Did you have the spacer welded to the manifold?

 

Yepp. Since the upper is 100% completed with everything I want on it, I'm in the process of cleaning it up completely, unlike before... I really would like to weld another on, but the blox spacer REALLY keeps the heat out from the upper.

 

So is that now setup with a 75mm TB? I noticed you had the stock one before.

 

Hmm.. every Pic in this thread should be of my modded upper plenum.

I brought one of the uppers from 1cockyz a while back.. a link to the thread - https://my350z.com/forum/na-builds/6...maxima-tb.html

This upper, as of now..
- 3 inch,wider bend neck
- Evap barb on neck removed and sealed.
- 75mm TB flange.
- Removed 6 bolt post in center.
- Smoothed/flattened inside.
- All extra metal on the outside removed.
- Brake booster and vacuum port sealed.
- 8an fitting added on rear for brake booster.
- 1/2" spacer welded to upper.

That should be everything done to it.

 

Ah, ok. I don't know why i thought it was the stock TB.

 

Small update..
Routed wires more neatly behind dash, got the new HU harness wired up, and wired in the dimmer option for the gauges finally... Also took out all the BOSS wiring from 10 years ago and threw in new SKAR wires, while doing so, I routed all amp **** through the center, so all the nitrous lines are routed on the passenger side only + less wire.


Passenger and hatch full of freshly paied parts. I ****ed up and snapped the rings on the waterfall guages... Tried to strip the paint (since sanding wasnt cutting it) and melted them -_- .. I got a new waterfall coming in tomorrow, so I can take the gauge hoods off those. $150 mistake.


While going over everything, I found a tiny dent in the neck.. Started poking and made a small hole. I really thinned out the neck near the base too much when I first smoothed everything out a few years back. I had them weld over a plate in that section to fix the issue and prevent future issues... Welder wants to fab a new neck up, but I just wanna get this thing on already lol... The only issue I ever had was I did not 100% sand smooth where the ac ***** were.. Problem now fixed.

Pic of the hole I drilled. Waiting on more bit to clean everything up inside.


Pic of filling + sanding on the sides. Got 1 more coat to smooth it all out.


Thank you @Heel Til I Die for these parts at an amazing price!! Got the parts in. The box looked like it fell from a plane and ripped open by a dog, and the only issue was a small bracket being knock off. I'll count that as a win. Will use this stock intake for the dyno comp later on instead of the ebay intake.


I should have everything painted by tomo, so I can install everything over this weekend.

 

Dang! Sorry it got messed up en route! Shipping prices are already stupid expensive and then the shipper basically has zero regard for the care of the package. Hopefully, it still works out for you. I'll lodge a customer complaint that they need to fire that Rottweiler who handles shipping

In to see the actual results of the dyno comparison between the OEM intake and aftermarket.

 

No worries , had a few more packages from them and they were just as bad or worse after yours..


Have not made much progress overall..

1. I bought an 06+ center console, thinking the gauge hoods should be swappable.. Nope. They are shaped differently and the silver ring is actually metal as well.... SOOOOO got an 05- waterfall on the way now..
2. Waiting on more fittings for the -8an lines.

What I'v done...
1. All front interior items are fully painted. Just waiting on the center gauge hoods to put everything back together after paint.
2. Rerouted the nitrous feed line.
3. Removed the bushings from the fuel line bracket. Now sits much firther away from the headers and doesnt wiggle everywhere.


4. Installed the OEM led tailights. WOW are they much better! Polished them and then tinted with VVivids Dark smoke vinyl. (Very dirty, just like everything else.. Been doing a lot of sanding).


5. Since im stuck waiting on parts and I have redone the whole front interior, deceided to ditch the cringe symbols on the covers. Gonna redo them and leave em plain. Kick panels will be wrapped, since it is a high traffic spot.

6. Reinstalled all the coolant pipes and made up the -8 line for them.


7. Got the intake system back on for the most part. One of the studs ended up snapping off at the top while loosenging.. Swapped em with bolts. Pic of the side of the upper plenum. Very happy with how it looks like 1 piece now. Cut and sanded/polished the plastic spacer to give a smooth finish throughout... Paint is gonna be soft ofc, so washers ate threw the paint. Made sure to use very small washers to later be replaced with washers that fit the full mounting area, to cover the torn paint.


