Hayden's Cars- Annual update!
- Thread starter Hayden
- 428 comments
- 73,115 views
- 5,303
- Riverside, Ca
- GTP_Leonidae_MFT
Sell it and get 350Z because S2k's are overrated and slow.
- 5,833
- Right behind you
- SRV2NV
Keep it and get a hamster, because they're cute and make funny noises.
- 3,679
- South Australia
Manual transmission is part of the rather long list of stuff I posted when I first started thinking of the TT swap. No way in the world would I go to the trouble of changing engines just to be left with a 3 speed+ overdrive. Besides, a proper stick cranks the fun factor up, which is what the intention of the swap was.
I did scope out MX5s too, but it wasn't possible to get what I wanted from one. I settled on the S2000 and 350z because they are in the right price range for an easy out- easy in kinda deal. I could also get a decent V8 Falcon or Commodore for that money, but their just not my sorta thing.
Between the two, my personal leaning is toward the chunkier but more powerful Z car. I hear good things about S2000s and the overrated quote surprises me a bit. I obviously intend to test drive one of each before I make any drastic decisions, so we'll see.
Modern was a bad choice of words. Reliability, easier/cheaper servicing, better availability of parts and general ease of ownership is what i meant. I really do enjoy owning this car, it's a great handling and fun vehicle to drive. It goes pretty well, looks good and is about as different to the norm as is physically possible. The thing is that I'm in a position where I can make a sizeable profit out of this car right now. The almighty dollar is a powerful temptress. Many, many hamsters can be purchased with that money.
I appreciate all suggestions and votes, it seems that the unspoken masses would like to see this car made into something special. Maybe there's a possible compromise involving a cheap hatchback, or a horse and cart.
I did scope out MX5s too, but it wasn't possible to get what I wanted from one. I settled on the S2000 and 350z because they are in the right price range for an easy out- easy in kinda deal. I could also get a decent V8 Falcon or Commodore for that money, but their just not my sorta thing.
Between the two, my personal leaning is toward the chunkier but more powerful Z car. I hear good things about S2000s and the overrated quote surprises me a bit. I obviously intend to test drive one of each before I make any drastic decisions, so we'll see.
Modern was a bad choice of words. Reliability, easier/cheaper servicing, better availability of parts and general ease of ownership is what i meant. I really do enjoy owning this car, it's a great handling and fun vehicle to drive. It goes pretty well, looks good and is about as different to the norm as is physically possible. The thing is that I'm in a position where I can make a sizeable profit out of this car right now. The almighty dollar is a powerful temptress. Many, many hamsters can be purchased with that money.
I appreciate all suggestions and votes, it seems that the unspoken masses would like to see this car made into something special. Maybe there's a possible compromise involving a cheap hatchback, or a horse and cart.
- 3,679
- South Australia
Today I put on a few parts I ordered from Z1 motorsports a little while back. Never before have i received so much (outta date, no less) promotional material from one order. 
First to go on were the seals which are part of the roof and go from halfway over the window and over the "targa bar" before stopping. The old ones had rather nasty (over an inch wide) gaps in them which let in a little bit of water and a fair bit of wind noise with the top up... Problem solved!
Next up is what the website call handles but are in actual fact just hole covers. Both were missing and looked like this...
Now both are in place and look like this...
Finally I come to the 'latch catchers' which are the locking mechanism which keeps the roof down. I knew the old ones were rough but I had no idea how bad they were. Heres a new vs old pic.
Pretty damn scary to think that i was driving around with the catcher being so rough. Very little between me and disaster
Installed-
And finally, Z1 gave me a couple stickers for spending over $100. All the parts did their job great and I intend to get more stuff from them down the track... So one of the stickers found it's way onto the deflector.
With that all done, the next thing is to get the actual top's stitching fixed up as it's come loose real bad on the passenger side . Still not sure what the future holds for the Z, but it's becoming a better car all the time. Which is good for me and any potential buyers.
Edit: Full props to Jordan on the new site! Easiest pic filled post I've ever done!
First to go on were the seals which are part of the roof and go from halfway over the window and over the "targa bar" before stopping. The old ones had rather nasty (over an inch wide) gaps in them which let in a little bit of water and a fair bit of wind noise with the top up... Problem solved!
