CruxGNZ Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Its time for anther update! Should have been sooner, but my internet conection has been down for a while. I have to give a HUGE thanks to Scottie (Scottie-GNZ) for giving me first dibs on his GNZ parts and all the help he has given me. One hell of a great guy! So, I built the engine at my buddies house in his nice, clean, dry basement, but how the heck do we get it back up these stairs ? With a power dolly of course! I whipped up a engine cradle from some scrap wood on a job site and bolted it to the engine, then strapped the whole thing to the power dolly and went up the stairs. Once the engine was upstairs, we unfolded the engine hoist and strapped a chain to the engine. My car is so small that in a 2 car garage, the engine hoist was in front of the car and we were able to install the engine without opening the garage door. Here's a picture while we were dropping the engine in . A little finagling (is that a word?) with a pry bar and the engine was almost in place. We (my buddy Ross and I) were having a hell of a time getting the engine mounts to line up with the cross member. Turns out that the brand new drivers side, stock rubber mount had a slight bump in it, seen here . You can see where it was hitting, the paint is chipped off. I ended up using this old used one . You can see that there is no bump on the mount on the used stock one directly below the bolt holes. The old one will be fine for now, but I would like to replace it in the future. In this picture , you can see the mount in place. You can also see that, due to a few scratches on the steering rack, there was a slight problem getting the harmonic balancer on and off, but with a little finess, it is able to make it past the rack. Had the engine been a 1/16" lower, the harmonic balancer would have never been able to come off without loosening the steering rack first. Here is the drivers side with the poly mount installed and the relocated steering shaft, which you can now see is necessary. At first I wasn't happy with the placement of the engine, because it was about 1.5" offset to the drivers side, but after I got the down pipe on, I saw why this was necessary. The engine could have also come back another couple of inches, but again, after installing the down pipe, I saw why Scottie placed the engine where he did. Here are a couple of shots of how close the down pipe is to everything here and here . I don't know why, because Scottie didn't have to do this, but I needed to smack the fire wall with a ball peen hammer to make the down pipe fit. I feel sorry for my passengers toes . Also, I needed to move the brake line going to the front passengers side, because it was really in the way. I need to bend up a new line, but first figure out how to route it, because there is not much room. Here is the radiator installed . A big thanks to VetteTek for the radiator! It's mounted solidly, but after I installed it, I remembered Mr. Coffey saying that mounting aluminum solidly isn't a good idea. So, I'm going to pull it out and widen the holes in the radiator and install rubber washers on each side of the mounting bolt. This should let the core support flex a little without stressing the radiator. An interesting side note, the radiator was previously installed in a 240Z, but the mounting holes are just a little bit off from the ones on my Z. Here is the intercooler installed . You can see Scotties lower mount which had to be modified to fit on my car. I actually flipped the horns (beep beep) back to their original position and are helping to fasten the lower intercooler mount to the car. Here's the top intercooler mount . Kind of a bad picture, but it mounts under the top of the core support. Now in the "intercooler installed" picture, for some reason the pipes don't line up with my car like they did with Scotties. It seems the intercooler with his mounts, is a bit too low and the intercooler itself is just a bit too wide. You can see what I mean by looking at where the pipes go through the core support. I'll have to do some cutting for everything to fit . I had to cut this chunk out for the intercooler to fit on the passenger side. Scottie said he didn't have to do this on his car either. You know between that radiator not fitting, the intercooler not fitting, and the slight interference with the down pipe, it just goes to show you that not all 240Z's are alike. Here is the cover I made for the LS1 fuel tank. It's held on by small "rivit on" fasteners. Works awsome! Hatch open and hatch fastened in place . Here she is back on the trailer ready to go back to storage and in this shot I turned up the brightness so you can see where the oil pan and transmission pan is. I guess I have to watch out for those speed bumps or large rocks (right jeromio ). Here's another shot . Damn, who needs a grill when you have nothin' but intercooler! Now that the hard part is done, I need to figure out what to do with an extra 3 feet of wiring harness and plug it all onto the engine. Then it's to the gauges for a pretty sweet upgrade, which I'll do a seperate post on that install. Then it's all the little things, like brake lines, fuel lines, ect. !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Great update. Hard to believe how dinky that engine looks, but what a powerhouse! