CroS13

UPDATE AUGUST: Been chipping away at the Z very slowly. Everything else I own has been blowing up which has kept me away from the Z for the last few months. The gearbox blew in my Forester, and it was a expensive ordeal to upgrade to a 5 speed STI box. Then it broke again a few weeks ago with the radiator splitting. So I'm currently fixing that too. And my wife's car is puking oil. So my weekends are currently spent trying to keep all the other junk running at the household. But I have been able to do a little bit to the Z. I have been searching far and near to find all the chrome bits and pieces I'm missing from the car. Found these new metal cast quarter pillar badges in England. The seller states there is no Left and right badge and they are the same. That was a lie, and I received 2 RHS badges, making me have to re drill the passenger side pillar to fit the badge there because the pins were in the wrong spot. Also found chrome trim for the rear hatch glass, minus the top corner parts on eBay from America. So they came and I gave them a polish and fitted them too: I restored the old headlights... well, at least 1 so far. Ordered the Toyota H4 light as a upgrade, which worked for me as I was able to get it for cost price through work, saving about half the price. old: new: . . Not sure how I feel about them to be honest. I like the curved glass of the sealed beam Hella unit that was in it. I also ordered some Raybrig blue diamond headlight lenses. For a more tuner/updated look. I'll keep the Toyota lights in for now, but I can swap them out later if I get over them. Oh.... and I needed a "beefier" gearbox for the Zed........ My engine is currently getting built too through a mate at his engine shop.... We are aiming for 450hp....... Rudi...

hey no my bad..... Its the window that came with the car, is it original? not sure. I got insurance to re fit it with a gasket I supplied, which was a precision rubber, As I was entitled to 1 free glass per year, I made use of it.

Update early April: I had a windscreen guy come out and fit my front glass though insurance. I asked if he was going to put sealant on the rubber and he said no, because the window and gasket was a nice and tight fit. Multiple people have now told me he probably should have put mastic or sealant on the edges regardless, So I will be looking into getting something I can squirt under the edge of the gasket. I had to fit the chrome stripping myself, and what a nightmare that ended up being. It's all in my latest video. Also, I roped in the rear windscreen myself, after being screwed around by 3 separate windscreen installers who booked in with me and never showed. Didn't fit any gasket sealer under it, when I get some for the front, ill do the back too. . I had bought New badges for the bonnet, and for the boot. And it was time to find new '260z' badges for the front quarter guard. Problem is, all the ones I could find NOS, were $490 US for a pair.... so probably $600+ landed, for 2 badges... no thanks. I decided to try and repair mine myself: Step 1: Use a heat gun to melt and peel out all the chipped and cracked resin from the original badge Polish the hell out of the chrome, which took some paint from the edges of the badge, so mask it all up and repaint it: Pour in some new resin. I had green dye powder laying around from when I was doing some resin pours in a woodworking project, so the hell with it, lets make the badges green to match the car: And here we are, fitted! Video is up, will post it soon! Rudi.

Dam man that's a killer price for the muffler! So how much of that price was shipping for the muffler? I feel like a Turkey... I got a Genuine Fujitsubo LegalisR MUFFLER For my car from japan... it was $1000 after shipping.... ( Mind you this was 8 or so years ago and these copy's weren't around then ) What did you pay for shipping from Z car depot for the seal kit? I got 2 badges and 4 gaskets from then last week and it cost me $120 postage Hope your mum gets better! Rudi.

