My 350z Build/Drift progress thread...

[richie_k83]

More tinkering, nothing that productive though. Have been meaning to polish the the wheels since i have had them, just never had the chance or motivation too.
Still, I stocked up on some Autosol, pulled the rims and got to work.

Not 100% perfect and was only really the inside barrel and lips that needed doing. Still, came up well.

Pulled the passenger skirt off too, just to inspect the sill for any rust and remove any built up dirt. Just something i noticed after doing the drivers side was how much of a dirt trap the skirts and front wings are.

Quick scrub and Zinc primer for any rusty bits, followed by a lick of stoneguard paint. Still solid, considering its a nissan!

Pointless task, wrapping the B-pillar trims in some naff carbon effect vinyl i found in the man cave.

Not too bad a job that lol.

Tomorrows job list. Clean, Tax and off for rear wheel alignment, see if we can get that rear toe/camber under control...

Drift day in 2 weeks. Just a nut/bolt check to sort before then and will be finally back out drifting.​

 

[richie_k83]

So a few days before the latest drift day, rear geometry was checked and adjusted.
Toe was sorted, which was the main issue, but still cant get the camber any less than 3 degrees.

Still, it was straight as can be. Only way around it is with changing the rear camber arms to adjustable ones, but that also means i have to replace the rear shock/spring setup to a true Coilover setup, which i just cant afford right now.

Moving forward to last Friday, I got the car on the ramp for some pre-seat time nut and bolt checks.
Decided to get the new fender rolled as all the others had been done, but in order to fit the roller, the Calliper has to come off. Nice and easy right? Wrong...

Lower Calliper bolt thread stripped out, leaving me with no time to sort it before Sundays drift day.

Shit out of luck and no Helicoil in sight, I almost called it a day. Until i found a couple of High tensile nut and bolts in just the right length to half remedy the situation.
Got them in with some thread lock and seemed to have done the trick, thankfully.

Sunday comes around, the car is fuelled and loaded ready for drive up to Three Sisters.
What a blast. Like, i know its just a novice day, but i don't think i have had so much fun in all of the cars i have owned lol.
The day went without incident, Calliper nut and bolt fix never budged and the car was brilliant all day.

Really happy with it, couldn't quite manage 3rd around Luna, but i guess i will get it in good time.

Already looking at booking the next day, so getting ready with an Oil/Filter change and an Oil Temp Gauge, as I had no real way of telling how hot we were running (and Sunday was a scorcher too)

 

[richie_k83]

Also put together a video of some runs, just as rusty with video editing as drifting

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[richie_k83]

Oil temp gauge is in, should help keep an eye on how hot the engine is running, since the last outing was a scorcher.
Wasn't really anywhere to mount it and the factory gauge cluster cant be stripped enough to accommodate it, so the dash cubby seemed like a logical choice.

Looped the cable/wiring in there, so it can still be used as storage if needed,

Fitting to the engine was simple enough, the sensor is in 2 parts, which fits right in place of the Oil drain plug. Oil and Filter was changed out too, so we are all set for next time.

 

[richie_k83]

Another Novice Day at 3sisters tomorrow. Car is loaded up ready, surprised i mange to fit so much into this thing sometimes.

Hoping for a dry day. Will be working on my line and speed i think tomorrow.
Will get some pics up soon, maybe another video...​

 

[richie_k83]

Friday novice session at 3sisters went ok.

Took a more experienced friend riding shotgun to show me better lines and entry points.
I think last time, i had nobody there to Throw in some pointers, so wasn't going as hard as i could or should be trying.
After managing a few decent runs, we attempted the bigger layout session, managing to fail in every way. Span the car, dropped a wheel in a ditch and broke my oil temp sensor...

Came away feeling deflated, but need to remember its still early days for me and i got plenty of learning ahead.

Got a couple of images of me holding it together though.

 

[richie_k83]

Discovering more damage after having an inspection

Radiator panel is bust on the drivers side, leaving my Rad hanging about 15mm lower on that side...
Patched it up with some steel banding and bolts. seems to have done the trick, but i don't think it will take another hit after this.

Cant even tell lol.

Also bent part of the Subframe, but its hammered out and still looks straight.

Threw a tow strap in there too that tucks behind the bumper.

With the front end up in the air, i decided to throw some rack spacers on it. despite all the rust, the tie rod and rod ends came out easily.

Cleaned up OK too, almost like new, cos I'm too tight to buy new ones lol

All done and back together. no idea if the spacers will make much of a difference. Bump stops have been trimmed down too.

 

[richie_k83]

Another job to look at, was the non-existent handbrake.

After stripping the back end down, its plain to see the issue. No friction material on the shoes!

Ordered some Project Mu D1-Spec shoes and new Discs. so whilst waiting for these to arrive, i got to work making a handbrake extension.
Thanks to the location of the handbrake and my Bride seat, its awkward to reach when drifting.

After acquiring a solid Polycarbonate baton, complete with handle, i chopped it down to the right length and machined the bottom to be flat, so it sits a bit more snug on top of the handbrake handle.
I could have gone with a hydro, but cant really be arsed with pissing about with brake lines etc.

