Just call me Harada - My 1984 50th Anniversary Edition Z31 300zx Turbo Build

[rice4life]

wow, quite some progress made.

Are you going to go for the small mirrors like Harada's car had, or keep the stock z31's?

I bet that you could modify some s13 bomex mirrors to work.

[jbaker1121]

Spent a few hours today sanding the entire exterior of the car - trying to get it as smooth as possible. Got any un-poppable dents down to bare metal in order to apply bondo. Next week a friend of mine is plastidipping the entire car for free (I know, I know, it's plastidip. I'm holding off on a real paint job for now. plus its free) so I want to have the car primed and ready to receive a fresh coat.

Sanding


made a bit more work for myself since the p/o had painted the door handles, I used paint remover. A bit too much, since it screwed with the paint surrounding it. Nothing some serious sanding couldn't fix.






these areas are still a big concern. was thinking of just filling the gaps in and sanding/priming for now. (like this on both sides)


after sanding everything (including trim) I masked off and plastidipped the window trim/moldings and the side mirror
(ran out of 'good' tape when I got to other side - long story short it was too cold for cheaper painter's tape to work right and the 1 roll of 3m was the only one that would stick - heated the can of plastidip before using for the most even coat possible from a can - when my buddy sprays the car he'll use it from a gun with some thinner for an even coat)


Dry after about 4 coats. there were a few spots that were pulled because I waited too long to remove the tape. Will simply redo them later.


Then, I mixed some bondo and filled in the more serious dents around the car nice and thick to ensure even lines.



letting it cure overnight/for a day before touching it to make sure it's solid and ready for sanding.

I removed the front bumper in order to pull the radiator and look for any hiding rust while I was sanding the car... can't wait for my motor to come in!


I got a 240 rear bumper from one of the guys I share the shop space with - the license plate recess should work perfectly for my plans to graft it into the oem bumper.


Yes, the bumper does not fit - I'm not using the entire bumper, however. Just the part where the license plate goes. Going to cut a hole in the oem bumper for it to fit in, and set up license plate lights for a nice OEM look. No license plates screwed into the bumper here. I want my Z clean.

Should be back at the shop in the next few days or so to finish up the body work and lay down some filler primer, sand, and prime again.

Also, my CLSD came in today. I will probably not install it right away - my motor comes in next weekend and there are a few other things that need to get done in order for the install to go smoothly. I still need my EFI harness, which is pretty important for the motor

I also need to get these seat brackets done so I have somewhere to sit in the car that is actually attached to the floor....

PLus, still need to get those pesky 302 mounts out, install factory mounts, and cut out the super-rusty rear passenger quarter panel piece and weld in some sheet metal in order to have a nice solid body back there (as well as some other repairs)

Stay tuned....

[jbaker1121]

Just love this model!!!
So retro, so stylish!

Congrats mate.

thank you sir

I'd shave the tits on the kouki bumper. Would look 100x better

yeah the more I look at it the less I like it - I just liked it for the idea of having a factory-loking rear bumper for the license plate relocation. I think I'm going to do a license plate recess instead. - back to my 240 section grafting idea.

[jesus94p]

I'd shave the tits on the kouki bumper. Would look 100x better

[voorhees]

Just love this model!!!
So retro, so stylish!

Congrats mate.

[jbaker1121]

My Z32 approves of this build

good to see another z31 around. In for updates

Damn, those are quite some plans!

Can't wait to see it all done,

I spent days pining through FSM's and online guides to decide if I wanted a z31 hahaha. Just trying to help out a little

I can't wait either! Was pretty busy Monday and today. The rust problems are 80% sorted out.
As shown in the pics below, I attacked all the spots with rust down to the bare metal, then
used a Rust spray (the purple/black looking stuff in the pics below) that forms a chemical bond to the rust in order to keep it form spreading. You can then sand it down and paint over it. For most of the spots, this is OK. For a few, however, there needs to be some filler/bondo added over this to get the body line straight, or in the case of the rear bottom 1/4, sheet metal welded in because the rust ate all the way through.

Since the motor is now coming next weekend instead of this weekend, I will try and have the entire car at least primed or maybe even painted (weather permitting) before dropping the motor in.
Before priming, I want to get the entire rear interior hatch area bedlined after repairing the interior rust, which I have also sprayed with the Rust spray but is much harder to work on down to the metal due to its location in the rear area.