Ended up capping the driver side valve cover and venting the passenger (Wehrs filter, overpriced but actually is good quality). Z1 oil cap on now.


So, just waiting for parts to finish the interior and brake booster line... Found a CAT scale about 30 mins away to go use after everything is done.

OT - I attended Import Face-Off and dam, was very dissapointed by 95% of the vehicles there (for the "show")... The parking lot had better cars, not even joking. FL>AZ car scene.

 

That's why I don't go to many shows, I feel like those cars aren't "much" compared to mine. The bar is so low, it's slammed + wheels = show car, and those cars get all the attention with minimal effort.

 

i'd be fine with slammed n wheels if they were at least clean.. self tappers.. full inch gaps on vents to panels.. cracked paint/body work.. Bad welds (as in, first time using a harbor freight welder).. legit pieces of of the body hanging off, barely attached with double sided tape.. rust.. etc.. Maybe I expected too much tho?

Just crazy that people paying to have their cars judged were in worse shape than the parking lot cars.

On the positive side, you could get a **** ton of runs in on the strip or drifting. Kept seeing the same cars every 5 mins on the strip lol.

 

If you're from Orlando like your profile says, then that's 100% the issue. You've been spoiled by one of the best car scenes in the country.

That said, there are definitely some sick cars that I've seen from AZ. @bmccann101

 

Most my life in Orlando/Winterpark/Debary FL. Only been in AZ for about 3-4 years now. So yeah, I was use to seeing skylines/gtrs/every other civic modded/srts/350's on my daily commute (2 guys I worked with closely had a boosted hatch and neon srt, even lol).

There are 100% nice cars here, usually see them around the curvy roads... Been following Bmccann's build forever now.. He is the reason I relocated my CC to the dash, went with 'suede', and will be using a mesh on the dash defroster area whenever I decide to pull the main dash out again... Great source of examples, ideas, n insprtion.

 

Nice. I lived in Winter Park for about 5 years myself and loved it. Used to frequent the meets at Steak N Shake on Semoran and the Friday night meet on SR50/Orange Ave.

Yeah, I consider Brian a staple of the 350z community, and his newest build is really sick. Hopefully you'll be lucky enough to see that V8 screaming down the road someday.

 

It felt like there were meets everywhere at night back then. Will probably end up going back to Florida in a few years, my job is what keeps me here now... Probably will see Brian's z at a show once its 'complete',hopeflly.

Mostly everything is back in. Waterfall + trims.. Only thing not in is the cubby covers n kick plates. Havnt gotton to those yet. Sadly the shifter surround trim piece is a slightly different shade than the rest. Can't really notice unless you look for it, but ah well. Very happy with how much better the 2k makes everything look.



Getting this dam PLZ cheap head unit to work was a *****! No matter what, the sub had a slight rumble to it at all times, like it was getting signal from something. Another issue, the nitrous purge was making the sub BOOM lol. Checked all the wiring, everything is good.. Only issue I can see is that the relay is a ground trigger, and having slght feedback due to no internal diode and bc the shitty RCA connections from the new headunit? Tried the old head unit again, and it had no issues (the new RCA cable fixed the old static/signal issue the old headunit had).

Installed a Kicker line output and it fixed all the issues with the new headunit. Connected it to the rear speaker, now all my connections are in the center/rear of the car, except the power cable for the amp/sub.

All excess cables in this cubby ;p.


Saved 2+ FAT pounds with the switch lol.



Got the -8 line all made up n installed for the plenum/brake booster.



Everythign back together... Leak tested, only found a slight leak at the nitrous nozzle, fixed it with thread sealent + 1 thread deeper.. Did not test the coolant, hoping for no leaks.


Gotta upload the final tune (now without pops/crackles on the 93 map). Add coolant n bleed. Anndddd everything should be working again... Love how the coolant issue turned into so much more lol..

 

Cooling issues continued!

ISSUES! -
1. The flange for the driver side was warped af from welding... Had to sand the flange down for a while to get it smooth/flat. Leak fixed.
2. The bolt for the driver side flange snapped off in the block. First time ever snapping a bolt in a block. It realy did not feel like I used my force at all, possibly due to the warpage of the flange (before fixing it), is what caused it?...
3. Ended up dremmeling the very slight tip that was shown, n then used a flat head to get it out thankfully easily. (I put it back to show the location in pic).
4. STILL could not get the thermostat to open... I'm guessing this is what i8Cobra was taking about earlier on as well... Turns out the 2 refferences I was using for layout, 1 had a swirl pot and 2(GreenGoblin) had a bypass directly from the rad...



