Well, I have stripped down most of the front and have began work on the interior.
Seriously think the carpet pad is made out of recycled cats..
After some poking around, there was enough surface rust to thin the floor pans that I will definitely be replacing them. They are pretty decent, but I can jam a hole through with a screwdriver with not too much effort in the thinner areas after grinding off the rust. So, I'll get some front to back Bad Dog rails, and get some nice thick floor pans to weld in. Do it right the first time.
I have spent that last few weeks talking myself into a RB26 for this build, but I think I regained my sanity last night and am going back to the VQ35HR or 37. Just thinking out loud, I think the only reason I want the RB26 is for the cool factor, and it's kind 2.6 translates to 260z still...i'm a dork. It is such a beautiful engine just to look at, and we all know the numbers it puts down.
But, it's so darn heavy, it cost 3x as much just to start with. Then the performance parts I'll want for it are just that, GT-R prices...Where the VQ is 300HP NA out of the box for the most part, any part can be had from any junkyard/local auto parts store.
But I do love the RB...
So I will leave it to the engine gods to decide. If I can find a great price from one of you guys/other enthusiasts for a RB26 over the next year, I'll go for it, if not, I'll grab a $1k VQ locally or on eBay.