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Well, this is my build thread. I've posted a few pics of it on the "Almighty Z thread", but now I'm making my own. The reasons for it are 3 fold;

1. When I started posting my stuff on the other thread, I inadvertently turned it into a troubleshooting thread by posting the problems I was having. Sorry guys...

2. Because I like showing off.

3. I want to convince anyone here in this forum who is a fan of Wangan Midnight not to rush out and buy an S30 Z just because you think its cool. That is, unless you are willing to sacrifice (in copious amounts) Time, Effort, and Money. Or just a greater amount of money and some time (but where's the fun in paying a shop to work on your car). Call me a jerk if I'm busting your bubble, but I'm doing it to save you the previous commodities mentioned. And maybe saving a few Zs.... If you live anywhere in the world where a strange white substance regularly falls from the sky at a certain time of year, your "Devil Z" waiting for you to save it from the local junkyard is likely to look something like this.


Your best bet is to search for a Z that's from someone who meticulously maintained it, or one from the Southwest US. Even those have their problems though. The reason the Z is so special in that anime is because there just aren't that many left in Japan, or the world in general, that aren't rotted rusty hulks. Once upon a time when I was stationed in Okinawa and had a local GF, the mere mention of my Z around her and her friends would send offers flying around the table. Its that coveted.

Short and to the point, its a lot of work, and luckily I was ready for it. Not to say it doesn't suck sometimes, though...


The story of my Z begins in the town of Escondito CA, just a bit northeast of San Diego, where I picked it up. $1600 off an ad I saw in the Autotrader mag. The guy already had a VW golf he was tricking out, so he didn't have time for the Z. My gain. Driving it around it didn't seem like it was in too bad shape, either. The only glaring flaw that it had was the disgusting "T-roof" (moontop, splitmoon, whatever... half-ass cross between T-Tops and Moonroof). As I later found out, nearly all the weatherstripping on the car was shot, especially the retard roof which leaked like crazy when it rained. The steering wheel, like everything else rubber or plastic in the car was severely dryrotted. I could touch certain things and they would crumble to dust. Good thing it had a dash cap. also, the carpet and anything covered in vinyl was torn and disgusting. Who cares though, it ran!





Couple weeks later, I decided to be nice and let my friend borrow it so he could take the wife out and look at apartments in the area. 20 minutes after taking off I got a call saying he rear ended someone. Apparently upon getting onto the highway he let loose on the gas and slammed into an '03 Impala, because he had no idea how to handle a car without ABS (which I had warned him about). The Impala was totalled, my Z came out with a slightly bent front bumper and a cracked radiator core. For the next several months while I finished flight school, I kept several gallons of fresh water in the trunk so I could regularly refill the radiator. Stop leak did nothing, tried every brand. I also began to find out that my shocks were shot, as when I went over the slightest bump the rear of the car would bottom out (tire to wheel well). Luckily through driving sparingly for a couple months, I saved the car from dying, and had a shop replace my radiator (had no free time to do it myself due to flight school). I also gave it a primer gray parking lot special, a new steering wheel and shift knob. Once I finished training (finally), I began the long drive home to the east coast where I would store the Z at my parent's house. Didn't have a single problem.




The car sat, cocooned in several tarps from bottom to top and over the top again for almost 4 years. moisture traps were placed inside to control the humidity.

Once a year around Christmas I'd come home on leave from Okinawa and unwrap the car to see if it was still ok. Every year it started and ran.

This September, when I finally got out of the service, I unwrapped it and tried to start it. No dice. The car just cranked and cranked. So I got some help to push it 30 feet to the garage so I could begin work on it. Progress has been very slow, but I've done a lot to it. The car will now start and run for about 2 seconds until it dies (ie, only the cold start injector is firing, not the other 6). Now that the distributor is replaced so I've got spark, I need to hunt this EFI gremlin down.

Its time for a montage!
September '08- January '09







Ok, That sucked for a montage. But it shows just the changes to the front exterior anyway.

Lol FINALLY you put your build thread up!


Btw, diggin the fake bullet holes on the rear passenger quarter.


When did you buy it? I saw the "once a year I'd unwrap it" comment, and I didnt see anywhere you mentioned how long you've had it.

These are the things that really matter, where most of my time has been spent.


Master cylinder. Its still in pieces waiting to be reassembled. The brakes were coming off the rear anyway, so I removed it. When I looked inside I found that over the years the brake fluid turned into green grease.


Inside the distributor. Hmmm... so that's why I had no spark before.. Cleaned it out, replaced the magnetic pickup and it works. However, I couldn't disassemble it entirely, and the vacuum advance is probably shot. So I ordered a new one.



