Mr. G. Brettin's Slow Motion Leg Hump

gbrettin

Took a small break Fri-Sun and went to LS Fest. I had originally wanted my Z in the event and paid for my car to be inside the event... So I drove my Juke inside the event and parked inside the main event area.

I had a few take away ideas from checking out cars. It is completely apparent that I am a lunatic building my car. 95% of the people just slap their swapped car together if it's a swap. 4% are 100 thousand dollar big budget shop builds and the last 1% are lunatics. These stats are 100% made up from my perspective, specifically pertaining to swaps. There were a lot of ultra clean OE cars with tasteful mods; but, they were all domestics. Most domestics don't get me that excited.

So now I am back to working on my stuff again, the endless struggle (might be a good car name). I plugged some of the harness. Injector plugs were gravy except for the back two plugs because they were flipped towards the inside. The plenum runners and the valve cover were so close! I honestly dodged a bullet on that one because they can't be turned toward the valve cover because the billet vent would be in the way which would mean I would have to get a different valve cover.

I tried plugging in the crank sensor but that is behind the starter. I'll just bite the bullet and drop the starter. Might as well clock the starter further away from the engine while I'm at it. That should help with cooling. I was going to run my old Fast Intentions exhaust with vbands. Plumbing was too complex and the up pipes were remade which removed available room. That's the sacrifice. My Instagram has a really cool video of the car idling with a small rev. I tagged Tony Meyerson but I'm not too sure he likes the idea of his exhaust being modified. That's just a suspicion, maybe he didn't have time to see it.

Soooooooooooooooo...... In true Greg fashion... I had an ADD moment and abruptly stopped messing with the wiring harness. I'll just write it off as time management because I wanted the rear mount heat exchanger mounted for the A2W setup. The brackets were rounded out and painted, no pictures of that. CSF provided bolts and clips for the fan to be secured. They sucked. Zip ties came in clutch for that.

Sound clip of LS3 and Fast Intentions Exhaust:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CTlAgIbHcwf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link




Pusher Fan Wiring

Crank sensor hiding behind the starter.

Need to pull the wiring loom 2" further. Starter plug doesn't reach.

Cam sensor plug isn't the same.


Yes, this is crooked. I had to work with the room that was there, trunk metal not flat, grommet wiring and the transcooler. Main thing... It's there

gbrettin

ZontheRocks

That's a mean bitch!

__________________
'16 Pearl White Sport | Stillen Gen. 3 | Motordyne ART | Motordyne Shockwave | ZSpeed | Powertrix | EVO-R | Aeroworkz | Nismo | Z1 | EcuTek | Tuned by Seb @ SpecialtyZ

gbrettin

Owner wants the shop to put a whipple charger on it and a few other mods. It's going to be 1000hp, immediately and bolt on. I took a ride in that car and that LS3 NA was stout.

gbrettin

I was out in the garage earlier in the week and did the smallest task(s). The starter was removed, clocked, plugged in the cam sensor and then put the starter back on. Simply removing the two bolts was the move vs fighting my hand on the back side of the starter.

The starter clocked out away from the block should help with heat a bit more. I originally had it sucked closer to the engine because of the full exhaust system, but as you saw that ended up on the white 370z.

I'm also working on identifying a good mount location for my A2W pump. The cubby where the charcoal filter was, appears to be the best location so far. I have a handful of -16 fittings that I can use so it looks like I'm going to ride that Fragola train one more time... I want the Fragola hose because of the heat and abrasion resistance going to the back of the car. I have some brass fittings w/ plumbing clear hose just for the front of the car. I figured it would be nice to see what was happening for air bubbles and it was cheaper.

The first picture of the pump shows it sitting on a package. if you look at the backside you will notice a black mount. The mount has a rubber isolator built in. Davies Craig recommends NOT hard mounting the unit because the electronics will fault out due to vibrations over time.

Spoke with Lokar yesterday and they are going to send me a new lower unit. They didn't know why the crimp came out the first time. *shrug* I dunno either. I'm happy to get the new unit. Only downside with it is that I need to measure inside cable unit to the new lower piece because the upper and lower parts are matted pairs. I guess you will see more on that in the future.

