2/28/12 Finishing Touches

Made lot's progress this weekend. Frankly, there are only little things keeping this car off the road now. First though, I have to post a pic of the little Miata that has stepped in to fill the shoes of the vandalized G35. Frankly, the Miata makes more sense as a city car as it's more efficient, and easier to find a parking spot for. Also, because it's 22 years old and we bought it for $1400 5 years ago, I don't car if someone bumps it when parking. I've also been shocked to learn that the top replacement I did last summer does not leak at all! I fully expected to have to fiddle with the seals and stop small leaks, but it is fine. The only thing I have to fix is one of the headlights occasionally droops if I go over a big bump.

Friday I noticed that my diff bolts were contacting my rear crossmember with the new mount, a common problem. To fix this I trimmed the mount to raise the diff a little and then clearanced the crossmember. I painted over the exposed steel to prevent rust.

Then I permanently hung the fenders and mounted the headlights and turn signals.

One of my headlight buckets had a nasty dent so I filled it and painted both to match the fenders.

On Sunday CB came by again and we knocked out a bunch of smaller things like the hood, headlight buckets, cowl, rear hatch hardware etc. I stayed late and mounted one of my seats and my steering wheel, mainly so I could sit in the car and make engine noises. 

Last night I went and mounted the newly painted inspection lids, the front air dam the rear trim panels, and the bumper and the rear turn signals. Then I took a bunch of gratuitous pictures. 

-W.W. SBSS

2/24/12 Engine In!

Another late night and alot of progress last night. I didn't get to the shop until 7:30, but CB showed up shortly afterwards. After fooling around with getting the wiring harness laid out in the engine bay and buttoning up the fuel and brake hardlines against the firewall, we started to install the 280zx brake booster.

Unfortunately, because my car is an early car, the 280zx booster is too big as well. I need a 280z 2 seater booster..apparently. We decided to bolt up the stock booster with the new Wilwood Master cylinder anyway. To install the master cylinder, you first have to replace the fittings in the master with the nissan ones from an original master and widen the mounting holes a little bit. Here it is all mounted up.

I was pretty happy with this process, but then CB started looking at my engine and said, "let's put it in". Out came the gantry again and some seatbelts to pick up the engine with. (don't judge me, they're strong)

20 minutes later the engine was in the car! Big cans of Fosters fuel progress.

We left the shop around 12:30am feeling pretty satisfied with ourselves. It's amazing how much faster things go with two people.

-W.W. SBSS

2/23/12 Late Nights

I have been living in the shop. The past few nights I've been there past 11pm hustling to get my car done in time.

Last night I hopped in the Miata, put the top down because it was warm and ran to so the shop right after work.

Once there, I focused on my suspension and brakes. I installed the rear brake brackets and repacked and reinstalled the rear wheel bearings. I know I will be upgrading soon, so I didn't bother replacing the bearings with new pieces.

I put the suspension back up in the car and bolted the brakes up. 

Next I moved back to the front suspension. I forgot to do a couple things last time I assembled it. First, I forgot to put oil in the strut tube. This is really necessary, but it makes removing the strut housing later much easier. I also forgot the bumpstop. Alot of people don't run bumpstops but I figured I had them so I may as well. Finally, I opened up the top hats to fit down further on the strut tops. I still need to get or make spacers or washers to take up the slack at the top, but I can do that with the suspension in the car. 

I tried to tighten up my front brakes, but for some reason they are an odd size, either 9.5mm or some standard size. They are finger tight now, but I didn't want to strip the bolts with the slightly small allen wrench. 

Also this is what happens when you get a small but bleeding cut inside of a rubber glove. It looks much worse than it actually is. 

Getting there.

-W.W. SBSS

2/22/12 Teamwork

Yesterday CB stopped by the shop to drop off some parts I bought from a fellow Z friend and to give me a hand with the car. First the parts:

A two speed Ford Taurus, known to be one of the best OEM fans out there.

And the correct brake booster, finally. 

