Kato Kids BMW M3 powered 71' 240Z

[240Z_au]

Reading this build makes me want to do another Z. This time, modern spec like yours. Such an awesome build mate. Serious passion right there.

[KatoKid]

Thanks Andrew, appreciate the kind words.

 

Had an uninterrupted day in the shed today courtesy of the abismal Melbourne weather. I had previsouly mounted the ECU to an alloy plate on the passenger side firewall but realised it was too small to include all the other boxes so I had to make a bigger one that extends in behind the blower motor which is missing in these shots.

 

This is the first go at putting it all together in the car including all the feeds the ECU and the EWS security system needs to see from behind the ignition switch.

 

Without the ECU and relays:

 

With the ECU and relays, still needs a bit more tidy up but if I had fuel and cooling systems in place I could strt up.....hopefully:

 

Beer time.....cheers

[CBR Jeff]

Looks good Dave.

It looks like there is room but once you start putting all the bits a pieces in place then get the heater fan fitted it's a tight fit down there.

My panel is a bit smaller as it has less relays etc and it only just fits.

I went for a ride yesterday, heading for the shed today :-).

Jeff

[KatoKid]

Car Builders sound deadener arrived so I need to make the heater fan more respectable so same gig as everything else....media blast, reco and paint and with the Honda fan motor upgrade installed!

 

[luvemfast]

Exceptional work as always Dave *thumbs up*

[specialp3]

Now that Ive got all the hardware plated I can start bolting stuff in for the last time.....fuel and brake lines first with all the nice plated brackets!

 

I decide to leave the engine bay brake lines in the natural zinc finish and painted the fuel and brake lines going to the rear in black. Looked at powder coating but blocking the ends and masking the threads was going to be an issue.

 

Brake lines finished.jpg Fuel lines 1.jpg Fuel lines 5.jpg

 

I went for a pretty serious Fuel Labs filter and had to make a bracket to support it, making sure it was pointed in the right location to connect to the fuel module.

 

Fuel lines 2.jpg Fuel lines 3.jpg Fuel lines 4.jpg

Hi Dave,

 

Very nice build. Are you going to cover the wiring harness tabs ?? I used heat shrink wrap and it came up very well. you can now but the parts but not much good after the car is painted.

 

http://jdm-car-parts.com/collections/body-exterior-parts-nissan-fairlady-z-240z-260z-280z-280zx/products/wiring-harness-holder-double-5-pc-set-6cm

 

http://jdm-car-parts.com/collections/body-exterior-parts-nissan-fairlady-z-240z-260z-280z-280zx/products/wiring-harness-holder-single-5-pc-set-straight-4cm

[KatoKid]

That's a ripper suggestion....will do the heat shrink for sure!

 

Thanks

[GongZ]

It is a great idea specialp3 and it looks great in your photo (as does everything else!).

 

Did you use normal heat shrink or the newer-style with glue lining? It seems to me that the glue lining might help it stay in place better and might help in forming a sealed end.

 

The only thing to be careful of, however, is that the glue lined type has a shrink ratio of 4:1 compared to 2:1, so you would need to size it appropriately.

It is also less flexible than normal heat shrink, but that shouldn't matter here.

 

The good thing about using heat shrink is that its pretty cheap and you could easily remove it and try again if you mess up first go.

[KatoKid]

Bling bling!

 

HPC ceramic coated, more for heat management than anything else, but it does look good.

 

[CBR Jeff]

They are sexy things. Almost to good to be used..

Jeff

[jeff43]

Bling bling!

 

HPC ceramic coated, more for heat management than anything else, but it does look good.

 

Coated headers.jpg

 

 

They are sexy things. Almost to good to be used..

Jeff

 

I don't think I could use them, Straight to the pool room I reckon, too sexy

[garvice]

^I'm sure he bought two of them.

[KatoKid]

Midnight last night I finished a job that I thought would take no where near as long as it did......installing sound deadening is not my favourite job.

 

Once I took the heater box out it was easy to get to the whole firewall but would certainly recommend doing this before you do any reassembly from a bare shell.

 

Used Car Builders based on everyones recommendations and couldnt really fault the product, easy to use but time consuming. I ended up making cardboard templates for pretty well each of the pieces I laid down.  I wanted to butt join where possible and didnt want to use a knife to cut once laid down as I didnt want to scratch the paint underneath for fear of introducing an opportunity for rust. Would have been much faster if I did it this way but I wanted as good a job as possible.

 

 

[CBR Jeff]

Looks good Dave. What are you doing early next year?

You can come and do my car if you like? :-) But you would need to bring your MTB.

 

Jeff.

[KatoKid]

Haha....always looking for an excuse to come up and ride Stromlo...but think I will be busy

[KatoKid]

Most battery installations dont look so great and a while ago I came across these: https://optimatrays.com/ and really liked the clean and simple look....but it meant buying a not so cheap Optima battery to go with it!

 

The billet tray is a nice piece, well finished and comes with alternative fastening hardware. Just required drilling 4 holes in my battery mount bracket and using suiteably large washers underneath for security.

 

Fuseable links were also another important consideration given all the electrikery in the car and I wanted a neat factory look so rescued a +ve terminal with built in fuseable links from an AE82/92 Corolla at Pick a Part. Main starter cable is direct to the +ve terminal and then Ive got 80 amp to feed the original car harness, and two other links which I can substitute for larger amperage if needs be to feed the ECU and the twin thermo fans.

 

 

Ive got some ideas which Im trying on how to route make the cabling to the engine look better.

Edited November 9, 2016 by KatoKid

[jeff43]

Nice Dave, I like it, good option.

[Cozza]

Very neat Dave.

I figured you might have opted for the skull clamp though

[theremm]

Nice battery tray! I am currently using a small cutting board lol. This looks much nicer

[CBR Jeff]

Now that is perfect.

Jeff

[KatoKid]

Thanks gents, pretty happy with the way it worked out.

 

On to one of those jobs that should take 10 minutes and ends up taking an hour.....I needed to mount the DLC (Data Link Connector) which is the diagnostic port for the ECU. It needs to slip into a bracket that is normally part of the inner guard on the BMW..... which I dont have...... so I had to make a bracket.

 

 

Got the headers installed with all new hardware. First time I've done this with the brake master/booster in place but it wasnt too hard and certainly no worse than many other header installations I've done! Steering shaft is also connected between the column and WRX rack.

 

[mossy]

Getting close now. 

[Riceburner]

Engine bay looks awesome already Dave, Those headers!

 

What temp savings will the coatings give the headers?

[Agno]

If it's anything like the coating on mine the heat reduction is quite significant. I don't run a heat shield under my carbs and they don't ever get anywhere close to boiling fuel.

 

One word of warning for anyone getting ceramic coating though; it doesn't remove the heat completely, so instead of your headers being really f*cking hot your exhaust (and your floors more specifically) can get extremely hot without appropriate insulation!

[KatoKid]

Thanks guys.

 

Figures arent quoted (that I could find) but everyone says its substantial. It was this or wrap with tape so that made it an easy decision.