Next up is what the website call handles but are in actual fact just hole covers. Both were missing and looked like this...
Now both are in place and look like this...
Finally I come to the 'latch catchers' which are the locking mechanism which keeps the roof down. I knew the old ones were rough but I had no idea how bad they were. Heres a new vs old pic.
Pretty damn scary to think that i was driving around with the catcher being so rough. Very little between me and disaster
Installed-And finally, Z1 gave me a couple stickers for spending over $100. All the parts did their job great and I intend to get more stuff from them down the track... So one of the stickers found it's way onto the deflector.
With that all done, the next thing is to get the actual top's stitching fixed up as it's come loose real bad on the passenger side . Still not sure what the future holds for the Z, but it's becoming a better car all the time. Which is good for me and any potential buyers.
Edit: Full props to Jordan on the new site! Easiest pic filled post I've ever done!
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- 3,679
- South Australia
Time for another update. Firstly, the Skyline is booked in for it's dyno tune and while it's there it is getting a Nistune ECU. The fella said on the phone that they'll wind the boost up to 13psi because the Neo turbo can't handle much more. We'll be taking it up there next weekend. 
On to the 300zx. Out of pure curiosity I dropped into a local collision repair centre to get a quote on getting a few things done. First one is getting the clearcoat on the rear bumper fixed up.
Next, I showed them the soft top and he recommended just getting a new one. It's pretty cut up all over, coming apart at the seams in places and the windows have whitened a touch. A brand new replacement top is pretty cheap, so i'll order one of those early next month.
Finally I got carried away and mentioned that I'd like to get a new front bumper and a rear wing painted up at the same time. The front bumper is by far the roughest piece on the car...
And I always thought that the standard TT wing looked good on the convertible 300zx
I did some digging and decided on the front bumper that came standard on the last couple years of Z32 production. I found one on an American website for cheap, but postage was going to be $950. Yea... No way in hell. So I went to my local Nissan dealer and to my utter amazement they could order a part that was never sold on a car in Australia for just a scratch over the US part price. I bought it on the spot and It'll be here in 6 weeks
^Should look like that when it comes. Once painted and installed it should look like this... But brown haha
Oh and I've decided to keep the car until September next year. That's when I can legally own a "high performance car" and I'll decide if it'll be this car with twin turbos or something else entirely. If an opportunity to teat drive a 350z or S2000 arises before then I'll definitely jump on it.
On to the 300zx. Out of pure curiosity I dropped into a local collision repair centre to get a quote on getting a few things done. First one is getting the clearcoat on the rear bumper fixed up.
Next, I showed them the soft top and he recommended just getting a new one. It's pretty cut up all over, coming apart at the seams in places and the windows have whitened a touch. A brand new replacement top is pretty cheap, so i'll order one of those early next month.
Finally I got carried away and mentioned that I'd like to get a new front bumper and a rear wing painted up at the same time. The front bumper is by far the roughest piece on the car...
And I always thought that the standard TT wing looked good on the convertible 300zx
I did some digging and decided on the front bumper that came standard on the last couple years of Z32 production. I found one on an American website for cheap, but postage was going to be $950. Yea... No way in hell. So I went to my local Nissan dealer and to my utter amazement they could order a part that was never sold on a car in Australia for just a scratch over the US part price. I bought it on the spot and It'll be here in 6 weeks
^Should look like that when it comes. Once painted and installed it should look like this... But brown haha
Oh and I've decided to keep the car until September next year. That's when I can legally own a "high performance car" and I'll decide if it'll be this car with twin turbos or something else entirely. If an opportunity to teat drive a 350z or S2000 arises before then I'll definitely jump on it.
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- 3,679
- South Australia
Skyline news! We picked it up yesterday and I'll let the graph speak for me...
It now has a Nistune ECU and is running 14.5 psi until the mid range where it drops back to 11, which helped it get 211RWKW (4WD fuse pulled). We took it for a quick spin around our property when we got it home and holy hell is it fast! I'm thoroughly impressed to say the least. The noise it makes is nuts and the rush of the turbo is a fantastic feeling. The tuner said that it will probably kill the turbo eventually, but we aren't too worried about that. A bigger turbo that can handle more boost will get us even more power
There is a gymkhana next weekend that we're hoping to attend but we need to finish some stuff off first. Namely a seat needs to go in, the wiring needs cleaning up, the bonnet has to go back on and we've gotta put the dash back in.
