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So we know its not metallic!

Good luck to you, I would be afraid to try it myself. Sorry to hear about the weather, things are going the same way for me. Its been cold and dry, but now its warming up we have on and off rain.

Keep us posted.

A motley collection of images. One is a drunk-shot, guess which one. Almost ready to spray the color coat!


[ Post merged on Apr 6 2009, 09:21 PM ]
Ugh... the flash brings out the ugliness of the rear valence. Really though, running your hand across it and looking at it in person it feels STRAIGHT. Lets just hope the topcoat doesn't bring up the defects...

The first one, Haha! What lip might that be, Im not too firmiliar with the S30 kits yet.

Xenon polyurethane (rubberish substance, not fiberglass) airdam '75-'78 model, purchased from BlackDragon auto. I actually ordered it as a "mistake" at the beginning of the project, along with the performance ignition coilI really needed. All because there was a large amount of Killian's that I had to get rid of that day.

The best (and only so far) purchase under the influence I've ever made. Though I wish I ordered the earlier model and converted to 240Z style turn signals at this point...

that you remember..... lol

You are ALOT further along that I .

I'm still waiting for it the warm up here and for the stupid volcano to stop shooting ash into the air

You probably made tons of other purchases, and forgot.

well... not in terms of performance... Most of my mods have been form over function so far.

Still need to: get wider wheels, engine swap, megasquirt ECU, all the fun turbo stuff, strut tower braces, new seats, new gauges, roll bar, reinstall/new sound system.... lots of stuff...


[ Post merged on Apr 10 2009, 09:05 AM ]
Well, its painted... finally...

Because I'm a perfectionist asshole though, I don't like the way it came out. For some reason last night EVERYTHING seemed to go wrong. No orange peel, No runs, I got good at avoiding that. I cleaned the surface of the car no less than 3 times after sanding it so I had no surface contamination fisheyes. But after laying the second coat and finding a THIRD god damn tiny insect that decided to land on the fresh paint, I got pissed. So pissed that my yell expelled the condensation inside my mask onto the surface where I just plucked the bug from. RRRAAAAAGGE!!!

The space I was working in was also much smaller than it looked, I was constantly trying to work around large immovable objects at the perimeter of the booth, just so I could maintain a proper spraying distance and angle. Some masking also decided to move on some areas, notably my front left tire so I got some overspray. The way the paint went down on the surface also angered me, until I read the label a bit closer and found out I'd have to sand it down after 24 hours... well, that's if I had 68 degrees Fahrenheit... its been over 12 hours and its still a bit tacky. The color also looks a little bit brighter than advertised.

For the most part though, it came out decent. The paint is even and I don't see any stripes. By my standards its still a 60/60 paint job though.

At least you are on paint right now. I still have to patch all the holes that I put into my car, relocate the filler for my fuel cell, tack the exhaust in, and weld everything up, before I can paint. I haven't really touched the engine. And then I have to find a way to fab a S14 gauge cluster into my s30 dash.

Why not just buy a set of gauges and wire them into the car, keeping your S30 dash (unless its already gone)? Personally, its what I plan on doing a little ways down the road. The Speedhut reverse glow revolution gauges will look SWEET as replacements, especially since they look almost stock. Apparently its pretty easy to wire them in, some guy on Hybridz has a writeup. It certainly beats Autometer gauges, white or black faced.


[ Post merged on Apr 10 2009, 04:23 PM ]
Since I can't wait and my car is such a camwhore, I'll post a pic even though I originally planned to wait until after all was done. As such, its not fully assembled yet. The paint is still a bit too tacky for my liking (wtf the drips on the can without the activator mixed in are completely dry!!) so I have only reinstalled a few things.



The hood needs to be stripped and repainted... but that's for another day (yes, it'll stay flat black). The paint is "Omaha Orange" no one got my hint of "Nebraska". It came out a bit lighter than what I thought it would be, but its close enough.

Price.

fuel, temp, speedo, and tach all for $20.

I converted to a electronic speedo sender. And I don't see the point in paying $60+ per a gauge, when the stock ones work just fine.

Very true, they're very pricey. I suppose all I'm really paying for is the looks, and the ability to get rid of my speedo cable, and have an programmable odometer that actually displays all my mileage.

very nice looks like the old 432R paintjob very nice

I just took the 240sx spddeo sender off of the auto trans and glued it onto the speedo cable gear housing. A little more to it than that, but it only took me like 5 min

Yep, that was the idea!

For some reason it just seems like the "natural color" of the S30 (at least to me) even though orange isn't a favorite color of mine at all.

Now if only I could find a junkyard OS Giken head...

NICE!! Honestly I really like the color you chose.

And as for sanding it, I waited at least a week before I started wet-sanding. I still havn't done the actual body after 2 years....oops.

Woot!!!!

The awesome orange and black color scheme! Yes! I love it!

So I took these pictures a few days ago, right before I took off on a shakedown run. Possibly the worst day I could have picked due to rain and wetness, but I had to drive up a few hundred miles for the family Easter party and figured it would be a good time to run some seafoam through the oil system. I made it to the DMV and back, then 3 exits northbound on the freeway before I broke down. Felt like fuel starvation, but even though I knew my tank was low, the fuel light didn't come on till the car died. Luckily I was at the crest of a hill with an exit at the bottom so I coasted to the offramp. A good semeritan brought me a jerrycan of premium, then I tried starting again. That's when the exhaust detached itself from the headers. While working on refitting them (impossible, even with my mild lowering) I also noticed a line on my charcoal canister had broken off at its attachment point. This may have caused the fuel starvation, since the tank may have no longer had positive air pressure going to it. So unfortunately I had to get the Z towed home and returned to its natural environment; the garage. Both fixes should be easy, I just have to figure out a way to better support the exhaust on the frontal area, and if I can find some clamps that will fit around the 2 pipes exiting the headers that would probably help too....

car looks AWESOME! you should be really proud man!

sounds like you've become acquainted with the z car. I've been lucky to only have my car crap out on me about twice...once because I drove through a huge puddle...and the other I still don't know why.

anyway good luck with the fixes. Are you gonna keep the front 'open mouth' style? or put the grill back in? or bumper? just curious.

Awesome, now you just need the 432 motor to go along with it

The fixes are just what happens to projects, always the finishing touches

i would have to say put the bumper back and possibly different wheels

huh... my last post didn't go through...

Bumpers are probably never going back on, but maybe fiberglass 240z bumpers. I'll think about it. I'm going to either install a mesh "ricer grill" painted flat black, possibly in combination with the stock slatted grill, or extend the stock grill so it goes down to the bottom of the lip. Wheels though, are my next purchase. Those stock 14's really have to go, and the replacements I get will be wider 16" with a more aggressive negative offset so they'll fill out the flares much better.

The car is far from finished, still needs a lot of tweaks and touchup. My exhaust and vacuum leak issues are solved for now, thanks to tightened clamps and duct tape around the vacuum line. I'd still like to add in another support though, for the front section just behind the headers. The interior is still really just slapped together, the passenger seat isn't even bolted down. I drove the car around for about an hour and a half today without any real issues. Lots of cabin noise, some panels still have to go back in, and a couple rattles. maybe I should lay down some dynomat. I should really reinstall the stereo and speakers too, lol. The exhaust note is pure music but I still like listening to my own tunes! Oh, and its really, really in need of new weatherseals.

I agree, it looks badass in orange w/ the black flares and spoiler.

I love it dude, It looks great!

I would keep the front bumper the way it is, but I know you will get more agressive, larger wheels when funds allow it anyways.

I give you props, I would be so proud.