seattlejester Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 Wow, going all out. Are you going to reinforce the master cylinder area as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted March 20, 2018 Author Share Posted March 20, 2018 20 minutes ago, seattlejester said: Wow, going all out. Are you going to reinforce the master cylinder area as well? Yes, every seam will be touched. Going to make it as strong as I can, minus full cage. Squeaks Be Damned!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 40 minutes ago, Nelsonian said: Yes, every seam will be touched. Going to make it as strong as I can, minus full cage. Squeaks Be Damned!!! I'm not sure how much stitch welding your bumper or tow hook mounts helps chassis rigidity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted March 20, 2018 Author Share Posted March 20, 2018 6 hours ago, rturbo 930 said: I'm not sure how much stitch welding your bumper or tow hook mounts helps chassis rigidity But it adds + 5HP, I read it on the internet so it must be true!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted March 26, 2018 Author Share Posted March 26, 2018 (edited) Went up to visit the car today and pay off some of the bill and generally view the progress. The engine bay is almost complete, just need to remove and back fill the rivnut holes that were intended for the battery tray that will no longer be used. Prior to this round of work, I had Tho weld in rivnuts to make the cleaned up battery tray removable, but after committing to the fuel cell I will mount the battery in the back as well. A few of the factory spot welded areas will be beefed up with new spot welds beside them also. Opened up the Ford 8.8 irs diff to find a watery mix in with the synthetic fluid which has a grit like, dirt texture inside. Starting to wonder if this diff was involved in a flooding. Not quite jiving with the sellers story ,but I was in need of a housing anyway and it is very externally clean. None of the gears are damaged in any way thankfully. I will be cleaning this out this week and getting new bearings and gasket. That's about it for this past week, but stitch welding will continue starting in the cabin. Edited March 26, 2018 by Nelsonian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironhead Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 On 3/20/2018 at 5:26 AM, Nelsonian said: But it adds + 5HP, I read it on the internet so it must be true!!! It's kind of funny...with that stitch welding....I found it was easier to just do everything than to decide where there might be a benefit and where there wouldn't. As long as you do it slowly and don't overheat things....there is no way a stitch weld can really do harm...so....you know....go for it. Project looking great dude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted May 21, 2018 Author Share Posted May 21, 2018 A little update on the work that has been happening for the last month plus. Almost all of the stitch welding is complete from the front of the rear shock towers forward. I will have the rear finished at another time when we get the 15 gal Radium (FCST) fuel cell surge tank and have the car back on the intended suspension and wheels. The rear spare tire will obviously be cut out and provide better access to the intended stitch welding areas. The passenger side rear quarter panel that was poorly applied by the previous owner who fixed the wrecked area, was cleaned up and new spot welds applied. The small window areas will be cleaned up and fixed as the passenger side has a screw hole piece of metal as thin as dental floss on one of the holes. I am having Tho remove and weld in the Riv nuts that he had applied awhile back to make the battery tray removable as that will now be relocated to the rear with the intended fuel cell project. The pinched upper frame rail in the engine bay has been cut, blasted, a weldable primer applied and pieced in place with a little bit more clean up work needed, ( Big Thanks to Member NW240Z for cutting the piece out from his parts car and sending it my way). The stock transmission mounts/ears were removed in preparation for the CD009 trans swap for when the time comes for that. I bought a Hoke Performance lower mount for that swap. He ended up sending me out some better slotted mounting plates after I received the mount kit on his dime, (Great guy to do business with). The BF Goodrich all season tires were returned as I saw another ad for the performance summer version (sport comp 2) that I initially wanted but was told they could not get them. The company contacted BF Goodrich and got me the 275 rears and 245 fronts, so back in business with all things wheels. I am hopefully looking at all the welding and fab work to be finished in two more weeks and will hopefully have the car brought back down to my body/paint guy Stuart to start blending in the new rear YZ quarter panels and adjusting the front Rocket Bunny bumper to fit within the Ztrix subtle Z front end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted May 21, 2018 Author Share Posted May 21, 2018 (edited) I started on a few small projects of my own as in stripping the exterior of the stock gas tank