boosted300 Posted March 29, 2018 Author Share Posted March 29, 2018 1 minute ago, EF Ian said: Nice photos, shes a great looking car. Looks like you took those photos in bright sunlight, its always hard to get good shots in midday sun, best time is late afternoon and sometimes in the morning. Yeah, plus I'm sure yours were taken with something better than a camera phone... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
30 ounce Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 WOW! That is beautiful! The rims and tires fit perfectly. What size and offset did you end up with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted March 30, 2018 Author Share Posted March 30, 2018 (edited) 36 minutes ago, 30 ounce said: WOW! That is beautiful! The rims and tires fit perfectly. What size and offset did you end up with? Thanks! My rim setup is somewhat unconventional... I did a separate write up on it Take a look it should give you the answers you're looking for Edited March 30, 2018 by boosted300 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 29, 2018 Author Share Posted December 29, 2018 Winter is here and in Miami that means...Turbo weather! After hibernating for the summer, I dusted her off and started her up for the first time in probably about 4 months. I let her idle for a while and I noticed that she didn't sound just right. The next thing I know, I'm looking at the tach and it wasn't registering...I already knew what that meant. I posted in another sub-forum here about my travails with my alternator. I am on my fourth or fifth one over the past 6 years. For some reason that I have yet to figure out, they keep burning out on me. I started with the stock RB25DET unit and it went bad, then I went to a unit from Quality Power that was anything but quality, then ended up with a unit from a Mitsubishi Galant that was "close" to a direct bolt on. The Mitsubishi unit worked well for a while, but apparently it didn't want to wake from the summer's hibernation. Fed up with the alternator situation, I gave Raw Brokerage a call to see if they had any type of upgrade available. I spoke with Ricky who told me about a kit they offered that allows me to use an LS1 alternator..."direct bolt on". I say this in quotes because in my experience there is rarely such a thing as a direct bolt on! Somehow or the other you always have to end up modifying your modifications. I ordered the kit right around Halloween. I remember this specifically because this is how it arrived... That got a chuckle out of me. My first impression was that it was a quality kit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 29, 2018 Author Share Posted December 29, 2018 As you all may know there are a hundreds of different cars that use the LS-1, and you can't just walk into auto parts store and say "give me an alternator for an LS1", you have to know the specific model and year to get the one that will not only work with this kit but also use the same style plug and positive/negative configuration as the RB25DET...which it doesn't specify on the website. I called Ricky and inquired. He wasn't so sure off the bat, but he did some research and told me to try a 2004 Pontiac GTO. When I picked it up at the auto parts store, I confirmed that the plug was the same style. I also googled it to ensure that the positive/negative prongs inside the plug were in the same configuration as the RB25DET, which they were. Other than the fact that the LS1 alternator is much bigger and took some effort to tetris it down into place from the top of the engine, even with all of the pulleys and radiator hoses/tubes removed...I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the overall install was...yes, it was a true bolt on! The only drawback is that this adapter eliminates the tensioning screw on the factory assembly. As such, I now have to tension it the old fashion way via prybar. Here's a pic of the alternator with the adapter bracket. As you can see, the pulley from the kit is essentially the same diameter as the factory LS1, and the only difference is that it has a couple of ribs less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 29, 2018 Author Share Posted December 29, 2018 I am a big fan of if it isn't broken, don't fix it...Although the billet pulley looks much nicer, I decided I didn't want to chance changing the pulley and perhaps not having it seat just right or be out of balance, which the factory one already was. So I installed the alternator as-is with the factory pulley. Having a few extra ribs on the pulley has no detrimental effect anyway. The kit provides two bolts, one long one to replace the factory mounting bolt, and one for the adapter bracket. Using a prybar I tensioned the unit, and tightened the adapter bolt...and that's it. This alternator cranks out 180 amps incidentally. That's double the amount the Mitsubishi Galant alternator had produced, and far more than enough for my needs. Fired up the engine to test it out... All good. Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that this one lasts longer than my previous units! