350Butcher

Cheers for all your help with it Dave!! The car looks great and I learnt a lot doing it together............got no excuse for it to not be kept clean now!!!

It’s got a few bugs and a bit of rubber in it now from driving round Silverstone all day Sunday though!!! I promise I’ll give it a good wash before the weekend!! 

Some nice part for the car and great to see you out driving it too!!

See Wales hung to a bit of snow and ice for you, bet that made it interesting!! Anglesey is a fantastic circuit, bet the 4.08 final drive was great round there? Makes a huge difference over stock doesn’t it?

I was very tempted to go with the 4.08 over the 3.9 but wasn’t sure if it would make the motorway cruising that bit too much hard work with the revs being that bit higher. How did you find it?? What sort of revs were you cruising on motorways at? 

On 03/04/2019 at 12:29, Hansburger said:

When you gonna start with building the engine? :P 

The block's still at the machine shop but I'll be collecting that soon!

There's still a few bits on the shopping list that are required to get the build under way.........but I'll definitely be posting up progress when it begins!

17 minutes ago, davey_83 said:

So pretty slow and unentertaining then........ 

 

 

You mean 200ps engine iirc....

Its an angry little go kart!

Ahhh sorry mate, I meant it’s 300hp now. I’ve edited the post to make better sense.

Stock Vx220 turbo is 200hp the Vxr’s came with a different turbo and a map tweak to 220hp from factory. 

3 hours ago, davey_83 said:

On a serious note your brother's VX looks like a little track monster!!!! What's the spec? 

Yeah it is a great little toy.......it may come as a shock but I've done quite a bit of work to that too!!

Vxr No.10

Chassis:

Nitron Race 2 way suspension

EP Tuning bearings throughout

AP racing CP7621 4 pot calipers with 2 piece AP 308mm discs

Pagid RSL29 front RS42 rear pads

Goodridge hoses

Engine:

Stock Z20LET internals

Z20LEH VXR turbo, actuator and injectors

Chris Tullett full 3" decatted system

Pro Alloy charge cooler system inc heat exchanger rad

Pro Alloy coolant rad

Courtenay Sport remap to 300hp 

Gearbox:

Lightened flywheel with uprated Helix clutch and cover

Like the Z it runs Millers motorsport fluids throughout

4 hours ago, nissanman312 said:

Looking good mate 

Looking forward to meeting you at the Midlands meet 

Cheers!! Like wise

1 hour ago, davey_83 said:

Got the bits ready

Oooh yes!! That’ll get it shining. 

My Yokohama’s will be really grateful for a layer of silicone spray too!

Finally got the car out the garage and down to the MOT station for another years ticket!

Changed out a couple of rose joints that had just started to have a bit of play in and dropped in some of Millers finest engine oil which new K&N filter and all good to go again.

Got a busy couple of weeks with the car as next Saturday its getting a detail clean from resident car cleaning obsessive @davey_83, Sunday a track day at Silverstone and then the following weekend is the Midlands meet which has really good numbers attending so should be good.

A couple of pics of me and my Brothers cars all ready for 2019

On 25/03/2019 at 19:25, ZeppoJeff said:

Whats changed? Well me and the wife found out we were having a baby so for most people they would just through down the tools and decide that’s the project never going to happen now. Me on the other hand saw it as a challenge to get the car finished before the baby is here...haha

Congratulations on the news!! Trying to get an engine build done before a baby arrives...............who would do a thing like that!!

Looking at the size of that Garrett, your plans for 400-450hp have gone out the window!?

And me, cheers Dave

1) davey_83 - Lunch

2) Andy_Muxlow 

3) buster

4) SHEZZA

5) umster

6) AntelopeSam - Lunch 

7) Lewis Schwier

8) Killick.z

9) Silverthorn

10) MatthewThain

11) KG350z

12) Justthejedi

13) monkeybrain1234

14) Valy

15)Nissanman312

16) 350Butcher - Lunch

17) vroom811 (neil) - Lunch

Must say for all I’ve read about Michelin’s and how good they are I’ve never got on with them when I’ve driven cars with them fitted

Interesting info and sounds like a good point to share. There’s more to a tyre than just outright grip and you’ve got to have confidence if you’re pushing on. 

