Re: Project Lex
 

I'm not doing gold, lol. I do want something that kinda goes with green in case I wanted to carry that color on to the wheels or brakes or something. But not gold lol, I'm not Master P, uhhhhhh.

Bronze seemed like a nice choice. But the satin aluminum also is really growing on me

Re: Project Lex
 

LOL Master P! Mr. ice cream maaaaaaaaaaaaaan.


Bronze fo sho, your color car is probably one of the only few that can pull it off correctly.

http://www.clublexus.com/gallery/dat...xd9_bronze.jpg

Don't mind the ghay tiffany baby blue lug nuts

Re: Project Lex
 

Green and gold/bronze are complimentary. Dark grey would be more low key like you enjoy so maybe go with that aluminum. All would be nice!

Re: Project Lex
 

The thing I like about the satin aluminum is it is still clean, but provides good contrast against all the other dark stuff. Bronze or gunmetal will still be kind of dark, so not as much contrast.

This is why I'm not an interior decorator, I suck at color stuff haha. Or maybe I just go black and bright purple?!?!?!?

Re: Project Lex
 

Shifter linkage prototype 3D printed. 99% there. Couple tweaks mm here mm there, and I think it'll be perfect!

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/atta...527_164652.jpg

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/atta...527_164702.jpg

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/atta...527_164724.jpg

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/atta...527_164728.jpg

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/atta...527_164807.jpg

Re: Project Lex
 

Very cool! 2nd product..Business in the making!

Re: Project Lex
 

Progress is veery slow. But couple updates.

- Got my new clutch. It's a South Bend Stage 3, 2700lb pressure plate, sprung 6-puck disc. Rated at 715tq. SHould do nicely. If I run into issues, with it not holding, I can upgrade to their Extreme pressure plate in the future (3000-3200lb).

- Got my new intake manifold. The build quality is OK. But what I love about it is the plenum size is much more street oriented, and the plenum size being smaller you can easily see how much easier it fits than the old massive one. I only held it up to test fit, but he told me I should actually be able to go back to my stock power steering reservoir, which would be really nice!

- Got some more stuff rounded up into my powder coating stash. Hopefully get it to a coating place next week!

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1465524089

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1465524089

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1465524089

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1465524089

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1465524089

Re: Project Lex
 

Well shit is moving super slow with the kids taking up just about all of my time. So I just decided to slowly start doing what I can here and there with the idea that this year is pretty much a bust, so might as well start tackling all the little things so it's hopefully as ready as can be for next year.

So with that being said... Out with the old. Still have a bit of unsoldering / resoldering to get the harness back to stock. Then going to slowly start working on installing the new PnP Infinity.

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1465870391

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1465870391

Re: Project Lex
 

New adapter came in. Looks really nice. Time to get out the grinder and start chopping off the bell housing!

Re: Project Lex
 

mmmm shiny! Lock kids in theater room with barney and get to work.

Re: Project Lex
 

Couple little updates.

- Got a bunch of stuff dropped off at Twin City Powder Coating in Lino. After a little boondoggle figuring out colors, I think I'm good to go now. Most of the stuff is getting fine texture black to just keep it looking clean/simple/semi-OEM. Couple things are getting a different color for a slight contrast. Again trying to keep it clean/simple/not flashy, I went with a silver color. Depending on the lighting, the silver does have a very slight light brown/bronze hue to it. Stuff on left will be silver, stuff on right will be black.

- Got the bellhousing cut off the trans. Got the input shaft cover off and the stud shaved down. Waiting on a seal, should be here in a couple days, and then I should be able to mount the adapter to the trans. Also still waiting on Flywheel...


http://www.clublexus.com/forums/atta...624_143426.jpg

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/atta...624_150353.jpg

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/atta...624_160650.jpg

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467059516

Re: Project Lex
 

Lookin good! Crazy that you had to cut the bellhousing off, I didn't realize you had to do that, thought the adapter was a bolt on type deal. Takes some testicular fortitude for sure! :lol:

Re: Project Lex
 

The 350z trans doesn't have a removable bell housing. So u chop it off. But then that exposes the input shaft cover which is held in place by 11 bolts. So th let adapter bolts to that.

If you go on Collins website, he has a vid of how to do it. His vid is a T56 adapter I think, but same concept.

Re: Project Lex
 

Got the adapter plate mounted to the trans today.

Also made up a little mounting plate rough cut for the AEM ECU. Picked up some 1/4" thick ABS Plastic. Will clean it up a little and start mounting things to it.

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467238094

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467238094

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467238094

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467238094

Re: Project Lex
 

So with the bell housing cut off, installing the tranny should be much easier right?! If so, that's a big bonus.

On second thought, there has to be some new bell housing right?

Re: Project Lex
 

Yeah that's the idea, and the whole reason I'm doing it. The OEM 350z bellhousing is massive. This will use a SC300 / NA Supra auto bellhousing. A bellhousing designed to fit this car. So 'hopefully' it will make install / removal way easier. I guess I'll find out...