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EF Ian Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 Nice upgrade, fingers crossed for you that it lasts well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 30, 2018 Author Share Posted December 30, 2018 On 3/28/2018 at 6:56 AM, EF Ian said: Such a great looking Z. Hard luck on the AC, I hope you get it sorted soon without too much more hassle. I'm lucky that I do'n't require AC where I live so I don't have that headache, although sometimes I do wish the weather was warm enough often enough that i did require it. So I never finished this story... I ended up taking the car back to Kiki's a couple weeks later. We put a new expansion valve in and also a new dryer. After the system was charged, we cranked it up...the compressor kicked on for a second...and then shut off mysteriously. Some troubleshooting revealed that it was actually the fan switch, which had a bad contact...the system is activated by the factory fan switch. Some playing around with the switch and we got the compressor to engage completely....YESSS!! NO!! While the compressor had engaged, and the lines and evaporator were ice cold...there was no cold air coming out of the vents...wth??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 30, 2018 Author Share Posted December 30, 2018 The fan was clearly on, and the lines and evaporator were ice cold, but nothing coming from the vents.... I tried all of the possible combinations of the factory levers to see if the vents were somehow closed or diverting the air somewhere else. I noticed that, despite moving the DEF/ROOM vent lever, there was no change in the flow at all which I found to be unusual... Thinking back to when I had the entire dash off and had taken out the fan components to tweak them, I remembered there was a large flap inside the canister that would open or close to divert air flow... But now, moving the lever I expected to hear the flap opening and closing (because it did so with a noticeable "thunk"), and yet I heard nothing... Oh boy...the dash was obviously back in now and everything already bolted into place...it's not easy at all to access that area... I squirmed my hand under the dash and somehow squeezed it all the way back to where I could only feel, not see, the flap lever... Sure enough I flipped the lever and heard the flap "thunk"...and lo and behold....COLD AIR from the vents! Hallelujah!! Unfortunately during reassembly, I omitted putting the lever cable back in place... Getting that cable back into the lever slot, where it is secured in place by a screw, after the dash was already installed...might have been the most difficult thing I have done on this car However, the story has a happy ending finally...I now have functioning AC in my almost 50 year old Japanese Resto-Mod... My next goal is to install the electric steering and heck...I might start taking this thing out on dates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EF Ian Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 Note to self - Must remember to reconnect all lines to my heater when I install it and the dash later next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Hoareau Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 (edited) On 12/30/2018 at 7:54 AM, boosted300 said: I am a big fan of if it isn't broken, don't fix it...Although the billet pulley looks much nicer, I decided I didn't want to chance changing the pulley and perhaps not having it seat just right or be out of balance, which the factory one already was. So I installed the alternator as-is with the factory pulley. Having a few extra ribs on the pulley has no detrimental effect anyway. The kit provides two bolts, one long one to replace the factory mounting bolt, and one for the adapter bracket. Using a prybar I tensioned the unit, and tightened the adapter bolt...and that's it. This alternator cranks out 180 amps incidentally. That's double the amount the Mitsubishi Galant alternator had produced, and far more than enough for my needs. Fired up the engine to test it out... All good. Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that this one lasts longer than my previous units! Hi, I make the CWC kit you fitted, thank you for you good review, I did notice you didn’t use the tensioner bolt. The kit works with the factory tensioner so you don’t need to go old school with a pry bar to tension the belt. Happy to look talk see what your missing also the pulley is larger than factory and has a slight difference in offset for belt alignment the larger diameter slows the alternator down but around 2000rpm at 7000rpm Giving the alternator a longer life and not overspeeding it email: clockworkcustoms@yahoo.com.au Edited May 21, 2019 by Andrew Hoareau Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 (edited) It's been quite a while so I figured it was time for a little update... Of course it's no coincidence that the update coincides with winter time, and as I've mentioned before winter time in Miami means Turbo weather... Right around Thanksgiving, I took her out of the garage for the first time since...well pretty much since COVID hit in March...the weather was the first cold weather we have gotten in 9 months...this has been a miserable year in so many obvious ways, and the weather here has been no exception...very hot and raining heavily what seemed like nearly every day all the way into late November. On the first night