astrohog

There is definitely something wrong with that guy! (In a good way!) LOL

Oh, the toxic masculinity around here.......LOL

Lookin' good!

Welcome Allen! You've come to right place! Search is your friend, and if that fails you, there are many here that are a wealth of knowledge and willing to share their expertise!

I'm with ya on that. I don't know why, but it does bug me.

took a break from the engine compartment and got the crank installed into the block and pistons attached to the rods. I was extremely happy to see that all tolerances on the main bearings to crank were spot on. Next up on the engine build front is to install the rods and pistons. Head is already assembled, so things should move quickly from here! Now, back to prepping the fenders, fender wells and engine compartment. This motor deserves a nice, new home!

Yep, and it will be full of cold beers to celebrate the "loss" of the modern P.O.S. 😆

finally got the fenders off! I was very happy to see that there was no cancer, and actually very little rust. I did break some bolts off, but that should be easier to deal with than the potential cancer that could have been hiding. cowl area is very clean as well!

Appreciate the feedback. After countless hours of, "internet research" and also discussing with local paint/body shops, then the head-spinning "analysis paralysis", I've come to the conclusion that there are many ways to skin a cat....... Obviously, the BEST way would be to have the complete car stripped and properly chemically dipped. That ain't happening. Since I will be doing the engine compartment only, and since there is no major "cancer", I think I will be media blasting it and doing the best I can at converting any rust or areas that could hide rust, then epoxy priming and painting. I know it is impossible to remove ALL remaining media from blasting, but I think I should be able to keep it to a minimum since it is just the engine compartment. Hope I'm right....LOL

YEP! After wet sanding to 320 grit yesterday, I was admiring my handiwork, but all I could find were more flaws in my work and in the intake castings, themselves! Now that I am all in, I must make them as perfect as possible. SO.....I'm gonna get back on the Dremel tool today.... I never realized how ROUGH these castings were until I smoothed/cleaned one section, then I realized how much work I had committed myself to! It will be satisfying to me to know I've got one of the cleanest sets of intakes anywhere, BUT if just ONE person notices and comments someday, it will be the icing on the cake! LOL

Questioning my life choices after deciding to polish all the aluminum bits under the hood; valve cover, intakes, balance tube (cheated on this one and I have a polished euro tube coming from Ztherapy), front cover...... I've already got 2 full days into these parts. I just finished my first pass of wet sanding with 320 grit. I think I'll be able to do 600, 1000 then finish with 1500 before buffing. Most of my time was spent grinding casting marks and trying to make all the fillets uniform radius. Ground off all the words and numbers and the rough cast finish. Drilled and plugged all the holes in the top of the intake flanges with some JB Weld and aluminum round stock and will mill off the extra flange that sticks up above the insulator blocks. If I ever do another car, I'm leaving them all stock!

Thanks for the reminder! Just called her and she is going to look and get back to me!

Was working on getting the engine compartment stripped and ready for paint prep this weekend. One of the things I removed was the, "brake block" that sits on the drivers side fender wall below the brake master cylinder. It has "Nabco" cast into the side of the block and has two inlet ports on the bottom to accept the front and rear hard lines from the MC, three outlet ports, two for the front brakes, (one for left/front and one for right/front left) and one line that goes out the rear, where the proportioning valve splits the lines to left and right rear. On the top middle port is an electrical pressure differential switch which, when triggered by a pressure differential between front and rear brakes, will send a signal to the brake warning light on the dash. My switch (I believe it is Nissan part# 46100-U5200) is broken, and it appears they have not been available for decades. If anyone has a working switch they would be willing to part with, I would be forever grateful! The other two options are, 1) to plug the port where the switch is supposed to go and just render the warning light NONOP, or, 2) get the aftermarket Willwood unit (still doesn't have a pressure diff. switch, so still no warning light) that has a built-in brake differential and do away with the stock differential block that is in the rear of the car. Willwood unit Please reach out to me if you have a switch you would part with and feel free to chime in with any experience you may have had with the Willwood unit, or bypassing the switch using the stock block.

John at L-Spec was very helpful and knowledgeable and I am very pleased with the work they did. There were times when it seemed the communication was lacking and there were some delays, but overall, I would recommend them, as there seems to be the same/similar issues with all of the leading performance engine builders for our Z's.

I will be replacing the floor pans in the future, just want to be able to drive it for awhile without worrying that the rust is growing. I think this will be a decent temporary band-aid that won't exacerbate and grow into a bigger issue in the future. I retire in 5 years and then I will be able to devote the time, until then I really want to get back to enjoying the Z and the Z community!