Max_S

Just came across this after finding an article about the DOHC-heads. Any progress on the BRZ-gearbox? I imagine a modern gearbox might want some sort of control unit and sensor package, no? (Also, just a side-note, a lot of the image-links are broken).

You might want to look into replacing a bunch of the burned metal too, high heat weakens metal so some structural rigidity is going to be gone from those parts compared to the pre-fire condition. It's why severely burned cars usually don't get fixed.

So my project is finally making a little bit of progress in planning, and in the process of that a local Z-owner told me that, at some point, 280Zs came with the L28 but without fuel injection. Is that true? Even if it wasa tiny run, did it happen? So far I've found out carbed L28s came in about half a dozen cars, but not the Z. Did I miss something? If they ever came with carbed L28 that would really help with my plans^^ Max

Hello from your northern neighbor Stumbled over your thread after coming back here, being slightly disappointed by the online-community on this side of the pond 😐 Haven't read all of it yet, just the last ~5 pages, but really liking what I'm seeing (and some respectful envy^^). I guess once my project finally gets underway I'll have to make the 1000km ("around the corner" in miles) trip down and see if I can spot your Z in the alps Definitely going to keep an eye on this, already bookmarked some stuff for info. Max

Instead of adding fiberglass, maybe add a gasket (and metal strip)? You have added that part underneath the rear spoiler, so you've found a decently trustworthy way of attaching carbon to metal. Maybe that'd work.

I get that it's probably too late now, but in case you ever change something about the lights, wouldn't 7" Motorcycle-headlights (think harley-aftermarket) work? Round, high beam, low beam, and indicators all in one unit (per side). Either way, I'll keep following this. Far from legally possible where I'm at, so it's even more fascinating.

Any progress on the project?

Did you swap the steering rack just for power steering or also for ratio? Because if it's the former, wouldn't an electric system have been easier? Also, if you're in the mountains now, keep an eye on the brake-temperatures downhill.

I wonder what happened in the last 9 years, if the car is still around/being driven/carrying that engine.

Just a quick paint-sketch: Using a filter of this shape.... ...placed about there, flat against the flange where you now attached the 90° angled-bit (or maybe a bit further forward). That takes one 90°-bend out of the route the air has to take, leading to a bit less turbulance in my understanding.

Wouldn't it create better airflow to put a flat filter upright in front of the tubing where it passes the radiator, rather than a sharp 90°-bend? I'd imagine that that bend seriously messes with the airflow.

I absolutely understand^^ Recently managed to make installing a roll bar in a convertible and adapting the carpet a 2+ day job 😕 Then again, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so that surely doesn't help. On a side-note, are you running both fans off a thermostat or do you use a manual switch for one or both? Max

This got a little more excessive/extensive than I expected^^ I have to admit that I’ll not take my Z to the track or really plan on going crazy fast down the Autobahn (I believe a Z is more at home on twisty roads), so I don’t think a tiny bit more or less downforce will play too much of a role. Of course, in a sub-1-ton car with RWD and no traction control/ESP, it helps to get some sort of rear downforce. A big plus would be that, if I do go and use a racing fuel cell, putting the cap in the hatch would make the TÜV happy and not need me to run a pipe to a (plastic) window. Still very much undecided 😐 Max

That might be an idea, although it's a costly one 😐 I might have to do that already to get the wheels I want, since, for example, VOLK TE37V have Japanese certifications that have higher demands than the German stuff, but they don't do some salt-test which apparently can't be done on its own. So, unless I find someone saying something different, that'd be buying a wheel, and having it tested DESTRUCTIVELY. Currently my two favorite options are either that Skyline-Brake (but I'll wait and watch if the guy doing it gets it TÜVed), or Wilwoods all around. Which I've seen getting TÜV TWICE now. Max

Any results? Did you finish the console? How does the result look?

