Tuesday, August 28, 2007

350Z Sold and a new project on the horizon

3 years, a lot of money, and a ton hard work later, my 350Z is now gone to its new owner. The Z and Z community have been good to me and I have made a lot of friends that hopefully I will see again, probably at ZDayZ '08 in the new car.

The new project is still in the final planning stages. It looks like the RB26 that I built up earlier this year will end up in a '89-'94 240SX Coupe. I know, its been done a ton of times, but it seems like it is the best fit for the motor at this time and I can concentrate on getting my suspension setup exactly the way I want it. Included in the engine setup will also be a custom fuel system and oil cooler setup that I designed a few months ago that should do wonders at the track.

The plan so far includes stripping down the entire car inside and out, including paint, doing any patch work to the chassis if there happens to be any rust, and installing a roll cage (Probably just a 4-point roll bar with added door beams since it will be a street/track car). Then the chassis and all body parts will be painted (its looking like the silver used on the Mazda RX-7 Spirit-R might be the color). The suspension system in its entirety (all control arms, tension rods, traction bars, coilovers, swaybars, etc, etc) will be replaced with stronger, adjustable parts. The whole braking system will be upgraded using all new parts except for Z32 rear caliper bodies. The entire car will basically end up being a 1989-1994 chassis with a 2007 build date and for all technical purposes, be brand new.

Body modifications is where the project planning is at right now. I am trying to fit the most rubber under the fenders as possible to keep traction with 500-550whp. I would like at least a 275/255 tire setup, but 295/265 would be optimal. I will probably have to get widened fenders because rolling and flaring probably won't be enough, but I am going to do my best to not have to buy wide fenders. The car will also get a S13 Silvia front end with either the dual or triple projector headlights, a custom front and rear diffuser (made of FRP), and some small rear spoiler. I have never been a big fan of extravagant body modifications, so I won't be doing any.

With any luck, I should have a rolling chassis to start this project within the next week. Pictures of the progress and updates will most likely be on my main website http://mp-racing.net with major completions posted here.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

My first project....

I was browsing through all of my old pictures today and ended up looking at pretty much every picture I ever took of my old RX-7. It was putting down 365rwhp @ 14psi on the stock ports and weighed 2740lbs when I sold it. Figured I would post a few pictures. I really want another one.