flatout

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.

I haven't noticed much difference but i generally refresh the page and then flip off it and do something else while it loads.

Got a little more work done. Started getting the front end together. headlights wired up. have new corner markers on the way and need to come up with a grill and turn signal. Bent up some brake line templates and headed to the parts store to try and get some pre bent heater hose. was a successful journey. got a u bend that worked for both hoses perfectly. Got the hoses on. pressure tested for leaks. found one small one at the turbo. fixed it. filled and bled the cooling system. Got the fan hooked up to the ECU thru PWM, and man does this fan flow some air. turned all the way up it might move the car like a fan boat. haha. I had it running while playing with the tune at 35% duty cycle and it CLT stayed at 172ºF when it was 85ºF in the shop so i was happy about that. will play with setting once i can get it on the road. I made the alternator bracket to move it to the driver side but having a little issue with belt routing. Currently did get a belt on but the tensioner doesn't have enough movement to work how I'd like so I'll reevaluate this later. Belt is tight and spins everything so I can run it this way for now and figure something else out later. I have the same alternator on my other car but on the passenger side so worst case I can probably get away with moving it back over there. just was trying to avoid the heat from the turbo. Also got the brakes bled. I'm real close to taking it for a spin around the neighborhood. Going to try and get the edged around the windows sanded and buffed this week so i can put the glass back in.

can't believe its been almost a month since an update. got the exhaust done, made a tip from stainless. Got the wastegate tube recirculated, header and downpipe wrapped. Have been wiring away. Running an ecumaster emublack ecu and a hardwire electronics PDM25. Both of which are new to me. Got the engine harness done and chassis harness started. thinking thru everything has been a challenge but so far so good. Have the PDM powering all the lights and the ECU functions. Have the factory blinker stalk controlling the blinkers, and high beam functions. Factory brake pedal sensor for brake lights and Blink marine 12 button can keypad controlling some other functions. A couple days ago i did get it to start and that was a huge relief after this long process and "freshish" engine. oil pressure is great. engine is quiet. so very motivating. 20260707_210144.mp4

As far as i know from being in the 240sx world is the s15 6 speed is geared better for performance driving but is weaker than the s14 5 speed but i think the nismo one is advertised as fixing some of the weak points.

i've had good luck with that exact husky tool box. I don't think for the money you can do better.

toe out (especially significantly) will definitely make a car drive "twitchy". I've always felt a road car benefits from toe in stability. A track spec may vary from that but street toe in is usually an improvement. I'm really surprised by the caster number. 1º is very little. how well does it self center the steering wheel? If your happy with it then that's all that matters. but you may even have a little more improvement if you can get 4-5º out of it.

you ever weighed this? I always thought a Z with a k series would have a great balance.

Love the way this is coming out. its been a challenging balance to thread between making everything neat and tidy and making sure I remember its a race car and needs to be functional. decided to polish the intake manifold and turbo, which looks great but upkeep is gonna be a challenge. exhaust is mostly done and welded. need to make a fancy tip for the back. wrapped the downpipe and mid pipe. need to pull the manifold and wrap that too. originally made a open dump wastegate but then changed it up to recirc it because we have a couple tracks with some noise restrictions. I'll order another v band and wastegate outlet so i can cap the exhaust and run it open if the track doesn't have a dB restriction. Fuel system is done. bulkheaded thru the floor. 3d printed some mounts and have it mounted along the floor. injectors are in. got most of the turbo lines made up. opted for the turbosmart oil pressure regulator for the turbo. i've never dealt with a turbo this small and man its a challenge to fit everything. drain is really tight. hits v band and clamp but think i may have the puzzle solved to make it work. fuel fill is welded up. went with stainless to mitigate the risk of corrosion with ethanol.

you may have mentioned this at some point previously, but what ECU is this going to run on?

a project car is never "done" but we sure do love upgrades. You dont realize how small these old cars are until you park next to something modern. your bosses BMW was probably huge next to the Z

congrats sir, hopefully the weather in your area is nice this time of year and you get get out and put some miles, (or kilometers) on it (never been to Netherlands so unsure if you guys use miles or Km)

Well that laser is pretty handy. you do great work. keep it up.

Been a busy couple weeks but been chugging along. Got the fuel system started. mounted the ethanol content sensor, fuel filter and fuel pressure regulator. ordered line/fittings twice and still came up short on fittings and line. hopefully the last of it arrives today so I can finish it. Got the rear brake caliper bracket machined up from a high alloy steel. Due to the design i had to come up with i wanted a high alloy steel to be nice and strong. Got the clutch line made up and bled it. clutch seems to work even tho i just bled it solo. i'll get the wife out to get it perfect but it does work. I got the exhaust mocked up and tacked together. Need to come up with a nice tip to get it out just past the bumper.