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Japspeed VH45 Nissan 370Z: Part 4!

With the Autosport International show deadline looming ever closer we had to pull out all the stops to get the car to a presentable state prior to it being unveiled on the Maxxis Tyres stand!

One of the first areas to address was the door cards, or rather the lack of them. With the NASCAR style door bars almost resting on the outer door skin when closed, the available space was minimal.

door card 2

After a few measurements and a bit of experimenting we came up with a pair of one-piece door cards that both looked the part and left adequate space for the door bars.

window 2

While the car was in the bare state that it was in we also made a start on laying the new copper brake lines to and from the master cylinder.

brake lines 1

There’s no shying away from the fact that, in standard form, the 370Z is a heavy car. As a result, we’ve done our best to trim off as much excess fat as possible during the build process. The windows were another area where we could easily remove some weight by replacing them with polycarbonate items which were supplied by our friends at Plastics4Performance.

door card 1

carbon 3

Continuing the weight saving theme was this beautiful carbon fibre bonnet and bootlid combination from our friends at Seibon. The fit and finish were both impeccable and we knew the natural carbon look would sit great against our chosen colour for the 370.

carbon 2

The bootlid was then also fitted with a polycarbonate rear windscreen to continue that weight saving theme, although in this case the screen is split to direct cooling onto the rear mounted radiator.

carbon rear

A critically important area of the build that we were yet to cover was what coilovers we were going to run. As we have previously stated, 370Z’s aren’t the most highly supported cars by the aftermarket and finding coilovers that met our strict criteria was proving to be extremely difficult.

coilover 1

Enter AST: a specialist performance suspension company based in the Netherlands. With all of their products designed and manufactured in-house, they were the perfect guys to go to with our specific requirements.

coilover 3

coilover 2

Featuring three-way adjustment (single speed compression control and high and low speed rebound control) and external reservoirs they offer a lot more adjustment than the majority of coilovers used in the drift scene, features that will no doubt prove invaluable when dialling in the car to suit the tricky track conditions we see all so often in the UK.

coilover 5

With the suspension and bodywork starting to take shape it was time to address another key area: the wiring loom. We could have all the fancy parts in the world but they wouldn’t mean a thing if the electronics controlling them won’t talk to each other and, due to some of the complex features we wanted to include (along with the Syvecs ECU) we employed the services of the guys at HCI Systems.

loom 1

HCI contacted us early on during the build process and came to visit our workshop to assess our needs for the car. They suggested the use of their HCI Powerbox, a unique piece of kit that sees use in many performance cars (including all production Pagani Zondas along with an array of race teams running Ferraris, Porsches and Audis) that does away with the need for any fuses or relays in the car. This has been located below the false floor where the rear seat bench once sat.

loom 2

Another piece of technology we wanted to include on the car was HCI’s membrane panel, a one piece solution that replaces clumsy and complicated switch panels. This links directly to the Powerbox, greatly reducing the amount of wiring required.

loom 3

After a few weeks of drawing up wiring diagrams and figuring out how best to tie in the loom with the Toucan touchscreen display and OEM clocks, HCI were back to install their handiwork into the 370.

loom 4

With the loom installed and the bodywork prepped it was time to load up the car and take it for paint. Stay tuned for the next installment!

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