Day 16

I lent out my rotisserie to the guy in the stall next to me cuz he says he needs it to paint his frame for his 69 gto. I say ok but im gonnna need it back by the end of the week. Hw says yeah man no problem. That was almost 3 effing weeks ago. Im kind of pissed that he dirty dicked me like that because all I need to do is sand blast the bottom of the frame and I can bolt the suspension back on it (which I have been dying to do btw). Never again will I lend a tool that is crucial to my build progress.

So now I figure I can at least finish up the only major thing left that I havent completed yet, the motor. So I install the bearings, all the clearances are good except crank end play. I take the caps off and sand the thrust bearing multiple times and finnaly get it good. Then I start to measure ring gap only to find out that they are effing huge. I measured them at .023''. The box they came in says .010" a far cry from what I actually measured. The service manual was closer at .017 but that leaves me with .006'' too big. I call the guy who bored and honed the block and gave me the rings and he says to bring it down. Now I have to load the block in my car with a cherry Picker and drive it up to clairmont only for him to tell me its the best he can do for rings and I can have a refund. He didnt even look at the block. He could have told me that on the phone. what ever. He says they will be ok so we will see.

I plan to try and get the rings installed and the pistons in tomorrow. After that the rest of the motor will go together quite quickly as the head is already assembled.

Day 15

So today felt like a great success to me.
First I started off with some light prep work for shaving the rear bumper. There was some old hangars and such and I never removed the tail lights so I removed the lights and grinded off the hangars and made everything flush. I will need to fill in all the tiny holes from the spot welds I removed and make patches for some of the bigger holes like the bumper shock holes and a weird oval shaped hole that I dont know what was for. Ill fill in the rest with bondo and make it smooth.

Then I removed all of the outer bushing casings from the rear and front control arms. It was one of the few things I was dreading to do. I attemped to do one a few days ago and it didnt go too well. Thats why when I started today following some very useful tips on removing them on hybridz I was pleasantly surprised at how easy they were to remove. What I did was use a sawzall to cut two identical grooves all the way down the length of the casings about a screwdrivers tip width and used a screwdriver to remove the piece from between the cuts. What that did was unspring the casing and I was able to remove it with relative ease. I now have a newfound respectwhen I see a person who puts poly bushing upgrade on their mods list. This is a very tedious task if done right.

After finishing the bushings I finished installing the OBX lsd in the carrier. Im very happy about it. Shimmed and lashed correctly and breakaway torque seems close enough with my elbo torque wrenches.

When I was about to leave a guy towed in a white 240z with a trashed front fender and deep offset wheels. So I start talking to the guy and hes says that he threw a rod on his l24 and says hes going to do an LS1 swap. Cool. Then he says that hes gutting the interior. BTW its cherry inside. I ask what hes going to do with it and he says hes gonna get rid of it. I told him Ill buy what I need off of him. SWEET!

Past Posting

Just wanted to explain to everyone who didnt see my thread on hybridz that I started this build on november 9th. I took all the posts I made from the other site I was posting on and just copied them to my new blog site. My wife was gone form the 9th and got back on the 3rd of December. All the posts before this one reflected the time that she was gone. All other posts after this will be current and I will try to post updates on the day I made them to the build. Be warned though, I only get three days a week after work to play with the datsun.  Sorry for the messy dates and what not but it turned out to be troublesome to make threads on a forum where admins are allowed to delete and modify posts at will and without warning. Thanks for following!
Marcus

Day 14

I spent most of the day just cleaning up the mess around the car. Im working in a public area so I have to take all the valuable stuff home and bring back what I need when I need it every day. The place is super cheap to use though and has any tool I need short of a paint booth.

Then I had just enough time to weld the patch on that I made yesterday.

My brake kit also came in today. I was under the impression that the calipers were used but was pleasantly surprised at the condition. They are either new/reman or he did a very good job rebuilding them.

The kit comes with everything I need to make the conversion short of pads. It has all the bolts, washers, clips for the e-brake and I even get full use of the factory e-brake and I can use the factory rear propotioning valve. At $375.00 its an awesome deal!

I also picked up my seats from the upholstery shop. I dont remember if I talked about the seats before but I got a killer deal on new seat covers and busted ass 240z seats from good old craigslist. I then made a very feable attempt to reupholster them myself before taking them to the mexicans in San Ysidro. lol.they turned out good and Im in a grand total of $510.00 on the seats with upholstery bill.

Day 13

Im waiting for the brake kit to come in so I can finish the rest of assmebly for the struts so I figured I would start on the rust repair again.

I just took some flat 18 gauge and formed it around the rusty spots behind where the big patch is. Not the best way but it was the easiest way I could think of to do it without cutting it completely off. I did remove the actual rust though and cleaned it leaving just enough swiss cheese to weld those patches to.

On the other side I made a nice cover patch that I will weld in tomorrow.

Day 11 and 12

So it is Thanksgiving and I cant think of a better way to spend it with my gone than to section and weld my struts up. I spent the whole day till midnight breaking down everything and sandblasting every rear suspension piece as well as priming and painting most of it.

