Jump to content
HybridZ

Need help finishing memorial build


Guest texas05sti

Recommended Posts

Guest texas05sti

A little over a month ago I lost my best friend and college roomate in a car accident. He was in the midst of a 1972 240z project. Myself and a few others in my car club have decided to finish out the build for his parents. He was very close to both of them, so this will be very nice for them to be able to drive so that they have one more thing to remember him by. He was only 21 years old so it was a shock to all of us.

 

The original plan on the build was to swap in an rb25det and matching tranny. He had already bought a couple things for the car, including the rearend. I'm pretty sure it's an r200(?) I took a few pictures and can take more as needed and will take more as the build goes on. I'll post a few of the pics I have here so hopefully the questions will be answered.

 

Car:

sean7.jpg

 

sean8.jpg

 

r200 rear end?

sean2.jpg

 

I don't know what these are:

sean4.jpg

 

mustache bar?

sean1.jpg

 

I must say that I'm going to be looking to this forum for a lot of help. I know Subarus, Maximas and turbo-charged cars fairly well, as well as f-bodies and mud trucks, but this is something very new to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest texas05sti

The car will be painted black, which was his signature color. His mother would like the car to have some widebody flares on it because that was something she like in the pictures. She doesn't want bolt-on flares, though, so where do I go about buying them?

 

Also, we're still looking at motor choices. What do you guys suggest?

 

Overall, I would like to see this car with a nice low stance, kickass flares and a fat dished wheel. I hate to be a n00b, but my specialty is my STi.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

first off, sorry for your loss and offer my condolences to his parents and everyone who knew your friend.

 

I know how it is too loose someone so unexpectedly at a young age. I'm 21 myself.

 

if you need a hand, some help identifying parts, etc. i'm willing to help as best i can. i'm not sure where you are in d/fw but i'm in Plano and would be willing to meet up.

 

Kevin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest texas05sti

Thanks man....I appreciate it. I live/work in the mid-cities, but the car is at his parent's in DeSoto. For now, I need help locating the widebody kit, which I'm pretty sure the IMSA flares are what we're looking for.

 

The other thing is choosing/locating a motor. The carb'd motor that was in it still runs, but we pulled it. I would rather put an EFI motor in it just for reliability. I know that I can tune an efi motor, whereas I have no idea about a carb'd one. He was adamant that he didn't want to do an SR swap, so that's out. I think the RB will be a little overkill since the car won't be raced. I'd love to do a VQ, but I think that will be a little pricey for our $12k budget.

 

Any ideas on a motor?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry to hear of your loss. It is great you are going to finish this for his parents. It sounds like they will enjoy the car. Here is a link to some flares that might be what you are looking for. They are the same ones that I have on my car. If you have questions installing them you can PM me any time. I did mine over 20 years ago, but I still think I remember how to do it, LOL. Good luck and welcome http://www.showcars-bodyparts.com/240z.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest texas05sti

Thanks man....I actually already found that site earlier this morning and those are the fenders we're gonna go with. I'm gonna go out there today and finish getting the rear suspension in so we can get it rolling. Then it's off to the body shop to get painted and a little bit of body work taken care of. There's a couple spots of rust...the spare tire well and a little on the rear quarters in front of the tire. Floorpans are still intact, though.

 

I'll take some more pics while I'm out there tonight. Hopefully it will all go pretty smooth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to be clear, the flares I have must be molded into the body. They do not go over the fenders, so if you are going to get it painted before the flares you will have to re-paint after you do the flares. The body has to be cut and in the back, new inner fender liners fabricated. It is a fair amount of work, but not impossible (I did it, so how hard can it be).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest texas05sti

I got that....didn't know about the fender liners, but how hard can that be? :) I know that I can do it, but we might just have the body shop guy do it all in one sitting. Time isn't something I have a lot of for then next couple months because I'm prepping my car for a race in October.

 

I was just checkin around on ebay and the rb swap might not actually cost as much as I thought it was going to. I don't know that buying off ebay would be a good idea, but I need to do a little more research into it. It would be nice to be able to finish out the project like he wanted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is not hard. I was like 20 and had no experiace when I did it years ago. I did the new innerlinners from an old hood, pop riveted to the existing linner and fiberglassed to the flares. 30 years later they still are bonded and doing fine. Laying on my back with fiberglass resin running down my arms and dripping into face face is one of my memories from that time. That and getting hell for messing up my girlfriend's blow dryer with resin sticky hands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good catch Olderthanme...I did the search on Showcars...did not read it all, but man what a mess. I bought my flares from the local "Datsun" dealer in Portland, Or. He ad them in stock at the time, hanging on the wall behind the parts counter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest texas05sti

Both of you guys are very close to me...I live in Euless off Cheek Sparger/121 and i work at Precint Line and 183....if you ever see a black STi driving around with a "RIP Sean McBride" sticker on the back glass thats me.

 

This is the pic that I found that his parents really liked, and it looks like the Reaction kit is exactly what we're looking for.

240z_top.jpg

 

If we go with that route then we'll have to somehow retrofit headlights into the front grill. Shouldn't be hard...I'll see what I can do with it. Or I can mix/match parts of the kits that they sell.

Maybe something like this:

SanLeandro.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
Guest texas05sti

Bumping this one....I got the bar back on it's wheels and am going to finish getting it ready to go to the bodyshop tonight. We ordered the Reaction Research "Subtle" kit....it's not quite as wide as I would have liked, but it's what his parents thought was best. I'm sure it'll work out perfectly in the end.

 

As far as the motor, his dad decided not to go with the RB swap and wants to do a SBC swap instead. I'm in the process of sourcing one with the transmission. It'll probably be a carb'd setup for ease of installation, but that means that I have to learn to tune a carb....something I don't have much experience with :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...