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Full on resto mod of a 240Z


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Yeah, the car is looking amazing, Can't wait to see the end result pictures. I've been following it your threads a long time and it's awesome to see it almost done. It looks so good. Now how do you get it insured for what you've got into it is my big question now. I mean it's one of a kind, basically perfect.

 

Phar

Yep, Hagerty. With the documentation I presented and a few photos I emailed, Hagerty covered my car for the amount I wanted it covered for. Of course it has limitations.

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Beautiful. Godly green "neonic" color. Truly a blessed man. Congratulations. Give all the praise and glory to Him. You have become an inspiration to me by the way, can you tell?

 

Reminds me of the old Datsun commercial where the kid looks at the Datsun for the first time and says, "Someday..." I am sure that is something all the fellas on here are saying to themselves either optimistically, or just out of good heart.

Watch it here,

It is of the 280ZX but it is the Z nonetheless.
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You guys are all too kind. Thank you so much.

 

I currently have it insured for fixed payout with Progressive for an even $100,000. Those guys didn't put a mileage limit on me either. Wild. I should call and confirm that it's good!

 

I'll be seeing the car today. We're having some niggles with the drivetrain, of course, that need to be sorted out. Very soon though, I'll post pictures and vid up of it driving!

 

Thanks for sharing my enthusiasm.

 

Jared

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man oh man. your car is perfection.

 

I hope my build comes out somewhere around the realm your car is.

 

If only... I've surrendered to the fact that a build of this level is only possible with one key factor, unobtainable to me. $. - Something that I think even Blaktout would attest to, as he'd pretty candid on the chunks of change he's put into the project! But, with $$$ invested, attention to detail, and picking the right people to do the work, at least we have an example of what's really possible!

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If only... I've surrendered to the fact that a build of this level is only possible with one key factor, unobtainable to me. $. - Something that I think even Blaktout would attest to, as he'd pretty candid on the chunks of change he's put into the project! But, with $$$ invested, attention to detail, and picking the right people to do the work, at least we have an example of what's really possible!

 

 

I believe if you did all the work yourself, took your time, paid attention to detail and took 4 years building the car it would seem affordable lol.

 

having it all done by a shop at a hourly rate plus supplying the money for the parts is well.. for the wealthy =)

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Thanks again, everyone.

 

Well, here's the story:

 

I flew into Wilmington, NC (where National Speed, Inc is) from Knoxville, TN (where I live) to watch them finish up a few jobs on the car. They just got it the Saturday before that, and had some things to do. For example, the throttle cable wasn't ideal coming out of the firewall, so they were going to fabricate a bracket for it. These guys are amazing fabricators, by the way. Also, with concern for the turbo getting the bottom of my freshly painted, non-vented hood hot, they were going to fabricate a heat shield. I was sort of bummed by this, because it would hide my turbo and not look pretty. But I'd be more bummed if it bubbled my paint or melted my plastic brake fluid reserviors. They were going to hook up some of the gauges, including the tach. They found a way to make the stock tach work with the 4cyl S15. They're going to tell me who helped them on this, because they deserve a ton of thanks. I apologize that I don't recall the name, but I'll make sure that fellow gets a public sign of appreciation, for sure. Anyway, plans were to fly in Wednesday, them finish the car on Thursday, I drive the car around in celebration all day Thursday, in case anything came up that needed to be addressed, and then leave out early Friday morning for Tennessee. This is an 8.5 hour drive, a real maiden voyage, for sure.

 

Before flying out, I was very excited. This would be my first time seeing the Z fully assembled, as well as my first time driving it since it went into the shop 36 months ago. Late one night earlier in the week, when I was still in Knoxville, I got a call from Chris Polanski, President of National Speed. I could tell in his voice that something wasn't good. My heart sank. "There's bad noises coming from inside this engine. I don't know what it is. We'll find it." The next day, he calls me back. One of the rocker arms has sheered, flopping all around inside the top of the engine. A valve shim is damaged, and the valve guide is missing, likely in the oil pan (which is was). The camshaft might have suffered some too. Gulp. I started reading all the SR20 threads online that I could find. I then found something of interest: When you build one of these engines, especially with upgraded cams, you have to put rocker arm stoppers in to keep them flop slapping everywhere at high rpm. I sent Chris and Jordan (my customer service superhero at National Speed... Zedex on this forum) some links just before I went to the airport, showing them what I'd found. When I land in Wilmington, I immediately drive to National Speed. In 5 minutes of talking with Jordan, including the greeting, I find out that National Speed has a new cam, all hardware, the stoppers which were omitted before... all coming next day air. Some parts they already had. They had John, a head technician, already working on it. I was happy about this, but I said "what about the cost? The time?" Jordan looked at me and said, "It's been a long time since I missed something on a build. I missed it on this one. We're taking care of all of this for you, and we intend to have you out of here and on your way back to Knoxville on time, with all the fabrication completed as well." I couldn't believe it. I actually COULD, because I've been working with these guys for a while now. But wow. When it actually happened, I can't explain the relief and respect that I had for these guys.

