MJLamberson Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 INTRO Well I dont know why I didnt make one of these project threads right off the bat, but whatever, better late then never. Im going to warn you guys right now that ths will probably be a very boring thread do to the fact that I have no camera, I still try to get pics up when I can though... End of intro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 THE BUYING OF... History of me and the Z: I was 16 at the time (17 now) and was shopping for my first car, I knew absolutly nothing about any kind of cars, but had never even seen an s30 before. Shopping around CL with cost as my only concern, I saw it... I didnt know what it was or what these cars were worth but I was in love... This particular Z was way out of budget but I was hooked at first sight. I started learning about these cars, I thought it was a lot then but its nothing compared to what I know now, which still isnt impressive. When I saw a 77 for sale for 800$ I jumped on it, it was right in my price range. Sure it was an auto and had rust and ugly old paint, no wiper motor or linkage, no heat, rotten fuel line, a fuel pump that wouldnt shut off, oh, and a driver side door that wouldnt open from the outside, But it was MINE! I knew it would be a project from day 1, in my joy I forgot about the fact that this would be my only means of transportation, that will come into play later. Well the PO was nice, I didnt try to talk him down but he gave me 100$ back anyways. I had learned how to drive, and up to this point in time was dring a 94 ford escort five speed, I thought the Z was the fastest thing in the world... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 THE REPAIRS: Not much to say here, everything that was listed above were the first things I took care of on the car, and remember, this was/is my first car and these were the first repairs I had ever made. I loved working on my car, these repairs were cheap and pretty easy I suppose. I felt like I could do anything when it came to this car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 MY FIRST TASTE OF MODIFYING, I soon met Diego (digs280 on here), he had a white 280z, with full suspension, the front bumper removed, and open exhaust... His car looked and sounded so badass, I wanted my car to look and sound badass too! So I ditched the bumper, I did that at night in the rain, not sure why. Then ditched the exhaust from the cat back... There all done.... HA! nope, I needed to work on my car for more reasons then one, it was/is my outlet, I take all the crap thats going on in life and take it out on my car, progress results... This site influenced me a lot on how I wanted my car to look, so, you guessed it, bye bye rear bumper, bye bye louvers... A few more repairs here and there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 GETTING A LITTLE MORE ADVANCED= Well I was shopping around for an airdam and was going to buy one from wigenouts30 (iirc, I will make sure later) but it had a little more damage the I wanted. He also happend to have some lowering springs he was looking to get rid of, the price was right and the idea of doing a "real" mod to my car sounded like fun, plus it would look a lot better, and it does.... He gave me a great deal on these. So I was about to put them on but ran into some problems getting the bolt on one of the stock struts off... it was basicaly impossable, it would spin, but wouldnt catch the threads, anyways, I had no choice but to put the old suspension back on, I needed to drive my car. So myself and Diego headed out to the nearest pick n pull to find me some struts so I could put my new suspension on, and boy did we find some struts, KYB struts on a 280 at the pnp! so yeah, my aftermarket suspension is half used and half from the junkyard, but hey, an upgrade is an upgrade. I also grabbed a crane cam ignition coil and diego got some moog sway bars. all on the same Z, it was somebodys baby. This pis was before I did the rear suspension, right after I did the front, much much better: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 MY NEED FOR SPEED---- Well it didnt take long to realize that my Z wasnt the fastest thing on the road... sure it could beat the ricers pretty easy, but as I started getting more into cars I realized that you dont compare a car to a 94 ford escort to judge if a car is fast or not... I went through all the fazes, I want a V8! I want an RB! oh oh, how about a 2jz! 3.2 liter stroker! well I looked reality in the face and decided that turbocharging my current engine was the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to make my car "fast" ( I know I know, its still slow right?) So this is where I am at now, I have now everything I need to make this work, a mis match of parts all of which I bought from friends or members on here, I have a list in my sig if you want to know that part list... Just waiting for some time off to do the turbo conversion... My need for speed should be satisfied for a while anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 ADVENTURES WITH BONDO, Well it did take me a while to gather the parts I needed to turbo the car, and I cant go for any length of time without working on it, so I had my first taste of body work. All I did was shave the antenna and the hole, and the holes left in the roll pan from the bumper mounts. (why didnt anybody tell me I was going to have to drop the tank to do get those out) I used JB weld to stick a very thick screen like thing behind the holes, for the big ones I used a layer of fiberglass above that, then came the bondo. Never got around to finishing the roll pan yet but here are some pics anyways: More to do here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 HERES WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I GET BORED= Before: After: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 I NEED MY MUSIC I built this a while ago but figured I would throw it in here to kill time... And yes, all of the