swimshark J30 Build (lots of pics)

[driverdriver]

just left if off and been running it like that for a while

here are some pics my friend took yesterday

I like very much!

[King-Junker]

boss job driver you seem to know your stuff I replaced my rear struts because the rear driver side was sagging want to know if it could be a bent frame or sway bar or what as the new struts did not fix the problem

[yodawill2000]

Its Swimshark that knows his stuff.
One mean mamaJamma fabba !!

[#1 Sailor Scout]

That's a pretty sweet intake setup. How did you get the 2 MAFs to work together like that?

& what kind of kit did you use to re-locate the battery?

[swimshark]

sooooo ive been gone for quite a while and a lot has been going on. just finished up summer term of school and started a job with doing sub deliveries.

during this time ive had to fix a few things like my lower plenum and exhaust manifolds. the crack in the lower plenum did not hold my lame use of jb weld and was leaking oil bad after id take turns. so had to take timing belt off and swap fuel rail over to a good plenum i cleaned up.





also i noticed i had an exhaust leak but couldnt exactly pinpoint it at first until i took it apart and noticed my manifold had cracked. this lead to me finding out there are 2 different styles of J30 exhaust. the 93-94 have welded exhaust with longer runners and the 95-97 (not 97.5) have cast manifolds that are log style. i ended up swapping both sides. this included replacing both exhaust gaskets after cleaning the heads up with wire wheel on my air tool and painting cast manifolds.

left side 95 - right side 93


there was my exhaust leak








a lot more room on each side of the motor now. you can see my oil filter relocation and engine mounts.



yes as you may be wondering, it was somewhat a pain to take these on and off with motor in car. i myself dont have he smallest arms (one of my nick names is popeye) so it was fun trying to contort my hands to get the nuts off the manifolds. being performance crazy, i am going to get it dynoed and see what power it makes. with the log style manifolds i will lose some power, but torque will increase.

next item is putting a 180amp alternator in my car. my alt is on its way out cause idle is messed up and at idle charge sits around 11.6-12.3V so car misfires until i get over 1500rpm.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/300ZX-Ni ... 1824wt_714

haha driver, yah ive messed with mine so much ive sort of become a guru on different parts of the car and modded it a good bit.

sailor scout, i got the power block and 0 gauge cable from knukonceptz
http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDetai ... dID=KNF-23
http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDetai ... odID=KFX0R

the batt holder in the trunk is this
http://www.dallasmustang.com/product.ph ... ctid=18124

to get the dual maf setup to read right i bought this
http://www.z1motorsports.com/product_in ... ts_id=3986

the fittings for the hoses, hoses, filters and plate adapters cost total of maybe another $75 as well.

[JaredM]

hurry up and TT it!, lol nice thread

[yodawill2000]

Knowing Shark as I do I'm sure thats on his radar. LOL
FYI , after removing the suitcase resonator and running dual chrome pipes out the back I noticed there was PLENTY room back there for a rear exhaust turbo !

[swimshark]

I actually am in the works of getting my hands on some TT low pressure AC lines. they run along the passenger side and then go in front of the motor instead of coming around the back and over the exhaust. the plan is then getting AMS high flow manifolds and flipping them over on each side of the motor and building custom exhaust to do a front mount turbo. this is going to include me having to figure out where to relocate the fuse box to.



itd be something similar to this 300zx but the turbos on mine would sit further away from the motor. id just clock the charge pipe off the compressor housing straight down to smic on either side and then have it come back out up front to the throttle bodies. exhaust off the turbos will be a 3" down pipe that would snake its way to the back of the car using v-band clamps. i have the picture in my mind how it will look. just need to draw it out.

[swimshark]

so yah i got bored again and started a side project i will use down the road. basically took the fuse box i got out of my 94 and made it fit in the glove box. still have yet to try it in car but here is progress on what i have done.









went to local junkyard and pulled another fuse box and about 8ft of harness and pulled it a part to use later on extending the harness through engine bay. going to use 4 mil spec connectors at the firewall so you can unmount them and remove the glove box with ease.

