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Slow Build 240Z LS1/MN12 - Build Thread


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I've been sick of not being able to find the time to paint the interior. Basically the last thing I wanted to do before I take the car off the rotisserie. So, today I called in sick to work and painted the interior. I went with a matte black.

 

Now to order up some wheels and tires, and get this thing back on the ground.

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Ordered wheels, but turned out they could only find two in the color and size I wanted. So they are ordering more from the Phillipines, which will take about 2 months. Since I don't want to take the car down without wheels, in case I need to move it around in the garage, it's going to have to stay up on the rotisserie until the wheels come in.

 

So, I'm starting on the next few things. Got the trans completely torn down. When I got the trans, it was already partially torn down and really just a box of parts with most of the gears still on the mainshaft. But I got it organized and mostly reassembled to figure which parts I had and which were missing. Most everything was there, just a couple small parts mia. Ordered up all the parts I'll need from gearbox and should see them in about a week.

 

And my attention is finally also turning towards the motor.

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Trans is all rebuilt and ready to go in. All I had was the GTO shifter, so I tossed that and put a MGW short shifter on it. Just had to change the offset lever, which is part #93 in the Tremec T56 schematic. The Camaro offset lever is just slightly different than the GTO one.

 

Moved to the engine, to get it cleaned up and replace a few gaskets and such. When putting the oilpan back on, the long rear bolts stripped out the threads in the rear cover. Seemed to strip them at about half of the torque setting, so I'm thinking this was past damage or something. Also, one of the other pan bolts was about a 1/2" shorter then the rest, so somebody was in there before and may have tightened those rear bolts too much then. Thankfuly, a new rear cover was only about $35 and looks pretty easy to swap out. Looks like I may not even need to remove the oil pan. I'm gessing I'll have to take it off the engine stand though, just to get to all the bolts in the rear cover.

Edited by JoeK
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Got the new rear cover on. It was super easy to do, certainly had to remove it from the stand, but was able to leave the pan on. Built a simple little wood floor stand for it to sit on, which will come in handy when I go to bolt the tranny up.

 

Also, I was able to reorder my wheels, 18racing got them back in stock. Now resetting my sights on getting the car off the rotisserie and back on the ground.

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Big day. That tire is on the ground. Yep, she's off the rotisserie. Couldn't put the front wheels on, the lug studs are too long but I'll cut them shorter this weekend and get it all the way down and resting on 4 wheels.

 

I had borrowed an extra engine hoist from auxilery, but it turned out the wheels wouldn't fit underneath my rotisserie, so I couldn't get the hoist over the lift points. So I constructed a simple overhead beam structure and dropped it down using 4 come alongs.

 

Very happy to be able to move on to the next part of the build.

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Edited by JoeK
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Well, life gets in the way sometimes. The started public school, which changed the hours I was able to work on the car. Lost about 45 minutes each, as I have to pick her up from school earlier. The the holidays, and all that entails, and I have gotten very little done since dropping the on the wheels. 

 

In fact, it wasn't on it's wheels for very long. I had the suspension all buttoned up before I dropped it down from the rotisserie, but the rear suspension has been in and out of the car a few times now, sending parts back to TTT for modification. Sending back the threaded coilover tubes for the second time on Monday. They accidentally welded the tabs on backwards, but they are paying for shipping both ways so it's just lost time on my end.

 

I had to sell my Marugen Shoukai flares, they weren't wide enough for my wheel and tire choice. Will likely order some extra wide ZG flares from Japan Garage. Just ordered a harness from Chevy Thunder, and a new sway bar ST sway bar set. Also a new body wiring harness is on it's way.

 

Also, redid the fuel line set up. I had run it all in aluminum, but decided to pull that out and replace it with cuprinol line. That was fun, actually did enjoy it, but also happy it's now complete. 

 

So, as the title promises, it's going slowly, but going along nevertheless.

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I already folded it up and threw it away. It kinda trashed when pulling it out anyway. I will ask for help dropping the motor in. I still have to receive my parts back from TTT, probably some powder coating, then get the rear suspension back in.

