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Ballistic APS Twin Turbo 350Z


ballistic

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9 hours ago, ballistic said:

Thankyou.

 

I didnt have any problem removing it no. I dont think that left side steering column bolt is coming out again without a fight though :lol:

 

Lol I've had the security bits kicking about for ages now to remove my wheel but just keep putting it off for fear of rounding the bolts off. I read they're pretty firmly stuck.. glad to see yours came off ok.

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  • 1 year later...

Havnt updated for ages out of laziness and forgetfulness so i will start to catch the thread up.

 

Cam cover gasket was leaking so while i had it apart started on some engine bay dress up.

 

VHT paint. Looks more presentable. This was done is May 2022

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Posted (edited)

Spoiler time. Finally decided on a spoiler i like after ages deliberating. Its a Strosek style one without the metal brackets which are not my cuppa. (June 22)

 

Very happy with it

 

Also poly bushed my worn inner control arm bushes with Superpro.

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Edited by ballistic
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6 hours ago, davey_83 said:

Lovely touches with the orange and new rear spoiler goes well too. What's next, oil catch can? 

Ty mate. Its coming along.

 

I havnt noticed any oil in the intake or plenum so i probably wont get a catch can yet.

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Posted (edited)

Forgot i didnt add this. Bit of an odd one but i have a true dual APS 3" exhaust. It was extremely loud as it basically only had the rear silencers. I used to daily the Zed and was too much. So years ago i had the diameter reduced and extra silencers added

 

Fast forward to Feb 2022 and it hasnt been my daily for a while so decided to open it back up. Full 3" again with a high quality profusion silencer on each bank so its not as raspy as it was originally.

 

Heres how it looked when we removed it. Just before the mid boxes it drops to 2.5" and has two silencers.PXL_20220226_155646807.jpg.9c7c9f4aca664bdeb60c09633832211e.jpg

 

Heres a look at the new 3" profusions. Really nice quality. I wanted one good mid silencer so it wasnt overly loud.

PXL_20220226_173446682.jpg.63838dc6b94865cc1f2cd7ad210cdea7.jpg

 

Needed to weld a pie cut section to get around the rear ARB as its not designed for two pipes back there ofc

PXL_20220417_161729153.jpg.0e7ae3a8c66187450ba566730350d95a.jpg

 

 

My fabricator Ben at work

PXL_20220226_182817988.jpg.4203b5d26a1493d6d1c821aca74f9928.jpg

 

 

New high grade 3" stainless welded in to replace the 2.5 section

IMG-20220303-WA0004.jpg.16681c9f09d6725ffe9e0f85f628c603.jpg

 

Here they are all back to their former glory. 3" all the way.

PXL_20220227_032912085.jpg.03b148c1f4441cd60791bd1357fadbcd.jpg

 

Shot of it on the car

PXL_20220227_035856240.jpg.414f9b5dbc3db395974ede58a39678e0.jpg

 

Old one again for comparison

IMG-20220303-WA0021.jpg

 

Very pleased with this one. Love the sound . Now that its mainly used as a weekend car and fun drives its perfect. Very deep and a great rumble.

 

Will try to upload a couple vids from google drive (anyone know how?) 😁

Edited by ballistic
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Posted (edited)
On 18/07/2024 at 06:14, davey_83 said:

Love a bit of custom exhaust fab work, 3' for your setup is needed il bet. Not running a w brace? JDM spec diff I see too. 

 

Yea i dont wanna do a seat dyno but it felt more responsive, first thing i noticed. and stronger top end. W brace went back on after the pic. Was giving it a paint.

 

I will upload to youtube as suggested

Edited by ballistic
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Posted (edited)

More engine bay dress up.

 

I decided to ditch the plastic engine cover. But the timing chain cover was very oxidized. 

 

So i used a product called alubrite to get rid of it.

PXL_20230129_204425334.jpg.f257c7399df179314cb6a6a35d04cdce.jpg

 

Worked it in and washed away. Repeated a couple times on trouble spots. Came up nice and clean.

PXL_20230129_210901667.jpg.61778cf90d5364d8c3e2cec34bf0fcc5.jpg

 

Then came a very very laborious process of sanding the aluminium from 180 grit.

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All the way up to 1500

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Then i polished it with some compound which also took ages.

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Came out pretty decent.

 

Did the little covers too

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Then i also sprayed the reservoir caps to match the other orange bitsPXL_20230131_121102072.jpg.50b717e87ecca6e027c4943a5f990259.jpg

Tbh i want a better solution to these. Something billet or such.

 

Jazzed up.my battery covers and sprayed my strut brace black

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All in all its somewhat presentable now

 

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(Early part of 2023)

Edited by ballistic
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Posted (edited)

Also bought some dress up bolts. Before on left, after right.