I also want to get the seats figured out so when the motor does come in and we finally get it running, there's somewhere to sit

As far as getting her running - Still need to get an EFI, but now I have another week and a half. Motor should now be coming on the 5th.

Enjoy some pictures of the carnage/progress:

spots needing filling:




dent in this section that will need bondo


I'm planning on deleting the antennae (that hole was the cause of most of the rust issues back here, anyway.)











Also, The existence of a Kouki Z done up in 50th AE style was brought to my attention:
The front of the car is essentially how mine will look (minus the 200ZR vent, I'll be re-using the 50th AE vent in the zenki location over the turbo...just pretend it's over to the right)



the rear, however, is Kouki of course....


So, I did a photoshop to see how the rear should look on my Zenki w/ Kouki bumpers:
50th AE, Kouki rear bumper, low on bronze watanabes.


After seeing this mocked up I may stick to a recess in the bumper for a plate - not kouki rear.(those damn humps ruin it for me) This way I can still utilize the MSA XENON rear valence I have for the zenki rear bumper. (I'll have to cut into both pieces for a bumper recess
However, it is pretty cool to see how my car may look when completed

I'm excited to get back in the shop Friday (warm weather ahead) to finish up the body prep.
Stay tuned.....

[rice4life]

Damn, those are quite some plans!

Can't wait to see it all done,

I spent days pining through FSM's and online guides to decide if I wanted a z31 hahaha. Just trying to help out a little

[jesus94p]

good to see another z31 around. In for updates

[Dsscats]

My Z32 approves of this build

[jbaker1121]

argh mane, you need to know your VG's before you tear into one. Is it the t25 or the t3 turbocharged one?

http://www.redz31.net/turbofaq/turbo.faq.htm

read that, that is like the vg30et bible. It will save you much headache in the future.

I know my VG's fine...where did I look confused? lol
I am getting the VG30ET that came with the car form the factory i.e. the one mine would have had.... so the one with the t3 turbo. (I know a different turbo was on 88-89 ones)


anyway,
Goals for this week:

BODY
- Attempt to finish all the rust repair and rustproofing before motor comes
- Clean and paint engine bay in order to be Clean/pretty/ready for transplant
- Bondo and sand; primer spots left from rust removal

ENGINE BAY
- Repair 302 engine mounts, go back to stock VG mounts
- put brakes booster / lines back together
- repair cut EFI/Engine harness wiring
- Clean up wiring; paint bay
- Exedy Clutch/Flywheel

INTERIOR
- get seats in and working (or say screw it and use stock seats for now to get the car running)
- Respray rearview mirror black to match interior
- Remove more panels/dash to clean/rustproof

CLSD should be in by friday - Want to try and install it before the motor/trans go back in
VG30ET should be in on saturday along with a Kouki (87-89) front end conversion (Bumper, hood, headlights)

Crossing my fingers, hoping that everything goes smoothly.

[rice4life]

The donor is a stock VG30ET with a factory turbo ~90-110k miles

argh mane, you need to know your VG's before you tear into one. Is it the t25 or the t3 turbocharged one?

http://www.redz31.net/turbofaq/turbo.faq.htm

read that, that is like the vg30et bible. It will save you much headache in the future.

[jbaker1121]

Ya I've always liked these, can't wait to see it complete, I remember hearing Eddy Murphy had one. Also what's the deal with that e36 m3 ?

Neither can I. Hopefully it'll be running by next week!
The e36 is my buddy's drift mobile

You should source a VG33 block while you're at it. They are cheap, and really compliment the vg33et head well. Plus, the larger displacement with dat turbo makes for mad fun. Especially since they are not intercooled from the factory, bolt ons make them craaaazy.

Which turbo does the donor engine have?

Good luck with the build, I'll be following it

The donor is a stock VG30ET with a factory turbo ~90-110k miles

subbed for this

Ugh i'm so excited to see this happen. I had to come back and post in this again lol

Im so jealous! I almost pulled the trigger on a z31 project, but went bags on my GTI.

Sort of regret it - I love this generation Z

Im so glad you ditched the V8 idea as well!

yeah it was either coilovers for my FX50 or a separate car... went with the project. Wanted to work on something almost from scratch for the first time.

[Ghost•Images]

Im so jealous! I almost pulled the trigger on a z31 project, but went bags on my GTI.

Sort of regret it - I love this generation Z

Im so glad you ditched the V8 idea as well!

[244Brick]

Ugh i'm so excited to see this happen. I had to come back and post in this again lol

[P78]

subbed for this