After a hard but fairly successful season of events Bob has dropped the car off with me for a major makeover and revision.

As before I just have the rolling shell.

Jimmer at Power Zed has already removed the engine and box.

He will be doing a strip down /inspect/replace routine on the Kyle Puckett engine.

Bob has dropped the gearbox of at Advanced Motorsport engineering at silverstone for a similar strip/inspect/replace routine.

The rest arrived at my place last weekend .... looking a little worse than when it left in the spring!!!!

 

The brief from Bob is long and detailed.................. but it starts with a reinstate of the 99 spec front with splitter and the TwinZ rear bumper.

I already obtained a good used 99 spec from Mikey Bean and I have a new Twinz rear from Mark Derbys group buy.

I will get a new sheet of ally and make another front splitter. good job I kept the template!!

There are numerous detail improvements on the schedule too. More details to follow!

Probably the most important/significant is a new custom loom for the car. Over the development period of the car numerous items have been added by several people. The result now is a total mess of wiring everywhere with no one personknowing exavtly what is joined to what!!!

This winter I am lucky that our new race day team member Paul is helping at my place with all the work.

Im simply getting too old for some of the harder physical jobs needed.

In addition the newly formed Bodymech team of "Boldy" and "Manta V8" are doing the panel fitting and giving the whole shell a fresh coat of paint inside and out.

so Im sure everyone will be adding to the thread as they get their quota of jobs done.

 

So a few pics meantime and can you spot the brake problem???

I have also highlighted some fittings that need "improving"

Check out the rats nest of wiring too!!

......................

Perfect rear end!

Perfect rear end!

 

Daffy mate i totally agree with that statement....perfect:bow:

gorgous ass on that, looking forward to the rest of the pics

gorgous ass on that, looking forward to the rest of the pics

i will post some mate but to be honest this time round we are just re-doing a lot of last winters work.

thats ok, still love seeing the pics, keep posting and keep us updated, great to see a motorsport tech thread on here regarding the zed

That is a stunner! :) Sorry i didn't manage to pop up in the end buddy, had a bad case of man flu this last week and didn't want to bring it up for you to share :D See you soon mate

thats ok, still love seeing the pics, keep posting and keep us updated, great to see a motorsport tech thread on here regarding the zed

Well here you go...

A full day from paul n me saw the back subframe dropped out again and a trial fit of the new Half tank. All looked good so we cut an extra mounting bracket and re made the heatshield

My fabricator has welded the bracket in place today so we are ready for tank install this week.

 

as already said a lot of this winters work is about improving build quality.

The Lexan windows and sliders were OK but suffered from two problems. The screws holding the sliders were only tapped in to the perspex so as the season wore on some pulled out . We didnt notice it till Brands round when the wholw windows were flapping alarmingly.

We have replaced all the srews with longer ones with nylocs on the end now.

We have also added a cental stiffner made from box section ally and bent to shape.

Its not a particularly elegant install but it does look like the windows wont flap out again.

 

I will probably paint them white so they dont stand out so much.

 

It probably doesnt seem a lot of progress for a full day but thinking time and fabricating ad hoc solutions is never quick.

Most of you doing hobby stuff on your own cars dont factor time in to the result.

We need to with Bobs car. As the work follows Einsteins rule of time and money.

Time = money. x MC squared!!!

 

If you blow the pic up to mega size you might spot the last few Tek screws holding in the bias adjuster and brake line......:thumbdown:

They wont be staying.... bye bye Tek screws.:scared: .... Hello rivnuts and stainless set screws!!:thumbup1:

 

And more steady progress....

The "half tank" is now fitted. (apart from one bolt on the new heatshield.

The subframe is back in place.

Paul is checking torque on EVERY nut and bolt.

Once again we were slowed/hampered by a stripped thread/bolt on the anti roll bar. Hole enlarged. Retapped. larger bolt fitted... job done.

I have a "almost gone" thread/bolt on my car so we will need to repeat the exercise on mine in the New Year.

Drivers side window has been re assembled and awaiting re- fitting with some new longer set screws which arrived today.

My fabricator Tig welded the quick release boss on to the steering column.

Next job is to fit the new solid coupler to the column as the Nissan rubber item is well gone!!

Thanks to Manta V8 at Bodymech for supplying this lovely light weight alloy item. It should help sharpen up the steering response.

 

There was a "missing" brake pad pin on the rear Stoptech caliper.

This is an odd looking push in interference fit. I have ordered a repacement but Im sure with Britain in "shut sown" mode it wont appear anytime soon.

Since we want to get the rear end finished this weekend I made one today in the conventional style to do for now!:biggrin::biggrin:

 

 

And more steady progress....

The "half tank" is now fitted. (apart from one bolt on the new heatshield.

The subframe is back in place.

Paul is checking torque on EVERY nut and bolt.

Once again we were slowed/hampered by a stripped thread/bolt on the anti roll bar. Hole enlarged. Retapped. larger bolt fitted... job done.

I have a "almost gone" thread/bolt on my car so we will need to repeat the exercise on mine in the New Year.

Drivers side window has been re assembled and awaiting re- fitting with some new longer set screws which arrived today.

My fabricator Tig welded the quick release boss on to the steering column.

Next job is to fit the new solid coupler to the column as the Nissan rubber item is well gone!!

Thanks to Manta V8 at Bodymech for supplying this lovely light weight alloy item. It should help sharpen up the steering response.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]75870[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]75871[/ATTACH]

 

 

are these things any good, heard a few good/ bad reviews.... from causing vibration, to not feeling right for a road car etc... also heard they make good improvements to feel.. so a proper view would be great as i know their fairly cheap from driftworks.