The Z's doing perfectly fine. No changes since i ordered the bumper which should be here pretty soon
It now has a Nistune ECU and is running 14.5 psi until the mid range where it drops back to 11, which helped it get 211RWKW (4WD fuse pulled). We took it for a quick spin around our property when we got it home and holy hell is it fast! I'm thoroughly impressed to say the least. The noise it makes is nuts and the rush of the turbo is a fantastic feeling. The tuner said that it will probably kill the turbo eventually, but we aren't too worried about that. A bigger turbo that can handle more boost will get us even more power
There is a gymkhana next weekend that we're hoping to attend but we need to finish some stuff off first. Namely a seat needs to go in, the wiring needs cleaning up, the bonnet has to go back on and we've gotta put the dash back in.
The Z's doing perfectly fine. No changes since i ordered the bumper which should be here pretty soon
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- 3,679
- South Australia
Good news, we got it all back together in time for the gymkhana! Careful observers will notice the Go Pro... I had it all set up but it didn't come with a memory card and we couldn't find anywhere to buy one. It's ready for next time though!
My old man and I headed up only for the Saturday of the two day event because he had to work the next day. We each got 8 runs and had an absolute blast doing them!
The car is on a completely different level to what it was when I last drove it. Spinning the wheels when changing in to third is a damn hard thing to get used to when you're trying to set fast times around a course. It's a joint project this car, and the skyline really took the hammering we gave it without missing a beat.
Now to some more recent news. I test drove a Toyota 86GT yesterday and I've decided that I like it very much. It's a little down on power but it's a joy to drive, is brand new (had 86ks on the clock at the end of my drive), comes with three years warranty and is a manual! There is still an over 3 month wait for these cars over here and the dealer only had this one because someone had ordered it, got sick of waiting and bought something else. I know i want to buy it, but it's not a certainty because I have to be approved for finance (never had a loan before ) and there's nothing stopping someone else snatching it before I get back to the dealer. Fingers firmly crossed though 
Which brings me to the Z. The dealer has offered me a trade in for it to take some of the sting out of the loan. If they can't approve me for the full amount than I'll do it, but if not it's future is still looking sunny... and maybe turbocharged
Here's day 2's highlights for the interested.
My old man and I headed up only for the Saturday of the two day event because he had to work the next day. We each got 8 runs and had an absolute blast doing them!
The car is on a completely different level to what it was when I last drove it. Spinning the wheels when changing in to third is a damn hard thing to get used to when you're trying to set fast times around a course. It's a joint project this car, and the skyline really took the hammering we gave it without missing a beat.
Now to some more recent news. I test drove a Toyota 86GT yesterday and I've decided that I like it very much. It's a little down on power but it's a joy to drive, is brand new (had 86ks on the clock at the end of my drive
), comes with three years warranty and is a manual! There is still an over 3 month wait for these cars over here and the dealer only had this one because someone had ordered it, got sick of waiting and bought something else. I know i want to buy it, but it's not a certainty because I have to be approved for finance (never had a loan before ) and there's nothing stopping someone else snatching it before I get back to the dealer. Fingers firmly crossed though Which brings me to the Z. The dealer has offered me a trade in for it to take some of the sting out of the loan. If they can't approve me for the full amount than I'll do it, but if not it's future is still looking sunny... and maybe turbocharged
Yea, gotta love some Judas Priest! The dude does a wicked job on those videos but he couldn't make it to day one of this eventGreat Video Hayden! and Judas priest with turbo lover is always a winner
Here's day 2's highlights for the interested.
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- 3,679
- South Australia
Well, today was the day I would find out if i'd be approved for finance on the GT86. Like i mentioned earlier, i've never had a loan before and the whole experience has been entirely new and a little bit scary. I say scary because the bank was willing to lend a 19 year old over $60k if i wanted it 
Fortunately the car wasn't anywhere near that expensive and happily I'm not quite crazy enough to have that much hanging over my head. So anyways, with approval granted I signed some paperwork via fax, shot into town and uh, well....
