rp975

Hi Docaam, I am about to ge t back into my project Z car, last year I won Victor Laury's Datsun Roadster in LA, so I imported it to Australia and spent 6 months getting it safe and ready for registration here. I am now enjoying driving it on weekends and will get to clean my garage up and look at what needs to be done with regards to the wiring. I did have a pretty good thread running on VQ30det.com but that site folded which is a real shame as there was a lot of good info from other users there. What are you going to do with your wiring? Cheers Rob

not sure why my photos are so large will have to look at it later to find out.

I have made a brace for the front of the motor for the damper. Manifold is nearly finished and last photo is how engine bay is coming along, I have to make the strut mounts for the strut bar and engine damper.

Very cool, love watching this build, it is so amazing, well done again. Rob

This looks fabulous, I love how the screen lays down, great lines. Rob

Fabulous work, truly amazing! The top drop is just right, you have given it such nice lines, it looks like it is going 100 miles an hour standing still. Rob

Thanks Zero, It is an interesting method and means there are a lot more possibilities when fabricating. Rob

Thanks Proxlamus, the project has been asleep for a few years because of my work but I am back on it now. Rob

Back from welding the plenum is not attached, I have cleaned up the welds on the top of the plenum and also machined the bottom flange to take out the warping. Next I have to make the flange for the standard twin throttle body. I will show more pics as they come. Rob

Here I have assembled the runners and both flanges ready to be welded. Now it is back from welding. Then I cleaned up the welds insde the runners.

Here I have trimmed the two halves and had them welded together. Here the plenum it trimmed at both ends. Here the end plate for the plenum as been made.

I made a female die for pressing the outer shape of the plenum. I heated the aluminium plate of anneal it before putting it into the press, here you can see it pressed part way through, you have to take it out a different stages to re-anneal. The outsides of the female die were made with a 3 stage hole setup so that you could start with the widest setting first then bring them closer with each pressing to achieve the shape. It is a difficult shape being more than just a compound curve. It was then put into a vice so that I could hammer the last part to get the aluminium as close to the form as possible. Here are the two halves of the plenum pressed.

I have made a male die for pressing the Plenum.One side is from hardwood and the other is 13ply with alloy formers. I first pressed a plat sheet 3mm thick using the middle alloy former only so that the center would form more easily. Then I would press again with the next former each side of the center one and so on until I had formed the shape into the top of each sheet (one for the top and another for the bottom of the plenum)

I have cut the runners to the length needed and recessed them into the bottom flange about 3mm. This is a plan view of how the plenum will look.

Wow....Very very cool work this is just amazing. Rob

not sure how to delet my stuffed post?

Hi Greg, I started a project quite a while ago that may have some info or pictures that may be of interest to you, it is a VQ30det into 260z. If you look at the pics in this link you will see my engine mounts and new cross-member. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?16550-VQ30-DET-into-1974-260z Also the site VQ30det.com is a forum for this motor, although not exactly the same there will be some poss useful info on transmission options as the VQ30det only comes as an auto so many people want to change this. I have an old thread on this forum as well. http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/78920-vq30det-into-260z/ I have an new thread here about making a new intake manifold, http://www.vq30det.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1886 If you look into some Maxima forums you may find guys doing custom intakes, or using different model manifolds, depending on hood clearance. I spent a lot of time Googling VQ custom plenums and manifolds in images, there are some interesting approaches and you may be able to use a maxima or Ultima manifold and adapt the plenum side of things. I hope this is of some help. Regards Rob

I have decided to start on a new inlet manifold and have made the flange from 15mm thick alluminium. The tubes were cut in half 180deg bends, these were then squashed slightly in a press to make oval, wall thickness of the tube is 3mm.

Hi, I am interested to know how much it will cost and if it will suit a VQ30DET? I know you said all VQ motors, just checking. Rob

Hi, you mean like this...http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270565279028&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT This one just sold. Rob

Here are a couple of pics of what I did, not overly pretty but should be strong enough. Rob

Hey your car looks very cool, and I like the footage at Bathurst. Rob