 

Friday morning, the car was back together and running very well. So, I took it around the block to their fabrication shop. They were a little behind becaus of the engine stuff, but now they could fabricate the heat shield, throttle cable bracket, install the temp sensor, create a bracket for the bottom of the intercooler, and fabricate a washer fluid reservior that more fit the style of my engine bay.

 

On the way over, the suspension felt really, really wobbly, and any bump or seam in the road caused a liver-shaking thump. It was so horrible. Upon looking at the coilovers, they realized that they weren't installed correctly, or all the way. So they throw yet another tech on my car to fix this.

 

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I'll skip forward here, but after at least a dozen hours of working on the suspension (till Friday night around midnight, Saturday all day until about midnight, and all day today - Sunday - so far. I'm writing this from the fab shop) they've got the suspension feeling good now.

 

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The Arizona Z Car (http://www.arizonazcar.com) equipment is absolutely stunning and ridiculously adjustable. I want to do everything I can to send business their way, because AZC is an incredible company, with integrity, and overengineered and GORGEOUS products. I better can't tell you with words, so I'll show you the pictures.

 

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So now, they're working on a custom fabricated speedo gear. They have been for a couple of hours at least. The throttle cable bracket is done, as is the heat shield. Look how gorgeous this heat shield is. It's sanded stainless, and perfectly matches the coil cover that they designed.

 

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We took it to the alignment shop today around 3:30, which is an hour and a half before they close. They got it up on the rack and saw what they had to deal with, and the lazy guy actually called me back and said that he didn't want to get into it on a Saturday afternoon. So, I'm going to drive it back to Knoxville tomorrow with the alignment off. National Speed wouldn't let me leave with it off as bad as it was, so they did the best they could at eyeing it, and it drives just fine.

 

I must say, I haven't even flipped it to high boost yet (which is over 500HP), only leaving it in low boost, which is 380 or so. It's incredibly stout, and the beautiful noises that this car makes gives me a boyish grin that I can't hide. Even at low boost, this car is extremely quick.

 

I can already tell that I'll be getting in touch with Arizona Z Car and ordering some stiffer springs. National Speed also had to actually fabricate spacers for the sway bars to connect to the control arms and not move around. This isn't an Arizona Z Car issue, but a sway bar company issue. AZC parts have been flawless so far.

 

So, I want to give a heartfelt thank you to National Speed for having up to 4 techs on my car after hours until midnight, from morning until (who knows, we're still here) on the weekend, and for being great guys to spend countless hours working on my dream car with. I'm a customer for life. I'll be starting some sort of muscle car build next, as I already have the drivetrain (LS3 & 6spd) out of a 2010 Camaro SS to play with. Jordan at National Speed already is planning up a single turbo system for it, but that's a long way away. But next time, I plan to do all of the resto work myself (National Speed WILL be doing any power mods though). Heck, they actually have every gauge in the Z, original gauges, working with the new drivetrain perfectly (speedo still being worked on, but I'm confident, to say the least).

 

If I ever build another Z car (I can't see why I would), I'll definitely go straight to Arizona Z Car and Les Cannaday at Classic Datsun. The pieces that Les gave me made my dream of a resto-mod Z with a perfect stock interior a reality. I've got a handful of photographers lined up to shoot this car, and they'll be framing up this interior a good bit. Right now, it's got my luggage all in it and a photo from tonight wouldn't do it justice. Thank you, Les. I also want to thank Guy Ried who tirelessly sought perfection on the unibody of this car. The body is laser straight, and he used filler in no areas except in one paper thin area where he had welded in a new piece to the rocker. I also want to thank John at CC Wheels (CCW). I think that my car wouldn't look just like I wanted it to with any other wheel set. These are gorgeous too. He had to study all of the parts that I had under the suspension over the phone and online, because I was in Thailand for a few months while he was making the wheels. The very first test wheel he sent fit perfectly. The stance is spot on. Mack with McKinney Motorsports gave me great info and sold me great parts. Of course, Motorsport Auto had great service, and always sent the right part right on time. Again, thanks to all of you.

