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Decided to change the 2.5 inch downpipes to 3 inch and get rid of the reducer. Old downpipe on the right, new on the left:

https://i.postimg.cc/6q1T6w1m/PXL-20...-152117569.jpg

So here's what it looks like now with the 3 inch ones on:

https://i.postimg.cc/Dy88jJSk/PXL-20...-212946047.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/xjsX3yT3/PXL-20...-212919463.jpg

Also got some moulds taken of the bodywork so we can get various parts reproduced in fibreglass or kevlar and save some weight (plus go wider on the arches, as I'm not keen on the small number of existing wide arch kits I found)

https://i.postimg.cc/Y2VbyFdQ/PXL-20...-140845054.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/15k74F6y/PXL-20...-174102105.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/qRDjr64V/PXL-20...-190807228.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/yxwjgqDL/PXL-20...-211427465.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/MKQdkGLN/PXL-20...-220544319.jpg

For now we just got moulds of the roof and the rear quarters, as the rest of the bits like front arches and bumpers etc I can take down to the guys that did these moulds whenever suits me. Probably going to get the doors and bumpers done in kevlar, as on a drift car those panels get damage quite often so fibreglass isn't ideal

:tup:

I haven't seen a wide body kit that I really like for the Z. I'm eager to see how yours's turn out.

It isn't going to be anything crazy tbh, not sure how much it will appeal to other people but I guess we'll see :)

In other news, I got one of the wastegates on today and will do the other tomorrow

https://i.postimg.cc/N0NM4YBj/PXL-20...-145841865.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/fLpRGK34/PXL-20...-164750167.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/RhtZ4HfW/PXL-20...-175111189.jpg

Got the second wastegate welded on today:

https://i.postimg.cc/2SvkJz58/PXL-20...-154635490.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/kM1gR1Z9/PXL-20...-154438290.jpg

Oh and the oil cooler and power steering cooler turned up (actually meant to order the longer version of the PS cooler but this tiny one arrived and I'm wondering if it will do or if I need to swap it for the one that's twice the length). The oil cooler is quite large (34 row) because I had a 25 row on this engine/turbo setup when it was in the 350Z and oil temps did get a little high. Looking at the recommended size for oil coolers for various HP levels on one of the oil cooler manufacturers websites, they actually suggested an even larger one than this, but I think for the sake of space I'll try this one for now. Its not like the old 25 row one was terrible for temps, it just could have been a little better.

https://i.postimg.cc/zfrzY9Lw/PXL-20...-170353559.jpg

had a bit of a break from working on this over xmas... and then never got round to starting again:icon17:

Will get back on it soon when the weather warms up a bit, but for now enjoy some renders of the custom intake manifold that is currently being CNC'd.

The CAD work was done by my friend Bryn who you'll have seen in some of my youtube videos if you've watched any of those. Here's his IG for anyone interested: https://www.instagram.com/rearaxledivergence/

https://i.ibb.co/LzPMz1q/639ad42d-94...67f28b4ae8.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/bdJGFwq/311429a3-91...9e2ad301a3.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/DDfXrS1/2.jpg

The custom intake CNC work is now done and this is what she looks like :)

https://i.ibb.co/rcwp867/1.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/HP6HZ9x/2.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hcSxMjF/3.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/M5hhSDT/4.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/c3t937r/5.jpg

We do still have to make the flanges and tube that will mate the throttle body to that front face though, as well as drill and tap holes in those extruded flat sections you can see in various places (for boost lines and sensors etc)

Got the new intake on the car and all fits perfectly :)
You can see how much extra room we have at the rear and down the right hand side now there's no throttle body and pipework back there, which is good because that's exactly why we did it. Still need to make the small tube and flanges that will join the throttle body to the front though.

https://i.ibb.co/wBJf819/160110913-2...25038641-o.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/z4zqRxb/158595848-2...79116746-o.jpg

and it weighs basically the same as the stock one:

https://i.ibb.co/WnjrrJX/PXL-20210314-124943506.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/vjZ8hyh/PXL-20210314-125049024.jpg

These scales are meant for weighing an entire car, not small objects like this, so they're only accurate to 0.5 kgs I think. So don't read too much into the "weight saving" aspect of it.