Ahhh sorry I’ve just realised I’ve strolled into the 370z section from my usual 350z! 225 45 18 is the 350z sizes. 

If you went from 50 to 45 profile which refers to the side wall of the tyre then that would not be right and would change the rolling radius of the tyres. 

11 minutes ago, StormWhite said:

I have 18" wheels and the current Yokohama front tyre size is 225 50 R18 95W. Yokohama do not seem to do this size in Advan Neova AD08r

 

Is there an acceptable size I could use without problems?

Isnt stock size 225 45 18?

that size is available 

Spoke to Yokohama themselves about this and they recommended 34psi hot...........I've played around with this a little but always end up back at 34psi to give the best from them

I’ve been banging on about how good they are for about 10years!! Great choice. 

Not as compromised in the wet as some either which is a bonus. 

Control tyre in World Time Attack club class has helped make the “r” an improvement over the AD08 before it. 

I couldn't be any less interested in Audi's myself

If sound track is important then V10 M5/M6 must be on the list (admittedly is was born in a time of the most ugly BMW's ever), Corvette's as above or AMG's

Hard to find a car that ticks every box, its just where you make compromise most of the time...........with the Audi that'll be the entire driving experience.

Make sure you post up what you end up with

15 hours ago, TT350 said:

Indeed. 

 

To be fully expected. For me it'd be more than acceptable. I have no kids. My house is almost paid off. I'm in no debt. 

 

I feel very lucky and grateful that I'm in the position I am. 

 

I have friends who literally have to eek a life. Almost zero cash after bills and 50hr weeks.

 

Im really at a very happy, thankful stage in my life and its only going to get better 

Happy car shopping then!! 

Bit off the wall but maybe a Lexus IS F? Raging 5.0lt V8!

4 hours ago, TT350 said:

New interest :

 

Audi S5. 

 

'only' 360ish horses. But a very classy looking car and very, very well priced. 

 

The 4.2V8 sounds fantastic. 

 

I think it'd be a car that'd keep me happy, without having an urge to modify it, that I could own for a year while I save my moneys for something right naughty. 

 

GTR in 2020?! Early model but, still a GTR. 

Something that might be worth considering about buying cars that were once £60k+ (example) which are now available for significantly less these days is that they still have the running costs and repair bills of a said £60k original price.

I'd be budgeting a couple of grand a year just to keep the wheels turning round with some of the cars you've listed here. RS6's, V10 M5's, one fault and you'll be looking at £000's to put right..........obviously the very same is certainly true of the R35

3 hours ago, nissanman312 said:

Awesome 

The weathers coming back now so I'll pop and see you soon for a spin 

Yes, some fresh Millers oil is on its way and I’ll be taxing it this month so definitely have to organise meeting up. 

@davey_83 I’m sure will be getting something in the diary soon too!?

2 hours ago, Keyser said:

Morning fix of engine mod porn sorted

 

Great work mate

Congrats on the new addition to the family

 

You ever go over to Bedford autodrome? The full circuit is fun, We hope to get a few days out there this season may be see you out there??

Haha yes, it’s a shame to hide all this stuff away never to see the light of day again!

Cheers!

Thank you, she’s great but not feeling such a new addition now at 4months old already!! Where did that go!! In fact the whole of 2018 seems to have passed me by. 

I’d never make the noise limits there sadly, I have driven it and it’s good fun although very flat which is a shame. With the way it’s all going I’ll have to have an exhaust made fairly soon to be able to to keep using it on track! Luckily the ‘Ring has a 135dB limit so that one should be OK for a while!! 

3 hours ago, nissanman312 said:

That's awesome 

Fancy forging mine 

Cheers!

