So had a free Saturday again finally. Called over Isaac (Aidenverse) yet again, but this time Mike Delashmutt (aka, motormutt) to help with the last bit of prep before we finally shot it today.


This required a lot of prep. Basically it went.....scuff...air blast the chassis.....vacuum.....scuff....air blast the chassis....vacuum some more...scuff yet again....air blast....vacuum.... now hit it the entire interior with a surface prep.....wipe off the surface prep.....one last vacuum.... and begin masking everything off for paint...then finally paint.


We start the day off with a scuffing since we already hit all the interior with all the sanding compound grits that we wanted. I want to say we finished off everything in a 320 grit before the red scuff pad were applied. I also spend an entire night grinding down all the sharp/rough edges that could catch someone's pretty little flesh when running over any part of the interior. Anywho, here we go.


Mike D scuffing it all down.



We start getting into more of the long other prep involved here.















I plan on cutting out the rear floor to basically make a box section in the floor for a fuel swirl pot, maybe a fuel chiller and few other items so I'll cut out the floor at a later date. But, being a perfectionist I still had to option out to prep it all even though I am just going to come in here later and either plasma cut or disc cut out a lot of this spare tire area.


Originally it was all covered in undercoating, which proved to be shoulder destroying to clean with sandpaper. So, we used out brains and used wax/grease remover with a few used red scuff pads and the stuff just fell off. After a few revolutions with this process, we came out with this. Reference the old pics to see how truly nasty it was on here.


About halfway through cleaning.



Finished.



We start wiping down the rest of the car to prep for final paint.



And now finally.....we lay the paint. We went through 9 cans total taking out time and doing it all right. I recommend hitting all the tough corners that are going to be hard to get later, first. This allows you time for those spots to dry and get ready for full paint lay on later. I like to start high up first on an interior and work my way out. This way I can lay inside the car shooting upwards and then get out to not paint myself into a corner (aka, stopping point). If you are doing a project like this, take the time to plan out the route you will use for paint. By just attacking it and not playing with the paint on other items first, you will not get the chance to see how thick/thin the paint can be. With this particular paint, I recommend a distance of a 12-18 inches while moving slow and steady when allowed. After everything....this is what we got.


Outside to cure.


















So, there you go. Interior is now complete. Now to give it a few more days to self cure and I'll install some interior back into it. From here, I'll need to do a few more things like install front windshield glass and reinstall the door/hatch as well before sending it off to get the outside paint layed onto it. Still up in the air on a color. I'll have to think of something soon though.


For now, I am beat and going to bed. Night.

Spent most of weekend up in Austin visiting some friends but had a little time Sunday to put some time into the Z. Mostly today was details, lite assembly and test fits before moving to other stages of finishing up the interior.

Got around to painting all the hinges and plates that I previously sand blasted.


All these things need to go in today or at least get a test fit as well as both doors and the Powertrix CF hatch.


Here is the interior as I began the assembly.


It doesn't look like much happened but most of the prep and PITA was getting the harness to run smoothly where I needed it to go. Later on, when funds are available, I'll try to have the body harness simplified for just running the essentials with a Painless wiring harness.


Moving on to fitting the dash and few other things.


Reassembly of the door's seals, hinges, catch and brackets.


Test fitting the door trim panels after chopping them up. Later the dash, door trim pieces and center consoles will just get a wrap in the same material. Thinking Alcantara to keep it simple and clean.


A mocked up idea of the interior trim panels that I will use in the dash and center consoles.




Lastly threw on the Powertrix CF hatch to finish off the day.


Lots more detail work to do and still needed some items to come in to finish up a lot of it.

Rollbar padding, Roll bar mating, the other Kirkey racing seat and accessories as well as a bunch of other small details. Still need to order some lexan so I can cut both the quarter glass and driver glass.

*sigh*

I'll keep you guys updated. Thanks for looking.


 

Got a few things in and decided to add in a few late hours to the car.

Had ordered these TRS from England a while back and they finally came in. These will be a weight savings replacement as opposed to the stock ones.

Just one of the stock brackets on the scale with the hardware.




This is the new TRS strap. Note the weight.




Installed.




This was the bar I had intentions on installing. It's a copy of the Do-Luck Rear Ladder Bar. I originally had it to add rigidity to the rear but later I plan on welding in a bar from cross member to crossmember to give the same result. So away it went. I'll probably throw it on the daily or something.




I received this ARC induction box from another member a while back. I love this air intake and was on the hunt for it for a while. This will hopefully find a place into my project or my other one.


Needs some cleaning.



After marveling over the induction box I picked up, I went onto detail work for the night.

