JLarson's build thread

[JLarson]

And then I met this woman! On our first date, she couldn't stop smiling when I hit the accelerator in the Z, and she loved the sound of my exhaust. On weekends, we'd work on my Z32. We went hiking in the white mountains, visited Switzerland. I proposed on top of a mountain. We bought a house, and sold her house. We were married 1 year and 1 day after our first date.

She urged me to take a look at a Z34 when I mentioned in passing that I'd seen some I liked, and when I picked out Magma Red, it was an emphatic YES from her. She was now driving my Z33 periodically. The attached photo is where we stopped by my parents' house on the way home, with my 2014 Touring Sport 370z. Very briefly, it was unmolested.

[JLarson]

First mod: Window tint. This was my first car with tinted windows, so I stayed legal - 35 all around.

Next, Z1 intakes, purchased from a guy parting out his Z.

[JLarson]

Z1 ported upper manifold followed close behind. While my intakes had been no big deal, the manifold proved a little bit more tricky for me, for 3 reasons.

First, I'm an idiot.
Second, the DIY on the forums didn't mention that the upper plenum has a gasket (as do the throttle bodies).
Third, the gasket doesn't actually fall out of the plenum when you lift it. That would've been a strong clue for me that I needed to transfer the gasket from the old plenum to the new plenum.

Started the car, and it died immediately. WTF. Sweating profusely, with the temperature in my garage slightly higher than the surface of the sun, I dissected my setup, reassembled it, started it - died again. By now it was close to 10 pm, the sun was gone but the heat remained, and I turned to the internet, eventually stumbling over a thread which provided the necessary enlightenment. Cursing my foolishness, I vowed to return!

TL;DR - I transferred the gaskets, and the car started. May your own installation be easier than mine. On the flip side, after 3 uninstall/reinstalls, I got pretty good at it.

[JLarson]

Fast Intentions catback followed. I found a good deal locally - $700 for a setup, in perfect condition. I'm fairly obsessive over details (hence my job), so I'd determined I wanted the gains from the Fast Intentions. I'd also heard good things about the sound of the exhaust. Those went on the car without issue, but even unresonated, they were a bit too quiet for my taste (and for that matter Megan's).

[JLarson]

Around this time, Megan and I started going to local meetups with a group called VQPhilly. Lot of awesome people, and this is where I met Craig, also known as the Craigster, and He-Who-Helpeth-Install-Headers. More on that later. Craig was running a built 350z with close to 700 whp from a supercharger that he'd modified himself. The sound of his car was like a freight train powered by all the fires of hell. It was amazing.

Megan really enjoyed the car group, and since she was in the market for a car, the next logical step was to find her one that suited her more practical desires!

[JLarson]

The solution was a G37x sedan. Yes, I know a coupe is way more sexy. Yes, I did try and argue in favor of that. But she wanted an AWD sedan, with real passenger space, not just seating for leg amputees. We drove this home the same day Mike (Socce) from the forums came to do some work on his car with me.

Mike and I tackled his intakes, upper manifold, lower manifold, front rotors, and oil cooler before we ran out of time. We did run into a few hiccups - he'd been sold Stillen Gen3 intakes from a G37, not from a 370z, and we didn't have the tools to modify them for his use. He kindly sold them to us, so my wife had intakes on her vehicle the first week of use. She did have a few moments of panic when I pulled out the dremel to cut the rad supports to make room, but this subsided.

[JLarson]

Although the G37x was mostly suitable for Megan, she did find herself missing the roar of the exhaust on my 350z.

So her birthday present was something a bit special.