Ok, so my car is already undergoing another makeover and I have decided to enlist the help of the forums on picking some of my parts. Here is what it looks like now...




First off, I will tell you what I already know is going on the car and that is Autotecnik CF Mirrors, and an authentic C-West N1 body kit. I chose the kit because it is actually functional, and is one of my favorite looking kits. I chose the mirrors because they to are functional, not only in weight savings, but in visibility. I mainly want them for when I am entering a track that is "hot" meaning there are already cars going full race speed on it. When I am strapped in the car with my 5-point harnesses, helmet, and HANS device, I have only my side mirrors to rely on to see if and cars are coming as I am entering the track. The Autotecnik mirrors provide a much wider view off of the sides of the car.

Examples:

Kallusive350Z^^^I hope you don't mind me using your pic. Let me know if you want it off.



And yes, I will also eventually be adding the GT Wing, but custom mounting it so it can be removed when I am not on a high speed track. I don't like the way they look either, but it is very functional at places like Cal Speedway where speeds are in exess of 170mph.

Now here comes the first question...Since the body kit will need a paint job, should I change the color of my car? Should I paint the kit Chrome Silver like my car, but have them do the hood and hatch as well so its all one color again? Or should I leave the hood, hatch, and mirrors carbon and paint the kit Chrome Silver to match the car now?

Next question...I will need to re-arrange my sponsor decals. The VRT decals will stay where they are because I like them. How should I arrange the rest? I would rather not do a door roll call. What are some other original ideas? I have run out of room on the current setup.

Third question, and a big one. Who out there makes 18" x 9.5" +30 as well as 18" x 10" +30 or +27 in the same wheel style? I am currently running 18" x 9.5" +30 Nismos all around, but that width isn't ideal for my 315 rear tire. It works, but I would rather have a wider rear rim. I need a second set or wheels to mount full race slicks on and then continue to use my Nismos for R-Compound radials. If all else fails, I will order a set of 18" x 9.5" +30 Work Emotion CRs, and then powdercoat those flat black.

And last but not least, I have pretty much limited myself to silver and flat black for the colors of my car. Should I throw in another color like red? Yellow? Blue? Green? What about getting rid of the flat black all together and doing silver, gunmetal, and red?

 

great to see your continuing to evolve your Z. I think I still have that feature of your Z in modified mag in my bathroom to answer your questions in my humble opinion:

1. I vote for leaving the hood, hatch and mirrors carbon and paint matching the body kit

2. I always liked when decals were tapered down the front or rear fenders. in your case it might look good to just have them tapered down the rear fender right underneath the VRT decal.

3.I like the idea of going flat black. it really gives off that "I'm not ******* around" look at a track and would blend well if you decided to keep the hood, hatch, mirrors cf. on the other hand you might have a harder time getting exposure in magazines and such since black cars are the least desired by publishers for their lack of showing contours. I think either way your car will look hot.

 

I like the silver too. I'd keep the CF CF and paint match the rest. It will look more go than show this way. Any other color...other than black would make it look like a show car w/ that bodykit IMO.

lol. I have the same Modified Mag w/ your car in it. badass man....badass. I like how you and some of your club members had the stripping party.

 

I like it the way it is

 

+1

How about kinesis or fikse?? What kind of budget are you on?

 

I would keep the car silver; paint the hatch; paint all the hood exept leave the vents unpainted. Keep the mirrors unpainted. Find a c/f rear spoiler to put on OFF the track, like the Evo-R Nismo Ver. 2 style with c/f center or a c/f Nismo Ver. 1.

 

For wheels I would look at SSR Comp's. I know they come in those widths but, not sure about the offset, plus there pretty light.

I know TE-37's come in pretty much everthing. The new SSR's in anthracite would look pretty nice though!

 

Go flat black. For wheels, just have the Nismo's widened. That would be about as bad *** as it gets. The car is really progressing nicely.

 

^^^yeah you could just widen the rears by 1/2". take a look at this post.

https://my350z.com/forum/pacific/203943-making-it-wide-2.html

 

Thanks guys! So it looks like the consensus is to keep the CF/Silver thing going. Thats what I was leaning towards anyway since its the cheapest and still looks bad ***.

roast - I will take a look at those kinesis or fiske wheels.

zillinois - I thought widened wheels lose their strength? If not, that will definately be the way to go!

