Globerunner513

must have been 'bring your child to work' day....

well i havn't really posted up all that much about my project on here, but i guess since the project of the car is coming to an end i would share what i've been doin for the past two years. This is my description of the project that i posted on another forum, thought i'd save some time linky STORY: I got this car from a friend in 2005 during my junior year in HS. Paid $200. At first i only got it because i fell in love with the car the first time i saw it (literally, didn't know datsun made a sports car before then), and it was too good of a deal to let go. Soon after i decided to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. I would use the car for my Culminating Senior Project in high school, and that would in turn give me motivation and a goal to work towards. Although i didn't finish the car in time, i still had more than enough work into it to present my progress in the project. So after purchasing the car, i drove it about a mile to my house....then havn't gotten to drive it since *except on and off the trailer* I soon began diving into the project and began taking apart the interior. There were the obvious things...no carpet, cracked dashboard, torn seat covers, and decaying steering wheel from the california sun (don't ask me how a steering wheel decays, i don't know either) To my surprise there was extremely little rust. some surface spots here and there, but the only real rust was in the hatch area. Both the hatch and the panel had to be replaced. Next order of business was the suspension. Both front struts had siezed up, and the rear's were on their last leg. So i went with Tokico's Illumina 5-way adjustable struts. Found a good deal on ebay, and figured why not?. Also replaced the brake master cylinder, front calipers, and rear brake hoses at this time. Everything up to this point were all things that needed to be done to simply have a decently driving car, that wouldn't fall apart on me. But i wanted something more than that. I was looking for a daily driver that i would enjoy driving as much as i enjoyed just being in the car. This meant that the interior was gonna need a little help. I started off by installing a dash cap to hide those cracks, and give the dash a renewed look. Then i customized the doors to house a set of 6" front speakers. Got a nice new set of seat covers (bottoms not shown) And installed a new Alpine stereo and rear speaker box with Infinity 'Reference' 6x9's *previous owner had an old sony stereo with computer speakers lying in the back, it worked but music is one of my big passions, so had to put a little into that area* Also got some a carpet set, but no photos since it's still in the box. Next was the body work. I started by sanding down the original paint, and filled the side-strip holes with a layer of bondo. I shaved the holes in the rear by covering them from behind with fiberglass then filling them with fiberglass re-inforced bondo, then regular bondo to smooth it all out. Finally i was ready to take it to the body shop to have things finished up by a professional. Notice hand polished grill, and new MSA type II air dam to replace the front "sea anchor" Getting a low z car onto high trailer....Take I *actually ended up finding out that trailers make great see-saws when not hitched properly* oops Take II....had to think this time. Used a nearby driveway to get the angle right. At the body shop, getting smoothed out Back home from the body shop. Primered and ready to be blocked out. More sanding... Also Installed a K+N intake. having some fun... Back at the body shop for the final time. New layer of primer sprayed and being blocked out. I was working on some of the smaller tasks at this point, sanding down under the hood, door jambs, etc. apparently the last person to paint the car didn't do much prep under the hood and after i spent a good amount of time getting it all nicely sanded with 400#, we notice some of the paint starting to flake off...this is what we ended up with. DOH! (all good now though) So right now she's in the paint booth ready to get sprayed tommorow. color is gonna be Daytona Blue of the 350z. Beautiful color IMHO, and should look pretty nice on the Z. I'll take some pictures tommorow and post them up. Thanks for looking.

actually i didn't know that...i knew there was talk about it, but didn't know it had gone any farther than that. Good to know though! i'll try not to miss it this time. Definately a worth while cause

lol yea same with above, just when i had some cash to throw towards this....the amount needed was met! hehe anyway this really will be epic. Can't wait to hear about it.

the suspension bible

hehe astrohog is stalking me... whats up man? guess you found the best web forum out there!

you just gotta hybrid up everything don't ya? haha thats sooo awesome!

guess i can stop worrying about my wheel -> fender gap

hahaha...yea i guess without those...

it looks alot like a wright brothers' engine...

thats awesome...looks like a great plan! i dunno why...but some yellow caution stripes would look sweet on that thing

^^especially with no rear bumper

oh man...thats crazy, i mean i live north of seattle...so we get our share of rain, but never had to deal with anything like that... just curious, where in NY do you live? i used to live in chazy...

interesting that they still allow slicks in champ car racing. unlike the F1 circuit that now only carries one brand of tire and are required to use both hard and soft compound rubber. (i really wish they still had atleast two tire manufacturers to keep competition in designs and such up). But it does make it a little bit mroe interesting to watch...

yup...this is exactly what my grandpa was doing. super interesting stuff. (he was one of those in charge of the design for the radar on apolo 11)

i wish i could say the same about Aviation. With the way the idustry is headed, There is gonna be soo much competition by the time i start looking for jobs its unreal. I'll probably just do small time work like Mission aviation or charter stuff and build up my hours. The days of company's hiring straight out of schools is dwindling fast. Even the military, save for the army, is harder than ever to get an officer commision...let alone a pilot slot. i wonder if saturn is hiring....hehe yay for $100k pointless degree anyway Geology is a great idea. like many scientific jobs, most people in those professions are soon retiring. (my grandpa retired about 5 years ago from various forms of engineering (radar, aeronautical, electrical, and communications) really intersting stuff, talking about his job with him. But anyway that is seeming like the trend as many more students are training for jobs that don't yet exist. and many of the rest, like geology are getting overlooked.

I dunno...It gets ya into Saturn dealerships... hehe jk

There are some really good Aeronautical Engineering programs out there. Im pretty sure that the school im eventually transfering into has one (University of North Dakota). If you're into fluid dynamics, physics, and things that fly, its a great way to go. Its what i would be doing if i wasn't already going into Aviation. when you mentioned engineering that poped into mind, but mechanical engineering is awesome too.

i'll probably go. I'll be in spokane then though...so we'll see if i wanna make that drive. (4, maybe 5 hrs? i dunno) but i'd love to see some of those minature aircraft engines. incredible...

gillie suits aren't always "camo"....they come in urban colors, camo, desert camo, etc... the idea of the gillie suit is that it breaks up the human siliouette...which is very distinguishable(sp?). So they could hide on the top of a roof or even on the lawn of the dealership and it would be hard to tell if it was a bush or a person. really cool stuff anyways sounds like a pretty exciting day at the office eh?

:lmao:lol yeah...i don't think much is gonna top that one ^^^

im sure many more versions of this will arise in due time.

good to hear about your brother! lol...well i can relate to counterstrike atleast. Not "addicted" but definately enjoy a good round every now and then

SWIIING......and a miss

^^that sucks... though i gotta admit, the rotary is so unique to the RX-7 that anything else just doesn't seem special enough...but then again power is power...so its all good:icon14: