Z32 project, "six month build"

[anti.engineered]

Wow thanks guys, I'm really happy to hear that. Glad I'm doing things people find remarkable, that's what I'm going for.

Ian, I have a build thread over on 3ZC. Since it's not my home turf I'm not too active on there though. Search for me under Anti.

Josh, it sounds like we've done the same thing to each other regarding our chassis' :p You reminded me that I was going to put together a post on all the random old school bits I've collected over the years; I've got a bunch more that I haven't posted about. I'll write it up.

[JoshR]

Wow thanks guys, I'm really happy to hear that. Glad I'm doing things people find remarkable, that's what I'm going for.

Ian, I have a build thread over on 3ZC. Since it's not my home turf I'm not too active on there though. Search for me under Anti.

Josh, it sounds like we've done the same thing to each other regarding our chassis' :p You reminded me that I was going to put together a post on all the random old school bits I've collected over the years; I've got a bunch more that I haven't posted about. I'll write it up.

I love oldschool Japanese parts, please show off all your cool stuff!

I've been slowly collecting Tomei and Ikeya parts for my Silvia build over the last couple years, so I know what the hunt and reward of finding the stuff is like

I am super jealous of the TK brakes tho! So cool!

[anti.engineered]

Thanks man, the calipers are one of my favourite parts on the car. I don't have any Ikeya (yet...) but do have a fresh Tomei head gasket going on my motor. All the Ikeya stuff is still readily available off the shelf which sort of kills my buzz a bit hah

Alrighty last post and we're finally up to date. Smoothing the frame rails. I started on this ages ago (welding wise) but didn't follow it through. First bay job after the upper rad support was to be this.

All holes were welded up bar one at the rear passenger side that holds a brake line, and another at the front of the driver's side that I cut to run the power steering feed line through.



Since the rails are more or less flat out of the factory, a few skim coats of filler followed with long hits with an orbital sander were all that was necessary.

Next up was making space for the new cooling system. After a serious amount of measuring, research and deliberation I worked out a complete set up that will fit my goals of neat, efficient and tucked away out of sight. I initially thoroughly looked into and mapped out a v-mounted system. Unfortunately, as much as I love them to death I just can't bring myself to take the gamble of making one without knowing if it'll function effectively with my front end and body styling. I'm not willing to change to a reverse vented hood to allow the intercooler to vent through, and as reasonably confident as I am that the system can be made effective without that (and one or two other things), it's not worth investing in when the alternative I measured up is a still very neatly laid out guaranteed win.

Anyway. The first step was cutting out some room for the new components.



The old support was bowed from the previous owner. It was very bulky and took up a lot of space where the new radiator is going. As a final nail in the coffin, cleaning up the factory unit was way more work than simply replacing it. So it made sense to just cut the fucker out, relocate in a new one and kill three birds with one stone.

Unfortunately I couldn't just lop a section out of the rad support for more radiator clearance due to the following;



Crappy pic sorry but as you can see, the proposed new rad location just under the bonnet latch lands dead on the caster rod bracket mounting bolts. Okay, new support is getting shifted forward.

The first step for this was working out a solution for the caster rod mounting brackets. Knowing they are about twice as long I picked up some S13 units, thinking they'd bolt up. Here's a side by side;



Unfortunately, no bueno on the frame flange.



After a bit of fettling I realised not only is the bolt pattern different, but the whole design is too. Even if the Z32 pattern was adapted over the S13 units they'd still foul on the frame rail itself. Alright, time to Frankenstein.

Both brackets lopped in half and mated up, with one misguided extra cut;



There was a lesson learned in this job... the function of a jig. Keeping things straight while being welded. Ask me how I know...





Cleaned up and temporarily rust proofed with some matte black. As these will be visible from above with the finished bay, they'll later on be powder coated along with the tension rod brace and sway bar.



Quick shot of the gussets that'll be getting welded onto the underside for extra strength. They're not attached yet because the brackets will be modified further to house the radiator and to do so I'll need access to the underside.



Bolted up, looking good next step will be to modify these further to receive the radiator, which will be custom built and sit on the brackets.





Lastly, something else came in.



It's a second hand after market fender for a cruiser with a 12" rear tyre (think this). And after being split in half right down the centre and a lot of welding it will become my front tubs.





As you can see there'll be a good amount of extension carried out on either side but it should turn out well. Next job once the caster rod brackets and new radiator support are done.

-A

[DER E30]

That's an awesome idea for tire tubs!!!

[anti.engineered]

I got cleaned up by a bus on my daily (RVF400) two or so months ago and had to go to my gear shop to get a formal quote for the stuff I was wearing at the time as it was damaged in the crash. It's a pretty big place with a chopper section with a whole heap of off the shelf frame pieces and whatnot, including fenders like the one I got. They were dear as hell though ($330 AU each, about $280 USD :\) so I hawk-eye'd eBay for a while and landed this one out of Florida for just over $200 AU. I was pretty happy with that and it's a shit load easier than learning how to use an english wheel.

The bike got repainted and I got the wheels powdercoated while I was at it so it turned out to be not a bad venture at all.



-A

[anti.engineered]

Since this thread is a super condensed version of the last 3 years of the car I glossed over a lot of smaller stuff. Everything relevant to the car in its current state is here but I did miss out on the chance to e-brag like an e-fag about the cool bits I've been fortunate enough to come across.

So the long and short of it is that I enjoy the chase. I like going to far lengths to land parts, I'm a total Yahoo! Japan junkie and get excited whenever I find out about an old school name brand component that would suit my car. I don't just enjoy having obscure bits, I enjoy looking for them too. I can't really tell you why it is but if I find out I need an after market part, I don't really care for getting new stuff of the shelf, it's just totally ... but a 10 year discontinued, hard as fuck to find Trust or VeilSide part... now that's cool.

VeilSide is my biggest draw, something to do with seeing them in the Fast movies as a kid. I think they did a lot for the import scene in the 90's and are part of how it blew up to what it is today. Now their bodykits can stay in yesteryear (fashion applies to everything, no shame in that) but whatever else I find by them I grab.

It started way early on with a VeilSide Evolution cat back exhaust that I brought in from J-land. This is probably the most sought after (though not quite the rarest) exhaust for the Z32 because it just sounds so damn good.



Caster rods too. This is one of those stupid rare parts that even Dr Google hasn't heard of. No shit, all that comes up on Google for these is various threads I've made about them.



Unfortunately that's where the performance parts from VeilSide end, they didn't do much for the Z32. More in the interior though.



I'm still trying to piece together the full set, but so far I have 5/7 of the 52mm black "Euro style" gauges that VeilSide used to do. I absolutely love these things and have had people try and chase me for them in the past. They were all pieced together from separate Yahoo auctions over the last 24 months. Boost, oil pressure, oil temperature, fuel pressure and voltage is what I've got, with coolant temperature and exhaust temperature to go. Only three are actually going to be visible inside the car though but I still want the set. If someone can find me a VeilSide coolant temperature gauge for sale I will do almost anything for it. I've been looking for two years now with absolutely no luck and it's integral to the car as I definitely need to keep an eye on temp with all the wacky motor shit I'm doing. This is the one thing I want more than anything else right now and by a clear mile too.

The same time I've been looking for the gauges I was also trying to find a VeilSide speedometer. After market speedos for the Z32 are common as the JDM models only went to 180 KPH, but the VS ones certainly aren't. I was on the hunt for more than two years for this before I bought it out of someone's running car six months after I initially found and contacted him. I offered him a big wad of cash and my Mine's speedo in exchange as well, and he conceded (despite being offered more money from other people) because he'd seen all the other VeilSide parts I'd landed and thought my car deserved to have it. Top bloke is top.

While I was there I also fitted up the Mine's OEM replacement boost gauge, it reads much higher and of a unit of measurement understood by man, which is a plus. This was a bit of a gimmick but when I found out a buddy of mine had one I had to jump on it.



I've also got VS's pedal set and a shifter but they're not too hard to come across. They'll be getting powdercoated saitn black to match the gauge bezels.

Tommy Kaira dead pedal rounds off the corner because... well why not



Did you say pointless purchase because it's old and says tommy kaira on it?



but seriously... I also had a pair of Tommy K SR2s. A buddy of mine brought them in for me in exchange for the hard to get OEM SR2s that I had at the time. He's more of an OEM guy and I'm... not. so hey I figured, sure.



These landed while the car was off the road and never even ended up fitted, lol. A good friend of mine was keen and I was always eyeing off a pair of VeilSide VSD-1Rs from day one, I just couldn't justify the expense. He made me a good offer on the Tommy K Recaros, I had the difference in the bank so we shook hands and I placed the order.





I'm not big on the centre padding so I think I'll make something up as a replacement. The combination I ordered is black on black, reclineable, carbon fibre. These are still on their way to me and extremely fucking overdue, which is kind of a downer as it's the only time I've ever had a personal dealing with the company I idolise so much.

Lastly in the interior I fitted up a Tommy Kaira steering wheel. I looked very hard for one of these and am glad I did, they really do it for me. Not too different to stock but a subtle improvement and very tidy.





So the story with the brakes was that I stumbled across the first pair on JDM Auto Link, Malaysia. I already had an entry level brake upgrade but after finding out that behind the badge they're six piston by Endless... I just couldn't stop thinking about them. you know when you're mulling over whether to do something but really you know you're going to, because the second you consider not doing it your heart just sinks? yeah, that.



I then picked up an AP four piston rear kit with rotors and adapters off of a local guy to round off the upgrade, but they really didn't "do it" for me... I dunno they were just a regular AP Caliper. Nothing special. eh.

A friend of mine spotted another set of Tommy K's on eBay. The price was high but I messaged the guy an an offer, he took it and relisted them as a private BIN.



For some reason both pairs had a large scrape on the front of the caliper. This was a downer but with some extremely careful cleanup work the damage came out without too much scarring. by the time they're powder coated it should be barely noticeable even with a trained eye.