From here I spent a lot of the night figuring out how the very few trim pieces were going to make their way back into the project. Originally this trim piece ran the length of the door edging. Since we run bars so close to the B-pillar I opted to keep edge guard while modifying them to fit. It's small mock up work like this that make for a good final product.  


Had a lot of small holes that needed to be plugged. Decided to put in some rivets for a cleaner look. Will use grommets to plug the holes where the Autopower rollbar was fit to.


At the moment I am still struggling with figuring out how I will make a door handle release to the door. The stock handle will still perform all the normal duties from the outside...locking and opening the door from the outside. But inside I will have to run a cable to something to make it work. I had an opportunity to sit in Steve Millen's GTR and noticed that he ran a similar setup without using a stock handle but a cable system. He said, and I quote, "it was easy. Not hard at all to do yourself." So with that nod from one of the Gods of Speed, I will attempt to copy it from memory.

Here is the stock latching system...simplified to the basics of course.



This a closer look at the system. The blue rod handle fits to the outside door handle. The green rod handle is the one that we will need to loop to.  The loop will need to run inside the door and come out somewhere mid interior door panel, so that I can pull it easily in case of a quick needed exit.



Lastly, I threw in the new Kirkey seat in for some mock up to get a few things figured out. I am sure I will be taking this seat in and out a few times to make sure I get it right.


Parting shot.


Nite.

Great write-up but please limit your picture width to 800px.  Thank you and enjoy!

Didn't have a whole lot of time to put into the track car this weekend. Helping a friend finish up his project and another finish up his home project...throw in a night out and going to see Jackass (3D) and that is a pissed away weekend.


Anywho, I had to put in a little time. Got a few things in so I installed them.


New rollbar padding came in. Picked these up from Racer Parts Wholesale. These are 45.1 SFI spec padding that are recommended by NHRA and SCCA as they are supposed to provide maximum energy absorption and won't melt under fire. These will be the larger padding that we will use in the areas that will most likely see my head crushing into them in the event of a flip, so we used them in a few key spots.



Up top. More padding will be installed later but a little thinner to allow me to see more out the rear view mirror. The new SFI approved padding is taking on the absorption duties on the big stuff. May throw another one of the SFI approved ones on that long length wise one as well.



Had to shave a little off of the outside to make them fit perfectly with the door. What could I do. *shrug*



Also added in a helmet hook in the rear for later. It attaches to the bar rather simply and would keep my helmet from lying on the ground of the car at track days. Plus, it's kind of cool in my book so that justified the purchase. Wanted one and it was lightweight so what the hell.



Felt like working on the center console a bit, so I mocked up a piece of CF with a aluminum reinforced back to give it some abuse-a-bility. Unsure of what we will do in this area, if anything but thought it came out okay. I like the rivet look so this what ya get. Going to plate off the mirror switch hole as well. Had to spend a bit of time throwing a compound buff on CF but think it came out okay all in all. Afterall, it's a track car so it doesn't need to be completely dead on immaculate...just functional...and cool never hurt.



Going to bed now. Thanks for looking.


***** sorry, last set in size over 800......resized all my new pics after realizing that these were too large. *****

Sorry for the lax demeanor in the build but unfortunately the personal life took over for a bit but now I have a lot more time and funds to throw towards the build. Actually we are moving very close to being complete.

Our main concern as of late is finalizing panel fitment, paint and starting to dive into the engine. The paint and panel fitment is being handled by yours truly. But for the engine duties we are relying on one of the best engine builders in the business in my opinion. There are very few things that Mitch @ EP Racing does not know about a VG. He has already began paving the way for the VG30DE, VG30DETT, as well VQ series motors into a place of unimaginable and previously unattempted HP ranges. Many of the top minds around the country trust in Mitch's engine building abilities. So we jumped on the bandwagon and headed up to meet Mitch at his secret shop location to go over the details for the powerplant behind Project LOWFATZ.

Vice President, Mike Delashmutt accompanied me on the run up to EP Racing just south of Fort Worth, Texas. Mike had a build of his own going on, so we drug up his motor as well as few other bits for LOWFATZ.

We arrived at the shop to find Mitch in his usual form...


Mike and myself quickly went to town to begin breaking down Mike's VG for Mitch to inspect. Here I am tearing into Mike's motor.


Mike looking on and imagining his block to become on of the many completed engine that are the artwork surrounding the shop.


Some of said artwork.




Anyone need a crank shaft?


These are little different though.


A work of art.




Complete motors ready for customers.


A set of race heads being ported for a Z31.


A little shout out.


A full Ferrea setup complete with titanium retainers ready for install.


The man himself going to town on a fresh assembly.


Assembled and ready for the head assembly in the "Clean Room".


