robzracing Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 (edited) I'm new to Zeds and new to this forum, so be gentle please! 2 Mates and I have acquired this 350Z with the intention of having some rear wheel fun at trackdays. We are all fairly seasoned trackday attendees already and have had a variety of track tools between us, from the VAG stable, BMWs and Porsches. So, a bit of a change for all of us. The car we have has already been fairly well prepared having been stripped quite heavily, caged, seats and harnesses all done. It also has an FIA cut-off switch, an oil cooler and the ESP has been switched off permanently. That's all we know so far about the car but I will be pulling it apart over the next few weeks to learn what I can and also continue with various mods and upgrades before we take it for a shakedown at the start of November. We plan to fit an Accusump first off and bought one on a certain auction site a few days ago which will arrive next week. So I might be picking peoples brains on here when I tackle that job! Other jobs on the list are sorting out the doors now all the trim has been binned, sorting the floors out, again as the carpet's gone we've got bumps and dips all over the place. We also need to adapt the drivers seat to take runners, as our heights vary by about 8 inches in total. And the brakes are gumbling, so that's hopefully an easy fix. Anyway, that's it for now. I shall post plenty of pics and progress in the coming days and weeks hopefully. Edited November 7, 2012 by robzracing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Good start! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyser Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 (edited) Nice one will watch with intrest - lots of pics and track vids please Edited October 24, 2012 by Keyser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez @ H-Dev Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 (edited) Looks good. I've striped out my 350, caged it, done the bushes and fitted an Accusump + cooler - not competed in it yet, but done quite a few trackdays and its great fun. Good luck getting the seat adjustable enough - I'm only 5'10" and I'm on the height limit - getting the seat lower with buckets is tricky. Hope you enjoy yours Edited October 24, 2012 by Jez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robzracing Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 Looks good. I've striped out my 350, caged it, done the bushes and fitted an Accusump + cooler - not competed in it yet, but done quite a few trackdays and its great fun. Good luck getting the seat adjustable enough - I'm only 5'10" and I'm on the height limit - getting the seat lower with buckets is tricky. Hope you enjoy yours Thanks Jez, I had already seen yours on your website, and I think my mate spoke to someone at your place about the Accusump the other day. "More trouble than they're worth" I think was the phrase! Hopefully not, as we've bought it now and I'm not aware of any other solution without going dry sump. (Maybe you do?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez @ H-Dev Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Don't think I said that and not sure Kyle would have. I've used them in my old 200SX, customer cars and my 350 - they seem to work well. I'm not aware of anything else, other than dry sump, that does the job. On std road tyres you don't need anything but on semi / slicks I'd probably be a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robzracing Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 Well that's good to know.. Maybe it wasn't you guys that he spoke to then! We'll definitely be on Semislicks. I've got a well worn set of R888s but all 4 are 225s so I think we're going to try some Yokos AD08s. And yes I thought the seat might be interesting. It looks like the previous owner had a custom frame made that sits down nice and low but a very long way from the steering wheel. Fine for one of us who's 6'3" but it's a bit too much of a stretch for me at 6' and our other mate is 5' 8" I think, so he's got no chance. Going to have to fabricate something I'm sure so if you have found any good subframes to start from do let me know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke0549 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Very nice! Saw this for sale a few weeks back. Very interested in the cage; Is the whole front part of the cage removable? Who's it made by? Is it possible to get a few more pictures?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Nice, looks like business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robzracing Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 The whole cage is bolt in with just the receivers welded in. They've done a very nice job of it I have to say but then it cost over £2k I think. My mate's got all the paperwork with the receipt for the cage so I'll have to get back to you on that. It looks like the same people made the seat subframe too as it's all painted the same colour. I'll get more pics up tomorrow when I take some myself. As you know these were from the add. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez @ H-Dev Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 We made our seat mounts. Some pics of the build are here: - not sure if the seat mounts are shown... