jerryb Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 Oh come on Tony D...what did you expect. This is an old trick.... Dont tell me you have never heard of this?? Well, Im going to weld in the Original Vin from my car onto the firewall, and grind off the old vin(unless the indentaions are too deep, then ill just cut and weld in a clean plate) there is a spot for the vin on the cowl cover that bolts on in front of the dashboard, im just going to drill the rivets and place my vin on that cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted November 19, 2009 Author Share Posted November 19, 2009 lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted November 19, 2009 Author Share Posted November 19, 2009 WHen I bought my z the sr20 was already in there. The owner made custom mounts that were weak and one snapped. With his mounts the alternator sat fine. I just mounted my motor today, but didnt try bolting up the alternator, it may or may not need to be moved. I used the mckinney front crossmember and snapped a pic of the distrance between the Greddy manifold and the clutch master. The clutch master is a Tilton one, that is about 2" shorter than a stock z one, and I had to use a 90 degree an fitting. There was no way of mounting it any more further back without hittin the clutch master. I also had to cut about 1/2" into the oem front crossmember for the oil pan to clear. When your mocking up your motor mounts just be sure you know which intake manifold your going to be using. Here are some pics. Im curious, does your engine sit slanted or is it sitting straight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr jdm Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 No it sits slanted, but I dont have a trans crossmember made yet, just a jack under the trans. No matter how I positioned it in the motor mounts it sits slanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted November 22, 2009 Author Share Posted November 22, 2009 hehehehe. I forgot to post an update, here is the work I did Friday, it doesn't look like much but I had to weld up all those annoying drilled holes, got most of em done. I cut the VIN off of my old firewall, and tacked it on my new firewall. Slowly but surely its getting there. This is what I did today: I finished welding the VIN plate on and cleaned up the welds in front with a dremmel. I really wanted to buy some Rust bullet to spray under the cowl panel but I'm so broke right now its not even funny, so I ended up getting some Rustolium Cold Galvanized primer, and Rustolium satin black enamel, I still need to buy the seam sealer on Monday when the paint store opens, gotta get the good stuff for that. There's nothing worst than having water in the car when it rains:shock:. Also this pic was taken when I hit it with the first coat, I sprayed it with 3 coats for the primer. Here is what it looks like with 2 coats of the satin Enamel paint, lol its really dark outside so ill wait till tomorrow to hit it with a few more coats(notice the spots I missed ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted November 22, 2009 Share Posted November 22, 2009 Probably gas weld over the RHD VIN and surface condition it... it will look like it was never there unless they x-ray it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted November 22, 2009 Author Share Posted November 22, 2009 Probably gas weld over the RHD VIN and surface condition it... it will look like it was never there unless they x-ray it. yep. Thats what im going for, I just have to be careful. Ive been known for turning my welder into a plasma cutter lol:flamedevi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 Got some more work done today:mrgreen: I started off sealing the inside of the cowl panel with 3M Seam seal(kinda messy) and as I waited for that to dry i cleaned off the bottom side of the top cowl panel before I welded it back on. After about 3 hrs of Aligning, measuring, screwing down, and welding here is the final product: Im really happy now since its getting pretty close to being done, and now since everything I welded back in I can put it back in the garage to work on:redface: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Good job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 Good job! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 I was doing some cleaning around the car since there is grinder dust, metal shavings and metal scrap all around my car, so I said what the heck, lets bolt the dash on real quick: It put a smile on my face to see it in:icon44: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncfisher Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 All I can say is WOW! Great job Joel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 All I can say is WOW!Great job Joel Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 Wow.... that is a TON of work just to drive on the other side. Then you still have to change alot of the wiring also. Shouldn't be an issue if you've got an SR in there though. I think if I had to go through all that trouble I would have changed a few things on the car, but props to you man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggz00 Posted November 24, 2009 Share Posted November 24, 2009 I think if I had to go through all that trouble I would have changed a few things on the car, but props to you man. Being a professional welder, I've come to realize that it's just metal, nothing is permanent:) That being said, what are your ideas? If it's worthwhile to backtrack, he just might... