Pezhead

Don't you mean "Son of Rajib"?

Thought I might chime in on the discussion here. I've done a lot of fibreglass and carbon DIY so have some thoughts to add. On the subject of strength, we need to remember that the down force created by the splitter is spread across the entire exposed area. So to say you need to be able to stand on it is a case of over-engineering. Total down force is spread across area to get Force Per Area e.g. PSI or kg/cm2. The lip I built for my car is only 3-4 layers of fibreglass and one layer of carbon. This was enough to structurally withstand a traffic cone hit at around 40kph. It only cracked and fractured it a bit. Easily repairable. So I don't think you need to stand on something to test it. The PSI area of the shoe contact area well exceeds any down force you can get from air movement. What you do need to consider is your mounting point structural integrity (e.g. material & strength). Short explanation: When choosing material choose for lightness and strength. If the material isn't strong enough at a pin-point load, reinforce it with other materials such as washers or metal plates layered into the construction. Long Explanation/theoretical maths (All approximate guesses, so please don't take the maths and measurements too seriously): Say you are bolting it to the car across 10 mounting screws. For the sake of ease, let's just assume that load is evenly distributed across those points (it won't be and must be considered). Let's also assume that the 10mm bolts are used so there is no real possibility of fastener failure either. So say 200 kg of down force is spread across 10 points. Each point taking a 20kg load. Now, a fastener with a 1 cm washer might have an area of 0.8 square centimeters. But you also have to remove the area of the hole for the screw from the material (m5 hole @ 0.25 sq/cm area). This leaves you with about 0.55 sq/cm of area in the material. So you are expecting the splitter material to withstand 36kg/cm2 without pulling through the material. If you increase the washer size to 2 cm the area increased 3.14 sq/cm (ala PI*R2). Now the area without the M5 size hole is 2.9 sq/cm and thus load over that area decreases to 6.9 kg/cm2. So doubling the size of the washer, re-distributed the workload area over 5 times in this instance. Load spread across the entire splitter will be the 200kg over the area of the splitter. If the splitter extends 10cm in front and 1.5m wide then the total surface area is about 1500 sq/cm. So the pressure load per sq/cm would be about 0.13kg/cm2.

The pricing is reasonable. If you can swing it, do this! This is an amazing bit of road. The one I attended they had rules about mandatory driver instructor in every car, every session. Keeps number of cars on the road VERY minimal. Not sure if this one is run similarly, if this is the same then that is a lot of instruction time! Also check noise restrictions. The one I attended had guidelines about noise (hence taking the wife's 350z instead of the GTR).

Nice work there Fatz! Wish I was coming to play too, but no moneys for tune or time for run in. Wow this sux! Can't wait to see the big group of PB's all around!

Thanks. I know it doesn't do all the fancy stuff a standalone system does, but should meet my simple needs.

So I'd like some opinions on Nistune. My goal for this engine is to get 300hp to the rears. Shouldn't be too hard with the 3 litre V6, better turbo, intercooler and a bit more boost. Since the injectors are assumed to be shagged I should uprate the stock 260cc ones to something more along the lines of 400-500cc. But then I definately need to remap the ECU. I'm thinking for this simple set-up Nistune should meet my simple needs.

Yeah, that 044 really rattles! You should hear it inside the car!

Just a few more pics from the holiday. YES IT IS A BEAR!

and a video of the start up. Sounds pretty rough, but I doubt the starter fluid could make it through the throttle body all the way round to the front cylinders. At least I got to hear it run after 20 years of sitting!

Oh, how much of the punch list got done? Of course I have a whole new punch list already started for episode 3 of this saga. [_]Change Rear End Oil [X]Mount Battery [_]Vent Battery [X]Mount Coil [_]Wire Alternator (opposite side of engine bay) [_]Re-wire master kill switch in cabin [_]Troubleshoot Headlights and Dash Light Problem [_]General wiring clean up [X]Re-route wiring from engine bay into cabin [X]Mount ECU [X]Wire Fuel Pump Relay and Fuse Block [X]Fix Fuel Leak (near rear fuel tank) [partial]Find and fix brake fluid leak (Right Rear Wheel Cylinder needs to be replaced) [X]Have custom exhaust done (have to tow to zorst shop) [_]Wrap exhaust with heat wrap in engine bay [_]Mount Radiator overflow can [_]Mount Air Dam [_]Make diffuser/reinforcement for air dam [X]Mount Fender Flairs and of course... [X]Figure out why the ECU isn't getting powered up and get engine fired up and running

So, I have a few day's worth of diary to catch up on. Tidying wiring sure took a lot longer than I expected. It was nearly a whole day of wiring in the E.C.U., Fuse Block and relays for fuel pumps and injectors. Then it was on to finally dropping the tank and replacing all of those hoses. Luckily it wasn't all that hard, just time consuming. Next was that wheel cylinder. But of course I had the wrong one. There was a part change in '72 and wouldn't you know it, I had the wrong one. So that went back to the parts store for a refund. Oh well, I know which one I need now. Then I tested the fuel system for leaks. It all looked good, no leaks. And you can hear the fuel draining back into the fuel/air separator tank and back into the main tank. But then cranking yielded nothing. Didn't want to kick at all. So I checked the spark and that was working just fine. No fuel smell out of the tail pipe either. There was voltage going to the injectors, but I couldn't hear them "tick". A spray of starter fluid and the motor kicked to life! Success.... well sort of. This was the last day before I was to leave again. So looks like there is going to have to be third installment somewhere down the track. So back into the auto cocoon. I had to pack it away again until my next trip to the States. The ECU tucked up nicely to the passenger kick panel along with a new fuse block for it.

