240hoke

hehe, thanks for the compliments guys, yall are really making my day and giving me some inspiration to finish the car up. I just got my painless wiring kit in the mail today (18 circuit) and some other tid bits, lots of work ahead. But should come together quick I strongly believe in this, anybody can pay a company to build their car,all that takes is money. But when you build it, it is truely yours and you have respect for it. In most cases you can buy the tools required for the job with the money you saved doing it yourself. Ive learned how to weld and do bodywork, and a host of other things on this car... Nobody else has touched it. I just cant wait for the day when i take it to a car show and they ask me who did this or that and i can say "I did". That will make everything worth it.

Haha, thanks guys, yall crack me up. The redhead is my girlfriend ashley and the other guy is my cousin ryan, im sure ash will get a kick outta your comments. sparky -- I havent decided what exactly to do about the bumpers, i would like either carbon fiber, or euro chrome ones. I have money for neither so most likely she'll be bumperless for at least a little while. All the trim around the windows will be polished and im also having the lips on my panasports polished. I just want it to have a mean yet still classy look. -Austin

Hey, Thanks alot for the compliments. Its hard to paint in a garage but if you take your time and keep everythign clean and wet it seems to work fine, the first layer of base i put down there was too much dust and stuff in the air, i ended up wetsanding the whole thing back down to primer. I found it best to get up at about 5 am and spray, not nearly as many bugs! Anyway i'm really getting excited, should start going fast... i hope anyway lol. -Austin

There is a really cool product called lizard skin, muscle motorsports, a local race shop near me sells the stuff. Its a spray on product that looks much like undercoating. It is really cool stuff, we heated a sample on 1/8" aluminum from the back with a torch for 30 seconds and you could still touch teh lizard skin side. They are marketing it to be spray in race car cockpits. Anyway it runs about 150 a gallon or something like that. I used a dynomat rip off to do my floor, its cheap and works. If i would have known about lizard skin before i would have been tempted but its expensive. -Austin

Hey guys, Well after slaving away for the past 2.5 weeks I finally finished painting my 240. Im really happy with the results. I shaved the antennea hole, drip rails, and gas door. Also used tabco panels to replace the bottom of the fenders and the drivers side dog leg. Ill have write up about this on my website within the next couple days, im trying to get it up to date. Anyway I built a makeshift paint booth in my garage using some heavy plastic and some box fans under the garage door to move the paint out. After I finished the body work the whole car was sanded down to 320 grit I layed a couple couts of Nason 2K catalized 4:1 primer. I then knocked the orange peal from the primer down with 320 and followed with wetsanding with 500 grit. A couple of my buddies come over to help me knock out the final sanding, having some people to BS with really helps pass the time when your about to claw out your eyes from sanding. The color on the car is toyota/lexus spectra blue and i added one coat of blue pearl to give it a little more depth. Base paint is nason, clear coat is Dupont chroma clear (read 240 a gallon with hardender ) Painting the roll cage was a pain but my little detail gun worked awesome. Anyway take a look and lemme know what you think. Hope you enjoy! This has been a big step for me , I'm finally done with all the chassis work and shes ready to be reassymbled. Tryign to get her done before I head off to college and have it ready for SEZ. My website is http://www.geocities.com/projectzt I will be updating it shortly. -Austin

Hey, Well if you are just putting it in primer to drive around i think most agree on a epoxy primer. But if you are just shooting it before paint go with a urethane 4:1 catalized primer. I used nason primer and basecoat and then dupont chromaclear. I would just suggest you go to your local paint store and talk with one of the guys there most are very knowledgeable

Heres what I did on mine. http://www.geocities.com/projectzt/dogleg

I have a set of t/c rods that have been cleaned and painted black and have brand new rubber bushings from MSA with the plated washers and everything. I built adjustable pieces so IF youre interested shoot me a pm.

Yup, everything is dandy. The seat has to be fairley upright the way its suppose to be, plenty of room for me, but thats why i recommended moving the drivers side harness bar back in the shape of a U.

Hey Guys, I just got done welding in my roll cage, er well its more of a bar I guess. I just thought I would post up some pictures as many people have questions about S&W products. Most people say S&W stuff is pretty crappy, and I would agree. The cage will fit in your car, but if you mount it the way they intend it seriously interfers with the seats and isnt built quite the way I would like. However the main hoop does fit quite nicely and you cant buy the pipe for the price of the kit (I think my total was about 180 bucks for cage and "x" brace). So I think its a great start for those that are willing to do some fabrication. I wanted to have some of room to move the seats so i was having trouble working out a place ot mount the main hoop. In the pictures youll see I mounted the bar up on the ledge behind the seats, but the fender well prohibits the bar from leaning back. What I did was notch out the fender well and allow the bar to set in just a little. This give me the right placment for the bar and allows me enough seat room. Anywa the rest is self explanitory, I used the bar s&W intends to go straight across as a diagonal, and i used the "x" brace material I had extra to do the harness bars. IF you have access to a bender the harness bar could be made like a "u" on the drivers side to allow more room to lean the seat back. I dont ride in the gangster position so i think this will work for me but if your really tall might need to change this part I still need to put in the door bars but that will come tomarrow, I was excited so i figured i would post. I think this setup is really gonna make the rear end of my car nice and solid. *EDIT* On a side note, if i had to do it over I would tack the bar super good and then break the tacks on the body and weld the cage outside the car then place it back in, youd have to be careful though to keep it from warping, so this might not be a good idea. But it is very hard to get to all the areas inside. -Austin

Hye, thanks for hte headsup but I am aware, all the motors he had coming in were in the 160,000 kilometer range.

