350Z Huxley Caged Toy

With two builds already on the go it seemed silly to purchase another car but i did it anyway!

Due to the other cars being higher spec builds i wanted something less silly, i believe that the 350Z is going to be the car to take over from 200sx when they all die out and it is a great chassis. I'd seen this shell come up and go off over a couple of weeks then it came back on again due to the seller getting messed about with the buyer. I'd said to myself if it comes up again im gonna buy it annddd.... i did.... i need a cheaper hobby!!!

So roadtrip time i headed to Kings Lynn to pick up the rolling shell!



Its a 2004 Shell that was previously someones show car but has since been a little neglected. I picked it up and the white wrap has been pulled off in places. The rear glass is missing but it was fully rolling on a pair of R32 GTR wheels and Rota something or others. It has a Huxley built cage in some sort of candy pink which i quite like.

It looked pretty good in its former glory.









Thats pretty much all thats happen to it so far. Its going to sit on the back burner for a bit until i can find a donor car i like for it. I think im going to get a 350Z HR engine to put in it. But as and when that'll happen i dont know yet.

I had a cheeky bid on ebay and managed to land myself some new parts of a 350Z owner that was selling up so i now have so HSD coilovers say waiting for it, Driftworks camber arms and japspeed tie rods. Oh and a steering boss too. Some much for taking it slow ey

 

So much for putting this build on the back burner!

I'd been keeping my eyes open for a reasonable priced 350Z working or damaged, when i came across this one on ebay. After negotiating a price in the morning i'd thrown the trailer on my car rang a mate to see if he was up for a road trip! A couple of hours later and i was the owner of yet another 350Z.



The car ticked all the boxes i was after for parts, it had a standard engine which had only done 93k had an exhaust system and and airfilter. As it was being transfered into the caged shell i wasnt particularly fussed about the outside of the car but this one is fine bar some minor rust bubbling on the arches that 350Z's are common for.





It's a 53 plate GT spec car. So it has the brembo brakes, full leather interior and a manual 6 speed gearbox.

 

The aim is to try and swap one car into the other over Easter weekend as ill get a 4 day hit on it.



I started to clean the caged shell out completely as it had been sat on my trailer for a while out in the elements. I began to strip the interior panels and looms out in anticipation for this weekend. My aim was to have it gutted and presure washed out ready for all the new stuff to be moved over. I ran out of time due to other commitments but its almost ready for its new heart.




I've pretty much just got to remove the old heater core and remainding wiring from the dash and the loom that runs over the engine bay bulkhead to the fuse box and its ready for a clean. The plan is to move everything over from the other car as its all been working and not sat. that includes subframes, fuel tanks etc.

Rather than break the blue shell up for panels i bought a serparate boot lid so i can cut the glass out of it and put it in this shell making it water tight once again.

 

So in preparation for this weekend i also ordered some new parts for the car.

First up was a service kit

NGK plugs
Titan 10w50 Pro S Oil
Bosch Oil Filter.



Im still kind of new to these cars and from what i can find there is no fuel filter as such its all part of the fuel cradle that is in tank so that wont be replaced straight away unless needed.

As the car is also going to be getting a beating on track i wanted to keep the car as cool as possible with the stresses of being revved hard all the time.

A Japspeed alloy radiator along with some Mishimoto fans that are direct plug and play were purchased, I also treated it to a Mishimoto lower temp thermostat. Some fresh long life coolant and a bottle of water wetter should keep temps down nicely!



With water cooling pretty much sorted i looked into options for oil cooling, i had a 30 row oil cooler core lying around from one of my old builds so ill give that a clean and to mate it all up to the engine i bought a Mocal thermostatic sandwich plate for the engine. As drifitng is pretty bad with oil sloshing i found some of chinas finest baffled sumps. There a direct bolt on option for the DE engine offering extra oil capacity and baffling, it seemed like a no brainer for a Greddy copy sump.



I bought a cheap catch can too which was better quality than i anticipated for a china item



Im hoping that everything turns up before the end of the week so parts can be put on the engine when its out the car over the weekend

 

Im migrating my Bimarco Futura bucket seats from my R32 into this car along with my OMP steering wheel. Theres nothing wrong with the items im just going to treat the R32 to newer versions of them when the car has been overhauled. I have a spare set of side mounts to use on the seats and will probably end up cutting up the 350Z seat rails to make electric seat mounts with.

I need to purchase another hydro im thinking of going for an IRP unit like in my R32 its a great piece of kit and extremely well made!

I picked up a set of adjustable drop links as 350Z's are known for eating them!



I will make all the rear arms with adjustable parts so the rear end is fully adjustable. Im also going to attempt to make my own version of a PartsShopMax angle kit at some point when the cars back on its feet again.

I may have also stumbled across a Rocket Bunny kit that is now sat waiting to go on the car!

 

So easter weekend was a busy one! As the spice girls say when two become one... Me and my friend Matt armed with a couple of bottles of beer and the glorious sunshine got cracking on making a new drift car.



Friday - We completely gutted the Blue 350Z in prepartion for going in the silver caged shell.