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robzracing Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 We made our seat mounts. Some pics of the build are here: https://www.facebook...58090830&type=3 - not sure if the seat mounts are shown... Thanks Jez, can't see the mounts but that's a proper cage! Have you done anything with the floor? I think we just need to form some checkerplate into the footwells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez @ H-Dev Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 (edited) I've not done anything yet - jsut put the standard polystyrene bits in and then the mats on top Found a seat mount pic: http://www.h-dev.co.uk/images/350z%20build/seat%20mounts.jpg Edited October 24, 2012 by Jez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robzracing Posted October 24, 2012 Author Share Posted October 24, 2012 I've not done anything yet - jsut put the standard polystyrene bits in and then the mats on top Found a seat mount pic: http://www.h-dev.co....seat mounts.jpg Thanks. It's a shame we don't have the polystyrene bits ourselves, that would have made life easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke0549 Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 I didn't know there was a bolt in cage for the 350z! I want a rear cage with removable front section for trackdays/daily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilp Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Luke, I have a cusco 7-point bolt in cage, got it redone in red and looks good. Once you fit a cage though, carpets have holes in them, things get marked.... Not ideal if its your everyday car Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robzracing Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 I didn't know there was a bolt in cage for the 350z! I want a rear cage with removable front section for trackdays/daily. It would be a lot of hassle to be taking the front section in and out for track days I think Luke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 we mounted the fire extinguisher in the passenger footwell and have a removeable seat there, we found that when we took passengers out they were kicking the invisible break pedal (fire extinguisher) so we put some checker plate down to stop that, for the driver side we used some non slip material but to be honest it wears so quick a decent pair of race boots are just as good. drivers seat we removed/rewelded the hump that pokes out of the transmission tunnel to flatten/drop the seat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jez @ H-Dev Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 drivers seat we removed/rewelded the hump that pokes out of the transmission tunnel to flatten/drop the seat I'm going to have to do that I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 its quite a common thing to do and allows you to drop the height down quite a bit and use runners, though bizarrely having done it we decided not to use runners wasnt a huge job but takes time to do well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robzracing Posted October 25, 2012 Author Share Posted October 25, 2012 drivers seat we removed/rewelded the hump that pokes out of the transmission tunnel to flatten/drop the seat I'm going to have to do that I think. +1. Does that hump not serve any purpose then? Is it just for strength? I think that's going to be the only way to go either way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I think its space for heat, the closer u weld the plate the hotter it gets, not an issue with no carpet as long as u dont wear shorts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robzracing Posted October 29, 2012 Author Share Posted October 29, 2012 First update after the first weekend of having the car. After compiling what seems like an ever growing list of jobs I started with the easy bits on the inside. As the last piece of trim on the center console was in the way a bit and hanging in mid air around the gear lever I decided to do away with it and, after removing the stereo (which with no speakers was as much use as a chocolate fire guard) decided to make a panel and reposition the heater controls along with the hazard switch and also the internal cutoff switch. In the boot I continued to strip a bit more out removing the rear wiper and aerial and also the tailgate counter weight. Next job is to remove the whole airbag wiring harness and control unit, although I still don't know whether the passenger airbag has been removed or not. All the others have but as it's behind the dash there's a good chance that it's still there. Once that's out I need to get the airbag light turned off, so if anyone knows an easy way of doing this (with out using black tape!) I'd be grateful for any input. Noticed we still have the cupholder tonight. Perfect to hold my coffee in through druids! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robzracing Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) So today the car was booked in to have all the discs skimmed and new pads fitted along with some fresh racing brake fluid. According a label on the reservoir it has Motul RB600 in it already which would be fine except I have no idea how long ago it was changed. So better to be safe. The discs are very pitted from the car standing around a lot out in the open and they are definately not working as well as they should be, but there's plenty of life in the discs still, which is why we decided to have them skimmed rather than replace them at this stage. Longer term we'll probably go for a floating disc, but we'll get a few track days under our belts first and see what's what. The car has DS2500 pads on it at the moment which I have used on and off on other cars over the years and have always found to be ok. But I think we might try DS3000s this time and see how they are. While the cars in the garage the guys are going to stick it on the rolling road to see how it's doing after 60k miles. It'll be interesting to see and also gives us a starting point from which to begin our improvements. All opinions and recommendations are welcome Edited November 7, 2012 by robzracing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrLizard Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 you can get a resistor for the airbag light but i suspect you might be able to do something with that in the ECU? assume you have taken the yellow airbag ecu out of the car? (worth quite a bit if it hasnt deployed) Awesome progress, really looking good, you have to take the dash off to get at passenger airbag really, but i had to take dash off to get roll cage in so did it at the same time. love the cup holder We used DS2500's, good for 10-15 mins use with the AP's we have on the car but start to suffer after that a bit (currently no brake vents), the DS3000's are better for longer and thats what we shall be using this week/next week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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