Gaijin

[Gaijin]

Its been a little slow, and I have no excuses.

 

Front spoiler from Japan, fibreglass, and of poor quality and finish. Leave this one to the panelbeater.

 

Standard grill in, and attempting to figure out what the best setup and positions for the heat exchanger for the water/air cooler, and the radiator, thermo fans, powersteer cooling, and even the aircon heat exchanger. Not much then!

 

Considering the intercooler sits behind the radiator (where the stock one lives), with around 40mm gap to allow some airflow through, the will be a redution in efficiency of the radiator. The heat exchanger for the cooler should sit in front of the radiator (similar to air-air). To compensate, Ill get some fans on the front of the radiator.

 

The problems with cooling will eventuate when;

- Im stuck in auckland traffic, no airflow, fans going hard. But, there will be little or no heat generated by the engine (above that of a standard Rb25). Probably will be fine.

- Going around a racetrack with lots of WOT, heat generated galore (circa proportional to power output), fans going, etc. This is where the problem will arise, if it does. Anyway, enough pissing around, lets bolt the things in.

 

Clutch lines in, working. Nismo light flywheel and supercopper mix non sprung clutch plate, with HD pressure plate ready. Unsprung? Maybe too ugly for street. May even slip under the final grunt value. We will see.

 

Front arms xrayd OK, they are painted and to go back in.

 

Rear subframe out for once over before final install.

 

Greddy remote filter locator in (filter under flap where washer bottle used to live)

 

Spreadsheeting the brake setup to ensure the system will work well. Measure everything, chuck into spread, check outputs. Make changes. I will detail this further once completed.

 

SARD fuel rail supplied for er34, has different diameter injector holes than standard, so will require drilling out.

 

Headlight buckets, right one used in 10/10 nick from Japan, left one NEW from japan. They cost around $80 each. Import Monster. Exchange rate a little sore now, not as effective as it was. Cool parts available if you can decipher the 'engrish' as the Monster calls it.

[Gaijin]

Been 'servicing' all the parts, so should go well once started.

Rear discs new, standard items. Drum handbrake cleaned up, shoes look fine.

 

Now everything is covered in the engineers/fabricators enemy, the tar underseal, and 'never dry' gloss black paint.

It does look kinda stock. Once a little dirt is thrown in.

 

Underneath shot with everything removed, hard to tell whats been played with.

[Gaijin]

As parts slowly go back on the car, it feels great.

Any welding has been x-rayd, on rear camber arms, front arms etc.

After a quick blast, they hit the powder coaters in black for a durable finish.

 

The front heat exchanger gets a home finally. Rubber mounted in 2 -axis.

Large air filter gets a vertical mount, with a 4" pipe to link this week.

 

Front sway bar mounts get a toughen up, with a plate welded to two sides of the frame rail. After restoring/wrecking my previous Papua New Guinea S30 (sold new), I found out the deficiencies in the S30 chassis design...

 

As my sparky has mentioned, 'you'll blow the engine' is believable. Look forward to taking a trip to vegas to talk with Rob (aka R.I.P.S) to sort the RB30 and turbine package to make this old bird fly. Spend the money wisely grass hopper.......for now perhaps...

[Gaijin]

After using a few spreadsheets to work out what master cylinder size I could run, I quickly discovered the amount of 'fudging' these calculators require.

 

It also showed me that attempting to use a single master for both front and rear circuits (and a proportioning valve for the rear) would be a poor solution.

 

Calling around, most people just said install and test. Z club members have given me some guidance. I have purchased a 3/4 for the front, and a 5/8 for the rear, and a wilwood balance bar for under the pedal, and raised the peadl ratio to 6:1.

This will be an un-assisted brake setup using two master cylinders and a balance bar to adjust the setup depending on raod or track use.

 

Attached is the spreadsheet calcs. I have worked backwards in some areas to acheive what looks like a solution, using some numbers which are very hard to accuratly determine.

I.e. co-efficient of friction for the pads-discs, and tires (which will change greatly from slicks to street tires etc).

