Well I've still got a lot of work ahead of me, I've kind of dedicated this car to be my project/fun/learning/DAILY DRIVER LMAO yeah right.

This is what I've done so far
Z1 Plenum Spacer
Z1 Lightweight Flywheel
Z1 Lightweight Crankshaft Pulley
Idler Pulley Delete
eBay Headers (hey I'm 28 and still learning + moneys tight)
MotorDyne ART Pipes
Z1 Y-Pipe
Z1 3” Single Exit Exhaust
aFe Takeda Intake
Replaced Starter
Replaced Clutch Slave Cylinder
Stainless Steel Clutch Line
Z1 Solid Rear Differential Mounts
EVO Calipers
Stoptech Brake Pads
75mm Throttle Body
Z1 Sub Frame Collars
Z1 Mild Performance Clutch (Unsprung Full Face Friction Disc)
1 Piece Aluminum Driveshaft
Z1 Solid Motor Mounts
Z1 Transmission Mount
Oil Catch Can
Magnetic Oil Drain Plug

The things I still want to do
- Z1 silicone hose set
- Z1 aluminum undershroud
- short shifter with weighted ****
- uprev tuner engine management
- G37 rear axles//hubs
- mishimoto radiator
- camshafts
- head work, oversized valves, multi angle port
- coilovers
- z1's lightweight brake kit
- 4.1 final drive or something similar
- all exterior/body work (bumpers, skirts, hood, trunk, headlights, tail lights etc)
- wheels (RPF1's or something lightweight)
- RJM clutch pedal

And probably some other small things that will pop up. I haven't touched any of my car exterior, I figured screw how it looks I want to get the performance where I want it first then I'll get around to making it look good,.
Any lightweight wheel recommendations?
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Don't bother with the cams and head work, go straight to a Vortech S/C and get your Uprev tune at the same time. Only works out to about $1k more expensive than cams and full head work if you can find a pre-owned V2. Get an oil pan spacer at the same time and use it for your return on the V2. If you can find a V3 for a decent price you might like that direction? Personally I like the oiled V2 better though.

Do some research into the B&M shifter for these cars, it feels AMAZING.

You NEED the RJM pedal... put that up near the top of your to-do list.

Is there an adapter for the EVO calipers to bolt right on? I've seen pictures of one G35 with EVO calipers on it but couldn't actually find a kit for it.

 

I just want to get my G back on the road, been down for over 6 months. I had JUST put the new clutch in when the engine **** the bed. Took me a while to get another block + parts and every other obstacle financial or not. I've been driving my dads "back-up" F250 super duty with no heat up in Rhode Island freezing my ace off we got hail/snow today. I miss the scalding heat my G output. Should only be a few weeks now. Haven't heard from the welder yet. My tap and crank pulley tool are on their way. I wanted to finish the sub frame/differential this weekend but it literally rained/snowed my 3 days off (and now guess what SUNNY for the next few days, ugh always happens right). But at least I finished half of it, only the sub frame bushing left, if it's nice out when I get home tomorrow I'll try and finish that off son I can get the diff back in the car.

Do you know what weight gear oil is used in the diff, I managed to spill some out of the breather tube when I was working on it but also it has never been changed (at least since I've had it) so I wanted to do that as well before I put it back in.

The previous owner was a mechanic and I believe he was the one that did the caliper swap, I don't know if he fabbed something up or if it was a direct fit. What I do know is that there is literally .005MM of space between the caliper and the spokes on the wheels. I posted pics in a previous thread here before.


EDIT: GL-5 80W90 or 80W95 gear oil any reccomended brands/weights for the north east? I usually go Mobil 1 synthetic

 

Got the tap in the mail today. 1/8"-27 NPT thread / plug so now the two water nipples on the rear coolant pipe are blocked off.

 

Got the coolant pipe back on, also managed to get my Z1 pulley off the old motor with my hose clamps trick.
The pulley is aluminum and therefore soft, it's a little banged up but nothing too bad (I think)
was gonna try to soften some of the knicks out with high grit paper or possibly steel wool.
Is this good to go on a new motor or should I get it looked by someone?

 

I wouldn't have any problems with using that pulley, I'd install it as is and not even bother with filing off the dents though

 

Small update, FINALLY got that auto trans bushing out. I borrowed a tool from a mechanic friend...that didn't work, I bought a blind hole bearing/bushing tool and beat the hell out of bushing/tool and still wouldn't budge. So I took about 6 drill bits and drilled two holes on either side to basically cut the thing in half... that worked

It was hard to tell if I was all the way through or not and I was trying to be as careful as I could but as the hours and days passed trying to get this thing out I grew more and more frustrated leading to carelessness.