Between insurance and finance my happy go lucky spending habits are gonna be taken down a peg or three. I have done the numbers however, and I'll still be living day to day without any financial pressure. The Skyline and Z's progress will slow pretty considerably though.
And a bonus pic. It still had 86KMs on the clock when I picked it up so I decided to take a pic for proof. It took like 10 attempts (damn sun darkening the picture) but i got the shot. After-all the work was worth it because it will never say it's name on the odometer again
So far, so excellent. No problems, no niggles, no annoyances. Just smiles, laughs and amazement. I averaged 5.5 L/100 on the way home. Thats literally twice as good as the Z!
Thanks for reading guys. Any questions about the car feel free to ask
Fortunately the car wasn't anywhere near that expensive and happily I'm not quite crazy enough to have that much hanging over my head. So anyways, with approval granted I signed some paperwork via fax, shot into town and uh, well....
Between insurance and finance my happy go lucky spending habits are gonna be taken down a peg or three. I have done the numbers however, and I'll still be living day to day without any financial pressure. The Skyline and Z's progress will slow pretty considerably though.
And a bonus pic. It still had 86KMs on the clock when I picked it up so I decided to take a pic for proof. It took like 10 attempts (damn sun darkening the picture) but i got the shot. After-all the work was worth it because it will never say it's name on the odometer again
So far, so excellent. No problems, no niggles, no annoyances. Just smiles, laughs and amazement. I averaged 5.5 L/100 on the way home. Thats literally twice as good as the Z!
Thanks for reading guys. Any questions about the car feel free to ask
Ibonibo
Premium
- 5,440
- Luxemburg
- Already paying my Isp 4 Access
Awesome decision mate 👍
I also took a loan for the TT. Why rob your account of such a big sum in one hit, if you can scratch it off step by step.
Awesome garage you built up 👍 GT Syndrome
Now we need a gorgeous shot with all 3 cars tidy'd up
<- it's coke actually
I also took a loan for the TT. Why rob your account of such a big sum in one hit, if you can scratch it off step by step.
Awesome garage you built up 👍 GT Syndrome
Now we need a gorgeous shot with all 3 cars tidy'd up
<- it's coke actually
- 27,163
- United Kingdom
Good stuff. Consider me jealous!
- 16,986
- Corneria City
- Orbital_Goat
- 3,211
- Brisbane
- Punknoodle_Nick
Fantastic mate, you are going to have heaps of fun in it!
- 3,679
- South Australia
Cheers dude, means an awful lot coming from you 👍
Me too, it looks awesome in the sunlight!I second that.
Love the colour. Congratulations.
That is a certainty! I've loved every moment so far. The manual gearbox is taking some getting used to in day to day life however. Mostly because my job has me driving trucks with manuals and I keep finding myself shifting the 86 at 2500 RPM. Damn hard habbit to break
Bit by bit was definitely my way of justifying it to myselfAwesome decision mate 👍
I also took a loan for the TT. Why rob your account of such a big sum in one hit, if you can scratch it off step by step.
Awesome garage you built up 👍 GT Syndrome
. GT Syndrome? Me? why, whatever do you mean Oh and relax, alcohol is legal at 18 here!I'm no photgrapher but I did the best I could with my phone. I took a few photos because it'll probably be a long time until there all clean at once again
Well... I say clean but the skyline copped a big chunk of overspray while a truck was being painted. Here's a comparison pic.
I got off what I could, but I'll need to get some better chemical later in the week.
Oh and the Skyline made a front cover... Of a facebook page. It's no magazine but I'm still pretty stocked about it
- 3,679
- South Australia
First post in here for the new year, so happy 2014 and all that. Cheers for the comments @Cano & @UrieHusky. I appreciate that not everybody likes the 86 and I don't personally mind because It fits my needs and wants nearly perfectly. To each his own
Skyline
This project has cost us both quite a bit of time and money so it's important that we use it as often as we can and living where we do, we can't be fussy about what events we enter. Today I booked us into a drift event ten days from now. As has become the usual theme, my dad and I will take turns having a go. I'm looking forward to this event because it'll be the first time we get to drive the car at high speed and there is no competitive aspect. So it's all about having fun with no pressure and lots of tyre smoke.