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilj Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 beautiful. very nice job =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyson Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Awesome! the heck do we get it back up these stairs ? With a power dolly[/url'] of course! An Escalara! I love those machines...I used to install wood stoves & fireplaces for a living...I dont know how they brought 700lb stoves up/down stairs before they invented that machine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john kosmatka Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Looking good Mat! Your gonna have to give me a ride when that thing gets moving. Still looking like mine should be completely driveable by the end of May early June. Then Ill take you on with my unbelieveably fast l28et Z, haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240Z-DET Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 What a way to celebrate your birthday!!! Happy birthday old man. Wait a minute, I'm the old man. Damn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dot Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 Hey Mat: Nice clean car with a matching installation. Can’t wait to see it complete! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony240ZT Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 Thanks for the update Matt. Looks pretty mean with that intercooler. I have a similar issue with my down pipe with the 7m-gte. As you have pointed out there are a few issues with having the exhaust sitting right there, you have your brake line (I moved mine over as well, for now), wires, and in my case I had to worry about the heater hoses getting too warm, or possibly flexing a little and touching the exhaust. I thought about getting a heater hose with the multiple 90 degree bends that I needed, but ended up going with copper pipes that are used for plumbing with little 90 degree bends that slip over. I was able to get pipe with the OD the same as my heater hoses. I think they will take the heat better than rubber hoses. I think I have to make a tighter bend in my exhaust than you: And here's a teaser picture of the whole engine. I'll start up a new thread when it's on the road. I'm pretty close: I'm just waiting on a clutch slave cylinder, exhaust and intercooler piping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted January 6, 2005 Author Share Posted January 6, 2005 I think I have to make a tighter bend in my exhaust than you Holy crap, you're not kidding! Looks like 2 90's or make an S shaped down pipe. Your plumbing idea is pretty creative. I love the engine detail, right down to the colored bolt heads. Real nice! !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan280zt Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Mat, That last picture of your car on trailer is freaking HOT. I just ordered one of those huge I/C that James Thagard makes so i guess when we roll out to Reynolds between you, Garrett, and me it will be enough I/C to support 2000hp lol. Ivan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted January 7, 2005 Author Share Posted January 7, 2005 What a way to celebrate your birthday!!! Happy birthday old man. Wait a minute, I'm the old man. Damn. Thanks, you old fart! Ripe old age of 29... but really, like I was last year, I'm 24 Evo, You got one of those huge intercoolers? Wow I have my fingers crossed hopping my Z will be able to make Reynolds. If not, I might have to trailer it down . !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan280zt Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Mat, Damn right we will get that biatch down there one way or other. So you are 24 now? I just turned 23 two days ago so i guess you are still old piece of s#&t lol. ps. no matter what Garrett said about you i still love you man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted January 7, 2005 Author Share Posted January 7, 2005 ps. no matter what Garrett said about you i still love you man Huh? !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan280zt Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Hahahahah I got ya. Sucker lol. Ivan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted January 9, 2005 Author Share Posted January 9, 2005 Very funny !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted January 12, 2005 Share Posted January 12, 2005 Hey I just saw the update. Looking very nice. I cant wait to see that thing running. Atleast I will have a chance to see a GNZ in person. I would have loved to see Scotties but it was way too far to drive and now its only a memory. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted January 12, 2005 Author Share Posted January 12, 2005 Thanks! I can't wait to see it running either. Scottie's engineering and parts now live in mine, so in a way, you can see his . It won't be anywhere near as fast as his this year, but out accelerating and out cornering 99% of the cars around here should be a lot of fun . !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preith Posted January 13, 2005 Share Posted January 13, 2005 Thanks! I can't wait to see it running either. Scottie's engineering and parts now live in mine' date=' so [i']in a way[/i], you can see his . It won't be anywhere near as fast as his this year, but out accelerating and out cornering 99% of the cars around here should be a lot of fun . !M! Looking good Mat. No place better to outcorner and accelerate a street car than solo1 with Midwest Council. The infield road course at The Milwaukee Mile has recently been repaved. http://www.milwaukeemile.com The first and only event for Council is on May 14-15th. Some members had a chance to drive it a few weeks ago, there review was something like "very fast and unforgiving", not exactly inviting. The next solo1 event isn't until July 23rd at Blackhawk Farms http://www.blackhawkfarms.com Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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