zRedBaron

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2011 Nissan 370z, 1988 Nissan 300ZX SS
Carving out this space on the web for me to document the changes I'll be making to this car. I am going to preface that by saying that my intent is to make this a streetable daily driver but tuned for road courses. Similar to my 370z build but with compromises like retaining interior, AC and OEM cooling options.

Why is it called HAVEBLUE? Well, I bought the car in July 2023 from a Honda Dealer in Fontana, CA. I bought it for $61k and 500 miles on the odometer and I knew there was no way I would ever get any Californian Nissan dealer to negotiate down to those numbers at that time. Sadly, markup was still high so this was my best shot at getting the color and trim options I wanted. I didn't tell anybody I bought the car and no one really knew until ZCON rolled around in August. I kept things very covert, much like the project to build the worlds first stealth fighter which happened to be code named HAVEBLUE. There you have it.

Alright, enough about that....on to the build.

Current mods
  • AMS Intakes
  • Nismo Front Bumper
  • Tomei Expreme Ti Single Exit Exhaust and Y-pipe
  • Z34 Hotchkis Front Sway Bar
  • SPL Parts Front Upper Camber Arms
  • SPL Parts Rear Camber Links and Eccentric Lockout kit
  • Ohlins Mines ESTA Coilovers w/ HyperCo springs
  • Bride Zeta III bucket seats in blue
Planned Mods
  • AMS Performance Full Race Downpipes
  • EcuTek tune
  • Aftermarket wheels: BBS LM, E88, Nismo LM GT4 in White
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pbm457

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Paxton
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21, F250, 24, 4 Runner, 24, Z Performance
I’m interested in hearing you car, and seeing a db reading. I’m eyeing the Tomei exhaust and am curious how loud, it may be. Thank you in advance. I’m following your build.
 

ohmyfairladyz

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Mike
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San Marcos CA
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2023 Nissan Z
Carving out this space on the web for me to document the changes I'll be making to this car. I am going to preface that by saying that my intent is to make this a streetable daily driver but tuned for road courses. Similar to my 370z build but with compromises like retaining interior, AC and OEM cooling options.

Why is it called HAVEBLUE? Well, I bought the car in July 2023 from a Honda Dealer in Fontana, CA. I bought it for $61k and 500 miles on the odometer and I knew there was no way I would ever get any Californian Nissan dealer to negotiate down to those numbers at that time. Sadly, markup was still high so this was my best shot at getting the color and trim options I wanted. I didn't tell anybody I bought the car and no one really knew until ZCON rolled around in August. I kept things very covert, much like the project to build the worlds first stealth fighter which happened to be code named HAVEBLUE. There you have it.

Alright, enough about that....on to the build.

Current mods
  • AMS Intakes
  • Nismo Front Bumper
  • Tomei Expreme Ti Single Exit Exhaust
  • Z34 Hotchkis Front Sway Bar

Planned Mods
  • SPL Parts Front Upper Camber Arms
  • SPL Parts Rear Camber Links and Eccentric Lockout kit
  • Ohlins Mines ESTA Coilovers w/ HyperCo springs (Hoping to knock these out this weekend)
  • AMS Performance Full Race Downpipes
  • Recaro/Sparco/Bride seats in blue, need better bolstering
  • EcuTek tune
IMG_0122.jpg


IMG_0125-EDIT.jpg

20240406_211746.jpg

IMG_0152.jpg
20231007_164615.jpg
Why only the front sway bars?
 

jdm-rhd

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rob
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very nice...congrats

are you planning to continue with the nismo esthetics around the rest of the car?
 
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zRedBaron

zRedBaron

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Why only the front sway bars?
A stiffer rear bar plus stiffer coilovers is a great recipe for inducing snap oversteer in the Z34 and RZ34.

Most of the Z track rats run a very soft rear bar (stock or slightly stiffer) or no bar at all.

The end result is usually something like this.



That was my first track day on coilovers, with the stock rear sway bar still attached. Needless to say, but that bar came off immediately after that.
 
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zRedBaron

zRedBaron

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very nice...congrats

are you planning to continue with the nismo esthetics around the rest of the car?
Unsure at this time, waiting for more options to become available for body kits. I'm still on the fence about the Nismo rear bumper but who knows it might grow on me more as time goes on.
 

chuckz

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2021 Q50 3.0
Installation this past weekend

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Your Car and mods so far are impressive!

