kamilitaryman

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That they are my friend! I just checked them out and it looks like the thread's been cut all the way through. Thanks for the heads up though!

I'm going to try to coat the calipers this weekend (Sun-Tues for me). The replacement seals won't be here until next Thursday. Thanks for checking out the build man!

kamilitaryman

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Fresh out of the oven!



I plan on tackling the front set sometime on Monday.

kamilitaryman

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Went to a local car show here in Buffalo, NY. 2nd last of the season. My friend snagged a good photo of my Z I'd like to share

kamilitaryman

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Front set is done. Sorry for the crappy night time picture with the flash. Either way it doesn't do them justice as they look 100x better in person Reassembly starts tomorrow!

Badboy619

Loving the red 😏

zakmartin

Nice job on the powder coating. Looks really good.

kamilitaryman

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Thank you very much guys! It took some time to get them done but I couldn't be happier with the end result. Here are a couple of pics after reassembly:




Not sure when I'll get to install these. I have a few things to finish up on my 240SX so these might wait until next season.

kamilitaryman

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Here's a quick video I took of the calipers to try to show the flake in the red. Not sure why, but the rear calipers look darker in the video, but in sunlight, they look to have identical colors. Meh, not too concerned with that

kamilitaryman

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The car overheated on the way to work tonight. It happened shortly after I set the heat on max. Pulled over immediately, killed the engine and popped the hood. Noticed coolant "spray" on the engine top cover, which looks like it came from the radiator cap. Also found coolant dripping from the passenger side of the car near the back of the front bumper / undercover area. The inner side of the passenger wheel, knuckle, LCA and some of the undercarriage also had coolant on them, most likely from whatever dripped off the undercover. My co-worker picked me up, we got some coolant, topped it off and I drove it to work. Went back out to check on it a few hours later and found more coolant underneath the car. It now looks like it was dripping off the undercover, from both sides of the car. This is the 1st time I've seen coolant underneath the car like this. When I did my oil change at the start of summer, I took the car for a spin to get the oil warmed up and didn't see any coolant when I got underneath it. So this seems like a new occurrence.

Now, here's a little background on this issue:

Back when I got the car (~103k mi.), I had issues with getting warm air from the vents at lower RPMs. I heard water "swooshing" under the dash so I knew I was low on coolant or had air in the system. I did bleed it the best I could using the FSM. I repeated the outlined steps until I didn't hear any the water swooshing sound anymore. However, I'm unsure if I did it correctly. I'll be picking up a spill-free funnel from AdvanceAuto tomorrow morning and following the procedure posted by Spoilsofwar to hopefully fix this issue once and for all:

1. Install spill free funnel.
2. Fill funnel with coolant.
3. Start car
4. Rev car to ~3k rpms, hold for 10 second, return to idle. Repeat about 3 times.
5. Open bleed valve, let air escape, close bleed valve when coolant starts to run out.
6. Repeat step 4
7. Repeat step 5
8. Repeat step 4
9. Repeat step 5

....On and on we go until all air is purged.

Some advanced tricks:

1. Park car so that the front end is elevated higher, or jack up front end. This helps air escape easier.
2. Squeeze the upper coolant hose repeatedly, you will see air bubbles coming up thru the spill free funnel. Rev engine as described above, and repeat upper radiator hose squeezing. Continue until no air comes up into the funnel.
3. Drive the car around for a while. Allow car to cool all the way down. Now repeat this whole process - if you get no more air you are done. If you get air, you need to keep bleeding.

The car is nearly at 110k mi. so I'm not sure if it's the air in the coolant or something else going due to the age of the car. I'm hoping it's just air in the system. What do you guys think? I'm also curious what caused the radiator cap to spray coolant like it did.

Update:

Did some reading, check out post #33 (last post) regarding the rad cap and overall similar experience:

https://my350z.com/forum/maintenance...l#post10690897

kamilitaryman

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So I charmed the service writer at a local Nissan dealership and had her cough up some good knowledge for me. Apparently there was a service bulletin released back in 2004 about 1999+ later year Nissans having issues with coolant systems due to a swollen seal on the radiator cap! Basically, if the seal is swollen and covers the diameter of its backing plate, it should be replaced. This condition will cause air to enter the system as the cap is not venting properly. The system will also lose coolant. Take a look at the two photos I took. You can see the difference and it's this millimeter of rubber that caused a lot of people headaches. No wonder so many owners here had this issue.

Good cap:



Baaaaad cap:

kamilitaryman

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Update:

It looks like my overheating issues have been resolved! Phew! I still can't believe a faulty radiator cap was the culprit! I have solid heat in the cabin and the coolant temperature stays @ ~84°C during spirited daily driving.

My 240sx project is coming to an end as well and I'm already day dreaming of boosting the Z! It didn't take long for me to make up my mind either. I posted my motorcycle for sale a few minutes ago. If it sells, I'll be using that money towards the purchase of a single turbo kit! It's definitely happening guys!

kamilitaryman

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Update:

The car has been put away for the winter. Gave it a good wash and it's in the garage, waiting to go into storage. Since my announcement of plans to go turbocharged, I've been doing a lot of reading to figure out all the parts I'll need for this project.

