very functional, nice job!

hurry back ! :)

I'm back, mostly, but busy with non-car things still. I really want to get my brakes and swaybar stuff installed ASAP, maybe today or tomorrow but we'll see.

The only really useful thing to report, is that after sitting in the garage untouched for 9 days (without a trickle charger), the PC680 in the trunk started the car fine, and the Lightning Audio 200 Amp breaker didn't blow :) So yeah, trickle charging probably not even necessary on this setup, which is surprising but cool.

That's really great news for the PC680!

Welcome back, wstar, nice to have you back ;)

Find me a bracket for the pc680 to keep it in stock location, THNX!

Found one! Its made by Password JDM and is on sale right now. This will work in the stock location if you secure the base of it to the stock battery tray.

Password:JDM Billet Aluminum Universal Battery Relocation Kit | Your Price: $89.99 | Password JDM

90 Bucks?!?!?!?!?!?!?:icon14:

Installed my Hotchki's swaybars this evening, haven't done the test drive yet, but that's coming up in about 30 minutes when I go out for a late dinner. Didn't bother taking pics, the existing DIYs by ChrisSlicks described everything pretty well (nice work on those btw):

http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...ion-front.html

http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...tion-rear.html

I set my rear sway in the middle position for now since the rest of the suspension setup is all stock, we'll see how it feels shortly.

Got some test driving in on the swaybars. Very impressed so far, could easily be one of the best bang for the $$ (and installation difficulty) upgrades I've done yet (although it's hard to beat the HFCs in that regard I guess).

Car is much more predictable and flat under acceleration in corners (not that it was that unpredictable to begin with). With the current medium setting in the rear and an otherwise stock suspension/tire setup, the car seems to have slightly shifted in favor of oversteer if anything, but not by much. I'll be able to tell better after a few more trips. One particular corner that I often fly through has an abrupt change in pavement grade (as in angle) between two lanes I swoop through, which when driving at my usual comfort limit causes the car to "skip" a little, which is somewhat unsettling. At the same speed with the new sways, the tires stayed planted all the way through it, which was really pleasing.

Again, very happy with the results for the money and time invested, and definitely worth the weight tradeoff too (these are heavier than stock).

Good to know wstar, thanks for the update, I've been waiting for someones review on these.

My driving results were similar (I gave a brief review somewhere here). I have my rear sway set to full stiff which seems to be a good track balance if you are a smooth driver. If you are throwing the car around in high speed auto-cross like I was last weekend it was actually a little too much and I will probably dial it down to the middle position for that.

The downside to the large front bar is that there is more low speed understeer with aggressive turn in as it is much harder to load down a front corner. An adjustable front bar would be ideal for those that do both auto-cross and track. On the freeway on-ramps the car feels very flat and balanced, feels like it adds a fair amount of grip in that case.

Re: oil changes and oil cooling:

It's about time for my next oil change (it's about 200 miles out now, which is really nothing for me, by monday for sure). I had been hoping to see what oil cooler kit upgrades Stillen came up with before this change, but looks like they're not quite ready yet. Apparently their original kit is out of stock right now as well, so I can't even get that here in time as an alternative for now. I strongly considered picking up the GTM one, but really I don't want to get into the install issues with that one, being a universal kit.

In any case, I do have the oil change supplies and AAM's VQ37 oil pan spacer here in my garage, which should add some capacity and help a bit for now. I think I'm going to just go forward with my change without a cooler (again) this time around while I wait out the Stillen situation, and maybe do my next change earlier than necessary as soon as the cooler becomes available (and say ouch at the $$ on an extra Motul change).

On a related note, I was calling several Stillen resellers today trying to find anyone that might have an oil cooler kit in stock somewhere that nobody knows about. One of the shops did have one of the official Nismo 370Z coolers (21300-SS370) in stock and on hand to look at, which was surprising considering it seems like nobody here has first-hand info on this kit. They said they ordered 3 and had gotten just 1 in so far, were planning to use it on their in-house car but were willing to sell to me.