Also installed the steering rack relocation kit from Parts Shop Max (helps with tie rod geometry on high steering angle used in drifting).
This requires you to cut a big chunk out of the stock subframe and then weld in the new part they supply you with. Unfortunately they no longer supply a template so there's a bit of guesswork involved. We did a very conservative first cut but then had to spend hours grinding away a little bit more and then offering it up again.
Very tedious but got it done eventually... only to then find that it seems to have been designed with left hand drive in mind (my car is RHD) so we then had to grind even more out to make the rack fit.

https://i.ibb.co/m4WHsj3/PXL-20210313-191341317.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/5r7XD2K/PXL-20210313-194651774.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/drky0hh/PXL-20210314-140344029.jpg

Obviously I've not finished welding it to the subframe yet but you get the idea

https://i.ibb.co/7WQB0Sb/PXL-20210314-170751889.jpg

Then just when we thought we were finished with that job, we put the engine back in and found the sump hits the new part of the subframe.

I'm sure a stock 370Z engine would be fine, but I'm using my forged 350Z engine (and also a spacer on the sump) so yeah we had to cut even more stuff out to make that fit. Not pretty but will tidy it up later.

https://i.ibb.co/4SW5Lzz/PXL-20210314-180457473.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/ZdLKnry/PXL-20210314-190020899.jpg

Cruising along nicely with the build, and then hit a WTF moment. It happens.

Leave yourself enough room on that cross brace to remove the oil pan without pulling the motor.

Question. Why the upper intake so big? With being forced, I thought you could make it smaller. Unless that size is needed for air volume.

The old intake is a DE intake. They suck balls for airflow. CJ Motorsports also makes one for the DE and had great success with it.

Yeah but theirs is massive, costs double what mine cost me to get made, and wouldn't put the throttle body exactly where we wanted it. I don't think the stock intake "sucks balls" at all. In fact most of the aftermarket ones made barely any difference from what I remember.

I made over 600 bhp on the stock intake with tiny turbos and had nice even EGTs across all cylinders. So that's why we just copied that design cos we know it worked well. If it ain't broke :)

EDIT: I should clarify the CJM intake is a full intake manifold, whereas ours is just the upper half (because that's where the TB is, and that's all we were doing this for - to move that). So its not really a fair comparison

That is a good point, will bear that in mind cheers

Basically didn't want to change anything just for the sake of changing stuff, as it worked well before and all we wanted to do was move the TB.

Also just asked my friend who designed it and this was his answer:

Well it's two parts I suppose: 1) because it's a wide flat shape with the ports facing outwards, the only way to make it smaller is to make it less tall, and we already know the clearance from the inside of the lid to the ports on the stock plenum chokes power so that's a big no.

And 2) Cos we didn't want to start guessing what the right size is. For NA bigger is better, boosted isn't really much different so how much smaller you can go, if at all, I don't know

Made a swirl pot for the coolant yesterday (as always, some of the welding could have been better but I'm a software developer not a professional welder so it'll do lol) :

https://i.ibb.co/8jTndSj/7.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/X79K2qv/6.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/QPdGTHs/5.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/jrC18jp/4.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/FgpY2Y4/3.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/t8h9fyb/2.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/GHN2T3D/1.jpg

Also got the rear radiator mounted and started making a proper plan for the water pump and header tank stuff:

https://i.ibb.co/TMB6nHj/PXL-20210403-142058845.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/X4JKm1S/PXL-20210410-172421154.jpg

Making progress. :tup:

Welds don't look bad. It takes time and practice to get really good. One suggestion. When you stop the arc. Just before you stop. Move the tungsten to the edge of the puddle. This eliminates the crater in the center of the puddle. If the weld is going to crack. It will start in the crater. ;)

yeah I do normally circle it around as I taper off the pedal, but maybe not as much as I should. All of my alu welds on the intercooler and intake pipework on the last build survived fine for the last 2 years so I'm not too worried... but feel free to say "I told you so" if any of these ones ever crack :D

Also made a diagram of the full coolant system - partly for me to refer to as I make things and partly for other people to refer to as I know when I searched I couldn't find much good info on how to integrate swirl pots, electric water pumps, and header tanks etc.

The swirl pot is not strictly necessary but after having some issues with coolant bubbling last year I'm taking a belt and braces approach this time lol also I'll still be running the stock water pump as well as the electric pump. The electric one is there because of the radiator being in the rear (plus nice to be able to keep the pump running for a while after turning engine off)

https://i.ibb.co/3W9CsD8/370-Coolant-System.jpg

I got about 100 yrs of experience welding exotic metals. I'm used to people coming to me for tips. So me giving tips on it just comes natural.