Saturday - we cleaned the caged 350Z shell and stripped the last few pieces out ready to accept all the new goodies!

I forgot to take alot of pictures at this point as it was all systems go!

Matt was handling wiring transfer whilst i started to service the engine and attach the new manifold/decat pipes to the engine, along with new plugs and a mishimoto lower temp thermostat.



A few hours in and the car was getting a fuel tank and rear subframes fitted. We finished saturday off by getting the engine and box back in.

Saturday was also Matts birthday (hes old so we dont say numbers ;-) but we had beer and a pizza to celebrate)



Sunday - we started to bolt more parts to the car and eventually got it turning over. I slacked on taking pictures on this day. I started to put some of my new parts on the car as i had a set of HSD Monopro coilovers, Driftworks camber arms and some shiney new drop links to go on.



Monday - by monday we were fed up of doing pretty much 12 hour days as swap but we still went and got more parts on the car. The car now had its full drivetrain connected and Matt had started to prep the bodykit. I ended up with a rocket bunny style kit so he began to chop and fit it to the car.



By the end of monday we were shattered but pretty much had a well built spec'd drift car.

 

I had a few parts that hadnt arrived or hadnt been fitted yet due to waiting on other parts to complete the build.

I ordered a sump from China, it looks like a direct Greddy rip off at a fraction of the cost. That along with a magnetic sump plug and a mocal thermostatic sandwich plate and a spare oil cooler gave me a hell of alot of extra capacity and better cooling. something that 350Z's drastically need. The kit and mounting was pretty simple and i attached it all friday and left it to dry before i filled it up saturday morning.



All this sump capacity and the oil cooler happily supped all my Fuchs Titan Pro S!

A Japspeed alloy radiator was fitted with some plug and play mishimoto fans to keep the car running cool.

 

I still have some finishing touches to be installed were trying to make a seat rail low enough for my lanky ass that im not squashed against the roof then the hydro can be installed!

Thats this weeks plan!

The car is basically straight piped and is possibly the most offensive thing you will ever hear so i have ordered to silencers so its actually capable of going on a track.

A H Dev plenum spacer is on its way then the car can go for an UpRev remap and then paint!

Lots of parts for sale for anyone building a 350Z check out my for sale thread

 

Cheers dude, its been a quick build to be honest hopefully all will be up and running for a test day next friday

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cast-Alu...971381?hash=item33aabeed35:g:RpkAAOSwgQ9VsXxT

ebay link for you cost about 15 quid on import fees on top

 

My Horsham Developments Plenum Spacer turned up yesterday so i figured why not go fit it after work.



I dont think ive ever fitted anything as easy in my life...

Its an 8mm (5/16) plate which from what i researched was the one to go for. Its an alluminium spacer with gasket on top of it.

The basics of it are unbolt the top half of the inlet manifold remove the odd pipe for access and then quick clean leaving the original gasket in place. Install the new plate and bolt down using loctite on the bolts.



Thats pretty much how easy there are to install, for the potential gains after a remap it seems silly people wouldnt get one....

 

On a random ebay search the other day i came across this clutch on my saved search list.... a cheeky offer later....

I managed to pickup a competition clutch brand new twin plate clutch setup for litterally less than half the price of a new one because it wasnt in a box.... Its balanaced still has the tag and markings on it and upon opening it up to double check has not been used exactly as the seller described.



I ordered some ARP flywheel bolts so as soon as they turn up this can go in the car as mine currently has a rather high biting point making me believe its on its way out...

 

I didnt take alot of pictures the other day from my oil cooler and thermostatic sandwich plate install due to me forgetting so i took a few more last night whilst fitting the plenum spacer.

I managed to mount the oil cooler behind the PAS cooler on the drivers side of the car. i made an aluminium bracket which i folded and cut to suit the shape of the oil cooler and then drilled the plate to mount to the 350z front panel. I utilised the exisiting PAS mounting holes and added a couple more riv nuts to take the weight. I then spaced the PAS cooler off the front of the oil cooler by about and inch and tightened the lot up for a nice sturdy mount



theres a little bit of tidying up to do but its mounted so it will do for now!

 

The next task i need to undertake is the obscene noise that comes from the car.... its more offensive than a straight piped bmw....

The engine has a japspeed manifold/decat 3 to 1 pipe on either bank running to the stock Y piece and a Japspeed cat back so basically has no silencers at all. Its ridiculously loud and would never get on a track!

I ordered two silencers to hopefully quieten the car down to an acceptable level. Both the pipes are 3inch in and out with the smaller silencer being 5inch round and about 12inch long. the larger oval one i believe is 8inch by 16inchs.



I ordered a new japspeed stainless steel Y piece to chop up and put one of the silencers into.



It was at this point i realised id goofed and the pipe was 2.5inch and the silencer was 3inch, only having one 2.5-3inch expander this job wasnt going to get done so this was where i left it for the night...

I had a quick google and ordered a pipe expander off amazon as it was next day so hopefully that will allow me to get the exhaust system back together this weekend.

 

Lmao we cant all take as long as you to finish a project dude lol. My R32 is still in pieces if that makes you feel better hehe