iBang

Those do look nice... That could have a nice agressive look without disrupting the stock flow of the Z's body lines. I may have to go junkyard hopping for a damaged bumper now... I wonder if anyone makes a fiberglass replica cobra bumper? Given that I would need to cut it up and re-form it anyway, that could be a good option to make it easier to work with. Working with plastic is a pain!

Can't wait to see some more pics of both the back and front. I'd love a quarter shot of that front end. Somehow the mustang lower curves and lip flow well with the Z. I can see the cobra in it now that you mention it, but I would have been hard pressed to pick it out without being told. I might borrow that idea but use standard cobra or mustang parts instead of the cobra R bits. Frankly the lower lip is a little extreme for the look I'm going for with my car. I want it to look like a factory piece and I think it could be done with a little less lip. I'd also like to do it as a bolt on lower valence replacement but that may be a pipe dream. EDIT Bingo - this bumper and lip instead of the R package. Perfect!

Its too bad that your interior pieces will have nothing to do with the stock Z setup given the rather *ahem* different chassis that you have crafted. I'd love to pull a few fiberglass pieces off of your molds once they are done to do my own interior work off of, but no joy. I'll be doing similar work, but I won't be crafting for bare carbon, just old fashioned fiberglass.

Could you take some pictures of the front from further away? It looks cool and I'd like to see it with more of the car in the frame. Interesting technique - I've never heard of drywall mud for that before. Are you sure that's a good idea under the glass? Normally I think people use foam, glass it, and then use acetone to melt out the foam afterwards. Obviously not going to work on the drywall mud and I'm not sure if that will be a problem later or not.

Interesting article. I wonder what corrosion prevention compound they suggest? It makes sense that you would want to use something that doesn't require clean surfaces to adhere to since there's no telling what crap has built up in the sealed areas in the 40 years since my car was built. I believe the eastwood stuff is supposed to stick anything so it might be a good bet. I just want something long term. I've heard of people who keep their cars for years ending up doing the same rust repair over and over again and I don't want to end up as one of those guys.

Will this be a one time batch of these and then I won't be able to get them again or will they be available into the future? I want some but I'd rather wait until I'm at that point before I plunk down the cash and have to store them for a year.

Awesome work, but it looks like you can see where the gas cap door was fairly clearly on the CF fender. Will these be body worked and painted to cover that up or will they be left as bare carbon where that will be evident? I'd hate to see that on a build this awesome and clean.

Ooh... that looks COOL hung in there like that.

I'd prefer them without, but honestly I don't really think it looks that bad. Many high quality wheels also run a dual pattern so I'm pretty sure its not going to be a strength issue. There's way more places stress will show up before it hits at the lug holes.

Yup, those.

Its possible you didn't build high enough. The other issue that will get you is if you are using a short block. Use a block that is 1' or longer and make your strokes to where they move at about a 30 degree angle towards the body line from above or below. try not to spend a lot of time right on the body line until you are ready to match it to the rest of the car. I could see that effect happening with too much up-down sanding using a smaller block. The block has to "ride" on the solid un-compromised body around the damaged area. You have to make sure your sanding lets the block be supported there in order to re-create the factory body lines.

XXR sometimes seems to start in with a certain size and then expand out with others so I wouldn't be at all surprised if those CCW imitations came out in a lot more sizes down the line. The demand for S13 and S14's in 5x114 will likely drive them to make a version in 17 and 18" diameters.

No maf? Definitely your problem. If it is a nissan and its stumbling at 2.5-3k, even intermittently - check the maf.

I'm starting to get annoyed with the new XXR wheels. I've always been of the opinion that price begets quality and with as much as I will have invested in the Z, I was figuring that a set of CCW, work, or other premium brand wheels was in my future. Now I can get the look I want in a sweet offset and pay $600 for the set. That leaves me plenty of money to have them re-finished however I want. How do you justify the expense of premium wheels at that point? Especially for a street car that is getting wheels mostly for a little additional traction and look. No need for endurance race durability here. I hate to say it but I may get the XXR's pretty shortly so that I can mock them up for fit when I modify the subframes.

