370Z Drift Comp Car
Bought my 370Z over a year ago with the intention of it being a drift practice car to go alongside my 350Z competition car (built VQ35DE, twin turbo, 600+ bhp).
However, plans have changed and I'm now going to be putting the engine and turbos from the 350 into the 370 and using that as my competition car next year. I'll be doing weekly videos of the progress on my youtube channel but also wanted to document useful info and progress pics here in case it helps anyone else out. EDIT: Just put a video up explaining the logic for switching from the 350 to the 370: |
So here's what the car currently looks like after I'd done a load of mods with the idea of it being a practice car:
https://i.ibb.co/9sCGcM8/20201014-155626.jpg https://i.ibb.co/TtLVHtG/GOPR6054-00...0-Still001.jpg Here's some random progress pics of things I've done recently to get it that point. Installed wisefab angle kit: https://i.ibb.co/GRdsw0D/20200212-152750.jpg You have to grind a bit of the front subframe out for the offset rack spacers to work (although we will be moving the entire rack forward soon so won't be using the spacers then): https://i.ibb.co/y0ySS5d/20200114-193424.jpg Rear wisefab setup and dual calipers for hydro handbrake: https://i.ibb.co/54mzy7C/20200710-173542.jpg https://i.ibb.co/M1QfP5R/20200709-210546.jpg Got cage installed (not done by me): https://i.ibb.co/BL0Fb94/20190822-154110.jpg https://i.ibb.co/RhQTR3y/20190822-161949.jpg Weighed the car (this is with the cage and everything else on apart from exhaust): https://i.ibb.co/LdMsZ46/370-weight-...ust-1-seat.jpg Made a little line lock setup that we're going to use in the hydro handbrake lines so that I can actually lock the handbrake on briefly when I need to get out the car without turning it off and leaving it in gear. There is a locking mechanism built in to the handbrake but in my experience having this handbrake on the 350Z, it doesn't work very well at all. https://i.ibb.co/Yd6wYCS/20200820-162944.jpg https://i.ibb.co/34H15mx/20200820-185820.jpg https://i.ibb.co/pLhBLCw/20200828-173621.jpg Made a little oil cooler setup: https://i.ibb.co/F5DLjDt/20190608-144736.jpg Got a fibreglass rear hatch from and I have to say although I was a bit wary of such a large fibreglass part from a company I'd never heard of, it actually fits extremely well. Literally just like OEM fitment. Got it painted since this pic and installed polycarbonate window in it from here (also fit perfectly): https://www.plastics4performance.com https://i.ibb.co/RYQ5dkp/20200918-182656.jpg and yeah loads of other bits but I'm not going to post too many pics of that stuff because most of it will be changing now we're putting the forged VQ35DE and turbos in from my 350Z very soon. I'll post plenty of pics of that whole process here as I do it (and more on my instagram story here). I'll have a video up in a few days of the first practice day I did in it in its current state though so will post that here when its up |
So, the wheelbase is shorter, doesn't that bother you?
Also which final ratio are you goin for? |
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As for the final drive ratio, I'll probably stick with stock although I do have a shorter one on the shelf that I was going to put in the 350 at some point. At the end of the day some tracks are ideal for one ratio and some are ideal for another. Whilst shorter final drive might seem better overall if you don't care about top speed (which we obviously don't in drifting), on some tracks a longer ratio might mean I can just stay in 3rd gear for the entire track instead of a shorter ratio where I'd need to keep changing between 3rd and 4th. With semi slick tyres that want to grip up whenever you're off throttle and my slow *** gear changes, I want to keep shifts to a minimum :icon17: |
Got the engine out of the 370 today.
I found a thread on this forum where someone lifted the engine using the bolts that normally hold the intake manifold on so I went for a similar technique. Wanted some welding practice before I start making all the stuff for this build so I made these lifting points :rolleyes: https://i.ibb.co/72KwLZ4/PXL-20201022-173853155.jpg https://i.ibb.co/Px1XZXT/PXL-20201023-163934965.jpg Probably massively overkill but did the job and got the engine out (had already removed the gearbox beforehand) https://i.ibb.co/LZRLC22/PXL-20201023-180524812.jpg https://i.ibb.co/jJHbbMY/PXL-20201023-181448126.jpg Will be taking engine and everything out of the 350 over the weekend, then will put it in the 370 chassis and see if we're going to need to make custom engine/trans mounts or need a custom prop shaft etc |
Got the 350 engine into the 370 chassis today and it went relatively smoothly. Ignore the cuts in the lower aluminium brace - that's certainly not required to get the engine in but it just made things easier with the engine crane and we're replacing that brace with something else anyway.
