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Brickyard -blade-


-blade-

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So i'm new to Z ownership and to the forum (thanks for all the welcomes) and entered my 350 time with minimal to mediocre research. Ive owned just about everything over the last 24 years or so, RS turbos, GTEs, skylines, SUVs, M3s, Imprezas, EVOs etc etc but now i find myself in my first 2 seater! (bar a mk1 MR2 i had for a week way back in 2004).

 

So i test drove a HKS S/C a mate (trader) had for sale. I really enjoyed it right away handling and driving wise, but a few other factors of the deal made me think twice.....but i came away from thinking 'why haven't i owned one of these?!?'

 

 

72 hours and 5 350z viewings later and i decide to view the mysterious Stillen S/C unknown brickyard 'down sowf'. After much inspections and tracing the real story and history behind it, investigating the few potentially bad news signs on it, and cash saving negotiations and bantering later i end up driving home a 2004 Z GT, brembos, Stillen S/C with unknown other mods, shitty springs, broken drivers window motor, dirty engine bay, minimally swirled paint job, on standard blacked out rims with stupidly low splitter home.

 

 

In the the first 48 hours it underwent a clean - 2 purposes: find out what all is on it, what else may be broken, and to remove any paint issues. Cleanse, machine buff, polish layers, wax on then a first pass of the engine bay with steamer, plus some other clean ups reveals the suspected powerflow exhaust is actually a full Stillen, the S/C install is actually stage 3/4 with additional injector, box, nismo bumper/splitter/skirts, alloy full width intercooler, exedy, etc etc

 

 

Post machine polish:

350z%20Sept%202016%204_zpstjp53awk.jpg

bay before:

350z%20engine%20BEFORE_zpsbfggougf.jpg

bay after 1st pass:

350z%20engine%201ST%20PASS%201_zps11rldfnn.jpg

 

350z%20engine%201ST%20PASS%204_zpsasgs8i4q.jpg

 

20160916_153100_zpsdoblhomp.jpg

So this week saw upgraded boot struts fitted, interior cleaned, engine bay first couple passes, leather conditioner applied, fluids change, and this even a full strip and recondition of drivers window regulator motor (all now working perfect!!! soooo pleased)

 

Next and imminent:

MeisterR coilovers are apparently in the post

HKS intake enroute from Tarmac

Gear knob from MopedMark ordered

New rims are being decided upon

Double din head unit being decided upon

Edited by -blade-
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B) Nice colour, very rare in the UK

 

Yep, it is and i like it a lot, BUT, the wheels dilemma!!!!!! do i go black, chrome, bronze, gold, silver....sigh........ :yahoo:

 

Gold . . its not a subaru :lol:

Black . . do dark

 

Silver or a lighter colour would be my choice B)

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B) Nice colour, very rare in the UK

 

I don't know of any others. There are a few of the similar Interlagos Fire models about though. I would suspect this is a respray or a one off as Brickyard Red was a U.S colour only.

 

Pete

 

Yes Pete its a respray, but a top notch one (staggering invoice im glad i didnt pay :-p ), not a fault to be found anywhere, including behind door shuts, rubbers etc

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So today everything strangely went to plan with no hiccups!

Aim of the day was to get the Meister R's fitted in basic form, ie an inch higher than current and be level to let me over the mountain speedbump on my street, all in preparation for the bigger wheels to be fitted along with full alignment and then matching ride height to suit the new wheels.

Of course this quickly led to mission 2 of the day.........

 

First up - get the Meister's on:

20160922_112344_zpsvw4vzy1n.jpg20160922_115716_zpsjlxp3izu.jpg

 

Now to do something with the rear damper adjuster extenders:

 

20160922_193632_zpsospjkfpu.jpg

 

 

So while getting the thing at reasonable temporary height with the standard rims, Mission 3 of the day arrived via Mr. Postie from Mr Moped 'Shiney Knob' Mark!

 

20160922_172715_zpsbuxxgcnq.jpg

 

 

After a pain of a time getting the original knob off it was time to return to Mission 1 final phase - do something with the rear damper adjustment extenders, which..... you guessed it, led to Mission 2 of the day.......

Which was to do 'something' with the rear brace thingy in general, since i wasn't feeling the silver standard finish, so, from this:

 

Rear%20Brace%20prep%204_zpszoc2ljgh.jpg

 

to this:

 

Rear%20Brace%20V1%203_zpsydjlnux8.jpg

 

20160922_183317_zpsbetdesvd.jpg

 

 

Rear%20Brace%20V1%201_zpsq0th1rpe.jpg

 

 

Car is a bit dirty but now i can get over speedbumps, and be able to get the bigger wheels on in the next few weeks to let me tinker further with ride height at that point.

 

MeisterR%20basic%20fit_zpswghhjngd.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

So, i returned to UK today and straight into the Z. Todays mission was to get the HKS Premium Induction kit from Tarmac to actually fit, given i have the problems of the stillen and oversized radiator.... SO, after discovering theres no way the HKS pipe would fit with the OEM airbox (even with it sliced to a million bits) i decided thats no problem as ill just stick a cone filter on the end of the pipe so all is good. Ordered a Pop charger kit while i was away and got Mr & Mrs Tarmac to arrange for it to arrive the day i returned (perfect delivery by the way! :-) )

 

so, i wanted this:

 

HKS%20Pipe%20with%20JWT_zpsdlb2tp1t.jpg

 

BUUUUUUT..... after some bad words, minor rage, head scratching, and more bad words, i ended up with this:

 

OEM%20Pipe%20with%20JWT_zps8shkqokx.jpg

 

 

Why? because the darned strut brace cant clear the air meter plug/socket!!!!

Issue being a combination of the stillen inlet being obviously higher than stock, the angle of the air meter on the HKS pipe, and the fact the HKS pipe is all one single part (nice) but limits movement and angle it can sit at.... So, its in a working for now on the stock piping until i either:

A ) dump the HKS pipe and get another brand

B ) get a custom fab pipe

C ) cut the HKS in half and get some silicone hose to join at an interesting angle

D ) get some insane custom strutbrace

E ) turn into a ball of flame rage and get twin turbos instead :p

 

Answers on blingless thread post.....

Edited by -blade-
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I think one slight negative of the Z is cabin noise. For sure not the loudest around, but i figured id see about refining it a little. So to compliment a boot divider that's on its way from 14N i decided to do a bit of Dynamat Extreme.

 

Dynamat%20Exteme%20Boot%201_zpsoerdubrc.jpg

 

Which led me to think id better put something better in the double din slot, not that im big on ICE these days, but hey, why not. Now to decide what to do speaker wise though im thinking a simple upgrade to the rears and a straight swap 10" sub with small amp, then do the fronts with some two piece things.

 

Spare wheel and tools wont be going back in either

 

Android_zpsda7f2ulh.jpg

 

Not a big project but may take me a little while as i also have some plans for the rest of the interior since itll all be ripped out in any case.....................

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