need help deciding a few things

[quashpdarkman]

this is a thread just for showing off your project car(s) that you've spent your hard earned money on.

my ongoing project is a can-am style 240Z with an L28ET swap. as you can tell by the rest of this thread, this is definitely a long term plan of mine.

[agn]

Hmm you need Bob|3D he is not around anymore, but he does know cards. I'll see if i can pm him.

[AceD]

thats one heck of a mod list...

check out this forum --- http://www.zcar.com/

[quashpdarkman]

this post might as well not exist.

[AceD]

yeah i had an Illumina 5 way Adj / Eibach pro kit spring setup on my car before i sold it. Its definately worth the extra hundreds so that you can set the stiffness. So you plan to drift?

[quashpdarkman]

this will be a street/autox car that might see some time on sears point or laguna seca on occasion. driftiing would be fun, but i don't want to spend that kind of money (replacing tires alone runs the wallet dry; imagine if you broke some steering linkage in the process)

and if you haven't noticed, i edited the original post because i have a different plan now (gas is getting way too expensive out here to keep an l28 stroker).

[AceD]

well its been a while since u posted. Can you post any progress Pics?

[quashpdarkman]

well its been a while since u posted. Can you post any progress Pics?

actually, as of now i don't have a working camera, and most of my time has been spent working on my friend's integra conversion (gsr to itr). not to mention at the moment the car's still a shell sitting in a friend's garage, but as soon as i get this job i'm putting in a rebuilt l24 just to get it running. pics will come soon though, i promise.

also, the idea of an sr20 swap seems like alot more trouble than it's worth if it's going to be in stock form (which mine would be if i were to do a swap), so i've decided to pass on that as well. if you can name another motor that would be reliable (and easy to swap in, or relatively so at least) in the event that the l24 becomes too much trouble (which they are notorious for doing) that would be appreciated.

[Kel]

Cool a 240 thread!

I am now in a process of buying a 240 w/ a KA24DE. I was thinking maybe about going the SR way, but I have a friend that owns a performance shop specializing in KAs, so the hook-ups will be better :). I know i'm going to turbo it, get some classy suspension and drift the fuck out of it. I also know I want to do a Japanese s13 silvia front end conversion as well... looks soo good.

When you get some pictures... def. post them up. I'll put mine up too.

[quashpdarkman]

Cool a 240 thread!

I am now in a process of buying a 240 w/ a KA24DE. I was thinking maybe about going the SR way, but I have a friend that owns a performance shop specializing in KAs, so the hook-ups will be better :). I know i'm going to turbo it, get some classy suspension and drift the fuck out of it. I also know I want to do a Japanese s13 silvia front end conversion as well... looks soo good.

When you get some pictures... def. post them up. I'll put mine up too.

heh, it was actually about 240Z's but SX is fine too.

i honestly wouldn't bother with the SR20 because it's alot of money for the swap and if you just build up the KA a bit, you'll be producing the same kind of power with nearly double the torque curve. that, and the SR20 really isn't that great of a motor to begin with (why do you think all the silvia owners in japan are so willing to sell them to people over here and drop in RB26's?); you'll ultimately be disappointed for the kind of money you spend just to get it to fit in the car.

an update on the car: it's still sitting in my friends garage. he took most of the body panels off for me (i'm replacing everything i can with fiberglass) but next time i'm there i'll definitely take pictures (just got a working camera last week). i also just applied for a job and hopefully that all goes through so i can finally start pumping money into it.

[Kel]

Oh! Z! Even better :). A friend just did a sx -> z conversion. It sucks and looks terrible... but he has a good heart. Heh. The real s30 is sick though.

And I totally agree with you on the KA > SR.

Lets see those pictures!

[quashpdarkman]

i might be able to snap some this week. the shell is still pretty neglected but income is making it's way into the project. i'll also take pictures of the L24 and four speed i have sitting around.

[Kel]

Hey quash did you ever finish this project or drop one of those motors in there? The RB26 would be fucking amazing.

As for me... I haven't got a 240sx yet. I looked at a WHOLE bunch of them, but never could find the right one.

I've been thinking about getting a 4-door though. Looked at a bunch of Cressida's and 1990 and below 929s, and i'm hopefully going to look at a 929 soon that is really close to my house. I've always wanted a rotary engine, so i'm leaning towards the 929, but the Cressida is pretty baller as well.

I'll snap some pictures if I end up picking it up.

[quashpdarkman]

it's been moving along at a sluggish (at best) pace.

the rb idea fell through the roof due to the cost of shipping from japan, so i ended up selling that chassis for about $500 (it wasn't in the best of shape anyways as the front frame rails were slightly out of place. the guy i sold it to is doing a complete drivetrain swap so he's cutting the tub and the rest of the frame out anyways) and now i'm just gathering the funds for a new one, along with the money to actually get started on it as soon as i get it.

although an actual product hasn't materialized yet, i've long since finished the plans i have for the car, so in that respect i've come a long way since i started this thread. when i came up with the idea for a project car, the first thing that came to mind is all of those nightmarish money pit s13's (seriously, have you ever seen one of those in complete shape outside of showrooms? i mean, an s13 you look at and think "i wouldn't mind owning that" doesn't exist outside of magazines) and how most people tend to play their projects by ear, wasting lots of time and (more importantly) money in the process. i knew going into this that the only way it'd be possible on such a tight budget is to plan everything before i even go looking for a car.

so the final plan is to find a nice straight frame, get it down to bare metal, replace what i can with fiberglass, and swap in an L28ET along with new suspension. the final list of everything amounts to around $10k (including the car and labor for motor balancing, etc), which as of now is money i definitely don't have, but i've already been incredibly patient so i don't mind waiting a bit longer than i already have.

pretty much, expect to see something sometime soon.

