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

[blakt out]

Awesome. Thanks much. No reason I can't make all three.

Edited January 4, 2010 by blakt out

[five&dime]

Hope to see you and the car at Mitty!!!

[mgmoreau]

Jared,

Seeing the time and dedication you have put into this restoration and now the results has inspired me to work even harder on my 72 Z refresh! Thanks for sharing this with all of us.

[Diseazd]

Jared.......Incredible job! If you're doing laps at VIR and Road Atlanta, I wonder if you know Dr. Bill Reed in Knoxville .......he holds some lap records on Road Atlanta in a Toyota. Bill just retired from racing. Next time I'm in Knoxville, I've got to see this car. One of our friends has an RB 26 Z. It's just incredible as I'm sure this will be.....can't wait to hear it! Guy

[five&dime]

I haven't seen the photos in a while. I saw your post about the Mitty at work but my dad and I are blocked from Photobucket.

I literally almost shed a tear I am so impressed with your car In my opinion this is the single most incredible Z build ever. Any generation bar none. Your attention to detail is outstanding. The grommets and custom brackets are exceptional. I love the clean wiring and plumbing. I need to get some of that snake skin for my 510 wiring!!!

You have one of the best Nissan engines ever paired with the best chasis in the best color!!!! It's exactly what I would want. I love our friend's 500hp RB S30, but I would probably rather have the SR in the S30 as I feel that there can be too much power Russell may disagree but he does have traction control and much bigger Kahunas than I.....

Edited January 5, 2010 by five&dime

[blakt out]

mgmoreau: Thank you very much! I haven't kept it a secret at all that I didn't do much of the work on this car myself. After the bodywork was so well done, I decided not to compromise on the end result. However, going through this has also given me an even rougher itch to build another myself! I might do it... But I don't want to think too much about ANOTHER Z project right now! So glad to hear that it's inspiring others too. It sure is me!

Diseazd: I don't know him, no. Hmmm. I just moved to Knoxville 5 months ago, but I'd love to get to know another motorhead/track rat!

five&dime: Man, thanks so much. I think you're being aweful generous with your praise, but I still appreciate it. As I said, I honestly don't "get" the RB swap unless it's just for bragging rights. My engine on high boost could make 600whp. More for the street is plain silly, and I doubt too many people are good enough drivers to handle such a light car with more. I'll leave mine on low boost (hopefully 380whp or so) 99% of the time, because it'll be a handful at that! I wouldn't be surprised if lap times are lower on low boost, honestly. So, the added weight, worse weight distribution, and more finicky nature of the RB just doesn't make sense. I see no reason, honestly, for anyone to ever use that engine other than emotional reasons, which ARE very important and I've made many on this build. But the negatives don't make sense for me.

I'm about to post some videos for you that happened today during tuning.

Jared

[whamo]

Jared, thumbs up for a very well thought out build and balanced car overall. The attention to detail is amazing and inspiring.

[blakt out]

luv24ds:

Thanks! Thumbs up for living in Vancouver! It's my favorite city in North America.

Jared

[blakt out]

Here are some vids. The first two are it just getting put onto the dyno. It's not dramatic, but I just love seeing it moving around under it's own power.

Then, here's a very early tuning session on the dyno. This run goes to 4,000rpm or so and is only at 7psi. They're having to totally write the ECU map for this thing, so it takes a while.

I got some clarification today on the engine power. I had chosen in the beginning of the engine build to have a focus on minimizing turbo lag as long as it put 380-400hp down to the wheels. So, the turbo I got has a sweet spot in its efficiency range around 350 or so at the wheels. I'm really happy with this choice.

Here's a bit of cool info too. In a little dyno run like you see below (only at 7psi, but run up to 4,500rpm) it put over 200HP at the wheels. That means this engine is really going to have great midrange grunt. We're going to double (or a bit more) the psi as tuning goes on. I'm excited.

[=Enigma=]

From the sound of the dyno run, the real power was just coming in when they backed off. It's not even my car and that gave me goosebumps. I know jealousy is a terrible thing but....

Edited January 6, 2010 by =Enigma=

[sleepyzzz]

Jared, you are welcome. but i meant every word. beautiful build, and one that will inspire everyone to take it up a notch or two for sure.

i see you are in Knoxville? i have several relatives in Maryville which isn't too far away. if we ever make it back up to vacation around Pigeon Forge and Gatlingburg, will try and see if we might hook up while we are up.

and one more event, you might consider, Branson Z fest. i am just thirty miles from there, and would drive up for sure to see that z.

[blakt out]

sleepy:

Yup. In Knoxville. Would love to show you the car when it's done! Branson Z Fest... I'll look it up to get some dates...