blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Hopefully you're skilled at Mig Welding, seems like the Y will have to be lengthened quite a bit to bring it out far enough to clear the transfer case, then have to cut right behind the twin mid resonators to make up for that added Y length. Also those resonated muffler chambers might be tough to find room for w/ the sedan trunk but would be a nice setup if you can get it all to fit. Looking forward to seeing this come together.
Congrats on the new house too!

Craze

To clear the code why don't you get a uprev tune,I was told this will clear the cel

jfisher

Thanks!! I'm not going to be doing the actual work. I don't have the time or the space right now. The Y shouldn't be too terrible as it's what most guys have to do with the AWD cars. Just need to cut both pipes behind the resonators (red circle) and weld them to the front of the y pipe at the test pipe flange connection (blue circles). Essentially just moving the crossover back to the rear of the car to make room for the transfer case. :



The fun part is going to be everything behind that. As of now it just seems that the rest of the exhaust will be used for parts as none of it is really anywhere close. The helmholz mufflers will need flipped around to the other side of the mufflers completely, similar to the Ark.


All I need is this:



Turned into this :



The code doesn't affect anything besides driving me nuts having a light on in the cluster that shouldn't be. I may do an ECUtek tune eventually, but can't justify the big cost anytime soon.

I'm heading out on vacation first week of July and am really hoping to have my sport bumper in by then so I can drop the car off to have the bumper painted / installed.

jfisher

Sport front bumper conversion mostly completed. Need to work on the grille a bit more and order the lower grille.






I had ordered some paddle shifters off of a FB classifieds page for G's, but it ended up being a horrible experience. The guy lied about when he shipped them out multiple times and it came down to my threatening to file with paypal until he finally shipped them. Once he did ship them they were just thrown into a USPS bag without any hardware, missing two trim pieces and I believe the wrong color paddles.

The paddles look like a tan'ish gray color to me? Can anyone confirm if they made different color paddles? I need black to match my interior and I was under the impression they were all black:

jfisher

Got started on the BC coilover install last night. The rears are on and the height is adjusted. I still need to go back and set the actual shock preload. I do have the right rear clunk, but I think the shock preload will help with that:



I'm at exactly 26" from fender lip to the ground:

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Looking good JF, I think they do have 2 different paddle colors, that's too bad that you had a sour transaction there
G/L w/ the BCs, that set preload should quiet them down hopefully.

jfisher

Thanks Brad!

I was able to get some time last night to get the front coilovers on. WOW what a difference over the blown shock / Swift combo and really even over my old D2 coilovers. This thing handles amazing now. I am very happy. The preload on the passenger rear was WAY off, but didn't eliminate the clunking completely. It is VERY faint, however. I really have to listen for it to hear it with the radio off and windows up. I was really disappointed with the Hotchkis sways, but I think it may have had more to do with the blown shocks and struts. The car is setup great now with the Hotchkis sways.

I can't wait to get this thing corner balance and aligned.

kennyz424

iTrader: (147)

Those wheels look great on your car! Looking foward to what you have planned next for this beauty! Keep up the great work JF!

jfisher

Thanks! The exhaust is next

jfisher

Ever since I sold my 370z sport wheels I always missed them. A set popped up locally for a really good price so I scooped them up a few weeks ago, had the TPMS from my old 19's swapped over and swapped over the center caps. The 370z 19's are about 4lbs lighter than my M45 19's and it made a considerable difference in performance.

19x9 Front: Rim 23.2lbs With tire/stock 52.2lbs
19x10 Rear: Rim 23.9lbs with tire/stock 56.8lbs

I need to get a hold of my wifes camera and get some good pictures at some point, but here are some crappy iPhone pics for now:





I also picked up a Powerstop K114-26 brake kit locally for a smoking deal. I really wanted Akebono's and I may get those eventually, but for the price I paid for these I couldn't pass them up. My car has 109k miles and I have no idea when the last time they were changed. I bought the car with 93k miles. The pads had plenty of meat, but the brakes pulsated pretty badly. I was only able to get to the rears. Fronts will happen this coming weekend:






I ordered up the ijdm projector fogs and hope to get those soon. I have the lower grille for my sport bumper, but was waiting to get the fogs before I pull the front bumper back off and install everything.

I have an appointment on 8/15 to get the car corner balanced and aligned. I'm hoping these guys can give me some answers with these BC coilovers. They do a lot of high end road race cars and are by far the best here locally. I still have a slight clunk in the right rear like everyone else. I've been going back and forth with BC and they're recommending I buy new rear shocks and use OEM top hats rather than the top hats that originally came with the V1's. The V2's apparently have the smaller OD shock shafts and call out using the stock upper shock mounts.

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Nice score on those wheels, they look like they belong
Hopefully you'll get that rear noise ironed out, G/L, and nice job on painting those new rotors, that's what I do now too, makes them look SO much better for much longer.
Nice work!

jfisher

Thanks Brad! Car is going to Performance Alignment on Monday to get corner weighted and aligned. Hopefully we can get this noise figured out.

The fog lights have arrived. So far I'm pretty impressed with these. They seem very solid. Now I just need some time to pull the front bumper and install these as well as the lower grille insert:

TechnikSLR

the drop looks perfect

jfisher

It had to change unfortunately

Had the car corner balanced and aligned earlier this week at a well known performance alignment shop. They do a lot of road racing stuff and high dollar cars.

What a difference over a chain tire store...

These guys blew my socks off with knowledge. I'm glad I waited / worked in the lobby while they worked on the car as anytime they had a question or ran into an issue they came out and got me and showed me exactly what they were referring to.

Good news and bad...

Bad news first. The ride height had to come up by probably .5-.75". The car isn't anywhere near as low as I like it, but after seeing the lack of travel in the Z1 front upper control arms it just wasn't safe. The good news is that the car is now almost perfectly balanced and drives as smooth as it did when it was all stock. It looks slightly higher in the front, but the car is truly level. The ride is harsher with the BC coils and sways, but no more pulling to the left, unpredictable braking, slightly offset steering wheel and a rock solid feel. The car really is fun to drive again. I do still have the clunking in the rear so a new set of V2 shocks from BC will be ordered and I'll use the OEM top hats.



I did end up selling the ebay exhaust and ordered up the Top Speed exhaust as it's on sale right now. Later down the road I'd like to do up a cool exhaust, but for the money and simplicity it's just hard to not do the Top Speed. Hopefully it won't be too ridiculous with the OBX resonated TP's, but if it is I may have a custom Y pipe made with some quality resonators.

Plans I still have for the car:
-Install the front brakes
-Send back incorrect fogs and order new fogs
-Once correct fogs come in pull front bumper off, install fogs and lower grille
-Clay bar the whole car and wax before winter

That's really about all I want to do with this car. If a set of paddle shifters pop up for a good price I'd love to scoop a set up. The only other real plan I have for the car is an OEM front sport lip also. And maybe an OEM grille custom painted...

zer099

iTrader: (2)

Awesome work! I just went down the same road as you with corner balancing her; loved the difference. One question: when you were weighed how much gas was in the tank and is that with you in the car? Just wondering because your like about 250 less then mine, which makes me jealous. Granted I know I've added a fair amount of sound deadening but nowhere near that much.