Blakt Out

Oh, there'll be a ton of video and photos made of this car. I promise!

Tuning session is going well. This one, on 10psi, got 302rwhp. Shortly thereafter (and while I was on the phone with them hearing this thing scream), it got 351rwhp at 14psi. The goal of 380-400 at high boost seems perfectly attainable.

Awesome. He's one of those that I referred to. I like that kid.

Yeah man. I have three different photogs lined up already. WE are on the same page too!

Extremely early into the tuning session. 4th gear, shutting down at 4,000rpm on 7psi. Taylor's still getting the air:fuel ratio as flat as possible at 12:1. Everything's going well so far.

You got it. We're running both a low boost (14-16psi) program and a high boost (22-24psi) program. The low should put down 380 or so, which is my goal. The high... I have no idea.

Thanks Zed Lover! No threat taken! Here are two new videos. More to come!

Daeron: Thanks so much for the kindness. I'm loving that other people are as stoked about this as I am. Pharaohabq: Hood and fenders go on as soon as tuning is done... which is coming along well. Here's a video of tuning. Wide open throttle tuning video to come.

Yeah. I'm not going to be afraid to drive it. I'm just saying that it won't be a "track car". I put my last track car (a fully prepped Porsche 997) into a wall and that sucked big time. Track cars from now on are under $40k. Just some pics that I wanted to share during this suspenseful time (for me) in waiting on the dyno tuning in the next few days. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I am. Check the breather separator/canister… The vacuum reference… Backside of the engine bay… The intake tube and breather/separator canister support bracket... Front shot… And a few drama shots… Thanks to Jordan at National Speed for hooking me up so constantly with wonderful pics of my baby. See y’all tomorrow.

A few more shots of the work thus far, it's about 98% completed, Chris is finishing up the fabrication work this evening. The valve cover breather... Driver side of the engine (i.e. where the vacuum reference location is)... Passenger side of the engine (i.e. where the breather canister is mounted)... Zoomed out a bit... Arial shot of the engine bay as it sits now... I love this shot…

No start up video, one of the guys grabbed the wrong camera when he was at home for lunch (i.e. the shop camera died last night, right before first start up. Thankfully, another camera was present, so we were able to get the video still. He'll upload it tonight when he's home). However, a few pictures from current progress: John finalizing the breather system... The custom coolant-overflow reservoir Chris designed... And of course, the feed line is -4AN... John designed a custom throttle cable bracket to relocate the path of the cable, out of the line of heat emanating from the turbine housing/downpipe... Here is the path of the throttle cable now; as you can see, it matches its curvature perfectly with the PCV line, it's rather easy on the eye... Two of the National Speed fabrication experts hard at it; Chris Polanski (President of National Speed, Inc. Stores) and John Faldzinski (one of our Performance Technicians)... She's wrapping up.

Oh. I won't go THAT FAR (I really hope, at least!) I'll put miles on her. Just not Wal-Mart/every day miles.

Those guys at National Speed are amazing. I'm 31 years old, and have been called a "kid" in my profession for a long time. It has always been more of a compliment because people are shocked when they finally meet me to see that I'm "just a kid". Now, I know what they were feeling though. These guys at National Speed, Jordan and Taylor being two that came on this thread, are KIDS. They are amazing too. Jordan is the one that planned out this meticulous build. Not me. Sure, I didn't just walk in with my wallet out and leave, but I told him what matters to me and what I wanted the car to be. PLUS, he already saw what Miller Brothers Hot Rod Barn had done with the car itself (National Speed did no restoration work). Taylor wires, programs, and tunes every car that these guys do. He's a genius. Forgive me Taylor for guessing, but I'd say 22 years old? Seriously, these guys are some of the best I've ever seen, and I've built other high-level cars too. jt1, I honestly don't know about the tracking. This thing coming together finally has me just wanting to sit and stare at it. I want to touch it. I want to be left alone with it. I sold my 911, so I'm probably going to have to take it to the track. But it won't BE my track car. I just picked up an Audi S4 (Avant/Wagon too!) this week to do that with. I like being different...

She started up on first crank tonight! Finishing up some loose ends tomorrow and then onto the dyno! I'll have a dyno vid for you all soon.

Shaggy: No reason to shut up, brother. All is GOOD! Just imagine being in my position. I don't claim to know everything, but I'm trying to have those that DO work on my car! If something doesn't look right, I want to know. So, that's why I asked for clarification and then asked others on another forum for their opinion. That's all. Bo, thanks much for pointing that out. I cut and pasted a lot of this from messages from the guys building the car. I didn't include the part where he said "please note that not all lines are secured in their final manner". He actually said that continuously. Good eye though! I'm honored that you're looking so hard at it!

