JustinOlson Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Well, I'll expand on this a bit later. When I first bought the car for $700 its wasn't running, but had a factory rebuilt l28 with 5k miles on it. A couple of electrical issues and it was running: Then I took the front bumper off, waxed the paint and got a free urethane bumper from my dads friend: I then proceeded to rearend a new dodge durango going 5mph: After getting ahold of Ron Tyler and BRAAAP, I had a new hood for $25. Painted it flat black and this is how she looks today: I haven't driven the car since July of 2006. I finally have the money again to drive and pay for my other expenses. Its time to take care of some maintenance to make her reliable for daily use. I just brought the car over to my current house so I can work on it over the next month. Its not the most amazing thing yet, but atleast this will document the progress I make. Car Pulls to the right under braking. I'll probably upgrade the brakes at this point. Replace rubber fuel lines in engine bay Rewire car with EZ wiring 12 circuit kit (bought) Replace Heater Core (bought) Driveline Clunk Water Leaks Door Lock Cylinders Headlight Covers (bought) Headlight Bucket (bought) Paint hood Remove Current Sound Deading Rusted Floor boards Repair Rusted Floor boards and frame rails Weld in seat brackets and install s2000 Seats Apply New Sound Deadening Finish Recarpeting (bought) Stereo Remount Battery 240z fiberglass front bumper Lube Seat Belts Retractors Shift Knob Air Filter (bought) Megasquirt (bought) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted April 24, 2007 Author Share Posted April 24, 2007 I bought a EZ Wiring 12 circuit mini harness. Once it gets here I'll be rewiring the car at nights after work. $140 shipped off of ebay. http://www.ezwiring.com/ I have also contacted a local cage fabricator to bend up my main roll hoop out of 1.625" X 0.120" DOM tubing. http://www.racetechmotorsports.com I used this drawing from 74_5.0L_Z's photo album.: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted May 27, 2007 Author Share Posted May 27, 2007 I've stripped most of the interior sound deadening trying to locate any and all rust in the car. The only rust on the interior I've run into so far has been a 4"X4" patch under the brake pedal. I'm going to cut this out tomorrow. I've also found that the drivers side frame rail is slightly rusted out. I'm going to cut out the rust here and strip away all of the undercoating tomorrow. I purchased a set of S12+8 calipers with pads from the local napa. I was hoping to get the straight s12 calipers, but they didn't have any. I'm going to go through the brakes tomorrow as well. Hopefully once I replace the calipers and bleed them system, I'll have no more brake issues. Tonight I went out to PIR drag nights. What a fun event. The coolest car there IMO was a honda CRX with a turbo b18 in it. The guy was running a sc61 at 18psi on E85. It's final run that got it kicked off the track was a 10.4 @ 136mph. I was extremely impressed seeing this FWD compact car kick the ♥♥♥♥ out pretty much everything at the track What a good motivator to get me working on my car. Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted May 29, 2007 Author Share Posted May 29, 2007 Wow, Going to the drag strip Saturday night really got me motivated. I started working on my 280z a lot this weekend. The 280z is now called Project Cheetah because of my rust removal work this weekend. I will leave the car multi-colored for this summer I think. Hopefully this next winter I will have the money to give it a proper paint job. Anyway, I worked on stripping the interior some more. I used a buffing disk to clean off the remaining bits of tar from the sound deadening. I wasn't able to get all of this completed because the 20 gallon compressor in the garage just isn't up to the task. Its constantly running and getting very hot. The black painted areas are those that I got down to bare metal with the buffer. Along the way I took a grinder and cut off wheel to the drivers side floor pan. I have almost all of the rusty metal out of it. There is a 4"X4" hole in the floor now under the brake pedal. I also have half of the drivers side frame rail that is rusted out. It really isn't terrible, and I will be doing some more grinding to get the rest of the rust out of this area. Once that is finished, I will be able to weld up both the frame rail and the hole in the floor. I've been wanting to take of the 280z rear bumper for a long time. The metal shelf above the bumper was all bent up and ugly. Half way through buffing tar off the floor I decide to remove the rear bumper. It really wasn't hard to get the bumper shell itself off of the car. The hard part was removing the metal shelf and the bumper shocks. I had to drill out the spot welds from the metal shelf. Then I had to drop the fuel tank to get to the bumper shocks. Then I was able to remove both shocks. Get the tank buttoned back up. Then grind the crap out of the rusted area where the shelf