The rest is straightforward-ish.

 

Wilwood superlight 4 pot fronts, er34 2 pot rears (same as almost all R series turbo rears, Z32's and 200sx's).

Discs as measured (taken as 2/3rd's the way up the pad contact face, not total outside radius)

COG height guessed

Wheelbase as standard

Max deceleration = race best effort

 

Otherwise, if it doesnt work, Ill swap masters (at $45 each, thats OK)

Balance bar = $90

 

Car into brake shop for new hard brake lines as we speak.

4614_.pdf

[RBZ 260]

Nice work  . like the rear cradle mod. 

 

have you got any close ups of the rear cradle mounting to the body. also front xmember with the power steer mod.

 

cant wait for the update.

[NZeder]

I see you found your way here to Martin - well done

[Zeddophile]

Calling around, most people just said install and test. Z club members have given me some guidance. I have purchased a 3/4 for the front, and a 5/8 for the rear, and a wilwood balance bar for under the pedal, and raised the peadl ratio to 6:1.

This will be an un-assisted brake setup using two master cylinders and a balance bar to adjust the setup depending on raod or track use.

 

Sounds about in the right region in terms of master sizings.  Agreed on the fudging of calculations, my GTV ends up with a 5/8 for both front and rear, despite the difference in piston size.  Would be interested on how the 3/4 goes with the wilwood 4 pots, as I'm looking at trying to jam some 4 pot brembos under my 15' wheels.....

[NZeder]

MC sizing is very typical for 1.75" 4 pots with the Nissan 2 pots on the rear and 6:1 pedal ratio so I think you are on the money with that one. I have different MC sizing for my dual MC setup but I am running a front caliper with smaller pistons sizing, the rears will be the same size as the Nissan 2 pots - so it would be good to compare when (if) we both make to the track in Jan at Taupo 

[gav240z]

This is awesome, I envy you.

 

We should definitely do a front page feature on this beast. Starting to look the goods.

[Gaijin]

To continue from the brake spreadsheet guesstimation;

 

- brake pedal ratio changed to 6:1, see the old small hole, and the new large cylinder welded in higher up, which will house the brake balance bar.

- twin masters (these are wilwoods, not the trusty trojans as first purchased). New plate brazed to the front of the exisitng firewall plate and an additional plate welded to the inside of the firewall for more rigidity. If this is insufficient, a brace can be added to the front of the masters later.

- wilwood superlight 4 pot front callipers. 18" wheels make the discs look small. From the spreadsheet (mostly car mass as dominant factor), they are overkill. The track will tell.

 

Have braided front hoses and rears ready.

Hard piping of brake lines as we speak, 'P' clipped to chassis.

 

Transmission tunnel Braided lines are for the fuel back and forth

5268_.pdf

[ZD44TT]

holly fark there did this come from............hahahha

 

I want to see the flares on with those hectic wheels please.....

 

*drooooooooooooools*

 

nice work mate.

[Gaijin]

Right, more detail shots.

 

- Petrol tank. Standard unit modified.  Pic has details. Welds have sealed tank. Will add POR15 type tank sealant internally. Carter lift pump pushes fuel through low pressure filter into surge tank. Not shown.

Then EFI bosch pump draws from surge tank, through high pressure filter to fuel rail up the braided lines. When the tank is in the car, it looks completely standard. Access through the existing spare tire wheel bay, with a flat cover over the top. No spare tire then.

So the surge tank is not connected to the main tank, and the extra vol is. Just testing...

 

- PS rack/cross member mods, in case your interested. Pic shows the mods, new mount for the bottom seat of the rack, a braced top mount, and a cut out for one of the PS lines. Rack is a Toyota MR2 job, so not exactly a limo turner. Similar car weights, so shouldnt be too over assisted, can change the PS pump revs through new pulley, will adjust this a little way.

 

- Rear tire/brakes completed. Rebuilt, new discs, calliper seals, hoses, project mu drift pads and plenty of BBQ black to hide the crud.

not exciting unless its making smoke...eh

[Gaijin]

Some progress of late.

