280z 1jz track build from a pile of parts

[flatout]

I heard back from APEX and they are making and sending me a new set of arms that is correct. Not sure what happened but mistakes happen. Not ideal for timeline since I need to roll the car out of the shop next week so I'll have MacGyver the stock arms back on with mismatched hardware to make it a roller for now. 

[flatout]

APEX said they would have a set made up by friday but haven't heard from them. Added a photo showing the APEX control arm length issue. Other bushing is lined up and its about 1/2" short. 

 

Put the rest of the rear together so i could sit it on the ground with the wheels and tires. T3 r200 short nose kit and rear sway bar. 

 

Got my tires in so got them mounted and installed for some motivation. 

 

Since I am using 300zx rear drum ebrake. I decided to use a 240sx ebrake handle (since I have this combo in my 240sx). Modified the handle to fit in the stock Z location. Mounted the cable holder thru the floor. Made a couple small brackets to hold the cables in the correct spot. Adjusted and works great. 

 

Also added a couple photos of the brake setup. 

[Mitchel0407]

I’m currently also waiting on some replacement Apex frame rails as the passenger side one had a production fault (was bent the wrong way!). They were also a week late with shipping the new once and even more annoying they are now held up by customs as they are unhappy with the paperwork and declared value of the package.

All in all my car has been sitting idle on a lift at the body shop for two weeks now, I hope they won’t charge me too much in storage fees. 😢

I also have the Apex rear control arms and almost there entire front Retro suspension kit lying on the shelve waiting for my car to come back. I really hope I don’t have your issue with the rear control arms being to short. Would you be able to measure both the stock and Apex arms for me? That way I can check mine while I’m still waiting on my car.
 

[flatout]

3 hours ago, Mitchel0407 said:

I’m currently also waiting on some replacement Apex frame rails as the passenger side one had a production fault (was bent the wrong way!). They were also a week late with shipping the new once and even more annoying they are now held up by customs as they are unhappy with the paperwork and declared value of the package.

All in all my car has been sitting idle on a lift at the body shop for two weeks now, I hope they won’t charge me too much in storage fees. 😢

I also have the Apex rear control arms and almost there entire front Retro suspension kit lying on the shelve waiting for my car to come back. I really hope I don’t have your issue with the rear control arms being to short. Would you be able to measure both the stock and Apex arms for me? That way I can check mine while I’m still waiting on my car.
 

The more research I do the more horror stories I keep seeing so lets hope they get their stuff sorted out. I am in manufacturing and product development and i would never let these type of issues out the door.

 

If you have the retro suspension kit it may be a different style arm which uses heims on the inner mounting point. Which i hope they updated the rear heim joint angle because from what I've see its on a big angle so any length adjustment needs to reestablished the correct "washer shims" which is a terrible design flaw. The arm and subframe is there own design so with a blank canvas this should be easy to make right.

 

This is the same measurement between both stock and their arms. its the inside bushing stop to inside bushing stop.

stock is about 16". Theirs came in about 15.5"

[flatout]

They did send me another set of control arms which was nice of them but they are also a bit short. I did make some modifications to make them work. the kit is supposed to use 8 washers per side but i needed more to align the toe adjuster up, I do have T3 spindles so that may be part of the variation I was seeing. So I machined some spacers because stacking 15 washers was not my favorite design. The spacers tightly fits over the spindle and then takes up about an inch of space and allows 5 washers for "adjustment"

 

The guy from apex did called me and we chatted for a bit about some other design concerns I have. Which was great and he took it well. Apparently they just aren't good at measuring things. They said they are going to try and make me a shorter set of front control arms aswell because the front setup at its absolute max shortest setting is still .375" wider than the stock assembly which doesn't allow me to use any of the roll center or control arm adjustments with my wheel and tire combo. I was hoping to correct geometry with everything being adjustable but that's not the case since the crossmember mounting points are wider than the factory one so I had to max everything out to its shortest point to even fit. 

 

With that said I have been plugging away at stuff, brake lines are ran, rear suspension is in, engine is assembled. adapter kit for the trans is machined, body panels are getting put on. started on the interior, everything takes so long. painting brackets and hardware and aligning everything but i am very happy with how its coming out. 

 

I was told the car came with a 240sx diff, its actually a j30 diff so it has a 3.91 gear ratio. That may be a slight advantage so not to mad. 

 

Anyway, after all this reading. enjoy some photos. 

[Mitchel0407]

I finally got around to refurbishing the rear end and installing the Apex rear control arms. I checked my control arms and they too measured in at 15,5” inches. But the funny thing is is that they where the same length as the original control arms!!