Yesterday's progress report. Spent a few hours re-checking and labeling all of the loom wires for the ECU. I was hopeful when I found some kind of black box control unit that wasn't plugged in. That didn't do it. Then found one wire in the loom harness I had labeled "POWER" 20 years ago that wasn't on the diagram chart. Power to that brought the ECU to life! Horray! Next was spark. The coil wires were on the chassis loom that got hauled away. Spent a few hours trying to figure out how the trigger wires from the ECU were meant to trigger it. Hard wiring the coil didn't yield any spark either. So that meant the coil is an electronic ignition type. Some google research yielded that there is a transistor unit for it. I was just about to give up hope when I found the tiny unit in the box of parts I had stored with the car! Amazing! Put this stuff away 20 years ago and it was still there. Luckily google found me a diagram on how to wire it in. So now I have spark! Next up will be to re-route the wiring into the cabin. I needed a victory reward for all this work, so decided to put on the flares as my reward. The flares don't fit great, but I bought the rubber welting kit that will help with that. Not going to install the welting until the car gets painted (eventually after shipping it to Oz).

Stock R180 Open diff in it. Not sure what I'm going to do yet. All upgrades are pretty expensive. Have to sort that out when I get it to Oz. Trying not to start any new mods I can't finish while it is in the U.S.

Yup, T5 from '84 300zx. Had to have a custom drive shaft done splicing the 240z and 300zx together.

Brothers (projects) reunited again!

What a long day. Pushing a non-running car up and down a trailer is bad nuf. Helping brother push his non-running car up and down driveway and trailer = double bad! Yup, my brother's '92 300ZX found it's way from my sister's place to his place. Two brothers with non-running Z cars (Mine is just Grandpa Z at 20 years older than his). Anyways, the shop took a lot longer than expected but I'm really stoked about the result. He managed to tuck a full 3" exhaust up nice and tidy up into the well. Remember, this car originally came with 1 1/2" or something like that! And I've only ever seen a 2 1/2" aftermarket kit.

Would like to road rego and will have to do so much when I do ship it. Will have to see about everything. Don't imagine it to be too loud though. These older V6's have pretty crappy exhaust manifolds that mesh all the gasses together. So it shouldn't be too loud. Not sure what it will be like on emissions. But if it just has to meet emissions for an 84 model year like the motor then shouldn't be a problem. Motor is stock as a rock!

Dam! Muffler shop overbooked and couldn't get to it today. So a full day lost!

Haha! That's why I decided to buy it and do it. They are about $200 on ebay with free shipping to the U.S. I checked to ship to AUS was >$1k! But that was just the one vendor. Off to the muffler shop now.

So, today was a mixed bag. Went to get some parts and lunch with sister. Caught in bad traffic everywhere and lost a lot of the day. I've just about completed the battery mounting and topped up the brakes and bled. Tomorrow it goes on a trailer and to the muffler shop for a new zorst system. Will be at 3" or a twin 2 1/4. Unsure which until they have a look see.

Updates: 5 different size hoses obtained and working on dropping the fuel tank to change out the hoses. Brake fluid leak is coming from the right rear brake sleeve/actuator. Ordered from AutoZone here. 40 year old car, obscure part... ...they have it and it will be here tomorrow! For $47! Oh how I miss working on cars in the U.S. In other news, Mom found our old book stash in Dad's library. How's this for gold stash?

I've been lucky enough to be on holiday to Alaska in July. Here are a few of my photos.

So, I suppose it is no surprise that every hose in the fuel tank ventilation and return system is borked! 40 year old hoses don't like the gasoline any more. And of course it is every size from 1/2", 5/8", 3/4" and small 3/8" sizes! Oh well. Now to drop the tank and replace all 'dem hoses.

So after having a play with the new parts and familiarizing with where I left off I came up with the punch list. Project Z Part Two: [_]Change Rear End Oil [_]Mount Battery [_]Vent Battery [_]Mount Coil [_]Wire Alternator (opposite side of engine bay) [_]Re-wire master kill switch in cabin [_]Troubleshoot Headlights and Dash Light Problem [_]General wiring clean up [_]Re-route wiring from engine bay into cabin [_]Mount ECU [_]Wire Fuel Pump Relay and Fuse Block [_]Fix Fuel Leak (near rear fuel tank) [_]Find and fix brake fluid leak (front reservoir was empty) [_]Have custom exhaust done (have to tow to zorst shop) [_]Wrap exhaust with heat wrap in engine bay [_]Mount Radiator overflow can [_]Mount Air Dam [_]Make diffuser/reinforcement for air dam [_]Mount Fender Flairs and of course... [_]Figure out why the ECU isn't getting powered up and get engine fired up and running Set the clock for EXACTLY one week!

Guess what time it is?... Arrived back in Seattle at 2:36 AM this morning. Had a small sleep at my Sister's house and then up to my Mom's where I store the Z. The parts I've ordered have arrived. So have just done a bit of unpacking and inventory the new arrivals. The flares aren't the best fit, but I can adjust them and will give them final finish touch up when I get it to Sydney. Am pretty impress with how the Urethane air dam looks. Very nice finish and thick urethane. And some Thermal Heat Wrap for when I get the Zorst done.