Don / Justin / the crew at Hybrid Connection in Buffalo did an absolutely FANTASTIC job putting together my car - when you can get under the hood / under the car and say “wow, I’m anal as heck and that’s how I would have done it” it’s a good thing. We have a tiny oil leak issue to find/resovle but overall everything is absolutely MINT.
While doing the APS TT kit I installed bigger injectors than the kit ones, the AAM fuel return system/rails/lines/regulator, APS downpipes, plenum and strut tower brace, as well as an oil cooler - oil temps stay VERY low. I also put in 3 Defi gauges, Oil Temp, Boost and EGT.
Mike at Innovative dealt with injector sizing and put a nice base map and tuned it so I could break in the new engine (JE / Eagle / ARP) - I’ve gotten about 280mi on it so far - so good! I’m running wastegate spring pressure, and haven’t gone past about 4-5 PSI and it’s still just exhillerating (also haven’t gone past about 75-80% throttle, as I’ve been trying to vary gears, throttle, rpm, and load as much as possible.
I’ve long debated, would I have been happier just selling the Z and buying a new Z06 or 987 or Cayman etc, but I’ve got a huge smile on my face right now …
Thanks Justin. I’m gonna do my best to get the remaining break-in miles done today, 280 so far, gonna take a nap / go to class then come out to you guys to change the oil at 500 (I have an OEM filter / drain washer with me already) and talk about a few tweaks, see you 3-3:30ish hopefully, if all goes well! I’d like to have about 1k miles by next Monday when Mike and I tune it on the Dyno
break-in miles?? What is that?? Correctly gap rings, and honed cylinders on a performance build will seat within say 10-20 miles of spirited driving. After that I recommend you drive it like you stole it
:tup: It was a lot of fun driving around with you last night… even though you left me in the dust a number of times, lol. I’m so happy to see her back, and even happier that the seat still moves forward enough with the cage that I can use the pedals!
Car is nice…nice to see it out of the shop finally holy shit. Should be a ton of fun when ready to crank up the boost. Otherwise Im glad you are happy. It has been a monumental making in the process
Congrat Dave! You picked the best TT kit for the 350Z out there. If you don’t mind telling, what is your power goal on this setup? As you know, people are having head lift at around 500whp to 600whp. If you going for that kinda of power, I hope you use the L19 1/2 head studs instead of the regular ARP studs. Good luck with everything and have fun man.
Two pics shot on the run yesterday, might help if I look through the lens next time I’m shooting
I’m not allowed to drive cars that are not broken in yet. I tend to find the limits of part #XYZ, etc. I dont BEAT on cars, I just drive them hard on the razor’s edge (when it’s a friend who knows that I know what I’m doing). If I dont know the person I drive like a grandma though.
