CroS13

I hope your auto electrician got rid of those dodgy as hell scotch lock connectors on the fuel pump harness. Is that what you are referring to when you say "crimp the connections"?? love the car by the way, i don't think Ive commented on it yet. colour is amazing. Rudolf.

UPDATE 27/02/14- Where to draw the line..... So its been maybe 3-4 months since my last update, and all was going well to get the car running on the motorbike carbs, and well then it just went down hill. So i had purchased some KBS Rust seal with the intention of sanding down and painting the scuttle plate/air box, as it had surface rust there. Once i took off the scuttle cover, and had a proper look, i thought to myself, well, might as well take off the front guards to get down the side with the KBS. I had not realized that by the time i had the guards off, the whole front of the car had been removed. Then i was thinking to myself exactly what another member had said to me well.... yeah, might as well keep going, and 3 months later, chipping away, now we are here: Now in the back of my mind, with everything i was doing, i still thought that at the end of the day, im doing all this work, and 2-3 years down the track ill be pulling the whole car apart for a full rebuild anyway, and that all my work will be essentially wasted and id be doing things twice. So i said stuff it, she will get torn down now, and ill be doing a full nut and bolt restoration. In the mean time i also got myself a new air compressor, which will more than handle anything i throw at it. I could even paint the car with this bad boy. Next step is to dust off the welder, and brace the supershit engine stand i have, because with the spare motor on it, it leans over quite a bit, so ill reinforce it for some extra piece of mind, and buy a second one, ready for when i pull the motor out of the car. Rudolf.

That's the "woodchipper" aka issac. He has about 10-12 zeds for sale, I bought my zed off him, and i know at least 2 other people on here got their cars from him too over the years. He does have honest examples, he bought them all over 20 years ago, and has been slowly selling them off since Also, they arn't all sitting in the weather rotting away, he has a lock up barn that he keeps about 9 of them in. My car was sitting in the old garage for 3 years. He does have 3-4 sitting outside because he has no more room, but the price of those ones reflect their condition, the ones outside he was asking 5-6k, the ones inside were starting from 16+ Yes ive heard stories about that yellow one, and yes it sold years ago, heck, the ad for my car is still being advertised in unique cars, and i bought mine over a year ago now. Rudolf.

Just read the whole build, must have missed it before! Looking great so far, this will be one sweet Devil Z once its done. Love the colour choice. Rudolf.

god dam it, the only reason i didn't sign up is St George is such a drive from my area. im all the way out west. Wetherill park tafe is literally 2 streets away from my house, and all the mechanical and bodywork/ panel beating tafe courses for your apprenticeships are there. Thats where i went for my apprentership. Why o why couldn't they have run it there instead, i would be the first person to sign up. Im guessing that the Tafe teacher who runs the course lives closer to that area. Take some photo's of your work next week Gav, i want to see it being created on my screen week after week! Rudolf.

that would only be a few thousand bucks Australian wouldn't it haha!

no because my zed is in 1 million pieces! but i voted for day cruise and BBQ. Id say either go south, meet up at Loftus oval, cruise through natio and have a BBQ somewhere in there. Or head north, Meet at Thornleigh Maccas, take the F3, get off at Borawa Exit, Run Old pac up to peates ridge, get back on the F3, up to gosford/the entrance, for a bbq? Rudolf.

propane torch is no good, the flame would heat the panel along with the bolt, you cant target precicely the bolt only, as the flame front would also be hitting the panel, probably be prone to warping it also. Tig allows you to have the most control over where the heat goes, and more of a controlled weld opposed to a mig. when your welding the top of the bolt, your doing 2 things, heating it up and expanding it, hopefully to break/crack the thread/rust, and giving you something to grab onto with a pair of vice grips. If the bolts are tight, but might come out with penetrating fluid, id recommend Rost off, or even better, Rost off ICE, which apparently freezes to -30 degrees? (or so it says on the can). What that does is shrink the bolt, once again trying to crack and break the seized threads. Ive had great success with it in the past. Rudolf.

do you get free samples at the Asahi factory hmmmmmmm

pretend you do and see if you can get some test drives! how have you found getting around town and getting in contact with the workshops etc? can you speak any Japanese? have you checked out a superautobacs or upgarage? make sure to take lots of photos!!!! Rudolf.

To be honest, ive found its only the hardcore fans/nutters on here who tend to bag the 2+2. In my experience, anyone else who isn't a zed nut loves the bus when they see it. And 90% of people cant tell the difference. Hell, even i didn't notice the difference in the shape when i bought mine. I did notice "something is odd" about the 2+2's i had seen, compared to the photo shoots with JDM 2 seaters i had been drooling over for years, but i had simply put it down to lack of bolt on flares, a high ride height, standard wheels and no duck tail spoiler. Even when i physically went to buy my car, the guy had about 12 Zeds in his shed, there was a blue 2 seater parked right next to mine, and it was double the price with more rust, and i could not for the life of me notice the difference between the 2. Only afterwards it has since dawned on me, and regardless, every car meet i had taken the zed to, everyone loved it, all the old holden and ford guys were turning their heads to see "wow whats that? a 240z? no its a early 280zx? i have not seen one of them in years!" I heard everyone arguing with their mates as i drove through the carpark. A bus is just as cool as a 2 seater in my books, and just as valuable. To me, my bus is still a cool sports car that is close to 40 years old, getting around amongst the sea of "throw away white goods" cars with no soul. Perhaps in another 20 years, due to all the buses being sacrificed to save 2 seater's, they will become so rare, their value will surpass that of a 240z! Rudolf.

yep count me in, i wont be in the zed either, ill have to take the Silvia. Natio run sounds good to me, ill keep an eye out here for the dates. Rudolf.