out, it got down into the high 50's and was so cold that it was a chore to keep the oil warm enough for hard pulls...I have a Greddy oil cooler adapter and although I bought it about 7 years ago, I seem to distinctly remember buying one with a thermostat in it...however, it must not be working properly because I had to drive in lower gears than normal, at any given speed, to crank the RPMs up and warm up the oil...eg, at 60mph instead of cruising in 5th gear, I would drive in third gear only (no load) to get the RPM's up around 5k...even doing this, it would take a while to get the oil up to around 190 degrees...which was about as hot as I could get it while driving on the highway. Once at "operating temp", I unleashed 9 months of pent up automotive aggression...which resulted in thoroughly spinning the 275 drag radials at 40mph in second gear. On one of the pulls I noticed a slight break up at around 20psi of boost. It could have been caused by a number of things, however it provided the excuse I needed to go ahead with a project I had been thinking about for a long time and just hadn't gotten around to doing it...R35 Coil Pack upgrade So I turned the boost down to around 15psi and enjoyed another couple of hours of cruising around to absolutely nowhere in particular and enjoying the process of getting all the cobwebs out of her. Edited December 7, 2020 by boosted300 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 As soon as I got home I jumped right on the computer and started researching and shopping. I found many kits available, but the Platinum Racing Products kit caught my eye…not only because it looked like a high quality kit, but also because they have a YouTube channel with loads of videos on all things RB…and not just your average how-to or product description videos…they have an impressive collection of in depth, highly detailed, highly technical videos that are supported by research. So I ordered their RB R35 Coil Bracket Kit in black. You also have to choose the wiring harness that’s appropriate for your motor (Series 1, Series 2, Neo, etc.). I had a few questions and reached out via the website which, in my experience, rarely gets a timely response. To my delight, I received an email response within a couple of hours. I had a few more follow up questions and Jonathan was extremely responsive and put far more than the typical minimum amount of effort in responding to my questions. Order placed…with a nice little Black Friday 10% code that Jonathan reminded me to use…and I promptly received a shipping notice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 Received the kit a few days later, and everything was high quality and very nicely packed…. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 There is minor amount of “some assembly required”… You have to take the OE coil pack and remove the stalk… When you pull it apart, you have to be careful not to lose the resistor that’s inside… You then have to replace the OE stalk with the PRP Stalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 Then remove the coil pack cover, and the factory coil pack assembly… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 Then install the coil pack bracket without the coils… One note: I installed the bracket, then the coil packs (as instructed) …and then when I went to install the harness, I noticed that I couldn’t reach the bolt where the loom grounds to because it was underneath the bracket…as a result, I had to remove to the #6 coil, and then loosen the bracket bolts and slightly lift everything out so that I could get to the bolt… So my first suggestion is to put the loom grounding bolt in first before anything else… My second suggestion is that you will need another bolt that is about 1/2 inch shorter because the factory bolt that goes there is too long once you remove the factory bracket it holds...the bolt bottoms out and leaves a gap where the bracket used to be...(alternatively you could stack a bunch of washers if you can't find the right size bolt, but obviously that isn't ideal) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 (edited) Bracket installed... Followed by coils... Then the harness... And finally the coil pack cover...minus the unsightly igniter Done! The car started up effortlessly on the first crank…throttle response is much crisper and overall driveability is improved…and I experienced no break up at 20psi. Edited December 7, 2020 by boosted300 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5thgenluder Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 Great update as always. Did you ever get around to the electric steering? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 1 hour ago, 5thgenluder said: Great update as always. Did you ever get around to the electric steering? Thank you sir. Unfortunately no I have not yet...but it is towards the top of my list... Silvermine also offers a Wildwood rear brake kit with an extra caliper for parking that I'm interested in, but I just have to sit down and figure out how to incorporate those calipers with my existing AZC bracket...once I do I will probably order both the brakes and the steering together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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