Two -6 45 PTFE line ends got lost in transit so I'm still waiting on finishing my transmission cooler lines. I bought two new ends because I went beast mode trying to get them off the old line. I got them off but I disfigured the fittings. I now see why PTFE can hold 10,000lbs of max pressure.

Custom drive shaft should be done soon. Maybe. Who knows. Doesn't matter too much anyway. lol . I hope it comes with new ARP bolts.

All-in-all, not a lot of movement but something is better than nothing. Not saying I'm going to do this... but I completely understand why people sell their builds when they get to the 90% mark. It's legitimately taxing.

gbrettin

Small progress. -6 45deg ends came in for my trans cooler. Put them on, which were relatively easy. Transmission cooler only needs electrical, but all electrical will be done at once which is coming to a head.

Water pump line was a tad too long so I had to chop it down. Of course I chopped it too short so I had to do it again. I feel like I'm pretty quick at making lines now. lol The reason I had to do that is because the line looped into the way of the A2W line.

Do yourself a favor if you find yourself about to cut a bunch of hose. Get some bolt cutters. It makes clean cuts. When you cut with a wheel it makes rubber shavings so it's clean that way too.

Final thought. I'm going to mount the A2W pump inside the rear right handside where the charcoal box was. being in that cubby the pump will have some additional protection. The lines will also flow nicely there too.

gbrettin

From IG@gbrettin:
Davies Craig water pump mounted for the air to water Intercooler. I was able to use a factory hole with a threaded insert and a factory threaded mount.

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The Davies Craig is also at the lowest point on the system which will help keep air out of the pump. What's not shown in the picture very well is the rubber isolator that goes around the pump. The isolator keeps the pump failing prematurely due to the electronics breaking if hard mounted.

I also ran across my cam sensor dongle and pulled the wiring loom through a couple more inches. Both items are plugged in now. Clean and simple. I just need to look at the starter's wiring now.

Ghostvette

I need that tool to do threaded inserts. Who makes it?

__________________
2015 Magma Red 6MT Sport Tech/2012 Fairlady MB 6MT Base (RIP 08032018)https://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/370Z/Coupe/

gbrettin

Here ya go:
https://www.amazon.com/Astro-Pneumat.../dp/B01JBO58FM

Ghostvette

Thank you sir.

__________________
2015 Magma Red 6MT Sport Tech/2012 Fairlady MB 6MT Base (RIP 08032018)https://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/370Z/Coupe/

gbrettin

These pictures are from last week. Got busy and didn't post them here. I better post them now or else it will not happen.

Picked up my throttle bodies and water merge from the welder. The throttle bodies are Chinese aluminum so welds don't look the best.

Worked on putting the car back together with lines. Took a bit longer than anticipated going through and checking all the nuts and bolts.

Putting the intake on was HARD. The rubber made rings on the clamps made it 10x harder.

Started on plumbing the A2W lines. I'm starting with the difficult part, or so I think it will be? I had originally thought I could get 1" lines working for everything. That was a flop. 1" Inside Diameter means that the Outside Diameter was 1 1/4" and that was too large when trying to get the bumper on. I had to re work the strategy to use 1/2" ID line which has an OD of 3/4. The line is WAY easier to work with and the bumper can go on too. The smaller 1/2 ID shouldn't matter because the most restrictive part of the line is 3/4".

Thankfully plumbing supplies are cheap vs all the AN fittings. Oh, the 90deg brass fitting will not be removed. I will leave that in and change the size from 3/4 to 1" at a 90deg. Reason for that is because I would have to remove the vband clamps which were a pain in the a$$. NOPE. not removing that.

On a side note... I started a new job. That means I can't really buy anything new for a while. Looks like I will be working everything I can until paychecks flow normal.



















ROUND TWO... SMALLER LINES:

gbrettin

Drive shaft has made its arrival. It looks like a beefy driveshaft and it will mate to the OE pinion flange. I was surprised to find out that Drivetrain Industries didn't make the pinion flange... but it doesn't really matter. I gave them the measurements and they did everything else.