 

I like the CF/silver theme. Love the car!

 

Thanks Fletch! I got one of the mirrors installed last night and it looks pretty sick. C-West says they only have the front and rear bumpers to send me right now, so I hope to have those on by HIN Las Vegas on September 9th. The side skirts and canards should hopefully be in from Japan by then as well.

I start moving into a new house this weekend and on top of that, I have a wedding, a birthday/family reunion, and a Z/G Drift day that take up the rest of my weekends in August. So I am guessing that, aside from the mirrors, I won't be able to work on my car at all until the first weekend in September. When I do, I will be sure to snap a bunch of pictures. For now, I will snap one or two when I install the other mirror next week.

On another note, I have been having some heat issues with my car at the track over the summer so I have added a few parts to the list that will hopefully fix that. First up is a Nismo thermostat. I don't know how much this will actually help, but it is cheap and a relatively easy install so I figured I would try it. Its sort of my last ditch effort to control water temps. Next on the list is an Amsoil Pre-Oiler and Bypass Filter. The main reason for this is that it will bump my oil capacity to 12 quarts, which will hopefully help dispurse some of the oil temps. I got that idea from Eagle1's G35 . I was planning on Jet Hot coating my turbo parts as well, but that is being put on the back burner for now. The other plan is to take advantage of the C-West front bumper by moving the oil cooler into a place that gets more direct airflow.

 

Not sure how crazy or "racecar looking" you want to go, but here is a quick idea (sorry for the sloppy chop, and the red stripe didn't come out quite like I hoped. I just don't have the time to perfect it, but you should get the idea):



I have always been a fan of silver/black with red accents.

 

Thats pretty sick! Thanks man! I don't know about the design of the top stripe, but the colors look pretty good and I am really liking the idea of painting the roof and most of the side skirt. Maybe even get the side skirts in CF and paint part of it silver. Here's an even crazier idea...cut out the roof, but leave the bracing, and replace the metal with the Mastergrade CF overlay. I don't know if that would work structually though.

 

Yeah, I know about the top stripe -- it isn't the best, but I wanted to do something a little different and not so straight. The skirts would look even better with CWest's design (more stright lines).

I wouldn't worry about putting CF on the roof, though you could use Top Secret's garnishes. It would be MUCH easier!

 

Oooh, that looks pretty sick all CF like that. Not usually a fan of the stick on stuff like the roof panel is though. Maybe I would bolt it down somehow. The last thing I need is to have the top half of my car fly off down the straight away at Cal Speedway lol.

I really like the decal layout on that Top Secret car as well. I think i will go with something like that, but not as busy.

 

Something like this for the sticker layout?:


Also, I don't think the top needs to be CF, just have the painters use a close carbon color and no one will notice. Heck, they could blend it down the C-pillar if you really wanted to do it right.

P.S. You should get that lightweight rear window too -- I bet you could save a lot of weight.

 

1. mount the wing to a truss/brace underneath your hatch. its a track car, so.. its not like you need the trunk anyway. set it up like james chen did for his Drift car-



its installed via removable pins, so yes, you can remove the wing, but what's the fun in that? if you are gonna custom mount the wing.. BUY my TOP SECRET GT WING!! i'll give you good deal.. i'm trying to sell it cuz i got another wing...

Cwest kit: for teh win! it'll look sick.

Autotechnic mirrors: visability, eh.. kinda smaller than stock, but yes. wide view. however, if anyone knocks into it? it'll take for ever to align passenger side. i have em they're so so.. you might think about getting the APR mirrors and mounting directly to the door.

you should paint your car that lotus orange, ooh man. that would be hot.

rims? buy some CE28Ns, 18x10.5 +22s.. super light. super wide.

good luck

 

Rampant -Yeah, thats better. Your the man!

I do have the lexan rear window

 

LOL, Lotus Orange is a little too flashy for me. Those CE28Ns would not fit my 285/315 setup, the offset is too low . PM me a price for your TS wing. What wing did you get to replace it?