priming then painting it. I also soaked the inside with Evaporust for three weeks flipping it around in a big tub as over time in storage it began to have flash rust form inside. I originally had it hot tanked at Ace Radiators in San Diego years back with intentions to modify it into a custom fuel cell. I bought a member made ring and had it Cadmium coated as well as bought new fuel filler tube and fuel sending unit from MSA. Stripped the outside paint with Aircraft remover, my Crud thug and 3m wheel. Applied Dominion Sure seal etching primer and finished with Rustolium gloss black rattle cans. It's an amateur job at best and shows the dings and dents, but it sure was fun doing it. I also took my new used Tech 2 Motorsports 2JZGTE cross member and engine mounts and applied the same Rustolium gloss black to clean up the scrapes from the previous owner who test fitted his engine in the bay with it. I intend to sell the stock tank, filler tube and fuel sending unit soon. Lastly I wanted to have all the cross members, mounts and steering pieces in a uniform gloss black color so painfully had to take back some of the components I had powder coated in a wheel silver years ago to have re powder coated in the mentioned gloss black. I also took the front T3 lower control arms apart and along with the rear Z Race Products had them coated in a sparkle silver and the tc rods in a candy sparkle red to match the aftermarket front sway bar I had done along time ago. Lastly I came across some new, unused Bad Dog single point jack plates that I forgot I had in an improperly marked storage box. I soaked them in the Evaporust to clean them back to original condition and will put them up for sale shortly as I will not be using them. That's about it for now... Edited May 21, 2018 by Nelsonian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironhead Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 Lookin great dude....thanks for the update pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted May 21, 2018 Share Posted May 21, 2018 (edited) Any thoughts on gusseting your cage to the roof? I've heard it helps. Edited May 21, 2018 by rturbo 930 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted May 21, 2018 Author Share Posted May 21, 2018 1 hour ago, Ironhead said: Lookin great dude....thanks for the update pics! Thank you sir... 33 minutes ago, rturbo 930 said: Any thoughts on gusseting your cage to the roof? I've heard it helps. I think I will skip that final move as this is more than enough for a primarily intended street driven car. I am hoping to wrap most of the interior with an alcantara micro suede as opposed to the stock vinyl material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 (edited) Well it has been quite awhile since I last put any updates on the never ending "lifetime build" so now I finally have a few things to submit to this build thread. I had come to a crossroads as to which direction to take with the differential / axles, suspension and brakes. I had slowly acquired a few a la cart pieces of the Arizona Z car catalog, (Weld in camber plates, R200 rear brace kit with doglegs and rear mustache bar mount) over the course of this slow build and was not interested in the companion flange method so I sold some of the three different manufacturers of suspension components as well as my Wilwood brake set up that I bought from the old Vildini Motorsports shop car and opted to complete the rest of the Arizona Z Car "Track Pak", thus eliminating the companion flange method. Whether or not this holds up in the long run remains to be seen, but I will give it a good try. I may have my fabricator Tho build some custom triangulated and heim- ed rear lower control arms to use instead of the supplied AZC ones as he built some for his own Z that he unfortunately ended up selling. I also decided that the rear Ztrix Subtle Z quarter panels as well as the Volk TE37 V wheels at 10" wide rear with 275" tires will not cut it for the power of the engine and decided to go with the next size up "YZ" rear quarter panels. These quarter panels will accommodate a 12" wide rear wheel and 315"s so better chance to put power down. No sooner than I had finally gotten back in touch with Stewart the body/paint guy to ask of his available schedule he informed me he could build the rear YZ quarters out of metal for a little more than I paid for the fiberglass ones. I committed to this approach and we set out to get metal material right as Covid 19 lock downs were starting in Southern California. The "Emperor" Governor Gavin Newsome put a lock down on non essential businesses and the one metal supply store local to me Competitive Metals, that carried the requested 18 gauge cold rolled, deep drawn 4x10' sheet as well as round tube and flat stock to make the bucks for the sheet to form to was only doing business with certified essential companies. I had a local repair/tire shop pull a favor for me and order the needed supplies and got it over to Stewart to begin work on his spare time. Many months went by and he finally managed to get both bucks finished and today we went and test fit them to local friend and Hybrid Z member (Grnsky) stock bodied 