Re: Project Lex
 

Some small updates here. I got the AEM mounting plate cleaned up at work a bit. As good as I care to get it. Pretty happy with how it turned out, considering it was just like a $8 chunk of plastic :)

Got the 3rd design of the shifter fitting back from getting machined today (Thanks Rosey!). I think this is pretty much done. The shifting left to right is so close, I feel like I'm going to be experiencing a lot of miss-shifts. But everyone keeps telling me you get used to it. So we will see.

Got the trans pretty much buttoned up then. Got the slave installed. Flywheel should be here tomorrow. Powdercoat is 'supposed' to be done tomorrow. So time to just hunker down and start getting stuff installed.

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467344062

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467344062

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467344062

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467344062

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467344062

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467344062

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467344062

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467344062

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467344062

Re: Project Lex
 

Glad it fits! I like the updated rev with the thicker bottom and counter bored hole.

Re: Project Lex
 

nice work!

Re: Project Lex
 

Me too. I hope it didn't create that much more machining work for you. Hopefully next week I'll feel comfortable enough to say it's good to go and see if you can make a couple more to finish off that chunk of aluminum. Thanks again dude!

Thanks man :) Slowly but surely. But next week the wife is taking the kids to the cabin, so I'm gunna have Monday - Thursday evenings to get shit done since I'll be home alone. Hoping I can get some stuff done!

Re: Project Lex
 

Good stuff!

Party at your place next week! Shawty!

Re: Project Lex
 

fire up the boat in the driveway!!

Re: Project Lex
 

Nice, hope you make some good progress.

Re: Project Lex
 

Back from cabin. So we'll see what all I can get done. But here's where I'm at so far.

- Got parts back from powder coat. They look great, however the 'contrast' color that I picked, I'm not sure I like it. I had picked 6 colors, this was my least favorite one of them but it was the only one they had in stock so I just went with it. Now that they're done, I'll just install them because I want to move forward. They look really nice in direct sunlight, almost a very light sparkling silver with a touch of bronze, but in any other lighting (overcast, shadowy, artificial) it kind of just as a cream look. I do think eventually I'll get them coated in a different color, but just moving on for now. But the fine textured black looks phenominal, very happy with that!

- Got the new valve covers installed, replaced the OEM bolts with some nice button head fasteners instead. Also have my new 'vents' in place as well.

- Mocked up the new flywheel and clutch arrangement. Flywheel looks really nice, and clutch fits on it so thats good, lol. So time to just start putting that back into the car.

- In general, wherever I can, and wherever it makes sense, I'm going to try and replace all OEM bolts with nicer fasteners.

- Test fitted the new intake manifold. I love the smaller plenum / footprint. However the guy that made it lied. He said it would clear the battery and the stock Power Steering reservoir. It's not even close to clearing the PS reservoir. The TB would hit it, not even close. Not a huge deal, I'll just run the remote mounted one, but it is frustrating when people flat out lie about their stuff. Plus the guy still owes me $100 which I've already just written off as a lesson into his character. Funny how you can learn a lot about someone over a few bucks...

Here's just some random pictures.

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467734929

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467734929

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467734929

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467734929

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467734929

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467734929

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467734929

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467734929

Re: Project Lex
 

Nice progress! Colors are nice and oem style, clean and simple, I like it!

Re: Project Lex
 

Well, I've been making progress, but much slower than I had hoped. But progress is progress, and I'm just aiming for next year at this point. Here's where I'm at.

- Stock pilot bushing removed. Learned a new life hack in the method, removed it with 4 wet napkins and a punch in about 10 minues! Lol. Then new Collins one installed in it's place.

- Flywheel mounted (M10 x 1.25 x 40mm ARP's). Torqued and Loctited.

- Clutch mounted. Torqued and Loctited.

- Got the slave modified for -3AN and remote bleeder (Collin's has kits he is selling now for this).

- Shifter arrangement finalized. Made some spacers to replace the stack of washers. Shifter ends up 31 5/8" back from the block.

- Attempted to install the transmission, but it's just so heavy. It was getting late so I just decided to call it a night and will try again tonight.

- Got the AEM Infinity harness ran through the firewall. So will start connecting it up after the transmission is back in.


http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467901597

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467901597

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467901708

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467901708

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467901708

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467901708

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467901708

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1467901708

[img][/img]

Re: Project Lex
 

What material is the flywheel friction ring made out of? I've never seen a green one before!

Re: Project Lex
 

It's steel, like most friction surfaces. The green is a coating applied by Fidanza from the factory to prevent moisture/rust while sitting on a shelf. I wiped it with some brake cleaner before putting the clutch on, so a little rubbed off.

Re: Project Lex
 

Green machine! Looks good, getter done for late summer or fall cruisin!

Re: Project Lex
 

Been awhile since I updated this. But things have been progressing, slowly, but progressing none the less. I've pretty much considered this year a bust, so I'm just trying to take my time, do things nice, do them right, and fix things where they need to be.