speakers are in their own individual boxes, you just cant tell for the outside. It sounds really good with rock which is what I listen to, and when I want, I can pop the hatch and listen to loud music while I mow the lawn:burnout: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted April 18, 2008 Author Share Posted April 18, 2008 DELAYS ): I just blew a tire today, thank goodness Diego (digs280) had some extras the same size for me to borrow, But now I need to buy new ones, I really want to put that turbo in but fast horse is only as good its weakest leg... dang mantainence. again, thanks diego, I will patch my tire up and give you yours back tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted April 21, 2008 Author Share Posted April 21, 2008 ALMOST THERE! Got my adapter for the oil pressure sending unit so I can route oil to the turbo, Thanks biohazard! Guys I am soooo close now, I just need the oil lines and something to connect the afm to the turbo. My budget is soooooo tight right now that even these to small Items will postpone this for a while, but Im getting there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 I DUN DID BOUGHT ME A PARTS CAR= Well I just bought a 76 280z that runs fine and has a 4 speed manual transmission so I will be converting my auto 77 over sometime soon. The engine runs good so I have a spare now and dont have to worry about blowing my only one up. So yeah, Im pretty excited! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted May 2, 2008 Author Share Posted May 2, 2008 PARTS CAR PROGRESS - Well today I pulled the engine and tranny out of the 76 parts car, tomorrow I will be getting the pedal assembly, slave cylinder, and any other parts needed to convert my 77 to manual. The hard part is finding time to do the conversion, my Z is my DD and I have school and work everyday. The parts car has almost paid for itself already if all the people who said they wanted parts follow through, that would be cool, its what I was hoping. WHATS GOING ON WITH THE TURBO+ Well I dont have time really, I have everything I need (pretty much), everything but time... Im thinking I can do it in a weekend, but I work all weekend, so I really dont know when it will be put in, same goes for the manual conversion... But collecting parts is progress none the less, Im making lots progress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted May 3, 2008 Author Share Posted May 3, 2008 ANOTHER ONE OF THOUGHS DAYS THAT DONT GO ANYWHERE Well I started pulling the slave cylinder and lines today, didnt get to far because I wanted to find out why the engine from my 76 smoked so bad. If it wasnt something major like the piston rings I would put all of my turbo stuff on it and have it ready to drop in. But I didnt get very far because of some unknown electrical problem (fine one day, useless the next, grrrr). And I wont have a chance to work on it at all this weekend which is very disappointing. The 76 is at the shop at my school which gets locked up for the weekend, I think I will hop the fence and try to get something done though... I will start having withdraws if I dont Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted May 13, 2008 Author Share Posted May 13, 2008 SOME PARTS CAR PICS' Its a coupe (you can see my 77 in the background But its 2+2 (made me laugh) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted July 27, 2008 Author Share Posted July 27, 2008 IVE BEEN VERY BUSY: Well, Ive been gone a while, but my Z has not been forgotten! Lets see, what have I done to the car in my absence... The automatic to manual conversion comes to mind, I did the swap in a kragen parking lot!!! I now get employee discount there Overall it went pretty smooth and the car is so much more fun to drive, also has a short shifter on there. Hmmm, what else... oh, I drove it off the side of a mountain... I will get pics of that asap, didnt rev match around a corner and lost it... replaced both fenders, hood, got an airdam, which also led me to the PAINT!, sure its only rattle can but it looks ten times better then what it did I got sooo lucky with the crash, it was pretty bad but the damage was mostly body, I managed to bend.warp the steering wheel with my hands upon impact but I didnt break a bone in my body. Another thing Ive done recently but do not have any pics of yet is the new carpet kit, thats right, all new carpet, the interior looks sooo clean now, I love it, again, I will try to get pics up soon. And last but not least, and also picturless, is the turbo swap, I decided not to turbo my NA engine because I got my hands on a f54/n47 combo with turbo pistons, boosted that and dropped it in my Z. I desperetly need a Turbo ECU/wiring harness not make it run as good as it should. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted July 30, 2008 Author Share Posted July 30, 2008 PICTURES OF NEW CARPET!!! First, do you remember the old? Well here is the new: :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted August 7, 2008 Author Share Posted August 7, 2008 Well I think Ive found a ECU and harnass I am going to buy, I hope this deal works out. My car should be at the top of its game by mid/late august. Im pretty excited, Just thought Id share. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted August 13, 2008 Author Share Posted August 13, 2008 http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=137456 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted June 29, 2009 Author Share Posted June 29, 2009 Well I pretty much never update this, I seqam to just make new threads whenever somthing happens worth talking about. So here is an update of what has been going on with my Z... Boosted... Broken... Repaired... broken. Blew a turbo, got a new one, Fried my rings. Driving around like that untill I get a new longblock to put my turbo stuff on. Not much of an update but hey. Oh and new wheels, enkie 92s! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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