FastFloridian

The TKX looks like a good transmission. Playing with gear/speed calculator I think the 3.3 rear end gearing is the way to go. Nice Z by the way, love the color

This is some great info, thanks for sharing. I’m looking into transmission upgrades now and I haven’t sourced my diff yet. Any thoughts on diff gearing, I’m going back and forth between 3.3 and 3.54. I’ve a big brake kit so I’ll be running 19” wheels, so I’m leaning toward the 3.54. You got me excited on the transmission now, I was kind of lost. Was thinking of a TREMEC TKO, but I’ll look into what you were suggesting. Thanks again for the info.

Got the engine on the stand. Ended up having to take the clutch off to fit, nice and easy to do with the engine out. Still needed some spacers to clear the flywheel. I’ll start looking into clutch upgrades and a lighter flywheel. Bought some furniture dolly’s to set the transmission on so I can move it easily. Got a small garage, so need to rearrange stuff as I work. I’ve got a track day at Sebring next weekend so it’ll be a few weeks before I can work on anything. Probably start taking apart front suspension and subframe and get engine bay wiring out and cleaned.

Got some good progress this weekend, finally pulled the motor and transmission!!! Exciting milestone, this is going to open up a lot more stuff to work on. First time ever doing that too, this build will have a lot of firsts for me.

Interesting point. It’s got a cage already, going back to the rear suspension tower. Might not need to do much with the rails. Just got the last piece for my front suspension, spindles that work for the Apex track attack suspension and accept 370z wheel hubs.

Got some time on the car today, everything is prepped and ready to pull the motor/transmission. Will be a few weeks before I can get back on it though. Pulling out the shifter I discovered a lot of wiring wire there touching the drive shaft, smh. Good thing I’m re-wiring this thing from scratch. Did a mock pull, hooking up to hoist, found out I need some thinner shackles, couldn’t get chains on. Looked at the frame rails too, only a little rust on one spot, but they are banged up a bit. I think I’ll cut out the rusted section, about 8”-10” or so and get the bull dog rails. I’ll order that after I pull the motor.

I see bad dog has done heavy duty frame rails, and those can fit over OEM, I’m liking that option, any thoughts?

Thanks for the advice. The passenger side rail near the back definitely needs attention. I still haven’t decided what to do, been going back and forth with a repair, or possibly replace all of them. I know Apex sells a set that looks decent, hadn’t put too much thought into trying to make some myself. If I do a full replace I definitely want something beefy.

Test fitted the other fenders and bumper, I’m liking how it’s coming out.

Sounds like the car was meant to be, and you struck gold on the wife. Looking forward to some pictures.

Fenders came in, I’ll get some more pics this weekend. Doing a track day at Sebring on Saturday, getting that driver mod in.

Thanks for sharing. I like the lower front fender brace, and some good ideas under hood and hatch.

Unbolted the driveshaft today, not enough play to get it out, but should come out when pulling the engine trans I guess. Picked up my first welder, going to practice for a few weekends then try and weld these fender braces in.

Rear Quarters are done.

I got some updates from John at ZTrix on my fenders, almost done and looking good 😁

So the Holley digital gauge display is bigger than I was thinking. I should be able to make something that sits in the dash nicely, not sure if it should sink into the dash or poke out. I’m thinking if it sank into the dash it would look pretty good. Eventually the dash will be black once I’m done.

Got a garmin catalyst for Christmas from my wife 😁 I can’t wait to set this up, won’t be used on the 240Z for a while but I’m going to Sebring in January in my Tesla, so I’ll try it out then. Some more Black Friday goodies got here yesterday. Family is sick so can’t really get out to the car, but I might try and do a few things inside like mock up my dash a little, try and find a good place for my gauges and I want to have a clean place to mount the catalyst.

I found a deal online, both calipers for $250, so went ahead and bought them. Not ready to work on the rear yet, but I’ll have time to think about and work on a bracket so I can install it at the same time as everything else on the rear.

I’m thinking ahead/planning the rest of the car and one thing I hadn’t thought about was my parking brake. Going to the Apex rear end and 370Z wheel hubs and disk brakes I’d have to add back in a parking brake. Drum disk brakes on the 370Z are $800 each. I saw these mechanical caliper type from Wilwood online, only $400 for the set, and it looks like all I’d have to do is fab a bracket. Anyone else try these or have another idea for parking brake?

Lots of Black Friday goodies starting to roll in. These rotors and calipers are huge. Calipers are surprisingly light for their size, I can’t wait to get them on, but still a lot of work to do before that.

Got the headers and exhaust off. Header to exhaust bolts were a PIA, but finally got them. Driveshaft is next and then a few small things here and there and I should be ready to pull the engine.

Look forward to see how it comes out. I’ll be tackling this project on my car in a few months, hoping for some good ideas.

Got the rest of my Black Friday shopping done for the Z. I got a twisted wedge top end kit, rpm air gap intake, a steering wheel and quick release hub and some 6-Piston 370Z brakes. All good deals. Money is all spent time to build it.

Ordered my first Black Friday deal, got the Holley sniper 2 and digital dash to make it EFI. Got some sensors too so I can read everything on the dash, AFR, rpm, speed, oil temp, oil pressure, fuel pressure, coolant temp and probably a few other things. Currently only tachometer and oil pressure work. Still need a fuel level sensor, but my fuel cell has the connections for it. Might get brakes and top end kit and maybe stuff to make oil cooler on Friday depending on the deals. Ordered from EFI pro systems, they were super helpful and saved me a few bucs. I was leaning toward a more expensive system and unless I was using a power adder it didn’t really add anything, saved me $800. I heard they have good tech support for install trouble shooting too