JLarson's build thread

[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.

[JLarson]

By now, we were into early November, and I had enough projects to keep me busy for a while. I knew my next procurement would be Long Tube Headers, if I could find any priced reasonably. I really wanted Motordyne, since they have the swappable catalytic converter, but I found a deal on Fast Intentions that was entirely too good to pass up.

They arrived still heat wrapped. I needed to see what was underneath, so I stripped it off, and sandblasted it at my shop. After talking with Rusty, I determined a coating would best suit my needs, and JetHot provided me with a nice red high temperature solution.

[JLarson]

Installation of the long tubes was accomplished in December, the week before Christmas, by the grace of the Craigster (who has a lift - blessed be his name!). 14 hour install time. My review is written elsewhere on these forums. Paired with the sound of the unresonated FI catback, I can tell you that I no longer felt it was too tame. Holy God. I set off car alarms, frightened small children, and inspired lactation in the unwary.

[JLarson]

I was racing the clock now, with a dyno tune scheduled for the 26th of December @ RT Tuning. My Christmas gift from the wife was 63mm throttle bodies. My in-laws gave me Z1 Bushing Inserts.

I picked up the z1 intake upgrades, and modified my crash bar using a sawzall and metal cutting blade. Welded it at my shop.

[JLarson]

Testing the fit after the sawsall cuts - I wasn't entirely sure how my fabrication was going to turn out.

[JLarson]

Welded, installed, and intakes in place! Ready for my tune!

[JLarson]

Dyno completed on December 26th! Results were about where I expected to be. Vince was also kind enough to give me my dyno results overlayed against a stock 370z to show comparative gains, since I didn't have a baseline.

334 whp / 278 wtq.

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by 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.

Side story on the installation of the Motordyne... As we were installing the rear canister, I was under the car holding it in place so the bracket aligned correctly. Megan leaned down to look under, while operating our rather torquey drill to fasten it in place. Overtorqued it, spun the drill butt into her lip.

She ended up almost biting through her lip. Few minutes later, she mentions to me she might need stitches after we finish. I hadn't seen the injury, so I look up and see blood oozing from this very deep and ragged looking gash. Prepared to drop everything and take her right then.

Like a champ, she says "No, we're almost done, let's finish my exhaust."

We wrapped it up, fired up the car, and the deep rumble fills the garage. Classic Megan quote: "I really want to smile, but that's going to just make this start bleeding again!"

[JLarson]

I said I'd talk about Zdayz 2018. I had mentioned in passing to my wife that Zdayz looked like a lot of fun. It also just so happened to coincide with our 1 year anniversary weekend. She startled me by being hugely in favor of the trip! So we planned our trip, leaving Thursday evening, and returning Sunday.

What a trip! We left around 4 pm from just outside Philadelphia, PA. By the time we hit Virginia, we were experiencing pretty constant rain, and it became painfully apparent that my rear tires were not holding the way they should (uneven wear caused by an alignment issue, as I discovered later). For the first time in its entire existence, my traction control actually came in useful, when at one point my entire back end broke free and almost snapped me out of my lane. (The good news - our near death experience was a good way of convincing my wife that I needed Pilot 4S tires. Thanks to Rusty for the advice!)

We stayed in an AirBnB in Roanoke, Virgina, and continued the trek the following day, arriving at Fontana Village late afternoon. For the first time, the Z was starting to look fairly common...

[JLarson]

Once we registered and entered a few raffles, we went looking for food. From stalking everyone on the forum, I recognized Madwi and EastWest hanging out on the deck. I wandered over, introduced myself, and they welcomed us warmly!

We spent the evening hanging out with JC Hammond, Zoren, JarBlue, Rusty and Mrs Rusty, DePointFive0, Madwi, and EastWest. Best group ever. Incredibly nice people!

[JLarson]

My plan for Saturday morning was to join up with the guys on an early dragon run. However, we awoke to light rain, and after my experience on Thursday with hydroplaning, I decided that wasn't smart. So instead, we hung out drinking coffee, and headed down into Robbinsville to pick up some supplies. Literally every road in this area was fun to drive. We spotted a couple Datsun's on the way back, but didn't get pictures.

[JLarson]

We made our way back in time for the start of the car show and parked beside the field. Walked up to the vendor area, and spent some time talking with Hotrodz about his incredible car. Met the guys from Fast Intentions. Great group of people!

We stopped by the Soho table too, talking a bit with them about their single turbo kit. Turns out, they can custom fab something for the G37x sedan to get around the transfer case... intriguing!

[JLarson]

Our quest at that point was to locate Madwi's car. I wanted to see that bad boy in person! So we made our way up the hill towards the main lodge, and happened to bump into the whole group. Rusty and Zoren showed off their rides. Rusty's custom fabrication is just as impressive in person as it is in his thread.

Madwi's car is similarly excellent, with a lot of attention to detail, especially in the carbon fiber add-ons. I was so impressed I forgot to take a picture I did manage to find JC Hammond in the wild, as well as Spooler, before we headed back down to the car show.