artishard116 Posted October 24, 2020 Author Share Posted October 24, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, heyitsrama said: Any idea what the seatbelt bracket is going to look like? Great welding by the way, very clean. Thanks! Can't take any credit for the pretty welds, those are all my friend. I had him handle anything structural/safety related. I filled a bunch of holes and stitch-welded nearly the whole chassis. You'll see a ton of ugly ones later that are mine haha. By bracket, you mean the mounting point for the lap belts? They look like this: Edited October 24, 2020 by artishard116 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted October 27, 2020 Author Share Posted October 27, 2020 (edited) A pair of 300ZX TT rear hubs I cleaned up, painted, and added long ARP studs to. Might be letting these go as my rear end plans have changed. Some more T3 stuff shows up. Not happy about the McDonald's colors, but will fix it later. I hadn't welded since college but my friend left his gear at my place so I thought I'd get some practice and do some stitch welding here and there. Ended up doing nearly every seam in and out with the exception of the areas front and rear of the strut towers. Custom rails from Bad Dog arrived and fit well. I por15'd the old rails and pushed the new ones over them as close to the body as they would go, then my friend welded them up. My old man lending a hand. He's gotten pretty excited about the whole thing. Made my own rear subframe connectors to attach to the frame rails. I can tell just by pushing the car around the garage how much stiffer it's getting. Finished product after I cleaned up the welds a bit. Seat rails made out of some square tube that I contoured to the floor pans. Recaro rails attached. I may rethink how they attach, but this is version 1. Added an 1'8" plate behind the firewall that connects to the supports on either side of the wiper motor area. I wanted to strengthen this part before attaching the tri-strut bar, but couldn't think of anything better that left room for the wiper motor. Borrowed from @JMortensen and tied the cage into the chassis in a few places. Previous owner had hacked some speaker holes in the deck area so I cut out all the ragged metal. Haven't quite decided how to cover this up yet. Some more metalwork details. This pretty much wraps it up which means I can finally move on to the next stage. I've had the car about 8 months at this point. Edited October 27, 2020 by artishard116 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 Looks a lot like mine, right down to the defunct Autopower mounting holes in the rear fenderwells! Nicely done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted October 27, 2020 Author Share Posted October 27, 2020 2 minutes ago, JMortensen said: Looks a lot like mine, right down to the defunct Autopower mounting holes in the rear fenderwells! Nicely done! Ha! That was the first thing to go. Thanks a lot for all the advice/inspiration. It's coming together. I have a bunch more to share to bring this thread up to date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted November 10, 2020 Author Share Posted November 10, 2020 (edited) Next step for the car was a trip up to Eugene, OR to Metalworks for an acid bath. At this point I'd be heading back to Europe and saying goodbye to the car for a while, so before that I threw on some shiny parts for a test fit and some glamour shots. Seat clearance. These seats are pretty tight even with all the work I did but I think everything will fit. The driver's seat is almost dead center with the wheel. Plenty of headroom though. Had some fun editing these ones. Here's a link to higher res versions if anyone is interested. https://imgur.com/a/ygCkQHb Saying goodbye. Edited November 10, 2020 by artishard116 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted November 10, 2020 Author Share Posted November 10, 2020 The dipping stage. Not too many surprises but for reference, this what a 'rust free' California car looks like. All in all I think I made out pretty well compared to others I've seen. After dipping, the car went down the road to VersionEx Auto (also in Eugene). They assessed the damage for me and patched some of the roughest areas. Previous owner did a pretty messy job of cutting the rear fenders and replacing a rocker panel. Will likely cut a lot of this out and redo it. Ditto with this sidemarker job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted November 10, 2020 Author Share Posted November 10, 2020 Even though there's a ton of bodywork left and probably a decent amount of metal work, it's hard to overstate how exciting it is to see this thing in primer. Yes, my rear 'axle' cracked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exposed Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 great work on everything! enjoying the build, excited to see the final product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted November 14, 2020 Author Share Posted November 14, 2020 On 11/11/2020 at 12:41 AM, Exposed said: great work on everything! enjoying the build, excited to see the final product. Thank you, me too. Next up, engine build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted November 14, 2020 Author Share Posted November 14, 2020 (edited) I always knew I wanted a Z with an RB heart and when researching engine builders, R.I.P.S. Racing in New Zealand kept coming up. I got in touch with Rob there and was quickly sold due to his knowledgeability, track record, and willingness to walk me through things (answer one million questions). He assured me that they ship motors all over the world, and that it wouldn't be a problem getting it to California. He was also kind enough to document basically the whole process for me. The brief was to be in the 500hp ballpark with an emphasis on response and reliability. Based on those factors I ended up with an RB30 bottom end, RB25 head, and a Garrett GTX3076 Gen II. The engine was cleaned up and rebuilt using mostly stock components but with upgrades to the oiling system, custom rear sump, custom exhaust and intake manifolds with Bosch DBW throttle, arp hardware, Tomei head gasket, and upgraded timing components, and some extras from Platinum Racing Products. Nitto oil pump. Also fitted restrictors to the head and a head drain. May add an accusump later on for a little more insurance. PRP crank trigger/gear. Also using their cam trigger kit. Will add an ATI damper. Shiny. Edited November 