Finding Its Voice

The Z came from the factory with a capable twin-turbo V6 but a pretty tame exhaust note. With the sway bars freshly installed, I decided it was time to let the VR30 breathe a little. I went with a two-piece setup from Z1 Motorsports - the Premium Stainless Steel Y-Pipe and the Touring-Ti Titanium cat-back.

First order of business was getting the factory exhaust off the car. I worked backwards from the rear - mufflers first, then the mid-pipe, and finally the factory Y-pipe. One thing that surprised me was how small the OEM Y-pipe diameter was. You'd think a 400hp twin-turbo motor would have a little more room to breathe down there.

The Z1 Y-pipe went in next. The difference in diameter was obvious - the stainless piece replaces the restrictive OEM mid-pipe with larger tubing and braided flex joints. The weld quality on the Z1 piece is impressive - clean welds and solid flange connections.

One thing worth mentioning - the Y-pipe fit tight against the chassis. I had to bend the pipe down slightly to keep it from making contact with the body, which wasn't the easiest thing to do on stainless. Not a dealbreaker, but it took some persuasion.

From there the titanium cat-back bolted right up. The fitment was excellent - everything tucked up tight with good clearance around the differential and sway bar. The titanium mufflers are noticeably lighter than the stock pieces.

The Z1 titanium tips fill out the rear diffuser nicely. Subtle but purposeful.

First startup was exactly what I was hoping for - a deeper, more aggressive tone at idle that opens up under throttle without being obnoxious. The Touring-Ti lives up to its name. Civilized when cruising, but it lets you know the turbos are there when you get on it.

Raising the Bar

With the big brake kit buttoned up, I turned my attention to the Z's handling. The Z1 Performance Sway Bar Set was next on the list - front and rear bars to tighten things up and reduce body roll.

The install is pretty straightforward if you've got a lift. Remove the stock bars, bolt up the Z1 units, and set the end link positions. I went with the outermost mount holes on both bars. The Z is a street car, but I want it to feel planted.  If I were tracking the car I’d use the inner-most mounting holes.

That red front bar tucked up under the subframe looks like it belongs there. Between the big brake kit and the sway bars, the chassis side of this build is really coming together. Time to find some good roads!

Stopping Power

The NISMO Clubsport wheels had barely been on the Z for a week before I decided to address what was behind them. The stock brakes are perfectly adequate for street duty, but once you see those little silver calipers peeking through 19-inch NISMO spokes, you know they need some company that matches the rest of the build.

I grabbed the Z1 Motorsports Forged Street Big Brake Kit - their red calipers are cross-compatible with Akebono, and the kit comes with sprinkle-slotted rotors and stainless steel brake lines. The whole package is a serious step up from the stock hardware.

The install spanned about a week of evening garage sessions. One thing I ran into right away was the rotor shields - the larger Z1 rotors wouldn't clear the stock shields, so I had to trim them. I used a sheet metal nibbler on my drill and ran it around the edges to remove the outer lip. I put a plastic bag over the hub assembly to keep the little metal bits from getting into anything they shouldn't.

As I swapped each caliper I capped the hard lines to keep the brake fluid from draining out. I definitely did not want to purge air out of the entire system.

The before and after really tells the story. Those stock silver calipers look like they belong on a Sentra compared to the Z1 units. The red calipers fill out the wheel wells and look right at home behind the NISMO wheels. I used Motul RBF 600 to refill and bleed the system - no sense putting budget fluid behind a big brake kit.

At 1,550 miles the Z is already getting the brake setup it deserves. Time to put some miles on them and see how they bed in!

NISMO Clubsport Shoes for the Z

I've had the Z's wheel and tire upgrade on the radar since day one. The Sport trim comes with a respectable setup, but the plan was always to go NISMO Clubsport wheels with stickier rubber. I ordered the wheels — 19x9.5+25 up front and 19x10.5+22 out back - along with a set of Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 tires: 255/40ZR-19 front and 285/35ZR-19 rear.

Everything arrived mid-February. I also grabbed a set of Autel TPMS sensors with metal valve stems - I wanted something more durable than the rubber-stem variety.

A few weeks later I mounted the tires myself. I used blue rim protector tape on the barrel to keep the gloss black finish scratch-free on the tire machine - those wheels are too nice to mark up on the first day.

With the tires mounted, balanced, and TPMS sensors programmed, I swapped them onto the car today at about 1,550 miles. The difference is immediate - the gloss black Clubsports against the white paint completely changes the stance.

The wider rear setup fills out the fenders nicely, and the offset tucks everything right where it should be. I'll put some miles on them and see how the ExtremeContact Sport 02s compare to the OEM rubber, but first impressions are solid. The Z finally has the shoes it deserves.

