Hi all, Been forever but glad to be back to what i consider my home. Miss all you guys, and am glad to be back and around, will be around for a while despite lack of subaruishness. lol Anyways... A personal update, got divorced, gave up house, subaru and such. Quite displeased I roamed around for a bit, then decided was time for a move. Met a wonderful new woman a while back and had a son Evan who is 4 months old. Looking for more money, and a change decided to pack up whatever fit in my xterra and find a new home. Came to norfolk virginia, and started looking for work, started off working on the Carrier George Bush as a naval insulator and eventually got back into the IT field as a business analyst, which I do now and work odd hours yet again. Sat Sun Mon then off. Settled my girlfriend moved up and we had a new child, and got full custody of my two other children who come up this summer permanently now that we are settled and back into a house in June. Which makes us very happy. So now that im settled, and happy, decided man.. I cannot stand not working on something. So began to look at a new project car to build up. I have no debt or car notes, so had to be older. My L I sold when i left, so a few cars crossed my mind. Considered another L with a swap, old school rx-7, 1988 Supra, Starion, and eclipse, but finally decided to look for something I couldnt afford in HS when i got my 200sx-SE V6, which turned out to be a Z31 300zx. Looked around and finally found two cars, and got them both for $1600.00 First one, is a 1987 Turbo. Bought for $500.00 in bumble va. Went to look at car and figured was a basket case. To my suprise, car cranked right up and was able to drive, turbo spooled, and felt durn good. Poor guy was 17y/o who couldnt afford insurance and wanted to get it out of his yard. Pros/Parts coming out:Everything needed for a nice swap. -Stronger FS5R30A tranny that is same internally as 300zx TT. -Turbo ECU, Larger Injectors, Subframe, Block,Exhaust manifold, and a nice T3 Turbo(not for long) -Turbo Front Hubs, which will accept twin turbo 4 piston calipers. -Extra T-Tops, Rear Spoiler, Drive shaft. Spare Wiring Harness. -16" Turbo 1987 only gunmetal wheels and nice 225/50/16's -Lotsa spares, and enough parts to make more than $500.00 -Turbo Center Gauge Cluster with oil temp, pressure and boost. -Came with Limited Slip Differential. Cons -Electrical system a mess. Most likely fuses, but headlights, tailights, and dash dead. -Smelly... -No catback, for spoolriffic cop grabbing sound. -Title lost. The Next week went to south bumble to look at a car to swap all this crap into. Found a 134k 1987 N/A for 1100. Poor guy had too many cars, and no space for baby much to his wifes dismay. Was supppppper clean, and cranked up and ran perfectly. Pros:Umm runs good. -New paint job. -Nice stereo system, prewired by best buy for sub and amp. -New clutch, flywheel, fuel pump, brakes, tint, and not smelly. -Not rusty and block is in great shape. -Title -So-So new muffler. -Also not a two plus two and has non leaky t-tops Cons -WTF B&M grip shifter -Sub missing due to thieves broke driver side window. -A/C Compressor seized so have to replace. -Weak passenger side window regulator. So yanked the window and wheels off the turbo car and took na to inspection and passed, now drive daily. Plans... Well thats the fun part. Have a VG33 Block, the crank and rods are forged in both Z's and vg33, So currently have it in storage, and going to place in the VG33. Piston options are nice, either Supercharged Xterra Pistons 8:9.. or.. could just use nissan titan pistons bore a small bit, 1mm bore out the rods blah blah and have a 3.6 most likely will end up a 3.3 tho. So far tearing down the 300zx turbo taking out the rear and front subframe, cleaning up rust, repainting, and putting all new bushings and whatever else then placing in the other car and selling those parts. Rebuilding tranny, and cleaning up diff, then placing in the N/A. Soon will be test fitting an intercooler, and sending off the ecu to nistune for an programmable ecm. Turbo will be rebuilt to a t3/t4 super 60 hybrid, and once all put together will be ready to rock. Just getting the tt fuel pump and some injectors and other bits. Ill keep you guys posted and included a few pics, and hope to see you guys soon, if anyone is in the va beach area come hang out -Jason
Nice!! Good to have you back. Awesome project and congrats on getting your personal affairs in order.
Thanks all, i come home about 2x a month since i dont work weekdays, however now back in college, hopefully spring break i can catch up with you all
Im over on the edge on military hwy. Kinda at the borders of norfolk, chesapeake, and vbeach. Now work by Janaf. Neat place, but seems so tiny compared to atl.
Nice Zs. If you're not dead set on the VG, check out Hybridz.org for some interesting swaps. RB motors bolt right in with the right mounts and were offered as the 200ZR in japan with an RB20, guys have swapped LS1s and 2JZs as well. Glad to hear you're doing well, I figured something was up when you hadnt come into my restaurant for a few months but I'd lost my phone and your number with it a while back.
cool project! really takes me back...when i had a charcoal colored 3rd gen maxima i wanted those 87 turbo wheels soooo bad, haha. i had no idea the VG33 crank/rods were forged, pretty cool to know. what kind of plans do you have suspension-wise? i had always thought these cars were pretty flexible, are subframe connectors out there for these (again, going back to 3rd gen maxima days).
Thanks guys, the vg sohc cranks are ductile iron, all rods forged. Suspension wise, Im not sure yet, Most likely Tokico illum. with 300/325 lb springs. Sway bars are near non-existant, so will find from a 88 SS or use the sway from the turbo car. New bushings and all that mess as well. Still really investigating, seems to be the hard part.
I used to visit z31.com when I had my Z's. If you haven't checked it out you should. There is some good info there but it does lack the civility this site has.
very cool to see someone working on a Z31. it's one of those under appreciated cars but with some effort and imagination can make a fun project.
Alex:Yup thank goodness, it came in friday, and was super heavy lol hard to get in the stupid truck. 600 lbs of iron block goodness. Icant:Yeah its kinda odd, the resale value on z31's are garbage lol, but they are very fun to drive, and have good foundations for modding, just not alot of off the shelf parts.
Most Interior Done Stereo Install New Console New Rear View Mirror and Replaced worn out mirror mount New Brake Lines and Strut Mounts Rotors and Pads for Turbo Brake Swap New Compressor 99$? Wtf but works
Maxima Alternator 87 Turbo Transmission. Nice day to work on the cars.. Next up is the Blues, and ST Springs, with new poly mounts, then some p45r's Winter will bring m30 ecu conversion, and Spring will bring the vg34 swap with a 60-1 swap. Slow but steady.
Turbo Dual Piston Brakes Rods Crank Lower Manifold with new top feed injectors Turbo Oil Pan for Swap Turbo Crossmember to swap into Grey N/A More to follow, hope all is well in atlanta!
http://s733.photobucket.com/albums/ww334/yourboydub/300zx Stuff/ Where im documenting this PITA My babie Getting pretty sure.... Power Goals are 450whp 545wtrq. Oddly enough I have sold enough parts off the turbo car that the total cost of both cars < Parts sold. So basically free grey Z
You're like a good old redneck, except instead of a bunch of old Mustangs or Camaros, you've got a 2 dead Zs in the driveway. Best of luck getting it all together!