osirus9

Yea I see them for sale here and there, but the originals tend to be in pretty poor shape (brittle/cracked). Mine did not come with anything at all (78). I was also hoping to find something that would go down further, like all the way to the bottom of the frame rail, or at least the floor pan. Anybody tried to make one from another car fit?

I was looking around and I couldn't find much info on inner fender liners. By that I mean a plastic inner liner that closes off the front and back of the wheel well like on any modern car. This would be for better aero, and also to protect the inner fender from rocks and whatnot. Has anybody got something like that on their Z? I was thinking of going to the junkyard and trying to find something that I could make fit (once the weather improves here), but I'd love to see if anybody else has done this before.

Maybe this is a silly question, but why are you opting for an electric heater setup instead of a traditional heater powered by the engine? Does that weigh less or something?

Thanks for the info! I've heard of people using the plastic hose that is used for shop vacs as well, but this seems like it is even easier. Can't say I've ever driven my Z in the snow, but my GFs Miata with Blizzaks is a blast! An LSD makes a huge difference.

Mine are the external kind as well. There is a small rubber gasket, like the kind on your door, that goes all the way around mine to prevent it from ruining the paint. You could probably find something similar at the harware store. Its just a rubber tube with a cut going along its length glued to the louver.

I'd say over 90% of Car hobbyists have no illusions of getting all the money they dump into their cars back. Or at least, they only have that illusion once! I like the justification of spending $$$ for fun though. Its not the cheapest hobby around, but I love it anyway.

Ugh, if I ever have to move to Cali, I'm keeping my license and address in Illinois to avoid all this smog and inspection BS. We don't have to do ANY kind of inspection or smog test here if your car is pre OBD2 (1996) If the cops pull me over because I'm out of state, so be it, I'll have my Illinois license.

I had 2 head bolts snapped off in the head and it was like $100 to have them helicoiled and have the head resurfaced.

This is exactly what I hope my intercooler setup will look like in like 2 years when I finally get all the stuff together for a turbo swap. I love the same-sided look! So clean!

in that very book there is a great section on parts swapping, I'd check there first.

Dang, this is a cool build! I like how you put up all the prices for the stuff you buy. Its helpful for others planning builds!

Holy crap! That's dedication! The chassis looks gorgeous though. You're essentially getting a better than brand new Z chassis though, so if you think of it that way, its kinda like buying a new car. And people spend way more than 35k on new cars. I'm just trying to justify my own body work to myself at this point haha. Keep up the good work.

Looking good so far. Love the look of the sandblasted manifold with the custom fuel rail. What kind of injectors did you use? I'm fairly certain my stock injectors are leaking and I was going to upgrade my injectors and fuel rail later anyway when I'm ready to turbo the car. What sort of price does your guy charge? Maybe I'll just swap rails and injectors now...

Looks like a great build you've got going here! I for one think that the timelapse is pretty neat. I just went through replacing all my bushings and I agree, it is not a pleasant job at all. I ended up having the spindle pins pressed out and it was the best money I ever spent haha. The shop told me they were a b!tch and they even broke their press! Unfortunately I've been trying to track down a squeak in my rear suspension ever since, but it was still worth it. I replaced the suspension with stock KYBs since they don't make Tokicos anymore and just the bushings make a big difference. I will be going with a weld-on coilover kit later after I get my car back from the paint shop in like January. I've only had my car for a year and change, so you're quite a long ways ahead of me on the road to restoration, and its good to see detailed pictures of the processes you're going through. Nothing can quite compare to a picture when you're talking about something on a car in my mind, and to that end your thread delivers. I might also add that its nice to see how you go through all of your work without a welder and a private machine shop like most of the other people on HybridZ seem to, I like to see how to do things as us mere mortals must do them with hand tools and swearing haha. Keep up the good work!

haha, now I know why JeffP says that all his conversations with you cost him lots of money Tony. I do remember that scene from Tommy Boy. I get why MSA wouldn't offer a warranty unless they knew the whole valvetrain was brand new. I'd probably do the same thing if I were them, and I wasn't expecting a warranty, I was just wondering what exactly was necessary, and what was them just covering their asses. Looks like its mostly just a really good idea to rebuild/replace the whole damn head/valvetrain if you don't have a complete stock valvetrain to use (which I don't unless I were to just reuse my N47 head, but where's the fun in that?). I'll do some more research and read through my "how to modify your datsun" book some more to try and come up with good figures to quote to Isky when I call them. Originally my goal of 325 rwhp was because of the limitations of the stock head and cam, but if I end up getting a much better flowing turbo cam with a matching valvetrain I feel like I should set my goal a bit higher and then run lower boost if I want to resist the urge to drive too fast. Maybe 375... And that would stick me exaclty in with Koryu in his turbo sizing thread... so probably shoot for a GT35R running like 17psi. I just hope a senza intake and a bigger cam, plus a valve angle job and intake/exhaust port matching will improve my flow enough to get away from the surge line. I'm thinking it will. At least my bottom end will be ok to leave stock.. haha

I can't say I know if your map is good, but I'll be using it as a baseline to get my car started when I do finally get to install my Haltech. Would you be willing to upload your tune as a very rough starting point for other sprint500 users? I see there is another thread for requests, but not much in the way of maps available to download and look at.