Pulsar Oil Change Using Valvoline Restore and Protect

Just recording an oil change here for the Pulsar.  I used Valvoline's new Restore and Protect on this change; maybe it will help the stuck lifters!  Since the odometer doesn't work on the Pulsar there's no point in recording the mileage....

Replacing the 280z Brake Check Value

The 280z had the original brake master cylinder check valve.  I suspected that the valve was leaking so I decided to replace it along with the old vacuum hoses.  Unfortunately replacement valves and hoses are not to be found (although reproduction hoses for the 240z are out there).  I instead grabbed generic check valve and figured that I'd make my own hoses.

The new check valve was slightly smaller in diameter than the old so I printed a TPU ring to fill the gap.  I painted the firewall mounting bracket for the valve.

To form the hoses i used a spring made for copper tube bending.  I marked where the bends should be on the hose and used a heat gun to heat the hose in the areas of the bend to the point where the hose was slightly smoking.  After naturally cooling the hose will have nice bends where heated and I've found this method to be quite effective when I need to shape a hose.

Was it restoration perfect?  No, but it's good enough for me!

New Tires for the Cube

Looks like the Cube will be the vehicle to test the new tire changer (and my ability to use it).  I ordered a set from Tire Rack and they were delivered within a matter of days.

I didn't grab any pictures during the process but there wasn't really much to see that you couldn't see in the many YouTube videos outlining the process.  I ended up leaving the TPMS sensors in place; my reasoning was that since I'm now my own "tire guy" I can easily replace one if it goes out before the next change.  My parents did get me an awesome TPMS tool for Christmas that came in handy for verifying each sensor was still functioning after the tires were installed.

I did find while balancing that a couple of the steel wheels were slightly out of round.  I'm not surprised as the Cube has likely hit a potholes and other miscellaneous items throughout its life.  The rash on one of the wheel covers may confirm that suspicion.  After test driving there was no excessive vibration or shaking in the steering wheel though.

The Rogue Catch Can Caught Something

It had been a few months since the oil catch can was installed in the Rogue so I decided to see what that catch can had caught.  Was it worth installing?  Well, you be the judge.  Everything in this can would have been circulated through the intake manifold.

You Bought a WHAT?

If you know me you know I like to do my own work.  I also feel that nowadays our culture favors quantity/profit over quality.  I had been eyeing a tire changer and balancer for some time ever since I found that reasonably good quality can be had for an affordable price.  Given the looming threat of tariffs I decided to pull the trigger on a setup.  If you research these units you might come to the conclusion (like I did) that most of these units are very similar, possibly coming from the same source.  Whether true or not I watched a ton of videos and read many reviews before making my decision.  A big factor in my case was making sure that I could get the unit delivered into my garage as I don't have the equipment necessary to haul the unit from the street to my driveway.  The seller I used offered an add-on delivery package to address this need.

I bought a combo consisting of a tire changer and a dynamic balancer.  The seller had a store in both Amazon and eBay; I got a slightly better deal from the eBay store.

The unit was shipped quickly and I was contacted to coordinate delivery within 10 days.  The person who delivered my unit used an electric pallet jack to effortlessly move the two crates up my driveway and right into my garage.  As a bonus he knew a bit about Nissan cars and we had a short enjoyable chat.

With the help of my lovely assistant (and a shop crane) I was able to separate the units from their stacked shipping configuration.

The tire balancer was pretty much assembled; all I had to do was attach the balancing shaft extension.

The changer required just a bit of assembly but the instructions and online videos made assembly pretty straightforward.

Given the space I have available in my garage I chose to mount the changer on heavy-duty castors with good brakes.  This allows me to wheel the unit into a nook when not in use but move it into the open bay when I needed to use it.  The unit is heavy enough that maneuvering the changer requires a bit of muscle even on wheels.

Within no time I had the unit ready for a test run and it did not disappoint.  I had watched a few videos on the process so nothing was unexpected.

After moving some things around I found a spot for the two units to live.  Following many of the recommendations I mounted the balancer to the floor for better results.  

Now to decide which vehicle needs new tires first!

Z Heel Toe Pedal

I was having trouble rev matching when downshifting on the new Z.  After looking at the pedal setup I felt that the shape of the accelerator pedal made it hard for me to heel-toe so I decided to design my own pedal.  As you can see the distance between the brake and accelerator pedals is large.

I designed a pedal pad to sit on top of the existing pedal and printed it out of carbon fiber infused nylon (MatterHackers NylonX).  The design allowed for several attachment points both on the face and the side of the pedal.

Once installed the wider pedal closed that distance between the pedals as well as raised the accelerator pedal by about 5mm.

Now it's time for some practice!