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Old 06-18-2011, 05:51 PM   #1
240vert
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240vert's can't leave it alone buildish

So after unmodifying my car the desire to modify it my way finally set in and I realized there was no going back.

Little history on the car. Sold the vert to a friend (who later totaled it after swapping it) and needed a new car. Saw a black 350Z where I work sitting like a diamond in the rough on the front line. After a week I finally test drove it just because, then actually got serious.

Very first picture I took after hiding it in between the SUV line so no one would buy it before my lunch break the next day.


First order of business was to get rid of the 20's. Luckily the car came with factory 17's with brand new Michelins.



I rocked it like that until after Christmas when I found a factory clean set of heated leather seats. Took the drive out to western PA in the snow and picked them up.

No more "Nisbay" seats.

I had to run the wiring, but it was pretty straight forward, other than being bone numbingly cold outside.

Spring finally rolled around, and on a warm day in the mid 70's I let the car sit out in the sun with the heater cranking and removed the tint. Not a single defroster line died that day either.
Before:

After:


Once that was done, I decided that the little tear in my clutch pedal cover needed fixing and since you could finally see inside the car I decided to upgrade.


Here's how it's sitting now, tintless, Nismo seatless, and 20less.





Also fixed the window problem. It helps when all the bolts are in the window and tight. Not it sounds solid when the door is closed and the window goes up and down every time.

Now for the upgrades....
Right now I have a Carbonetics 2way lsd, Nismo diff cover, SPL differential bushing kit, and diff rebuild kit with output shafts that will hopefully be shipping soon. SPL parts came in, but still waiting on the diff.

I plan on upgrading in stages every couple months when money is built back up for modding.

Next on the list is a used Nismo S tune cat back, if I can ever find one for the right price, jwt pop charger, and motordyne 5/16 iso thermal plenum spacer. Maybe a tune depending on price.

After that it's coilovers that are street friendly, sway bars, and other necessary suspension parts for going with coilovers.

Next, is wheels. Leaning more towards the Enkei RPF1s since they aren't played out around here, but I haven't made my mind up.

Hopefully I'll be able to update with a diff install soon. Not sure if I'll tackle it myself, or take it to a professional. I'd also like to get a factory set of HID head lights soon too. either 03-05 or the bi-xenon. I could go either way.
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Last edited by 240vert; 06-18-2011 at 05:56 PM.
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Old 06-18-2011, 06:11 PM   #2
Picc.Dc4
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I liked the blacked out way it was when you bought it, but to each his own! Keep modd'n, Keep doing it how you like it, and do it different!
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Old 06-18-2011, 09:05 PM   #3
240vert
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Picc.Dc4 View Post
I liked the blacked out way it was when you bought it, but to each his own! Keep modd'n, Keep doing it how you like it, and do it different!
I'd like to get black wheels with a polished lip, but wasn't a fan of the wheels on it + fitment was horrible. I plan on getting it tinted again at some point, but no where near as dark. It sucked driving anywhere at night.
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Old 06-18-2011, 10:38 PM   #4
jesse096
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Looked better with tint IMO, but to each their own, still a sick car!

I test drove one a while ago, and was loving every second of it!

-Jesse
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Old 06-26-2011, 09:01 PM   #5
240vert
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jesse096 View Post
Looked better with tint IMO, but to each their own, still a sick car!

I test drove one a while ago, and was loving every second of it!

-Jesse
Thanks, I do love this thing, but it sucks when you get used to the power.

Little update. Finally have HIDs
Found a guy selling a set of factory 03 HID lights for a good price and jumped on them. I don't really like the look of the 06+ lights and didn't want to shell out $900 for a set.

I don't have pictures of them on yet, but lighting definitely improved and the cut off looks awesome against the garage wall. Going for a drive when it gets dark.

I really couldn't find a good write up, but wiring was pretty straight forward. Just de-pinned both connectors, soldered the highbeam ground to the ballast ground, and soldered the upper parking light yellow wire to the lower parking light green/white tracer wire. and was able to plug it all into my 6 pin connector no problem.