https://i.ibb.co/ynspQxY/PXL-20201024-204102784.jpg The 350 engine fit perfectly into 370 subframe, still on the same mounts we had in the 350. The transmission mount from the 350 was nowhere near though so we had to grab the one off the 370 transmission. That still wasn't at the right height though until we swapped the rear section (the bit that holds the shifter) from the 370 transmission onto the 350 transmission, as otherwise that part hits the top of the trans tunnel. After that things looked a lot better but we did have to widen the trans mount holes slightly to get all 4 bolts through and into the threaded holes in the chassis. So then we stuck the 370 prop shaft in (think in the US call it the drive shaft) and that fit perfectly between the 350 gearbox and 370 diff. https://i.ibb.co/vdq9PGv/MVI-1729-00...8-Still001.jpg Oh also took the stock fuel tank and fuel lines out, ready for the Radium tank to go in later https://i.ibb.co/xsmD3qk/PXL-20201025-130145945.jpg Now we're onto trying to figure out exactly where we want to mount the turbos and route all of the intake and exhaust pipework so that we can do a bonnet exhaust. The main reason for bonnet exit is weight saving but also frees up space for other things under the car like coolant lines going to rear radiator, plus saves having to get exhausts back past the manifolds and steering column etc. Having said that, it is turning out to be a lot harder than you'd think because we're trying to fit a muffler in somewhere as well. The drifting series I compete in has got a lot stricter on noise regs recently so the last thing I want to do is spend months building this thing and then find out it isn't allowed on track and we have no room to fit a muffler without re making the entire turbo setup. https://i.ibb.co/RbvMQzv/PXL-20201026-170346925.jpg Looking at good ways to route the exhaust manifold through from the side of the engine up to the front, we decide we're going to move the power steering pump from the top left to bottom right and that makes life much easier. Obviously will be a bit of a pain mounting it and might need to add another idler, but not the end of the world. https://i.ibb.co/wNRDfFH/PXL-20201026-175529106.jpg So yeah, still lots of things to figure out but I think tomorrow I'll just start cutting the stock chassis legs and headlight bracket stuff out so that I can see how much room we really have. Obviously we'll replace the chassis legs with some pretty strong tube, but that will take up a lot less space. |
Made a start on stripping the interior out:
https://i.postimg.cc/SKJvCNxb/PXL-20...-165216311.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/h4939Ycv/PXL-20...-171438566.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/QM207Qzc/PXL-20...-222557803.jpg Also removed the ABS unit as I'll be replacing that with a brake bias valve: https://i.postimg.cc/TwbNN7bk/PXL-20...-185935038.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/L5MCctBm/PXL-20...-192636138.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/gksS76wP/PXL-20...-200604632.jpg Oh and the new fuel cell arrived :) https://i.postimg.cc/j2FWWXgb/PXL-20...-160458691.jpg |
Pretty much finished taking all the wiring out the front and rear now (ignore the random paint, that will be done properly when everything is finished, and most of the floor in the rear will be cut out anyway)
https://i.postimg.cc/SNTnxtgx/PXL-20...-184926329.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/xCfQH9CD/PXL-20...-172939846.jpg So now I guess I'm finally going to make a start on the turbo manifolds that I've been putting off. Last night I cut up the old manifold so that I could use some bits of it as a guide for now until new collectors and flanges turn up.... and yeah, its gonna be a pain in the *** to make everything fit where I want it https://i.postimg.cc/5t7JwZFX/PXL-20...-230457034.jpg EDIT: Video of me stripping it all out is up now if anyone's interested in watching me struggle and swear a lot :) |
Cut the chassis legs off (as we'll be replacing them with some tube)
https://i.postimg.cc/PxGfdYTr/PXL-20...-173403787.jpg Then I welded some 3mm thick plates in (which was a nightmare trying to weld to the very thin chassis metal): https://i.postimg.cc/FsGK0YgD/PXL-20...-193943662.jpg Also made a proof of concept for the front mounted throttle body we're considering going for. https://i.postimg.cc/qq4k3rNP/PXL-20...-212606903.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/DZqv00wQ/PXL-20...-211949777.jpg Ignore the terrible welding etc, it was purely to get the throttle in the right place so a friend can take measurements and make the whole top half of the plenum in CAD with the new throttle position. Then we'll get the full thing made from billet if everything looks good and the cost isn't too ridiculous. https://i.postimg.cc/CMkBnMQQ/PXL-20...-212502307.jpg The reason I'm keen on having the throttle body there instead of the normal position is because then we don't have to have an intake pipe sat right on top of one of the turbos and directly above one of the manifolds. Considering we will have the intercooler exit coming out of the top end tank, it makes sense to just have it go from that into the throttle body at the front with just one straight silicon coupler. |
Got a lot more stuff done over the last few days
Couldn't find an intercooler core in the right orientation and dimensions that I needed so bought 2 smaller ones and turned them on their side, then welded them together. https://i.postimg.cc/3xSWN0vV/PXL-20...-163303202.jpg Welding aluminium is tricky at the best of times but welding right next to these super thin fins was even more unpleasant. Eventually started to get the hang of it though and not melt them all https://i.postimg.cc/cHYJFDbG/PXL-20...-162948541.jpg Then one of my friends came and gave me a hand building up the exhaust manifold. Ignore the horrible looking flanges and lower parts, I'm re using the old ones that were ceramic coated and haven't taken all the coating off yet/ https://i.postimg.cc/prXgmr8c/PXL-20...-152940392.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/gJKCc8w6/PXL-20...-173651675.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/7hsj04nH/PXL-20...-214913587.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/d1vMK40Y/PXL-20...-223942207.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/q72fY94w/PXL-20...-184906491.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/SR6fbfjw/PXL-20...-193107617.jpg Oh and we cut some of the rear out https://i.postimg.cc/zDKjh8p0/PXL-20...-193037905.jpg |
Got one of the manifolds welded up fully so now the turbo on that side is mounted :) Still need to cut a hole in it and branch off for the wastegate before the turbo though.