[Kel]

Yea i'm sure shipping an RB is a bitch. Sucks man... that would of been baller as fuck. Where are you located at? Depending if you want to ship a car or not, there are quite a few very clean, low mileage (90,xxx or so) s13 hatch/coupes in Florida for sale right now that I can point you too if you want. Some of the sellers are friends, some are not, but I guess the real thing would be getting the car back to your place. I can also give you a number to this shop very close to me, Central Automotive, that specializes in importing pretty much anything from Japan. The owner is a very good guy, and the source in Japan is totally legit. They import everything in large containers per request. Prices aren't bad at all. Just PM me if you want any more information.

Hopefully you can get into something soon. Your plans seem pretty awesome for sure :).

And I did get my project car. 1990 Mazda 929S. It is a major beater right now, but thats how I want it haha. I have a budget set and am slowly prepping myself for a wallet full of dust :D. Still trying to figure out if I want to go the track car route, or the DD/VIP style route. If I end up tracking it, the initial cost of building will (probably) be less than the VIP style, but the cost of maintenance will most likely be higher. I dunno...

But here are some pictures as it sits now (sorry about your eyes haha):

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7494/001qg5.jpg

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/8005/002nv6.jpg

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/6757/003yf3.jpg

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/1329/004ph2.jpg

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7117/005uo8.jpg

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/5447/006yu8.jpg

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/3787/007no7.jpg

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/5512/008am4.jpg

[quashpdarkman]

there's quite a few nice Z's here in the bay area and for the right price too. it's just a matter of gathering everything i need beforehand and then somehow finding the time between school and work to build it.

that 929 is pretty nice actually. it might be a cosmetic nightmare but it looks like it hasn't been in an accident so you at least have a good platform to work with. if you're struggling to find suspension for it i think tein and ksport both make 16 way shocks for it.

and maybe it's just me, but something tells me that a eunos cosmo front bumper would look amazing on that.

[Kel]

I keep forgetting you want a Z... not a SX. Haha, sorry : /. Definitely harder to come by heh.

Thanks for the compliments on the 929. Suspension is pretty hard to find, and there is only currently one company that makes coilovers for the HC platform, and they are out of Korea and pretty hard to get a hold of. However... the HC can take FC coilovers with a bit of modification, so if I do decide to do coil suspension, i'll probably just do that. If not... bags ftw haha. I wouldn't mind DDing on bags, but tracking it would probably be pretty shitty.

I also wish Bride made 929/luce rails, because my seat is sitting on a shitty custom fabricated home depot rail. So gay. I barely drive the thing, and won't that much until I get more work done, so its not too big of a deal.

[quashpdarkman]

assuming you didn't buy those seats yourself, you might want to get momo seats instead. pretty much every momo seat uses universal side mounts.

[Kel]

But Bride is JDM as fawk. Just kidding.

Yea i'll probably change to Momo if I decide to start drifting it or just go stock for DD purpose. The stock seats are VERY comfy.

[Kel]

Hey quash:

http://www.sfldrifters.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24402

Its a 280, but sick as all hell. Let me know if you want to set something up man.

[quashpdarkman]

so three weeks ago there was an autocross event here.

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/2342/n5935599678860568772lg0.jpg

this Z had a slightly modified L24 that couldn't have been pushing more than 220hp, a six point rollcage and the factory r180, and it pulled a ~48 on it's total run. for reference, there was a 911 gt2 there that ran a 47 and an evo viii mr that ran a 49.

his secret? ground control coilover set and koni double adjustables.

then this zenki s14 that made me a believer in the obese plastic pigs

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8606/n593559967886063889dz6.jpg

sure that carbon fiber bride seat looks nice, but they cost $1700. each.

[Kel]

Nice Z!

I'm not partial to the 240sx zenki though. I'm actually losing interests in the looks of the 240sx. I dunno.

I'm selling my 929. I want to sell my Subaru and buy a motorcycle and a 510 wagon. I'm talking to this local guy here with a restored one. They are SO. SICK.

[quashpdarkman]

510 wagons can be really fucking awesome. extra room for a full cage if you want it and plenty of options for suspension.

[Kel]

Check it out man:

2008 Tokyo Nostalgic Car Show-
http://flickr.com/photos/auto-otaku/sets/72157605427606046/

[quashpdarkman]

vintage nissan and porsche under the same roof? i wish there were shows out here that are comparable to that (goodguys shows where every car is a chevelle ss don't count either).

[Kel]

Yea seriously. I really hope if I ever get to Japan that I am able to go and see a show like this.

Those "boxy skylines" (forgot the japanese name...hari something I think) get me every time. They are the best looking cars i've ever seen.