I've got my fingers crossed that neither of us break anything or have any nasty offs but if it happens it happens. I'll make sure to put up video of my first run and best one so you'll be able to see how terrible i'll do and how little I'm going to improve
300zx
I spoke to the dealer I ordered the bumper from last week and they told me it should be here by the 15th. I went back on the 15th and after rummaging through the computer the lady said "sorry but it appears they've switched your order to non-priority and it wont be here until mid march". Which will be 5 months after i ordered something that was meant to take 6 weeks to arrive. That wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I can't really do anything except wait
86
It hasn't missed a beat, never fails to put a smile on my face and is really racking up the odometer. I've now done over 1800k's and that number will only get bigger. I'll be taking it back to the dealer for it's check up next week where they're going to fit mudflaps and some voodoo magic anti everything coating that will apparently make the paint and interior stay in better shape for longer. I'll take their word on that.
I took the car through an auto carwash today. I was never game enough to do it with the Z, but i figured the steel roof should be able to keep me dry. Obligatory clean photos.
Oh and It's air conditioning is fantastic! Which i'm really appreciating after finishing work at over 40*c for the last few days. This heatwave really sucks!
Skyline
This project has cost us both quite a bit of time and money so it's important that we use it as often as we can and living where we do, we can't be fussy about what events we enter. Today I booked us into a drift event ten days from now. As has become the usual theme, my dad and I will take turns having a go. I'm looking forward to this event because it'll be the first time we get to drive the car at high speed and there is no competitive aspect. So it's all about having fun with no pressure and lots of tyre smoke.
I've got my fingers crossed that neither of us break anything or have any nasty offs but if it happens it happens. I'll make sure to put up video of my first run and best one so you'll be able to see how terrible i'll do and how little I'm going to improve
300zx
I spoke to the dealer I ordered the bumper from last week and they told me it should be here by the 15th. I went back on the 15th and after rummaging through the computer the lady said "sorry but it appears they've switched your order to non-priority and it wont be here until mid march". Which will be 5 months after i ordered something that was meant to take 6 weeks to arrive. That wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I can't really do anything except wait
86
It hasn't missed a beat, never fails to put a smile on my face and is really racking up the odometer. I've now done over 1800k's and that number will only get bigger. I'll be taking it back to the dealer for it's check up next week where they're going to fit mudflaps and some voodoo magic anti everything coating that will apparently make the paint and interior stay in better shape for longer. I'll take their word on that.
I took the car through an auto carwash today. I was never game enough to do it with the Z, but i figured the steel roof should be able to keep me dry.
Obligatory clean photos.Oh and It's air conditioning is fantastic! Which i'm really appreciating after finishing work at over 40*c for the last few days. This heatwave really sucks!
- 601
- ProjectTuning
I like the R34 wheels on the Skyline. Looks like a fun car!
- 3,679
- South Australia
It certainly is a very fun car
. Those wheels came with the car and are made by a brand called advantek. I assume they're a cheap rip-off of the R34 wheels. So, we're back home after a very fun day drifting at Mallala. It was a fantastic event with 140 cars entered, about 30 of which were in our beginners 'C' grade. Now, there is a little bit of bad news later in what will surely be a very long post, so I'll worn you now that if you don't like seeing bent metal or walls of text just leave now- it's for your own good.
So, with that out of the way I'll start from the very top. We left home at 4am yesterday and drove through the track gate at 8.30 after a marathon journey to see more beat up old Silvias and Skylines then we knew existed. Our grade had the first slot on the skid pan while the very talented 'A' group went about tearing up the big track. After watching a couple people have their turns at the skid pan, I jumped in the Skyline and headed out. As promised, I got a video of my first ever attempt at drifting. It was quite a battle to get a handle on and the car was understeering quite bad making it unpredictable and difficult to drive. I got dragged off when my time was up, dad jumped in and he also had a crack on the pan. I edited out the reversing after spins and the drifts that never even got started.