 

stock er34 injectors replaced with Bosch 550cc x 6, which will cover me for some way over 400hp's at the wheels, turbo/engine strength permitting.

 

Gaijin back from the brake hose crew, and it looks neat. Wilwood master cylinders have replaced the Trojans, only due to difficulty in finding the resevoirs for them. Groan.

 

Just for luxury sake, a rear proportioning valve position is included in the rear pipe line inside the cabin. Ignore the interior sound deadening, efforts from the past require restarting.

 

The engine bay completion continues...

[Gaijin]

rb26 water pump.

 

 

Should have gone and bought a Davies electric pump instead. Focus....

 

 

Anyways,

checking out the exisiting front brake options, it started with the stock er34 (same as s14/15 r32/33/34 sumitomo 4 piston)

 

 

But Herberts had a neat looking disc and hat available cheap, which would mount to 4 stud s30 stock hub, using stock sumitomo's. Solid mounted hat to rotor.

 

But Id wanted a bigger disc, with an ally 5 stud hub, which was not gonna work as a combo, without breaking out the mill again

The disc was light for sure though. Club member may be keen?

 

 

 

But the Arizona Z car stuff, was the ticket. Bolts together, US/NZ rate at $0.87US, it would be very hard to beat it for the $ outlay. Probably too easy now.

Hat-rotor still solid mount, not floating. I Overspeced the rotor to HD, increasing the rotor thickness and number of internal cooling vanes. Increase heat soak potential.

[Gaijin]

Right then,

 

This is a boring post.

 

Firstly, with the plans for a daily driver, think about things I like in a car.

- Clean windscreen!

 

The squirters are from unknown jap donor car. 4 sprays.

 

Looking at gauge options, they are suprisingly few.

Autometer, usual fare, but are rather typical?

Autogauge, but unsure of longevity of them

Looked at plenty of American units, but they are oldschool, check out the Cyberdynes, WTF!

Would love some DEFI, but yikes, rather not sell the real daily driver to get 'em.

 

Need 2 5/8" for centre console, and 5" for dash.

 

Dash installed and cut outs made for the roll cage around the pillars.

 

 

 

Will look around some more before purchasing.

 

 

Hmmm whats going on here.

Decided to ditch a mechanical driven water pump and go electric. ECU will run this. Will gain hp's,  more so when its not running at full effort.

Davies Craig 110lt/min arriving soon.

So will have 2 water pumps for sale, one being underdriven (new 'N1 type' one), using a larger pulley. Takers?

[Gaijin]

Getting back onto the engine bay completion,

 

plenty of the fiddly bits to go.

 

Firstly, its biffed back in, the cam covers have been given a rub'n'polish and the coil cover some nasty never dry gloss black. Perfect then.

 

 

 

The new wastegate position (Tial 38mm  - hopefully its big enough), which was changed from an underneath pick up on the ex manifold to a top position for flow reasons.

Had heard that boost creep would be gauranteed from some dyno tuners, on the same engine and similar turbo.

Moving it up means gas flow doesnt need to do a 180 to get to the gate, just an easy? 90 deg change. Bottom hole TIG'd up.

 

 

 

 

90 deg elbow welded to the comp housing outlet, clearance ok to ex man, but will require some heat sheilding to help intercooler do its job.

 

 

 

 

 

Comp housing clearance to bonnet?

Dunno yet, have tried and seemed ok, but once gaskets etc are all on it may start a rubbin'.

 

 

 

 

Oil catch can arrived after waiting a few MONTHS for it to turn up from kazakstan...hmmmm

Quality looks good though, solid, 2l capacity (right for track racing then according to Motorsport

NZ). This will also get hot, being on the , er, hot side. More heat reflection required then.

Squirter bottle pinched from a mates car, and chucked into the corner.

 

 

 

 

Well hello, the flares have just turned up, surely not from Kazakstan as well?