Well guys, Ive been calling around and doing my reasearch. I found the 1jz and the 2jz both for decent deals, but both had higher miles then i wanted from jarco (above 100K). 3500 For a rb25 to me doesnt seem worth the money right now. Soooo, after much thought I decided I really like the 1jz motor and this would prolly be my pick, but As silly as it sounds for this car i really dont want to stray away from nissan. i dont know why but something is stopping me from doing it. This leaves me the rb lines. Right now my plan is to dropp my l28et back in the car this summer to get the car goign again as it requires no mods and i can get 350+ to the wheels with it. I plan on going ahead and saving up for the big daddy rb26 swap, or a built rb25. This will allow me plenty of money to finish up the details on my car and worry about a motor down the road a bit. Ill be learning to tig weld at NC state this, so ill be able to make custom manifolds ect. Anyway thanks for everbodys input, and Look for me to revive this thread within the next year. -Austin

Rock On Man! I was 15 when i got my first s30. Me and my dad worked to get it into driveable condition and then I took over from there. Ive wasted, some would say, all my money on it for the past 3 years and have enjoyed every mintue of it. Youll be surprised at how much you learn once you just jump in and start working on it. Many havent said this but you may want to consider buying another cheeeeepppp beater car to have while your working on your z, that way you can take your time and do what you want with your project. Anyway no matter what people say now is a good time to do it, youve got no bills to pay, you have alot of free time, and not many worries. Check out my projects: http://www.geocities.com/projectzt i love to see young people getting into z's!

Hey I sent you a pm but I thought i would reply here too, I was posting about this at the time when i was looking to do an engine swap in my 260. Unfortunately I wrecked the car and it took me quite a while and some money to get a new one and start rebuilding it. While I love BMW engines and there incredible smoothness ( drive a 325is with 200K no less), they are incredibly high priced. I think a turbo m3 engine in a z would be absolute bliss and im wondering why someone hasnt done it. The thing that holds me back is money a rb26 z could be built for less then a s30 with a e46 333hp n/a bmw m3 motor. SO a 600hp twin turbo z or a 333hp n/a z, hurm lemme think about the one See the below post for things im thining about cheers -Austin

I didnt think about building a rb30, i guess the hardest part would be sorcing a head. Looks like it may be cheaper then a rb26 and more badass Where is the place that builds the rb30 blocks? -Austin

I followed the 81 swap sticky which was very good and helpful i dont think the 81 system has the green relay it has a brown one though and it is operational. The car has been started a couple times as in like acccidental playing with it and trying it over an over. When it started it ran good. BUt it wont start now, its something with the timing, i dont think its the comptuer but it could be. I hate stock wiring lol

Hey guys, Ive been putting a '81 turbo motor in sparks 280z's car. Anyway I got her pretty much wrapped up tonight with the i/c and all the wiring done and tried to give her a start. After a couple attempts we didnt get anywhere, checked spark -- good, fuel -- good. PLayed with the dizzy timing and finally got her to start up. Started up twice and ran pretty good. Let her sit and now it wont start again. It turns over and doesnt sound like it is doing anything (some smoke comes out of the breather) and then when you stop cranking it will sputter over a couple turns and stop. Acting like its too advanced. Ive tried moving a crank sensor and moving the dizzy nothing is helping. Also I DID NOT take the dizzy driveshaft out the motor. It ran before i pulled it so this shouldnt be an issue. I did take the dist off but there is only one way to put it on so i know this is right. Anysuggestions on this?? Could it be wiring? -Austin

Hey, anthracite you seem to know your supra stuff, what is the deal about manual tranny's on the 1jz. The shop i was talking to who claimed to have a manual one coming in was lying it came in as a auto. Soo they said they could order one, but im not paying for anything without seeing it. At anyrate what are my tranny options? Im liking the 1jz option looks like a strong motor the supra guys say its just as good as the rb26dett, they seem to think the 2jz is alot more advanced then the rb26, but they are supra guys so of course they would have this opinion. At anyrate, the extra money to put it in wont be much depenind on what works on on the tranny. I would be making my own mounts and everything so its just the price of a little bit of steel. Driveshaft, exhaust, i/c pipes and everything would have to be made for any motor soo... -Austin

okay i got quoted today 1600 for a 1jzgte with manual transmission. This looked pretty good, i would assum these places would be somewhat negotiatle. I figure i could get it for 1500 or less. I have yet to find a 2jz. Smae place wanted 2400 for a rb25det motorset sans wiring. Okay which is stronger -- 7m or 1j ? Given the choice between the two i would assume the 1j would be a better motor, and if parts are interchangable btwn the 1j and 2j this could be the ticket. -Austin

Hey guys, thanks for the imput, looks like 7m and rb25 are very close. I just got back from a trip to illinois and will soon start checking more into how much i can source the engines for and what it will take for each one of them to make my hp mark. Btw in NC and i think everywhere other then cali we have 93 octane at all pumps and 100 at some. Also where i live we have all the way up to 118 unleaded gas at the track for high boost run s Anyway keep the opinions coming, ive got some unpacking to do ill prolly have more info tomarrow.