We then spent about a half an hour trying to get the bolts off of my stub axles. Deciding we needed a better chisel to open up the 'crimp' at the end of the bolt, we made a run to home depot. After another hour of heating, chiseling and fighting with the bolt, we finally sheared the 1/2" drive pin off of the wrench and decided to call in the cavalry. 

We loaded up the Miata and the Subaru with suspension parts and brought it to CB's dad's shop. a huge breaker bar and a vise made quick work of the nuts, and a press moved the stub axles with ease. I should be able to get everything back together and on the car tonight. Sometimes you just need the right tool for the job...or the right friend.

-W.W. SBSS

2/21/12 President's Day Weekend Progress

I did quite alot of work on the car this weekend so it's hard to remember where I started. I'll just be following the pics on my phone. Saturday morning when I went to the shop I found AY's uncle..AY... doings some woodwork. This piece he made by gluing many small pieces together then turning it on a lathe is pretty impressive. Soon after this he started to move his operations out of the shop because of the impending move.

Saturday I spent much of the day sectioning my rear struts. This process is pretty similar to the front so I didn't go quite so overboard with pictures but a couple are below. I think my pipe cutter is dying, because I had a bear of a time getting the cuts straight. 

I also installed the taillights in the car for no apparent reason.

In another random act, I decided to hang one of the front fenders. Looks good!

And I also mocked up a seat in the car. Ignore the stain...

On Sunday I drove first to my mom's place in Newark to borrow her focus and then to Little Ferry to a new friend DV's house to buy a set of wheels from him. I didn't think to take pictures, but he has one of the most impressive collections of motorcycles that I've ever seen. He also has a very clean 240z that he is turning into an all-out race build. Full Arizona Z Car track pack, LS3, this car is gonna be crazy. The reason he is selling these wheels is that they won't work with the 5 lug track pack. Because of this, I got a set of wheels and tires for less than half price with 30 miles on them! DV is also an incredibly friendly guy and seemed happy to help out another biker and Z guy. Thanks DV! 

A late Sunday night in the shop, with my SV, JB's new A7, and AY's new Cherokee. 

After having a big fight with one stubborn bushing, I got the rear suspension together and ready for installation. 

JB was working on a speaker mount for behind his couch. It is amazing how practical the A7 is. 

Monday morning I installed the Ron Tyler Diff mount. It's actually backwards in this picture, but ignore that. 

Then I threw the suspension in the car. I was gonna pull the stub axles out, but couldn't even get the nuts to loosen. I can't install the brake brackets until I get them off. I've called in the cavalry on this one so hopefully this gets solved soon. 

Starting to look like a car! At least now I can roll it out if I need to.

Unfortunately I got some bad news on Monday. I left my G35 at my mom's place in Newark for one night. Overnight, someone decided to break into my car. They took a screwdriver to my lock, beat up the door panel and somehow managed to break both of my window mechanisms (but not the windows, strangely). Since I can't get my passenger window closed, the car is out of commission for a while, locked in my mom's garage. We'll see how this goes dealing with insurance. 

Gotta take the bad with the good I guess...

-W.W. SBSS

2/17/12 Light at the End of the Tunnel

I'm starting to see the light. I know exactly what I need to do to get my car runnning. It's a good feeling.

The amount of boxes that have arrived at my apartment in the past couple weeks is crazy. You wouldn't think you could order a whole car though the mail but you can.

For one reason or another I've only been in the shop twice this week, but last night I made some good progress. I got the other side of my front brakes on. I also test fit my carpet kit, which came at long last. It needs a good vacuum but seems to fit well otherwise.

I also started sectioning the rear struts. Because it was reasonably late before I started, I really only cut off the drum brake flange and spring perch.

 I would have finished wire-wheeling the pieces in preparation for paint, but I nicked my hand with the wire wheel and decided I was too tired to keep going.

I gotta say, with the front suspension and brakes all hooked up it's starting to look aggressive.

I found a great deal on a set of wheels and tires that I'll be picking up this weekend. They aren't exactly what I was looking for, but they're new and less than half price so I can't pass them up. Worst case scenario I will just sell them when the gold Rota's are available. 

Getting there....

-W.W. SBSS