310z

I got to say that looks good. Welcome to the site. Enjoy the ride. Jim

With plans of returning to the track I needed to look further into the weak point of the car the brakes. As I mentioned earlier in the post I up graded the pads to Porterfield R4-S a high performance street pad. At that time I also tried running ducting to the calipers. This attempt was unsuccessful there is no room in the wheel-wells for ducting with 16x8 wheels and 225-50- 16. So, next Idea is to use the cones I attached to the inner part of the air dam to direct air flow at the wheel and I attached scoops to the strut towers directing air to the disks and calipers. I remember reading in a post on here that someone had done a set up like this for the track and it worked well. I will find out. It should be a large improvement

This is not a problem it is part of the social network that drivers of British autos become accustom to. Such as the tow truck industry. You get to meet the local British repair person in what ever town you travel to. You know, a lot like some of the European brands although the German are not quite as social.

It has been a while since I have added anything to this post. And, well it has been a while since I have added or changed anything on the Z. I am planning a track day and possibly an auto-x in the next month, so I needed new tires. I did a lot of research on a few different tires I wanted. All of the tires I was interested in were in the extreme summer tire category. Each have great performance reviews and each have areas were they out preform the other. My goal was light weight, 200 tread wear or less, with great turn-in. I have always been a fan of Yokohama Tires and the AD08R meet the criteria I was looking for. The size I run is 225-50-16 and of course not all manufactures measure the tires the same and because of that I like the Tire Racks stats on their tires that give actual measurements. I looked at these figures a lot and thought it would be nice to have more tread width. Just prior to ordering I went to actually measure the clearance on the car as I knew it was very tight. The AD08Rs were not going to fit. They would touch the spring perch and the finder lip which is ground down to the spot welds. A very fat 225-50-16. On to my second choice Bridgestone RE11. This tire is narrower than the Yoko AD08R but not by much. I only have 1/4 inch clearance on both sides of the Bridgestone G009 I have been running and I decided I need a tire that is the exact same measurement as they are. I only found one tire that I was interested in that was the same measurement and it is brand new, Bridgestone's RE71R. So I searched for reviews and found two, not a lot to go on. I bit the bullet and placed an order with America's Tire. The tires look great. The center-line stability is much better than the G009s I had. I can actually relax now while driving down a straight road. The dartiness the car had and I thought was normal for the car is gone. This is nice, although I have not had a chance to drive any curves yet I feel turn in my be a little slower than before. Grip under hard acceleration and turning is impressive. These tire have not let go. The previous tires would lose traction and allow the rear of the car to drift nicely. The R71R just grab and hold on throwing you into the bolsters on the seat all while accelerating you down the road. I think I am going to like these tires.

New Tires Bridgestone RE71R. I like the look. They are not as twitchy in a straight line as the G009 I had. Turn-in is not as quick as the G009 although the car feels more stable and less go-cart like. This is a good thing for my car. Acceleration grip in corners is amazing. I kept waiting for the rear to drift out, it did not. The tires turned all the energy into forward momentum, no spinning. The noise levels on good asphalt are quiet. Tar patches in the direction of travel sound like someone is tearing paper outside of the window. Concrete makes the same paper tearing sounds and it is loud.

I was planning on purchasing the Yoko ADO8R in 225-50-16. As in my opinion they have produced the best high performance road tires for decades. Then I read the actual tire measurements compared to generic 225-50-16. The Yoko measured 3/4 in. wider at tread width. I thought cool that will look awesome having a little fatter tire, a little more traction ect. Then I took those measurements out to the car were I have 1/4 in. clearance on the rear fenders that have been ground down to the spot welds. and 1/4 in. from the strut tower. These tires were going to rub. So the same size Bridgestone RE11 had only a 1/2 in. wider tread width than the current tire I have. It would fit but it would be so close any side wall flex would rub. So, Bridgestone RE71R is the exact size as the Bridgestone G-009 I currently have. I found few reviews on this tire but it is their new top preforming 200 tread wear track/DOT tire. If the Yoko would have fit I would have ordered them. Instead I ordered RE71R. Hope I am happy.

Nice work, but it does sound heavy especially hanging that much weigh, that far out in front of the tires. But it may not have a huge problem while drag racing. However, too much down force could be an issue along with what everyone else said about air flow to intake and cooling. 1/4 mile at a time it might be fine. Trial and error will tell. I really like the Z reflection on the hood in the third photo. I am sure you planned it that way.

Is anyone running Bridgestone's Potenza RE71R? What is your experience with this tire?

Looks really nice.

You have been busy.

