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HybridZ

Should I sell, transfer or fix???


Lewis Maudlin

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OK, my car is detail in this forum quite a bit. I have an SR20DET in a 280Z. I redid the exterior, did the engine and drivetrain and have not done the interior. I have put $25000+ in building. Finally my setup is:

SR20DET redtop

GT2871R

Nismo 740 CC injectors

Power FC D-Jetro

HKS BOV

Splitfire Coilpacks

Powerbrute Clutch LSD

Tokico Illumina adjustable shocks

Tokico springs

Konig Rewinds

and all the trimmings. I really haven't spared any expense. I drive it daily at 18psi. I get 30 mpg. I have had it weighed and it weighs 2480 lbs with a full tank of gas. The horsepower is between 350 and 400.

 

Here are the issues I am having. The ACT HDSS clutch is slipping and I need to replace it with a $400 clutch. The body was mostly rust free, but I have a small rust bubble on the valance. I recently got about 10 hail dings. One of the fiberglass headlight buckets cracked, the paint cracked slightly in front of one of the wheels, I need to replace the floorpans. I purchased replacement floorpans but have not had them installed. I have almost no interior in the car since I took it out to clean.

 

I am getting a little frustrated. I am considering selling the car. The other option would be transferring everything to a completely redone body. The other option would be to just fix the few things that are wrong with it. I now have a baby and never get an opportunity to work on my car.

 

Suggestions are appreciated.

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Wow...That's a lot of money in that car, but well spent. Don't get rid of it. Your best options are either to buy a semi rust free shell and fix that up until you can swap everything in or just hold onto the car until the kid gets a bit older and you have some time to work on it. I don't know how I got into cars, my father is a mechanical moron and somehow I just happened into the Z scene and have since made it my primary hobby. I have a kid on the way and I fully intend to continue working on the Zs until I can't lift a wrench anymore. It's my stress reliever believe it or not.

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:iagree: Definitely keep it, with that much invested already, selling it, unless you desperately need the cash, I think would be a waste of a lot of hours of hard work. I'm going to be doing an SR swap soon and I know with how much money I'll be investing, it will never be worth selling the car. Not to mention I'm kind of emotionally attached at this point so I really wouldn't be able to sell it. :mrgreen:
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Don't sell it. If you're frustrated, just put it in storage until you're ready to work on it again. I almost sold mine last weekend, but the guy's wife said "NO". I think that was an omen. I parked mine 7 years ago and last year got a bug up my a$$ and built a new motor, p90, custom cam, Dellortos, the whole nine. Then I parked it again. I started it last weekend and that was all I needed to want to work on it again.

Long story short...don't sell it!

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That is way too much work and way too small of problems to sell it. I used to own a speed shop and see the different 'personalities' of car enthusiasts. Do NOT give in to that urge. Hold on to it, chain it up, have your buddies hide it, etc. but don't give it up.

You could do much worse than that car. Just replace the floorpans, drop in a nasty clutch and nastier flywheel and keep going.

Consider some BC cams as the next thing. Even on a stock turbo they make a blatant improvement in power.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Been there... sitting on jack stands again. The beautiful thing about a project car is that if you don’t have to “feed it”. Instead of selling it and regretting it latter, getting another project and putting more $$$ into that, store it. Put storage insurance on it, set it on the back burner for a bit and RELAX :) You have a new baby and that is everything right now, money and time are limited and concentration is deminished. That will change, trust me. Latter down the road start collecting the parts you will need for it’s resurrection and the $$ won’t feel as bad when it’s a part here & there…

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I definitely agree with people here. Even though I haven't spent as much money in to my car as you, but man, I love every piece of it. It still sitting on a jackstand at my parents house, but boy, they're getting in my hair about how "it a piece of ♥♥♥♥, get it out of my garage." So basically, do the necessary lock it up and come back to it when you have "free" time. we all know how that would be like when we have small one.

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How much money went into this shell? What kinda of money would be dumped into the new shell to make it right? How much to make this shell right? If you're finding it hard to work on the car now, how will you find time to swap parts? Do you have room for two non-running cars for that time?

 

Just some questions to try to help.....

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A slightly different angle from me... I'm a believer in the "solid foundation" of a rust-free car. Down here in California / AZ / NV, you can find a rust-free Z's (seriously, I'm talking no rot at all, not in the floorpans, not in the fenderwells, not in the battery tray... no rust) for under $1000... under $500 in some cases. They won't be runners, but that's not what you'd be looking for.

 

Anyway, if it were me (and I have the advantage of living out here)... I'd store the biatch, and wait patiently for a rust-free car to come up on Craigslist. And it would be a 240, so that I didn't have to deal with CA smog laws. Strip, blast, paint shop, and then transfer all my goodies into the good shell. They are simple cars and it ain't that hard to swap guts.

 

- David

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Lewis, You're one of the smarter guys here... So I know you've already considered this. But I'm gonna throw it out there, Because I've worn a path around this same block.

 

Sometimes our lives become so complex, that we find ourselves distracted, and thinking of making otherwise bad decisions look good... Don't sell it. You'll kick yourself later and wish you'd never sold it. Your only other option would be transfering all the hardware to a different platform. But if you sell it, you'll regret it when the time comes back to you. Sit on it and fix it over time, or buy another and transfer the hardware.

 

I love what you've done with the SR20Det and think that's one of the coolest platforms to swap into an S30. Don't deviate from that path, either.

 

Just wait it out. Newborns get less time consuming as they grow. Give it time and the clock will swing back in your favor... But you already know this...

Mike

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because I have the car and I know how easy it is to get power...

+

he will have a car to play with. if it's not the money the problem y not move to a newer model? and a 250bhp black top is way better than a 250 red top. I've beaten an S13 Silvia which is lighter with my stock s15. S13 was working 1.1bar (not sure what's this in PSI) + exhaust system + e-manage...

Oh I forgot to say that I did't had the catalyst on.

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if it's not the money the problem y not move to a newer model?

 

n00b'er words were never spoken. Too bad you can't take just one post and move it to the Tool Shed.

 

Pavcon, your implication that "newer=better" on a forum dedicated to cars that are up to 38 years old is so ignorant that I really have no point of reference to begin disabusing you of your problems. Good luck with that.

 

- David

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