blakt out

This is one of the coolest things anyone has ever posted about one of my builds. Thank you much. I am very, very appreciative of you. Just some pics that I wanted to share during this suspenseful time (for me) in waiting on the dyno tuning in the next few days. I hope you all enjoy them as much as I am. Check the breather separator/canister… The vacuum reference… Backside of the engine bay… The intake tube and breather/separator canister support bracket...

Randy: I'll be at C&C this Saturday, but in my S4 Avant. Hope to finally meet you there! Jared

A few more shots of the work thus far, it's about 98% completed, Chris is finishing up the fabrication work this evening. The valve cover breather... Driver side of the engine (i.e. where the vacuum reference location is)... Passenger side of the engine (i.e. where the breather canister is mounted)... Zoomed out a bit... Arial shot of the engine bay as it sits now... I love this shot…

I sure hope so. What are the dates? How do I sign up/register for the event?

No start up video, one of the guys grabbed the wrong camera when he was at home for lunch (i.e. the shop camera died last night, right before first start up. Thankfully, another camera was present, so we were able to get the video still. He'll upload it tonight when he's home). However, a few pictures from current progress: John finalizing the breather system... The custom coolant-overflow reservoir Chris designed... And of course, the feed line is -4AN... John designed a custom throttle cable bracket to relocate the path of the cable, out of the line of heat emanating from the turbine housing/downpipe... Here is the path of the throttle cable now; as you can see, it matches its curvature perfectly with the PCV line, it's rather easy on the eye... Two of the National Speed fabrication experts hard at it; Chris Polanski (President of National Speed, Inc. Stores) and John Faldzinski (one of our Performance Technicians)... She's wrapping up.

That sounds like a really cool car. I like the old school look under the hood too, but that wasn't the direction for this car. I gotta say, I don't get the connectoin between sentence #6 "The old school look under the hood really appeals to me." to sentence #8 "But I believe we can all tell by the dwelling in the background, you aren't strapped for cash." to the next few sentences..."Please drive and look after her carefully. If you want to race, go where everyone else is racing "THE RACETRACK" not the street. You will have some challengers but do your best to resist the temptation to put them in their places. These cars are very nimble but don't offer much protection in the event of high speed impact." Is it, guys that have a bit of money are wreckless? No common sense? I'm definitely not offended, and appreciate your post. But I don't get it all. Where did my financial situation fit in this? Did I say anything like I'd be wreckless? This is my 14th Z car. I've taken them apart and put them together by myself too. I just didn't on this one, because my goal for it, bluntly, is to have the nicest & yet most truly capable as a sports car 240Z on the planet. Whether or not I attained that goal, I have no idea, and that truly doesn't matter now. That was the direction I wanted all people involved working towards though. I'm a track car driver. I have put down some pretty decent times at VIR, CMP, Road Atlanta... So I know where to go to have my fun. I have the enclosed trailer and all that. Don't worry about me. This car started yesterday. First crank. Purred like a kitten. Today it's going to be on the dyno getting tuned. This is a 2100 lb or so car with around 380 (total guess) rear wheel horsepower and no electrical nannies. It's going to be a handful. I do plan to set up my own autocross track in a parking lot with no light poles. I'll learn the car and set up the suspension accordingly. I'll even possibly take it to the track after that just to see what kind of 7/10ths time I can put down in relation to my other times. Thanks much for all your posts. BUT, one more thing, don't judge a man's wallet by his house or his toys... especially in these times. I'm an entrepreneur. I did well for a few years. Now, I'm figuring it all out again. I don't have a steady paycheck.

Thanks guys. She started up tonight! Dyno tuning tomorrow, with videos of her on the dyno coming soon! Woo hoo! We're shooting for at least 380 at the wheels.

TWO WOWS. Wow, John. Thank you so much for that kind word. I actually got hit AGAIN on another forum today about the ugliness of the slip joint in the exhaust. It's hard not to feel... odd... when I get that from people. Thanks much. Good timing. Wow, Dan. That's amazing that you are restoring a car that you bought NEW. Fantastic! Thank you both. Jared

Awesome! That's such a cool story. PM me or email me at jcullop@vpi-advisors.com and I'll do anything I can to help you source parts. To post pics, go to Flickr.com. Upload your pics. Then get the link below your pic that starts and ends "". Simply paste that img code into your post on here and voila!

Thank you much!

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...

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...

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...

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...

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Thanks much! I'm actually rebuilding the L24 and it will be as beautiful as the rest of the car just sitting on a stand in the garage. If I ever want to pull out the SR20, it won't be a big deal. We didn't cut ANYTHING to put it in there. The decision for the SR20 was this: What is the best power that I can get out of a Nissan/Datsun engine (don't want to do a V8 or anything. I wanted to keep it in the family, per se.) How much power is enough (don't want power just for power's sake, but what the improved chassis can handle) - I settled on 380-400RWHP. Now, my options really were: SR20DET and build it, VQ 6 cyl from 350Z or so and build it, RB26DETT from Skyline and build it, or L series stroked and turbocharged. All will hit this number. So, I investigated power deliveries. The SR, being the smallest engine, will still hit the number with a very good looking power & torque curve set. Done correctly, it wil spool quickly and have very minimal lag. The others of course can be made to do this too, other than maybe the L- Series (just not as well as the other three). I personally just don't like the low rpm and trucklike sound/feel of the VQ, so that one was out. Down to the RB and the SR. The RB would have been cooler really, but why? It weighs substantially more, puts weight well towards the front of the car, and offers nothing more than the SR (within my goal set) other than coolness and beauty. In the end, I chose to take the lightest engine that would hit my goals and see what I think. If I don't like it, I can pull it out and sell it to someone with a 240SX for a song, because it's completely gone through and tuned perfectly by a very well known builder. This won't be a "woosh woosh" turbo car. But I wanted to modernize it a bit, while keeping the interior and exterior very true to the car that it is. It should handle extremely well, stop extremely well, and now will actually have the engine in it that Nissan SHOULD (in my opinion) put into it now if they were to make a 240Z again today. Just wanted to at least relay my thought pattern. I put a 350 in a 280 once and hated it. I felt so bad. It was like having a pretty lady come up to you and speak, but she sounds like a man. Don't want to start any negative discussions, but my err last time really made me cautious and contemplative on this engine choice. I think I made the right decision for me on this one.

I'm sorry for the vagueness. Someone on another forum told me (and all visitors) that the welding is amateur at best, and that he hopes I didn't pay much for that exhaust. It was a bit shocking. I have had the exhaust issue before on other S30s. Pretty much forgot though. So glad to be reminded!

Carl: Thanks much. I remember this being an issue in previous Zs that I've owned. Didn't know if it was because of bad gaskets/grommets/etc or what. I'll have them extend it though. We're ceramic coating the whole thing, yes. Thanks for saying that the work is nice. I thought so too, but some comments have lead me to question my judgement.

I'll work on that.

World's longest downpipe... Slip joint welding