Air flow meter was binding up, so I cracked it open and ground out the spot where the flap was sticking. Good thing it was fixable, because remanufactured ones cost $300 and up. Must be made out of gold.


Painted this for fun.


The suspension needed work, so I took it apart entirely. I also hate drum brakes, so this...

...became this. All pieces were cured of rust, primed and painted. Rear disc brake kit was installed.

Lol, crap... you're right! I've had it since the summer of '04, not sure what month but I'm pretty sure it was August. So I've had it for almost 5 years.

The engine got some love too.


By the way, Duplicolor High Temp orange does NOT match VHT orange. fuk..


New exhaust before painting


Installed. Unfortunately, when I looked at it the other day, it looks like it will rub on the driver rear tire unless I install spacer (which I plan to do anyway). Who knows though, it might not. I was just gauging it by eye, never tried fitting the wheel to it.

The front suspension is getting ready to be reinstalled!

Almost forgot, this is what I've been using (along with Energy Suspension's master bushing kit)


Crap... that box barely shows anything. Tokico gas struts (non-adjustable) and Eibach springs.

Installed this today, hee hee...




I almost crapped my pants doing it too. Making sure I was drilling holes in my hatch at the right spots with little reference was scary! The method I used was to take the spoiler and mock it up on the hatch, make a couple reference marks. Then I took the supplied bolts and HAND tightened them into the spoiler as far as they could go, then coted their heads with a dab of grease. Lined the spoiler up as best I could and plopped it down. Drilled holes where the center of each grease splotch was. Very nerve wracking. However, it worked, and it looks like I was dead on!

Nice build. Going to be keeping the engine stock, or something new? (And what year? I'm hoping you got a pre-75 for smog, but I can't ID S30s just by the bumpers)

My twice pipes setup looked the same way, but didnt seem to rub, but it was maybe a half inch from the tire

Nice build, Keep us updated!!!!

Good thing you guys are here to comment, it seems I keep leaving out details!

The car is a 1978, and unfortunately its California spec, so it has all the emissions stupidity on it. Since I installed the headers, I've been at a loss on what to do with the open EGR hole on the bottom of my intake, as I'm without a welder. So I covered it with duct tape for now.

Plans for this car are to make it fast and maneuverable. Just a balance between the two, not all out power. Max hp I can really see myself wanting is 400. Anything beyond that is just crazy! Sadly, the stock L28 will go at some point, as will the headers and twice pipes that I've spent so much time on. After that it will be set aside for me to make an NA monster out of it at some point. I think I'll carb it too.

I have a few choices in what motor to replace it with. The one more readily available is the L28ET that's sitting in the garage. Still needs some things to get it running (megasquirt, piping, etc) and I'd like to rebuild it too just to make sure everything is hunkydory inside. My other choice is an SR20DET. Why? My cousin bought one to put in a 240sx, and never got around to it. Its been sitting in his garage for a few years, and I just saw it over the holidays, pretty clean. And it has everything it needs to run, including tranny, wiring and the ECU. Using that engine would shave a decent amount of weight from the car, and improve my weight ratio. There's also a stupidly abundant aftermarket support for these motors in the states now, something that the RB doesn't quite have yet (and the L28 is too old to have).

So... we'll see. Right now I'm finishing up the suspension and killing any rust I find. I need to get the bodywork done soon, because I want to paint it this spring when the weather is warm again.

I would say that since you have to get the car smogged, *don't* use the SR20 on it, since I think CARB gets pissed if you use a Jspec engine that never came on the car originally. However, you COULD use the L28et legally, as long as you got the car smogged as a 280ZXT.


And while carbs are awesome, I'd say skip them when/if you rebuild it, and just use ITBs or something. Especially if you already know MS and all that.


So, short version: L28et (or L29/30/31/32et) into what you have now, and SR20 into a 510 or pre-75 Z.

Meh heh heh... I don't have to worry about sucktastic CA emissions anymore! I'm on the other coast!!

Besides, car is over 30 years old now, smog exempt baby!

This S30 fairlady is looking good but dont forget to give the car the midnight blue paintjob.

BTW are you going to install the anti-roll bar and major spot welding to the body?

Your brakes are nice but I believed the Devil Z uses slotted rotors.
Wonder is there are still rims out there with the same design as the Devil Z RS Watanabe 8 spokes rim.

There's a reason the thread description is "Not your Devil Z". The car is not a Devil Z replica. Paint is not going to be midnight blue, the plan now has it going to be Hugger orange with black accents (hood, rear spoiler, trim, etc). I have not decided if I will blend the fender flares into the same color of the body, or make them black.