So, I got put this together.. Bought a generic DE thermostat, swapped in the Mishi, drilled a few holes (already did this before trying the bewlow setup, still did not work), n ran a T from the passenger line to the therm.... Everything seems great now, therm is opening and lower rad hose is hot.

Getting a -8an fitting welded onto the red T and on the HR thermostat housing on Monday to clean it up.. Coolant saga should finally be complete by then.

 

That's a lot of messing around, this is why I just leave the system be, not worth the headache lol.

 

Makes sense, but at least this is taking away a lot of fail points.

Coolant leaks continue!.. Ordered new thermostat gasket, 8an seco seal (May have fixed the leak with a reseal, but wont know till I bleed), and also some solenoid gaskets as oil is leaking... Guess installing the same part 10 times with the same gasket takes its toll ;p.

From the welder below.. I used the Mishi housing, he said he has trouble with how bad of a cast it was/thin, which is why its ugly. Its all sealed though.


New line from upper hose to thermostat.




I will say, even with the 2 small coolant leaks, I was abe to pretty bleed the system and dam its nice having the car warm up quick af.

scapred off the decals, sanded, and painted the cubbby covers. Very happy with em.



With the cae finally being able to cool correctly, I tried throwing on the 4'' resonators. LOVE how much better it sounds. Got an apt on Monday to get them welded in.


Got everything in for the brake upgrade..


Hoping to have the coolant leaks fixed Friday, weighing at a local cat scale on Sat, Weld in resonators on Mon

 

Lots of frustration so far...

Coolant system - Everything works great, reseated AN fittings and they sealed. The ONLY leak left is a slight one from the thermostat.. I shoulda have checked it before throwing it on, but it was ofc slightly warped. Sanded it smooth and should be good to go now.

Valve covers - So, I was checking the covers again, and now a diff cyl is full of oil after bleeding the system twice -_-...



I then checked more closely at the other ones, and even though they were dry, you can see oil on the brim below. 2 were full of oil. 2 had a bit of oil on the top. 2 were completely dry....


So, I went overboard and did this...





LEAK ON ME NOW *****!!!! Bled the system, drove about 40 miles, everything is nice and dry still. Put rtv around the edge of the gaskets, on top of the gaskets, and over them again with the baffle on. 100% a seal issue, some are loose, some are tight.. Maybe buying the CZP seals would elimite this issue?.. But it seems like this worked.

- I got the extra resonators welded on. Need to get pics n sound clips. Happier now, less rasp, rasp is quiter now too. Mainly only have rasp 2400-2800 on decel now. Doubt I can make it any better with it being an open dual NA system.

Weighed the car... 3120 pounds :P . (FULL gas tank).
End of the year I will weigh again.. Plan to make it a bit lighter.
1. Remove the 30 pounds of parts/tool bag I had laying in the car.
2. Get a 15lb braile battery again, still got my auminum bracket I had fabbed up.
3. Remove passenger seat.
4. Continue with lighter parts, pulleys,brackets,mounts, etc.
5. New wheels!..My rear wheel weighs about 34lb with no tire, 18x10.5...They are anchors... Looking at getting Konig Hexaforms.. Easy 50+ pounds savings lmao.
6. Will remove the n20 bottle (may as well, just to see).

Goal: 28xx lb with 1/4 tank of gas.

Sadly, the grounds were not the fault of the u1000 cluster code and the gas levels still read wrong. Just another thing to fk with later.

Next -
Bleed coolant, hopefully the last time.. Done it like 7 times now, thankfully its easy with the system i have now.
Finish the new brake system this week.
Tint next week (on vacation then).. Done putting it off lol.

After that, I wanna get the new pulleys on, oem intake tune, dyno.

 

Question about your upper plenum, as you don't have center post, do you have any deflection on the plenum itself once heavy load on the acelerator, just curiosity?

 

None at all. Even with the amount that has been shaven off, its still quite thick. The Kinetix V+ had some flex without the post though.

Removing the post had a few reasons.
1. Less spots for vacuum leaks.
2. Easier to install/uninstall.
3. Wont possibly crack it with the bolts/not worrying about the post spacers with a plenum spacer.
4. Looks better.
5. Maybe better flow/less weight lol??