And more steady progress....

Next job is to fit the new solid coupler to the column as the Nissan rubber item is well gone!!

Thanks to Manta V8 at Bodymech for supplying this lovely light weight alloy item. It should help sharpen up the steering response.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]75870[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]75871[/ATTACH]

 

 

Funny you posted this I just saw something about these in the Silvia world. I can see how it would remove slop from steering input, not that it is particularly sloppy stock. It seems a straight forward swap of a bush but, is it something that you can do on a drive without too much hassle and are there any downsides for life day to day on the road like vibration or whatever?

 

Thanks.

are these things any good, heard a few good/ bad reviews.... from causing vibration, to not feeling right for a road car etc... also heard they make good improvements to feel.. so a proper view would be great as i know their fairly cheap from driftworks.

 

well I guess we will only know when Bob drives the car.. The current Nissan rubber item is knackered so this seemed the way to go for a replacement.

Im not building a road car so an increase in harshness wont matter. The whole car is brutally harsh anyway. Removing any of Nissans cushioning bushes is going to increase vibration. The bush doesnt cause any vibration per se. It amplifies any vibration already in the system.

What I hope it will do is eliminate any play/movement in the steering and therefore give a more precise response when the steering wheel is turned.

The Driftworks one is stainless steel I believe. This is a lightweight ally one.

i will probably fit one when I swap engines too.

I would leave the window strips bare. It looks sporty and from a distance I doubt you would see them due to reflections etc.

 

Think it would look odd with a white bar going down the window?

I fitted a solid steering coupler to my Slicktop and no vibration or other issues.

Only £17 too, I'll fit one of those one day.

 

Yowser I finally finished that switch-able HICAS mod. I don't know how I made such a simple job seem difficult I must have gone 'full' retard lol. But It is in really neatly and it works. Very hard to say if it is better without the HICAS, I will open a can of worms some time and discuss HICAS Vs lockout but before then I need to do more "testing". It is easier to slide about with it locked but I quite like the feel of working HICAS the rest of the time. Thanks for your help on the matter.

As Pete says, the one we supplied is Alloy,

 

Just the one left but can get more if any interest..............

Be interested to see how much difference its makes, Im going through the process of making my car go kart tight so this may end up on the list.

is this a difficult job to do with the engine in?

is this a difficult job to do with the engine in?

On adifficulty scale of 0 to 10 it measures 10.5!!! So I hear. I have no personal experience.

As you can see we are changing it on the bench...(tomorrow)

Be interested to see how much difference its makes, Im going through the process of making my car go kart tight so this may end up on the list.

 

Based on my 240Z experience where its common practice to swap out the coupler for a Urethane one, I expect it will make a significant/noticeable difference.

Im not sure how difficult it would be with engine in either, I did mine on the bench too as I had engine out and had the column stripped already to swap the ignition lockset.

 

Also cant really comment on positive differences in feel as I made so many other changes to the car if feels nothing like a regular 300zx to drive anyway.

Well its been a long and busy day with Bob's car today.

We have installed the solid bush on the column. Straightforward job really. We had to be extra careful not to get the rebuilt column 180deg out as we have a non moveable steering wheel position.

This wont be an issue for anyone else tho.

As we already knew the old rubber coupler was split to bits.

This is going to make a big difference.

At the rear of the car we got everything back on and bolted upand torque checked. I just need to mark all the bolts/nuts now .

the job took longer than expected as we uncovered another suspension "issue"

The strut units on either side were around 20 mm different in length.

And just to add to the chaos one spring had no pre-load at all on it and was rattling loose while the other side had over 30ft-lbs of pre-load.

we have adjusted them equally now with a small amount of pre-load and equal tube length.

Final adjustments need to wait till the car is all back together again with engine and box in etc.

The important thing now is we have a known starting point for later adjustments. Likewise with the strut damping. They are set equally at a firmness we have noted.

Pre season testing will be the time to fine tune it.

So with the temporary brake caliper pin in place we dropped it down on the deck.

Its low!!! probably very close to "race height".. Check out the pic!!

Next jobs now are on the front suspension and brakes where we already know of at least two problems..................one disc on backwards and one top adjustable arm the wrong way round..

We also need to re route the brake pipes away from the turbos.

Enjoy the pics....

 

The last pic doesn't do it justice, looks so much better in the metal, good day all round, it's starting to take shape and starting to look great :)

So with christmas gone I have been putting in some time in the workshop.

I cant believe how long it takes to make simple brackets and similar stuff. Even bolting in the seats is a job on its own with all the bolts hidden under the seat mounts.

The bracket to hold the brake/clutch fluid reservoir was a very shoddy item before and wasnt secure at all. I have made a new one with captive bolts so one person can install/remove it easily.

The battery now lives behind the passenger seat securely mounted on a new frame. This was wedged right at the back of the boot before with an unneccesarily long cable run.

The passenger window has all the correct bolts in it now.

I have installed a new small size washer bottle on the rear quarter behind the drivers seat.

tomorrow I plan on getting the drivers side window re installed and the new lexan windows fitted.

The steering column with its new ally spacer is back in place along with both seats and the dash roughly in place too. The new snap off steering wheel bracket works 100%.

 

Good progress guys cant wait to see this baby when all the work is done and ready to track :thumbup1:

Should just about be bomb proof when you finished with her Pete ! :punk: