626 Halloween Balcony Skids

So if you're into drifting, and live in the greater SoCal region, you should know 626Drift. These guys have been hosting events for a solid decade, supporting drifting and providing a venue for legions of drivers to learn and progress from beginner to intermediate and on up from there. This weekend was no different, and the Balcony section at Willow Springs Intl. Raceway was again the spot to be to watch skids, go for car rides, and get covered in tire smoke and gasoline fumes. These small events are some of my favorite, due to the mellow atmosphere, and large number of my friends who consistently attend. Its been a few weeks since the AutoFactoryREALIZE dudes got back from their mission to Shawano, WI to attend FinalBout, and it looks like they're ready to start stretching their legs again. Meanwhile, Kam from SNEEKY KIDS has finally got his Corolla to drift-ready condition, and this car screams with presence and style.

LUMP IS LYFE

My good friend Ernie wrecked his Y33 sedan at All Star Bash yesterday, getting buck wild coming through the water tower section at Horse Thief Mile. While most people would be pretty salty about it, some would even yell or curse of freak out, he merely smiles, and knows that the important things are that everyone is safe and ok, the bash bar and cage built by GSWerks did their jobs, the chassis is straight and all that got damaged were a wheel, a rotor, and some suspension arms. I admire this dude greatly and i'm happy to know he's my friend.

Together at last.

There is no argument that the ChairSlayer has accomplished some incredible things. He has engineered one wild monster out of his s13, and i'm amazed that someone can pilot a drift car using only hand controls. Nonetheless, he continues to take shit to the next level. While some of us are content dragging rear bumpers along outside clipping points, he drags motherfucking TIRE on outside clipping points.

Click for much large.

Let us discuss

Let us discuss for just a moment, how fucking good this car looks.
Max from GOLDSTAR, just a few cm from the wall.
/thread

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So Shady. So Nasty

Shadynasty. SHA-DYNASTY. I've been corrected multiple times, but i still find it amusing to think of these dudes as Shady Nasty. It can't be helped. They are easily one of my favorite drift teams. They show up ready to have fun, always willing to help other guys sort out issues, and their cars are as unique as you can imagine, without being desparate for attention or gimmicky. They follow no trends or fads, and their skills are nothing short of impressive. Watching a 40+yr old chassis lay down smooth runs, all while the soundtrack of a ITB 3sge BEAMS engine wails at you is enough to turn even me into a fanboy.

(This one is hi-res so if you wanna make it a wallpaper, be my guest)

Slightly Less Salty

The more i'm going through these images, the less irritated i am about the photos and videos that i lost, and the more i'm kinda stoked on the ones i do have.

Leigh is an insane follow driver, and Ilia is my favorite cowboy.

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Salty

I've been pretty salty since i got back from FinalBout II and found out that my hard drive with 90% of all the photo and video i took is nothing more than a paperweight. Luckily i hadn't uploaded the last days photos, so i do have a couple shots that were saved. Leigh Roto's MKIII supra is pretty rough these days, but if you saw the way he follows, you can't really fault him.  
‪#‎ProceeD‬ ‪#‎Finalbout‬ ‪#‎NoTuneNoLife‬ ‪#‎OUTSLIDERS‬

Z33 CD009 Trans shit.

So like many people these days, i'm attempting a z33 trans swap on my sr20, and have already ordered and received an adapter kit from Maverick Motorsports. Collins adapters in Colorado also have a similar kit, and a few other shops do too. Thats one part of the battle. I ordered a driveshaft from TheDriveShaftShop, and its here too. The last piece of the puzzle, that i've been hesitant to bite the bullet on, has been the trans itself. There are a number of reasons behind this.
1. Its pricey. Used ones range from $500-1000 on ebay, with new ones for $1800+ from your local nissan dealer.
2. No guarantees with used parts. Unless you drove the car you yank it from, you're kinda just hoping the one you buy is in good condition
3. The big one. Nissan pretty much fucked up with this trans, offering sub-par synchros in the earlier revisions, causing grinding and engagement issues in early model year 350z and G35 cars. They released multiple revised versions of this trans, the last of which is the "CD009" trans (previous ones been cd008, 007, 006, and so on). This last one is supposed to have resolved all the issues, but using different design synchros, and according to some accounts i've read, a different 1st and 5th gear (speculation, i have not confirmed this).

