Vintage-TechZ

Looks great Bart! That attention to detail will always make it nicer than the rest when sitting next to one another at a show. I can visualize a stripe on the two-tone paint line in grey to pull in your wheel color nicely.

....and nearly a year later.......a thread revival,lol....................... Lots of good info and theory here. Due to my job relocation to SoCal, my wide body AWD RB26dett project went to the crusher along with several cars and parts. I was only given 30 days to move from the midwest to the coast. They didn't care that I'd been on the road for ten years for them and needed extra time to sell off 13 cars and gut a 3 bedroom,3 car garage house and all the ancillary car related items. It was a huge loss in furniture,cars,rare parts etc. No room to store any of that not to mention cost for square footage. Anyway......back to the AWD portion of this. A few of you such as Stoney and Mark R. have said/done.....going the tube chassis route like I was doing is certainly the right way to get it done solidly. Lifting the body up and away and lowering it many times as points become more clear works. Hacking away at the S30 floorboards is a ridiculous venture. Seriously better to go tube and weld pick-up points once all the footprint is established. Jig the chassis with round tube or square tube then cut the entire floor out leaving the firewall and dash points. You'll add sheet metal to replace the floors and seat mounts later that will be better anyway. I had built a rolling jig with additional slide mechanisms because I also was widening the car width-wise 10". That was done for the most part. I also delayed things with a slight chop top from front to back -( 3" front to infinity rear blend). If I had just done a rear wheel drive RB and forgone all the other dream driven goals I'd been driving it still today I'm sure. I never saw the job transfer coming and thus shot myself in the foot good! We are 20 something and then BAM ! 50,lol. I managed to bring my last restored S30 L28det car out here with me along with the full AWD drivetrain,electronics,subframes,brakes,axles, trans, engine etc. But its in the way at my new composites shop. Its time to find a local fabricator to hand off and get it built to drive and enjoy......and to open up some floor space too,lol. I'd love to do it at least using the rear R33 subframe and axles and brakes......my first car was a 70' 240, but at this point in my life - (age 51), I just want to enjoy the ride again.

I believe you'd need to swap the lights as well to pull that off as the surround window won't match the 260/280 lamp shapes. Even if you grind off the reverse lamp high area. The cars body hole may fit, you'd just need to test fit.

Late in seeing this Stoney. If your still needing to reach him, might try>> www.rbz32.com

Hmmm, I was kind of a seat,wheel whore for some time. I just sold my late edition Recaro's but did hang onto a near perfect set of black leather-(non power) Type C Recaro's that are stored in southern Missouri. I was just talking to my friend who is storing a lot of my stuff there in consideration of listing them for sale if your interested? I sold the BMW 5-series they were going into. It was a wide body AC Schnitzer S5 car with all of that tuners goodies from the era.

I have a black leather set with perforated center sections I had looked into fitting the pre-form foam and covers to a set of z steel frames. Its a nice seat with lots of support and looks at home in our cabins. It might require some welding in of the shoulder tubes and a headrest cut-out hole for the port since the stocker is just flat sheet metal. But it would keep the lower seat profile as the RSX bottom is lofty....too much so for remaining stock and being useful. It would be a cool retro fit and give the best of both worlds. I'll be selling them in SoCal soon if there are any interested parties that would be interested in picking them up. I'm too deep in adapting my Z4 M coupe seats to turn back now.

With braking being the achilles heal in that test for Nissan, I'd say things turned out very good. Spend a few bucks on a full brake system upgrade and maybe a rear diff dial in along with 75 hp boost and things might change in another test. I realize its a 'shoulda,woulda' sort of remark but still. There is also a cool power steering kit that is column mounted that could have helped that jr. driver. I've let young drivers drive my non power assist steering car and it freaked them totally out,lol.

Both intakes look awesome in my book. Would love to see them in person sometime. By the way, I'm friends with your buddy BK-(helmet painter). let him know if we can meet up sometime ? I'm in Laguna Beach..

<br /><br /><br /> jdizzy, those are awesome finds !!