I passed on it at $795, but did get to confirm some details over the phone from the guy who had it in his hands: Yes, it's a Setrab core, and a larger one than the 19 row unit in the current Stillen and GTM kits. The sandwich plate is not a thermostatic model, it's just straight though (which was a negative point for me, esp at that price). Also the guy commented on the lines looking larger diameter than the Stillen ones, but I think that's just eyeballing, I don't know what the sizes of either are specifically. If someone's seriously interested in trying to pick this up from them before they put it in their own car, send me a PM.

Editing my oil change plans again, looks like Stillen will have one good to go early next week, so I'm going to hold off on the oil + spacer + cooler until Tuesday.

Interesting. Any word on the core size?

Not the new one, the one they're getting to me on Tuesday is the existing kit everyone has. I don't have any official details on the upgrades that may be coming.

My shop should be announcing an alternative next week as well

Is this the oil spacer you are referring to, the one for the G37?

Yes. If all goes well that and Stillen's oil cooler will be installed Tues or Wed of next week.

Alright, keep us posted on the fitment!

Got my brake stuff installed. In a rush to get ready for the evening now, but some quickie updates on the process/parts:

Speed Bleeders: I'm an idiot, and didn't realize there are two bleeder screws per caliper on this car. I ordered 4, you need 8. I left the speed bleeders all on the front calipers at the end, and my final bleeding for air bubbles solo suffered a bit I'm sure as I swapped the speed bleeders in and back out in the rear to do those calipers.

RBF600: I bled 2.5 bottles through the system as I went, saving some in case I need to fix any leaks and top off. Once I get more bleeders I'll probably bleed another bottle or two through to be sure.

Braided Brake Lines: routing on the front ones is not obvious. I suspect the path I took is not what was intended, but I checked for clearance/stretch/etc and I think it will work, we'll see. Rears are easy to see. On the front I basically ended up with a straight shot between the hookup points, with a lot of the length coiled in a loop for suspension/steering travel (as opposed to wrapping around the arm/shock like the stock one).

Pad Swap: Akebono deserves an award for these calipers. Pad swap is super easy. Once you have the wheel off, you only need needle nose pliers and a small clamp to compress the pistons. Caliper doesn't come off the rotor to swap pads, you just pull two cotter pins, two large pins, and slip the pads in and out of the back side of the caliper.

Car is still on jack stands, I'm getting ready to go out for the night. Going to think about things more, doublecheck everything, put wheels on and test things tomorrow sometime.

good to know thanks for the info on that:tup:

I think later this evening I'm going to make some more attempts at routing the front cables more "correctly", I can't imagine this is what's intended:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...-brakeline.jpg

Although it does technically seem to work in terms of clearance/rubbing/suspension travel, etc. I'm going to want to re-bleed after getting more speed bleeders in this week too, as I'm pretty sure the rear calipers aren't bled very perfectly.

To me the interesting result of the routing on the picture you show above is that it allows for suspension travel and wheel turning with plenty to spare, while remaining relatively fixed other than that, given the inherent stability that loop gives the hose. At least that's what it would seem.

I sent the pic to coz@czp, he told me what I did wrong, I just need to fix it today. I'll get some pics of the correct routing (afaik) on the front and rear before I put the wheels back on.

Coz got me sorted out on the brake line routing, this is what they look like now:

Rear (sorry, blurry pic):

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...e3743-rear.jpg

Three views of the front:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...3740-front.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...741-front1.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...742-front2.jpg

Also, here's the box-o-parts from the OEM stuff that came off. Between all the brackets and fittings that went away and were replaced with the simple braided line, seems like I probably shaved a tiny amount of weight with this too:

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...ts-removed.jpg

I just now stuck the wheels back on the car, haven't even torqued the lug nuts down yet or lowered the car, gotta get some real work done here before I get back to that. I probably won't do any "driving impressions" for a few days, because like I said earlier I didn't order enough speed bleeders, and as a result I'm pretty sure I have air bubbles in the lines, which are going to cause more problems with mushy pedal feel than the braided lines could ever make up for :)

Once the new bleeders come in later in the week I'll re-bleed again and see how it feels. For now I'm just gonna take it easy and not trust my brakes much.