You can see the two small marks from the drill but they aren't deep and I don't think it will make much difference.

I also got the pipes from the welder, he went the quick route and cut the pipes short and pinched / welded them shut. I really wanted the whole tubes eliminated and a flush coolant pipe but the guy was doing me a favor so I couldn't complain. Painted both the pipes with gloss black engine enamel.I think they came out pretty good.










I put the HR thermostat on and also the HR oil filter stud so that's all wrapped up.

This week I plan on finished the clutch and getting the transmission back on, as well as the Z1 crank pulley and then getting my harness on the engine (neatly)

I got the subframe bushing out but still need to put Z1's solid one in, Also the subframe collars need to get put in as well.

 

update 11-20-20

Took transmission off
Removed snapped pressure plate bolt
Installed all new hardware for pressure plate
Installed Motordyne Aramid gasket between block and lower plenum
Swapped my painted plenum on with throttle body
Installed wire harness, cleaned up engine

As I was putting the harness back on at first it was hard but things started to fall in place and it got easier
There is only 1 plug that I have no idea what it does to. Its a part of the transmission loom and its just one big pin/slot
It looks like a ground or power (its black and yellow and thicker than all the other ones



Any idea where that goes? Also what the hell is this thing on the side of the transmission?
**EDIT** Once I bolted the starter back on the engine it was obvious where this went, ground for starter.

 

The "weight plate" on the side of the tranny bolts to the exhaust I think, it's used to reduce NVH on the powertrain/exhaust.

Usually it just rusts to pieces and falls off

 

Haha okay, it didn't seem like it did much. My whole exhaust is aftermarket anyways so I'll probably remove that piece.

 

Finally! I'm so close to getting her back on the road. Over thanksgiving weekend I was able to get the engine into the chassis. Went in without much fuss actually I was surprised. Yesterday I finished everything in the back end Z1 collars and got the differential sub frame bushing and the actual diff itself back in the sub frame.

This week I'm hoping to get everything else done. I'm going with Redline MT85 in the transmission. For the differential I went with Mobil 1 75W90. The shifter is back together, the ECU is plugged back in and the glove box area is assembeled. I have the next few days off so I plan on doing the transmission and driveshaft and getting the headers and the rest of the exhaust back on. The engine bay is still a bit of a mess, all the heater hoses and radiator hoses need to go back along with all the power steering stuff.

Heres what she looks like now.


I wasn't able to get the OEM crank pulley off, I have to wait until I install the driveshaft so I can put the car in gear and break the crank bolt that way. I've also changed a lot of things while this whole swap was going on I know the car is going to feel so different.

 

Does the driveshaft need to be lubed on the male side and female side? Or just one side?

 

Just the slip yoke section on the driveshaft and the output shaft SEAL on the transmission. Use tranny fluid to lube it, this is just so there is no friction on the seal so it doesn't get damaged.

 

Cool, thanks. I just put the driveshaft in today. I got the ART pipes back on too. My local auto parts store doesn't have Redline MT-85 so I had to order it from Z1 and that should only take a few days. Once the transmission fluid is changed I can get the exhaust back on and finish the small odds and ends on the front end.

 

Okay guys, so things are finally moving! (FIGURATIVELY & LITERALLY).

I've been driving the car fort about a week now and it feels like I own a brand new car. The first night I went to fire the engine it kept turning over and over and over without firing. I was in disgust and so fed up, I couldn't figure out why the hell the car wouldn't start. Then it hit me, when I first got the car I installed a kill switch hidden under the shift boot that when enabled allows the car to turn over but WILL NOT FIRE. I ran down the stairs and back outside so fast my shoes were left inside. As soon as I flipped my kill switch the "door is open" ding ding ding started going and I realized that I'm just a dumb *** after all. As soon as I cranked the car she fired up almost instantaneously and boy did she sound good.

After driving the car for a week there have been only a few small problems (some that have been fixed and others that have not).