Better get over and do some trial fitments....finally

[Gaijin]

More engine bay stuff;

 

Got a GREX/Greddy oil filter re-locator from JP off Import Monster (which does cars, motorbikes, 2nd hand, vintage stuff etc, just recently, got a Z432 for sale with 85km, going for $135kAu - yeehaa, and a nice,clean ZG a snip at circa $80k au. The market sure lives on strong in JP.

 

 

 

 

NISMO clucth also a jp 2nd hand item, about half the weight of stock flyw.

 

 

 

 

Ill kill the water pump and blank this part off, pull the thermo out and run elec pump & controller.

Biff on a cam gear for the exh.?

 

 

 

Hello, f.glass 1" wider front zg flare, sitting rough.

 

 

 

This gaurds ok, but the other will be the bog sculpture. Rickys f.glass gaurds sure look tidy, especially that the arch is 75mm forward, great for big castor angles....

 

 

 

 

and for the rear this what we got

 

 

 

Better get back in and finish this flare install , get mr suspension in to measure up.

[Gaijin]

To gauge the clearance between ground/lowest parts, exhaust back up.

its a 3" SS mandrel tack TIGed into posi for now. Centre muffler lowest part but will sit about 30mm higher than as unsupported here mind

 

 

 

 

 

Rear Sus arms are shooting for the stars,  thats enough bump

 

 

Cut away the lovely quarter I welded in a few years back,  and some cables. oops

 

 

 

wheel in at max squish

 

 

 

 

(smaller temporary) cap screw the gaurds into place, and hey presto,

 

Full bump including  er, bump stop

 

 

 

and at about ride height

 

 

and same

 

 

 

Can move this around a bit with coilover heights, but looks about right. Comments please

 

oh yeah 125mm total wheel travel.

[Zeddophile]

Can move this around a bit with coilover heights, but looks about right. Comments please

 

My personal preference on this one, with any car that has a round wheelarch (ie not flat across the top), is that the gap between tyre and guard should be the same between top of wheel and guard as it is between front/back of wheel and guard.  Exceptions come when the wheelarch is considerably bigger in diameter than the tyre, but doesn't seem to be the case here, looks like if you viewed it side on would be a bit over an inch gap all round - should look great.

[Gaijin]

Getting exhausted,

 

another mention of the existing wastgate point, welded up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wastegate dump 38mm enters into main exhaust after 1 metre. Gas flow less turbulant there = less back pressure = more power

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep it tight boss

 

 

 

 

 

 

could wrap it in heat wrap or get some coating on.

 

[C.A.R.]

Some nice Tig welds there...

[PZG302]

get the ceramic coating, heat wrap will cause the pipes to deteriorate over time. I have heat wrap on my system and I'm too scared to remove it as I reckon it's all that's holding the manifold together and as it was a hand made job specifically for the car and motor set up I don't want to replace it until absolutely necessary.

[Gaijin]

Thought best to get some panels on to work out some colours for the car.

 

Got the right front gaurd roughly on, prob a little low. Steel gaurd will be sold, and a fibreglass one in place.

 

Chucked the spoiler on,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rolled it back for a rough ride height  = ok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New bumper arriving from santa- thanks Mulderghini!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sprayed up the gaurds in primer to get less contrast with Photoshopping when doing colour schemes. Or probably just my wobbly eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cant ignore the left side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ive picked up a full nolathane bush kit for the rear including more adjustment opportunities, on all sus arms and subframe to chassis mounts. Sway bar adjustments also provided for.

 

Ill get these in once im out of bed.

[Zeddophile]

Back ride height looks perfect to me, front I'd personally bring up about 10mm.  Looking very tough all round this one.

[Gaijin]

More nostalgia.

 

The mk 1 plans called for NA.

 

It was the L series build up, aside from the L24 stocker seen previously.

 

L28 stock insides, cleaned up, Mikunis 40PHH, ex manifold 6-2-1. elec ign. May have made 180 flywheel hp's.

 

 

 

Carb rebuild....gaijin would be quicker to build than those carbs.

 

But the sound !

 

Something a turbo will never acheive.