Adam's 370Z Project

[AdamMD]

Hello all!

I recently picked up a 2009 370Z base model which is quickly turning into my new car focus/project. I'll try to outline the build and post photos as I go in this thread in case anyone is interested in seeing progress or offering comments/criticism/feedback.

Some background: I've had the vehicle for about a week now. Attached is a photo of it in it's current (well - as of a few days ago) stock state. It's an incredibly clean car inside and out; I was very pleasantly surprised by the condition. Has about 55k miles on it, clean title and currently registered in MD.

As for working on the car; I don't have regular access to a lift so I went ahead and purchased a Ranger QuickJack 5000 unit which is set to arrive in a few days and should help out a bit (I've got it up on stands for the time being).

Parts-wise, here's what I've got in my possession currently and am in the progress of putting onto the car:

- Kaaz 2 way LSD
- Complete Akebono sport brake upgrades
- 2 Additional Akebono rear calipers for a dual caliper setup
- Maverick Z34 Dual Caliper bracket
- Voodoo 13 CFR Complete Front Angle Kit
- Voodoo 13 Solid Subframe Bushings
- Voodoo 13 Rear Camber Arms
- Voodoo 13 Rear Toe Arms
- ASD 16" Pull-Back Hydro E-Brake
- SPL PRO V3 Front Upper Arms
- SPL Eccentric Lockout Kit
- SPL Front Sway Bar End Links
- SPL Rear Sway Bar End Links
- A.F.P. Adjustable Replacement Clutch Pedal
- Z1 CSC Elimination Kit
- DG-5 true-type coilovers from Japan (12kg front/10kg)

I've also got the following on the way:

- SPEC SN35PT-2 Super Twin (1100 ft lbs) clutch
- Injector Dynamics 1000CC injectors

And will be going with the AAM Twin Turbo Kit as well as their R-line Oil Cooler, return fuel conversion and twin fuel-pump setup.

In the not-so-distant future the interior will get stripped out and a cage will be put in. For now only the rear is stripped out and I just installed an aftermarket Pioneer NEX head-unit (Apple CarPlay is actually pretty neat! If only it worked via bluetooth...) so that driving on the street is a bit more enjoyable.

[AdamMD]

Will try to snap some photos tonight of the progress. Dropped the subframe out yesterday to install solid bushings as well as the LSD..

On the topic of bushings - any pro tips? It doesn't look to me like there's any way around it being a major pain the @$$, huh? I managed to get 2 of them out with a reciprocating saw + chisel and lots of banging, but it was not a fun time at all. So looking forward to the remaining 2 I'll have to tackle tonight...

Impressive cant wait for pics .

[TerribleONE]

Nice

[jaytirbhaw]

nice project, will you be drifting ?

[ufoz8mycow]

Originally Posted by jaytirbhaw

nice project, will you be drifting ?

Angle kit, LSD, hydro e brake and dual rear caliper setup? My guess is..... Yes.

In for progress!

[AdamMD]

Thanks guys! And yep - it will be setup for drifting. I'll get some photos of the disassembly progress tonight!

[AdamMD]

It's been a long night but some reasonable progress has been made. Ran into quite a few unexpected/undesirable situations but that's generally how these things go...

Let's see.

Started by dropping the subframe to make life easier; had quite a bit of fun removing the OEM subframe bushings... Looks like the trick is to cut the center (rubber) portion out with a wood-cutting blade on the reciprocating saw and then switch to a metal cutting blade for notching out 2 cuts all the way through the bushings outer metal 'jacket'. Then just banging on it with a chisel until you get through the metal seal and they drop out. Very time consuming!




Eventually got them all out and replaced with the Voodoo subframe bushings. I had left the bushings in the freezer for a few days but I'm honestly not sure how much that ended up helping. Still required quite a bit of brute force to get them in.



While doing this I also noticed something odd. Note the traction rods in the above photo. The driver side one is GRAY while the passenger side one is BLACK. Anyone have any idea whether this is normal? Some googling for OEM 370z traction rods came up with BOTH. I was able to find the gray one listed as an 'OEM 370z left traction rod' on an ebay listing while I was also able to find the black one listed on various nissan parts websites (the black one claims to fit both left and right). So what's the deal? Did the previous owner/dealership/someone mess up when servicing/replacing something?

(Suffice to say I'll be replacing those with SPL traction rods shortly at any rate). Moving along... Bolted up the rear Voodoo arms. I'm going to need a serious alignment after all of this.