After checking operation of the other lights I plugged in the ballast and stood back in awe at the new found lighting I had.

My Halogens were horrible and for some reason made a v in the road with the inside of the v being black. You could barely tell they were on too.

Little diy
tools for headlight set up
Sodering iron
solder
your choice of wire strippers.
shrink wrap/electrical tape for that clean and safe look
pick for depinning
paper/pen or just swap one wire at a time.

Get your car to this status


Then write down what wire goes where on the 6 pin and de-pin both connectors


should look like this now. I just depinned and swapped one wire at a time so I didn't forget where it went in the 6 pin plug.


solder the yellow wire to the green with white tracer together and the black high beam ground to the black ballast ground. and you're done.



Quick picture of the back of the 6 pin with the hid harness pinned into it


Then clean your mess up and eat dinner before putting the car back together.
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Old 03-13-2012, 11:25 PM   #6
240vert
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Finally making progress

So finally after 9 months I'm finally getting a limited slip. Long story short, ordered on may 21, 2011. On march 5, 2012 guy tells me yet again my diff is on back order. Finally get my money back and ordered a used one from someone else.

So over those 9 months I've stocked up on SPL solid diff bushings, Sikky solid subframe bushings, Nismo diff cover and Nissan bearings and bolts (guess I won't be needings the hardware kit now, but whatever).


With the money I saved going used, I bought one of these. It's well worth the price and I use it at work too anyways. Also out powers my 1/2 air impact.


Tonight I decided to prep the car for dropping the subframe, since I'm off Thursday and Friday so getting a list of tools I'll need to bring home.

Jacked the car up, took the wheels off, and passed out under the car while removing some plastic trim and hitting the exhaust bolts with pb blaster. So calling it quits for the night.


Tomorrow I plan on getting everything out of the way so I can drop it Thursday.
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Old 03-15-2012, 10:22 PM   #7
240vert
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Removed the sub frame last night and installed The SPL solid diff bushing and Sikky sub frame bushings. Whole thing went surprisingly easy getting the old bushings out and new ones in with a friend who had experience.

Tomorrow the Nismo diff should be here, and then its back in.

Love how Nissan bolts in all of the exhaust hangers. Made life so much easier.


One day I'll replace this. Not really at the top of the list though.


ebrake cables down.



Got tired of putting a socket down and not being able to find it again, since I just dumped out the bag of tools into a pile when I got home. So, before going to bed last night I organized.


No pictures of the bushing removal and install, but here it is sitting pretty with solid bushings for the diff to show up.




Really excited to drive the car with a limited slip and not an open, and see how well planted the rear stays now. The OEM bushings allow for a lot of play.
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Old 03-16-2012, 12:04 AM   #8
BLSOHRD
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Good stuff man (from a fellow Z owner)! Glad you "de-riced" it and are taking it towards a better direction for sure.
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Old 03-17-2012, 01:54 PM   #9
240vert
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Thanks, although I'm really regretting buying a black car now though. New scratches appear everyday.

So the diff got here a little late yesterday. Usually FedEx shows up around 9:30, but I guess I'm just used to getting stuff that weighs less than 10lbs from them. But once it got here I set to work removing the diff ear bushings and installing the SPL solids. Then, pulled the factory cover and drained the old fluid. Everything looked good so installed the Nismo finned cover and set the diff to 80% lock up. After that put everything back together. I will say that getting the subframe back in sucked. Took maybe 5-6 times to get it to go in dead straight. Didn't get many pictures though.

Somewhere this thing was upside down. The box it came in smelled great.


New bushings in and nismo cover.


Old bushings.


So I will say I probably should have went poly with the subframe bushings. It's a little loud in the cabin, but that's my only gripe.
I can power out of a corner with confidence now, rear end feels a lot better. It's pretty much a different car now. Maybe that exhaust may be next priority to drown up some of the noise I hear now
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Old 03-25-2012, 06:47 PM   #10
240vert
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So within two days of driving with solid subframe and diff bushings I turned in my man card and ordered a set of Whiteline poly subframe bushings.