- Infinity is mostly wired in. The items that are not wired in yet shouldn't really matter for getting the car running (flex fuel sensor, ABS sensors for Trac-Control, etc).

- Slowly installing all the parts, routing wires and all new vac lines in as clean of a manner as I can.

- Installed new serpentine tensionser since I noticed the old one had a small chip in it.

- Installed a new OEM Denso radiator. The old one was just filthy. While I'm at it, I removed the clutch fan setup and will be trying out an OEM IS300 electric fan setup. It's kind of a no-no to go away from the factory clutch fan because electric ones often just do not cool as well. But the IS300 setup is supposed to be the one that actually works decently. So I'm going to give it a go. If it doesn't work for any reason, I'll put the clutch one back in. It's just my fan shroud is broken, and it's just so big and bulky, while I'm in there I might as well give a clean electric fan setup a shot.

- My lawn mower battery is pretty much shot. So instead of buying another one, I bought a WPS Featherweight Lithium Ion one for $99 shipped. It's tiny (5x3x5) and weighs 2lbs. Has 290CCA (compared to my lawn mower which was 230, or an Odyssey 680 which has 180). Excited to see how that works out.
http://www.powersportparts.net/WPS_H...p/490-2517.htm



That's about it for now.

Re: Project Lex
 

Nice call on going to Lithium, I really hope that's big enough for the car. All specs point to it having enough power, I had a 4.5lb Shorai that was about 8x8x3. Price and specs sound about right, just over double the volume and weight, and price was around $200. Definitely take it inside for the winter though, and if your car draws any power while off, keep it on a tender (keep in mind some Lithium batteries require a special charger, not the normal chargers) if you don't start the car more than once every few weeks. Once they die, no guarantee they're coming back.

I had a cutoff switch on the battery itself so I didn't have to worry if I planned to take a 3 week trip or had the car down for extended maintenance or something, just turn the switch and didn't have to unhook the terminals or remove the battery from the car. Highly recommend.

EDIT - couple more thoughts: Those Lithiums can crank out some serious power for their size, but not for an extended period of time like the lead acid or AGM. Just less overall capacity, even though max output is the same. That's why you have to be extra careful about leaving it sit for extended periods of time. A higher capacity battery can sit for a month with no issues, and CCA has nothing to do with that. Amps just means power delivery output, Watts is the total energy storage capacity which unfortunately isn't a highly advertised number.

Say your battery at 2.5 lb has 290 CCA which is amazing for being so light. I haven't done research on numbers but let's say it has .3 kWh total energy, it can expel that energy very quickly to start a motor, and being fully charged from driving, after shutdown can maintain the car's parasitic draw for 2 weeks.
And a 5 lb lithium can maybe do 330 CCA, not much more max output, but double the weight. However, with total capacity of .6 kWh (double the mass and stored energy capacity), it could last a month with parasitic draw.
Of course a Lithium will have many times more energy capacity per weight vs AGM or Lead Acid, but going so small will really reduce the number of days you can let the car sit if you don't have a battery cutoff switch for the car, solely because of the constant draw that cars have.

Re: Project Lex
 

Thanks for all the input man. I guess I'll just have to see how it plays out with the whole storage capacity thing. As for the charging, that was the one thing I liked about WPS batteries, everyone says standard chargers work with them. But maybe I aught to get a tender just to be safe.

In the end it was $100 so if it fails, it's not the end of the world.

Fwiw, I'm not sure what the stock battery weighs, but my lawn mower one came in at 16lbs, so nice to knock another 10-15lbs off.

Re: Project Lex
 

I've never dealt with lithium car batteries. But as far as the R/C world goes and Boeing airlines found out the hard way. You have to be very careful not to scratch or break the coverings. As they are prone to catch fire in some cases almost instantly.

Re: Project Lex
 

I was planning on hitting it with a hammer before I installed it, might have to rethink that now though, thanks.

Re: Project Lex
 

hammer hammer hammer.

Nice progress, you going to wire the infinity for traction control?

Re: Project Lex
 

Eventually yes. I need a functioning ABS sensor on 1 front wheel and 1 rear wheel. Unfortunately if you read early on in this build, you will see that I removed ABS from the car. So I need to reinstall a couple sensors and then I should be good to go. But, not a priority at the moment as I don't need those to get the car running.

Re: Project Lex
 

Speakers going hammer. lolol

Good progress! Ill be interested in hearing how the battery works out for you too.

Re: Project Lex
 

sorry I forgot you removed the abs

Re: Project Lex
 

Got the radiator mounted with the new IS300 fans. Had to make up some fairly simple brackets from aluminum angle, but they are on there solid. I like the new look over the big clutch fan. Also I like how this fan shroud has a built in overflow reservoir.

I need to wire it to an Infinity output, so that still needs to be done yet.

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1472853302
http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1472853302
http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1472853302
http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1472853302
http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1472853302
http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachm...1&d=1472853302

Re: Project Lex
 

Nice!
It's crazy how much stronger the angle stuff is vs flat stock.
Looking good!!