The Z31 Project - Race Car

[C.A.R.]

Have you got your $50 back yet, Richard?

[260DET]

What, the 50 I lent you. Now if I said that somewhere in particular it would create a flood of comment, lols of the intrawebs.

[260DET]

The roof is pretty well ready for some undercoat, at last, not having the piece of equipment that I know would have made the finish better has chewed up time. Plus I know that it will receive some close examination by the fans so it's finish is race car plus Basically getting the car ready for painting which should be finished next week, as we all know this is a PITA job, once again the finish is planned to be race car plus. The non roof pic is of the scuttle area where the original ventilation intake is, it's all been blocked off for aero purposes, alternative ventilation is yet to be finalised but includes a axial flow fan. 

[260DET]

And there's more.VF HSV and late Z28 extractors which need some vinegar on the heat shields to get rid of the rust stains but other than the rust are in excellent condition. Unlike a L6 say, it's impractical to tune the V8's pipes in accordance with the firing order but these are plumbed 1,3,2,4 rather than the usual 1,2,3,4 which I hope means something good because it's a more expensive way to do it. The other item is the Improved Racing crank scraper and baffle, entirely CNC machined and as light as, good enough to go on display. LS engines need all the lubrication assistance possible so oil return is vital.

 

 

[260DET]

Another milestone, it's been painted, well most of it anyway. Pretty pleased with the result except that the roof has turned out bumpy as expected. It will do for now but if I can't get used to it then I'll see what a pro wants to charge me to fix it up. Next jobs involve polycarbonate windows and the rear lights custom setup, no hurry to buff the acrylic because the more it hardens before that the better. The engine is in for a new cam and modification of the sump, am still waiting for a 6 speed auto so the powertrain can be installed which should be soon.. Enough chat, pics.

 

 

[260DET]

Tackled the polycarbonate door windows, tricky to work out what support and retention was required particularly because of the curvature necessary and my previous experience with the 280 where the windows tried to blow out above 200 kph. Two pics below show the basic part finished for the R door, the poly looks opaque because the protective film is still on. The aluminium flap sticking out is the aero secret weapon, air pressure on it holds the top of the window in at speed, the other is a  'look at me' pic, question, is the car going to be wide enough? The good thing is that the front track is adjustable by adjusting the length of the LCA's. Other news, the six speed auto is on it's way, it's pretty trick,engine braking and an automatic downshift throttle blip. How cool is that 

Edited June 2, 2018 by 260DET

[PeterAllen]

I've just had to rework my windows as they also flexed out, even at 110 km/h.

 

The rear mount was stable enough, but at the front the fibreglass had insufficient structural rigidity. I've lengthened the leg and attached it to the door at several locations. Fingers-crossed.

 

Yellow = the old configuration

Blue    = new

Edited June 2, 2018 by PeterAllen

[Cozza]

It’s an unusual place to be running your exhaust manifold Peter. ?

[PZG302]

For the acrylic windows in the S14 I'm just using an alloy brace at the rear and the standard rubber seal in the shell to keep the windows in place. It may be worth trying something less complex and with added lightness to see if all the bracing is needed. If I remember correctly you are also not having the windows operational, so that makes it even easier.

 

I thought it was going to be a real pain being a frame-less design and wanting to retain the operation of the windows, but the manufacturer said the alloy brace at the rear will be more than enough to keep everything in place. Although they would only recommend i use 3mm thick acrylic for the door windows and not the 1.8mm thick acrylic for the opera windows and rear screen that I got.

[260DET]

Unfortunately the manufacturer here is me complete with all the applicable limitations I wouldn't be using acrylic for side windows Matt, a decent hit and it shatters into lots of sharp bits. It is a bit stiffer than polycarbonate though which makes it more self supporting, good for the rear window.

[PZG302]

Yeah sorry, got my plastics mixed up, I got the full kit from http://www.plastics4performance.com/ in polycarbonate when the dollar was up over 60p so the full kit came in under $1K with the extras I wanted.

 

Unfortunately they don't do kits for the Z31, but the S14 being a favourite of the drift kiddies there are plenty of options.

 

These are the siffener plates I got with the kit for the front windows to stop the bowing out, http://www.plastics4performance.com/accessories/edge-stiffner-plate.html They still allow for the window to fit in the standard guides so i can open and close it with the standard power window mechanism.

 

It was a few emails back and forth to get what i wanted, but once ordered they did turn up pretty quick, so for those with a S30 looking for an option these could be good, if a little pricey compared to the less pretty options I used in my old car.

[PeterAllen]

...They still allow for the window to fit in the standard guides so i can open and close it with the standard power window mechanism...

 

Have I got this correct? You're using lightweight plastic windows but you have power window mechanisms fitted.

[PZG302]

Yes.

 

The S14 did not come with a manual winder system in any market, and the electric motor and associated mechanics is not too heavy, even when compared with a manual system. As the design is frameless i don't have many simple options that allow the fitting of the windows in the car in any case, let alone a system that allows me open or close the windows. 

 

The electric motors are mounted at the bottoms of the doors, so the weight is positioned low in any case, plus they and associated mechanisms only weigh a kg or so.

 

I did the exercise of stripping the doors of all the stuff not needed and putting all the stuff needed for power windows back in and saved 7kg per door without removing the door intrusion bar, which was another 2.5kg on its own. A complete door less door card is 25.5kg, the glass alone is 5kg.