I was going to wait to do them at work but knew I couldn't take driving around in something that sounds like the wildcat at hershey anymore.

These things made the car feel amazing, But not being able to hear the car or passengers was a deal breaker.


Getting the car prepped for subframe removal after thinking it'll never come down again.


Didn't have to raise the car as high this time, and the solids weren't too bad to remove. So start to finish took two hours.

New polys in. It's also time for a new jack.


All in all the new bushings aren't too shabby. Not a huge difference in feel, but I can finally hear my exhaust, intake, and talk at a normal level in the car. I plan on doing some sound deadening with Ensolite too to help tone it down a little further.

Guess I'll see how good this thing is this Sunday at Hershey.
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Old 03-26-2012, 10:01 AM   #11
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nice man...you are actually restoring the car to perfection....

love it
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Old 06-30-2012, 08:01 PM   #12
240vert
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So have a little update, but it really makes the car look great.

Picked up two 18x10.5 +15 RPF1's with 265s wrapped on them from someone local. After days of debating and test fitting them up front, I decided to go square, and purchased another set. I also bought 275/35r18 and 265/35r18 KDWs and trashed the sidewall gouged and worn Dunlops, after a little fun of course.

Was hoping to have KW v2s and camber arms by the end of the summer too, but I just got temporarily laid off. So, just staying afloat is my major goal right now.

On to the pictures, one day I'll have something better than a cellphone.



This one is with the Dunlops out back yet



Autocross


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Old 06-30-2012, 08:19 PM   #13
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The RPF1s look good on there. Now time for a drop.
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Old 04-21-2013, 04:00 AM   #14
240vert
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Since I can't sleep, I figured I'd update this.

Last September the diff noise finally got to me. I decided to tear it down, and found my "normal" noise was actually a destroyed left carrier bearing and inner pinion. I had been debating on getting 4.08 gears for some time, so figured, if I'm going through the trouble of replacing the pinion bearings, the 3.5s weren't going back in.

I don't have any pictures. But I can say they out a huge smile on my face, and it was nice having a quiet diff again.

Soon after, right before Thanksgiving, my clutch fork pivot ball snapped taking the slave cylinder with it.

The place it snapped was pretty odd to me. My brother's 240 was facing the same problem and was getting a major tune up at the same time. Also waiting for parts to ship on holidays, had me waiting.


Finally my jwt clutch kit with chromoly pivot ball and stainless clutch line came in. With my brother's car finally out of the garage it was time to do work.





The clutch job was a lot easier than doing a 240 clutch, but two in one week still kind of sucked. The first start up the revs shot up really fast to 2k then died. It took some driving and raising the idle to 900 to smooth it out. The faster revs and a clutch pedal not too much stiffer than stock far outweigh the diesel like noise from the flywheel at low revs. It's really not as bad as some people claim. First gear goes by way too quick with this setup and the gears. It sounds like its being free revved.

I also have put on stoptech pads, new rotors, and bled with ate Super Blue to bandaid the brakes until I can affod a bbk. They were definitely a huge improvement over what was on there being that they couldn't engage abs.

Some suspension and steering upgrades have been done too. Tein inner and outer tie rods were installed along with poly radius arm bushings, control arm bushings, and lower shock mounts. Definitely tightened up the front, but my stock shocks and struts are showing their age now at 65k. Just haven't worked up the courage to hit submit order on the KW v2s yet.

After that I put this on, because why not. It was only $13 anyways



Brother also picked up a new knob for me too.


Over all I'm pretty happy where the cars at now. This summer I really need to finish overhauling the suspension though.
Thanks for looking.
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Old 05-05-2013, 11:09 AM   #15
mpapers22
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Awesome build so far. I want a Z so bad. I think every 240 guy always wants a 350 once they're bored of the 240 scene.
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