We have been kicking around the idea of building our own 370Z for a little bit now, and with a bare shell sitting around we finally decided to make that a reality!

As some of you may know, we have been building and maintaining Chris Forsberg's VK56 370Zs since 2012, and we will be taking much of what we have learned running those cars and applying it to this build.

The overall goal for this car will be a dedicated race car, we are not going to limit ourselves to anything specific though. As we want to not only be able to take this car out to drift events, but also to the Road Course or Drag strip as well. Luckily the chassis prep we are used to will help us prepare for any of those!

Engine wise this will be powered by a Flat Plane VK45 built in house, based off the Indy Lite and Daytona Prototype engines we have worked with in the past.

The first step was to get the chassis up on a cart, and cut off any un-needed panels:

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con.../01/ShopZ1.jpg

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con.../01/ShopZ2.jpg

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con.../01/ShopZ3.jpg


Once the rear was all cut out, we started on the cage and rear supports:

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con.../01/ShopZ4.jpg


With that all sorted out, we also got to working on the cage. As with every cage we do here, the goal is to keep it as tight to the chassis as we possibly can. There are a few reasons for this, number one we are able to weld much more of the cage directly to the chassis. Creating the most rigid platform possible. In doing so you also put the crumple zones farther away from the driver, giving him more room to move around and preventing any contact with the cage in the event of an accident.

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con.../01/ShopZ5.jpg

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con.../01/ShopZ6.jpg

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con.../01/ShopZ7.jpg

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con.../01/ShopZ8.jpg

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con...01/ShopZ10.jpg

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con...01/ShopZ12.jpg

Close up of some of the welds, as this is one of the things that will make, or break a cage under impact. All pipes are fit as tight as possible, heated, and welded to insure proper penetration and strength:

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con...1/ShopZ111.jpg

http://www.ma-motorsports.com/wp-con.../01/ShopZ9.jpg


Since customer, and the CFR cars come first, we will work on this with any spare moment we may have. I will update as we have more, and I will also do an update with parts as they start to arrive!

Originally Posted by MAMotorsports (Post 3389191) The overall goal for this car will be a dedicated race car, we are not going to limit ourselves to anything specific though. As we want to not only be able to take this car out to drift events, but also to the Road Course or Drag strip as well. Luckily the chassis prep we are used to will help us prepare for any of those!

Originally Posted by MAMotorsports (Post 3389191) Engine wise this will be powered by a Flat Plane VK45 built in house, based off the Indy Lite and Daytona Prototype engines we have worked with in the past.

Originally Posted by Rusty (Post 3390319) You guys going to seam weld the chassis too?