If you ever go down that route, give us a shout. Can’t say I’ll do it all for you but happy to give you a hand and steer you through it so it gets done properly!! 

18 hours ago, davey_83 said:

He asks me about most of it  

 

Tidy work Martin, will all pair lovely with that new crank pulley too. You going for knive edge? 

Yeah, run it all past Dave first and go with whatever he says!

Cheers, yes should be good when it's all together, its not stuff you can see or show off but all makes a massive difference where it counts. Believe knife edging would remove too much weight which would then need adding elsewhere to balance. Not convinced there would be any gains in doing it in the VQ either.

18 hours ago, nissanman312 said:

That all sounds awesome 

Do you do engineering for a living ? You seem to know so much about it 

Cheers!

Not engine engineering, I'm a heating engineer.........I've built a few engines now (Vauxhall C20let turbo's, Honda B16 Vtec, Subaru flat 4 and Evo 4G63) really enjoy it so learnt along the way. Got some good friends at the machine shop that have always advised me on what and how to do it properly which has been very useful too.

A little update from the machine shop...........(sorry, no pics though at shops request)

Block has been inspected and is in great shape (kind of knew that after stripping it down but good to have the boys confirm it), same news of the crank too. All journals have been light polished and measured for wear and are all perfect and equal.......which confirms its a zero mile item as I was told when I bought it.

Block decks have been skimmed

Pistons and rods have all been balanced. Total piston weight and conrod end to end weights matched......... 2 pistons were out the box were at the top and tail of CP's +/- 1gram tolerance giving close to a 2gram total difference in this case so some material was machined away to get within 0.5gram across all 6 pistons. Pins have been matched to specific pistons as part of the process too.

All the rods were good enough with total and end weights so were left as they came out the box.

The calculation were then done from the new piston/rod weights to work out the bob weights required for balancing the crankshaft

Crank was then spun up.......it was nearly 53grams out

After removing material from the counterweights it was now 0.32grams

With the flywheel, cover plate and internal floating plates all installed it read 2.98grams out (under 5grams with multi plate clutches is considered very good) and the decision was made to leave it at that instead of start removing further weight from the flywheel and potentially taking any structural integrity away from it.

Only things left to do are the block to be bored to 96mm and honed, piston ring end gaps can then be checked and set. Hopefully be good to go and collect in the next few weeks and then everything will need a massive wash out to remove all the swarf from all the work that's been done and then things can start going together!

2 hours ago, docwra said:

I had a mate lose his bottom end and cover the track in oil. 11 crashed cars, 2 helivacs, lots of barrier repairs, a substantial closure and about EUR 100K later ........ 

 

 

There's everything to fear there! Being responsible for or being involved in a crash plus injury plus huge fines!

31 minutes ago, Snjur said:

Still leaves a bitter taste. If 1 or 2 were faulty I can understand but all 4 in let say max 3k miles is really disappointing. I don't know what to expect in future, will this be sorted out now properly. I'm bit dull at the moment.

 

Car was on geometry when we found out this. Labour to take it down, shipping lost time. Again installation labour, geometry etc.

 

Im looking in best case im out for 2 weeks

Don't get me wrong, I'd be fuming about it and asking all the same questions of quality and fit for purpose that you are.

What I was trying to get at is that it adds insult to injury when you hear of these sort of things and then there's poor or no after sales to deal with it but I believe this will not be the case with Meister so I'd get an email sent over to them as a first thing.

Hope it gets sorted swiftly and effectively for you.

8 hours ago, blobbish said:

And those are some of the reasons why I only go to the ring on track days.

Ditto! Going in May for #DN21

You still pay for barrier damage mind, just none of the other costs there. Seen a few truck out, circuit closed for hours while barrier is repaired crashes during tourist days (some within minutes of it being opened as a tourist session following all day track day)..........hard to not see the value of a properly organised track day using the full Nordschleife on open pit lane format from 8-16:30 with no stopping for lunch.