dmoralesbello Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 (edited) Douglas Arditti at Fabshop Miami has been busy and got the MSA front and rear anti-sway bars on as well as the Techno Toy Tuning TCAs. Hopefully he'll get new front and rear bearings installed this weekend before putting the painted brake calipers back on. First pic shows 2 Zs at Doug's shop. Needless to say this guy is obsessive and does top notch work. After driving the car with the new beefier sway bars and the TTT control arms I can say that the difference is very noticeable. I was expecting a harsher ride (according to most of the opinions from the forum) due to the control arms attaching directly to the chassis without the benefit of the bushings found on the stock set up. I cannot notice any additional vibrations being transmitted into the car with the TTT arms. I do notice a MUCH tighter front end with better steering response and a much flatter ride during cornering with very little roll. I'm very happy with the ride quality and improved control. Edited July 8, 2016 by dmoralesbello Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted May 10, 2016 Author Share Posted May 10, 2016 (edited) Got the new front wheel bearings installed along with my my freshly painted orange pearl calipers. Hopefully the rear bearings and calipers will be ready in the next couple of days, put wheels and tires back on, set the car down and start on the engine components to send them out for ceramic coating, powder coating and plating. Edited May 11, 2016 by dmoralesbello Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted May 12, 2016 Author Share Posted May 12, 2016 Productive day today at the shop. Disassembly of engine parts for refinishing started. EGR "amputation" happened as well. Parts went to the platers for nickel finish, valve cover and intake plenum and other bits to powdercoater, and headers for ceramic coating. Ordered all new SS fastener kit from ZCar Depot as well as the new motor mounts from Nissan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HIWAY ONE Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 Man, your car really looks sweet, everything you've done is top notch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted May 15, 2016 Author Share Posted May 15, 2016 Man, your car really looks sweet, everything you've done is top notch! I'm very happy to see your appreciative remarks. Thanks. There are a couple of very cool additions I'll be working on in the summer months: swapping my clock for a JDM calendar clock (thanks to hr369 on the Classic Z Forum), installing LED replacement bulbs in the map light, JDM tail lights (thanks hr369 again) with a "trick" connection, clear lenses for my front turn signals with a "switchback" LED bulb which looks like a clear driving light until the turn signal is activated at which time it'll flash amber, wiring my front fender parking lights to work as turn signals as well, and adding some tweeters to my sound system. Fun!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted June 4, 2016 Author Share Posted June 4, 2016 Got some progress on the engine bay parts. Intake plenum (with EGR removed) and AFM media blasted and painted dark metallic grey. I was able to remove and save the decal on the AFM and I'll be gluing that back on soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted June 4, 2016 Author Share Posted June 4, 2016 The valve cover was media blasted as well and orange pearl body paint was applied. I love that orange but don't want to make my engine bay look too "hot rod". The letters and stripes will be masked off and dark metallic grey applied so the valve cover will be dark grey with orange stripes and letters (same look as the air filter box). Intake plenum and AFM are dark grey. I'll post those next steps in a couple of days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted June 6, 2016 Author Share Posted June 6, 2016 Finished off the intake plenum by cleaning the different mating surfaces in prep for assembly. The valve cover got its final coat of metallic dark grey and the orange lettering and stripes. Should have the throttle body done in the next couple of days and then re-assembly starts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmmdowning Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Very nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 Very nice work! Thanks pal ! Glad you appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 Silver ceramic coated MSA headers came in today from Jet Hot. Can't wait to get those on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted June 11, 2016 Share Posted June 11, 2016 Love the valve cover! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted June 20, 2016 Author Share Posted June 20, 2016 (edited) Some more progress pics. Installed media blasted and powder coated brackets on new Nissan motor mounts; Put in a new polished billet water pump pulley from California Z Car: And got my Jet Hot MSA headers back on. Love that clean look soooo much better than when they were wrapped. Hopefully the thermal advantage in the engine bay will be a benefit as well. As you can all tell, the valve cover is back on as well. Intake plenum, throttle body and AFM should be back on tomorrow. Edited June 23, 2016 by dmoralesbello Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted June 22, 2016 Author Share Posted June 22, 2016 Got the fuel rails, intake plenum, several brackets, vacuum and fuel hoses installed. Engine bay is slowly starting to look complete again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greeko Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 Wow, Sooo much work in the details! I was lazy and just slapped in a 1JZ lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted June 25, 2016 Author Share Posted June 25, 2016 Finished painting the AFM and throttle body in preparation for installing this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted June 25, 2016 Author Share Posted June 25, 2016 Got the engine running and tuned. The throttle linkage was a pain in the butt to get exactly right but it's nice and smooth now. finished assembling the last brackets, hoses, cable and hose straps, and orange Cusco strut bar. I think I'm in love Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88dangerdan Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 BEAUTIFUL EXECUTION!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmoralesbello Posted June 25, 2016 Author Share Posted June 25, 2016 (edited) Thanks 88dangerdan. Here are a couple of before and after pics: I hope the purists don't hate me Edited June 25, 2016 by dmoralesbello Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Super clean and detailed !! I bet you get non stop thumbs up and compliments whenever you drive it. Purists can kiss butt !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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