Entire head assembled in 10 minutes. Amazing.


Me and mike shut our mouths for a few moments to go back to work on dis-assembly of Mike's engine.




Watching Mitch work is like watching an artist paint, it's that level of concentration and assertion. My hat goes off to him as a true engine builder.

Here is doing one of many assemblies he did that day. Note that this is the closest Mitch would let us get in the "clean room" (aka, assembly room), which is like a surgeons table might I add.












As well as doing assemblies, EP Racing supplies their own custom line of heat treatments typical to that of Swain Coating. The only difference is, EP Racing does them at a substantially cheaper cost. Something we liked for Project LOWFATZ.

Some examples of coatings that were going into customers other builds at this time.

Coating for the piston skirts as well as the dome.


A set of rods done up.








Okay, okay....enough about EP Racing....what about LOWFATZ? Where is the update....well. We got around to dropping off our block sometime back and had an opportunity to check up on it. This is our block.

Mitch took the opportunity to clean it up and prep it for us.This block will the basis for our build.


Another shot of the block cleaned up.


Also, we added a suprise to the build with addition of a EP Racing first. Mitch worked with Moroso to engineer the first 9 quart capacity oil pan. Which will also find it's way into our build. We will be adding on an external oil cooler which we estimate will kick us up over 10 quarts as a whole.

Here are a few pics of that beast. The execution of the piece is awesome. Great job my Moroso as they truly earn their name on this one.






While Mitch worked I tinkered a bit more with Greddy High Quart Diff Cover for LOWFATZ.

Dis-assembling the cover.


Deburring it inside and out.


Ran it through a few runs of the blasting cabinet.




Finished and ready for a EP Racing Specialty Heat Extractor Coating.


First round of coating the inside and then off to have it set by a nice bake with a specialty oven.


For right now, that is the first of many updates soon to come. Me and Mike would like to thank Mitch for allowing to come up and learn more about his process. We now have every confidence in him for his abilities to make our goal with our project. For now, we will leave the man to run his business.

Thanks again, Mitch. Now get back to work.

So, I got around to getting a little more done on the project.

Finally had an opportunity to get the new subframe complete with the SPL subframe spacers installed. This was a huge fuss. My recommendations for anyone doing this is take the time to grind out the powdercoat inside the hole or have them pressed in with a huge press. It will make your life a little easier. But otherwise this came out great.


While I was at it, I had another subframe recently finished for the daily. Came out good.


We opted for longer 60mm Nismo studs a while back and got around to installing them along with whatever else we could loose to further cut weight.


Note the difference in lengths. Huge difference.


I also went through the process of removing the rear rotor dust shields as well. I did not just choose to cut these off, but instead went for the opportunity to fully remove them to get every little ounce I could of weight savings.

The original shield in place.


The now assembly with the removed dust shields.


Took the opportunity to also get a little more clearance for the new rims we plan on stuffing under the quarters, with a fender roll. By fender rolling, we can allow ourselves to get more clearance as well as remove the possibility of sheet metal rubbing our precious new rubber.


Since are getting ever so close to paint, we thought we would finalize the instillation of the glass. After everything, we opted to go with the stock quarter glass windows and rear back glass to not allow the possibility of water leaks. The weight was negligable on the quarters but sadly added a few pounds back to the car. But, it was over the rear where we were going to need a little anyways. Hopefully this balances out as we still begin to plan out corner balancing out the vehicle. Anyways, since we were installing the glass my good friend, Anthony from Glass Tint by Anthony, helped out the project by volunteering to tint the windows on the project for us.

Here is Anthony prepping the tint for install on the quarter glass windows.


Another picture of the man doing what he does.


Here he is prepping the glass for install with a strong bead of adhesive/sealant.


Notice how thick it needs to be to prep for install. We took great precaution to make sure we had no leaks in case we end up at a rainy track day.


And here I am assisting in heating and getting the glass just right where I want it.


We will have a few other updates here shortly. We will soon be prepping for final paint as we have already picked up our paint. Also, we have some new parts on order for the build at EP Racing so we will update shortly with that.

 Great update!  I've helped a buddy build a Z32.... getting that damn tranny off.... 

 Sorry, it's been a while. With me and my local team hosting another Nismo Fiesta, time is usually turned towards that. Now that I have some time, I am turning my time back to the project.

*********************************************************

With any large project comes some bad news. My bad news was in the form of the rear subframe. The rear subframe that we purchased from a local club member turned out to be bent. Being bent, it would have thrown off all of the precise suspension angles we were hoping for. This was the powdercoated gold subframe, by the way.  I had done up another subframe for another project car, but in red. So we ended up having to swap all the subframe bushings into the red subframe assembly, which was a pain.