FINALLY OUT OF PAINT PRISON YEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHH BUDDY!!!! awesome feeling the first time you have her in your garage isn't it! Rudi

great story mate! looking forward to the build! Rudi/

yes Jesse Streeter. exchange rate at the time was 74.2 yen to the dollar. In this case he had them shipped to him, he stripped off the tyres then re send them to me. postage to him was 4400 yen ($54) Tyre removal 2000 yen ($25) shipping to me in sydney 20500 yen ($227 at the time) (only for 2 rims not 4)

Update end of January: Rebuilt the windows, regulator, polished all the glass, and the chrome. Replaced 90% of all rubbers and gaskets in relation to the doors. All pretty straight forward except the window sash. had to grind the staples off the original one, source new felt sash and make it work, Riveted it all together: . . . Also got around to changing out the rear springs for the lowered springs I had. . . Looks a lot better, still needs to go a little lower but hopefully it will, once I put in the fuel tank, spare wheel, rear bar, rear glass etc etc. So this is Lovells lowered springs (equivalent of king lows) and 240z top hats. Might go some Fatter rubber too to help fill the arch gap. it has 215/60's (which are not wide enough IMO for the rear rims) Maybe I'll go 235/65 or something like that for the back. Rudi.

Video Update #23 - Dyeing interior and repairing plastic trim So here is the video of me doing all the work above! enjoy! Rudi.

Haha congrats on the little one mate!!! I was wondering when it would arrive because you mentioned on my thread you were due soon! I've started to get "some" time back in the shed now. My little one is pretty chill now (she is 3 months old next week) On weekends I can usually get up at the crack of dawn to give her a morning feed, put her back to bed and she will sleep for another 4 or 5 hours and that's when I'll sneak into the garage and get as much done as I can. Rudi.

I think I get ya? kinda like making a stubbie holder shape and sew that into the pocket too? factory has a plastic cover piece that goes in there, although, it only the size of the base of that pocket, fits snuggly in there. Yes a seatbelt anchor I believe mounts there, so it is concealed. I stuffed up when I made the relief cuts and cut them too long, so when I put the factory cover back on, It didn't cover the cuts, hence why I needed a new one. I'm Pretty happy with the results, we will see once its all back in place. Thanks for the kind words, its the first time for me attempting any of this, obviously I'm not going to attempt to retrim the door cars or seats, ill leave those to a professional. (I did watch a whole bunch of videos and nearly bought a 150 hour long "learn to trim" online tutorial video course, but I would need a walking foot sewing machine and I cant really justify the $500-$1000 it would cost second hand, only to do 1 job or so) Rudi.

Update end of November: Interior trim So the suspension issue has been thrown into the "cant be bothered fixing this now" basket, and I wanted to tackle some interior bits, because all the boxes have been sitting at home for atleast 6 months gathering dust. I was putting this off as I had hoped i could go and source some second hand parts off a few wrecked cars from Zac, and save myself this trouble of having to try and repair what I had, but alas having a newborn and wife recovering from surgery really hampered any effort to try and go get the parts, I simply had no time to go at the drop of a hat so I gave up. So it was time to fix the junk I already had. Mind you... this is the first time i have ever plastic welded, or used fibre glass. So this is what we started with: I stripped the Vinyl off the rear quarter trims to find the plastic absolutely destroyed. broken in multiple places, huge cracks all through it, i would have said it was not salvageable... But when you have no other choice, you can perform miricles! . In that first photo i have repaired the cracks with a plastic welding kit, it came with wire mesh re-enforcement, which i melted into the cracks and into the piece, then plastic soldered over the top. This next photo you can see the hardest repair to do, where the hinge for the rear quarter window sits. I plastic welded the centre hole where the hinge goes, then fibre glassed over it and outwards to re make the edge lip In the next photo i have used fibreglass to remake a corner edge broken off: This is looking at the hinge area from the front side once the fibre glass and plastic weld has dried. You can clearly see the original damaged panel. Well i had to now use the plastic welder to melt this busted part back down into my newly repaired area and fuse it all together: Now i could sand it all down flat: Now i could take the vinyl trim and re trim the panel in black. I had issues in the deep pocket where the seatbelt mount fits into. I used a heat gun but still could not get the vinyl to stretch down enough to the pocket. So i had to make relief cuts into it: I bought some ABS sheet, cut it to match the shape, heated it with a heatgun until it was as soft as wet spaghetti then pushed it and formed it onto the pocket. it came out ok i think, also fitted some speaker covers as new speakers are going in too. Both sides are done, as is the top rear trim piece that holds the interior light, i had to re make that panel out of Masonite. Just need to re wrap the factory harness, and maybe re pin it, or at least clean up all the terminals, then it can all go back together! Video coming..... when I can get away from the newborn for more than 10 minutes LOL... So... soon, but i wouldn't hold my breath haha! Thanks for the information, that was a good little video. The rear drums were already dragging on the shoes when I slipped them on, so I didn't bother adjusting them from the back. Rudi.