 

Anyway the install went smoothly except for the fact that I had to rotate the mustache bar 180 degrees as I couldn’t for the life of me install it another way with the new bushings. That said the bar was incredibly difficult to remove in the first place.

 

 

P.S. the T3 spindles do indeed appear to be shorter than OEM so adding the extra spacer seams like a good choice.
 

[flatout]

thanks for the photos and description. It may just be the factory had more variation than we'd expect from modern cars but the 70s where a rough time for the automotive quality so its possible. I do also understand that I am mixing two different brands on to a 50+ year old car. With the T3 drop downs being billet they do not have any forward or backwards motion so the width of the arms need to be pretty spot on. 

[A to Z]

I am dismayed that you are having such issues with Apex.  I was lead to believe they were a true top tier company.  Ohm Pandya, the owner is an engineer.....really shocked to hear you are having these issues.

 

I personally don't have any issue with the stock arms.......but I don't race.

 

 

[Mitchel0407]

The rear control arm length issue might just be a factory issue as my stock control arms measured in at 15,5” inches just like the Apex control arms. Up to know my parts have been of great quality (passenger side frame rail excluded) with excellent and tight tolerances. That said I will be installing the front crossmember and front control arms next weekend and will probably update my thread next Tuesday.

 

That said I do believe they might have a slight quality control issue with their suppliers, as for example my passenger side frame rail was plainly bent the wrong way by the supplier.

[flatout]

Here for my weekly update. 

 

Engine and transmission are in. Whole drivetrain is in for good. (hopefully)

 

Finished welding up the turbo manifold and added a tial 44mm wastegate. Need to header wrap it and install for good.

 

Fuel cell is in. need to secure all the panels in, make filler neck, run lines and wire pumps/sender

 

Started making up some oil and coolant lines for the turbo. 

 

Put in the radiator and intercooler assemblies.

 

Welded some fitting to a modified factory coolant wrap around tube to hook up the heater core. made a little -8an line to connect to the heater core block. 

 

Throttle cable is in and mounted to the pedal. 

 

Finished 240z tail light conversion with some new "euro" style tail lights with a carbon 3 pc surround. 

 

Got the two door latches in so they stay closed on their own. 

[flatout]

Been a busy couple weeks but been chugging along. Got the fuel system started. mounted the ethanol content sensor, fuel filter and fuel pressure regulator. ordered line/fittings twice and still came up short on fittings and line. hopefully the last of it arrives today so I can finish it. 

 

Got the rear brake caliper bracket machined up from a high alloy steel. Due to the design i had to come up with i wanted a high alloy steel to be nice and strong. 

 

Got the clutch line made up and bled it. clutch seems to work even tho i just bled it solo. i'll get the wife out to get it perfect but it does work.

 

I got the exhaust mocked up and tacked together. Need to come up with a nice tip to get it out just past the bumper. 

 

 

Edited June 5 by flatout

[flatout]

Love the way this is coming out. its been a challenging balance to thread between making everything neat and tidy and making sure I remember its a race car and needs to be functional. decided to polish the intake manifold and turbo, which looks great but upkeep is gonna be a challenge. 

 

exhaust is mostly done and welded. need to make a fancy tip for the back. wrapped the downpipe and mid pipe. need to pull the manifold and wrap that too.

 

originally made a open dump wastegate but then changed it up to recirc it because we have a couple tracks with some noise restrictions. I'll order another v band and wastegate outlet so i can cap the exhaust and run it open if the track doesn't have a dB restriction.

 

Fuel system is done. bulkheaded thru the floor. 3d printed some mounts and have it mounted along the floor. injectors are in. 

 

got most of the turbo lines made up. opted for the turbosmart oil pressure regulator for the turbo. i've never dealt with a turbo this small and man its a challenge to fit everything. drain is really tight. hits v band and clamp but think i may have the puzzle solved to make it work.

 

fuel fill is welded up. went with stainless to mitigate the risk of corrosion with ethanol. 

 

[flatout]

can't believe its been almost a month since an update. got the exhaust done, made a tip from stainless. Got the wastegate tube recirculated, header and downpipe wrapped. 

 

Have been wiring away. Running an ecumaster emublack ecu and a hardwire electronics PDM25. Both of which are new to me. Got the engine harness done and chassis harness started. thinking thru everything has been a challenge but so far so good. Have the PDM powering all the lights and the ECU functions. Have the factory blinker stalk controlling the blinkers, and high beam functions. Factory brake pedal sensor for brake lights and Blink marine 12 button can keypad controlling some other functions. 