I'm interested in a few additional details that may also help other members with this conversion. Did you need more than just the bumper to make this work? According to Z1 their kit has a number of additional pieces needed besides bumper and only has a few color selections. Was hoping maybe you could help clarify the parts and what not or where you sourced them please.



Thanks!
 
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Landon

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2024 NISSAN Z
How do you know how to do all of that? Have you been a Nissan mechanic or worked for an auto repair shop before?

I am still trying to figure out how to install 4 new spacers to my new 2024 Nissan Z.

Do you have a video on how to install 4 lowering springs? Thinking about lowering my Z but no video on YouTube for the 2024 Z model.
 
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zRedBaron

zRedBaron

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2011 Nissan 370z, 1988 Nissan 300ZX SS
How do you know how to do all of that? Have you been a Nissan mechanic or worked for an auto repair shop before?

I am still trying to figure out how to install 4 new spacers to my new 2024 Nissan Z.

Do you have a video on how to install 4 lowering springs? Thinking about lowering my Z but no video on YouTube for the 2024 Z model.
I'm actually not a mechanic. I'm a software engineer by day, togue/canyon carver by night and time attack driver on the weekends.

I learned a lot by researching forums like this, making friends with people who know more about cars then I do and getting their help whenever possible. Last time I did a coilover install on my 370z I had help from a group of friends and I learned enough by watching and doing to be able to do it all on my own this 2nd time around when I did it on my RZ34.

I'm going to give you a hint about this car, although it is very new, it shares a lot of similarities and common parts with the Nissan 370z. If you cant find what you're looking for here or on youtube, I recommend you try https://www.the370z.com or try searching for whatever you're looking for but for the 370z instead.

Spacers are very easy to find the right specs for and install. If you know how to remove and mount wheels, you're half way there. Spacers only go on one way, which is over the OEM studs pressed into your wheel hub. If they dont fit, then you have the wrong spacers. If they do, all you need to do is torque them down to the factory spec for your car which should be around 80 ft/lbs of torque. Finding this info online should be really easy.

Replacing the front springs on a 370Z or a 2023 Z is a little trickier as you will have to compress the springs with a tool to remove them from the strut. Be warned this step can be dangerous because if those springs are compressed and they release suddenly it can cause death, serious harm, injury or damage to things/people around you. I've never done it before myself but know many who have and it is sketchy, if you don't know what you're doing please get help or take it to a shop.
 
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zRedBaron

zRedBaron

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2011 Nissan 370z, 1988 Nissan 300ZX SS
Your Car and mods so far are impressive!

I'm interested in a few additional details that may also help other members with this conversion. Did you need more than just the bumper to make this work? According to Z1 their kit has a number of additional pieces needed besides bumper and only has a few color selections. Was hoping maybe you could help clarify the parts and what not or where you sourced them please.



Thanks!
Thanks @chuckz, I appreciate the compliments! I don't have specific part numbers on most things but I can roughly break down what you need, there's a few more parts that need to be on this list but these are the major ones.
  • Front Bumper Fascia
  • Front Grill
  • 2 x Winglets (Front Bumper Moulding)
  • 2 x wheel well spats and rivets
  • 2 x headlight brackets and rivets
  • 2 x inner sensor brackets
  • 2 x outer sensor brackets
I recommend you reach out to John Capati at Corner 3 Motorsports, I ordered my parts through him.
 

chuckz

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2021 Q50 3.0
Thanks @chuckz, I appreciate the compliments! I don't have specific part numbers on most things but I can roughly break down what you need, there's a few more parts that need to be on this list but these are the major ones.
  • Front Bumper Fascia
  • Front Grill
  • 2 x Winglets (Front Bumper Moulding)
  • 2 x wheel well spats and rivets
  • 2 x headlight brackets and rivets
  • 2 x inner sensor brackets
  • 2 x outer sensor brackets
I recommend you reach out to John Capati at Corner 3 Motorsports, I ordered my parts through him.

Thank you! I have managed to get a list of most of the parts. Some listed here I'm unaware of from research. I was going off Z1's conversion list on the Z1 website. I may have to reach out to them. I appreciate the feedback.
 
 





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