Then I send from noon till midnight the next day cutting the spring perches off, grinding the welds down, removing 30mm from both the front and backs and welding them back together. I went ahead and did all new bearings as well but I didnt tighten the stub axle nuts for the back because I am still waiting for my rear disc conversion kit to come in. A guy in Arizona that used to supply Datsun Parts LLC sold them to me and the pictures he sent me looked really nice. The brackets look to be the very same type that Big Phil from hybrid z used for his conversion. Heres his video of them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQLcnC-Gg8k

If you didnt notice, I converted to the toyota 4x4 caliper. This shit really bolted right up with no modification or spacers needed. Im using the non vented rotor version. There is another caliper from other toyota trucks that are a little bigger and you can use a vented front rotor from the earlier z31 IIRC. This is the web page I used to do this.
http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/Calipers/toyotaCalipers.html

Day 10

Ok, so now that I have the rails done I can start on my other major rust issue, the front passenger area around the hood hinge. I knew that it was rusty but I didnt know how bad it was till I removed the fender.

Here  is the cancer unmolested. (Look up)

Here is most it it removed. You cant see in the pics but to the left of the hole I cut out is the fender frame rail and it is really bad as well. I dont know yet how im gonna fix that but I think that part is kind of structural so I need to be careful about it.

Day 9

I finally bent up the other frame rail and finished installing them both. they dont look factory but they have to be better than the condition they were in. Thats what Im telling myself anyways.

Day 8

Last night I disassembled my spare 3.54 R200 to take the carrier to work to pull and press the bearings to the OBX unit and install and torque the ring gear. I used the old bearings on the OBX unit so hopefully they are still good. I will reinstall the carrier into the differential case sometime this week. hopefully I wont need to shim it because I dont feel like hunting for shims.

My tokico Illuminas finally got shipped in the mail today. I was worried they wouldnt show up as i ordered them like three weeks ago. Im super excited to start modifying the struts for the coil over conversion. When they show up, I will officially have all the parts I oredered for this build. I did a tally up for the parts and it broke $4000. I havent even got the machine shop bill yet. Yikes!

I also had the pleasure of modifying my N42 intake to accept 14mm o-ring style injectors from an SRT-8 Magnum. They supposedly flow 34.5 LBs @ 59 PSI It looks good but fuel pressure will tell the true story. Ill be modifying my Pallnet barbed fuel rail to match the intake.

Tomorrow I will bend up the other frame rail out of sheet metal and weld it up. after I finish the rails I can focus on the small patches and when I finish modifying the strut tubes for the coilovers I can set her back down on the ground and start building the motor and wiring it up. I have alot to do for the motor that I dont need to do for an N/A setup. Run intercooler piping, mount the intercooler, mount the oil cooler, run the oil lines for the turbo, run the oil lines for the oil cooler, mounting the new RRFPR, blah blah blah....

day 7

Today went very well I think except that I had to stop early due to rain and my welder running out of wire. I almost finished repairing one of the frame rails. What I did was bend up some sheet metal into a new frame, cut the old rust off the original and placed my new rail on as a cap. It turned out very good except the welds look ugly, but hey they will hold. Its my first time doing anything like this. It is alittle outside my comfort zone, but then again, if I didnt want to learn then I shouldnt be working on classics. Thinking back on it, I wish that I had done this to both sides but my other rail was completely gone so I drilled out the spot welds and completeley removed it and welded a flat patch to weld a new rail to. I figure that now I have a good flat surface to lay the frame rail on the other side.

Since I wont be able to work on the car again till Wednesday, I will install the OBX HLSD in my spare 3.54 diff in the garage. I wish that my tokico illuminas would just show up so I can start getting the suspension ready to go back on. I say that by the weekend I should be able to reinstall the rear and front subframes. It shouldnt take long to change out bushings, do the spindle pins, weld up the new strut tubes for the coilovers and paint it all up. I plan two to three days for all that. then i can reinstall the glass, carpet, seats, and dash (if I ever finish the dash).

I also got my OBX lsd in the mail yesterday as well as my rbryant washer/bolt kit. I installed them and snapped some pics. any questions, let me know.

Day 6

I finally got her up on the rotisserie today. Its probably the most badass thing i have ever done besides megasquirt carwise.

I also finished removing the sound deadening material and removed the front window too.

Tomorrow I plan to Start the frame rail repair and if I finish that start cleaning everything and patching up the rocker panels.

I should be able to get at least halfway done patching up the rust, then I can worry about shaving the rear bumper area. I wont be able to finish it till the car comes off the rotisserie as I am using the bumper shocks to hold her up right now. I Have lots of cleaning to do!!!!

Day 5

OK,
I got most of my goals accomplished that I wanted to get done today. I built the rotisserie, drained the tank and dropped it. Then I chipped away some more sound deadening before it got too dark.