260Z with an L29ET for visual reference. Stewart was awaiting some new dies for his English wheel that finally arrived and work will begin shortly on bending the sheet to match the bucks. The other part I had been awaiting to arrive from Japan was a new O S Giken 1.5 way LSD and gear oil which took 7.5 months to make it's journey. I took that over to Pro Gear and had them assess the overall condition of my R200 and apply all the components. While I was awaiting the LSD, I ended up cleaning, rust encapsulating and painting my diff body using EastWood products as well as having the finned cover vapor blasted to get it back to a like new condition. Next plans are to focus on finishing the rear quarters in metal and then sell my new Volk TE37 V wheels and have some new SSR Professor SP1R's made to fit properly without spacers. Time to start saving again.... Pics of everything mentioned below.... Edited November 16, 2020 by Nelsonian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DREW RBZ Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 Fantastic! Looking great 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 It's not easy to change directions like that midway and can sting a little to do so, ,especially after you have been committed to an idea for a long time. But sometimes you get those moments of clarity where your vision of the final product is clear enough, you know exactly what you want to achieve, and you realize your current path won't get you there...in such cases, if you're lucky enough to realize it early on, it's better to bite the bullet now rather than re--invent the wheel later on. The diff looks beautiful. What kind of power are you anticipating putting down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willflow Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 The real question is how much for set of those rear skins? What about the fronts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exposed Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 @Nelsonian With the metal buck you have, do you think youll be putting a radius right above the wheel arch or leaving it straight? I've been slowly working on my own buck because I also changed directions and over the past couple weeks I've been on the fence about whether or not to add a radius similar to the stock fenders above the wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 On 12/7/2020 at 9:25 AM, boosted300 said: It's not easy to change directions like that midway and can sting a little to do so, ,especially after you have been committed to an idea for a long time. But sometimes you get those moments of clarity where your vision of the final product is clear enough, you know exactly what you want to achieve, and you realize your current path won't get you there...in such cases, if you're lucky enough to realize it early on, it's better to bite the bullet now rather than re--invent the wheel later on. The diff looks beautiful. What kind of power are you anticipating putting down? Sorry for the delayed response. On E85 and whatever the safest highest boost setup I imagine low 600 and whatever safe tune and boost on 91 pump gas allows, (500 +?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 On 12/28/2020 at 5:39 AM, Exposed said: @Nelsonian With the metal buck you have, do you think youll be putting a radius right above the wheel arch or leaving it straight? I've been slowly working on my own buck because I also changed directions and over the past couple weeks I've been on the fence about whether or not to add a radius similar to the stock fenders above the wheels. Sorry for the delayed response. I'm trying to blend in the metal version of YZ flares much like the Ztrix would. The idea was to completely replicate the fiberglass YZ flares in metal, weld, clean up to blend smoothly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 On 12/11/2020 at 4:03 PM, Willflow said: The real question is how much for set of those rear skins? What about the fronts? Sorry for the delayed response. Sorry but one time one off flare project that is dragging on much like my whole build project. As for the fronts I am still going with the Ztrix (Subtle Z) fiberglass front end (Fenders blended with head light buckets, air dam and a Rocket Bunny bumper slightly modded to fit.) I may cut the front fender wheel lips and widen it a tad for a little more tire width, but generally keeping that subtle z style. I plan on running a different set of wheels than the purchased Volk TE37V that I currently have. Most likely will be SSR Professor SP1R in 17"x9 (9'5") and 17"x12". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelsonian Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 Splurged on a few cosmetic pieces during the Christmas sales or slight mark downs. Got these Titan Motorsports carbon fiber pieces for the 2J motor from MVP Motorsports. Unfortunately I have to turn attention and funds to a new daily driver and have to put the Z project on hold for a little bit longer with the exception of the current rear fender flare project that's in motion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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