thriller

Have a set sitting in my shed, and am only 10min away from you. I doubt they're topstage though, but the offer is there

Welcome! There's a cheap 260z rolling shell in the classifieds right now; grab it before it's sacrificed for roof and 1/4 panel cuts!

I like it.

Chop top is a cool idea! Seen two that look quite decent. Personally I think big '70s style aero/kit would suit the faded patina'd out Z look. Like it's been stored outside a jap race shop for a few decades after being retired from active duty... IMSA style 3pc spoiler, type B flares, deep watanabes...

Very cool Paul! Saw this on gumtree a few months back, surprised it took so long to sell. Look forward to the outcome. ps. I hope that front grill is in landfill by now...

But yes quite likely it's already accounted for. One guy going to look on Saturday, a second one is local to Rick, I think I'm sitting third in line. It's a surprisingly clean car by the looks of the photos...

Last I knew, you can buy the whole assembly for $60 (each side), new from Nissan. Maybe if rarespares gives you a refund (which it sounds like you're entitled to). I recall something about having to give them the HLS30 part number rather than the HS30 part number though..?

I have a mate interested. Will need to be freighted to S.A. if it eventuated though. Some obvious questions like: -Rust situation? Fresh paint? Any pics before paint if so? -What is needed for RWC? Thanks EDIT: Screw my mate. I'll give you a buzz tomorrow because I (possibly) want this.

Agree, I think it'd be incredible to see one in the flesh. The internet kind of downplays it a little after you see one every couple of days. The little details are quite cool, check out the wing on the overfender... Did you get an idea of costing for his work? I've never actually seen, since everyone says 'if you have to ask you can't afford', but only for curiosity's sake...

Long exposure is way fun. Only other thing I could think of would be a light source toward the front of the car, as the door, roof and quarter are well lit and 'accentuated'... But that's being a little picky haha.

Like this!

Not bad if they look a perfect match, someone is trying to palm off NOS originals for nearly twice that. Carry on with the thread then

Gav, bit of an aside, but what do the NOS sets cost? Bastard things to find in good nick second hand.

There's a decent number of 10 second street cars that have number plates in the middle, so I think airflow is a bit of a null point.. But I agree that it looks better to the side on this Z. Photography is looking good too the 'RED' photo is really cool I reckon.

Yep the floors are definitely different, and the rails extend the whole floorpan. What I might do is get replacement sections, fit them up, and use the donor shell sections to mate the two, as my shell has probably rusted past where the new section goes... We'll see. Going to weld in some temporary support bracing before I cut the floors, and I think while the floors are out I'll re-do the dogleg sections as that way I can get to it from both sides quite easily. Passenger side should probably be completely refabricated :-\ will post pics once I get started properly there. Want to get the cressida rust out of the way first though.