Hmmm, Im going to say your wrong on closest. There was a guy in San Diego who procured an original set and made molds to produce them in a short run. I'm picking up a set from a guy in Missouri who can't go forward with his build. Oddly they are coming all the way back to SoCal.

Great placement for twins. I had planned on doing something similar only placing them back further with ducting and at more of an angle to avoid rocks eventually stabbing pinholes. Down low on our cars they can get pummeled there.

Green seems to either A' , be rare or B', not so popular of a color,lol. Although my car is undergoing updates since this shot some years ago....its still the same OEM green with a touch of added yellow for pop. It now has 18"x10.5" Veilside Andrews w/285's rear. And is getting the early super wide Works JGTC type body kit. I had to move to Cali in Dec. of 2011 so my earlier widebody awd dreams were squashed in Missouri. Just can't afford space out here like back home.-(huge sigh). Works body kit looks kit this mounted.

Lol @ Tony D......I feel you here,lol. I always do my own prep and paint and its very satisfying once past the initial learning curve and tool cost outlay. About 20 years ago was my last set of painted frames and trim....and it still looks awesome today. The steps were >> 1)- Fully pull all trim off and separated from seals,glass etc. -(NOTE:-You can do this on the car but your results will decline) 2)-Either media blast with quartz or thoroughly sand with a DA or by hand with autobody grade papers. 3)-Wash with soap and water,airhose dry and wipe sterile. Repeat with alchohol or metal prep wash. 4)-Make a hanging rack with wire- (hang from garage door ,rafter etc.) I actually did mine outside in full sun for best 3d visibility. 5)-Use any quality self-etching primer-(key). 6)- Spray your choice of catalyzed body color paint or one part S.E.M. trim blk. Spray evenly and slick...do not heavily coat. 3-5 light coats works best. 7)-leave in the sun all day before handling. Note...the thicker you make the layers of prime and color on trim...the easier it can be chipped when smacked. The post cure in heat helps greatly to avoid this result.

I can't wait to hear this beast come to life with a roar Mark !! Your Plenums look killer btw.

The last car I restored was black and would sit outdoors all day in the sun. I ground the steel panels with 36 grit discs very well. Wiped them down with acetone and airhosed off with filtered air. I did the same to the backside of the glass panels. I was installing a 3-piece rear deck spoiler and as a test I used 2 different adhesive methods. 1)-Straight Bondo and flush mount screws. 2)- Panel adhesive for Corvette's. After 6 years in the sun and many hard road transitions and hatch slammings......there were zero cracks or shrinkages noted in a wet sanded glossy finish. The car met a tragic roll-over death which effected ALL panels. The bonded on parts STILL did NOT crack. We had to hammer them off to keep the unusual spoiler. This is a true/factual story.

Fabbing an enclosed air box to isolate heat from the filter would be a nice addition. You could even induce outside cooler air via the inspection lid with either louvers or a cable system that would open it manually or with a servo motor driven by vac signal.

That's no doubt ! I'm soooo jelly !

Beggars cant be choosers !

Thats what I like to hear !! Have someone shoot some video of drive-by's and in-cabin for us to find motivation with !

Careful placement and planning of your clamps and joints will avoid rubbing. This goes with any system install I've found. I've had 3" in place for both IC and full exhaust -( like many on this forum)....with no issues of fitment or rubbing-(even in engine twist in regards to mounts).

Wha?? SIx lost a ring ?

That turned out killer Matt !

This is awesome. I can only imagine your feelings while breaking her in with big dog company along side !! Congrats !

John hit upon a key point....clean metal. Your describing additional remaining rust....and rust NEVER sleeps. The Zinc aided spray primers work great, but only on well prepped metals. (READ CLEAN). If you cannot honestly get ALL of the rust out prior to welding....then cut it out and shape your own butt-weld patches from sheet. Your work will be re-visited if you don't.....and always sooner than you'd want. Trust us on this !

Mark, to be period correct on the extended nose ZG cars.....the headlight covers come with a formed metal surround trim to hold the lenses in position. I'd imagine the best way to go about this would have an original full set in your hands to make your bucks. It may be up to someone else to make the replica metal trim rings if you are unable to.