More progress I finally got around to rerouting my fuel return line this morning and the plenum looks a lot better already. This allowed me to get rid of the three sets of fuel/prvr lines that normally bolt on top of the plenum and sit there looking all messy. Getting rid of these was the first step in a large process to relocate the fuel filter. Im not 100% on where its going at the moment but under the battery tray is looking like the main option for now. Anyway, this is how the plenum looks without fuel pipes running over it, its a subtle change but really opens it up:
More Progress I finally got round to cleaning up the new calipers. I tickled the outsides of the with a grinder just to clean away a few of the casting marks, and rough finished that with some 80 grit emery paper just to remove any high points on them. Makes a huge difference to the look of the caliper in my mind. What do you guys think?
Ohh, Shiny. Looking good, but then you already know I'm a fan. Where you have ground off the "Nissan" wording, suggest you do that as a gloss black strip to add some definition. Or do the pot faces in black, keeping the red strip. Only suggestions.
Or!!! To be totally different get your own vinyl sticker made up "300zx" "ZFORCE" Put that on the middle section and double clear that shit
Youre right on the money there. I have a vinyl strip down the center of my throttle cover which has slowly been shrinking over time just due to the ambient heat in the engine bay, id say vinyl wrap/stickers is no good for brakes. I like the 300zx idea tho procky....may just do that
Progress! So naturally as the build is progressing the parts list has invariably changed. The new and updated list is looking a little more like this: - Mild cams - Head porting and port matching - Oversize exhaust valves - CP piston / Scat rod combo - Gt3071r top mounted turbos The block and the crank will be cryo treated, potentially the cams too depending on pricing. Now onto some actual progress Ive managed to pilfer two decomissioned TT blocks from a few places. The first one was about 6 months back and in average looking but unknown condition. The second was from forum member Spikey (and a massive thanks to him too). This motor was failing to build boost and overheating. Upon removing the turbos Spikey found a seized turbo, so thats half the mystery solved. I started tearing down the newer engine on saturday. So far the heads are off and disassembled and the sump is off too. The local engine builder/head machiner guy has offered to check the heads and make sure they are all square for me, and if not he will skim them Upon flipping the block to get at the bottom of it oil came oozing out the coolant galleries. Yay. Looks like the head gasket was bodgy. It appears the head gasket was of poor quality too, as it actually blocked off a few of the coolant rows too, and im hoping this explains the overheating situation, just have to find out if the previous owner warped the heads now. To my knowledge this motor has been very recently rebuilt (head included), however the pistons have a nice amount of build up on them. Ill see how much of it just wipes off at a later date, and if they are good there will be a set of stock rods and pistons with less than 2000kms (from what ive been told) up for sale. ^ This is the side with the good head gasket. I couldnt see anything untoward here, but feel free to point it out if there is ^ This is the side that had the poorly made head gasket. Note the blocked coolant ports ^ Everything look pretty good from down here, but i suppose i wont get a real idea of how fresh this rebuild really is until i pull all the bearing out and look for wear. That being said, I didnt notice any wear in the cylinders so thats a promising sign at least.
More engine work! Managed to make time for a little more tearing down of my donor engines, well on of them anyway. Crankshaft girdle has beem removed, pistons and rods have been taken out and i finally got that pesky engine mount off! I could have picked up the socket necessary any day at work but i decided to forget it every day instead. Should pistons look this black after ~2000kms of use? Anywho, next task to tackle will be taking off the oil pump/housing. Then i can yank the crank (hur hur hur) and move onto hot tanking and measuring up. Hopefully this block will be all good for an oversize bore
some good goals and high aspirations, but so far it looks like everything's been done on a budget - without trying to sound like a dick, is what you're looking to carry out realistic at this stage?
I am working to a budget, but not the one everyone assumes My budget is time. Because i work full time and i spend pretty much every weekend with my wife and kid i find very little time to fiddle with my car. I probably spend an hour on it tops every week (and probably about $50 in parts), although this week has been a bit different. Im doing all my own work because i enjoy learning and i enjoy making stuff. I was one of those kids who grew up with lego What id like to carry out is perfectly achieveable at this stage, it really is just a case of when lol. I can understand why you ask though, ive had to ask myself the same thing a few times.
fair enough. what sort of hours do you do? i'm on 60 hours a week at the moment with a further 12 in travel so I understand your situation. part of the difficulty us young guys face (my colleagues don't have this problem) is that we actually need a full night of sleep.
I work 8-5 weekdays, plus travel to and from work. Soon to be starting at 7:30 tho, covering the boss for six weeks. I also work every second saturday so there goes half a weekend. And yeh, sleep is definitely a necessity, regardless of whether its work, a kid or a car that heeps you up.
