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Hi everyone!

It's been a long time since I've posted on here. The new Initial D 5th stage brought me back to the site and figured I should update where my 280z has come in the past couple years.

You can find my previous thread on the progress of the car when I first got it here: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?showtopic=72073






Back story: Got the car driving about a year after high school. Drove it as a daily driver since 2007 up to 2010, when it was parked for needing a new clutch and tires, tried to find the time but she ended up under a tarp from about April until January of this year when I finally got it in the garage and began work.


Took a wire wheel to the floor boards and sprayed a few coats of Rustoleum.







Then did the same to the rear wheel wells and hatch area.







I've taken the transmission out a couple different times, each on my back on the floor. Didn't feel like doing that again, so I pulled the whole assembly. All it needed really was a clutch. This was the beginning of the "While I'm at it" syndrome.



Time lapse video taking the engine out!
http://youtu.be/kHXzf8KcVq4


With the engine out, I figured I might as well clean it up a bit. Found some rust under the battery tray so thought I should make sure there wasn't more else where.
The beginning:




Dashboard out


Passenger firewall


Ground down


Removing the rubber undercoating with a pneumatic air hammer. Made quick work of it


Cleaned up from the outside. You can clearly see the rusted out area. I could use some advice of where to cut since that corner of the battery box needs to be replaced as well.


Driver side cleaned up as well.



At this point I decided that since the car was already up on jacks and the front suspension was out, I might as well take out the rear and clean that area up as well.

Rear diff and fuel tank out




Cleaning up rear wheel wells



I bought a sandblasting pressure pot from the used/open box items at Harbor Freight. Took it home and it works great.









Not having a rotisserie was quite the test of patience. I found out I don't have any..lol Lying on my back trying to shoot up at the car, my mask would fog up after only a few seconds. I ended up using a set of ski goggles which worked great, but got scuffed up pretty quickly.

Worked out in the end






Driveline, suspension, mounts, and fuel/brake lines laid out to be cleaned or sandblasted as well.



Now for some teasers of what's to come:






Sandblasted some parts.


This is from January to May 2012. At this point the progress pretty much stopped as I geared up to move to North Dakota to finish my studies. I'll be in Grand Forks, ND for about another year or so.

Over the fall, the car went to a body shop to have some rust in the rear quarter panels fixed. The project took a bit of a turn when the shop engaged 'search-and-destroy' mode and completely stripped down the body. I delivered the car to them with a sandblasted front end and engine bay. They took it a step further by finding and fixing every ounce of rust possible, and sprayed something that looks like POR-15 (I need to clarify exactly what product was used) on the entire undercarriage and engine bay. I plan to paint the engine bay body color eventually.

Battery tray and firewall rust cut out & replaced.




Hand made a replacement for the rear quarter panel area.










Imperfections in the roof area from the last paint job caused them to take the roof down to metal and re do the area.


The rest of the body taken down to metal and re worked.




At a friend's shop to have S13 coilover adapters installed.


Coilover adapter sleeve installed vs stock strut assembly on the right.


S13 Megan Coilover setup completed.


Front camber plates fitted flush to the strut tower.


Welded in from above and below, and blended into the tower.


This thing will be LOW!


I won't have much more to update until I get some time to travel home again, but I'm excited for where this project is going. Also not picuted is the 4 point roll bar which has been installed (bolt in). A future possibility involves extending the roll bar to develop a simple roll cage.

I'll keep you all updated as the project moves forward, thanks for looking!!

This post has been edited by Globerunner513 on Jan 14 2013, 10:14 PM

That's one hell of an overhaul.

haha thanks. It certainly got a bit carried away. Particularly considering the only reason it was in the garage in the first place was to replace the clutch....

obligatory

Nice.

BUENO. Oh man I need to visit WME more often. So freaking bueno.

God damn it you guys now I need another Z. ARGH. ARGH!!!

thats some pretty heavy duty work going on with your car nice stuff.