I've been keeping an eye on ebay for the last year, and from time to time cd009 boxes pop up, and sell for more than i want to pay. Some times boxes pop up and the seller either cannot or will not confirm or guarantee that it either is or is not a 009 box. Nissan made the brilliant move by having no discernable markings between any of the boxes, other than a thin sticker with the rev. edition on it. The sticker doesn't hold up to weather and wear and pretty much always falls off, leaving you and i with zero chance of telling what box it is. Complicating the issue further is the fact that there seems to be no consensus as to which models came from the factory WITH the 009 in the first place. I've read "late model 05 and all 06", "some 04, all 05 and all 06", and i've also read that many earlier models were replaced with 009 boxes under warranty. Either way, i did not feel very comfortable forking out a fat wad of $$$ on something that MIGHT be the right box.

Eventually i came upon an ebay auction from LKQ, who is a nationwide engine/trans/parts supplier. I've picked up used engines and trans from them in the past while when i was still fixing cars for a living, and i know theyre a stand up operation. I emailed them asking if it was a 009 box, and they responded that it was indeed. I jumped at it and had the transaction completed right away.

The trans arrived today so i immediately started tearing into it to inspect the gearsets and see if i could find any indication of which rev. box it is. I also (thank you google) found a copy of the factory FSM online, and it has indications between quite a few cd008 and cd009 specific parts, and diagrams showing the differences between em.

link to manual is here:

http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/AUTOMOBILE/NISSAN/350Z/coupe/2005/mt.pdf

diagram following shows there is a plate on the back of the trans, and once you have the rear section of the housing off, you can see it. On the rev 008, the retaining plate is 2 piece; a left side and a right side. On the rev 009, its 1 piece.

My trans happens to have the CD009 plate, therefore i believe it to be a 009 box. Throughout the manual, there are also many other places where it indicates and shows differences between 008 and 009 parts, but many of them you would have to completely disassemble the gears off the shafts to tell the difference. 

/\/\/\/\/\ in the photo its the dark grey plate behind the gears, held on by torx fasteners. On the 008, its 2 piece. On the 009 its 1 solid piece.

on the 008, directly below this gear, the 008 plate stops and the 009 continues across to the left side.

hopefully this info helps some people who are also on the hunt.

it only takes about an hour, using the info in the FSM to pull the rear tail section off, exposing this side of the gears. If you plan on milling the bellhousing to fit an adapter plate, you'll have to tear all this shit off anyways.

DOUBLE X DOUBLE

Just an odd double exposure i found from a trip to Chicago roughly two years ago. Anyone recognize the car/driver? Cuz i don't.

TECH DAY 2015

Tech day...... where there is no "tech" going on. No cars being scrutineered. No inspections. No making sure that the rulebook guidelines aren't being tweaked to give unfair advantage. Nothing of the sort.

But there was a car show, now CALLED tech day.

And there was a really clean zenki s14 with navan aero, and it really caught my eye as i walked the lot.

Photo by Kathy Isa
(Click for full size)

One Shot, One Thrill

B A T T L E C A T
Famous on the internets.
Smelly I.R.L.
Now with aero-delete mod, you can't even buy this in stores.

(Click for full size)

One Shot One Kill

Sometimes i forget that i have a blog, but then i do things like finally sign up for photoshop, and then remember, "hey! i have a blog where i can post photos and such!". Here is one photos and such. Brian Rogers, at Grange, during the well attended Drift Buffet event on 2/1/15

(Click for full size)

Maverick Motorsports 350z axle adapter install

Ok so today (and yesterday) i got around to installing a new product from Maverick Motorsports. They have recently releases an adapter kit to run 350z or Infiniti G35 axles on your 240sx. Excellent upgrade, i'll let Maverick do the sales pitch.

http://www.maverick-motorsports.com/collections/drivetrain/products/nissan-s13-s14-axle-adapters

Heres the dirty bits.

Step 1: Jack up car and put on jack stands. USE JACK STANDS, DONT BE AN IDJIT

Step 1.5: Remove your exhaust. Trust me, its in the way. I didn't include much info here because every exhaust is different, and mine was already off of the car anyways.

Step 2: Remove wheels. I have this handy electric impact gun from harbor freight. Works great, except that it sheared one of the studs off of my project kics spacer. They're old and the studs are due to be replaced anyways, we'll get to that another day.

Step 3: Using dykes or pliers, remove the cotter pin that holds this brass cover thing, over the axle nut.

Step 4: Using a 36mm socket, remove the axle nut. (Again, having an impact gun is very useful here)
Also, your axle nut may be a different size. I run z32 rear uprights and hubs, iirc stock 240 ones are only 27mm nut? 