Looks pretty good but you lost your body line a bit. When you hit that with gloss and the reflections come back you will see that as an odd patch in the reflection line.

I'm mostly looking to the future. Not necessarily as an investment, but more as respect for a car I expect to be a full classic within a decade. That's too bad that its looking hard to get the subframe in to the stock points. I expected it would be difficult, but I was hoping it was at least going to be possible. We'll just have to see how things work out when I start work on mine. I like how you are doing things but I also have a different approach in mind for my own setup. I also have some great adjustable rear arms and links that may allow me to cheat a bit on the geometry and run the subframe a bit lower.

Love seeing how you are doing everything! I'll be doing the same with my S13 subframe shortly and by the design of the Q's rear sub, it ought to be a fairly similar modification. Have you thought about how you are going to mount the rear end into the car yet? I'm dreaming of somehow mounting mine without modification to the car. I would love to keep it to where all of my aftermarket modifications can be un-bolted and the original parts put back in place. With the value of our cars increasing all of the time there may come a day that I want to retun the Z to its factory setup.

Thanks for the links! That looks to be what I need to rust proof my chassis inside and out. I also need to pick up some weld-through primer for the areas I'll be working on for a while...

That really is pretty... it does look like what a proper reincarnation of the Z should be. I'll also ask, what is it? I'd like to find some more info and pictures.

I should have been more specific. I'm worried about the back side of the weld where you aren't going to be painting. For instance a rocker panel - you weld on a patch for some rust repair, but you now have a bare fresh weld on the back side that you can't get at.

Among the many things I'm going to have to do to my Z, I will need to weld up some patches in a couple areas including the rockers and other places without access to the rear side. In my experience, nothing rusts quite like a fresh weld, so how does everyone go about keeping fresh patches from turning into starting points for rust on our corrosion prone old cars? I've seen a product from eastwood that you drill a hole, spray some rust killer/preventer paint crap in blind every couple feet and then use a rubber or plastic plug over the hole. Seems like a good idea, but does anyone have some firsthand experience? I'm putting a lot of work into my Z and I want to build it to last decades without repair, not years.

I'm wondering if the S12 front subframe swap would do anything for you. I'm doing that swap for the sake of the power steering and the ability to use S14 front knuckles, but the steering system is essentially the same at that point as you would get in a 240SX which as we all know works great for drifting. I'm not sure how the clearance would be since it is a modified setup, but it does convert the Z from a front mount steering rack to a rear mount steering rack so it might be better. It would certainly open up your world of front hubs, brakes, and wheels.

For me the determining point will be when I get the car moved into my new house so I can dissemble it. For now it has to remain rollable so I can trailer it over. Once I have it apart I'm going to do a side by side comparison of the parts and decide which will be the better way to go. I'll document all of it in my thread so we have more than a lot of guesses.

I think the title of my thread may also have been incorrect. Realistically what I'm doing is determining what the best suspension setup is for my particular application and budget. There is no "best" setup, only good setups and bad setups. I don't think what I have/had planned was bad, however it may not be the best for what I'm trying to achieve.

John, definitely not trying to argue that what I'm doing is the best possible way of doing things, just trying to see if it is the best for my personal application. You've actually given me enough info that I may not go down the S13 rear suspension route after all. On the stock rear lower arms - they certainly may be strong enough, but what adjustability will I be giving up with them? I know that the TTT arms have adjustability to center up the wheel in the wheel well which the stock arms do not. I haven't actually done enough research on what the stock pieces are capable of since I was planning on ditching them so I don't know what I would be missing in stock vs. TTT arms. I am still concerned about the lowered geometry as Snailed pointed out, but given that I'm not planning on running the car slammed, it may not be an issue. I do want the car to be low enough to give it a nice look, but I'm not planning on tucking tire in the wheel wells. Not sure if my ride height will end up being a problem or not. If the weight difference is as low as 25lbs that is a small price to pay for the additional performance and the fact that I already have most of the parts. Snailed - that's great that you are planning on doing the work without any of the trick adjustable parts, but since I already have a very nice set of SPL adjustable arms I'm definitely keeping them in play if possible. They are great for dialing the rear alignment in for different ride heights, and I have to admit they do look nice back behind a nice set of wheels.