 

A couple days ago i did get it to start and that was a huge relief after this long process and "freshish" engine. oil pressure is great. engine is quiet. so very motivating. 

 

 

[Mitchel0407]

Your engine bay looks very clean, nicely done! You really are flying true this project, keep up the good work!

[flatout]

Got a little more work done. Started getting the front end together. headlights wired up. have new corner markers on the way and need to come up with a grill and turn signal. 

 

Bent up some brake line templates and headed to the parts store to try and get some pre bent heater hose. was a successful journey. got a u bend that worked for both hoses perfectly. Got the hoses on. pressure tested for leaks. found one small one at the turbo. fixed it. filled and bled the cooling system. 

 

Got the fan hooked up to the ECU thru PWM, and man does this fan flow some air. turned all the way up it might move the car like a fan boat. haha. I had it running while playing with the tune at 35% duty cycle and it CLT stayed at 172ºF when it was 85ºF in the shop so i was happy about that. will play with setting once i can get it on the road.

 

I made the alternator bracket to move it to the driver side but having a little issue with belt routing. Currently did get a belt on but the tensioner doesn't have enough movement to work how I'd like so I'll reevaluate this later. Belt is tight and spins everything so I can run it this way for now and figure something else out later. I have the same alternator on my other car but on the passenger side so worst case I can probably get away with moving it back over there. just was trying to avoid the heat from the turbo. 

 

Also got the brakes bled. I'm real close to taking it for a spin around the neighborhood. 

 

Going to try and get the edged around the windows sanded and buffed this week so i can put the glass back in. 

 

Edited July 28 by flatout

[flatout]

Big update on aesthetics. Got the whole front put together. Made a "crash" bar out of chromoly the support the front valance and fenders. It wraps around the front and the valance "rest" on it for support. Went a little extra because I know in the future im going to build a splitter and having a solid place for mounting will be needed.

 

Front and rear glass is back in. will polish the quarter windows and put the side glass in this week.

 

Fitted the fiberglass 240z bumper (had to do some trimming and fitting). need to make a more permanent center brackets. just wiped up some simple aluminum bars to hold it in place. Then i'll spray it a satin or semigloss black i think. I'll experiment. I don't think it would look good orange but maybe. 

 

Finished up the wiring to the back of the car. The PDM really simplifies the amount of wires. Added a few extras for future modifications/add ons. 

 

All the lights and electronics are working. Slowly working on the tune. it starts and free revs nicely. I plan on trying to get it registered and insured this week so i can start getting it finished up

 

Then for the first time, under its own power. Drove it outside, took some photos and drove it back in. very exciting. Seeing it sitting in the sun, all the work I have into it and to be extremely happy with it. I'm proud of this one. 

Edited August 9 by flatout

[jhm]

Looks amazing!!!  👍👍

[flatout]

I drove the car about 3/4 of a mile around the block.... tune needs a lot of work (obviously), tires had a slight rub and it rattled a bit but was so exciting and such a relief after a year of hard work.

 

Got the rest of the windows in as well. Wife offered to polish all the trim so I gave her some supplies and let her scrub away. 

 

also added a couple interior shots. 

[flatout]

car is officially registered and insured so i spent the weekend trying to button up a few things to make it a bit more "street friendly". did managed to put about 10 miles on it. I have a few things i need to address before racing it but it drove on the street decent. After the initial drive. did a nut and bolt check. then did like 4, did another check, and then another 6ish and everything is looking good.  

 

Got the driver mirror on. I wasn't 100% confident id like the round mirror so i designed and 3d printed an adapter to use the factory holes in the door rather than drill new holes i'd regret later. Its growing on me. I may buy a better quality mirror but the round is looking decent. 

 

Will still hook up electronic boost control but for now i just put 10psi springs in the wastegate and gave it a vacuum source. 

 

When I moved the strut towers back and inboard, i forgot to modify the hood to accept the new position of the strut tops so I designed and machined strut top spacers to push the adjuster down and hopefully clear the hood. I could make them a little thicker as i still have some ride height adjustment on the coilover but i think this will be enough. I'll go slow when closing the hood for the first time. 

 

I hooked up the hood release cable. decided to be a little fancier and routed it thru the wiper cowl instead of having the cable extend all the way across the engine bay. need to make a new handle for the cable pull as mine is MIA.

 

Got the hood hinges cleaned up and painted black. fedex lost my order for replacement couplers to move my air filter to clear the hood tension bars so i didnt get the hood on this weekend.

[flatout]

Got the the hood and inspection covers on. Happy