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HybridZ

A musician's therapist (The $300 Z)


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These are the bolts I bought for my car. They have the integrated washers and lock washers and matched up very closely to stock. Part number HXPP3-STC-M6-20, I ordered 100 and am down to about 10 after replacing every bolt I came across (could use another 50 to finish)

 

https://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/221000546909/?curSearch={"field"%3a"%40search"%2c"seriesCode"%3a"221000546909"%2c"innerCode"%3a""%2c"sort"%3a1%2c"specSortFlag"%3a0%2c"allSpecFlag"%3a0%2c"page"%3a1%2c"pageSize"%3a"60"%2c"00000071420"%3a"nvd00000000000006"%2c"00000071025"%3a"00000071025.j!00252"%2c"fixedInfo"%3a"innerCode%3aMDM00005967324|21"}&Tab=wysiwyg_area_0

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  • 3 weeks later...

Mostly just cruising and shaking things down lately. Running much better and very smooth after some help from Richard Boyk to adjust settings. This thing is SMOOOOOOTH... if it wasn't for needing just a couple tweaks to keep the exhaust from rattling on occasion haha.

 

The brake fade is noticeable after a spirited drive earlier. I think one of the first upgrades soon is a turbo blanket, and for major upgrades for next summer i might be getting the Z car garage brakes. A bit burned out on custom stuff. I think I'm okay paying more for a really well built kit that'll get the job done right without a bunch of reading and tinkering on my part

 

 

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Added a resonator to the midpipe yesterday with a vibrant straight through piece and shortened up the mid pipe by a quarter inch. Made a super basic jig to fit things up the same.

 

100% worth it. Downright tame at lower rpm now so droning around town doesn't bother me with the windows down.

 

Looks like my ground clearance has been ruined however. Was hoping it wouldn't be toooooo bad but i already scraped a tiny bit on a particularly rough spot coming out of my alley so i plan on dropping by my friend's again to add a kick up and maybe one more brace near the diff or the transmission crossmember to help make sure I don't get occasional exhaust rattles

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  • 2 weeks later...

Made it to Utah and have my car in the Cache County Cruise-in

 

Drove 800 miles yesterday.... Only to find out that my less than stellar mpg was because I've been running on 5 glorious cylinders.

 

Averaged 19mpg, which i thought was low for my setup and turns out i was right. Coil pack failed and fouled a plug. Replaced both today and even without adjusting my fuel map it feels SO much better :)

 

 

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Hoping to do a bit of road tuning after filling up tonight and seeing how much better I can make this thing feel. The increased smoothness on the engine even lightened up some exhaust tapping that was driving me nuts. Really only hear it on right turns right now which is more reasonable than any time I'm under load. 

Edited by Zetsaz
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12 hours ago, jpndave said:

Nice Omar! You down here for a few days? 

 

I'm here until I move to Mexico! 

Third week of July I fly down. In the mean time I'm attempting to relax with family while also taking care of figuring out housing down there and submitting the last bits of employment paperwork. 

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12 hours ago, 1969honda said:

It was great to see you and your Z tonight Omar! My 15 year old asked a few times afterwards, "Dad, can our Z look like that one day?" 

 

Great to catch you too! Despite my little gripes like the small exhaust rattle and the constant work in progress nature of the thing, it's REALLY satisfying when other people enjoy it. 

 

I forget that even with the spots on the paint that aren't perfect it's still definitely a looker. Haven't seen it in bright sun in a long time and it's very fun right now 😁

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A few select shots from this year's cruise-in. The car sure has come a long way! Was excited to have my brother join me in his MR2 even though his is still even more of a work in progress than mine and isn't quite as clean. Still a looker. Expecting clamps to delete the front diff crossmember soon which will hopefully solve my exhaust "buzz" problem. It's no longer a rattle but still a bother. Will likely still redo at least one exhaust mount to a more solid style with a rubber or urethane washer on a through hole instead of a rubber hanger to limit movement

 

 

 

 

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Realized sometime during 4th of July weekend that I had a cylinder not firing. Seems like one of my ignition coils was toast, and the plug was fouled as a result. 

I replaced the coil and plug, did some retuning of the fuel map with autotune and it's running much better!

Averaged 19mpg on the way here from WA, which I thought was low. I had assumed it was just the conservative tuning on the megasquirt to run slightly on the rich side coupled with my 3.9 rear end, but it still seemed unusual for a turbo engine. 

Did a datalog on a drive to SLC with a friend and averaged 23mpg after the fix! That's without trying to baby it. Was over 70 or over 80mph depending on the section of the interstate we were on as well as a few strong pulls to near redline on the on ramps. 

Pretty sure if I keep the speed down a bit and don't gun it I could get 25 mpg highway 😎 Very satisfied with how things are turning out so far, just need to redo my exhaust hangers and hopefully it'll solve my little rattle. Only a week until I head to mexico though, so it might wait.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 8/6/2022 at 5:09 PM, Jboogsthethug said:

Hey man, how is Mexico? How long will you be living there? Did you take the Z?

 

Mexico is solid! My new wheels are a Marin hybrid bike. Aluminum frame, hydraulic disc brakes, all that fun stuff that I've now kitted out with everything I need to commute on bike.

Minimum 2 years I'll be living here. After we'll see. 

No car right now, we'll see how long that lasts. Will either bring down the hardbody or buy a new Jimny if I stay here for a long time. Z will probably not come down :( Guadalajara is a pretty well developed city, especially by latin american standards, but a lot of speedbumps would be killers down here, and I trust most drivers in the city here even less to not completely destroy my car in an accident. 

