Progress on my insane VQ35HR 240Z project

[jpndave]

Beautiful car Mark! Yours has been an inspiration for my build. Love the red. Just noticed the LED front turn signals. Nice touch there. I've always hated the side markers on my car. Planned on eliminating them front and rear using the stock lower early lights for some side coverage up front and a Ferrari tail light that sticks slightly out in the rear. Yours mounted flush look nice. There are so many details that I notice another every time I look at your photos. Thanks for sharing.

[rabrooks]

Awesome Project. And undying dedication. I'm a composites fabricator so I know the discipline it takes to do what you've done. I also like seeing the c6 corvette components as i track day a c6 z06. 

Have you had a chance to make the shake down runs and get any performance info. I was going to install a vq35 in my Z. But I've decided to go with a 4 banger SR20det. 

Id love for you to make a few of the parts you made for me, specifically the dash and front end. and rear diffuser. No need for me to reinvent the wheel

What size wheels are on the car.

Cheers

Roger

[OldAndyAndTheSea]

Mark,

 

Few can, and will, build to this standard.

 

You've essentially set the bar for these cars in the States. I myself have been motivated by your projects on my own car. I don't know if I ever would have gone as crazy with my carbon stuff if I hadn't seen your build. So I thank you for that.

 

And also, thanks for taking us along for the ride.

 

 

Now it's time for YOU to enjoy that ride. It's been long enough.

 

Cheers, Mate! Congratulations. She's a beaut.

[markrolston@mac.com]

On 5/16/2018 at 9:48 PM, rabrooks said:

Awesome Project. And undying dedication. I'm a composites fabricator so I know the discipline it takes to do what you've done. I also like seeing the c6 corvette components as i track day a c6 z06. 

Have you had a chance to make the shake down runs and get any performance info. I was going to install a vq35 in my Z. But I've decided to go with a 4 banger SR20det. 

 Id love for you to make a few of the parts you made for me, specifically the dash and front end. and rear diffuser. No need for me to reinvent the wheel

 What size wheels are on the car.

 Cheers

Roger

Thanks. Only after making the dash and center console I found a vendor that is making them. It would be far cheaper to go with them ( https://retro-spec.myshopify.com/collections/datsun-240z-260z-280z-s30) 

 

The wheels are 18x11. The design is custom one-off. Boze wheels fabricated them.

 

I've done a preliminary shakedown. It is wicked fast. Scary. at ~2200lbs it's easy to get moving. Handling is good but springs will need replacing as it's too soft.

[rabrooks]

When you got the new frame rails for the chassis, were they cnc bent? I' considered doing something like that to my car, but maybe a little lighter weight. I saw the Art Morrison front suspension specs and I like that. I had considered digitizing the corvette sub frames and narrowing them up to fit and then duplicating them in chromoly to use the c6 front suspension and brakes. I haven't gotten my mind wrapped around the rear suspension yet.

Cheers

[rabrooks]

On 8/31/2012 at 6:27 PM, markrolston@mac.com said:

The rear suspension rocker is installed. The transmission with the new shifter is in. I bought a porsche GT3 knob to place on the rod. I'll cut a new shift pattern into a hat to replace the current knob hat. And the engine bay is coming along.

 

I'm showing both of my Z's at Austin's Wekfest on September 30th. Come check it out if you're in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So can you explain the advantage of the rear lower control arm being mounted to the main lower control arm. i understand the need  for alignment. I assume its for some sort of geometry adjustment while suspension is under compression. Thanks for the explanation.

Roger

Edited May 19, 2018 by rabrooks

[markrolston@mac.com]

On 5/19/2018 at 11:53 AM, rabrooks said:

When you got the new frame rails for the chassis, were they cnc bent? I' considered doing something like that to my car, but maybe a little lighter weight. I saw the Art Morrison front suspension specs and I like that. I had considered digitizing the corvette sub frames and narrowing them up to fit and then duplicating them in chromoly to use the c6 front suspension and brakes. I haven't gotten my mind wrapped around the rear suspension yet.

Cheers

Art Morrisson CNC bent. Wouldn't do it again. They did a great job but we ended up cutting them anyway to improve footwell space. Would have been easier just to start with raw steel. But they did fit the Z06 front end for me according to specs- so some convenience.

 

Ha! rear suspension. yes. crazy. I did it for fun. Totally not necessary. But cool.

[markrolston@mac.com]

On 5/19/2018 at 2:11 PM, rabrooks said:

So can you explain the advantage of the rear lower control arm being mounted to the main lower control arm. i understand the need  for alignment. I assume its for some sort of geometry adjustment while suspension is under compression. Thanks for the explanation.