I honestly don’t know. They usually want to see them on cars though, and you can’t mount motorbike brakes on a car and get away with it. Doesn‘t really make sense, but it doesn’t have to. Same way OEM valved exhausts are legal but aftermarket ones (or even retro-fitting them) aren't. Max

I’ll certainly keep an eye on that combination, I just want it to be a project with no cut corners, if I can get it approved. From the choices I have, the Toyota/ZX-combo is the “easy button”. Wilwoods might work stock, better chances with the option of adding those seals. (As in, talking to the TÜV I could say I can get them dust-sealed, raising my chances). As said above I also got a guy on a German forum who’s running Skyline brakes with a custom spacer (he’s on here too). I’ve NEVER seen something like a self made spacer for brakes being approved, but with me already needing special approval for a ton of parts (engine, gearbox, seats, cage, seatbelts, suspension, wheels...) I might just consult the TÜV on that as well. The biggest problem is the car’s rarity over here, so there’s next to no parts that have a decent approval chance. Stock is no option, but if there were, say, super expensive Brembos with full certification that bolt up, I would probably not think much about not doing it. But that option doesn’t exist, and I don’t want to sink endless money into parts getting denied. Its part of why I’ll most likely invest in custom KW Clubsport Suspension. Full paperwork, and it bolts right up AND performs well. Max

Did Palm-Composites go belly-up or why is their homepage and FB offline?

Looks awesome! Don't you think that the carbon hood and I4 make the car a bit too light in the front? Does the VW-Tank fit unmodified? And what size wheels are you running to fit the big brakes (with/without spacers)? Max

Exactly that. Any approval, and also the decision if an approval is revoked or not (you have to revisit the TÜV every 2 years) is subjective to the engineers. With me planning on putting out more than 20% power more than the car made stock, I might have to hand off the keys for a driving test, where the engineer (or sometimes two) decide if the rest of the car (chassis, suspension, brakes, wheels, steering) is up to the increased power. Actually...they do. Like, even more closely than at the brakes. Most foreign wheels are off limits due to missing certificates, but I found a company around 600km away (around 370 miles) who claim (and already have) managed to get TE37 and also Minilites approved, two wheels which are at the top of my list as of right now (re-drilling perfectly legal wheels makes them 100% illegal, since the structural integrity is seen as being compromised). As for suspension, I might save up for and invest in KW Clubsport, since they offer those custom-made and matched to the car, with all documentation needed to get approval. And KW is a known and trusted brand. Thanks 😃 I doubt that Wilwood will change an off-the-shelf product for one set for one customer. But I will certainly look into that (not the only custom-parts needed for the project, so why stop there). If I go with their brand, I'll probably do what that other guy on the German forum did, and put in the matching seals from an AP-Brakes system. A parking brake of some sort HAS to be on the car, not just for practical reason but also because it actually is a defined law, not some rule made up by the TÜV. A mechanical-one is by far preferred, since I've so far heard of only one guy getting a hydraulic one approved, only to loose approval over safety-concerns after 3 months (police checkpoint, and they spotted the big vertical lever). The brakes are pretty much the last big unknown point, the rest of the components are worked out and decided. I hope to find a TÜV-engineer who goes "yeah....it could work" (did I mention that engineers get swapped out regularly, so one guy telling you it will work is worth very little?) at some point in early summer 2019, and if everything else in life works out as planned (as if it ever does) I might get to start seriously looking for parts and a car to import (there's like 200 in Germany, and they're crazy expensive for ripping apart) in late summer/fall. I definitely have to do it in that order, the TÜV is famously (and increasingly) hostile towards any tuning beyond lowering springs and a wrap (and even there's restrictions), so just one day turning up at the TÜV-station with a modified car is a sure way to get to walk home/find a tow truck. It's well known (and kinda sad) that you can drive a pretty worn out/damaged car, and get through TÜV (or at least a police checkpoint), but if it draws attention for any reason you're in for a really bad time, even if everything is perfectly up to requirements, just because it MIGHT not be perfectly legal. And finding out if everything is legal takes time (with you without a car) and is expensive (at your expense). Max