^^^ and i paid $8000 for my bus this time last year, so yes... i dare say the values are indeed going up. The bloke i bought my car from, has about 10-15 zeds left in various seat arrangements and conditions. he has been slowly selling them off for the better part of 10-15 years. He took out his super about 25 years ago and snapped up 50 between himself and a friend, split them, and stored them, some bad ones he made 2 out of 1 etc etc..... Im sure to bet he probably paid under $1000 easily for mine, he bought it 10 years ago and it sat in the shed, now im the schmuck paying 8k for it.. and its a BUS! He also had some nice 240's that he was asking in the 20k price range...... Not a bad way to spend part of your superannuation! Maybe i should start buying up all the S13 silvia's that are selling for 1500-2000 clapped out drift pig shells? as the guys over on the other forums i frequent seem to think they are the next big thing to increase in value (i don't agree as much) Or better yet, i should buy up all the Ke70's, as ive seen them selling for 2-4k now, once again, drifting crowd... if i recall you could buy them for $400 not too many moons ago...... I wish i had the space..... buy 100 KE70's and in 30 years retire!!! Rudolf.

Good to hear you will stick out the project, especially since you have already spent some money with it getting it blasted and what not. Whats the story with that bus in primer? did you buy it as a parts car, or were you going to build up that one instead because of the work needed on the 2 seater? Rudolf.

welcome! Would it be possible to buy a zed in canada, or from the US, and then in a years time, just import it back with you as a personal import. You would waive all the garbage import taxes being a personal import you have owned for over 1 year, probably only cost you 3-5k for shipping, and i dare say you could get a nicer zed for the price over there. Rudolf.

Wow, i saw the photo's you posted and i felt like going to the doctor to get myself a tetanus injection! i have to give you credit for attempting a project of this magnitude, good luck! And hopefully you have the motivation to persevere with it, ill be looking forward to updates, and hopefully not end up like this guy: Rudolf.

Hey Mate, good progress on the car! Have you attacked the drivers A-Pillar yet? if i recall there was abit of rust in that area too. Did you end up selling your skyline? Rudolf.

Great news on getting rego! Ive been enjoying your build for a while now, I should have come down too when Gav went to see it but i was busy. We will have to get a cruise happening soon, maybe old pac up the coast on a nice weekend? Someone needs to post up and organize a cruise in the NSW section, its empty! Rudolf.

common mang! read the build thread, all 250+ pages of it, you will be hooked!!! Good reading for a few weeks! http://forum.jdmstyletuning.com/showthread.php?7768-Babalouie-s-Project-Hakosuka Rudolf.

hey mate welcome to the forums! It will be good to go for a cruise when you get this old girl up and registered, we seem to be getting more and more Sydney members which is always good, and i actually just live around the corner from you, i'm just in Fairfield. Rudolf.

Yep I have a Ashdown Ingrum's right around the corner from me. I have used them to source parts to repair forklifts many times while on the road, and i gave them a shot when looking for parts for my Datsun. The young bloke that served me didn't really seem that enthusiastic to help, saying "nah we don't stock parts for that", Luckily, one of the old boys that was sitting behind him overhead, came up to the counter and once i mentioned i was after parts for the Dato, well he warmed up right away, politely told the young bloke to "piss off" and spent the next half hour going through all the old books to help me out with parts, turned out he used to have a SSS stanza back in the day. They got me all the bearings and brushes for when i rebuilt my alternator, got me a new starter motor, all off the shelf, and old boy told me whatever i needed to come in and he would be happy to help! Good to know that they do those distribution blocks, i might upgrade the old fusible link wires too. Rudolf.

Hey Gav you shouldn't need any major paperwork to get her rego'd. My old girl didn't have rego for at least 15 years, and the bloke i bought it off, Issac, bought it off some old boy in Canberra, it didn't have rego then either. All i did was get a blue slip, green slip and printed out a bill of sale, with all his details, including sale date and price, i also did a revs check on the chassis and printed that document out and took it with me to prove the car wasn't stolen. Had no Drama at the RTA.... except when we had to push start it out of the car park after bolting on the new plates because none of the electrics worked and the alternator was fried.... =/ Rudolf.

looks top notch mate! gives me inspiration that i can attack my dog legs when it comes around to it too, then watch me post the abortion that i will produce! Did you paint the engine bay yourself? it came up really well! Rudolf.

welcome mate, good to have a few more z owners in sydney! throw some photo's up of your old girl! Rudolf.

Hrmm.... External Oil coolers.... Im guessing your referring to "Fonzy" George? I Don't think Bosozoku styling is the next trend, god, i hope its not, i think you either love it or hate it. Personally, not my thing. For the uneducated: But its still better than the autosalon specials from the late 90's! And it could be worse, we are tame compared to how the young whipper snappers mod their cars is Japan! Bosozoku to the max!!: But you know, its not just us, whenever you see any form of mazda RX2 or RX3, any VL in show condition grace the car magazines, they are all running Simmons wheels, Safe bet they are FR17's too. For once id love to see a RX2 or RX3 running wats. I don't know, over on the Silvia Forums everyone is into being slammed and stanced, Running Work or Volk rims, or Rays, its all about CE28N or usually drift teks because everyone is cheap. To me, i hate it, i like to be able to go over speed humps at normal speeds. Ill stick to my old school cool Buddyclub P1's thanks.