itzgoten

We got to crank the car today! I'm excited.. I hope we'll have the car fired up by tomorrow. Got to the shop today and shielded the other lines that were close to the manifold. Topped off all the oil (engine, tranny, diff). Put the valve cover on. Added brake fluid and bled the brakes. we primed the turbo to get oil in there so we wouldn't run it dry. Hope I get the coolant hose that I need tomorrow. Get some gas for the Z and top off the coolant. I'll need to buy a different breather tank instead of the janky cheap-o one I had before. I think I'm going to get this. With the -10an fitting http://www.s2carbonworks.com/raalvacobrta.html I'll plug the side breather and the one near the intake manifold and weld two new bungs and run some steel braided lines. The old rubber lines I had piratically melted over years of heat from the tiny turbo. I don't even want to worry about that this time around. Here is a pic my buddy Glenn (Spitz) took for me when he visited. and here's a VERY SHORT video of us priming the turbo. This is the first time I've heard this motor make ANY kind of noise at all. I'm so excited for tomorrow! Turbo Priming

If you want to do an SR I would say try the Vildini kit. The McKinny was OK. I am running it now and I would rate the quality a C average at best. The hockey puck poly bushings are ok but they didn't "sandwich" properly. The kit was slightly off.. I moved the kit as far back as possible and still had to notch my front crossmember. As for weatherstripping GO MSA ALL THE WAY. I bought the BlackDragon Auto kit and the quality sucked. Their door weatherstripping was THE WORST. I had to use their glue and tape it up and it still didn't hold. I bought the MSA stripping for the doors and it clipped right in. no issues at all. MSA cost a bit more but you get what you pay for.. and from the pictures.. YOUR CAR DESERVES IT. Don't go cheap on such a beautiful ride. Trust me and learn from my mistakes. Why pay less TWICE when you can pay regular price ONCE.

Any update on this? Would be very nice to have this...

For anyone who's interested in this. I had custom axles made with the STI 27 spine, Porsche axles and 240z outers. The entire setup ran me about $1200.. $1300 shipped (I got a discount because we have an account with them) and it will probably cost you $1500 at most for full retail. This would be the comparable or even better than the Beta/WolfCreek combo. http://www.betamotorsports.com/products/products.php?cat=11 http://www.wolfcreekracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72&Itemid=61 Here is what I purchased from The DriveShaftShop.. driveshaftshop.com for those who want to contact them. The whole setup is good for 700whp. Their setup is NOT listed on their page but they do this ALL THE TIME. I had to wait a month for my custom setup. But when they arrived it was pre-assembled and I am no mechanic and I was able to install these no problem. at the end of the day I would just get the DSS setup if you're doing a high HP application. If you're just a weekend track guy and don't demand high performance I'd do the Beta stubs with stock axles. I'm sure the driveshaft shop can do a lesser setup. He told me they have a 300hp version for about $700 I believe. I hope this helps you folks out there

Thx.. what are you running now? The SR is a great build and I am sooo close to being finished. Just another week or so. Let's hope it's not too long.

Sadly I don't have power anything.. but this sparks a thought.. what IF (is this possible) I hook up my p/s pump and run that straight to the hydraulic brake booster? and the sole purpose of the p/s pump is just for the brakes? It's going to be tricky though because the manifold and everything else is on the exhaust side. Not sure how much more room I'll have.. but do you think something like that would even work?? I asked my brother (he's my mechanic) and he said this was beyond him.. (using my p/s pump solely for the purpose of powering the hydraulic booster) Thanks again. this is very interesting... something to think about tonight

Turbo8, Sorry I missed this. The paint was custom and I picked it out of the PPG book. The code is PPG Grey DBC 33127

Matt, that is my concern and from the pictures you can see I've done the same. The manifold was already coated and the exhaust side of the turbo has a blanket. I'll wrap the BMC but you can see the mock up of what I was thinking about. Hopefully it'll work out. LoneStar said with his turbo blanket he was able to touch it even after he drove the car which is a little reassuring. Either way I've tripled up as far as "heat protection". Only way to find out now it have it on the road. Can you also show me an example of a hydraulic booster? How is that different from the booster I am currently running? The BMC is a 15/16 from a 280zx and I'm not 100% sure about the booster. Again, I'm far from a mechanic and know more about "speeds and feeds" than the technical aspects. Thanks again.

Richracing, I have thought about that and was thinking about going the Wilwood BMC route and changing out my pedals also but I definitely need a brake booster. No way will I be comfortable racing without it. It'll be too much work to stop and the car simply wouldn't be enjoyable. I was wondering if there was a way to somehow keep the booster and get a smaller/shorter but still effective BMC? I was doing some research but felt like I was just looking in the dark. Any insight would be much appreciated. Thanks

just curious.. what turbo are you running and on what setup. Only reason I'm asking is because I want to know what you're working with. But your news makes me feel a bit better. I was pretty bummed when the heat shield didn't work out.. Maybe get louvered inspection lids to help air out.

So I was able to find some time and get the heat wrap on the lines that might have potential heating issues.. here is what it looks like compared to a line that isn't wrapped. We also used steel clamps to hold it down. and the heat shield was a no go after all. we tried to mock up a bunch of different ways and in the end it just wasn't going to work. I already had the turbo blanket so now I think I'll just wrap the BMC. It's triple protection anyway. Ceramic coating up to 1600 deg, turbo blanket and the heat wrap which is good to 2000 deg on the BMC. I hope I'll be good. Please voice your opinions and concerns. At this point I'm pretty much stuck but still like to hear CONSTRUCTIVE feedback.

thanks bud.. much appreciated!