To overcome the release button, i drilled a hole and used a threaded bar, with metal tab welded on the end to hold the button in when drifting. Works surprisingly well!

Pretty chuffed with that, lets hope it works...
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[richie_k83]

Started stripping down the handbrake parts, dont think they have been apart before looking at them.

Quick clean and lick of paint. Cleaned up all the shoe fittings, greased bits that need it and shoes are in.

New discs on and some PFC rear Pads too.

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[richie_k83]

Been a while since I have posted anything in here. Lockdown was pretty lame, with nothing going on, the car has spent the 6 months parked up.
Had a senior moment, decided I was going to break the car and sell up. Wound up selling the cage and suspension, almost sold the wheels, but did the dick move of pulling out last minute.
I did order an eBay spec set of coilovers to keep the shell rolling whilst i sold up, so now they are staying, till i have the money for some BC’s.
So, now that brings me to the current day, suspension is on the car and made the call to drop it, fit some stretch and space the wheels out a touch.
after looking at the setup, it seems the rears actually fit together to make a true rear coilover.

Put some miles on them to test and seem a fair bit better, although are still quite soft. I guess time will tell how they last, although for £170 a set, i’m not expecting much lol.
Decided to get some harder springs. Originally listed as 8kg rears, they turned out to be 7kg... After a quick measure up, i replaced the rears with 12kg and ordered a set of 14kg to replace the current 10kg fronts.

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[richie_k83]

Removed the chunky 255/40 and 265/40 tyres in place of some 225/40’s all round,

Got them bolted on and tweaked the ride height some with a 35mm drop.
pretty happy with the result.

Spacers to come next once i have measured up. Looking possibly 20-25mm spacers all round....​

 

[Satori430]

Have you had a chance to test the project mu shoes in action?

 

[richie_k83]

Have you had a chance to test the project mu shoes in action?

Not yet I'm afraid

 

[richie_k83]

Few small changes over the passed couple of weeks. Tidied up the front bumper. Been meaning to remove the front number plate and headlamp washer jet covers, so pulled it all part and got the fiberglass and filler out for some repair work. Also chopped out the grille fins, as someone kindly nicked the tow eye cover, leaving it looking crap.

Sanded and prepped it all,

Bodywork isn't my forté, but no doubt its going to get bashed around, so rattle can paint will do the job.
All primed up,

Never got an image of it painted. but came up fairly good.

Another issue i wanted to address was the wheel fitment. Sitting lower on stiffer springs, I wanted to bring the wheels out a bit.

Current setup is 18x10 ET21 Front and 18x10.5" ET13 with 225/40 tyres.
25mm Spacers all round did the job perfectly.

After testing spacers and wheels for a couple of hours, my current rear wheel setup will fit on the front perfectly with 25mm spacers. So the plan is for the future, to move them to the front. My old fronts will be re-lipped with a load more dish to fit on the rear, (once funds allow that is)​

 

[MR.T]

What’s the reason for going stiff springs in the rear? I’m looking for true bc or Hsd coilovers but something around 6kg on the rear

 

[richie_k83]

What’s the reason for going stiff springs in the rear? I’m looking for true bc or Hsd coilovers but something around 6kg on the rear

Only reason was because the coilovers are soft as shite, so trying to combat that with harder springs. Plus as its running pretty low now, so would help combat the car slapping the ground over every bump and dip.

 

[MR.T]

Ah got ya. Apparently the bc and Hsd ones don’t go very low. Hopefully 12kg with a 4-5kg rear will be alright

 

[richie_k83]

Finally got myself a decent intake pipe, although it's listed for a G35, it still fits just about. Was a tight fit thanks to the Mishimoto airbox, but its in and secure and the usual HKS quality.
Wrapped it in gold heat defence tape for added engine bay bling...

Bit of a deeper induction noise, performance gains would be negligible. Still, happy with how its coming together, just desperate for some seat time....

 

[richie_k83]

Ah got ya. Apparently the bc and Hsd ones don’t go very low. Hopefully 12kg with a 4-5kg rear will be alright

I am looking to get HSD true rear at some point. I was never expecting these ebay specs to be awesome, but they were incredibly soft, no doubt just because of the cheap ass dampers, but if i can get away with springs for now, they'll suffice whilst i gather some cash for the HSD's

 

[richie_k83]

Little update today, took the car for its MOT, passed as expected. Just knocked on a failing rear sway-bar link and split ball joint dust boot...

Also took delivery of a new cage. I sold the Cusco 6 Point a while back. I found the roof bars annoying, as i constantly hit my helmet on them when drifting, so went for a rear half Cusco 5-point cage, which bolted into the original holes nice and easy, with the help from my better half.

Also treated the paint to a full detail, which has made it look a million times better.

All spotless, ready to ruin on the next load of drift days I have booked up. Currently have 3x days in the pipeline. Three Sisters Novice Day booked for the end of the month along with B'Ham wheels a few days after that, then Pod in October.

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