't explain the relief and respect that I had for these guys. Friday morning, the car was back together and running very well. So, I took it around the block to their fabrication shop. They were a little behind becaus of the engine stuff, but now they could fabricate the heat shield, throttle cable bracket, install the temp sensor, create a bracket for the bottom of the intercooler, and fabricate a washer fluid reservior that more fit the style of my engine bay. On the way over, the suspension felt really, really wobbly, and any bump or seam in the road caused a liver-shaking thump. It was so horrible. Upon looking at the coilovers, they realized that they weren't installed correctly, or all the way. So they throw yet another tech on my car to fix this. I'll skip forward here, but after at least a dozen hours of working on the suspension (till Friday night around midnight, Saturday all day until about midnight, and all day today - Sunday - so far. I'm writing this from the fab shop) they've got the suspension feeling good now. The Arizona Z Car (http://www.arizonazcar.com) equipment is absolutely stunning and ridiculously adjustable. I want to do everything I can to send business their way, because AZC is an incredible company, with integrity, and overengineered and GORGEOUS products. I better can't tell you with words, so I'll show you the pictures. So now, they're working on a custom fabricated speedo gear. They have been for a couple of hours at least. The throttle cable bracket is done, as is the heat shield. Look how gorgeous this heat shield is. It's sanded stainless, and perfectly matches the coil cover that they designed. We took it to the alignment shop today around 3:30, which is an hour and a half before they close. They got it up on the rack and saw what they had to deal with, and the lazy guy actually called me back and said that he didn't want to get into it on a Saturday afternoon. So, I'm going to drive it back to Knoxville tomorrow with the alignment off. National Speed wouldn't let me leave with it off as bad as it was, so they did the best they could at eyeing it, and it drives just fine. I must say, I haven't even flipped it to high boost yet (which is over 500HP), only leaving it in low boost, which is 380 or so. It's incredibly stout, and the beautiful noises that this car makes gives me a boyish grin that I can't hide. Even at low boost, this car is extremely quick. I can already tell that I'll be getting in touch with Arizona Z Car and ordering some stiffer springs. National Speed also had to actually fabricate spacers for the sway bars to connect to the control arms and not move around. This isn't an Arizona Z Car issue, but a sway bar company issue. AZC parts have been flawless so far. So, I want to give a heartfelt thank you to National Speed for having up to 4 techs on my car after hours until midnight, from morning until (who knows, we're still here) on the weekend, and for being great guys to spend countless hours working on my dream car with. I'm a customer for life. I'll be starting some sort of muscle car build next, as I already have the drivetrain (LS3 & 6spd) out of a 2010 Camaro SS to play with. Jordan at National Speed already is planning up a single turbo system for it, but that's a long way away. But next time, I plan to do all of the resto work myself (National Speed WILL be doing any power mods though). Heck, they actually have every gauge in the Z, original gauges, working with the new drivetrain perfectly (speedo still being worked on, but I'm confident, to say the least). If I ever build another Z car (I can't see why I would), I'll definitely go straight to Arizona Z Car and Les Cannaday at Classic Datsun. The pieces that Les gave me made my dream of a resto-mod Z with a perfect stock interior a reality. I've got a handful of photographers lined up to shoot this car, and they'll be framing up this interior a good bit. Right now, it's got my luggage all in it and a photo from tonight wouldn't do it justice. Thank you, Les. I also want to thank Guy Ried who tirelessly sought perfection on the unibody of this car. The body is laser straight, and he used filler in no areas except in one paper thin area where he had welded in a new piece to the rocker. I also want to thank John at CC Wheels (CCW). I think that my car wouldn't look just like I wanted it to with any other wheel set. These are gorgeous too. He had to study all of the parts that I had under the suspension over the phone and online, because I was in Thailand for a few months while he was making the wheels. The very first test wheel he sent fit perfectly. The stance is spot on. Mack with McKinney Motorsports gave me great info and sold me great parts. Of course, Motorsport Auto had great service, and always sent the right part right on time. Again, thanks to all of you. Tomorrow, I take it on its maiden voyage, if nothing else comes up. The wipers still aren't on, as the motor is burnt out and it's supposed to rain. I sure hope it holds off, but RAIN-X! The steering wheel isn't straight, because it hasn't been aligned. It hasn't been corner balanced. It hasn't been set-up. The rear springs are too mushy. But guess what, I won't be caring. I'll be thanking God that I'm finally driving it. Despite a huge change in my personal finances since the start of this build, He sent enough good people my way to have it completed without any, ANY compromise to my original dream and I'm finally able to take her home. Thank you all for following this thread. I'm sure that I'll be posting up more, answering any questions that I can, and basically telling you all how giddy I am. And just for fun, this was an un-planned photo op at National Speed this week (well, I saw the others there are parked mine there for the picture). National Speed knows Z cars. They know fabrication. They know custom turbos. And they know how to treat people, even when they make the rare mistake. I think I've made some lifelong friends in this journey. I hope you have enjoyed following along on my build. The Z and I didn't make it to the Mitty this weekend. We didn't make it to the show at European Auto Garage in Knoxville (another terrific shop that works on other cars that I own). But we're registered and ready to be in the show at the Nationals in Franklin, TN. I hope some of you can attend. I'd love to meet you and show you my car. There's so many custom fabricated parts on it that it takes me 30 minutes to show someone all of them and explain why it was made the way it was. I'm very proud of it.