While researching limited slip options, I came across this thread, http://forums.hybrid...__1#entry835955

I bought an OBX LSD on the spot. Now I feel I will have the ultimate drift/track car! LSD, coilovers, and a turbo motor. F#%KING SWEET!!!! Im already dreaming about drifting it to the moon.

Really though, im pretty excited to get her done so that i can drive it.

Day 4

Nothing new today really, just attempted to re-upholster my seats but it didnt go too well. I gave it to a shop to do. $360 for the labor plus 150 for the parts equals $510 for the seats. I dont know if thats good or bad but i really thought i could do it cheaper. Oh well, we live and learn.

Tomorrow I start working on the body. My goal is to have the fuel tank drained and dropped and the car up on the rotisserie. Steep goals for the time I have to work on it. Ill try to make it happen though!

         

Day 3

So day 3 was laborious indeed.

I was supposed to finish stripping the rest of the sound deadening material out but i saw some disturbing pictures of another members car after he removed his front fenders and I thought I would find the same thing. It turns out that it was rusty under mine but not unsalvageable.

I am now a little worried about the strength of my rocker panels. They both have a little cancer at each end of them and im afraid that even with new patches they will not be as strong. We will see though.

After I pulled the whole front end of the car off and the front subframe i proceeded to do the same for the rear subframe. I was going to drain the fuel tank and drop it as well but I had nothing to drain the fuel into. Ill find a big pan to drain it on Wednesday when i can work on it some more.

When I drain the fuel and drop the tank on Wednesday Ill finish cleaning up the interior of the car (removing sound material and such) and work on patching up the rust I have found. shouldnt be too hard I imagine. I should have the frame mounted on the rotisserie come the weekend so that i can start frame rail repair. YAY!

With all the work on the body still needing to be done Ill have to find time to install the coilovers and build the motor as it will be out of the machine shop soon. the guy works pretty fast. I dropped the block off yesterday and he already had it bored and almost finished with the honing.

 

Day 2

Ok, so I just finished the second day of the build. Everything went well I suppose. Just lots of work to be done.

First thing i did was disassemble the rest of the engine so i could drop it off at the machine shop. Found that I wiped a cam lobe and it took out my crank journals with it. Its alright, I have a spare crank and the cam was a comp 292s grind. Not good for a turbo build. I plan to use my N/A cam anyways. People say thats its like a stage 1/2 upgrade.
Then i pulled the tranny, easy stuff. I proceeded to remove all of the wiring from the car. It needs to be gone though pretty badly though. it was easier to pull out than I thought it would be. After that I started chipping away at the sound deadening looking for rust. I was lucky so far as I finished the passenger side and only found surface rust and two 1/2 inch circles that will be easy to patch. It was raining all day so I decided to play in the garage with the dash. I have my work cut out for me on the dash.

Build Intro / First day

Hello,
I recently decided that i had enough of the ever ending searching for crap parts that dont quench my thirst for performance/coolness/speed, so I finally started collecting parts that i have been drooling over for the better part of two and a half years. i started by buying a turbo exhaust manifold and that lit the fire i needed to start my project. I thought that when i built the n/a flattop/big cam motor i would be satisfied but I wasnt. That and the fact that I have so much drivetrain slop that it rendered the car undriveable at high gear cruising speed pushed me to where I am now.

I will be using this car as a daily driver with the occasional 3 hour drive up to willow springs to get my drift on and as such the theme of the car is gonna be catered towards that.

For suspension I will be sectioning my struts and installing the 3T ground control coilovers and illumian shocks as well as the full energy suspension bushing kit from msa and ill probably throw in some homemade strut braces for good measure.

As far as engine mods I will be running an N/A-T with n42 block/ n42 head/ n42 intake with pallnet fuel rail, diyautotune's SX Performance FPR, walbro gsl392 fuel pump, stock t3 turbo with MSA downpipe and my homemade BANR Performance exhaust (straight 2.5 inch piping all the way back!) i havent desided how much boost ill be running yet but i will be running E85 and i will find out what ill be using for boost control when the wife brings it back from japan (up garage baby!)i also bought an ebay intercooler and piping to intercool this beast. It will all be managed by MS2 with EDIS 6 and a zietronix wideband.

I will be putting the car on a rotisserie to fix the frame rails and aslo to clean the bottom of the car and to fix few rust spots i have. i plan on shaving the rear bumper area (this in my opinion is what makes the s30 so sexy) and if i feel like it at the end of the build get the MSA front airdam and bumper.

Interior will be modest as it was all mostly destroyed by the PO so i just sprung for some new carpet, seat upholstery and i will refurbish the rest of what i have which isnt much. as far as wheels, i havent even thought about it and im having a hard time deciding on fuel injectors. (have the barbed rail and 14mm oring injectors from an SRT8 Magnum that i was gonna use but they dont fit the intake manifold unfortunately....

So without further adieu,



The first day I spent pulling out the engine. my plan was to have the engine torn completely down before the workshop closed for the day but i only got as far as head removal.

engine just pulled, only took 1 1/2 hours!

Heres the n42 head after 2 to 300 miles (dont know exactly, didnt have the dash installed.)