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So this happened today. A big thank to auxilary for taking to day to help me get this thing shoehorned in. All went pretty smoothly, needed to slot the motor mount to get a little more angle in order for it to be aligned straight, and some small adjustment to the trans tunnel. Also had to cut some bosses off the side of the MN12 T56 trans.

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Wish I had more of an update, but really its just been a while since I updated. Big restore, again, on the vintage trailer in the avatar after major rains cropped up new leaks. So that took all of my free time, and some of my not so free time.

 

But I've been working on the wiring harness. I bought a harness from Rolling Thunder, but after fitting it, I realized I needed to move quite a few things around. AC wire on the wrong side, IAT and MAF on the wrong side, Relay center had like a 4' cable on it, but need to cut about 30" off of it. So now its a big pile of spaghetti on the work bench. 

 

Ordered fans a shroud for my Champion radiator. Wow, was that kit really a kit. No mounting holes for the fans, no instructions, no bolts or screws. Not too hard to figure out, but would have been pretty easy for them to put a simple instruction sheet together too.

 

decided to go a with a Braille battery. Didn't have a battery tray anymore after rust repairs, and though the firewall mounted battery would work out well. Had to make a 1/4" plate to mount on the firewall, to space the battery away from those indents on the firewall. Pics below.

 

Started restoration of my dashboard. Didn't want to get too far without the new gauges though. So got those ordered and they took a long time, then arrived in the wrong color. Vendor made a mistake, owned up and is taking care of it but it'll be another wait to get those back.

 

And I just read that Japan Garage went out of business. Now I need to find another source for wide ZG flares.

 

So lots of starts and stops, but no completed tasks just yet. I need to focus on one task at a time, before I get overwhelmed. I'm going to try to concentrate on the harness, and likely roll into the body harness from there. Just need to cut the larger hole through the radiator support for the intake tubing, so I can be sure I'm getting the MAF and IAT harness wires to the right locations.

 

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It’s been 6 months since my last update. I’ve been getting stuff done, working steadily but still no leaps or bounds. Until last week when the family decided to visit family on the other coast and was kind enough to leave me behind. I was able to really tackle and complete some loose ends.

 

Got the engine harness worked out. It had trunk lines that seemed long enough to put in a truck, and I wanted to move a few things around. So pretty much took it apart, sliced and diced it, a little shortening here and lengthening there and voila. A harness I sure as hell hope works.

 

I made a boxed mount for the ECU and got it tucked up nicely next to the blower motor.

 

I restored the entire HVAC system, and got that reinstalled. Rebuilt heater core, fresh paint, upgraded blower motor from a Kia.

 

Radiator and fans mounted. All hoses run. Went through a lot of hoses finding what would fit. What worked for others didn’t seem to work for me. Ordered 3 different 45 degree thermostat elbows, and they all showed up with 60 degree angles. Still not sure if I like the location of the steam fitting and vent in the upper hose, might move down so at least it’s horizontal so I can get the air out of the system (if I ever get to that point).

 

finished the majority of the cold air intake. Still need to mount the air filter, which arrives tomorrow. I have an adjustable stiffener arm by Spectre that I hope will work to hold the filter up. It just doesn’t seem like it will be that stable otherwise.

 

Made a shifter boot out of neoprene and a retainer ring out of sheet metal. Had to hack a substantial amount out of the center console to make it fit over the MGW short shifter, and will need to figure out an interior boot at some point.

 

Restored the dashboard and am really happy with how it turned out. We’ll see how long it lasts. 5 new Speedhut gauges, with new Millhouse pods for the smaller gauges.

 

Sound mat on the entire interior. Used Rattletrap extreme. Great bond, same thickness as the big well known stuff but half the price. I don’t really know effective it will be, but certainly can tell the difference when knocking on the panels.

 

Camaro tank installed, plumbed and wired. Just need to get fuel gauge worked out.

 

Next up is the body harness. Have a 20 circuit EZ Wire harness and am trying to get my mind into it. Electrical is kinda my kriptonite, it makes me weak in the knees.

 

Then I guess it’ll be time to throw some fluids into everything and see if she’ll start.

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