https://i.postimg.cc/6TxNcGH9/PXL-20...-203712782.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/BZLLh9hy/PXL-20...-202517570.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/zDsL6t6f/PXL-20...-202535067.jpg |
Got the second turbo manifold welded up and tacked the downpipes in place today. Will make a start on wastegate and screamer pipe stuff next week once I get some more welding gas. Can't remember if I mentioned it already but the reason for the downpipes doing a 180 like that is so I can fit a small silencer in at the bottom before they come back up and exit out the hood
https://i.postimg.cc/rmdzC6pC/PXL-20...-234212206.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/mD0kmdzx/PXL-20...-234200230.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/KjBzwnB1/PXL-20...-234229956.jpg |
I love seeing builds like this. :tup:
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I wonder - would an X pipe or crossover do anything here? I assume the exhaust pulses would have been muffled by this point, post turbo, but you have the opportunity here for some noises.
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The other reason for not wanting to join them is because when everything expands with heat the two manifolds are going to try to move slightly further apart, so hard mounting them to each other at the front might lead to some extra stress on my crappy welds lol I know it would probably be fine, as other people do similar things with single turbo setups but I'd just rather not risk it when there's not much benefit to joining them. Oh and unfortunately noise is pretty low on my priority list because the drifting championship I compete in has got a lot stricter with noise regulations this year :( hence the funky downpipe design just so I can fit a silencer in |
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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 |
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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. |
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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.
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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 |
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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. ;) |
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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.
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Finished making the header tank today
Added a schrader valve to the top so that we can use a tyre pressure gauge to check what pressure the coolant system is at whenever we want. Also more importantly it allows us to pump more pressure in if we've ever had a leak or had to take the cap off for some reason while the car was still hot and therefore lost all of the pressure (higher pressure means higher boiling point so we don't want to run at just atmospheric pressure). Used some polycarbonate tube for a sight glass which should be ok for the temps this will see. I've seen some people just using translucent silicone hose for this but most of those are only rated for about 70 degrees C so didn't seem like a good idea to me when I've seen 120 degrees C on the coolant temp gauge in the past lol https://i.ibb.co/2PJFVn7/IMG-1990.jpg |
Got the new header tank and swirl pot mounted:
https://i.ibb.co/QF7dZBQ/PXL-20210424-231755870.jpg https://i.ibb.co/9wcYM9x/swirl-pot-mounted.jpg https://i.ibb.co/6rknbCR/PXL-20210425-001041314.jpg Also made a video explaining the full coolant setup if anyone's interested: |
Need a weld positioner. Then you can do one continuous weld. :tup:
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Slow progress recently but got most of the fuel cell cage/mount done.
My engineering friend suggested welding studs in for the bolts so that they can clamp down properly and not bend the hollow box section. Personally I think it would have been fine without doing that but I like to do things properly so took his advice: https://i.ibb.co/Ksxh7Yt/PXL-20210425-124058956.jpg https://i.ibb.co/fpv1cCw/PXL-20210425-124618274.jpg https://i.ibb.co/0mjj4Xk/PXL-20210425-125034721.jpg Eventually got all that welded together and started mounting it in the car: https://i.ibb.co/jWbhQ9M/PXL-20210602-164041955.jpg I know its a pretty weird and ugly setup but with the cage it wouldn't fit under the floor even if we had cut all the floor out. Then when mounting it on top of the floor I realised I needed a gap underneath it to pass an AN20 water line through. Didn't want to mount it out back behind the rear rad either because crashing isn't that uncommon in drifting lol and I figured I don't want my fuel tank right at the rear of the car where its going to be the first thing that gets hit in a rear impact. Anyway, one other little thing I got done was welding an AN20 fitting onto the adapter that my friend machined. So now we can use that as the take off point to get water from the engine to the rear radiator https://i.ibb.co/sjF23zv/PXL-20210602-145215652.jpg https://i.ibb.co/vVGDQdD/PXL-20210602-151016519.jpg https://i.ibb.co/1nk9PZL/PXL-20210610-165730924.jpg For comparison this is what that hard line normally looks like once you do the "pathfinder mod" on the 350Z which I'd previously done: https://i.ibb.co/yPvdQvw/pathfinder.jpg So you can see normally there's that round part that has water coming in from the engine block, but we'll cap that off on the engine side (as it is normally capped on 350s anyway if you don't do the pathfinder mod). Then we're just using that section of the coolant line as an outlet instead of an inlet now with our machined piece and AN fitting, which will then run off to the rear of the car to go into the radiator. Hopefully get the bonnet and bumpers back soon so then can finally start making progress on intercooler mounting etc at the front end |
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