Classically Cool

I first became aware of Freisinger at TAS 1999 believe it or not, when one of their customer RSR’s was on display, and just stared at me, teasing, for hours. It was then, and is now, one of the coolest cars I’ve ever laid eyes on. Now it’s for sale. This is Porsche perfection.

How Many Dead Kittens…..

…did it take to produce this lump of shit? Madonna Mia. I see the Erebuni school of styling is alive and well, and has apparantly invaded Greece where this behemoth resides. This lovely piece of aerodynamic prowess was shown to me by Gio – who obviously doesn’t share the owners tastes, given his tasty G35 (click) . We have tons of customers in Greece, and I know you guys are car nuts. Time to step up your game – this isn’t cutting it 😉

Shadow Sports Z33 Up For Grabs

Deleted the pics because I’m a tool that didn’t realize Kwame posted this car over the summer. But, here are the mods on it for those interested:

Tomei cams
NISMO S1 heads
HKS Pistons
Upgraded oil pump
ARC oil pan
4.08 final drive
NISMO LSD
NISMO Clutch/flywheel
Upgraded motor/transmission mounts
Shadow Sports/Project Mu Brakes
Shadow Sports/Bride Vorga Sports Seat
and of course, the awesome Shadow Sports Aero Kit

350Z Race Car for Sale

Rich (the car’s owner) has been extremely helpful to me in recent weeks (your beer is coming!), so if you or someone you know is looking at getting yourself into a fully prepped turnkey Z33 track car, this is your chance.

For sale: Nissan 350Z built to current Grand Am Koni Challenge GS specifications
TIG welded full roll cage, stripped, seam welded and car prep done by Impact Engineering
3.5 liter V6 race motor, Tilton flywheel and clutch
Custom long tube header, and titanium/stainless steel exhaust Coast Fabrication mufflers
Bosch MS 4.3 ECU and Grand Am approved wiring harness
Bosch C4 data acquisition
Chassis harness has connectors for 3 way accelerometer, YAW sensor, shock potentiometers, steering angle
Deutsch Autosport connectors throughout the vehicle
AIM lap trigger
Bosch DDU4 fully customizable display.
Removable steering wheel has controls for 6 driver selectable pages, display brightness control, radio button, pit speed limiter and fuel reset.
Carbon/Kevlar NISMO V3 body kit as approved by Grand Am
Carbon fiber headlight replacements (headlights available for night races)
Functioning wiper and highbeams
Dual dry break fuel tank with rollover and discriminator valves
Carbon driveshaft
Primary and secondary fuel pumps, car can run down to ½ gallon before starvation
StopTech front brake calipers and rotors. Brembo rear calipers.
3” brake ducts to front rotors
Tevis stand alone ABS system, with brake bias bar
3” thick C&R large capacity radiator with built in engine oil heat exchanger
Koni double adjustable shocks
350evo sway bars
350evo front upper A-Arms, camber adjustable
Cobra seat and 6 point harnesses
Custom ultra-low seat mount on slider for taller drivers
Switches are all Otto aircraft switches, circuit breakers are Klixon
Wired for Grand Am Delphi transponder
Hard wired for Motorola Radio
AMB transponder with driver ID, hardwired
Accusump
Electrical fire extinguisher
Jongbloed wheels with Hoosier tires
APR wheel studs
Driver accessible electrical cut off
Iso-Torque rear differential with cooling radiator and fan
Gold heat shield in engine bay and transmission tunnel to reduce cabin temperature
NISMO power steering cooler
All support software: Bosch MODAS Team Software, ABS Diagnostics/brake bleeding, DDU4 customization software,
All wiring diagrams included. All relays and fuses are labeled for clear understanding of function.

This car is track ready. Just a corner weight and ride height adjustment is all that’s needed.

Weighs 2900 lbs.

Never crashed. Never wrecked. Paint is in showroom condition. Spares available as well.

Serious inquires only. Please contact rich@nohotwireracing.com

Adam’s Project Z33: Bringing up the Rear Part II

Got some new updates on my bastardized rear that we’ve discussed here last month.

The goals were simple – the execution, has proven anything but! Today I’ll show off some pics of the more of the guts that are needed to make this 4.3 ring and pinion work.

First, notice the picture of the Quaife LSD all dismantled Quaife Helical LSD

Quaife LSD for 350Z Exposed

The Quaife is a helical differential, which means it transmits power via a series of intermeshing gears.

