:iagree::iagree:

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Here we are again! So I kinda gave up on the car for about 9 months, with what's happening in the world right now and all that blah blah blah I had more important things to stress over and the mighty 1.4L Nissan Cube was proving to be an awesome daily (37mpg with my heavy foot). Last year I decided I wanted a truck also and that build has taken my mind off the shitty situation I found myself in with the Z.

I got a pair of 2011 heads from Husam (BTWTuning) who had them checked and decked at the machine shop and he also swapped in the JWT valve springs on the exhaust side so I can reuse my C2 cams. Those should ship out this week.

In preparation for their arrival I am pulling the motor (again). It was smoking after I rebuilt it the last time which was probably due to me reusing the rings on the one cylinder that I replaced the rod in. I will be re-honing all cylinders and installing new rings to the same gap's that AAM's machinist had in there. Also while I measured the bearing clearances which required Grade 1 OEM rod bearings I noticed some shavings on the magnetic bung so I will be inspecting the bearings and replacing those if need be.

Hoping that this round I solve the VVEL refusing to work in bank 1 and the smoking. Pretty excited to get back in the driver seat and enjoy the power.

Been doing a little bit of work every night so it's not so over whelming. Last few times I did this I was using the lift at work so had to be in and out quickly. Being able to set my own pace in my own space is pretty nice.

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Spare timing covers redone with Duplicolor etch primer and gloss black engine paint.

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Turbos off and most of the top end stuff. Forgot I didn't have a pulley puller so I was unable to remove the ATI damper.

Tonight I'll get the oil pan and timing covers off.

Keep forgetting to get a 3 jaw puller to get the ATI damper off so I focused elsewhere.

Fired up the band saw & welder and using one of the circles I cut out of the fan shroud, 1" angle and 2" flat aluminum bar I made a new battery mount.

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Rivnut's are my new favorite thing to use. I don't think I can ever go back to nuts and bolts for things like this.

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Will get a wider flange M6 bolt but the proof of concept works. My only concern is since the new battery is lower down and offset to the rear of the car, the alternator and starter cables may not reach so I might have to remake those.

Looks good. I like the timing cover and battery mount.

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Got the bay redone in Boulder Grey pearl that’s on the newer rogues.

The heads and gaskets are at my freight forwarder in Miami so I should get them within the next 2 weeks.

Engine disassembly happens this weekend

That view is all too familiar to me.

I need that goat pic you had up on a t shirt

:rofl2::rofl2:

Finally amassed all the various parts to get this thing back up and running. The motor is reassembled and I am in the process of redoing the intercooler piping using a Vibrant GTR core.

I was finding it difficult isolate any issues I was having to a particular bank because of the cross flow intercooler so I went vertical.

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Intercooler mounted in it's new home, it was tricky getting it as high up as possible since its a 14" tall core but it fits in there much nicer than the horizontal core.

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New 3" cold side piping mocked up

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Some "CAD" work, offsetting the outlets clears the upper bumper support

I'll be tackling the intakes and if the aluminum sheet I ordered is ready, the end tanks as well today.

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Got the lower half of the intakes mocked up and the passenger side finished. I need to lower the car back down one more time to confirm their height is ok and then I’ll start connecting up the lines and put the transmission on.

The end tanks are done but I’m waiting on a bead roller before I weld on the last 3 outlets.

Confirmed the intakes are at the right height after lowering the car back down on the motor. I also finished mocking up the cold side piping, all that's left is to mount the BOV and MAF flanges.


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Plan is to have all the welding done tonight after work and bead roll everything. Then it's bolting on the flywheel/clutch and transmission

No pictures today but I did complete the following

All intercooler pipes welded and bead rolled
Intercooler outlets welded and bead rolled
Torqued all the manifold bolts/nuts
Remounted the engine oil and power steering coolers
Managed to strip an ac line bolt hole in the compressor
Grabbed the intercooler to reposition it by the outlet I just welded so I have a half circle pattern on my palm LOL

More importantly I fixed the MaxJax lift, I have been plagued with binding issues which they refused to make right. I have one of the older units with a textured powder coating which causes the delrin guide blocks to bind. So far I've taken the guide blocks out to sand thecorners/edges then melt the surfaces with a torch for smoothness along with greasing the hell out of it. What ended up working was putting some 1/8 aluminum flat bar in the posts for the guide blocks to slide on, no more binding!

Still no pictures as the garage looks like it's been hit by hurricane Nikko. I'll clean up tomorrow and get some.

Flywheel/clutch and transmission are back on and the subframe has been bolted back on for what I hope is the last time. I had to do some re-routing of the oil cooler lines and power steering cooler lines.

The list is getting shorter
Connect AC lines (& get the vacuum/gauges/freon from work)
Connect wiring harness
Connect fuel lines
Connect steering shaft
Install front knuckles/brakes/suspension
Bleed brakes
Install drive shaft
Install y pipe
Install shifter and interior panels
Finish rewiring gauges
Download current rom and send for a revised start up map for the new 3" cold pipes

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Home stretch now!

Tomorrow should be warm up and beat on it to seat the rings

Important life lesson time, the intake cam gears have a left and right side. I was chasing a no spark situation and that seems to be the issue looking at the part number on the cam gears.

Lot's of double work ahead of me tonight after work.