On the bodywork side I have a few bits but not too much. I'm really interested in leaving the car more or less stock on the exterior stand point because I think they are already a very good thing.



Car has genuine Ganadors on it, these very recently have gotten STUPID expensive on the second hand market... I have no idea why but holy fuck man you would not believe what some people have been paying



Next up is an Escort hood. This thing took damn ages to get. I bugged the owner on the other side of the country to sell it to me for a year before he finally caved and sent it my way for more than a few pretty pennies. There are three of these in the country; one on a car that's gone AWOL and the last just came up recently, long after I got mine. A somewhat functional design the car should have come with stock I reckon.



It needs work (which I haven't done yet because my motor blew not long after I fit it) but I'll fix it up. I've filled in the latch holes (god no) but am going to have to hit it with shit to fix the fitment.

And lastly some stuff I picked up more recently... I landed a Trust 21 row oil cooler because it's the biggest damn one they ever made, rare as fuck and that means I wanted it. These were originally sold in Mk. 4 and GTR kits only and were well into four figures back in the 90's. The size is pretty ridiculous, degreaser can and the carbies off of my bike for scale hah.



Not much in the way of good pictures of the cooler yet as I haven't worked on it but I'll do a write up later on when I do the install. I'm getting another one in, one under each headlight. They'll then be thoroughly paint stripped (oh good bloody lord is that blue tasteless) and then mounted up.

Because 21 rows is probably a bit too much this will go in too.



Got these a month or two ago. Total hardened rubber bushing kit for everything bar the adjustable arms I have and the subframe, which will get solids (and raised up as much as possible)



I'm making a vertical fore FMIC for the car at the moment. I always wanted an ARC intercooler for the branding and their awesome engineering cues found in the core design. When I decided to change the FMIC that was on the car for the new motor I wanted to go ARC or go home.



These are two OEM replacement side mounts from yesteryear... a JZX100, JZZ30 and I've got an S15 one in the mail now. When they're all here it'll be chop chop, weld weld, custom ARC vertical core FMIC that takes up all available space, frame rail to frame rail.

I've also got these... now for non Z32 guys they'll be pretty meaningless but if you do have a Z32 you might know these can't really be sumbled across... late model OEM waterproof boot mat mat and OEM optional roof racks with ski holder attachments.



That's about it for now. There are a few more things on my Unicorn Parts list... if anyone can point me in the right direction for any of the following I would be very, very grateful;

- VeilSide coolant + exhaust gas temp gauges, 52mm
- GReddy 3 BAR boost gauge, 60mm, black
- Work Modena centre nut spanner
- Abflug gated shifter (Z32 specific)
- Hugo Boss harnesses (ex F1 only for these, lol)

-A

[JJ.]

I'm truly amazed by this thread and your skills! Great job, love the detailed custom work.

[1badg35]

tommy kaira dead pedal and steering wheel - if you ever find another of each of these, i would kill for either/both.

[99sil-teg]

This is looking pretty epic so far, love all of the rare parts. Details like that make a car even better, keep up the good work.

[philip-pino]

This will be epic. As a fellow z32 enthusiast, hats off for acquiring stupid rare parts lol

[anti.engineered]

thanks guys, really appreciate hearing it. sent you a PM vince.

got some more stuff I'm working on that I'll put up soon.

[LCG]

I like your detailed work, that headlight extensions are very clever.

[anti.engineered]

hey thanks man, I'm glad to hear that.

dug up something else that I got done not too long ago, cleaning up the cam gear covers.

I wanted to do the job of shaving them properly; by plastic welding up all the holes I wanted to disappear rather than simply bogging them up. they cop hot radiator air all day every day so they need to be durable.

this took really super long, something like 30 hours or so I think while learning plastic welding. it's a hard job to get right. I repaired a pair of cracks in one about six times over 'til I realised the correct technique. part of why this took so long though was that after doing the driver's side one I realised the previous owner of them had cut away too much when he did the removeable-with-the-water-pipes-still-on mod. so I had to start again on that one, killer.

starting out, all the areas that needed attention.



all plastic welded up with only very very small amounts of bog to make it perfect. it's almost impossible to do so with plastic alone and such a small amount of filler won't crack anyway.

note the closest recess in the centre, which had to be built up extensively then shaped to look like it was never there.



Finished in high fill for now (best primer colour ever!)







all in all pretty happy with them, and when they don't crack in future after a few months of the radiator fan blowing on them I'll be glad I did it right.

pretty sure they're going to be colour matched to the bay, but I'm only 90% decided. recommendations?

-A

ps. changed name of thread because the last one was a bit silly.

[PassionGarage]

The build is looking epic, i might of missed it but you planning on spraying it ?
loving the thread and build, keep it up
where about r u located in Sydney ?

[anti.engineered]

thank you, and yes I'm absolutely going to spray it. bay will be getting painted first then with the car rolling I can finish the guard work and get the rest done. I'm in ryde.