[dwada]

Swimshark pm me or email dwadahi1@yahoo.com. I gots sum questions 4 u. Tnx

[swimshark]

Just ordered s13 solid differential bushings from SPL. also trying to pick up a new center carrier bushing for my driveshaft. Will post up pics with the install of both.

had to replace the watercock on the firewall. noticed that the 97 J30s at pull a part did not have the watercock in the engine bay and the hole where the cable comes out was plugged. only the 93 and 95 J30 had them. on the 97 it is just an inline plastic piece. mine split near the seem on the piping and would leak like crazy under pressure. if the good one i put on begins to leak soon i am just going to buy a brass straight fitting and put it in line with the hoses.

[swimshark]

so the tinkering continues

since my last post i first made a new shifter plate out of red oak for a test piece. going to make one out of cherry wood later on.




then i tackled some general maintenance and also changed out my diff fluid, cleaned diff and installed solid diff bushings for s13






most recent project was replacing my exhaust since a heat shield had split and has been bugging me cause in every gear 1st-5th it makes a very audible noise at 2200rpm. decided to paint the exhaust piece i have and installed it.




last part of my fun list was installing some 350z seats i got from a friend. i cut the rails and sliders off the 350z seats and used u-ring bolts to mount the seats to the J30 rails. i then painted the metal semi gloss black and mounted the electronics tot he bottom of the 350z seat so it functions like the J30 seats, just these are made of cloth and support you a lot better. i left the seat adjustment knobs on the drivers seat so have 9 ways i can adjust the seat. each seat also weighs about 10-15lbs less than the OEM J30 seats.


















yah the seat sits a little higher than the oem seats, but for me and driving the manual it actually feels better cause of the way you body is more perpendicular than slouched.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to ALL!!! More projects coming up int he future
(hint hint 300zxTT calipers and 13" big brake kit coming soon)

[yodawill2000]

Nice Job Bud !!

[jdurrty]

I wish you would have said something sooner I just threw away a full set of seat brackets and universal sliders I had fabbed for my J when I had racing seats in it. and what differences did you notice with the aluminum bushing vs rubber?

[swimshark]

with the solid bushings the drivetrain feels more solid and it eliminates wheel hop if you break traction. cons is that you get a small bit of road noise in the car but its only noticeable if you dont have music playing or windows down.

[swimshark]

got the brakes tonight. gonna test fit them today and then clean them up and get them ready for powder coating.



those are 13" rotors. 2" bigger in diameter than stock. 300zxTT calipers on all 4 wheels hopefully.

[swimshark]

[driverdriver]

Those 350z seats look nice!

[JDM_J30_tx]

Carlooks great man! Always been ummteen steps ahead of my plans. Lol!

[Mkiisupra]

Damn I wish that dual MAF translator wasnt almost $300. Id really like a true dual intake setup. I wonder how bad the ecu would freak out seeing 2 stock MAFs wired together.

Really nice job on all the mods youve done to the car, if everything wasnt so custom Id like to be right where you are. I like those G35 rims on the car too, they are what Im looking to put on my J.

Btw, your rotors are on backwards

[swimshark]

Installed a 300zxTT aluminum radiator from Mishimoto. had to create some custom brackets and i am using a ford taurus electric fan.















also finally got 2 of my manarays completed. 18x8.5 front with a 245/40r18 and a 18x11 rear with a 295/35r18. cant wait to get the other 2 completed.

[Doc9116]

I just ran into this thread, and you got a great build there. I'v been thinking about building up a J30 for a drift car. Do you think the mckinney motorsports RB mount kit for the Z32 will work in the J30 for a RB25 swap with a 5 speed tranny? Or will the R33 crossmember bolt right up?

[nemo44]

hey swimshark where did you buy the headlamps??
sweet ride btw

[swimshark]

headlights i custom made

[yodawill2000]

Yo shark.
Im finally getting around to installing the headlights I bought from ya.
Yeah , I know lol Its been awhile.
Alot going on here.
Are the halo's 12 volt ? As in just splice them up to the markers ?

[swimshark]

yah i cut back on the loom on the harness for the corner markers next to the headlights and spliced the power for the halos off of that.

[yodawill2000]

Good deal.
Thanks bud.

[J30inthe sun]

Had to mod the HID wiring harness to get the H3 3k HIDs to fit into these. Also started getting wires cut to make a wiring harness to connect neutral safety switch, lights and fans to switches inside the car. Used one of the gromets off the HID harness for the new wiring harness. Going to drill a hole in the firewall and epoxy the gromet into it.

I would like to add these lights to my J30. Could you tell me where you got the housing from?