That is what I thought and one of the reasons I rolled the Z outside. I had a mouse problem in the winter. I went out to the Z and noticed some type of film all around the battery area and all over the top of the radiator(mouse pee ,which I guess is constantly dripping out like there poop). There was also mouse poop all over those areas. We killed the mice and have not seen any signs of them for months. However, now it is warm enough that the reptiles are out hunting for food. Though I had wiped down the car I am guessing I did not do a very good job as the snake went exactly were I had wiped the film/pee. I have total snake phobia. I am glad my son was there to deal with it.

Ah, yes I remember now. I knew the name sounded familiar. I will take your statement as a complement. The car does not look the same. I like it. What else have you done to it?

It's Saturday night and the girls are gone. Son, lets hop in the Z, take a cruse and grab some ice cream. I walked into the garage to disconnect the trickle charger and noticed this! The first attempt at removing it failed. It slithered down around the battery. I did not want it to wind up in my garage so I rolled the car outside. Waited and watch with a flash light until it came out of hiding. It crawled across the valve cover (it was the length of the valve cover) and once out from under the spark plug wires, we were able to lift it with a stick and remove the gopher snake from the motor compartment.

Andreas, It does look nice.

Very cool. Congratulations, very talented.

I realize you said you do not like trucks. However, A first gen Toyota Tundra or Sequoia with a 4.7 will do the trick effortlessly, it has the tow rating your going to need and they are most importantly of a tow vehicle reliable. I drove one for ten years frequently towing in the mountains. They are not as big as the full size trucks, mileage is OK. Did I mention reliability. In your neck of the city if you leave a broken down tow vehicle with a track car on the side of the road, there is a good chance neither will be there when you return. Prices are in the area you mentioned.

3 in. is adequate for a 5.7 I could not tell the diameter in the photos. Ghosting in LS1 on the side of the bulge in the hood would look good. So would just below the body line on behind the front wheel arch. One or the other but not both. Both areas would look too gaudy. To me solid color look better on a sports car and large stripes look better on muscle cars. You have a combination. a sports car with a muscle car heart. So any thing is OK. I am no painter but it is my understanding that to ghost in a color you start with clear pearl and add a touch of color just enough to show at certain angles. SCCA strips would look good on your car in black or silver and possibly some other colors.

Not much I would change about that car. I like the deeper red you have on the exterior and I would not change that. I would eliminate the stripe also. The interior color red is is not as deep as the exterior red. I like the exterior color better than the interior color. However, I would try to match the two colors. So, as you are not changing the interior I would match the exterior color to the interior color. Now for the muffler, you have nice duel pipes running to a muffler with a single outlet of what appears to be the same diameter as the two duel pipes. This causes a air flow restriction. Magna Flow and I think Borla makes a duel inlet and a duel out let Stainless steel muffler that would eliminate the restriction. Borla makes great tips that can be welded on for a stacked duel exhaust. I was looking at doing a stacked set of Borla 45 degree slash cut with inter-cooling fins and a Magna Flow duel in and duel out muffler. A good welder could make that look really cool. Just my 2 cents.

Great color combinations you used throughout the car. Real classy looking.

I think I have seen this fuel line layout before.

I was thinking it was an 03 I was close. Yes it works great the guy that showed me his car had me open and close the doors. It was just like a factory seal. The first thing I purchased when I started to think about a build was a set of factory door seals I found online at a Nissan Dealer. As I recall I paid $150-165 per side. I did not take them out of the package although one had been opened prior to me receiving them. When it got to the point in my build to install the door seals(about three years later) I ended up having two left door seals. Someone at the dealer put a left door seal in a package labeled right door. So, I have a after market seal on the right side. It is very hard to close and open the door right side door and the factory side is fine.

Tony! Tony! Tony! That looks like a party mobile. I could see a keg on the floor secured by the two vertical bars. With a tub of ice around it of course. Pass the Red SOLO cup please. Looks like great metal work.

I do not know what year Kia Sportage but I did see a set in a very well done car from Oregon last year. The owner said they worked great and way better than any of the after market companies making door seals. He also said the cost was minimal, something like $34. I do not remember his name but remember his car, it was one of the higher quality built Z I have seen. I have never seen his car on here but maybe he is lurking and will chime in.

Congratulations, Great to see things coming together. As RebbekahsZ said I also thought you were older and at least older than me at 50. I have had my car since I was 18 or 19 and only 5 yr. ago did it finally come together. As it should, building cars seems to take a back seat to wife's, education, and family.

This is a link to my build page 16x8- 0 offset BBS Magnesium race wheels with 225-50-16 Bridgestones. http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/83577-the-build-of-a-240z-by-310z/