Are you sure this is the routing path they specified? I would make sure you can go full lock without tugging those lines hard. It would appear (from the pictures) that if the knuckle was turned fully, it seems short on slack.

On the steel locator bracket, does it appear that over time it will chafe with the stainless line moving, or am I missing something?

I did test the steering travel, the lines don't get stressed. The front suspension was hanging (as in, tires off the ground, and jack stands not on anything suspension related) when I did the steering check, so I assume suspension travel will be ok too, as it will only go up (more slack) from here.

The original steel brackets (the black ones) were removed per CZP. That arm that the front cable is wrapped around now though... yes I am worried about it chafing against the corners of it. The lines are teflon coated, and I'm pulling the wheels back off to rebleed later in the week and not planning to drive many miles between, so we'll see how it looks then. I figure worst case I can pad those corners somehow (like, glue on some soft rubber material there).

When I was scoping around the net for pics of braided line installs I came across your (Stillen) 350Z lines. By eyeballing it they look 370Z applicable, although I don't know if there were any small changes in lengths from the 350Z (you would think not, but who knows). CZP's lines are very different from your kit though. Where yours uses the stock brackets and affixes at multiple points like the stock lines, theirs is just a single braided line with one floating mounting tab on it.

Oh maybe I misread what you meant Josh, if you're referring to the little bracket CZP shipped that's in use, I don't think that one will chafe. It holds snug and has soft edges, and there's really not much slippage that's going to happen there anyways, as the side towards the caliper is a straight, stiff, and relatively immobilized section so to speak (there's no suspension movement between the caliper and that bracket).

Cool.. I would definitely recheck the full left/right lock when you get the wheels down.. just to make sure. I can't imagine that thing pulling loose at full travel.. yikes!

Yes, there are some significant differences between the goodridge setup and CZP, but that's a fantastic price point, and the ultimate goal of improved brake feel will be there. Awesome for again taking the time to document the install.

Did a quickie test drive for the pad bedding procedure, everything seems fine. I haven't gotten on them any harder than necessary for bedding yet, but it seems to be stopping at least as good as stock. Pedal's a little mushy at the top, but again I think that's the air bubbles I probably left in the lines :), which will get sorted out later in the week with the new bleeders. Fluid level at the reservoir dropped very slightly after the test drive, I don't know if that means I left a small leak, or if the system just "took up slack" so to speak from being fully pressurized for the first time since bleeding. Going to top it off before I drive again and check it like crazy for the next several miles.

More testing this evening. Brakes work pretty well, the car is certainly safe, but there's also definitely a small leak under high pressure. Driving 10 miles or so and doing lots of hard-ish stops along the way drops the reservoir level about 1-2mm, which is about like what happened during the bedding-in drive. My bet is either I didn't sufficiently tighten one of the bleeder screws, or I over-tightened one of those damn flange connections from the factory hard lines to the braided lines.

I hate those damn flange connections, I over-tightened one on my last car too a few years back. It's not hard to do, and it splits the edge of the flange causing a slow leak under high pressure only. Fix is to cut a fraction of an inch off the end of the line and re-make the flange with a little tool, which I already have from last time. We'll see when I take the wheels off again later in the week for the re-bleed stuff.

Yay, the Stillen oil cooler came in today. That and the oil pan spacer are going in with my oil change / sampling this afternoon :)

Did you get the bigger core Stillen has been talking about releasing?

No, this is the same kit they've been selling. I'm hoping the smaller core will suffice with the extra oil capacity from the spacer, but we'll see what happens in practice. I do want to upgrade to a thermo sandwich plate later though.