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Heres a before and after of all the work

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And some final shots as it sits after all thatPXL_20230221_162624648-01.jpeg.bf66dc50a1639257dd2c4fae66295510.jpeg

IMG-20230318-WA00532.jpg.13b3dace30a1ba044dbbd13a00618b6b.jpg

 

Open to any suggestions. Especially for ideas of what to do with the reservoirs. 

Edited by ballistic
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Posted (edited)

Black roof

 

Always fancied this one and someone i know is handy with wrapping and offered to do my roof wrapped in black to see if i like it before committing to spraying it.

 

IMG-20230228-WA0021.jpg.0860b00022fdaf3d6a32f54205df7147.jpg

 

Was pretty difficult doing it outdoors in poor conditions but he made a good job of it imo

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Little before and after

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Really like it. Will have it sprayed one day as the finish of vinyl wrap has just too much orange peel for my taste and lacks the depth of paint.

 

Feb/mar 2023

Edited by ballistic
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Posted (edited)

Wheel colour change and refurb.

 

Had gloss black wheels for years and was tired of it. After visiting a few places and looking at various options i decided on this bronze.

 

So it was goodbye to the black

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Hello to the bronze

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Very pleased with the way these turned out. Love the new colour and the service from First Aid Wheels in Finchley was excellent.

Edited by ballistic
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Posted (edited)

Front splitter for Nismo V1 bumper.

 

Fancied having a splitter but never found one designed for my bumper. Once i finally happened across one i snapped it up and fitted it.

 

I propped it up on some cardboard to see how far i wanted it sticking out etc 

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Once i decided on that i cut off the excess

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Then it was a tricky part of drilling holes through the splitter and bumper for lots of nuts and bolts to clamp it in place. Took a while but its been on a year and still holding fine.

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I wasnt sure at first but its grown on me and now i cant see it without.

 

Edited by ballistic
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Interior upgrades.

 

I decided to purchase some genuine alcantara and skin some of the panels in the Zed. Was tricky work as the material has no stretch and its tricky to work with the glue without contaminating the surface

 

Stripped out the panels

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Lots of measuring and planning as the material is pretty expensive 

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A finished panel passenger lower)

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This is the fabric glue i used

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All fitted back in

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Was done last June and its held up just fine so far. Going to do some more bits soon

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

New seats!

 

Everyone knows how well the oe Zed seats wear, despite how careful i was with them. So its time for a replacement. I was looking for something with more support to so im not sliding out of my seat all the time. 

 

After lots of searching i decided to get these:

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Braum Elite X

 

Sitting on Planted seat brackets.

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In my 'all the way back' driving position the driver seat rubbed on the door a little and made a constant noise while driving so i modified the bracket a little to give me more room

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Now its just fine.

 

Despite buying the 'low' seat brackets it has raised my driving position a little. Im 6ft 2 and now im a finger gap from top of head to roof.

 

Im very happy with these overall. They look the part imo. And are comfortable, ive been on long drives a few times and no problems at all. And they hold me in better than OE. Longevity remains to be seen.

 

Couple of glamour shots:

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Alongside the other interior mods ive been doing, screen, steering wheel, alcantara etc, its a nicer place to be.

 

 

 

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Posted (edited)

Yearly paint correction this May

 

Before i started paint still looked fine and plenty of gloss when clean, but still 😁

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Thorough clean and decontamination with fallout remover and clay. Both from Bilt Hamber.

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Wasnt really any contamination, very little reaction from the FO remover and very little picked up by the clay so i must be doing something right

 

Paint was free from swirls etc so just used some Rupes finishing polish and a medium pad on the Das Pro DA. Followed by some Bilt Hamber double speed wax for prtection.

 

Before

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After

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All done

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Took pics from the same angle to try to capture the difference.

 

All done for the year i rekon apart from maintenance washes and protection.

Edited by ballistic
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On 10/08/2024 at 10:06, Olly350z said:

Much as I love my Nismo seeing yours makes me miss the fun of a good old fashioned older project. Car looks stunning and the power to back it up

 

Thanks for the kind words!

 

I feel you. Thats one of the reasons i bought the Zed i did, had what i wanted but i wouldnt feel bad modding it.

 

On 10/08/2024 at 12:19, GranTurismoEra said:

looks good, Cow hide isn't cheap lol. My mate told me while trying to mod his F Type interior with White Alcantara. One mistake and could be spending and waiting ages.

 

TY!. Yea tell me about it! im going to have to buy some more soon when im ready to skin my next bits. £150 for a couple meters 🥲

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