This diff has never been used, but we wanted to make sure it was absolutely perfect. It has been sitting around though for a few months, unsealed, so we wanted to make sure it was free of any oxidation, etc. It’s been fully taken apart, cleaned, and prepped and is now ready to go back in.

Last time, we showed how the custom sleeves were done to allow the correct pinion bearings. The next hurdle to tackle was the actual pinion flange. The problem with the 4.3 final drive I got is the pinion diameter is smaller than the factory 350Z units – the length is correct, but the difference in diameter is why we had to sleeve the shaft in the first place. In order for the rear to work, it has to somehow bolt to the driveshaft. This is what the flange’s job is – it joins the driveshaft and pinion together so all that power can effectively turn the pinion, which turns the ring, which is bolted to the differential, and then output to the rear axles/wheels. What we ended up having made was a bit of a hybrid. It uses the splined carrier for the 4.3 ring gear, mated to a custom machined flange that matches the correct outer diameter of the original 350Z pinion flange.

Custom Machined Flange for 4.3 ring and pinion into 350Z

Stock on the right, new flange on the right. This will allow everything to work together in harmony, and bolt up without us having to modify the driveshaft in any way. Next thing to do is get it on the drill press and put the holes in to allow it to mate to the driveshaft, and then high speed balance it to make sure it is 100% true, so there are no unwanted vibrations.

Last things to do are press on the new bearings to the differential, and then microfinish and cryo the ring and pinion. More updates coming soon!

Meeeeeeeooooow

Audi pulling out all the stops and getting down in the mud against it’s more expensive rivals. This isn’t brand new, but I just saw it for the first time while watching the F1 Singapore race. I love Ferrari, but a good commercial is just a good commercial. Cat fight between redheads !

Old School

Got these pics from a long time customer who is about the embark on a new project. This thing is like a time capsule!

1972 Toyota Corona (T80) – under 50,000 original miles! Stay tuned we’ll update progress here!

Weds SA-55M

These new wheels from Weds were first shown at TAS 2009, and they are finally nearing release. I love the elegant spokes and clean design. Sort of a blend between an Advan RZ and the Mugen 10L’s. Sizes will include:

18×8 +45, 5-114.3 (black with blue machining between spokes or matte grey)
18×8 +35, 5-114.3 (black with blue machining between spokes or matte grey)
18×9 +35, 5-114.3 (black with blue machining between spokes or matte grey)
18×9 +20, 5-114.3 (black with blue machining between spokes or matte grey)
18×10 +18, 5-114.3 (black with blue machining between spokes or matte grey)
18×10 +36, 5-114.3 (black with blue machining between spokes or matte grey)

I’ve also seen these floating around in gold too, which would look sick on someone’s STi! You’ll also notice they have one that was shown with red inner machining. Not sure if these will make it to market, but maybe they can be specially ordered if we can get enough interest. Contact us for details and special preorder pricing!

Turbo XS Exhaust Evo X

Turbo XS Exhaust Evo X

Brand new from Turbo XS comes their full stainless catback for the Evo X. Features 3 inch stainless piping, exiting to a gorgeous muffler with dual tips and burnt titanium edging. We’re offering some special deals on this new piece, so be the first in your area with one! Contact us for details!

Carefully Planned

So while browsing around Barnes and Noble today, I came across the latest issue of Japanese Performance. At least it’s the latest one on our shelves…we always get the foreign magazines late here. On the cover was a nice, clean red 350Z with Chargespeed body kit and Varis hood. I picked up a copy and headed for the checkout. I get into my car, and thub through it quick and come across the article. In the very first sentence I see “Craig Mudd” and think…hey, I know that guy!

Craig and I share something in common when it comes to modding tastes. Both of us it seem believe less really is more. A huge mod list doesn’t necessarily impress me. Instead, I like a car that is tastefully done, cleanly built and prepared, and that retains enough utility to still have it be a fun car to drive.

All too often in this ‘scene’, you see guys who mod without purpose. They have no plan of attack, and they often aren’t willing to learn even the basics of modding a particular platform. So they end up just buying random stuff, and at the end of the day, they end up with a car that has no balance. Instead of it being a cohesive unit, it just becomes a mish mosh of stuff. While best intentions are certainly a good start, it really takes careful planning to successfully modify a car. To really pull off a quality show winning build, it takes the right mix of planning and execution.