Our new subframe.


Some SPL Version 1's that we had laying around. Later on, we will upgrade this and everything else to the V2's (aka, Version 2's from SPL Parts.


I opted to have SPL Parts install their Monoball Bushings into our rear spindles. These bushings are the premier bushings available to the Z32 market. Although these can be on the pricey side, I feel as I always have, that you cannot beat quality and reliability like this. Note that these can translate a little more road noise to the vehicle, as well as vibration. But, for our purposes of an all out track car, this was the best option for us over any other aftermarket bushing.

The stock spindle with the bushings installed.


A closer look at the SPL bushings.


So moving on to a little more weight savings.....

Although the stock hood is made of aluminum for weight savings from the factory, some portion of the stock hood were obsolete thanks to the addition of the Aerocatch hood pins. Previously, we deleted the hood latch, cables and hardware. We recently also, opted to remove a few more pounds from the stock aluminum hood as well.

Started with removing a few sections of the hood catch. The stock hood has a steel catch inside of it, sandwiched between the underside skeleton and the outer aluminum skin. My plan was to cut away as much as possible while still keeping a little strength left in the panel. We have to do this process on two different hood. We have a vented hood and a stock hood for the car, usage depends on weather conditions, of course.

You can see the hood catch section we are opting to remove.


A closer look. Notice the rivets. This made it "interesting" of a removal process.


Another portion of the skeleton that we cut.


And another.


Our little pile of hood removal debris accumulated to another 3.1 lbs of saved weight per hood. We are still wondering if it was worth the extra 4 hours of cutting to get to this savings.



And now, just doing a few more little trick things to make life easier on us when we are stuck out at those hot Texas track days.

The stock Z32 for the US market is great for what it is. But one thing that I always hated about it was that if you were going to be constantly pulling plugs to swap them for any of a dozen good reasons, you had to pull the balance tube which just seemed.....well poorly thought out. Good but could have been a little better.

The stock Z32 plenum.


The J30 plenum was essentially our same plenum but evolved. It allowed for a balance tube that moved back the tube for a cleaner and easier access to the coilpacks. I always liked this idea, but one thing that sucks about the J30 is that it is riddled with brackets. From my experience with plenum polishing/porting/chroming, I had a lot of experience chopping off brackets and smoothing out plenums. So we applied that. Basically, our goal was to take the J30 plenum and use it on our project. Sadly we cannot just bolt up the balance tube, we have to use the plenum and hack away all the additional brackets and threaded bungs.

A shot of the J30 plenum.


A comparison shot. Notice the balance tube and then all the "extras" on the J30 plenum.


The J30 balance tube by itself. The X's account for everything that I have to remove.


The stock J30 plenum. Notice all the items that will need removal.



The stock J30 plenum after a quick bracket removal section. We still have much more to go on the plenum. We have to smooth all both the plenum and balance tubes out. Send the plenum out to Extrude Hone for it to get honed. After that we will have EP Racing put a thermal coating on both item to help battle heat soak in aluminum/silica cast plenum. More to come on this part as we continue to move on.


[SIZE="5"][SIZE="4"][B]And on to the fun stuff.
[/B][/SIZE][/SIZE]

Mitch over at EP Racing has a full plate on some amazing builds right now but still managed to get a little work done for Project LOWFATZ.

Our pistons were a set of custom one offs to generate the power we were looking for in an naturally aspirated VG30DE format. Something that has never been done to our knowledge. So, in a sense, we are writing the playbook. Compression is squishing at 12.5 to 1.


A few comparision shots of another AM TT pistion vs our custom NA pistons.



A new EP Racing twin piston squirter design that is finalized as of recent. Expect production soon. The design is set to allow maximum lubricity for both low and high points, hitting the underside of the piston as well. Previously the only cure for high hp TT motors looking for lubricity at the critical piston to rod point, was to utilize an NA squirter. Now with the new design, it improves upon this concern with one squirter aimed at this point and the other in the traditional TT positon.


I recently picked up a set of new tranny gears to have both coated by EP Racing and installed. The coating will promote lubricity and anti-friction. These are our gears after a few sandblast sessions awaiting the coating.


Now with the coating applied and freshly run through a few heat bonding cycle, the gears are cool to the touch and ready to go.



Recently we picked up a few different clutches, trying to find the right combination for the anticipated power. We were donated a few different clutch setups by sponsors. A vendor was nice enough to donate us an OS Giken clutch assemby. We are still unsure if this will make it into our project or not as may be overkill, but none the less it is an impressive assembly and we appreciate all donations.


Thanks to all for the patience. More updates coming soon.