The incident dad had with the tyre wall gave the skyline it's first ever "battle scar"...
After that it was on to the big track. I had the first go again and It was definitely a completely different feeling to the skid pan. I was pretty nervous and on edge and I got it all on camera. After my four laps, the old fella had his turn and that's the last video I got for the day. The camera ran out of battery, the 12gb memory card was full and I really had no bloody clue how to use the thing. Sorry for the camera moving around, I thought using tape in this place of one of the bolts would be a good idea... It wasn't. I cut the waiting, me slow driving past an incident and the driver change out of this video.
So that's the end of the footage, but the day went on far longer. We each had another go out on track before it was time to put on the spare wheels (no prize for guessing where they came from
Then I had another go on the skid pan when mid-way through I went from really feeling it (linked the whole course three laps in a row
) to it suddenly became very hard to turn. The problem turned out to be a power steering hose, but a quick botch with some spare hose and some clamps did the job beautifully and kept it off the trailer. We kept into it and had another full session each, then as we had no working headlights, we came to the last session we were eligible for on the day. (don't ask what my hands are doing in this photo, because I have no idea )I had the first 4 laps of the session and got out happy that I had got the first corner pretty well and had done the high speed right hand kink with a lot more confidence and speed than on any other run. Dad got straight into it and pushed hard for two laps, really challenging himself to do it right, then on his third, on the corner leading on to the pit straight, this happened...
We reckon he was doing somewhere between 60-80Kph when it hit. He said that he tried to turn in, felt the front slip, tried harder then saw the wall coming and just said this'll :censored:ing hurt. The good news is that the car's drivetrain brushed it off completely fine, dad wasn't injured and it drove back to the pits and on to the trailer just fine. The bad news is that our relatively straight and clean Skyline is looking pretty sad...
We'll get the bumper back on, pull out the dents and it'll be ready for a drift practice day in mid February. In the mean time we are going to try to get the huge understeer issue that plagued us all day and caused the incident ironed out by buying parts that will let us adjust the camber and letting our local tyre man have a good crack at setting it up to drift. We've both decided that despite the incidents, it was a very fun and hugely challenging day at the track and setting it up as a drift car from here on in would be a good idea. We also decided that while I had beaten him in overall time at the gymkhana, the old man was the better drifter and that we'll need to try another motorsport to break the tie
Oh and as a bonus for reading all this, the photographer of that awesome mid-crash photo put it up on Facebook asking for captions. Dad and I both got a huge laugh out of these ones...
"my planett, it neeeds meeeeeee"
"why you shouldn't drive while TIREd"
"I don't always fly but when I do. I go for the skyline"
"Who needs a jack when you have tire stacks"
"Them duke boys."
"Awesome , another drift car off the road !!"
EDIT: I found a couple more photos from the event. Thanks to the photographers for their awesome work 👍
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- 3,679
- South Australia
@Stavingo Looking back at it, it was an absolutely huge post . Glad to hear you're interested 👍
@hankolerd
Cheers mate
@UrieHusky I can't believe I forgot to mention that we pulled the 4WD fuse before the 1st run. We have considered completely removing the front driveshafts etc and making it 2WD only, but for now we're keeping it as is. Drifting looks like it'll take the focus and will probably be what we stick with, but right now we aren't sure what events may catch our eyes down the line... Rallying in a Skyline anyone? 
Skyline
So, we've ordered upper control arms for the front and rear so we'll be able to tinker with camber before our next event. While I was dropping off my 86, the old man got busy repairing the damaged bodywork. The white paint buffed out, the guard banged out and the bumper's been bolted back on.
86
I dropped it off the other day and picked it up yesterday after work. The 1 month inspection, service & detail all went through without any issues. They did the paint, rust & interior protection and put on some mud guards as I requested. I spoke to the salesman I bought the car off of when I booked it in and his words were "mudflaps on your 86? No way man! Are you taking it rallying or something?!?". The actual reason is that I drive on gravel roads a lot and would rather keep that shiny protected paint- shiny and protected.