I was able to get a little further on the water lines. Between the pump I used -16 fragola line because I had the line, I ordered the two 90deg fittings. As always... 1"ID hose will be used for the return line. As you can see the line is huge. I just zip tied the line up so it would relax into that position. Mounts will need to be installed. The mounts will happen at the same time as the 3/4ID sending line.

Return line from the water merge and swirl pot was plumbed with a brass 1" barb to a 90deg Fragola push to lock -16, which is essentially a barb fitting to AN. It worked! Getting plumbing from the bottom of the swirl pot to the back of the car is going to be difficult. I'm still looking at fitting options. I'm just going to plumb the 1" line to the area to see what path works the best. I'll likely run near the engine.... BUT, I think I might want to use some -16 fragola line for that due to heat and oil concerns. We'll see.

If you haven't noticed, all the sending line will be 3/4" and all return line will be 1". I think that this will help keep the system pressurized better. Maybe it will not... but.. this is what's happening.

gbrettin

An attempt was made to mount the drive shaft. To my surprise, incorrect measurements were given to the drive shaft company. 100% my fault and I have no idea why I recorded the wrong measurement because it was done multiple times by myself and one other person. I'd rather not have any smart *** comments about this one... It's raw because the driveshaft cost 820.00. Locally there is a driveshaft company that gave a rough quote of 350 to cut the ends off and put a new aluminum 3.5" tube on. I ate the loss and dropped off the drive shaft.

In other news, I attached the pressure side hose to the pump. I found a Mishimoto -16 orb to 3/4 barb fitting that threaded into the Davies Craig pump. 3/4"ID line was ran and I steered clear of the engine bay (heat). The line comes up and routes through the fender area out near the headlight.

Return side, a buddy gave me some -16 fragola hose to hook into a 180deg off the swirl pot. Nothing else fits off the swirl pot other than that... well... I have some ideas but it would be more fabrication that I don't want to do. anyway... The fragola line WILL run right near the engine and up pipes. On order is a -16 pushlock fitting for the rear radiator.

I didn't get pictures but I used threaded inserts and have the hose zip tied and secured (mostly) under the car.

THAT will be the end of the fitting and hose nightmare. Check out the IG video of the flow.

You know... I haven't made a YouTube video in a long while. I probably should do another video sometime soon. I love looking at the analytics on my videos . My retention rate is a whole 2-3min for people and then... there's a couple people that actually watch the whole thing. I don't blame them for bailing after 2-3min... so much better stuff out there.

Enjoy the 4 odd angled pictures. The video clips sum everything up way better, two 1min clips.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU1Nveys..._web_copy_link

gbrettin

Couple days ago I worked on getting the A2W lines wrapped up. All the lines are now secure where they need to go and I hooked the last Fragola line up. A brass barb connector was added between the Fragola line and the plastic line, which was a complete b1tch getting on.

There is only one joint between the swirl pot and line and the Fragola line running back. I opted to save that for a different day because that will be just as hard as the other coupler. Hose clamps will needed to be added at every joint, for safety and piece of mind.

400 dollars resolved the drive shaft issue. I now have a 1200 drive shaft. Yeah... not a lot to say about that other than I needed a drive shaft. The good news is that it fits perfectly now. The pinion flange has a surface that mates up the shaft perfect. The yolk goes in a perfect amount. It doesn't look like I needed to notch the transmission brace, but it is substantially stronger after adding the box material.

Last picture made it worth while spraying the underside VHT Rollcage black worth it. Looks like a new car... well, it really is at this point.

gbrettin

Finished all the air to water plumbing! Cinched down every joint and went crazy with zip ties (they are cheap). Plugged in more sensors... What can I say, it was a low hanging fruit kind of day.

Attempted to put in bolts for the drive shaft but the OEM bolts were too large. No worries. I drilled it out and made it work. The fit is very snug around the bolts now. Blue locktite was added... I don't trust spinning things with out that.


All the chassis bracing has been put back on, thankfully I didn't lose the bolts. I was able to put the water lines under some of the bracing for extra protection. I'm going to get some SPL arms to remove the rear springs in the car. Rear coil overs, Import Drag Solutions, will replace the OE shocks... They were old anyway.