That's the problematic point. There is no defined specification to be reached. I have to improve all 4 brakes (drums are a total no-go, but the front discs have to leave too), and the better/stronger the brakes I throw in there are the better my chances of approval, IF the parts used can be approved, which is easier with car-manufacturer-brakes than, say, Wilwoods. There's TÜV-engineers who just want to see big discs and more pistons, there's TÜV-engineers who do brake-tests and if you decelerate worse than (or even only the same as) stock you fail, and there's ones who just want to see proof (paperwork, photos) that show you ditching the old stock brakes. For a long time, it was also not uncommon for TÜV-engineers to jam the brake-pedal, step on the gas and the car wasn't allowed to move, but that's not really done anymore. In short, the stock brakes have to go, I need discs all around, and the stronger they are the better my chances at getting the car approved (on a side note, it of course isn't bad to have the best possible brakes on the car). To compare, in the VAG-scene, if they dump a later engine into an early Golf, the accepted way is to use the donor car's brakes. That's not really a sensible option on the S30, so I need to find another way. "Condensed down" I'm trying to find a way to get a lot of braking-power out of the space 16" wheels leave, meaning good/large discs all around, with more than 1 piston calipers and good pads. Because it doesn't hurt to stop very good very reliably, and it makes getting the project-car approved (and re-approved every 2 years) a lot easier. Max

I'll look more into US-cars. Most HotRods I know here in Germany are either on stock brakes or simply not road legal but run temporary plates. Unfortunately 99% of the German JDM-community is with more modern cars and/or stock power, so there's either no brake-swapping needed or it's as easy as just going and buying a TÜV-approved package. Datsuns are nearly non-existent over here, much less modified ones. I've found two guys with some helpful information. One guy managed to get modified Wilwoods approved (adding dust-gaskets from a different brake manufacturer) after consulting a bunch of different TÜV-engineers, another one runs Nissan Skyline brakes because, pretty much, he knows his local TÜV-engineer Which is probably the only way to get custom spacers approved. As for the proportioning valve, that was a simple misunderstanding, I thought it would control how many percent go to witch end of the car. Unfortunately, that's still no option. I want more power than stock, so I need to change the brakes. Doesn't have to make sense to be a law/rule. Currently I'm looking into modifying Wilwoods as well, or using the Toyota 4x4 (front)/ZX (rear) version (although, further up, I've heard from @grannyknotthat it's a bad combination ). I'm going to sink a lot of time, money and bureaucratic effort into this, and (understandably, I assume) I want the result to be as close to perfect as I can legally get. Max

I figured having that valve might help balancing brakes out, if the fronts come from a rather big 4x4 and the rears from a small sedan. The car is under a metric ton (1000kg), so I assumed that things like good brake-balance are quite important.

Well, it comes from a good place. You see, a bunch of years ago most of the "tuning" was taking your Volkswagen, slapping a turbo on it (or an engine from a later one) and going stupid fast with it. The brakes-rule is meant to ensure the deceleration is matched to the acceleration. So I cannot leave stock brakes on a 300hp S30, not a chance. The stupid thing, once again, is the paperwork. Wilwoods, for example, have none, and are generally denied approval because they lack some dust-gasket. The kicker? That gasket is NOT legally necessary, it's just practical experience that most TÜV-engineers want you to have it (same reason I can't ditch the backing plate) claiming safety-concerns. Max

I have to do as the "TÜV" in Germany says. And they say I need upgraded brakes. I have two information-requests still out with tuning-companies, but the general understanding is that Wilwood and similar brakes are nearly impossible to get approved in Germany. If I wouldn't have the German TÜV to deal with, I'd have gone with Wilwood brakes no questions asked, I know that they're great brakes. Max