used to mate up to the back of the car. I didn't have time to sand down the whole rear of the car, so I didn't worry about spray painting it all. I just did a quick coat of paint on the bare areas. I'm definitely going to go back over this area with some sand paper to make it look less hideous. I don't like the aesthetics of the car right now, but the weight dropped by losing the rear bumper was a plus. I also like that the car seems to be 6" shorter now. So my day was about over and I decided to see if the S12+8 calipers would clear my wheels. I mounted the passenger side caliper. The factory calipers were trashed. I little work with the cut off wheel on the dust shield and I was in business. I'm not sure if brake fluid is flammable, but I was careful not to get sparks on any of it just in case. I ran out of time and didn't mount the drivers side caliper. I went ahead and made an impulse buy on an OBX R200 LSD made for the 240sx. Its a Quaife knockoff and I've heard good reviews for their other models so I decided to try it. For $400 shipped, I'm willing to experiment. Hopefully I receive the differential in the next two weeks so I can mount it up. Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 I hate you 280z transmission tunnel! I got my S2000 passenger seat all squared away. Cutting off the factory mounting tabs will make the seat rails fit very nicely. I go to test fit the same modifications on the drivers side and then realize theres a big bulge in the transmission tunnel to accommodate the catalytic convert. To get the drivers side seat to work, I'm going to do some "custom" mods with a sledge hammer. Circled in red is the bulge I'm going to have to beat down to make the seat fit. I finished installing the passenger side toyota caliper. Easy enough, but I didn't have a cut off wheel for the dust shield. I ended up using a sawzall. What a bad choice of tools. The dust shield is so thin, it just shakes back and forth and its very difficult to get a good cut started. On the OBX differential front, I have a guy with will fit bearings to the diff. He's going to heat up the bearings in a oven at work and fit them to the diff. Once he's done with that, the install should go fairly easily. Do you guys usually set the pinion depth when swapping a new diff in? I'm going to reuse the ring and pinion that are currently in the pumpkin. Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 16, 2007 Author Share Posted June 16, 2007 Heres how the car looks with the S2000 seats sitting in it. I'm trying to get them bolted down, but the sheetmetal is very thin, 20 Gauge? I just sourced some metal to repair the holes in the floor. I will likely weld in some angle iron and bolt the seats to that. I'd feel more comfortable having the seats bolted to some thicker metal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 17, 2007 Author Share Posted June 17, 2007 I pulled the dash today to get started on rewiring the car and change the heater core at the same time. The dash came out surprisingly easy once I found all of the bolts. It is freakin heavy!!! I'm going to draw up a sheet metal dash and have a local shop bend one up on there press brake. Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 For the price, I'm considering making this aluminum dash from jegs work: http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10002_12942_-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 18, 2007 Author Share Posted June 18, 2007 I was considering doing the front fenders off of this car: http://web.mac.com/markrolston/iWeb/Site/Z-Blog/80E6D86A-FC1B-4DD0-95E3-28017E424DA6.html I called Al’s Bodyworks at 512-836-1851 about doing a similar set of front flares for my car. The cost was $5000 for the front set plus the car needs to be at his shop to get them fitted!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not that wealthy. Anyway, I'm thinking I will go with the Subtle Z front kit and the YZ rear quater panels. I think this will look very nice I'm waiting to hear back from John Washington on the cost of this setup shipped to me up in oregon. Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 23, 2007 Author Share Posted June 23, 2007 Just got the car road worth tonight and bought insurance for it. I'm going to be doing a lot of work on the Cheetah tomorrow at my friends shop. I'll post some updates tomorrow. Regards, Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 23, 2007 Author Share Posted June 23, 2007 Well Today I feel like I got a lot done. I got the whole interior stripped down to bare metal. I'm going to pull all the interior back out tomorrow and spray it with a black enamel paint so that I dont get any surface rust. I also sanded down my hood with a DA sander and will spray that tomorrow. Grinding off all of the remaining insulation and paint was a tedious task. It took me a solid 6 hours today with air tools. I need to get the car down to my cousins shop to do the welding on the floor boards. I want to get the interior all rapped up so that I can start wiring the EZ wiring harness in along with Megasquirt. It feels really good to be driving my humble little Z car. Its not really fast, but its a lot of fun to drive. I'm hoping with some suspension upgrades (Koni 8611's and Hyperco's) It will handle very very well. I'm holding off on doing any paint until I get all of the mechanical changes done. I dont want to scrap up a new paint job dropping in a new engine and working on the suspension. Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 27, 2007 Author Share Posted June 27, 2007 Engine Shopping List: L92 Heads $799.50: http://www.sdparts.com/product/12582713/GML92FullyAssembledCylinderHead.aspx L76 Intake Manifold with fuel injectors and fuel rails $528.95: http://www.sdparts.com/product/12590123/IntakeManifoldAssemblyL76L92Car.aspx 416CI L92 short block $4689: http://www.sdparts.com/product/SDL92SB416FT/ShortBlockAssemblyL92416CIFlatTop.aspx Headers Exhaust Motor and Transmission Mounts T56 Clutch Master Cylinder Megasquirt 2... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 28, 2007 Author Share Posted June 28, 2007 Its been a couple days since I took the interior down to bare metal. Today had a chance to paint it with some Krylon® Industrial Coatings™ Rust Tough® Enamel. It sprayed on really easy and the semigloss finish turned out nice. Before: After: Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 28, 2007 Author Share Posted June 28, 2007 I'm trying to decide which I want to do this summer: Suspension or a Big Engine... Well, My suspension plans are as follows: Front: 250lb/in Hypercoil 10” free length 2.5” diameter spring Koni 8611-1259RACE 5” threaded sleeves 17”X8.5” wheels 245/40-17 Suspension Techniques 240z ARB Techno-Toy Camber Plates Adjustable TC rod Adjustable Control Arm Rear: 275lb/in Hypercoil 10” free length 2.5” diameter spring Koni 8611-1259RACE 5” threaded sleeves 17”X8.5” wheels 245/40-17 Suspension Techniques 240z ARB Techno-Toy Camber Plates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 28, 2007 Author Share Posted June 28, 2007 Wow, I just priced the KONI 8611's and they've gone upto $309 per corner. I'll be looking at other options... Bilsteins (F4-P30-0032-MO) per corner: $101.25/Strut $75.00/Revalved to 300/100 $25.00/Gland Nuts I may try them with factory valving at lower spring rates of 200/225. I have to think about it. If I wasn't happy, I could send them to Bilstein for revalving at $300 for the set. Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted June 28, 2007 Author Share Posted June 28, 2007 I'm thinking about doing a AIM MXL Strada digital dash instead of buying a bunch of individual gauges. The price of gauges really can add up. http://www.aimsports.com/products/mxl-strada/index.html Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted July 5, 2007 Author Share Posted July 5, 2007 Well, I'm breaking down and buying a ThermalArc ArcMaster 185 from Quimby Welding Supply down in Portland. They were very nice about price matching the best price I could find on the internet. I really wanted to buy the welder locally so that if I had any issues, I could take it in for warranty. Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted July 6, 2007 Author Share Posted July 6, 2007 I found a 2JZGE engine locally that I'm going to buy. It should be great engine to play around with for the cost. Its much more affordable for me to do this motor then a big LSX motor at this point. The plan is to get the engine and transmission all setup and ready to drop in. Once I'm ready, I will pull the car off the road and build the engine and transmission mounts. Hopefully I will have minimal downtown with the car. I'm hoping to get the car running NA, and then putting a turbo on it once I have the bugs worked out. I'm planning on going with a TH400 out of the box with a boostwerx adapter plate. I'm going to hold off on buying the TIG welder at this point. I want to focus on getting all the things I need to drop this motor in. For building the engine mounts I can use my friends tig welder. Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted July 11, 2007 Author Share Posted July 11, 2007 Well, I got the 2JZ picked up and at my shop. It came with a complete wiring harness along with factory ecu's. I'm thinking I may just go down the Aem plug and play engine management, since I do have the complete harness. On other good news I had a fuel line burst on my way to work. I was driving along and I started to see fuel spraying out of the vent hole above the intake manifold. I promptly turned the car off and coasted into a parking spot off the street. Man, I feel luck! I drove the car over 150 miles last night, and the car breaks down 2 blocks from my work. Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted July 19, 2007 Author Share Posted July 19, 2007 Here is my inspiration for building the 2JZ motor. I just love the way they sound when rev'd way out. Almost like a v12 ferrari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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