ShaggyZ: Please understand that I'm not offended by your candor. I welcome all opinions. However, I posted your thoughts on the ClassicZcars.com forum, after others were complimenting the exhaust, and they said some things that I'd like to show you on here. You can read it yourself here. I build slip joints in race exhausts all the time. They seal just fine when everything's hot and they have the most ground clearance. I either us a T-Bolt clamp or header springs like these: (shows a pic of slip joints like mine) Who's ever complaining is either Midas tech or a JDM fan boy. Another one says: I figure the complaints about the welding come from insecure punks who figure that the only way to make themselves sound knowledgeable is to bad mouth other people's rides, and the welding (which looks quite fine to me) is the only thing that can find to criticize. Ignore them. What you are building is a work of art - welding included. I didn't tell them that you said anything like "looks like something I'd make". I didn't even put that attitude in there. So funny. I'm pretty sure you're just learnin'.

That's what I'm talking about in my pre-weld question. Oh well. I digress.

OK. In my post #156 on page 8, did it look bad before welds?

Thanks for the input. I mentioned on a Z-Only website that someone on another forum mentioned the exhaust/weld quality. Carl Beck (extremely famous in the 240Z/S030 world as possibly the most respected, most quoted, and most honored Z man in the world behind Peter Brock himself) wrote this: Hi blakt out: I owned/operated my own Muffler Shop for a couple years {decades ago} - that is beautiful work on your exhaust system. Makes me happy. I really don't know what more one could expect. Perfect welds aren't going to happen on something like this. But still, thanks for the comment, for real.

Chris welding the oil return hard line… The oil-accumulator anti-froth reservoir... (this component gives the return oil a place to convert itself from frothy oil, and revert back to liquid oil prior to returning back to the oil pan) With the hard line finalized, and everything tightened up... (unfortunately, no company we could find offers these -10AN female thread to -10AN female thread 45degree coupler fittings in black, only red and blue. So it is what it is, at least they're not visable from above, they're hidden by the manifold) The valve cover and crankcase breather hard lines finalized... (please note; the hard lines are not clocked to their final position, nor are the hard pipes finalized coating/appearance wise. The design stage is finalized) On their route to the oil-separator canister... (please note, there are two types of -8AN line used here, one was used for mock-up purposes, and matching line is being installed for finalization) Every fitting and component on the underside of the car getting finalized, and tightened down properly... The wastegate/electronic-boost controller AN lines heat shrinked (as not to deface the subframe from friction), and tied in place...

The AEM electronic-boost control solenoid vacuum lines routed... The wastegate/electronic-boost control solenoid pressure reference (on the turbocharger compressor housing)... A few shots from late last night. Chris (of National Speed) welding... We hated the idea of having just a filter on the valve cover for the crankcase breather port (i.e. the crankcase and valve cover already have a vacuum reference on the turbocharger intake tube, the crankcase needs a way to breath in fresh air), so Chris built a breather canister to fit in with the rest of the build quality... The bracket... The back side... The vacuum reference point...

This… Turns into this… (notice the now polished oil-feed filter) And this... (this is a guide stay for the AN lines that are running forward for the breather system Finalized shape/design and polished... A preview of how the breather lines will be routed once finalized... More AN lines routed. The blow-off valve vacuum reference line routed, and finalized with its own source... And of course, a nice line stay bracket was designed... The vacuum reference point...

The fuel system routed and completed (all that needs to be done is the rail plug to be installed)... The fuel-feed line routed... The injector housings painted black... The inline oil filter for the turbocharger feed... (this is not remaining anodized blue, it will be polished to match the rest of the engine bay) Water feed, water return, oil feed, and oil return lines routed... Taylor wrapping up the wiring...

Perfect, guys. Thanks MUCH for showing us that link. We're on it! More updates to come shortly. Hoping to fire her up today or tomorrow!

FYI, that dude is the lead badass on the team of badasses building this car. I asked him to watch this forum in case there were any questions he could help anyone with. I'm really impressed with them. Check out their website. Not a silly solicitation, but really. They turbo anything and it works, and they have the nicest shop I've ever been in, and the guys know their stuff better than I can actually believe. So many times, even now, I ask Jordan or Taylor or Chris... three guys on my car, how in the world they learned all this stuff!