I've already started on the oil-related work today. I'm doing it in small chunks while I do other things, it will drag on all afternoon/evening :) Pics will come eventually.

The only really notable thing I've learned so far: I saw a mention of "gasket remover" (as in, a chemical) in either the Service Manual or the AAM install guide for the oil pan spacer, and figured I'd pick some up at the parts shop and give it a try, see if it makes it easier to completely remove the remains of the oil pan gasket.

Result: OMFG, I have never encountered such a nasty, volatile chemical for retail sale to the general public in my life. And I'm the kind of guy that doesn't mind cleaning my hands with Varsol. Even Birchwood Casey Gun Scrubber doesn't hold a candle to this stuff. The rather extensive and scary warning label should be re-written to simply say: "Warning: Do Not Use".

There was some jibber-jabber about keeping it away from painted surfaces, so I donned some nitrile gloves and tried to spray some lightly on the edge of the oil pan (where the gasket was) and shield the rest with some paper towels. This was totally insufficient protection for the paint, much less my hands. Nitrile gloves turn brown where it touches, and then your skin gets cold and then starts burning, had to go wash that off first. When I got back, anywhere it had touched/dripped onto the oil pan's paint, it began violently bubbling and boiling and krinkling up the paint and eating it. Pretty much it destroys anything that isn't metal, very quickly.

So having already destroyed some of the paint on my oil pan, I just went ahead and went all out for a "new look" and stripped the rest of the paint from the pan :) Now I just hope my hands don't fall off two days from now.

Are the letters still on your keyboard.. or did the transfer zap them?

:p I don't look at the keys when I type anyways.

I'm telling you guys, you saw it start here first. I present to you the new fashion trend in 370Z mods, the Stripped Oil Pan :roflpuke2::

http://www.the370z.com/members/wstar...pped-paint.jpg

Actually this is my keyboard.. called a das keyboard.. I chickened out and got the labeled one..

http://www.daskeyboard.com/slideshow...w-ult-1050.png

Anywhoo.. so this stuff stripped your pan like this? Or you found something else to complete it?

Yeah I just sprayed it down with "Gasket Remover" counted to 10, wiped it down with a paper towel, and blew it off with an air gun. I'm a little worried about corrosion now of course, but I don't have any good high temp paint here at the moment anyways. I may pull the pan and repaint it at the next oil change.

Anyways, I just finished up with the oil pan business, it took a lot longer than I thought it would owing to a fitment complication of sorts. The pan spacer fits on the engine fine, and our engine with a spaced pan installed on it would drop in our car fine too. However, you can't really install a spaced pan on this engine while it's in the car.

There's a metal tab, whose purpose in life is to be the backing for one of the 16 bolts for the plastic undertray, which sits directly above one of the oil pan bolt heads. It's merely a pain in the *** when removing the stock pan, but after making the pan stick out an inch further, there's just no way to tighten the oil pan bolt behind it. You can't even get the bolt in there to start it unless you bring it in with the pan (already sunk into the spacer), but even after that there's no way to tighten. I tried everything, even shaving down the sides of a small 10mm open wrench, but no go.

The only thing I think might work for tightening that one oil pan bolt would be to hoist or jack the whole engine up a couple of inches on its mounts to give more temporary clearance while tightening. Then maybe you could get it 1/16th at a time with an open wrench. It would still be a total pain in the ***.

I tried a few variations and gave up on doing it nicely. So I got out the trusty dremel tool with a heavy duty cutoff wheel and gave my plastic undertray one less attachment point. Problem solved, now I can move on :)

Pics of all of this will be coming, much later tonight.

Nice update, thanks!

This stuff sounds like it'd make a good weapon! Forget pepper spray. Spray some of this stuff at an attacker and watch his flesh melt! Okay, that sounds kinda psycho, doesn't it?