300ZX
It's spending most of it's time in the shed while I wait for the bumper to arrive so it can go to paint. I'm thinking I'll order centre caps for the wheels and get busy tracking down a spoiler. While it doesn't affect the car, I also found an original American magazine ad for the 300zx on eBay. I bought it about two months ago and it finally arrived today. I only got it, well... Because yolo
. Glad to hear you're interested 👍@hankolerd
Cheers mate @UrieHusky I can't believe I forgot to mention that we pulled the 4WD fuse before the 1st run
. We have considered completely removing the front driveshafts etc and making it 2WD only, but for now we're keeping it as is. Drifting looks like it'll take the focus and will probably be what we stick with, but right now we aren't sure what events may catch our eyes down the line... Rallying in a Skyline anyone? Skyline
So, we've ordered upper control arms for the front and rear so we'll be able to tinker with camber before our next event. While I was dropping off my 86, the old man got busy repairing the damaged bodywork. The white paint buffed out, the guard banged out and the bumper's been bolted back on.
86
I dropped it off the other day and picked it up yesterday after work. The 1 month inspection, service & detail all went through without any issues. They did the paint, rust & interior protection and put on some mud guards as I requested. I spoke to the salesman I bought the car off of when I booked it in and his words were "mudflaps on your 86? No way man! Are you taking it rallying or something?!?"
. The actual reason is that I drive on gravel roads a lot and would rather keep that shiny protected paint- shiny and protected.300ZX
It's spending most of it's time in the shed while I wait for the bumper to arrive so it can go to paint. I'm thinking I'll order centre caps for the wheels and get busy tracking down a spoiler. While it doesn't affect the car, I also found an original American magazine ad for the 300zx on eBay. I bought it about two months ago and it finally arrived today. I only got it, well... Because yolo
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- 3,211
- Brisbane
- Punknoodle_Nick
Can't believe I missed the drift day post. Awesome work my friend, what a great day and I'm glad the car went without any serious issues, I know how crap that can be!
Nothing wrong with minor panel damage on a race car man. Just makes it look like it gets driven hard, not a bad thing at all.
Nothing wrong with minor panel damage on a race car man. Just makes it look like it gets driven hard, not a bad thing at all.
- 27,163
- United Kingdom
Have you considered one of those invisible paint protection systems? I'm not sure what they use but I think it's some kind of clear plastic substance. Applied well it's basically invisible, won't discolour, won't gather soap at the edges when you wash it, but is tough enough to protect your paintwork. Sounds like it could be well worth it to prevent stone chips.
- 3,679
- South Australia
I honestly never knew those film style protection coatings even existed! It seems to be on the expensive side so for now i'll just keep my fingers crossed that the stuff they put on at the dealer does the job. Definitely handy to know for the future, though. 👍
Edit: I'll leave this here. Big wall 'o text ahead.
So, today I finally lashed out on the centre caps for the Z's wheels. There was two types, flat and standard. I went with the second option and they should be here in a couple weeks...
Feeling motivated, I then rang my Z mechanic and talked to him about the TT and manual swap that I want to do in September. He said that it's a very labour intensive task and as such would cost me $15000 to get it done through him. For refference, I paid a fair bit less than half that for the car! He went on to mention that value for money wise, he would certainly not recommend the TT route and said getting a manual swap, ECU tune and new exhaust at around $5000 would be the better option. He also mentioned that he was unsure of the legality of driving a twin turbo convertible 300zx on the road in South Australia. That wasn't what I wanted to hear.
I can be a pretty stubborn person, so I wished him good day, dialed up transport SA and asked them directly If it could legally be done. The guy on the phone was pretty sure there wouldn't be any legality issues or need for an engineer's certificate, just an engine number check (to make sure it wasn't stolen) and a basic inspection of work done. But he told me to fill out a form for the beaurecrats to run through before turning any spanners.
With that side looking positive I researched what twin turbo, manual 300zx's are bringing at the moment and tracked down a decent donor car for $3000. I figure that saving up and setting aside $5k would guarantee finding a decent example when i'm ready for it.
So that leaves the oily bits involved in turning two cars into one car... or actually two
. The plan is that i'll buy a road registered donor car in late August and with the power of free beer and BBQ, get some mates on board to help with the swap.