At this point I ran into one setback. I had ordered an SPL lockout kit. All seemed well until I got to the last bolt. Look what they gave me...



Yep. That is the bolt as it came out of the box (well, plastic bag inside the box). Looks like it wasn't cut right or had already been stripped. Awesome! Ended up needing to use the stock bolt on that side. Pretty disappointing. I would have expected a bit higher level of quality considering I paid $68 + shipping for a pair of bolts and metal shims. Very lame!

While working on the subframe we also went ahead and fitted the Z34 dual caliper bracket...



Again ran into an issue here. Due to the design of the bracket it eliminates your ability to retain use of the stock drum e-brake. Pretty annoying as now I'll have no ability to leave the car parked with the handbrake on (short of using something to jam/keep the hydro e-brake in place). Pretty lame and also no mention of this anywhere prior to trying it out myself.

While working on these items we also simultaneously had (CAREFULLY) removed the diff and were intending on installing the LSD. This is where we ran into another issue - albeit this time it was my fault for not doing my research. Turns out you really can't press off the internal OEM bearings and re-use them as I had figured. Due to it being a holiday tomorrow Nissan parts is closed and the earliest I can get the bearings was Tuesday (assuming overnight service since the order won't actually go out until Monday).. That wasn't sounding good so I managed to source some which were in stock at a Nissan dealership parts department about an hour away. Will be going to pick those up tomorrow AM so additional progress can be made with the diff.

Aaaand then we went to re-mount the subframe to the vehicle. Figured it was pretty much ready and it wouldn't be too bad to add in the diff after-the-fact. Also wanted to be able to work on the rear brake akebono/dual caliper conversion and start connecting things up. Herein lied another issue...

Not sure what's to blame (leaning towards the Voodoo subframe bushings), but it looks like they aren't playing nicely with the factory subframe bracing/cross-members (I believe these are actually called kidney braces? I'm referring to the two support braces which are supposed to connect the chassis to the two front-most subframe bolts). Should have taken a picture of what I mean, I'll try to remember to do that tomorrow. At any rate - the subframe has way too much gap between it and these support braces. And the OEM screws are not at all long enough to cover said gap. (And yes - the subframe and all bushings are definitely pushed in as far as they'll go).

Fun times. Not sure at all how to address this one just yet.

Moving forward...

Threw the front upper camber arm on:



That thing is seriously gorgeous. Wonderful build quality! That said - it isn't all rainbows and unicorns with it.. Read on...





Angle Kit! I was very excited about installing these. That's since faded quite a bit. Honestly I've been a bit disappointed with the Voodoo products thus far. Here's what I ran into:

First item - in the instructions I see that I'll have to weld an additional bracket on to support the use of the factory sway bar. Not a huge issue as most people should probably be running an aftermarket sway bar (and I had every intention of doing so moving forward) but still - that should have at least been mentioned somewhere prior to purchase.

Next item - I was under the impression that these custom knuckles would retain stock functionality (e.g. use/connection of the wheel speed sensors). Nope. Again - never referenced anywhere but in using this kit you are officially resigned to not having connected wheel speed sensors and thus no ABS/traction/stability/etc. Also now I'll more than likely have to end up with a CEL forever. Yay. Understandable, I suppose, given the target market - but still a bit disappointing to hear no reference to any of this.

And the final disappointment: THE CFR Voodoo 13 ANGLE KIT IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE SPL UPPER CAMBER ARMS. Yep. You see - the Voodoo kit does not come with its own adjustable upper arms. So I wanted to replace my stock ones with upgraded, solid, and adjustable ones. Seems reasonable enough.

But nope. The CFR knuckle is literally designed with the assumption that the stock arm would be used. It relies on the 'play' in the rubber bushing at the top of the ball joint to fit into place. Super, super disappointing. You can try as you like to force a bolt in, but it will not fit. Sort of screwed here. I definitely want to make use of the SPL upper camber arm - so I guess I'll have to do some cutting/modding tomorrow to make it work. Not fun at all and I was very disappointed that there was never any mention or indication that I'd run into issues of this nature (I had even emailed Voodoo support prior to purchase inquiring about the use of SPL front upper camber arms since they don't provide any of their own. No mention of compatibility issues with them).

Aaand that pretty much concluded my evening, for the most part. Did a few test-fits and probably some other things which I've forgotten to document, but those are the main issues experienced today, at least...

[Rusty]

Back to life. Any more progress on this?