This is what I've decided on, given the compression check comes back good:

-GodSpeed/Rev9 Turbonetics knock-off kit (w/ a legit TN turbo & WG)
-OBX headers
-OBX catback
-440cc Denso injectors
-Walbro 255lph fuel pump
-Haltech Pro ECM
-AEM EBC to keep the boost in check
-AEM wideband to monitor A/F ratios
-OBX oil pan spacer for oil return or drill the block (undecided)

I'm unsure on the current condition of the clutch, so I might take the transmission off prior to the install to check it out. Honestly, I'll probably replace it anyways with something that can hold 400ft/lbs.

I'm probably going to catch some flames for my choice in the kit but that's OK. Hoping to get everything started early April. I should have everything I need by then.

Erdem

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looks good so far..

that's a different route on the wheels as stated.. I guess that's the way to go for tracking

kamilitaryman

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Thanks man! I guess most people prefer the square setups for track days. I'm that guy that prefers stagger

Small update:

I finally got my hands on all the trunk trim I've been missing. A guy named Vital was parting out his Nismo 350 on one of the Facebook groups I'm on. Also picked up a working driver side pocket box thingy, kicker panel, door seal and hatch struts off him. The struts were meant to hold the Nismo model's wing so my hatch goes flying open once I get it at chest level haha, still better than getting whacked in the head when you thought the hatch was staying up...

(Link's shield is random as fk)



Installed it all today.

kamilitaryman

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Black Friday was good this year! Picked up a bunch of stuff to turbocharge the car:

-Rev9 Turbonetics knock-off kit (got the one with a Turbonetics turbo and wastegate)
-ebay catback
-Walbro 255lph fuel pump
-Haltech Pro ECM
-AEM EBC
-AEM wideband w/ gauge
-Autometer 'Phantom' boost gauge
-Autometer 2-pod A-pillar trim

I bought a set of like-new 440cc injectors from a member on here a few weeks ago. Decided to skip the OBX headers and the OBX spacer. I didn't want to take a chance with the headers to avoid fitment issues with the kit. I'll tap into the block for the oil return from the turbo so a spacer won't be needed.

The install will start sometime in April!

kamilitaryman

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Well, I'm going to be busy come spring time!

kamilitaryman

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How she sits until spring. It's nice to know people with storage space

kamilitaryman

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Alright, it's time to dust off this thread and update it, as it's long overdue.

I got the car back on the road early April, drove it for a week straight and parked it in the garage to start my turbo build. So let's see what I've done so far...

Soaked all the exhaust bolts & nuts overnight in penetrating oil and the following day my friend and I removed the cat section, Y-pipe, mid-pipe and the muffler. Along with that we also removed the strut tower brace and the stock intake. Check out the impact extension stacking skills lol This was needed to get to the top bolts of the header flanges.






I also swapped out the stock fuel pump for the Walbro, but sadly my phone was dead so I didn't get any pictures of the install One thing I can point out is that once you cut those 4 tabs off at the bottom of the Walbro, use a dremel or a file and shave anything that was left behind flush with the rest of the pump. It will fit PERFECTLY in the pump housing with the retainer without any modifications to the actual retainer. I did modify the built-in regulator as well as the drain back nozzle in the bottom of the basket to the specified sizes and installed the basket back into the tank.

The following week, I installed the Z1 oil spacer w/ oil drain ports for obvious reasons You can see where I dinged up the pan a bit trying to break the seal as I was trying to get it off the upper pan lol A friend ended up lending me a seal cutter as I was afraid of banging the oil pan up.









I decided to not use the 440cc injectors I picked up a while back. Instead, I went with the Bosch EV14 @ 550cc. Took off the intake manifold and got them installed the same day they came in (note how cylinder 2 lower runner is VERY clean hmmm)





Speaking of intake manifolds, I had ordered a Z1 plenum spacer but a week after an opportunity came I couldn't pass up. Scored this beautiful Cosworth IM with some CNC work on the runners! The only thing I didn't get with it were the original mounting bolts. But a quick call to Cosworth fixed all that. I should have those bolts today!








Then came the power steering cooler relocation, as it would've been in the way of the intercooler. This mod was pretty easy and straight forward. The hardest part was getting the seal on the hose to break...what a PITA. Here it is secured in the wheel well:




Next up were the spark plugs. I've read about the dreaded valve cover issues prior to starting this project and my speculations were right...the spark plugs were soaked in oil. I've contemplated doing the 'hack' fix but in the end, I ended up getting new covers from RockAuto, made by a company called ITM (~$240 for both). After removing all the brackets and tucking the wiring harness to the side, they were fairly easy to replace. Driver side was definitely easiest. The passenger side one required me to pull the timing solenoid and a lot of swearing trying to get the rear left bolt back in....






I've read about a LOT of people roasting their A/C lines with the TN kit's turbo piping, so instead of trying to remedy the issue with insulation....I removed the whole A/C system. This will give me more room for the piping and provide better air flow to the radiator! Going to miss the A/C a bit but that's what windows are for

The 2nd picture shows a specialty tool for those stupid 'devil' hose clamps. It doesn't allow the prong of the clamp to slip off, which allows you to pinch and wiggle it as needed. It made getting those things off so much easier lol






So this is where I'm at currently! I did order an aftermarket oil cooler kit and an oil catch can. Stay tuned for updates! (hopefully later today!)

CFS_Z

Soo much good in this thread !

Bak3rme

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nice thread. what oil catch can did u end up going with?