Craig purchased the car Fall of 2008, and by Spring 2009 it was essentially complete. All summer he’s been taking it to shows, taking home trophy after trophy. I think what I like about this car is it represents a real world build. It represents what alot of customers hope to build. Nothing is over the top, and the parts range from common to rare, yet they all just work with one another in unison. The net result has been lots of trophies and several magazine features.

We happily supplied the Invidia exhaust to Craig, as well as his red Bride seats. What I love best on the interior isn’t the stuff we supplied, but rather the flocking that the nearly all the panels were treated too. Not too often that you see such a process on a road car.

I’ve loved working with our Z customers all over the world and helping them put together their dream cars. You can read all about Craigs build on his own site – just click!

Adam’s Project Z33: Cool(er) Runnings

Quick picture of the energy absorbing foam that sits between the bumper beam and bumper. This needs to be trimmed so that the NISMO V2 air duct can be installed.

2 small holes need to be drilled into the top of the beam to secure the duct in place. I also used 3M double sided tape to hold the duct in place while drilling the holes.

NISMO V2 duct installed, prior to putting the bumper back on. I had to file down the forward facing edge so that it would clear the mesh on my bumper. The dremel made it an easy job, and a quick hit of some satin black paint gives it a nice final look.

Close up of the duct installed with the bumper in place

Duct installed

Intake Heatshield Installed (Front View)

Intake Heatshield Installed (Rear View)

Now that I’ve driven the car around for the past 3 weeks with the new plenum/throttle body, I’ve started to become accustomed to the “quirks” of the setup. It still hasn’t been dyno tuned, and the street tuning we did was with the car at full temperature. Since we no longer use the drive by wire, there is no cold start setup, which is something we’ll have to tackle soon, especially with the colder months coming up. What I did notice though, was that the car doesn’t like to do a dead cold start, but hot starts are fine. However, once started, it is more willing to idle nicely before the cooling fans have kicked on, telling me that we should be able to play with the Haltech software and make things cooperate nicely. It also idles quite well with the a/c on, which is a welcomed surprise. I also noticed that when things are up to temperature, and the both cooling fans kick on, the idle freaks out a bit, with some minor surging. So, I started looking into what I could do to keep the intake from ingesting the fans air, and also keep the intake temps as low as possible. My previous setup consisted of the Gruppe-M carbon intake, but I sold it when I didn’t think I’d have any use for it during the “I’m doing ITB’s” phase. Of course, that turned out to be just a phase (nightmarish, as I’ve eluded to previously).

The first thing I did was install a heatshield. It is supposed to be used on a 3 inch conical filter, but I took a chance and it turns out to fit perfectly on my 4 inch HKS (which has a 3 inch inlet). Came in a nice polished finish. I think I’ll grab some of the nice silver heat reflective tape from Coast Fabrication just as a bit of extra prevention too.

When Kwame and I were BS’ing the other night, he suggested I also install the NISMO V2 duct that I’ve had sitting here at the shop since forever. It originally came with the bumper I was going to run, but ended up swapping for something else. So today I set about installing the duct. It did require some trimming since it was not designed with my front bumper in mind, but it ended up coming out great. I’ll do some logging with the Haltech over the next few days and hopefully it made a difference!

GTR vs Truck – Aftermath

A 370Z customer of ours from down under sent us over some pictures of a meeting between a truck and a poor GTR. No bueno.

Hopefully everyone involved was ok, and the owner is back to enjoying is awesome machine soon!

More Good Driving Music

Just re-discovered this song after watching the video on for the Belgium Grand Prix. I’ve mentioned these videos before on the blog, and seriously, if you like F1, these are a must see. The editing and song selection is just awesome.

This is just one of those great driving songs, IMHO. These guys are so under-appreciated, are well liked in Europe, never really caught on here (save for an awesome song “High” on the “Can’t Hardly Wait” soundtrack)

Check out the video from the 2006 Reading Festival – that crowd is just huge!

Tsukuba Doobie Doo

Poised and ready for fun – looks menacing!

Booty, Booty, Booty

Just some random searching led me to this

Tommy Kaira’s shift knob booty 🙂 Made of alcantera, hand stitched with red accents and red TK logo on the site.

If you want one, let us know!