Roger

yes. you got it right. adjustability. and behavior under compression.

[EF Ian]

Such a fantastic car and epically well done project.

 

Does it drive as good as you hoped?

[markrolston@mac.com]

On 5/23/2018 at 9:56 PM, EF Ian said:

Such a fantastic car and epically well done project.

 

Does it drive as good as you hoped?

I'm still working on that question. I spent the last few weeks tamping down a long list of NHV issues- so many panels that were rattling. It meant I haven't driven it enough. But what driving I've done is encouraging. It's frighteningly fast, so much so that I need to put in traction control asap or all that power will be a waste. There's a funny oscillation effect that happens with this P/W ratio- if the car hits a bump, your foot can tip into the throttle a bit, given the throttle responsiveness, the car takes off, so you back off the throttle, and the car slows, causing your foot to tip into the throttle again. back and forth. crazy. I need to create more of a ramping to the throttle input since it's an electronic map. That will dampen the sensitivity at mid-throttle.  I've experienced the same with a FF Cobra with a Coyote in it.

Afa handling, the springs are too soft so those need to be replaced. Otherwise it feels balanced and controllable. I've yet to see how it handles a hard day at the track. 

Edited May 25, 2018 by markrolston@mac.com

[budgy]

Sounds crazy! 

Congratulations on finishing this heroic build Mark; absolutely beautiful car, hope you enjoy it for years and years to come

[EF Ian]

On 5/25/2018 at 3:09 PM, markrolston@mac.com said:

'm still working on that question. I spent the last few weeks tamping down a long list of NHV issues- so many panels that were rattling. It meant I haven't driven it enough. But what driving I've done is encouraging. It's frighteningly fast, so much so that I need to put in traction control asap or all that power will be a waste. There's a funny oscillation effect that happens with this P/W ratio- if the car hits a bump, your foot can tip into the throttle a bit, given the throttle responsiveness, the car takes off, so you back off the throttle, and the car slows, causing your foot to tip into the throttle again. back and forth. crazy. I need to create more of a ramping to the throttle input since it's an electronic map. That will dampen the sensitivity at mid-throttle.  I've experienced the same with a FF Cobra with a Coyote in it.

Afa handling, the springs are too soft so those need to be replaced. Otherwise it feels balanced and controllable. I've yet to see how it handles a hard day at the track. 

I hope you get it sorted how you want it and it turns out to be everything you wanted it to be. A top spec traction control setup seems like a good idea, no point in having loads of power if you can't use it.

 

Look forward to hearing how you get on.

[markrolston@mac.com]

this forum has really slowed down but I thought I'd make a brief update since it's been a while. I've been driving the car, slowly tuning the setup. You can imagine that a completely custom chassis is going to have it's own pros and cons to discover and tune. Right now just finishing up installing a new set of springs and 2-way adjustable shocks. We are adding some rock shielding to the engine back- the open wheel wells are cool looking but invite all kinds of rocks into the engine bay. Also working on adding a wing to the rear for better aero. 

[Nelsonian]

Always love to see updates on this amazing build!

[markrolston@mac.com]

small update. cutting down the wing mounting to a minimal form. I need to choose whether to leave it bare aluminum or paint it black. Any opinions?

 

[Neverdone]

If you're gonna polish the aluminum, leave it bare.

 

Otherwise, paint it.

[260DET]

Wings and attachments should be black on a S30.

[EF Ian]

Black for me.

[markrolston@mac.com]

I'm just finishing replacing the mufflers as well. The original ones were too heavy and didn't do much sound attenuation. These sound much quieter when the valve is shut. That whole area in the back (between the fuel cell and tail lights) will get insulated to keep wiring and the fuel cell cool. I did a drawing where the back panel of the car is a mesh steel instead of the carbon panel for cooling. The lights and license plate remain as is over the mesh. It might be really cool looking and definitely useful to vent hot air from the diff and exhaust.

 

Right now we're hunting down an oddity about the brakes. The rotors are huge (14") but the car has never had enough bite. They should be a lot better given the hardware. So we're experimenting with pads and talking with WIlwood about the Master Cylinder size versus the calipers to make sure it's set up right. The wing is down and it's right now just polished aluminum. I'll drive it like that for a bit to decide whether or not to paint or anodize it black.

[EF Ian]

Nicely designed. I am understanding this right? They are straight pipes when the valve is open but with it closed the exhaust is forced to go through a double pass muffler?