Jump to content
HybridZ

Progress on my insane VQ35HR 240Z project


Recommended Posts

On 8/25/2019 at 3:03 PM, EF Ian said:

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?

 

yes– It's a straight exhaust path without obstruction with the valves open. When closed the air is routed through the mufflers. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Go black anodize, IIRC if you have them tumble finished first it comes out more like a satin/matte than a high gloss. We did some brackets at an engineering shop I worked for in college and found out by accident on some robotics parts that needed to be glossy. A good platter/finisher should be able to show you samples before committing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

The car is essentially finished (lol, really when is it ever really finished?) and ready to race this fall and spring. I still haven't anodized the wing mounts. I'll find some time in the winter to do it. It's been 11 years building this (slowly) so it's time to drive it. I do plan on doing some photography and video asap to get ahead of eventual track wear and tear.

IMG_0044.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

btw- useful info for some. we've been chasing down a soft pedal feel with the brakes. They work but given the disc size (14") they should work a lot better. It turns out these wilwood calipers actually flex under braking so they apparently give up some of the critical braking pressure. That is super lame for what should be solid equipment from them. I'm now looking for another caliper that fits and is built better. 

IMG_0027.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 years, thats a long time, you definitely deserve to enjoy this epic Z you have built yourself. Some videos at some point would be great.

 

Bad job on the wilwoods, my smaller setup works great but I did have an mind to upgrade to an AP Racing setup when I can.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...
  • 2 months later...

hi again everyone. I took the car to COTA for a March 15 track day and had intended to get some much needed video of the car on the track. Unfortunately, while I had a good amount of track time at the smaller Harris Hill track, nothing is like COTA. The new brakes worked great. The car is fast. However, the tune ran lean and nearly cooked the back panel of the car. The heat meant the fuel started cutting out and so I took it home. COTA tests everything about a car. So for the last few months the car is back apart for a few fixes. But one thing leads to another. Tune problems means a new ECU. I had been using the factory ECU and it was always going to be a problem. Yet it was a surprise to see it fail so soon. So a new ECU means new wiring. Out goes the engine. and hey while we're at it let's do a few other things. Andris's shop got a new 3D scanner so we scanned the front-end and we designed a form-fit fit set of canards. I'll 3D print the design and then use that as a mold for a carbon part. I had been trying to mold them with foam but they never quite fit right and looked lumpy. Lastly, in the middle of last year I ordered a sequential gearbox. Some things take forever to build. It finally arrived 2 weeks ago. So here we go. We'll get it back on the track by July and hopefully be able to shoot video then...and just drive the thing for a while.

IMG_0790.jpg

IMG_0784.jpg

Screen Shot 2020-06-03 at 7.50.07 AM.PNG

IMG_0756.jpg

IMG_0721.jpg

IMG_0717.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice Mark! Those canards are going to be really cool. I'm looking forward to the final version. I'm going to have to look at those StopTech brakes. What ECU are you going to run?

 

Very nice as always, thanks for the updates.

 

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All the plans sound great. 

 

And we all know building a car isn't easy, problems were always likely to arise, giving you the chance to improve things like you are doing.

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to seeing some videos when  you finally get it running how you want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Still making progress... just slow. The Sequential Transmission is in place. waiting on a driveshaft. look how much space it frees up! I wish I had done this back when we made the tunnel. It could have been so much slimmer. I also did a scan of the back panel. I'm going to make a mesh screen that's custom designed around the lights so the back can vent. It's a particular oddity of the way I built the car. Since behind the driver's seat is a plexiglass panel, the back is open to the ground. The opening in the back panel will allow air to flow up from under the car and over the diff and ideally break up some of the cowl effect of air at the back. At least that's what I hope.

image (2).png

image (1).png

image.png

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...