14, 2020 by artishard116 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 (edited) Intake manifold coming together. Fitting the dbw throttle required making a weld-on flange. After some deliberation I decided on this gunmetal metallic powder coat. Exhaust manifold and turbo/wastegate mocked up. Plumbing the lines to the turbo. Test fitting fuel rail and Injector Dynamics injectors. Some PRP goodies including R35 coil pack conversion, and a Ross (?) head oil drain kit. All of this will be going in the car with the Apex crossmember and RB mounts. Hoping the hood will close. At this point all that was left was wrapping it up and putting it on a boat headed to California. Corona is in full effect now but surprisingly there were no delays. About 4 weeks later, through customs and safe and sound in CA. And that's about where I left off. Haven't been able to get back to the states in good conscience since Corona, but can't wait to get back to work. Might be a while until the next update, but I'm hoping it will be a big one. Everything as it stands now: Edited December 7, 2020 by artishard116 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 I am loving this build...you are putting some nice TLC in on the front end (no pun intended) that will pay dividends down the road. Can we get a sneak preview of the motor? From the title I am anxious to see your setup. Also, just out of curiosity, what made you decide to scrap the AZC setup and go with T3? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 17 minutes ago, boosted300 said: I am loving this build...you are putting some nice TLC in on the front end (no pun intended) that will pay dividends down the road. Can we get a sneak preview of the motor? From the title I am anxious to see your setup. Also, just out of curiosity, what made you decide to scrap the AZC setup and go with T3? Thanks for the kind words! Whole motor build is right above your post... do you mean running? It's all sitting in a garage right now until I can get back to work on it. Regarding the AZC stuff, the main things were that I wanted an integrated e-brake in the rear calipers, and I also wanted to do away with the stub-axles completely so the rear end kit from T3 made sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 1 hour ago, artishard116 said: Thanks for the kind words! Whole motor build is right above your post... do you mean running? It's all sitting in a garage right now until I can get back to work on it. Regarding the AZC stuff, the main things were that I wanted an integrated e-brake in the rear calipers, and I also wanted to do away with the stub-axles completely so the rear end kit from T3 made sense. Yes sorry for not clarifying, I was hoping it was already running, but now I see that you are not in the States, I missed that tidbit... It's a very impressive build, I can't wait to see the finished product,...I'm happy to see another S30 go the RB route, and I have long been curious about R.I.P.S.'s products, it has been years since I looked into their stuff and near as I can remember they didn't have an RB25DET intake at that time (I could be wrong), it's nice to see they have one now....and I LOVE that custom sump,...I just finished the PRP coil pack upgrade myself... I have the AZC setup so I understand your reasoning for going with T3...The AZC setup is very aesthetically pleasing but the lack of e-brake is definitely frustrating...I've been looking into modifying the AZC bracket and adding a second caliper for an e-brake... Here's hoping you can get back soon...not only for you and your car's sake...but of course for all of our sakes, as that will likely mean things are improving! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artishard116 Posted December 7, 2020 Author Share Posted December 7, 2020 1 hour ago, boosted300 said: Yes sorry for not clarifying, I was hoping it was already running, but now I see that you are not in the States, I missed that tidbit... It's a very impressive build, I can't wait to see the finished product,...I'm happy to see another S30 go the RB route, and I have long been curious about R.I.P.S.'s products, it has been years since I looked into their stuff and near as I can remember they didn't have an RB25DET intake at that time (I could be wrong), it's nice to see they have one now....and I LOVE that custom sump,...I just finished the PRP coil pack upgrade myself... I have the AZC setup so I understand your reasoning for going with T3...The AZC setup is very aesthetically pleasing but the lack of e-brake is definitely frustrating...I've been looking into modifying the AZC bracket and adding a second caliper for an e-brake... Here's hoping you can get back soon...not only for you and your car's sake...but of course for all of our sakes, as that will likely mean things are improving! Agreed! Have a lot to figure out still including fuel, wiring, cooling... may be a while until first start. I did hear about a 2nd caliper option for the AZC stuff, I think they were even selling one at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boosted300 Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 12 minutes ago, artishard116 said: Agreed! Have a lot to figure out still including fuel, wiring, cooling... may be a while until first start. I did hear about a 2nd caliper option for the AZC stuff, I think they were even selling one at some point. Yes, however their caliper is a proprietary piece and it's hydraulic with a rather large handle...more meant for drifting. I look forward to your next update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primaz Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 Great build and would love to know all of the tweaks, etc. to get the RB engine in there! I plan on having RIP's build me an RB30 turbo for my 240Z Primadonna Z. Very curious to see how the intercooler and the turbo piping will be installed. Please continue to post pictures when you are doing the rest of the build FYI, on another restomod 4 door that I installed a mild LS1 that I have completed, you might consider using the Heatshield Products, https://www.heatshieldproducts.com/lava-shield and line the entire tunnel and under all of the exhaust pipes. I wished I had done that on my other restomod but I did not think of that before I installed the engine so I did the best I could be adding it afterwards but not as good to do as it would be to do on yours now before too many parts get installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.