Barn Find 370z Build Journal

Jrah2987

Nov 3rd, 2022

After a lot of misfortune, I finally got the Akebono calipers, Z1 2 piece rotors, and stainless lines installed. Quick tip - if you decide to get refurbished calipers, make sure the bleeder valves seal and work properly before fully committing. I ended up leaking my master cylinder dry and it took A LOT of bleeding (lines, MC, etc) to get the air out. Anyway, here's how the car is sitting currently:







In the past couple months, I decided that I won't be keeping this car for very long. The new Supra is just too tempting, and I won't be selling the Evo to make room, so this will have to go. I just haven't decided if I should buy one now, or wait to see if there's a final edition at some point. So, with that in mind, I'll be leaving the engine stock on this car and hopefully getting a couple track days in before selling.

Next up is suspension. Looking at Fortune Auto coils with SPL front upper control arms to get me started.

Jrah2987

Dec 28th 2022

The battery that came with the car died, so I swapped the lightweight Odyssey battery in my Evo into the Z. Turned out pretty nice, and can back to OEM if needed later on.





Jan 3rd 2023

Made some good progress on the car finally. I got a set of FA 500s for Black Friday, along with SPL's FUCA, rear toe arm, and rear camber arm all installed. Everything went surprisingly smooth.










I'm getting the car aligned and wheel balanced soon. I tried my best to keep the OEM arm lengths, but the car is way off and probably too low.

Not sure what I'm going to do next yet, but I'm excited to get this thing on the track.

I also went ahead and ordered the Greddy single exhaust to shed some more weight. I like the HKS, but it's just too heavy for what I want out of this car. It'll be for sale soon, if anyone is interested. I may have 1k miles on it.

ZontheRocks

Good ol' build threads....

Brings back OG forum days.

Keep it up!

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

Averying

The red paint, nismo bumpers, track spec wheels/tires/fitment… this thing looks too clean!! Love it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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2009 Sport Touring | Platinum Graphite | GTM Stage 1 Supercharger | BC BR Coilovers | Hotchkis Swaybar | Z1 FUCAs | AME TM-02 Wheels | Z1 2-piece Front Rotors | Z1 Clutch & Flywheel | Invidia Gemini Catback | GTM Resonated Test Pipes

sx moneypit

Jrah2987

Ha, thanks. It's nice to be able to look back and see exactly when I did stuff and how it went.

Thank you, it's slowly starting to come together. Hopefully getting it on a track this spring.

Jrah2987

Jan 26th, 2023

I got the Greddy RS exhaust as a replacement to the heavy HKS dual installed. It is much lighter, but sounds like a typical single exhaust. I'm fine with the noise for how little I drive it, but I don't think I could daily a car this loud. Like the HKS, it was too short for the Nismo bumper, so I ordered a longer tip from Greddy and am fine with how it sits:



Mar 2nd, 2023

I got the car corner balanced and track aligned at SPS Performance in St. Louis. Car feels very planted in the back roads, and should be ready for the track:




Mar 11th, 2023

I went ahead and swapped out the OEM radio with a new Alpine unit, as well as got a Z1 shift knob installed. I managed to get the OEM knob out undamaged, so I can swap it back when it's time to sell:





I have my first track day scheduled for this month at WWT Raceway, so I got some Carbotech brake pads ready to swap in before the event. Very excited to see how the Z performs.

With that said, I'm still planning on getting the new Supra on its last year of ICE production, which rumors are saying could be 2024. I'll be keeping the Z how it is now, just enjoying it on nice days and track events when I can until it's time to sell. It's been a fun car to work on, and hopefully a great track car too.

EZT

Love how clean this build is. Nicely done.

Jrah2987

April 18th, 2023

First track day in the books. I was ****, but the car did great besides cooking the power steering fluid. I flushed it with AMSOil fluid and it has been fine since. Also ordered a power steering cooler just to be safe. Oil temps got a little hotter than I expected, so I swapped to AMSOil Dominator racing oil and it has also been fine since.






May 9th, 2023

Second track day. I'm still ****, but the car had no issues at all.




June 13th, 2023

Third track day. Car made it 2 sessions, but I was then greeted with a clutch pedal that stuck to the floor a bit. My guess is that I cooked the clutch fluid since it returned to normal by the time I got home. More concerning, when I arrived home the car sputtered and stalled at idle. Started back up fine, but tried to die again at idle. Hopefully nothing serious.

Next up for mods is the power steering cooler and a new Z1 front strut brace that I couldn't resist picking up. Next track day won't be until September due to my schedule.

NorthStyle

Let us know how you like the Z1 strut brace, I'm replacing the RJM one I have and wanted something that cleared the EPS TBs and Admin intakes, everything else rubbed

Jrah2987

June 25th, 2023

Got the Z1 CF strut brace installed. Was a bit of an impulse buy, but the quality and fitment are great. You can run the engine cover if you want, but it only fills up half of the middle section and doesn't look great. You'll also need to cut or remove the upper piece of trim that covers the top bolts:





Need to clean the honeycomb and some of the lines that are no longer hidden, but I'm happy with how it fits and looks.

I'm not familiar with those TBs, but it seems like there's plenty of room for activities there.

Jrah2987

Winter 2023

Been a while. My last track event in July didn't go so great, and I ended up having to leave early due to my clutch pedal sticking to the floor. What I thought was going to be a quick flush and bleed, ended up being a failed master cylinder. To fix/upgrade, I decided to go with the full RJM clutch package (RJM pedal, Tilton MC, etc). The install and tuning process was pretty painful due to the location of everything, but thanks to some great instructions and e-mail exchanges to RJM, everything is in and working great. I also installed the Z1 clutch lines while I was in there which removes the junction in the driver's wheel well and adds insulation to the line running to the slave cylinder:






After fixing my clutch issues, I decided to upgrade the front sway bar to the very stiff Hotchkis bar w/ Z1's adjustable end links. Install was pretty easy, and made a huge difference on the track. Probably the best bang for buck mod I've done:




I also upgraded to some better rubber, replacing my set of Advans with a set of Falken RT660s. I'm still running 275/35s but these run wider than my Advans did. Between these and the sway bar, the car feels very planted on track:



Other small things were replacing my Odyssey half weight battery with an Anti Gravity 5lb battery. I've been running this in my Evo for a couple years and have had no issues. I also replaced some crusty hoses:




April 9th, 2024

Had my first track event of the season. The new clutch pedal and master cylinder felt great, and the new tires and sway bar made a huge difference in handling. I'm still cooking my power steering fluid, so I'll be installing the Z1 cooler soon. More track pictures to come, but I ran with my friend's GR Corolla and his dad's Mach 1.

Rjk370z

Sub'n. I like your progression and the car is awesome. Im surprised you dont need to run any numbers on the car at the track.

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Jrah2987

Thanks - I think it's just because it's a HPDE and not timed or anything. Not sure, still new to this.

ZontheRocks

Thoroughly enjoying the story of this Z. Keep it up!

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