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12:1 isn't common but nothing new. Plenty of peeps out there running it now. I'll be on E85 anyway so I'm not worried about knock and keen to see what it does for throttle response.
Re the head bolts, it's definitely not a cost thing. I've had enough of the veterans swear by Juke bolts (including Jon Parnham, Moncef Faik etc..) because they're torque to yield. The engine should still be 750-800hp capable, but of course I'm aiming for 550-600whp tops. Juke bolts will do me solid.
It'll be angry. I can't bloody wait I'm really keen to see what the ceiling is for the 8555 too, and hopefully I don't grenade it.
Yeah I 100% would've gone with studs if not for the overwhelming support I've seen for Juke bolts now. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with studs and if I was going for 900+ I would use them.
I had plenty of trouble (and still do) trying to keep the oil temps down on track. I just ended up putting the cooler in front of a the radiator with a pretty rudimentary custom radiator support but its still far from optimal. I recently came across the Mocal Water to Oil coolers which look great (also reasonably priced) and saw the RJN GT4 350Z and 370Z used it in their 24hr endurance cars. They can seemingly fit almost anywhere and don't need air flow to them directly, so I'll go that route soon enough.
As for fuel surge, I can't recommend the Radium FHST enough. Awesome piece of kit.
I'm fully invested in this build now haha, especially as my savings are slowly but surely growing towards my own 8555 kit soon. Can't wait to see what a weapon this thing will be post engine build
Last edited by Desert-Spec; 02-22-2024 at 01:59 AM.
I installed the Nismo V2 already which initially has worse cooling properties because the cavity behind the grill/bumper is so much larger and lacks any direction. I'm basically getting no air through my oil cooler. BUT I'm going to build some proper ducting and reposition the oil cooler and eventually install a larger cooler (and reposition) the SC traction oil cooler. This bumper will be much better once it's all set up.
I'm currently in the process of installing the CJM filter kit (nearly done) and while I was waiting on some fittings/heat sleeve and started on rebuilding the 370Z axles. First one is in great shape so fingers crossed for the second.
KWs have arrived but I'm waiting on new top hats and bushes (top bush on shock and the big rubber sucker for the spring)... I'm pretty astounded that for the price of the kit that KW can't just provide their own (at least for the shock) instead of reusing old parts? Even my BCs came ready to install without using any old parts...
RE the Radium surge tank, I looked at that pretty hard at that one. I think it mentioned somewhere that if you modify the venturi on the hanger then their system won't work properly which already means I'd have to replace the hanger. CJM is working on a drop in for 350Zs, like their current 370z hanger, so I'm kinda waiting on that to be finished. If it never happens then it'll be Radium for sure.
Ducting is a huge factor and probably would make all the difference here. I got to drive a friends R35 GTR on track in about 30C and never saw the oil temp exceed 85C with only its stock ~20ish row oil cooler and most importantly, extremely nice OEM ducting. Meanwhile, my front mounted 34 row Setrab...
That's funny regarding KW, I would have though the V1-V3 and clubsport kits would be ready to go. I've only ever heard good things about their performance though and I'm sure will be worth the investment on track.
Ah, yeah I remember seeing the Radium manual mentioning that. The CJM hangar actually looks arguably better by just the way the pumps are mounted tbh
Haven't updated for a while and I have been incredibly slack with the youtube uploads (over a year) but there's been plenty happening.
V2 bumper is on
Hood vents are ready to install but I'm going to wrap the hood and paint the vents:
I also picked up new-old stock of genuine Nismo V2 skirts, so that's happening...
And got some mint HR headlights
Last piece for the body is a Top Secret rep diffuser. Going to get that painted as well.
Taken delivery of all of my remaining parts for the build. For the engine at least. I'm going to get a set of Hard Race engine mounts (going back from poly) and adding individual header WBs, which means I need 2 more Haltech WBs to have 6 sensors.
I've gone back to a 3.56 final drive as the 3.9 was too short in 1st gear with 450whp. With more power it was only going to get worse.
I've now gone solid diff bushing with a brace. Had to mod the Z1 cover because I didn't realise the gktech brace was incompatible. Installed a temp sensor but realised the style I used was too long after reinstalling the whole diff.. I'll deal with that later.
I've rebuilt and installed a set of 370z axles and bearings:
CJM inline filter kit installed with billet line brackets:
Oh yeah, and KW Clubsport 2-ways installed They're amazing but I still haven't given them a proper thrashing yet.
And finally, I started work on my ducting. The first step was to free up some of the blockage from the crash bar. Cheap, quick and easy.
Next step is the actual ducting..
What's next? I've lined up a machinist to start on the engine work
Bore, hone, decked, align honed
Balanced
Heads decked
Full Ferrea +1mm valve kit (I can't sell em so f**k it)
I'm still building it myself so that'll be later in the year.
I've also lined up a painter that I mentioned earlier for various bits I'm getting painted. I'll save the colour/s for when it's finished
Nice, I feel like the V2 and HR hood will clash, any thoughts of filling in the lines on the bumper?
Also, about those axles, I've heard those push the wheels put further is that true?
The 370z axles are longer. I had pretty bad axle bind when I installed the 370z axles and had to space the hubs out 8mm so that the axles wouldn't bottom out with suspension travel.
That explanation makes more sense; the 370z axles are longer and are therefore prone to binding under certain conditions. Haven't found those conditions personally, yet. I'll know when I get a good mountain run in soon.