Ross' Sleeper Z

[rossman]

I test fit my brakes today. I knew it was going to be close with 15" wheels but it looks like there is adequate clearance. The Panasports have a +19 offset. The 25mm spacers put the offset close to where it's supposed to be and allow the calipers to clear the wheel. It's funny how this worked out. I no intention to use these brakes when I bought the wheels. If the wheels had the proper offset then the calipers would not fit and spacers would put the wheels outside the wheel wells. I guess I got lucky for once. In other news, I sold my custom exhaust manifold on ebay. I'm just going to go with a ported stock manifold with a welded on external wastegate.

 

Here is the setup. AZC Racing Brakes with Wilwood calipers and 25 mm thick 4 x 114.3 spacers.

 

Fits like a glove.

 

Looks like about 1/8" to 3/16" clearance to the balancing weights.

 

The fronts fit as well. Ignore the stock disks. I'm just test fitting for now.

Edited March 8, 2010 by rossman

[rossman]

I've been working on the car a little bit since my last post. I tore down the front suspension and painted the front 280z hubs (need 280z hubs for the AZC brakes) I decided to get it rolling before I spend time on anything else. That has proved to be a challenge! The main problem is that I also decided to get a set of AZC rear parking brakes that Dave at AZC is developing. That's part of the problem. Dave is *developing* the setup. I tried to convince him to sell me the brackets only so I can move on but the won't do it. He wants to make sure the setup works before he sells it. I can understand that. Last time I talked with him he told me that the setup will need custom cables. All I can do it wait. It's no big deal, I got PLENTY of other stuff to keep me busy...on the car and otherwise .

 

In the mean time I thought I would buy some other cool stuff . I got a set of Tokico springs, Illumina struts and strut spacers. I don't have any pictures but everyone knows what they look like.

 

I also picked up this welded NISMO type oil pan from Johnc. Very nice quality. Thanks John!

 

 

On my to-do list next is to finish up the front suspension. I need to paint the strut housings then reassemble them with the AZC front brakes. It should be pretty straight forward. Should be...

[rossman]

The rear suspension is on hold until I can get Arizona Zcar's rear parking brake setup. Dave is working on it. He test fit it the bracket and caliper but the stock cable does not work with it. He needs to design a new cable.

 

I disassembled most of the front suspension. The suspension parts are going to be powder coated and reinstalled with urethane bushings everywhere.

 

I had an external wastegate put on my exhaust manifold and an oil return fitting welded on my oil pan. PowerFab Automotive in Houston did all the fabrication work for me. I dealt mostly with Nathan in the beginning. Once we got down to the specifics I talked to his welder (I don't remember his name). This is the way it should be. I like to talk to the guy who is actually doing the work. The work was done very quickly despite the fact that they looked very busy. I dropped the parts off on Friday around 11:00 and received a call that afternoon that the work was done. I picked up the parts Saturday afternoon. I'll probably have PowerFab build my down pipe and exhaust when it's time.

 

And without further ado, here are the pictures.

 

Nice short wastegate pipe and compact TiAl MV-S wastegate.

 

PowerFab's wastegate pipe places the actuator housing about 1/4 inch from the block.

 

Another camera angle

 

Weld-on 5/8" NPT bung for the turbo oil return.

 

PowerFab filled in a few holes that punched thru when I was shaving off bosses on the intake. I also carved back the manifold flange to clear the coolant bypass fitting over #5 exhaust port. You can see the temporary brass plugs in the head where the fittings will be installed.

 

That's it for now!

Edited May 2, 2010 by rossman

[jgkurz]

The rear suspension is on hold until I can get Arizona Zcar's rear parking brake setup. Dave is working on it. He test fit it the bracket and caliper but the stock cable does not work with it. He needs to design a new cable.

 

I disassembled most of the front suspension. The suspension parts are going to be powder coated and reinstalled with urethane bushings everywhere.

 

I had an external wastegate put on my exhaust manifold and an oil return fitting welded on my oil pan. PowerFab Automotive in Houston did all the fabrication work for me. I dealt mostly with Nathan in the beginning. Once we got down to the specifics I talked to his welder (I don't remember his name). This is the way it should be. I like to talk to the guy who is actually doing the work. The work was done very quickly despite the fact that they looked very busy. I dropped the parts off on Friday around 11:00 and received a call that afternoon that the work was done. I picked up the parts Saturday afternoon. I'll probably have PowerFab build my down pipe and exhaust when it's time.

 

And without further ado, here are the pictures.

 

Nice short wastegate pipe and compact TiAl MV-S wastegate.

 

PowerFab's wastegate pipe places the actuator housing about 1/4 inch from the block.