 

Tomorrow, I take it on its maiden voyage, if nothing else comes up. The wipers still aren't on, as the motor is burnt out and it's supposed to rain. I sure hope it holds off, but RAIN-X! The steering wheel isn't straight, because it hasn't been aligned. It hasn't been corner balanced. It hasn't been set-up. The rear springs are too mushy. But guess what, I won't be caring. I'll be thanking God that I'm finally driving it. Despite a huge change in my personal finances since the start of this build, He sent enough good people my way to have it completed without any, ANY compromise to my original dream and I'm finally able to take her home.

 

Thank you all for following this thread. I'm sure that I'll be posting up more, answering any questions that I can, and basically telling you all how giddy I am.

 

And just for fun, this was an un-planned photo op at National Speed this week (well, I saw the others there are parked mine there for the picture). National Speed knows Z cars. They know fabrication. They know custom turbos. And they know how to treat people, even when they make the rare mistake. I think I've made some lifelong friends in this journey. I hope you have enjoyed following along on my build. The Z and I didn't make it to the Mitty this weekend. We didn't make it to the show at European Auto Garage in Knoxville (another terrific shop that works on other cars that I own). But we're registered and ready to be in the show at the Nationals in Franklin, TN. I hope some of you can attend. I'd love to meet you and show you my car. There's so many custom fabricated parts on it that it takes me 30 minutes to show someone all of them and explain why it was made the way it was. I'm very proud of it.

 

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The overall completion and build quality is nothing less than incredible. From the smallest custom bracket on up, it shows that form and function can and do, live hand in hand. If and when I ever relocate back home to NC, I would be more than pleased to use National Speed's expert fabricating skills on another build I'm cooking up in my head. It is refreshing to hear of such great and dedicated effort, work ethics in seeing that this project was completed the right way!! Congrats, and I'm sure there will be miles of smiles coming your way....

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The overall completion and build quality is nothing less than incredible. From the smallest custom bracket on up, it shows that form and function can and do, live hand in hand. If and when I ever relocate back home to NC, I would be more than pleased to use National Speed's expert fabricating skills on another build I'm cooking up in my head. It is refreshing to hear of such great and dedicated effort, work ethics in seeing that this project was completed the right way!! Congrats, and I'm sure there will be miles of smiles coming your way....

 

We appreciate the kinds words, thank you. And when you want to bounce some ideas off us, please let us know! :)

 

A few more updates on my end:

 

Jared, these past few days have been taxing for all of those involved, but at the end of the day; the product is worth it. Driving around with you tonight in this beast, I couldn't help but reflect about how far this car really has done. Once again, I'm thrilled to have been a part of it.

 

A few shots of the car parked at Mayfaire Town Center when Jared and I ran out for a quick beer...

 

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Jared and his 240Z...

 

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While we were standing there for a few minutes discussing random topics of conversation, at least three people walked/drove by and said "Nice Z!" This car gets the attention, that's for sure.

 

And what quite a few have been waiting for, a quick in-car video during a low-boost first through second into third gear run...

 

 

I wish the video did it justice, but I cannot describe how stunned I was at how hard this car pulls on such low power (around 325whp+/-). It's going to be an absolute beast on high-boost pressure (around 425whp+/-).

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WOW. :icon52:

this is the best 240z i have yet to see on the internet for inspiration, the amazing work done, and the amazing pictures. I've looked at the whole thread and this has given me the boost in inspiration that I've needed to start on my 240. I will be on a hunt for a new roof skin now, and i want my car to even look half as decent as your car. that car is amazing mannnn. from a 17 year old from Compton lol i gotta say it must be a pretty damn good feeling to have THAT as a finished product, im tryna get on at least 25% of that level your on with that build!. hope you never have a problem with that beast, and good luck.

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WOW. :icon52:

this is the best 240z i have yet to see on the internet for inspiration, the amazing work done, and the amazing pictures. I've looked at the whole thread and this has given me the boost in inspiration that I've needed to start on my 240. I will be on a hunt for a new roof skin now, and i want my car to even look half as decent as your car. that car is amazing mannnn. from a 17 year old from Compton lol i gotta say it must be a pretty damn good feeling to have THAT as a finished product, im tryna get on at least 25% of that level your on with that build!. hope you never have a problem with that beast, and good luck.

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WOW. :icon52:

this is the best 240z i have yet to see on the internet for inspiration, the amazing work done, and the amazing pictures. I've looked at the whole thread and this has given me the boost in inspiration that I've needed to start on my 240. I will be on a hunt for a new roof skin now, and i want my car to even look half as decent as your car. that car is amazing mannnn. from a 17 year old from Compton lol i gotta say it must be a pretty damn good feeling to have THAT as a finished product, im tryna get on at least 25% of that level your on with that build!. hope you never have a problem with that beast, and good luck.

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