NASCAR V8 350Z Drift Car

[HHorton]

Hey guys my name is Hayden, Ive been super busy but have been meaning to post this build up on here. Last year I totaled my green 240 at XDC New Jersey. Right before qualifying I went to burn in a new set and check some changes and I ended up backing into the wall on the bank. the rear quarter caved onto the wheel and the cage and frame twisted. The car lasted for 4 years and I had a blast.




For the 2011 season i have acquired an 03 350z track edition. The chassis will be fully stripped down and then rebuilt.
I played around with it at streetwise in December and had a blast, I cant wait to see how the car feels with almost triple the horsepower and properly set up.


My friends and I prepped the z for sodablasting.


Since soda blasting, Autosport Dynamics has begun transforming my 350z from a local drift event beater into a first class burnout machine for XDC and the Streetwise Drift Pro-Am series. Thankfully, Falken’s contract with ASD only restricts them from building a competitor’s Formula Drift Pro car.

Jesse Wisner, an ASD fabricator who isn’t involved with the Falken Drift Program, has been hard at work prepping the car. This will be the 3rd 350z built by ASD, not counting the rebuild on Tyler’s retired pro car for ASD mechanic Steve Sokol.


Jesse has over 80 feet of tubing in the car and is tig welding the cage as well as other components. He is new to drifting, but obviously not new to welding and fabrication; he has been involved in building race cars for many years. Here is his fabrication work on the steering shaft and Wilwood pedal mount.


The cage is complete and only a few more components are left to fabricate before the car heads to paint. Dave from ASD approves!


I originally planned to swap a basic LS1 set up in the car, but I was given an opportunity I couldn’t refuse. ASD has taken on the task of fitting a Dodge Nationwide engine into the Z. The engine has been converted to electronic fuel injection managed by a Haltech P2000 from ASD and tuned by Six Sigma Dyno Services.


Here is a pic of the subrame with the winters quickchange and ASD solid mounts in it. I will get a pic of it fully together with the arms and Driveshaft shop axels installed.

photo by HaydenHorton, on Flickr

The car is way further along and I will be posting a ton more pics in the next few days covering the build.

[Tygr]

Its nice to see this coming along, stoked to see more!

[Shadowhuntr]

Looking really good so far, Can't wait to see more.

[Slapshotnerd]

Interesting.

Did you have to buy the motor? or was it some sort of sponsorship deal?

How far do you plan to go with cutting metal, particularly in the trunk area?

[blu808]

That is how you do it!

[HHorton]

Originally Posted by Slapshotnerd

Interesting.

Did you have to buy the motor? or was it some sort of sponsorship deal?

How far do you plan to go with cutting metal, particularly in the trunk area?

I purchased the motor from Autosport Dynamics. The sheet metal in the rear is being kept for now, the only thing that was cut was the rear quarters.

[Slapshotnerd]

Originally Posted by HHorton

I purchased the motor from Autosport Dynamics. The sheet metal in the rear is being kept for now, the only thing that was cut was the rear quarters.

How much was the motor?

You don't have to give a specific amount, but how does it compare to buying an LS engine off the streets? I've heard most LS motors go for 3 to 5 grand depending on mileage, with new ones being 6k or 7k, I'd be curious of a motor like this is substantially cheaper, or about on par as far as pricing just substantially more power

[Bebop]

Originally Posted by Slapshotnerd

How much was the motor?

You don't have to give a specific amount, but how does it compare to buying an LS engine off the streets? I've heard most LS motors go for 3 to 5 grand depending on mileage, with new ones being 6k or 7k, I'd be curious of a motor like this is substantially cheaper, or about on par as far as pricing just substantially more power

The R5P7 goes for around 80k brand new, I seen them for sell with millage on them for around 8k. Seeing the parts them self are not that expensive I think most of the 80K goes towards the machinist.

[Slapshotnerd]

Originally Posted by Bebop

The R5P7 goes for around 80k brand new, I seen them for sell with millage on them for around 8k. Seeing the parts them self are not that expensive I think most of the 80K goes towards the machinist.

I've heard that used motors go for MUCH cheaper than that... so that's why I'm asking about this transaction in particular.

[ASD Team]

Your numbers are a ways off. The parts are the expensive items. Look at the cost of a real set of V8 race cylinder heads as an example.

However, I bought three of them late last year at a very reasonable price, lightly used with all of the run mileage and rebuilds extremely well documented.
After a valvetrain rebuild just for the sake of reliability I ended up selling them all to Pro-Am drivers at direct cost to help them out. I figured thats where they'd end up when I bought them.

I wasn't going to post on this thread, but didn't want the hearsay and rumors to get out of hand regarding engine cost. They were more money than building a strong LS engine (of course they were) but still Pro-Am affordable for drivers who want big reliable horsepower / torque and rpm capability.

They weren't $5k motors though. They also didn't cost these guys anywhere even close to $30k+, although they easily could have for what they are and the parts that are in them. These things are pretty fresh.

[Bebop]

Originally Posted by ASD Team

Your numbers are a ways off. The parts are the expensive items.

Sorry if my 80k claim was way off, just going by what the dang ole NASCAR commentators say, hence saying the parts were cheap (compared to a 80k dressed new motor). But I have personally seen these things go for around 8k with only a race on them since rebuild.

[ASD Team]

No problem dude, your $80k number for brand new is probably close. But I guarantee it wasn't one of these engines that went for $8k with only one race on it.

Unless somebody stole it out the back door, or was going out of business and needed cash like yesterday

[Kieran]

Originally Posted by ASD Team

Your numbers are a ways off. The parts are the expensive items. Look at the cost of a real set of V8 race cylinder heads as an example.

However, I bought three of them late last year at a very reasonable price, lightly used with all of the run mileage and rebuilds extremely well documented.
After a valvetrain rebuild just for the sake of reliability I ended up selling them all to Pro-Am drivers at direct cost to help them out. I figured thats where they'd end up when I bought them.

I wasn't going to post on this thread, but didn't want the hearsay and rumors to get out of hand regarding engine cost. They were more money than building a strong LS engine (of course they were) but still Pro-Am affordable for drivers who want big reliable horsepower / torque and rpm capability.

They weren't $5k motors though. They also didn't cost these guys anywhere even close to $30k+, although they easily could have for what they are and the parts that are in them. These things are pretty fresh.

having looked through this and all the other asd build threads the very first stop i'm gonna make when i win the lottery is at asd to get a comp car built.

you guys just make some bloody sexy drift cars

[wesismyhero]

If you want to get rid of those headers on that vq35, I'm interested.