All I'm waiting for now is the valve cover gasket and spark plug well gaskets. Then I just need to run one more coolant line to the turbo and hook up the wideband.. It's getting very close. I hope to get a start up video at the least in the near future.. I'll keep you posted!

Believe it or not I'm a middle class person and I give my mom my whole pay check to help support the family. Everything I get for the car is all form side jobs and great finds online. Lucky for me my bro owns a shop so I don't pay for labor and I get parts almost at cost. If I were rich the car would have been a lot crazier.. But thanks for the props!

So these are the lines that were hooked up. I'm really concerned with heat but we'll have to see what happens. This gives you a better idea of whats going on. No NOS here.. haha.. just splitting the coolant feed and return lines to/from the WG's And from under the car.. you can get a better idea if what I'm working with. The downpipe is going to fit through the gap. I need to wrap and shield the lines before I put the downpipe back in And old news but I don't think I've ever shared this yet. The first picture is the baffled oil pan I'm using. But you see where we had to modify the custom pan. We "boxed" or notched the front crossmember to fit the stock oil pan when the motor was first installed but I wanted a baffled pan and all others didn't fit. This way I was able to make it work. Also, not sure if you noticed the "skid plate" that was welded on to the crossmember. That way if I ever bottomed out it would cost me a crossmember and not an oil pan possibly a new motor.

The fittings and lines were either purchased from Royal Brass (local shop that we get all of our steel braided lines from) or Summit Racing. Ordered them with ease so I'm sure they aren't hard to find. Also, if you look at the picture again.. the brass fitting up top is the coolant feed.. the one in the middle that you see is the oil feed and on bottom is the oil return straight to the oil pan. on the other side (not shown) is the coolant return.. The lines were all hooked up today but now I'm VERY concerned about heating the lines.. the coolant return passes through the cylinder 1 & 2 runner. We purchased some heat shield wrap good for 2000deg radiant heat. I found a company that sells "Lava Mat" which I'm going to use to cover the heat shield with that will shield the brake master cylinder. It says it can shield 1200 deg and up to 2000deg for a limited time. I'll upload pics later of what the lines look like. But for now here is that "Lava Mat" and line shield I'm talking about http://www.heatshieldproducts.com/productdetail/heat-shields-and-thermal-barriers/lava-mat/79/21 http://www.amazon.com/010405-Aluminized-Sleeving-Velcro-Shroud/dp/B000E267JC/ref=sr_1_89?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1307083112&sr=1-89 and please don't bash me for finding that on Amazon.com.. LOL.. but no tax and free shipping is always a WIN!

BLOZ- thanks the return is vertical going straight to the oil pan. the feed is there but not hooked up until we get the heat shield in.. I'll have finish pic after we fab the shield and I def do NOT know what I'm doing. I just buy the parts and drive it.. hahaha my brother (and his shop) is the mechanic and man behind the curtains

Glenn, I couldn't remember what your name was on the forum.. but you already know you're on my list of people to call or text when we fire her up or dyno.. but VERY SOON

thanks! thanks. I hope we can get the car fired up soon. If we do, I'll try to remember to get some video footage of the first start and dyno tune..

I agree with both 240zip and RB.. RUST should be your main concern. Also check for spots that may have been repaired after an accident. Even though IF you did buy the car and sold off the parts you would make money. But the Z is such a great car I would HATE for that to be your first experience. Good luck! and pictures if they're posted on CL. Maybe we can give better insight.

This will only "half-answer" your question. I found that it was harder to find another sender so I sourced a stock sender. Problem was the current gauges on the market didn't read properly. So my solution? Stock sender with a programmable gas gauge.. http://www.summitracing.com/search/brand/Auto-Meter/Department/Gauges-Accessories/Section/Gauges-Individual/?keyword=programmable&dds=1 hope that helps..

If you find a way let me know! LOL. I think I'll just sell the swaybar on CL.. I have a rear cage and it should be plenty stiff.. I'm able to get the rear out fairly easy at the track so I'm not too worried.

we were able to work on the car some today.. added the oil feed and return lines on the turbo. still need to do the coolant lines for the turbo and both WG's FPR was installed. You can't see it but we intentionally installed the gauge upside down. This way when we lean over and look at it, it'll actually be right side up.. haha.. I thought that was pretty cool. pulleys were installed but I never really took a picture.. since all this engine bling is starting to accumulate I've been thinking about blinging out the alternator too? Maybe.. we'll see.. Vacuum box was installed.. believe it or not all ports was used. We even split the line going to the side. You never realize what you have until the time of.. boost gauge, boost solenoid, FPR, MAP sensor, Apex'i AVC-R, both wastegates, BOV hopefully we'll get more done soon

oh yea.. and another thing that bums me out.. we tried to mount on the MSA rear sway bars on Monday and it was total fail. The axles are too beefy and now the sway bars won't fit. I saw the ST sway and they hook from the back of the diff.. that's even worse because there's even less space. I wonder if shorter endlinks would solve the problem. For now I'm just going to assume I can't run a rear swaybar.. -=(

All honesty.. I know a lot of members are pro-Arizona Z Car but his LCA's suck because they cannot be adjusted on car. His parts look like porn and I wish I could use them but maybe they need to copy T3's style and make it adjustable ON CAR.. same for his rear LCAs.. so when I have the money I'm getting the T3 rear LCA's too. The quality looks LEGIT and they mailed it to me in one day. I guess they're not too far away. And as far as my friends.. they are good people.. but in return.. thats 9 people's B-Days I can't miss now. And that means for sure I need to put in some $$ on their B-Days! It's great but at the same time.. I'm paying for it later.. hehe