You guys are all too kind. Thank you so much. I currently have it insured for fixed payout with Progressive for an even $100,000. Those guys didn't put a mileage limit on me either. Wild. I should call and confirm that it's good! I'll be seeing the car today. We're having some niggles with the drivetrain, of course, that need to be sorted out. Very soon though, I'll post pictures and vid up of it driving! Thanks for sharing my enthusiasm. Jared

Thanks everyone. I can't wait to see her and drive her. Just three more days! After more than 1000 days, 3 more to go! Yes, my car stable has dwindled dramatically. The economy has hit me, but instead of keeping one of the 3 (other) Audis (still kept one) or the supercharged 911, I kept the Z. Thing is, it's been restored so well, and I'm now broke, that I'm going to be afraid to drive it hard! At first, at least!

Well fellas, the wait is about over. I'll be picking up the car in a few days. At that time, we're going to be taking a ton of pics, and I'll post them on here, along with video. I can't wait. After nearly 3 years, she's almost done.

tehrick: I just now saw your post. That's awesome! What do you have planned? Need any help with selection or anything, just let me know. We'll have the car finished this month. I can't wait!

Guys - Sorry it's been so long (you have no idea how sorry I am!). It's just been slow-going on the car lately. I drove up to Miller Brothers Hot Rod Barn, the guys building the car, this past weekend. My knees went weak when I saw it, as always! National Speed did an AMAZING job on the fabrication and tuning of the engine. Until then, I had only seen the pics/videos that I'd posted here. We are a bit over a month away from completion now. I can't wait. There's something I had horribly wrong earlier in the thread that I need to correct. I had said that Les Cannaday (Classic Datsun) was charging me $2400 for my steering wheel restoration. I truly thought this was correct. I saw the wheel for the first time this weekend. It's gorgeous, and worth every penny of that $2400 in my book. But he only charged me $400. It's all he ever was going to charge me. I don't know where I got the crazy number, but I needed to clear that up. He's awesome to work with, and in my book, should charge a lot more for his stuff! I can't believe I didn't take a pic of it. It's not in the car now, as that'll be the last thing to go in. I can't wait. Did I say that already?

I love it.

Mike; Thanks! Just found that! But, as I read it, I'm Ultra Modified because it's not an engine ever offered in a Z. That's odd, as I'd think that RBs and SRs would be in Nissan Modified. Oh well. We'll see how I do!

OK fellas. I'm registering RIGHT NOW for the Z Convention in Nashville. I'm putting it in the Judged Show, as well as People's Choice. Thing is, I have to choose a category and can't find anything that defines each category for me. I chose, for the time being, "Street Modified". Can any of you help?

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I don't know where they got the snake skin, but I will check it out for you. Yep, I always am thinking of projects! This is the second car I've truly "built". And Miller Brothers Hot Rod Barn picked the Z up from National Speed yesterday. It safely made it back to their shop, where reassembly will begin.

Joel: Thanks much! It's nothing like what you have under the hood, but it's all I wanted (more actually) for this project. Peace! Jared

Thank you so much, all of you. Until the car is fully put together and we get a photo shoot (hopefully in less than 4 weeks), I figure the only thing left that I can show you all is the dyno graph. It's a darn well-breathing engine!

Me too, Xonix ('cause I'll be drivin!) but these two pics will have to suffice for a little more time. From National Speed's Dyno Day Saturday... Pics taken by Kyle McManus - Auto Photog for hire

John: I never thought you were questioning the numbers. Just saying that maybe you could pause it to look until I get a final curve from them. I really don't know WHERE I'm going to drive it!

Yep. It'll come really soon. But in that last video, you can see what that run in particular did on the screen, right?