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LS/T56/240z Project Mentor Wanted


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Tank is out. Using the lift and a fuel tank adapter on a transmission Jack, it was the easiest time I've ever removed the tank. Only spilled about a cup of gas in my eye. Which is better than usual. Missed my new shoes. One step closer to getting the chute installed.

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Edited by RebekahsZ
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  • 3 weeks later...

Car went today to get chute mount built. Great day for my trailer winch to give up the ghost. I guess it is better than a race day. So, I have the same time to get a new (bigger) winch installed as the fab guy has to build the chute mount. He said it should take a week-I'm prepared emotionally for a month. We talked about integrating some tubing from the trailer hitch bracing to the roll bar for future use as an attachment for a NO2 bottle. I'm also hopeful that he can integrate the chute release into the unused parking brake release handle. I have to be able to reach the release with arm restraints on, but I also don't want to deploy the chute by accident. Chute mount is to double as a receiver hitch (Drag Week), and as an adjustable chute mount for: no rear spoiler, BRE-style small spoiler, and a large zccjdm spoiler. I'm not worrying about a push bar for now, since a 3.36 is my lowest diff ratio. EasTNz and I are registered for the GA 1/2- mile Sep 17. No chute required for that venue.

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Great news Keith!  Is the guy building your chute mount the same fabricator you have used before?  I know it stinks wondering when you'll get a car back but we don't rush surgeons on the operating table either.  Good work is attained by taking the time to address all the details.  

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Yes and no. Cars often sit at these shops for six months til the guy spends a couple hours on it and knocks it out. I have limited options here in rural Alabama. Perhaps one day I will have the equipment to do this sort of thing myself.

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I say grab a welder, buy a couple coupons of various thicknesses and practice a bit.  It comes pretty fast and isn't too hard at all.  Just make a chute mount that bolts to the car, that way if you ever want to change or redo it you can just unbolt instead of cutting welds.  Seeing the work you've done I am sure you'd pick it up in no time.

 

 

Yes and no. Cars often sit at these shops for six months til the guy spends a couple hours on it and knocks it out. I have limited options here in rural Alabama. Perhaps one day I will have the equipment to do this sort of thing myself.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Picking up car tomorrow. I'm satisfied with the work. Some of it is pure genius, some, not so good. Fab guy says the welding I'm not happy with was due to limited access, tight spots to weld when upside down and dirty metal that could not be reached with a grinder to clean/prep. On the whole it looks great, and I think it will be fine. Pics after I get it home and in the lift.

Edited by RebekahsZ
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It's back in the shop. Time to clean up and paint all the fab work assoc with the chute. Of course the humidity is like 100%! Maybe that is why it is raining buckets. Gotta straighten up shop too. Got new air compressor and dryer in place to start chipping away at mock up.

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Edited by RebekahsZ
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  • 1 month later...

Chute mount painted. Chute release mechanism (parking brake handle) painted and reinstalled. Passenger seat reinstalled. Fuel tank reinstalled, filled with 93 octane. License plate and tail light surround modified for chute and reinstalled. Went to local cruise-in last night and tried the line-lock out when leaving. Don't know if the street rodders liked all that rubber smoke or not. I did it just up wind of where all the old-timers and their wives were sitting in lawn chairs, but away from any cars with shiny paint jobs. Got lots more attention than ever before (it helps to show up without a hood). Burned rust off the rotors that had built up since April autocross (last time car was driven). car fired right up as soon as fuel pressure gauge hit 50 psi (I love EFI!). Car is back on lift to replace a front brake line that got crushed at ZCON 2015 in an off-track excision. It still flows but probably won't pass ECTA tech if spotted. Got the framework for the LSR airdam installed too. Was assisted all day and 'til 11pm by Thomas a new member of hybridZ who lives 2 hours away. His '71 Z came from Austin, TX and is incredible as a stocker-81,000 original miles. I encouraged him retain the A/C and to keep it stock. We got it on the lift and found 4 leaking struts and 2 bad inner tie rods. A test drive only revealed the need to perfect the clutch pedal adjustment and the need for inner tie rods and to have the rotors turned or replaced. otherwise car drove great. Was leaking oil from cam cover and oil pan. We found all the bolts finger tight and torqued them all evenly to 84 inch-lbs / 7 ft-lbs. His car drove like a dream-even had original exhaust pipe, was very torque-y and quiet. He has tuned it well. We hope to replace those few wear items before spring when Z Atrack will hopefully be held again (it has been 3 years) at Nissan HQ in Franklin, TN in April. I hope Thomas will enter as a stock (repainted) car and will likely place in top 3, and I will enter in some crazy ultra modified class and will likely win the T-shirt I bought at registration, if past history proves itself. Maybe we will get an Ansa style muffler for Thomas after that just to sexy up the car. But I bet a muffler alone would put him in Modified class, and his car deserves a trophy as it sits. So hopefully he will leave it alone for a bit and not catch my disease. It was great having a buddy over to the shop, and he was a good co-worker. Brought great home-made chocolate chip cookies as a peace offering and I ate nearly the whole bag! Well done, Thomas! Kudos to Charith in LA/SD for helping Thomas find such a great car.

Edited by RebekahsZ
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Got lots of good advice from the brakes forum. Test driving to work tomorrow with heat gun to check to see if I was successful. It is about 3 miles. I put the hood on, so the only part that will be really suspicious is the lack of mufflers. Then there is the wheels and tires, the striped paint job, the carbon hood, the red seats, the roll bar and the lack of horn and wipers. It's Alabama, so I should pretty much blend in. There is a certain rpm, where the car isn't loud at all. Have only one major part lacking for R200 CLSD/M2 CV axle swap: new CLSD clutches. Should have them next week, so I'm gearing up for that. Ordered 2-1 merge collector from Burns stainless.

 

Keith, I've been looking for a carbon cowl hood like this for some time.  I think you mentioned MSA but I am really curious if they still make these.  

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Here are some pics that show the past 2 weekend's progress in prep for the GA 1/2-Mile and Ohio 1-Mile. Before I started all this, the car pulled alternately to one side with braking. Now it is consistently pulling left. No air in fronts and firm pedal. Gonna play lip-service and bleed rears next. After that, I'm gonna re-build the line lock. It is where my front brakes split from a single line leaving the master into 2 lines, a left and a right. Maybe the O-ring has broken down (?).

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Edited by RebekahsZ
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