 

Another camera angle

 

 

The welded exhaust manifold looks great. I read your whole thread but didn't see what caused you to abandon the turbo header. Can you elaborate? I purchased a header a while back and ended up selling it because it used a T4 flange and clearances were questionable. I also run A/C. The smallest GT35R vband T4 turbines I could find were.68 non-divided and .78 divided if memory serves. I didn't want to go backwards regarding turbo lag so I stayed with the cast iron manifold.

 

-John

Edited May 3, 2010 by jgkurz

[rossman]

I didn't realize other people could post in this thread. It's cool, I like feedback.

 

I abandoned the manifold for several reasons. First, I convinced myself that it would never stop warping due to the design and lack of flexible bellows. I feel that the stock, cast manifold is probably the most reliable option for a street car like mine. Second, for my power goals the header is probably overkill. I think jeffp was making over 500 HP with a stock ported manifold. Third, I didn't like where it placed the turbo. The compressor outlet was in-line the strut tower and close to the A/C. I would clear the strut tower needed a pretty tight bend. I never could figure out a good routing around the A/C and air filter...although I didn't try too hard.

 

I hope that clears it up.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

 

Cheers,

Ross

 

The welded exhaust manifold looks great. I read your whole thread but didn't see what caused you to abandon the turbo header. Can you elaborate? I purchased a header a while back and ended up selling it because it used a T4 flange and clearances were questionable. I also run A/C. The smallest GT35R vband T4 turbines I could find were.68 non-divided and .78 divided if memory serves. I didn't want to go backwards regarding turbo lag so I stayed with the cast iron manifold.

 

-John

[rossman]

It's been a while since I posted so I thought I would give a little update.

 

I talked with Dave at AZC about the parking brake kit. He has the design finished but he has not made any kits yet. The kit will include everything needed: calipers, caliper brackets, cable, cable brackets, etc. He expects to have the kits completed by next week...at least one for me...so I'll stop bugging him .

 

I'm piecing together my fuel system. I had Moyer Fuel Tank Renu restore my fuel tank and weld in a sump and baffling with 3/4" NPT fittings. 3/4" fittings are probably overkill but Aeromotive specifies a -10 feed so I went bigger rather than risk choking the pump with 1/2 inch fittings.

 

For the fuel system I've purchased all Aeromotive stuff: A1000 pump, 100 micron pre-filter, 10 micron post-pump filter, rising rate fuel pressure regulator, and a pump speed controller. All will be connected with AN fittings, Earl's Pro-lite hose and stainless tubing under the car.

 

I plan to mount the pump and filters to the Modern Motorsports rear brace. I'll have to fab up mounting plate but it should work well. The pump will be low enough to gravity feed it from the tank.

 

I have actually done some work on the car too. I mounted the intake manifold, exhaust manifold, and turbo and did some preliminary turbo pipe routing. I may go with an over the engine turbo pipe routing. This should clear up room for my fan shroud (yes, I plan to run a stock clutch fan). I checked clearance to the hood and it appears there is plenty of room as long as the 2.5" pipe passes over the back half of the valve cover.

 

I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow, it's late and I need to go to bed.

Edited June 7, 2010 by rossman

[rossman]

Here are a few pictures of work I did last weekend.

 

I forgot what a ***** it is to get to the nuts on the underside of the intake. Once I started installing the intake I remembered to put the nuts and thick washers on then slide the intake under them. It has been 15 years or so since the last one I installed. A new trick I learned on this board is to loosely taped up u-joint to aid aligning the socket with the nuts.

 

The turbo pipe routing is kinda odd but I think it will work. There is 1+ inches of clearance to the hood at that location. I like it because it will clear up room on the front side of the engine. It's kinda blingy but it's growing on me.

 

Notice the rather large -10 fuel rail. I know it's overkill but I like the looks of it and there is no doubt it will flow enough fuel to avoid restricting the fuel pump. Also note the rather small barb that was provided by the supplier. I think it's kinda odd that he would provide such small fitting for such a large rail. It would probably be best to either provide a 1/2 to AN fitting or toss it out and save some money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2010 by rossman

[Slow_Old_Car]

Ross,

 

Just now had a chance to run across the thread again. Looking good! Be sure to touch base with us whenever your searching for parts, in addition to the welding we sell most of the product lines i've seen you mention. I also would throw a suggestion out there to build the midsection portion of the fuel system out of hardline vs. the usual method where everyone slings some braided softline up underneath the car. We've got a couple examples here at the shop i can show you next time your in our neck of the woods. Keep up the good work!

