... it has begun...
 

Here's some pics of the stuff I've received over the past few weeks. Brake stuff is already installed, since I needed to quell my anger from waiting on some of these parts...

Technafit Braided & Teflon Coated Brake Lines and a 300Degree Brake Master Cylinder Brace...
http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_5124.JPG

Subframe bushings, 300Degree EGR Elimination Kit, rear spoiler decal, Specialty Z Braided BB Turbo Oil Lines, and the GT2530s...
http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_5234.JPG

The workhorses...
http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_5235.JPG

New CHRA
http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_5236.JPG

http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_5238.JPG

And I couldn't wait to install this mod the other day, so I went ahead and did it.

Before...
http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_5226.JPG

After...
http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_5227.JPG

If you couldn't figure it out, euro sidemarkers (factory spec on european 300ZXs) and painted inner foglight housings to match.

I also got my "shorty" antenna in the mail today... not a huge deal, but the powered antenna that comes stock on the 300ZX ALWAYS breaks, so it's nice to not have to worry about it anymore. I forgot to take pics while it was still light out. I also forgot to take pics of the battery relocation kit, but I'm sure you could imagine a 10' length of 0 gauge wire, some connectors, and a battery box.

I'm still waiting on my Stillen intercoolers and my friend and I have to take apart my old engine to get the crank out to have it sized for new bearings (got rod-knock). Once I have the bearings, I can put everything back together... I can't wait. Once the intercoolers come in, I'm also changing my angeleyes to white and wiring them to the sidemarkers (I'll have to remove the fascia for both, so I'll do it all at once)... I can't drive with blue on for legal reasons, so I figure I might as well do that too.

That's all for now.

Yeah, the whole blue light thing is a pain, I got a ticket once for blue interior lighting being on while I was driving... so I busted out my copy of the california lighting regs and was like boo ya!! this here says blue is only banned for forward facing lights... in yo face!:038:

but then he gave me a "warning ticket" anyways... wouldnt admit being wrong.

Nice work on your car though, wish I could work on my baby but shes in storage until mid 2009 :(

Yep, same here... but unfortunately, angeleyes are forward facing, so red and blue are illegal. That's fine by me, though... white is less ricey.

2009??? Why? That's a LONG wait... I'm not sure I could do it (I spent 6 months driving my beater while the Z was uninsured and I started having withdrawals... you know, twitchy right foot, making turbo noises in my sleep, the usual).

Im in Japan until mid 2009 so had to put her in storage until I get back, but the car scene here is crazy. and I plan on getting alot of JDM parts while i'm here.

Where did you get the battery relocation kit or did you just piece it together, also where did you relocate the cable from the front, did you run it through the interior or under the car?

If you can take some pics and do a writeup I would love to see it so we can put it in the article section.

I pieced it together... ends up being cheaper. 10ft of cable was ~$18 from Advance Auto Parts, battery box was ~$12 from Autozone, and the connectors didn't cost more than $5, so for about $35 I got a kit that everyone else was selling for closer to $50.

I'll definately take pics when I do it (I'm doing it when the engine is out, but I doubt any route I take with the wires will be difficult with the engine in). I plan to route the wires down into the passenger's side inner-fender well, into the car, then under all the panelling into the hatch. (Just for the record, though, there are a couple writeups in the tt.net Auto-FAQ about how to do this as well.)

I wouldn't recommend wiring it outside the car due to my past experiences. When I bought my first TT, the amp cable went under the car... after a ziptie (or whatever method it was secured with) broke (or melted or whatever), the cable dragged on the ground, wore off the sheathing, and shorted out my car... it died while I was driving down the street... not a pleasant experience.

... pics of the antenna, for those interested...

http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_5239.JPG

http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_5240.JPG

http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_5241.JPG

http://www.photodump.org/stored7/IMG_5242.JPG

Looks much better than the long stock antenna, and works MUCH better than a dead stock antenna (great reception - I was actually really surprised, as it's been a long time since I've been able to listen to the radio).

