What I am going to do in my build is just throw all the pics up at the start, then again later on in the thread so everything can be found at the start.
I decided it was time to start my own build thread since it seems to be what all the cool people do once they start modifying their rides. I am not patient enough to take pictures as I go like a lot of you are, I just get so excited to work on the car I don’t want to have to stop to take my dirty gloves off and grab a camera, haha. But here we go!
List of Mods
Go Fast Stuff:
- Boosted Performance Twin Scroll turbo kit
- Southbend Stage III Ceramic Clutch
- Southbend Metal Flywheel
- ZSpeed Upgraded CSC
- CJM Stage 1 Fuel Return System
- HKS EVC-6 Boost Controller
- RJM Clutch Assembly
- PLX Gauge Setup (OBD + AFR + Oil Temp and Pressure + Boost)
- TWM Short Throw Kit with Boot
- Gizmod Knock Light
Control Stuff:
- KW V3's Coilovers
- Hotchkis Swaybars
- Front and Rear SPC Camber Kit
- White Rear Swaybar Endlink
- SPL Pro Front Endlinks
- Racelogic Traction Control W/ no lift shift and launch control
- Front RE-11's 265/35/19
- Rear RE-11's 305/30/19
Exterior Stuff:
- Window Tint - I believe 20%
- Raul G Painted Head Lights
- Black Chrome Badges
- Satin Black Door Handles
- 6000K HID Bulbs
- Kellyefields Custom Hood Damper Kit
- 19" Forgestar F14s SDC - Bronze Burst
Interior Stuff:
- Car Kit Company NAV Bypass
- Car Kit Company Rearview Camera
- Car Kit Company Steering Wheel Lock Bypass
- Sound Deadening Matting from GTMat
- CF Hats for 3 Gauge Pods
- LED Lighting
- Fuel Gauge Overlay
I bought the car with 14,000kms (~9000 miles) on her back in August 2012. I had no plans to buy a car all summer and was contempt with my truck as it did everything I needed to do and more. Here is a picture of my winter ride and summer toy hauler.
However on a yearly camping trip to BC I met a guy who showed me his turbo’d 350Z that was in the garage getting repaired because his dad give it a bit too much throttle on a corner and slid into the ditch. When I got back to Alberta I started talking to him about possibly buying the car and finishing fixing it myself, but figured it would probably be a big headache to get it inspected and road worthy again. So then I started browsing for a 350z, and one of the most costly things I did was decide to look at what the 370Zs looked like. Wrong answer, after seeing one and taking one for a test drive there was no going to a 350Z. I like that they are a pretty rare car, and up until I got mine I just never seen them haha. Anyways I found this 40th and bought it that week.
The car was entirely stock with the exception of some pretty dark tint on all the windows, which saved me the hassle of getting it done myself. It was owned by a woman in what I would say her 30’s and she had all the maintenance paperwork for the car. She also had the transferable 100,000 km 7 year extended warranty which at the time I liked as I had planned to keep the car stock for some time.
About a month or so into owning the car I stumbled across Sasha’s Boosted Performance Twin Scroll kit and that he was looking for a local car to perfect his design and ensure that the fitment was exact to ship to everyone else on this forum who wanted his kit. So over the period of about a week I went from going to keep it stock to a full out build with his help.
Right before winter set in I drove the car over to his garage and he got to work installing his kit, he was nice enough to let me hang out in the garage and see it being installed (should I ever need to remove it or anything ill know first-hand how to comes apart). It also so happened that the ordered FI Exhaust showed up that weekend, I worked to hang it while Sasha did his thing up front. We did not however get the new tune in time to install the injectors, so we left them alone so that the stock tune could be used to drive the car back home. Here are the few pictures I took while it was at Sasha’s.
Sasha worked overtime getting the car done in about 2 days and had it back to be by the end of the weekend, which worked out perfectly because either the day after or 2 days after we got hit with a pretty good snow storm and I parked the car.
Here are some pictures from the day I picked it up
Then it was parked in my garage for winter. During that time I started doing research and buying parts here and there which made the cost of them bearable. With the help from this forum and browsing through other members builds I started to piece together my own, which turned out to be quite similar to Jason’s (Galeforce) but to be fair at the time I didn’t know about . A few things that I ordered between it being parked and a couple weeks ago were; Brian’s (carkitcompany.com) NAV bypass, backup camera, and steering lock harness, PLX’s full gauge setup (1 OBD gauge and 2 DM-100s), Southbend Stage 3 ceramic with their steel flywheel, and a HKS EVC-6 boost controller. I had all this sitting on the shelf just waiting to be installed when I got time.
Then 2 weeks ago I started tearing back apart the car to slowly start installing off of this (minus the clutch, I am going to find a lift to do that on). I decided to remove the lights and ship them south to get painted by Raul G Custom after I spent some time looking at his light albums on facebook (
Raul G Custom | Facebook). I decided to also get him to paint the door handles a satin black because I was not too happy with the carbon fiber covers I had purchased off ebay as well as get the front and rear emblems done in black chrome. I do have plans to get overlays for the back lights as well as possibly wrap the roof in a gloss black wrap. Anyways this is how the car sits right now.
I have started to plumb in my boost controller with help from both Jason and Sasha on the routing of the lines. I have no experience with boosted gas engines as I grew up around diesel trucks which are much simpler in my opinion. After again browsing the forum I decided to go and order a bunch of matting from GTMAT to do the whole interior to keep the road noise down. I figure with the long road trips I have planned this summer it would not be a bad idea considering most of the roads up here have rock chips on them to help with traction in the winter and it makes it very loud in the cab.
Then while it is up on jack stands I got to thinking I should probably lower it now since well, its convenient. I placed an order with B2 Auto Designs for a spring drop kit, front and rear camber kit, and roll bar kit. Just got to wait for those to show up, but I have enough stuff to spend my time on on the interior to keep me busy for some time. I am going to pull the dash out and put the 3 PLX gauges where the factory ones currently sit, that’s next on my list.
I might go ahead and order the Racelogic Traction control setup and give it a shot, I figure anything to help save me tires will pay off in the long run, also it would help for launches at the track . Then the last thing on the list is some new tires (as you can probably tell from my pictures of it up on Sasha’s lift), but that won’t be till around April once the snow is off the roads, I will get it aligned when the tires are installed.
Anyways thats it for now
Let me know what you think, I appreciate your ideas and helpful criticism