The upside is i'm saving a ton of money not insuring another car or paying for gas. Will be my summer car every time I visit family. First purchases I have planned for next year are the new T3 steering rack, Z car garage brakes, and if I'm saving a lot more than expected, new flat top pistons to up the off boost performance below boost.

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Dang I have always wanted to commute via bike but never been close enough to do it. My drive is 50 minutes of freeway so yeah I'm not about to do that ha. Saving all that money and buying car parts will be so rad! I would love a new Jimny, those things are so sick! Such a bummer they're not in the states. 

Are you down there to teach at a school I'm assuming?

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5 hours ago, Jboogsthethug said:

Dang I have always wanted to commute via bike but never been close enough to do it. My drive is 50 minutes of freeway so yeah I'm not about to do that ha. Saving all that money and buying car parts will be so rad! I would love a new Jimny, those things are so sick! Such a bummer they're not in the states. 

Are you down there to teach at a school I'm assuming?

 

Yeah, no way I'd do it if my commute was longer than a few miles. That's actually part my beef with US cities, everything is soooo spread out. Realistically I could walk a block or two away for my basic grocery necessities even. if I want a snack or a bit there's literally a tiny shop across the street from my apartment building. 

 

A Jimny would be so rad. I see them everywhere down here. They're well past the initial run they did to test the market and they're always in low supply at dealers. Are apparently super popular.

 

Yeah, I'm at a fairly nice American school here. As a location (other than the unbeatable natural beauty of the pacific northwest), for my social life, and as a job this is way better for me, but specifically as a music program it's a notable downgrade. I'm teaching middle school with no real team like i used to have and the past few years have killed the program a bit. BUT, that does mean I have some flexibility in how I approach it and I get to start most of the kids totally fresh.

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  • 1 month later...

A mild update from the faraway land of Mexico:

 

My new T3 steering rack arrived yesterday! Brother sent a picture and took the car out for a quick ride.

The stock rack was worn and would have been very difficult to fix up. On top of the slower steering ratio than a 240z I had a sticking point just outside of center that prevented me from tightening it up, so it always felt a bit sloppy, even with brand new steering and suspension components everywhere else. 

 

In unrelated news for those who care: yes I was close enough to the earthquake epicenter down here to really feel it, but no real damage to anything where I am. Someone somewhere probably had some glass bottles break. It happened only a few hours after we had a scheduled evacuation drill at my school... long day haha.

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Nice!  It's really cool that T3 is producing reproduction steering racks. Now you have something to do when you come home for Christmas break ;).

 

Good to hear that you're OK after the earthquake.  I've never experienced one and never want to. Here in Houston we have hurricanes but at least you know they're coming!

 

Cheers,

Ross

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On 9/21/2022 at 7:04 PM, rossman said:

Nice!  It's really cool that T3 is producing reproduction steering racks. Now you have something to do when you come home for Christmas break ;)


Gotta have something to do to keep me warm in those Utah winters haha. Honestly have rarely been quite this excited about a new product. So much of "this other part number works" and limited info on rebuilding these. Something new and ready to go out of the box is a welcome treat considering how much I'm a bit burned out on rebuilding stuff. 

 

On 9/21/2022 at 7:04 PM, rossman said:

Good to hear that you're OK after the earthquake.  I've never experienced one and never want to. Here in Houston we have hurricanes but at least you know they're coming!

 

There was another one last night! Again I'm far enough away to not really experience damage, but it was enough to make my bed feel like a hammock for a bit before evacuating my building. Almost felt like I was being rocked to sleep before my sleepy brain finally realized there was something I was supposed to be doing haha

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  • 1 month later...

Holiday sales update:

 

Those of you who know me know I've been very into photography lately. Recently Fujifilm announced their new X-T5, and I was tempted to preorder it as an upgrade to my X-E4 but decided that I didn't need the upgrade features on it for what I do (at least not now). So that money has gone towards black friday sales on some parts I've been craving.

 

-Just ordered an Apex Engineered front crossmember. Already have the T3 steering rack waiting, but on top of the worn out rack, the bump steer and front geometry was not confidence inspiring, the rack will be fixing the bump steer issues as well as improving the front control arm angles, which are pointed up towards the outer ends even at my conservative ride height. 

 

-Debating ordering a Protunerz intake for their currently pretty nice discount. Other than the increased flow, I like the angle and clearance it provides to make things easier to work on, but more importantly, the built in provision on the throttle for the GM IAC valve I already have would be nice. Only downside is having to drill into the brand new flange to clear the cylinder head mod. Still thinking it over :( 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Black Friday sales plus an extra discount since I didn't need the fuel rail made me cave. Brother took a pic for me when it arrived.

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Lots to do when I get home for Christmas! A lot of my family will actually be out of town when I'm home, so it'll mostly be working on the car when I'm not hanging with my twin sister/brother-in-law/nieces.

Sold my engine hoist to a friend when I left WA, so I'm not sure I'll be under the car much to install the Apex crossmember (plus I don't want to be on the cold floor much. I'll probably assemble the crossmember and steering rack so it's ready to install in the spring then focus my time on drilling out the hole on the new intake necessary to clear the head cooling mod. 

 

Super excited to have the cleaner setup, much improved IAC location, and an intake that'll actually work better with the ported head. 

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