TravisJB Journal
 

This Journal is to track progress on my silver 6MT 370z... the car will be used primarily for the track and for occasional weekend road trips. I plan to keep the car street legal and within warranty. I will use these pages to update on modifications primarily. 4-AUGUST... OKAY, BIG UPDATE EXPLAINED IN LATER PAGES... CAR IS BEING CONVERTED TO RACE CAR... WILL BE A GRADUAL PROCESS THROUGH REST OF 2009! THANKS FOR CONTINUED SUPPORT FROM DOUBLEDOWN MOTORSPORTS, REDLINE MOTORSPORTS AND FORGED PERFORMANCE!

The car...
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u.../large370z.jpg

Here's my current project list as of 13-SEP
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...jectlist-5.gif


-----------------from 15-April------------------
For you photography buffs, I'm shooting with a 85mm fixed lens on a canon 5d mark ii... some of these were shot in near darkness, with ISO 1600... pretty cool! Unfortunately, it's my wife's camera and I'm not a great photographer so forgive the image quality

Starting with the engine bay... you'll notice that I've removed a lot from here... no wipers, don't need those in Arizona ! battery gone ! will show you that in a moment... can't see it but the washer fluid reservoir is goneso too ! you can see that I've removed the plastic engine cover
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5273.jpg

A couple more shots of the battery area
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5271.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5272.jpg

Battery has been relocated to the rear... as you can see, I temporarily have the OEM batter wedged in there on the other side of the brace... that's because my pc680 is in for a warranty check - left it idle for a couple weeks and it's not taking a charge... will be back soon.. you'll also notice the custom bracket... straight forward, bent 1/8 metal with padding along the insides to help with vibration... used existing holes on the sides, drilled 4 new holes on the top of the mount into cross-member
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5279.jpg

Here's a closer view of where we created a ground connection... grinded down the paint and drilled in a couple contact points
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5275.jpg

...

Here are a couple other angles of the back of the car with most of the plastic and matting removed... my car will stay this way, but I may at some point spray it with a ceramic sound/heat insulating material

http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5277.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5276.jpg

I've also removed the headliner... at some point, planning to remove all the side airbags and related hardware... have a look at what's underneath your headliner... first one shows the passenger side, second one is looking from drivers window towards back of car and you can see more of the airbag actuation gear
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5282.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5283.jpg

Now on to mods...

I got about 5 boxes of stuff from Stillen this week... It's all laid out in my garage waiting to be installed ! :)

Stillen seemed like the right choice for all these products... I haven't installed any yet, so I can't say anything about performance, but the materials, construction, welds etc all seem A++++ top notch

In this first pic, you can see the CAI gen3 kit, their headers, and muffler
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...IMG_5284-1.jpg

A couple more angles of the same
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5262.jpg
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5263.jpg

More exhaust parts here
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5265.jpg

I have all the Stillen exhaust pieces except the HFCs, those should arrive tomorrow (THUR)... I saw some requests for detailed photos of those, I'll do my best

Here's an aftermarket muffler that I had made a few weeks ago... It sounds great, and works great, but I no longer need it... If anyone wants to purchase, please send me a PM... if you just want a great sound but don't want to do the whole exhaust, this is for you! 3" pipes, single muffler design... bolts on directly to your existing setup with no mods... UPDATE: SOLD !
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5264.jpg

Stillen anti-sway bars! Almost went with Hotchkis, but didn't find a compelling reason
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5266.jpg

Stillen underdrive pulley and Gates belt, good for a few HPs
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5267.jpg

Not sure if anyone else has these yet... SPC adjustable front control arms... I'm holding off on installing until I get my other suspension parts lined up, but the quality looks great and should save lots of time down the road when trying to dial in the suspension! I already have the adjustable rear control arms installed... Purchased from THMotorsports
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5269.jpg

And finally, here's an oil cooler
http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/u...b/IMG_5268.jpg

More to come !

Wow man... very excited to see your results.

Looks good Travis. Let us know how those swaybars affect the handling of the car :)

I am installing the crank pulley and the oil cooler tomorrow afternoon.

Travis,

You actually laid out the products on your nice epoxy coated garage floor versus your bedspread? What's this forum coming to!?

Jerk :icon18:

:inoutroflpuke: nice one.

thats alot of parts to put on at once!! hope u can dyno it (prefably b4 and after). but congrats. The car looks so naked! are u gonna cage it?

i am planning to put a cage in at some point, but will hold off a while... i'm still getting to know some of the local race groups and i need to study the specs of the different classes and decide which ones I want to compete in before deciding on cage design... planning to take my time on this decision

maybe we could create a pool to buy our friend rcz a decent bedspread ! ;)

Count me in! :tup:

haha. he probably has a back up Twister bedspread for when the ladies swing by!

Those are some great looking parts. Get them installed yet? :tup:

travis.. curious question. Were you going for the 'tilt-shift' photography to make the parts look miniaturized.. or was that a byproduct of the camera settings.. (aperture, f-stops, etc.)

[YOUTUBEHQ]tcky_HqXTVY[/YOUTUBEHQ]
(not claymation.. camera effect)

re tilt-****, yeah it does look that way... cool effect, but not from post processing, it actually is a result of the 1600 iso setting wide open aperture and shooting in near dark... agree it looks similar to what some ppl are doing with post processing... we'll see more pics like this on the net as ppl start using super fast cameras like the one i'm using... in case anyone is wondering about tilt-shift
Tilt-shift photography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Haha I hadn't noticed that the pics look like miniature parts....thats pretty funny.