Time for an overdue update hey? Turns out facebook has decided to change their image linking, thus rendering all my photos in this thread inert. Will eventually re-upload everything to flickr, dump a link on my original post and then from here on just use flickr... Anyways where were we? I got most of a donor shell in the form of a '77 260z 2 seater. The N/A 2L engine in the S13 had a fun drive up the freeway got lots of funny looks from ... pretty much everyone as I drove home: Attacked with ye olde trusty 4" Decent sill panels, floors, footwells, spare battery tray, spare spare wheel well, good A-pillars + front roof rail. Cleaned up tail light lenses. Might get the centers re-chromed down the track, but that's a while off: Photo of all the guages done: Comparison of floors. I mainly got it for the footwell section, because that was boned. Probably not worth getting new floor pans, as I think these replacements are pretty good.: Bought this center console from Dimitri aaaages ago, can't remember if I posted it up or not. As you can see, it didn't have the front support bar thingy, so I cut it out of my old one and made one good console! Will need to spend a bit of time on the joins, but not going to bother until it's time to put it into the car.\ So. Engine. Managed to get it around the side of the house, down a small flight of stairs, through a small door and up on it's stand. That was fun. Ancillaries all off: Unfortunately noticed a small chip on the crank.... Should I worry about this? As a side note, the timing chain guide had snapped.... Just where it bolted on, didn't seem to be a big problem. Thought that was strange. Will have to hunt one down. Sum of parts. God I love living with my parents . Oh well, least it's cosy. Bolts will all be cad plated when I get to that stage. Crappy china shiver valve spring remover bent like a banana 8 valves into the job. So goodbye $40. Went to bunnings, $27 later had all the parts to do this. Probably should have used a deep socket, but this does the job well enough. Spent hours cleaning the block. Wire wheel, rust converter, wire wheel, wax and grease remover, high temp primer, high temp ford engine enamel, new welch plugs. Quite happy with that outcome. looks good I reckon. What color is the dipstick tube meant to be? And that funny (coolant?) pipe that sticks out the other side of the block? Also got myself a little BOC 150 mig unit. Got it for $350 odd, still had the original roll of wire in it back from 2001 hahah. Bought this crap bucket to practice my welding before tackling the Z. Good thing I did, have improved a fair bit since starting on it already. Excuse the dodgy photoshop lowering job I did for a laugh. Plans are pretty much get a 7MGE in there (cheap as chips, will be good practice wiring an EFI motor into an old carburetted body too). Weld fresh metal anywhere that has rusted through. Fender mirrors. Good chrome trim. that's pretty much it. I don't feel it's worth spending money on paint, mainly because I'd rather spend the coin on the Z, and a few people said it looks kinda cool all rat-rod like (cue controversy). I'm ashamed to say it, but I like the quick photoshop picture Here's a photo of the wheels that will go on the front. Techno TRV. One polished, 5 left (took two hours...). Need to paint centers too, then sell 4 of them and keep the leftover pair. Also imported a pair of 14x8 -12mm SSR MK2's, they should arrive sometime around christmas .

Not a fan. If the extra money was somehow spent on making local purchases more desirable+affordable, I'd be feeling quite differently about it. It's kinda funny, this and that is taxed because of yada yada, but the money will never reach this or that. E.g. carbon taxing/raised eleccy prices doesn't seem to be spent on making alternative/renewable energy sources more appealing.

RB20 is a bit gutless... The SR20 has more torque from factory. SR is a fair bit lighter too.

Sister is into horses, she spilt the stuff in the back seat of mums 08 VW Passat. That went well. Thanks for the tip! I'll look into it. Won't be fun to clean I guess

So I have had my block stripped down and in the shed for a little while now, wondering the best way to clear the gunky cruddy semi-rust stuff out of the coolant passages? I've knocked out all the freeze plugs and spammed the garden hose to get the loose crud out, but there's still a bit of crap caked on. Is there a chemical solution or something I can do at home, or is it best to get the block (acid?) dipped? What would that roughly cost? Also, 5 of the 6 cylinders still show the cross hatch honing marks. I can post up a photo of the one that doesn't if it helps. Would that mean I can give them a quick hit with a drill-hone-thingy attachment, double check the roundness+measurements, and start building it back up? Will be a stock build, might go a slightly bigger cam but I'm not trying to get this thing to boot hard. Thanks for any help

Holy shit ahahahahh. Car looks great, the ZG flares + skirt top it off well

I absolutely agree, it's great value and I'd have paid that much for it in a book store happily. Ended up being about $145 I think? Paypal had also tacked their fee onto that. It's just a bit of a kick in the nuts that you're paying around $70 to get the thing shipped. but all in all, very happy with the purchase, the quality is amazing for the price. Loooots of eye candy

Or use www.importmonster.com.au to browse, then find the item you want, send this bloke an e-mail: www.jessestreeter.com charges something like 10% commission, and they'll be at your house pretty damn soon. Great guy to deal with, he just shipped off a pair of SSR MK2's for me ;D

I snagged #1027. Friggin postage nearly cost more than the book! Honestly not too happy about that, and hopefully next year they actually send a batch over to an Australasian distributor beforehand. Great book though!