flatout

I don't have any photos at the moment but i got some 1/16 ABS plastic sheet and trimmed it to fit. used an existing 6mm hole and 1 extra sheet metal screw in the top.

having just completed my first HPDE track day in my Z a couple weeks ago. I 10000% recommend at least trying one. Local clubs vary but cost to seat time to fun ratio is quite high. you dont need to have a track weapon. you don't need to be a professional driver. you just need to have fun.

I did full length frame rails, stitched the front towers, and a pretty involved cage in my 280. I know the 240s are a bit more known for issues but i think similar would be sufficient. Some guys add the inner fender braces, I didn't but they seem popular. Is your front strut tower brace triangulated or just straight across? Triangulated off the firewall would add a bit more structure. What is the design of your cage?

couple videos the wife had taken. looking over some datalogs this morning. Car never got over 201ºF in any log that I could see. I can't find a spot in a log where the oil temp even got over 200ºF. oil pressure never dipped on any turns or hard braking. Really impressed the car didn't skip a beat. For a shakedown i was pleasantly surprised. New track for me so i worked on me as a driver rather than swings at setup changes to bandaid a driver problem but my lap times where improving fairly significantly every session and was having so much fun doing it. 20260905_111217.mp4 20260905_173624.mp4

Last weekend i got the offer to run a single day of a multi day event if I wanted to shake down the car. So i scrambled all week getting a bunch of things checked off the list. a couple days getting up at 5am and working for a couple hours before work and then to 10-11pm after work but got it so i could run it. Added a front splitter. strut bar, seat belts. fuel cell bulkhead, fire extinguisher, coolant overflow, battery tie down and kill switch, tow hook, brake bias controller, some tuning changes and im sure a few more things. But i made it. My uncle and I loaded up friday evening and saturday morning drove an hour and a half to the track. Had a great time. car was an absolute trooper and didnt skip a beat. New track for me so had some getting used to the track and the car. but i did 4 sessions problem free, I didn't change a single thing all day. found one loose bolt after session 3 that i caught before it was a problem. Car performed well. Had a fairly competitive pace by the end. Anyway. huge photo dump

There is a point of diminishing returns on tire width. It varies greatly with many factors tho so no one size fits all. Its a balance of contact patch, corner weight and suspension geometry. The double a arm front will allow for a good amount of adjustment with caster, and KPI that we can't get easily with struts.

spent the last few days focusing on fixing some steering geometry. If you guys remember this car came with the 240sx knuckles and if you've ever done any research on that swap, its hot garbage. I spent some time adusting ackerman right off the bat and made it so it was drivable and made a small adjustment last week. My plan has always been to modify them and get all the geometry dialed to how i like it and then scan it. and make a billet version that is modular and can be tweaked in from there. Anyway. This weekends goal was to dial in the mechanical trail and some roll center correction. The 240sx knuckle on the wrong side of the car made the mechanical trail very large so the car had very very heavy steering feel. I did some measuring and made a decision. Clipped off 8º of angle off the ball joint mount. and offset the mount to where i wanted it. Designed and machined an adapter block and welded it on. came up with a quick bumpsteer kit as the knuckle needs to have the tie rod mount lowered by a good bit. didn't take good photos but the car drives SO MUCH BETTER. steering feels great. "light" (for manual steering) but centers still centers well and has good feedback. Took the wife to get ice cream last night and what a great feeling that was after a year of work.

This is how I feel watching some youtube channels. popularity doesn't mean skill or quality.

Thank you for the kind words. Im proud of this one and cant wait to get it dialed in a bit and get to enjoy it a bit on the street and track.

Got the the hood and inspection covers on. Happy

car is officially registered and insured so i spent the weekend trying to button up a few things to make it a bit more "street friendly". did managed to put about 10 miles on it. I have a few things i need to address before racing it but it drove on the street decent. After the initial drive. did a nut and bolt check. then did like 4, did another check, and then another 6ish and everything is looking good. Got the driver mirror on. I wasn't 100% confident id like the round mirror so i designed and 3d printed an adapter to use the factory holes in the door rather than drill new holes i'd regret later. Its growing on me. I may buy a better quality mirror but the round is looking decent. Will still hook up electronic boost control but for now i just put 10psi springs in the wastegate and gave it a vacuum source. When I moved the strut towers back and inboard, i forgot to modify the hood to accept the new position of the strut tops so I designed and machined strut top spacers to push the adjuster down and hopefully clear the hood. I could make them a little thicker as i still have some ride height adjustment on the coilover but i think this will be enough. I'll go slow when closing the hood for the first time. I hooked up the hood release cable. decided to be a little fancier and routed it thru the wiper cowl instead of having the cable extend all the way across the engine bay. need to make a new handle for the cable pull as mine is MIA. Got the hood hinges cleaned up and painted black. fedex lost my order for replacement couplers to move my air filter to clear the hood tension bars so i didnt get the hood on this weekend.

how much of a "notch" would your cradle need to sit down? maybe notch it and attach it to the those apex supports aswell as the frame?

I drove the car about 3/4 of a mile around the block.... tune needs a lot of work (obviously), tires had a slight rub and it rattled a bit but was so exciting and such a relief after a year of hard work. Got the rest of the windows in as well. Wife offered to polish all the trim so I gave her some supplies and let her scrub away. also added a couple interior shots.

Big update on aesthetics. Got the whole front put together. Made a "crash" bar out of chromoly the support the front valance and fenders. It wraps around the front and the valance "rest" on it for support. Went a little extra because I know in the future im going to build a splitter and having a solid place for mounting will be needed. Front and rear glass is back in. will polish the quarter windows and put the side glass in this week. Fitted the fiberglass 240z bumper (had to do some trimming and fitting). need to make a more permanent center brackets. just wiped up some simple aluminum bars to hold it in place. Then i'll spray it a satin or semigloss black i think. I'll experiment. I don't think it would look good orange but maybe. Finished up the wiring to the back of the car. The PDM really simplifies the amount of wires. Added a few extras for future modifications/add ons. All the lights and electronics are working. Slowly working on the tune. it starts and free revs nicely. I plan on trying to get it registered and insured this week so i can start getting it finished up Then for the first time, under its own power. Drove it outside, took some photos and drove it back in. very exciting. Seeing it sitting in the sun, all the work I have into it and to be extremely happy with it. I'm proud of this one.

I think "exhausting month of hardwork" is an understatement. Great job. starting with a fresh slate is so nice but so much work.