 

I need the ability to open a window(s) in wet races or for when sitting on the dummy grid or to get air into the car.

[260DET]

Yeh, I've gone to a lot of trouble to save a few kg, possibly keeping the glass but fixing it would be an option but I like the little sliding windows that can be fitted to a plastic window. Ventilation will be separate and forced, more to come on that in due course.

[260DET]

Wow, two and a half months since the last post, project is still alive though barely crawling towards the finish line. Engine with a brand new 6L80E auto is at the fitting in stage, basically there is enough room for it all but there are time consuming bits and pieces to be fixed along the way, too many and too boring to go into detail. All this endless detail does take it's toll though, I'm sure that it's going to be something special when finished but a 370Z makes a lot more sense. Anyway, pic shows it on it's Plan B wheels before being wheeled onto the hoist for transmission mount and tail shaft attention. Pissed off 280ZX looks on.

 

[260DET]

Had a few transmission clearance issues but over all it fits quite nicely, designing and making the transmission mount has been a difficult and time consuming process but it will last a lifetime, no rubber mount to tear away because of all the powah. Tailshaft will be approx one meter long so no two piece required, one piece is stock. Obligatory pics show the transmission mount in detail, last pic shows it all bolted up. That tripod drive flange requires an adaptor and the drive shaft itself has to be splined, glad that someone else is doing that.

[260DET]

A few more pics, the engine sump is low enough to be in the danger zone so the next job is protection of some sort, see pic 3. Checking with a laser attached to the diff pinion flange shows it pointing directly at the transmission output flange which is pretty cool seeing that the rear suspension and diff mounts are all custom. The first pic shows the pinion flange just  under the transmission sump. The rear suspension  has too much droop presently, note the angle of the lower radius rods, the design is for them to be parallel with the car grounded. No problem, it's all adjustable.

.

[260DET]

Made a sump protector, more of a deflector, out of 6 mm aluminium plate, it's nice to have a simple job for a change. In the pic the auto trans sump is visible, it's actually a bit higher than the engine sump so is not quite as vulnerable as it looks in the pic. Presently trying to get the required ride height and droop on the front suspension while waiting for other stuff, basically droop is adjusted by the length of the strut and ride height by the springs although of course both interact, that with the effect of the soft tender springs makes for some brain strain which ends up as a guess. Then drop it down, measure it up and try again.

 

[260DET]

Moving right along, engine and trans oil coolers are located as is the Accusump, couldn't finish the engine oil cooler system because no 12 mm hose available the downside of living in a country town. But progress continues, started hooking up the custom loom which connects to the GM engine and trans control unit, basically it's a  VF V8 Commodore system. For a bit of light relief the composite bonnet was sat in place to try to finalise vent arrangements, learnt from the 280ZX how important that is. The two rearward vents are already in place, aero decides where they go which is at the low pressure part of the bonnet, see pics. But I also want two vents to act as radiator air exits, that means they have to be located at the high pressure of the bonnet which requires a different type of vent, see pics for the the two  stainless steel ones just sitting in place. Could have a larger single vent centrally mounted but here that would require the air to do a 90* sharp turn immediately after exiting the radiator. Which may be OK given that the air there is going to be very disturbed and just looking for a handy place to go

 

[260DET]

All sorts of things happening, have started work on the interior electrics and the dash but the most photogenic part at the moment is the radiator and surrounds. The top front X piece, which would be the radiator support on most cars, was gapped to make engine removal easier. Original radiator was in front of that at a steep angle but that was not practical here. Besides the PWR radiator out of the 280ZX was known to keep the engine cool so it was mounted at a slight angle in the gap which was closed with a removable bar for structural integrity purposes and to mount two brackets which locate the top of the radiator. One part doing two jobs, I like. 

In the top pic the Accusump is located at the lower right beside the radiator and the two coolers are below, the blue one is for the transmission. Not a lot of space around the radiator and it's electric fan but so far so good, it's all looking quite tidy. For a race car.

Edited October 16, 2018 by 260DET

[260DET]

Up to the wiring stage and associated bits and pieces now particularly running wires, the interior pic around the dash area shows the Commodore VF ECU on the left with the electric steering control unit in the centre above the trans tunnel. See also the two not three pedals  the accelerator is a drive by wire VE unit. The ECU is really a Engine and Transmission Control Unit, one of the reasons for using the GM system which also controls the alternator. Had to buy a specific VF one which is in the latest engine front pic below, note the over run part of the pulley they use, also the ECU controls the alternator output in response to demand. Then we have a pic of the back of the car which is pretty self explanatory, just below the roof line on the left is the axial flow driver's fan for when we are sitting in the sun waiting to get going, air is sucked in via black ducting on the left and directed on the right towards the driver. That's about it for now, cheers.

[260DET]

On 5/2/2018 at 10:18 AM, Léon said:

Have you got your $50 back yet, Richard?

It was never about the $50, it was all about the way a certain person was taking donations for Performance Forums with no accountability. But as usual those who could/should have been concerned did nothing, piss weak appeasers. It's obviously different here of course, this forum is Gavin's and his alone so he is not obliged to account to anyone. Errr, well, perhaps to the missus 

Edited November 29, 2018 by 260DET

[260DET]

Colour scheme, the car is already snow white but particularly seeing that CB 2019 is going to be a major major event how about another red, white and blue paint job? Without the signage.

 

[Riceburner]

That would look great!

[Cozza]

Go the signage too. It looks great. 

I really like the BRE schemes.