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 Heres a little update from today. I threw the fenders on and the cowl panel to make sure they fit properly. Their not bolted down but the holes line up pretty good. I was kind of bored so i though id mess with the vin on my Dash board, you can see that my original LHD Dash has the Vin on it, where as the RHD Vin is place on that little cowl vent do-hicky(ROFL I have no idea what its called) After some careful drilling to remove the rivets, Im good to go. Right now some screws are holding the VIN on but im going to get some rivets and rivet it back in. I have figure something out about that hole too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted November 24, 2009 Author Share Posted November 24, 2009 Wow.... that is a TON of work just to drive on the other side. Then you still have to change alot of the wiring also. Shouldn't be an issue if you've got an SR in there though. I think if I had to go through all that trouble I would have changed a few things on the car, but props to you man. The wiring for the most part is pretty easy, I have all the RHD wiring for the car, Its mostly plug and play, with the exception the the wiring exits the other side(I think ) Your right about that TON of work. It really would have been easier if I did not have to separate the firewall, bottom cowl, and top cowl to fit it in. I had one of those "uh oh....oh well, more work" moments. Is it worth the work? Honestly id say NO, but whats done is done. If i were to ever do it again, I would remove the whole front clip above the rails. Atleast its back together now. Now i just have to clean up all them weld spots and prep for paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 No, the wiring exits identically LHD or RHD, but the stuff under the dash in in another location (connectors on the RH side, with instruments on the RH side on an RHD Dash, while the LHD has the longer pigtails for instruments and starter all the way over to the other side of the dash from the under kick panel connection points) EFI harness still in same location, ECU in same location (and a royal beyotch if you have factory air in some of the Fairlady Models with the condenser on that side!!!) The biggest difference is the dash wiring and where the instruments are... depending on year you may have an internal reg alternator earlier than US models, flash-to-pass options in the harness for the headlights, etc... Fuse Box in the same place... Meh, nothing as difficult as say....swapping a firewall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280zjoel Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 meh, nothing as difficult as say....swapping a firewall! rofl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Being a professional welder, I've come to realize that it's just metal, nothing is permanent:) That being said, what are your ideas? If it's worthwhile to backtrack, he just might... I don't know what the original goals were for the car. Obviously quick with the lighter SR20 motor in it. RHD again being another goal. While I myself have thought about going RHD I decided not to from fear of having to pass on a two lane road. How do you see around the car infront of you? That was my biggest concern, I still would like to do it though. Things I might change shall I ever take on this challenge. I don't know about you but putting a motor in the Z would be alot easier if the front cross brace was removable. I'd Also Box in the rails and change the bottom cross brace a bit (this would be my personal preference for clearance issues with the radiator/intercooler) Also, I'm sure you are well aware of the collage of braces that hold the dash to the Z. It drives me nuts, I'm actually in the process of cutting them out and putting a more space friendly bracing system. I'm retrofitting a Maxima A/C system into my Z so I would also modify the shape of the cowl panel for more space on the inside of the Z. (another personal thing though) I'd clean up the firewall as mentioned as well. Change the location where the wiring harness comes through (has a tendency to collect water there) Honestly If I were going through all that trouble I'd cut the floors out and weld in some nice flat straight ones to improve airflow under the car. While doing that I'd throw in some reinforcement for chassis flex. Before you know it one thing leads to another and I'd probably have a tubed front end with sheetmetal hanging on it lol. Like I said... props to you for undertaking it. It's going to look very original when done. Wiring is super easy, I'd recomend creating a new harness to keep things tidy and update the 20+ year old wiring. If your running the SR your not using the factory loom anway, might as well clean it up! I'm on my third re-wire for my Z, every time I do it I learn new tricks and cleaner ways of doing things. (I'm an EE major so I also gain more knowledge that I want to apply as time goes by) Keep it going man! -Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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