 

PowerFab Automotive

[rossman]

I also would throw a suggestion out there to build the midsection portion of the fuel system out of hardline vs. the usual method where everyone slings some braided softline up underneath the car.

 

That is the plan. I've got a friend at work who has a large tube bender and flaring tool.

 

next time your in our neck of the woods. Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks for the compliments. I wish I was closer. It's a good hour drive to your place.

[rossman]

I haven't done much to the car lately. I bent up some new brackets for the -10 fuel rail. I can't use the standard Pallnet mounting locations because I shaved the bosses off . Still waiting on AZC parking brake brackets. I finally got around to removing the passenger side front suspension. I pulled it off and noticed the strut is toast. It doesn't have hardly any resistance. I went to pull it out and it's stuck. I've banged, pulled, hammered and just about everything I can think of to get that bastard off but it won't budge. The inside of the housing was completely dry. Apparently the PO had drilled a hole in the bottom of the housing. Not sure why. Maybe he was trying to get the strut out too. Who knows. I tried banging the strut out thru the hole with a punch and a 3 lbs hammer. No luck. The thing is frozen solid. So...now I'm looking for a replacement passenger side strut housing. Let me know if you got one you want to sell.

[rossman]

Wow, I can't believe it's been since July that I posted last! Anyway, I have made some progress on the car since then.

 

Moyer Tank Renu installed a sump in my stock tank and re-coat it. It turned out pretty nice. The fittings are 3/4", should have been 1/2"...it's my fault, and a long story . I'll get some 3/4' to 5/8" 90 degree fittings to make the transition to the 316 stainless pipe that I purchased locally. I plan to hard pipe from the tank to the engine with flex hose making the connections to the pump and fuel rail. I will have to pull the engine back out to get the piping up in the transmission tunnel.

 

 

The Arizona Zcar brake brackets finally arrived! These have mounting provision for a separate parking brake. I don't really think Dave was ready to sell them but my weekly pleads for them drove him nuts so he finally relented and sold me a pair before the entire package was ready. Thanks Dave!

 

 

Performance Powder Coating powder coated a bunch of suspension parts for me. Their rate was reasonable and the parts turned out real nice. I will be giving them more parts in the coming weeks (months? ).

 

 

Notice there is no welding by me in my build? Wonder why? I don't know how to weld. I borrowed a friends MIG and purchased an auto darkening hood. Time to start learnin' Hopefully I don't screw up too much stuff!

Edited November 4, 2010 by rossman

[Jackhammer]

Really a nice job Ross. I especially like your commitment to keeping it original with a nice surprise under the hood. I had basically the same intention but somewhere along the line I went off the deep end. Looking forward to the finished results.

[texis30O]

Where is Moyer Located? Here locally?

[rossman]

Where is Moyer Located? Here locally?

 

They're located in Greensberg, PA http://www.gas-tank.com/. Joe is a nice and friendly guy. I went to them because they've done quite few S30 tanks.

[HaaJeHaa]

Nice motor build! Where did you buy the block and head?

[rossman]

Nice motor build! Where did you buy the block and head?

 

Rebello Racing

[mal_tiempo]

This thread is full of win. Can't wait to see it driving/what kind of numbers you get.

[HaaJeHaa]

This thread is full of win. Can't wait to see it driving/what kind of numbers you get.

+1!

[rossman]

Thanks for the compliments! It's about for another status .

 

The front cross member, engine brackets, and a few other drive train brackets went out for powder coating this past Friday. They should be done late next week. Once the front cross member is back in, I plan to install all the suspension components, brakes and wheels. When that is complete I can roll the car out of the garage, pull the engine and route the the stainless fuel lines.

 

I installed the LD28 water pump. Had to shave a little off the front cover to clear the larger impeller. Hopefully it will help control detonation. Also plan to go straight Evans NPGR.

Edited January 23, 2011 by rossman

[rossman]

Did a lot of work today. The suspension, brakes and wheels are back on the car. The car is FINALLY rolling again .

 

I had a big scare. While jacking the front of the car, the jack slid off the front of the cross member and the whole car slammed down in a fraction of a second. Luckily I never get under a car during jacking for this very reason. The jack caught the front cover and bent the oil pan flange. I can't see any other damage. I was really worried it damaged the steering rack, crank or damper but they appear to be OK. The engine is only bolted down on one side so the whole weight of the car wasn't pulling down on it. I consider myself lucky this time.

 

Here are a few pics. I didn't install the differential so I have some room to work during the next step - installing the hard fuel line. I'm going to pull the engine and transmission so I have full access to the transmission tunnel to run the hard line.

 

Here are a couple pictures. Excuse the mess in my garage

 

Edited February 15, 2011 by rossman