We'll drag out all the bits from both cars that need changing*, put the TT stuff in the Vert and slide the NA equipment into the donor car. Being road legal, I should be a able to sell the NA equipped donor for around $2000 without too much trouble. That way, I'll have gotten all the bits I need without wrecking a Z just to satisfy my crazy dreams. My rough guestimation is that the swap should take us about 4 weekends, cost me $200 in beer and $300 in sausages. There are full guides for the swap online and i'm fortunate to have some mechanically inclined friends. I reckon i'll surprise the lads that help and divide the sale price of the donor equally between us as extra thanks.
So my maths says I'll save about $9500, spend some time with my mates, get the pride that comes with tackling and conquering a big project, own a one of a kind (in Aus) car and make a couple friends $500 richer. The only problem is the lack of warrantee on the engine. Which, being a turbo powered, cheap, manual RWD car that's probably been thrashed is a slightly scary thought. I think however that value wise against the suggested manual, tuned NA for the same price, it's a risk I'm willing to take.
*There are a lot of parts that will be switched including the engines and gearboxes, tail shafts, shifters, heaps of interior pieces, gauge clusters, brakes, the trim above the taillights, air con systems, some wiring, the ECUs and some other stuff i'm currently forgetting. The intercoolers and spoiler will go to the convertible and if the donor has a decent stereo, or speakers, or any miscellaneous goodies they'll be switched too.
Edit: I'll leave this here. Big wall 'o text ahead.
So, today I finally lashed out on the centre caps for the Z's wheels. There was two types, flat and standard. I went with the second option and they should be here in a couple weeks...
Feeling motivated, I then rang my Z mechanic and talked to him about the TT and manual swap that I want to do in September. He said that it's a very labour intensive task and as such would cost me $15000 to get it done through him. For refference, I paid a fair bit less than half that for the car! He went on to mention that value for money wise, he would certainly not recommend the TT route and said getting a manual swap, ECU tune and new exhaust at around $5000 would be the better option. He also mentioned that he was unsure of the legality of driving a twin turbo convertible 300zx on the road in South Australia. That wasn't what I wanted to hear.
I can be a pretty stubborn person, so I wished him good day, dialed up transport SA and asked them directly If it could legally be done. The guy on the phone was pretty sure there wouldn't be any legality issues or need for an engineer's certificate, just an engine number check (to make sure it wasn't stolen) and a basic inspection of work done. But he told me to fill out a form for the beaurecrats to run through before turning any spanners.
With that side looking positive I researched what twin turbo, manual 300zx's are bringing at the moment and tracked down a decent donor car for $3000. I figure that saving up and setting aside $5k would guarantee finding a decent example when i'm ready for it.
So that leaves the oily bits involved in turning two cars into one car... or actually two
. The plan is that i'll buy a road registered donor car in late August and with the power of free beer and BBQ, get some mates on board to help with the swap.We'll drag out all the bits from both cars that need changing*, put the TT stuff in the Vert and slide the NA equipment into the donor car. Being road legal, I should be a able to sell the NA equipped donor for around $2000 without too much trouble. That way, I'll have gotten all the bits I need without wrecking a Z just to satisfy my crazy dreams
. My rough guestimation is that the swap should take us about 4 weekends, cost me $200 in beer and $300 in sausages. There are full guides for the swap online and i'm fortunate to have some mechanically inclined friends. I reckon i'll surprise the lads that help and divide the sale price of the donor equally between us as extra thanks.So my maths says I'll save about $9500, spend some time with my mates, get the pride that comes with tackling and conquering a big project, own a one of a kind (in Aus) car and make a couple friends $500 richer. The only problem is the lack of warrantee on the engine. Which, being a turbo powered, cheap, manual RWD car that's probably been thrashed is a slightly scary thought. I think however that value wise against the suggested manual, tuned NA for the same price, it's a risk I'm willing to take.
*There are a lot of parts that will be switched including the engines and gearboxes, tail shafts, shifters, heaps of interior pieces, gauge clusters, brakes, the trim above the taillights, air con systems, some wiring, the ECUs and some other stuff i'm currently forgetting. The intercoolers and spoiler will go to the convertible and if the donor has a decent stereo, or speakers, or any miscellaneous goodies they'll be switched too.
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