I found it on eBay, labelled as a "350Z conversion kit" through AntennaX.com.

hmmm... i like that. if i still had my 300 i would do that wiht the antenna. but now im saving money and goin back in the car market in spring. hopei can find something pleasing (aka TT Z or a fun nissan project of somesort....most likely turbo, cuase they are my friend) but anywhoo....where the hell in chicago do you live cause thats a nice neighborhood for "chicago" as you call it. its much more rural looking than any part of chicago iv'e been.

Well, I'm in Frankfort now (just moved here a little over a year ago), but when non-Illinoisans see "Frankfort" they're all like "where the hell is that?" Since it's only about 30 minutes south of Chicago, I just say Chicago. But I was born in Chicago and spent the majority of my life in Oak Lawn (which is a town over from Chicago). And yeah, it's pretty rural... there are farms no more than 10 minutes further south of me. By some Chicagoan definitions, I'm in "southern Illinois" because I'm south of I80.

What are you going to use for fuel management, I'm assuming you have the 555cc/740 injectors?

555's with a JWT program... never served me wrong. Once these fail, though, I'm going to switch to 740's (with the whole conversion, obviously).

Looks nice. I've needed a new antenna for a while. Did it install like the oem unit?

ic ic, frankfort is not far from me at all, no close either, im over by joliet if you know where that is, ive been to frankfort for skating back in my skateboarding days, which im starting to relive, i feel fat and it was fun. lol. but now that you say frankfort that seen makes a whole ton more sense since i have a general idea of where thats at, souther IL is crazy, i consider Southern IL past the middle of IL lol. or at the very minimum where U of I is, but w/e. and i used to live right by oak lawn at my old house. i was more chicago located back then (10 years ago) in justice IL. stop following me, yet keeping your distance. lol.

You should really turn that out some with some sort of fuel management, I gained almost 20rwhp after the tuning and the car responded a lot better over the entire RPM range.

I do believe you have a 94 currently which has the 8 bit ECU and not the 95+ with the 16bit ECU which is what is currently giving me a huge headache. You could pickup an emanage blue and be set.

Pretty much... I only had to grind off a small tab inside the OEM antenna mount to make the lock-washer fit.

silvrhand - My next power mod will be dual pop, which I will install with an AFC-II to splice the MAS signals. From there, I may consider tuning, but I'd rather trust the JWT program... I'd rather have 20rwhp less due to a rich condition than 20rwhp more and risk detonation. Someday I might have Ash tune my car, if I can convince some other locals to all do the same so he can get it all done in one trip (and hopefully save money).

Yah,

I would definetly check into the emanage it has the ability to run two MAS as well though so you don't have to split the one signal which is problematic from my readings at times.

You can tune conservatively, which is the way my car is tuned due to the heat conditions here in Houston, I'm about 80% of what I could tune and squeeze another 15-20HP out of the car, but I'm scared to do it hehe.

The real greatness of my tune is it's through the power band gain that I noticed improved throttle response and power. The JWT 555 is notoriously rich which is good and a great reason I suggest the JWT program over ASH, his #'s are better but it's very agressive tune ECU IMHO.

Good luck man, get some pics/vid/charts when you are done, I'm jealous :)

Damn Randy, I see you've been hella busy lately. :)
more pics so i can be more jealous plz. :lol:

Funny you say that....I have actually talked to Ash about making a trip out here to tune mine as well. Of course, since my car is not yet on the road this year is out of the question, but I will definitely be in for next spring.

If we can get 4 or 5 cars together for tuning it won't be too expensive. And it won't hurt to have him install a Zem while he's here :)

finally! Now that's what I'm talkin about!

http://www.photodump.org/stored8/IMG_5294.JPG

http://www.photodump.org/stored8/IMG_5295.JPG

Sweet smics. You ought to be killing your tires in no time.

have you heard about what some people are doing with the stillen smic's? the end tubes are apparently restricting the system so a lot of people are cutting them off and welding on their own ones and polishing the inside of them real well....somethign to consider perhaps.

Yeah, I saw a few threads about it on tt.net. Perhaps someday down the road I'll do that, but for now, these will flow plenty and I can't afford any more work (nor am I experienced enough to be comfortable with a welder).