24 months of intensive restoration, and I'm almost done.

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Ended up not getting a dime. Bought an Audi S4 Avant instead. I know. Huge difference...

But to update you all on my car...

Some parts came back in from being 1700 degree thermal coated silver.

The throttle body got bored out.

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The car’s going to be running next week, and will be off to the restoration shop, Miller Brothers Hot Rod Barn for final assembly. I WILL be enjoying this car next month!

So, here’s the status. The men at National Speed have done some amazing things here.

Finalizing the totally 100% custom exhaust…

There’s a ton of money in Black Horse AN fittings and such on this table… all of it totally & perfectly planned out. Nothing extra. Nothing short.

They made this catch can as part of a complete system that will keep evaporated oil from getting back into my intake. I’ll explain it more once I understand, which is not at this moment. ☺

750cc top feed injectors

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The Greddy fuel rail was blue. You can see inside the holes. However, that would really clash with the rest of the engine bay, so it was media blasted. It will be polished more before final install.

The stock plastic coil cover would really bring down the looks of the engine bay too, so they made one of aluminum. I love it. It really works well with everything going on. With a loud color such as the lime, I wanted to keep a polished/brushed and black theme with the engine stuff.

Here are some detail shots. Please remember that everything’s not done yet. Not everything is as tight as it will be, or as polished as it will be.

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The electrical goodies are all wrapped in snake skin and it’s all pretty darn clean so far.

And finally, the overall glory shots. Final welding hasn’t been done. They’re all tacked in there for fitment.

The guy who took this picture sent it to me with one word attached: “WIN”.

I about cried.

[gnosez]

I'm sure you have a lot planned for this car but I (and lots of other folks) would love to see you bring it to the ZCON event at Nissan's headquarters in Nashville next July.

Whether you care about trophies or not, this Z should easily take home a gold medallion.

A truly impressive, obsessive, and wonderful piece of workmanship. Wow....

Edited December 24, 2009 by gnosez

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Well thank you very much. If registration is open, I'll sign up now. I'd love to be there. Heck, I'll probably even drive it. It's just 2 hours away.

I have no shows planned for this car, actually.

Thanks so much for your kindness.

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So that the engine bay won't get filthy just from driving, we're making a carbon fiber belly pan to seal it all off from below. I think that's a cool thind to do. Thought of it tonight looking at these pics!

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The fuel system routed and completed (all that needs to be done is the rail plug to be installed)...

The fuel-feed line routed...

The injector housings painted black...

The inline oil filter for the turbocharger feed...

(this is not remaining anodized blue, it will be polished to match the rest of the engine bay)

Water feed, water return, oil feed, and oil return lines routed...

Taylor wrapping up the wiring...

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This…

Turns into this…

(notice the now polished oil-feed filter)

And this...

(this is a guide stay for the AN lines that are running forward for the breather system

Finalized shape/design and polished...

A preview of how the breather lines will be routed once finalized...

More AN lines routed.

The blow-off valve vacuum reference line routed, and finalized with its own source...

And of course, a nice line stay bracket was designed...

The vacuum reference point...

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The AEM electronic-boost control solenoid vacuum lines routed...

The wastegate/electronic-boost control solenoid pressure reference (on the turbocharger compressor housing)...

A few shots from late last night.

Chris (of National Speed) welding...

We hated the idea of having just a filter on the valve cover for the crankcase breather port (i.e. the crankcase and valve cover already have a vacuum reference on the turbocharger intake tube, the crankcase needs a way to breath in fresh air), so Chris built a breather canister to fit in with the rest of the build quality...

The bracket...

The back side...

The vacuum reference point...

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Chris welding the oil return hard line…

The oil-accumulator anti-froth reservoir...

(this component gives the return oil a place to convert itself from frothy oil, and revert back to liquid oil prior to returning back to the oil pan)

With the hard line finalized, and everything tightened up...

(unfortunately, no company we could find offers these -10AN female thread to -10AN female thread 45degree coupler fittings in black, only red and blue. So it is what it is, at least they're not visable from above, they're hidden by the manifold)

The valve cover and crankcase breather hard lines finalized...

(please note; the hard lines are not clocked to their final position, nor are the hard pipes finalized coating/appearance wise. The design stage is finalized)

On their route to the oil-separator canister...

(please note, there are two types of -8AN line used here, one was used for mock-up purposes, and matching line is being installed for finalization)

Every fitting and component on the underside of the car getting finalized, and tightened down properly...

The wastegate/electronic-boost controller AN lines heat shrinked (as not to deface the subframe from friction), and tied in place...

[kinfish]

Outstanding craftsmanship, attention to detail and motivation / perserverance to do it right!