The wheels that I'm looking at now are 16x8 XXR 513's, due to them being the best wheel I can find in that style at that price. RS Watanabes are almost $3000 USD for a set, so I don't think I'll be dropping cash for them anytime soon (zomg, I think 3 grand is enough to cover all the paint, tools, and parts I've bought so far for this car). Not worth it in my book, at least not at this stage. Slotted rotors and bigger front brakes, those will come later. The car has plenty of stopping power for the amount of horses the engine currently puts out. Roll bar will also come later, whenever I decide to start bringing it to sanctioned races (if ever).

I really don't see the point in making a Devil Z replica when I can make something really nice with my own creativity. I'm taking a little of all the styles I like and putting them together on my car. The paint scheme comes from the 432, fender flares from the ZG, BRE spoiler, etc. I'll also be adding headlight covers both to add style, aerodynamics and resistance to rocks. I'm still trying to get my hands on a set of JDM fender mirrors. You know, the ones that are sometimes on the Devil Z in one camera angle then gone the next. Very hard to find... but I think it will complete my total look.

If for some reason the world went crazy and I decided to replicate the Devil Z, I think I'd start with an RHD Fairlady. NOT because I like RHD (I never enjoyed it, even while living in Oki for 2.5 years), but because it would be easier to do the same twin turbo setup with the carburated L28. Like I said though, cats and dogs living together.

So, not to be an ASS, but I'll make this statement so future readers will know. This is not going to be Akio's Devil Z. This is MY Z. I'm going to do the best I can to restore it and tune the piss out of it, and I'll add my personal touches to complete its look. Its not going to be a copycat.

This post has been edited by Oddmanout84 on Jan 15 2009, 12:26 PM

oic

true that each of us have our own style of modding our rides
my Forester is unique coz its using a refurbished GC8V WRX STi Type R drivetrain.

minus the Devil Z bits I think you could invest good money to strengthen the chassis.

I do not think anybody in this forum would ever make a actual replica of the 240z;far to expensive if you ask me.

Oddmanout84 going with orange just love how it stands out

In all honesty, orange is far from being a favorite color of mine. However, it just seems like it really fits on a Z. As for my suspension, I don't know what's up with the lighting on my camera. Its making everything look like a bright baby blue, the same color as those Tokico gas cartridges. In reality, the suspensions pieces I've painted are much darker blue.

Usually, my doctrine is function over form. However, since I'm already planning on painting this bucket in spring, I've allowed myself to deviate from my usual method.




Yes, the JDM Fender mirrors are in. I finally bit the bullet and got a set from ebay (with a "relatively" low buyitnow price). Came direct from Japan, new in box, and they came here QUICK! So of course I took no time drilling holes in my fenders to install them. Not saying that I didn't do it carefully. I meticulously followed a diagram that had the measurements mirrored from the RHD diagram. I am absolutely anal when it comes to drilling holes in expensive and rare metal so it paid off. I can't decide whether I'm going to paint them black or not... They're so shiny... yes... my precious...

I also mocked up my fender flares just to give myself an idea of how it will look. Keep in mind that they are by no means in the position that I will be drilling holes at. Just temporary.



Oh, and as you can see, the car is no longer flying a foot above the ground. I had to drop it to mock up the flares, and because I'm sick of it floating there. Holy crap! I forgot how low this car was! And the springs only lowered it about 1-1.5". I'm only 5'9" and I'm towering over it. I'm also not showing off the refurbished front suspension for a reason. I still have the stock front brakes hooked up to the hubs, so they're brown and look like crap. At least the calipers and everything else are a nice blue color though. And TexasDemonZ, you were right. I have about 1-2" of clearance between my driver's rear wheel and the twicepipes. A nice discovery, but I'll be adding new low offset wheels with spacers in the future anyway.

Stay tuned for the madness that ensues...

The car now runs, and sounds awesome. I need to figure out how to post videos on youtube...

Its still not roadworthy though. The clutch cylinder is disconnected, as are the brakes, and the steering rack is not installed. Not to mention all the exterior lights are out. Lots more work still needs to be done, but at least I can amuse myself by running the car once in a while and listen to the music. Need to find a way to plug that hole where the EGR piping was... I don't think the duct tape that's currently there is a viable option.

I gave my car its face back, just not the eyes.

As you can see in the pictures above, I have not painted the frame area around the radiator yet. I'm posting this because its brown-ness been bothering me, lol

digging the ZG flares and the fender mirrors

Great work, keep us posted (not that I need to remind you, you seem to be pretty good at it).