silver408z

Got some pics from Bret. Its going to be custom radiator cradle. The new cradle will stand the radiator up instead of leaning backwards. It will increase the airflow through the radiator and stop the heat issues that our cars deal with during the summer. As you can see it is also a thicker gauge metal than the factory piece. If you are having the common heat issue get with Bret about this.

The final piece will be sand blasted and powder coated.

silver408z

Also a small touch I ordered. I know Toque used to have this plate and I guess he let it go.

BLOWNBLUEZ06@RKT Performance

Your radiator will probably lean only slightly forward if any with this new cradle design. It'll still work far better than it did before.

silver408z

Bret getting more stuff knocked out and just making it a nice clean build again. Not many shops take time to this stuff.


Before pic




Frame rails, paint removed, slag from factory welds ground off and repainted. Bret said there was normal damage from rust and time causes from 17 years. Nothing bad or serious but its handled now.




Custom wires with MSD parts. Coil packs are being relocated and going to clean up the top of the engine.

I really think Bret does the extra steps and time on builds. Above and beyond what other places do. Not that they are bad or wrong, Bret just goes further for the customer.

silver408z

A couple things knocked out. I really like the injector harness. Making progress!!




Bret machined a spacer to fit behind the crank bolt/washer to hold the double keys in place.



My coil packs are going to be relocated and Bret is cleaning all the wiring on top of the engine. The stock wiring was old and wanted it to look better. This will be the only wiring on top.

silver408z

Moving along nicely. Clutch and Improved racings thermostat controlled oil block. The oil block did not want to mount properly. So Bret made spacers and clearanced the block to get it all to fit how he wanted. Then he added the factory oil temp sensor so that all the gauges still worked. Looks awesome installed to bad it will practically be unseen once the engine is in the car. I am still figuring out how to size pictures. Sorry some are HUGE.

Clutch ****




Oil block

silver408z

Bret did a little grinding and polishing. He removed a lot of material, taking out the ridges and gave everything inside and out a nice polish!! Going to look great with the gloss black intake, gloss black and polished valve covers!

silver408z

A little mock up. Waiting on the tensioner to come back and new fuel rails. There is always something that comes up but its really getting down to starting soon. All the wires seen on the front will be hidden.

silver408z

Some more progress pics!

First 2 pictures are custom coil pack brackets. They will move the driver's side into the fender and the passenger side will hidden around the battery.

Next picture shows the polished TB with the painted intake and how much Bret opened up the factor 90mm TB.

Next is the steering rack relocation kit. With the 10 rib setup it was a really tight fit.

Next pictures is the radiator in the custom cradle and shows how it is going to stand straight up instead of laying down. Should make for much better cooling! Last picture shows how much room there still for a large intake even with the radiator standing up. At some point a f1x and larger charge piping.

silver408z

Got the fuel rails in. They look awesome to me!

MVP'S ZO6

Wow Doug! Car is looking good. I drove to Forney (Home of the Formicators) on Saturday and saw your car up on the lift. It looks good. Nice to see that Mill made its way home.

1SLO2OH

This looks awesome! Car seems like its going to be even more of a beast than it was before.

silver408z

It should be a lot of fun! Bret and his guys are doing some awesome work.

Thanks Mike. I am getting exited about it being running soon! Bret has put a ton of work in it!

MVP'S ZO6

Those valve covers look great! They came off my Z06.

silver408z

Bret did not say where he got them. I do not have any red in my car so we decided to switch them up and they turned out awesome! Hopefully the car will run as good it looks!

MVP'S ZO6

It should haul the mail.

silver408z

Got some stuff back from powder coating. Bret made a new intake pipe and the radiator shroud. The new intake is straighter and shorter than my old one. My old shroud was made out of some flexible tin or something and did not fit all that great. Looks great now!

silver408z

Some more pics of progress. Bret built some shrouds to enclose and direct air flow. Nothing wrong with more air moving through the intercooler, radiator and condenser. There is also shrouding around the oil cooler but its in the wheel well.

neutron82

it's getting close and looking good... those rails are badass, after I saw them on your car I had to order a set... being one piece and mounting directly to the intake is awesome, no chance of them moving around and causing o-rings to leak... it's also nice having the option to use the short injectors which in turn gains cowl clearance... I can see nothing but positives

silver408z

Thanks and yes it is! I am getting excited for sure. Bret does other reasons for finishing my car. Once my car is done his car is up next. That's going to be a awesome build!

The fuel rails worked out better than expected. All the things you mentioned for sure. It also let Bret run the fuel lines in the area with the cowl and make for an even cleaner install.