1. When going between acceleration and braking every once in a while I would hear a loud sound and it felt like something in the car was shifting back and fourth. For the first few days I thought it was my tool box with all my ratchets sliding back and fourth but after tyaking the tool box out and the noise still persisted I knew it was something else. Since I hadn't gone through and checked any of the suspension bolts after driving the cvar for a fwe days I decided to get the car up in the air and see what might have been loose. First I checked the motor mounts, I thought maybe one or both of the bolts may need another turn or two but no they were fine. Next thing I checked was the 17mm bolt that goes on the back of the differential that "pulls" the driveline tight and sure enough I was able to turn the ratchet a few times so I tightened that down and went for a quick ride and that seems to have solved the problem.

2. There is a small coolant leak coming from the drivers side coolant hard pipe. When I installed all these hard pipes I used the gaskets that came with the engine so I ordered a new one about a week ago but still haven't gotten it since the mailing services are so backed up right now. Since I eliminated so many of the coolant lines in the engine bay I was expecting to have to deal with something related to this system. There was a guy on here or in the G/Z community that sold a coolant pipe kit that eliminated all the things I did (crossover, oil cooler/warmer, and throttle body). DM2! that's the guy I'm talking about, On his coolant pipe that crossover is completely blocked off whereas on mine the pipe comes off about 4 inches and then is pinched shut. The leaking gets worse the harder I pull the engine, I'm thinking that I need to have my coolant pipe blocked off completely flat like his to solve this problem but I won't know for sure until I get this new gasket in and try that first.




3. The new alternator works without any issues! If you've read this whole thread you'll know that I used the alternator that came on the new engine. It had 3 wires instead of 2 wires that was on the original. I wire the new connector to my old harness and haven't had any issues with it.

a. The "Aramid Gasket" that motordyne sells makes a huge difference, I used to not be able place my hand on the plenum after any kind of driving or even idling for more than 15 minutes. Now I can get off the highway pop the hood and sit my bare *** on the plenum and have to pucker up because it's too cold.It's amazing that a small change like a thicker gasket made out of a different material can drop the temperature so much.

4. The solid motor mounts, transmission mount, and the Z1 subframe collars combined feel ASTOUNDING. I was worried about all the NVH that people complain about with just ONE of these products installed let alone ALL THREE. I feel so much more connected to the car now. And there really isn't that much more NVH. (I installed little rubber pads between the solid diff mounts and the frame of the car). But all the other mounts (motor/trans/collars) are all installed directly adjacent to the frame of the car.

5. On my dash the outside temperature reads -22 degrees and I realized my ambient temp sensor is unplugged ( or missing) I can't seem to find it anywhere on the front radiator support. I will be ordering a new one soon.

There used to be a lot of "slop" in the way this car handled stock (or after 150,000 miles and all the stock mounts are trashed). There is no more wheel hop and there isn't any lag between the drive line. The throttle feels like an on / off switch and the chassis grabs the ground and holds on for dear life in every turn. I've especially noticed on highway ramps and any city driving with multiple turns that this car just demolishes anything else in the corners.

My next main focus is going to be the cooling of the engine. I enjoy beating on my car and driving it the way it was meant to be driven. That means stretching the RPMs to near redline wherever acceptable but I've learned that one of the most important and OVERLOOKED aspects of any tuner/enthusiast is cooling. I still haven't redlined this car because 1. I'm still babying this new engine 2. My clutch has less than 1,000 miles on it and 3. I don't want to push the engine until I have these modifications done.

1. Oil cooler ( I will be parting my own kit together within the next week or so and plan on making a thread covering it or maybe I will add it to this)
2. Upgraded oil pan (I think I will be going with the stillen pan, using a spacer creates too many layers of RTV and doesn't appeal to me personally)
3. Radiator ( been looking at a few different companies options and so far I'm liking the AMS radiator for the 350Z)
4. Pathfinder cooling mod (I wanted to have this done before I put the engine back in the car but I got too ancy and wanted my baby back on the road)

Now all these cooling mods might seem over kill and they certainly are for a Naturally Aspirated setup. But I plan on doing some kind of FI in the future and all of these modifications are preliminary needs towards that.

QUESTION FOR YOU GUYS!

IS THIS NEW ENGINE A REV UP?

When I was putting the intake manifold back together I used the lower and upper plenum from my previous engine because I had cleaned / sanded them a bit and also painted the top plenum. Today when I was looking at the lower and upper plenum that came off the new engine I saw this


ML2 & MR2 - Isn't that the revup version? I thought the regular DE said ML1 and MR1.

Clarification please?

That's all for now, I'll update when something changes!