Step 5: Get under the car and using 12mm wrenches or socket (your preference), remove the hardware holding the axle to the diff stub shafts. then remove axles from car. (Having a small prybar or large flathead screwdriver comes in handy here, to wedge the inner axle flange out of the diff stub shafts.

Step 6: Sort out your new shit. New axles are top and bottom, s13 axles are in the middle

Here is where i ran into the only real problem. I've already discussed it with Maverick and its been resolved from their end, but they send out two sets of hardware with each kit; countersunk allen head screws to bolt the adapter flanges to the diff, and cap socket allen head screws to bolt the new axles to the adapter flanges.

Countersunk ones take a 5mm allen wrench, and the other ones are 8mm. I used allen sockets.

Here is where the problem pops up. The countersunk screws are too short! They're 20mm long, and need to be at least 5-10 mm longer! I went to assemble and found that they barely even fit all the way through, not even enough to put the nut on.

So i took a trip to my local Fastenal store, and picked up these guys. FYI, the ones you want are the M8 1.25 x 30, not the x25. x25 will work, but you don't get full nut engagement, which is no good.

Once again, i've already let Maverick know about this issue, and it should be resolved before any more of their kits get mailed out.

(x25 on top. still not long enough. x30 on bottom. Full nut engagement, PROPER)

Step 7: Bolt dem shits up. I used the German torquing guide, and the appropriate torque value is Gudenteit. It may help if you set the ebrake while tightening these fasteners.

Step 7.5: The new Z/G axles have this thin metal dust shield on them, I didn't know if it would interfere with my uprights, so i chose to delete them. Some quick knocks with a hammer and chisel (aka screwdriver) and they came right off.

Step 8: Install axles. I used a wire brush to clean up the splines on the outer end of the axles, and then lightly coated the splines with antisieze. Then you're ready to stuff em in place. This proved a bit tricky. Since the adapter flange adds a bit of width to this axle setup, i ran into trouble getting the drivers side axle all the way into place. The splines on the upright slid into place nicely, but the axle was a bit too long to force into place on the diff end. Solution? If you unbolt the ruca and traction arm from your upright, you will now have enough room to get everything into place.

A bit hard to tell, but ruca is also unbolted and now i have enough room. I had to lengthen the RUCA on this side to even be able to bolt it back together, so now my camber is off on this side. My car will be going for an alignment before it sees the road again, but it is wise to have your alignment checked any time you've been removing or dicking with arms.

I did not have any issue with the passengers side install. It went together without having to unbolt any additional arms.

When bolting the axles to the adapter spacers, i couldn't fit the head of my ratchet into place without it hitting the axle, so i used an extension. I used an 8", but a 6" or 4" should work fine. Again, setting the ebrake may help you while tightening these fasteners.

Step 9: Finishing up. Now that both axles are in place, and all fasteners are tight on the adapters, you probably think you're done, right???

WRONG.
You've still got more shit to torque.
Using the 36mm socket, you must now torque the axle nut. (setting the ebrake here is a MUST)
I run z32 uprights and hubs, the torque value ive seen listed as 152-203 ft-lb and other places as 159-224 ft/lbs. I went in the middle, with 180 ft/lbs.

Then you can re-install the copper cover thing over the nut, and the cotter pin. Some people insist on new cotter pins every time, I have no problem re-using them as long as theyre in good condition.

Now you can put your wheels back on, don't forget to torque those as well! And then take the car back off the jackstands.

Step 10: Go do burnouts and such.

Tools used:

• Impact gun or long breaker bar
• 1/2" drive tq wrench
• 36mm 1/2" drive socket
• 3/8" drive ratchet
• 3/8" drive allen sockets (5mm and 8mm)
• 3/8" drive extension (i used 8", 6" or 4" should work fine)
• 12mm wrenches (you need two)
• 12mm socket 3/8" drive (if you don't have two 12mm wrenches)
• Prybar (12" should be fine, 18" would be ok too)
• Side cutters (dykes or pliers for removing cotter pin)
• Jack stands (2)
• Floor jack
• whatever size socket for your lugnuts
• Antiseize (or loctite blue, do NOT use loctite red)
• Hammer (for removing dust shields from new axles)
• whatever tools you use for removing your exhaust
• kroil or pb blaster (wd40 is ok too)
• metal toothbrush or wire brush for cleaning
• simple green or brakekleen for cleaning