I'll be posting more on here when I start actually doing my installation. Just have to wait for my car to get back from the body shop in January, plus I can't really start until I get my Senza intake and exhaust manifolds... So I have a ZX distributor that suffered some kind of damage causing the wheel to rub against the sensor. I'm going to use it as a core to get a new distributor from autozone, but where did you source your z31 wheel?

point taken... So no matter what cam I use, if it is not the one that the rocker arms were used with, they will need to be replaced or reground... any other vlalvetrain parts that must be replaced as I start assembling my hybrid motor? what is a good place to get rocker arms reground? I was looking at delta cams since Isky doesn't list a cam profile that will work with the stock springs. I was hoping I could just swap in a different cam and be done, but it looks like even changing to another stock cam will be a pain in the ass and the wallet...

Thanks Tony, That's really interesting that the pressure on the exhaust side is usually higher or equal to the intake side. Definitely not what I was expecting! I'm going to go ahead and call Isky and see what they would charge for a regrind of one of the stock cams I have to the same profile as the MSA stage 1 turbo cam. If they can do it for under $250 (MSA's price for the cam) then I'm sold. Maybe I can even talk to them about more radical ramps to get more time at max lift like you mentioned. I'm not shooting for insane power here, but if regrinding the cam will get me to my goal with less boost then that sounds like a great way to prolong engine life! They should also be able to tell me if I need to replace other valvetrain parts, which is something I'm curious about because if I have to replace rocker arms and springs and stuff anyway, then why not just replace it with a bigger cam in mind? I only say this because on the MSA site they will only warranty a cam if you replace your entire valvetrain, which seems unnecessary to me... Plus when I get bored and turn up the boost there will be more power there... ahahaha.

ok, so I'm getting that for a turbo cam you want more intake duration than exhaust, and also not as much duration as a crazy N/A cam, but as much lift as possible. So the MSA stage 1 turbo cam is actually looking pretty good. Its got as much lift as you can get out of the stock valvetrain, and a little more intake duration but basically stock exhaust duration. It just seems odd to me that you would want less exhaust duration? I get having maximum lift, and I get not wanting much overlap because the turbo pressure seems like it would try to blow air through the intake valve and then straight out the exhaust valve. Is that why the exhaust duration is shorter? To prevent overlap? Sorry for all the questions, I'd just rather understand why I'm doing something rather than just do it because people tell me its a good idea. One other thing. Is there any good reason to replace the rocker arms if they are in spec? People like to replace valvetrain parts, but I don't see the paint if they are working properly?

Hmmmmm... Depending on the price I would love to have the cam re-ground to fit with the stock valvetrain. Know a place that I could call about this? Also I was on MSA's site and their stage 1 cam is .460 lift 260 duration. Is this ok to run on the stock valvetrain? I know people say you can't go OVER .460, but is that lift ok to run without risking binding the springs? I am assuming yes, otherwise their site would say so, but I just want to be sure. They also have a stage 1 turbo cam that is has less exhaust lift/duration but the same intake lift/duration as their N/A cam and says its only for the p90 head. This seems weird to me since the cams are all interchangeable as far as I know. Not sure why decreasing the exhaust valve lift/duration would be better for a turbo...? I apologize again for my ignorance on the subject of cams, thanks again for your helpful knowledge on the subject guys!

Ok thanks for explaining that Tony. So People use the "A" cam because it is the biggest stock cam, but its still pretty small for a boosted L28. By biggest I mean highest lift and second longest duration. I think I will have to stick with the stock cam for a while and see what I like and don't like about it before re-doing the valvetrain for a bigger and more properly sized cam. Head porting and whatnot would also happen then. Its interesting, but not surprising I guess, that the exact same cam moves the power curve lower between the L24 and L28 engines. It is cool to see how everything works as a system.

The only thing I don't understand about this logic is that, according to here: http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/cam/ The L24 and the L28 both used the same "A" Cam? So by later, are you referring to the L28e which used an "F" cam vs the L24? Sorry, just a bit confused here, and I want to make sure I use the cam with the higher peak power.

I wasn't going to go over 7k, I want to go TO 7k. So what I'm hearing is either go balls deep and re-do the valvetrain to get a cam over .460 or just stay with a stock cam. Well I can always re-do the whole head and valvetrain later after I decide 325 rwhp isn't enough and my wallet actually agrees with me for once.

arg... Tony, you really know how to get people to spend money don't you? So would it be worthwhile to have, say Isky, regrind a stock cam to get better performance out of the engine? I don't want to replace the valvetrain though, so that limits my lift, but I shouldn't need crazy lift with a turbo cam correct? Not like the N/A guys. I suppose if I gave them a call they could probably explain it to me, but I'd rather get an unbiased opinion. All I really want is a good power curve starting at about 3000 out to 6500 with a stock cam. But If I'm getting a re-ground cam I'd want to spin to at least 7000. Is that possible on an otherwise stock engine with just a cam? In some other threads I was seeing dyno charts where power came on from basically nothing at 3k to nearly peak power at 4500 and then the power drops off around 6500. Kinda looking to make a more linear progression where I can punch it at 2500 and actually move.