No I put in 240z front isolators. That's what I was planning, however, I got a mate who is 120kg to sit in the boot and the car didn't drop at all, NO movement down. not even half a inch drop. The suspension isn't stiff, I can push down on the rear quarter and the shock has travel, it will bounce the car up and down. I did think if the rest of the suspension was tight, it might have been binding up. I loosened the lower control arm outer spindle pin rod. (now a upgraded bolt), I loosened the back inner lower control arm bolt. I loosened the sway bar mounting bolts, with no difference. What is weird. If I leave the car on jack stands, and jack the rear (hub /shock) it does not compress the spring and the shock, it just lifts the car off the stand. However with the front, it will compress the shock to full stroke, bottom out, then lift the car. So i know something is wrong there. Rudi.

Video Update #22: Drum brakes. Ok, I finally got some free time too edit and finish the latest video, where I do the rear drum brakes. Enjoy!

Update 17.10.20 - TOUCHDOWN! So my daughter is 1 month old today! What a blur and whirlwind the last month has been. Firstly, I won a pair of long champs off yahoo auctions Japan to go on the rear end, and had them air freighted over. They were at my door in 3 days. They had tyres on them, but shipping would have doubled to send them with rubber, they were new tyres and a good brand, but they were only a 185 wide tyre stretched over a 7.5 inch rim. i would have needed to buy new proper fitting tyres anyway, so i opted to have the tyres stripped off in japan and just have the rims sent. This left me with a dilemma of needing rubber for the back, oh, and the front, because the tyres on the front rims were 20 years old and dry rotted. So i went on book face and found someone selling 4 good year 215/60/15 tyres. I managed to get all 4 for only $80! Good size for the front, "ok" for the back, i will buy 225/60/15's for the back to make it abit more chunky, but wanted to see how this 215's fit first, and see how much clearance i have. No point spending $300 on 2 tyres to find out they rub and hit the shock and coil. So It dam near took me 1 month, but i was able to get the rear drum brakes assembled and back together, and got her back on all 4 wheels for the first time in over 5 years! . She is sitting HEAPS high at the back, which is strange, as i put in the 240z strut top mounts at the back, so it should be sitting about a inch or 2 lower. Is it because its still a empty shell, and when i put some weight in her, the rear will come down? I'm not convinced, because really, what is there to go back in? a fuel tank? some glass? The rear shocks were blown out when i removed them, so maybe that made it sit lower before, and now because i have fitted new KYB Excel G shocks, maybe that is contributing to it sitting higher? I have the standard rear springs in it still, I didn't fit the lowering springs at the back, maybe i should..... Anyway..... When Alexis was 2 weeks old my wife organised a professional baby photoshoot, My care factor about it was minimal, but when she came, i directed her into the garage for some snaps! here are a few of my favourites: . And i really like this one, might get it blown up and framed to put somewhere, maybe in my gaming room: New video will be done and edited.... lol.... whenever i get some free time! which is not often! HA! Rudolf

Hell yeah brother! good to see more progress! Is the motor in a running condition yet? Rudi.

Video update 21- Scoring new rims! Fitment issues. So i scored some "new rims" for the Zed. But they didn't fit, so this video goes over all the issues i had, and how i fixed them: Rudi.

R.I.P Rudi Condolences to all my Auszcar family.... Rudi might as well be gone for good... well, for a few months at least! Welcome the new addition to the clan!! Wife had to have a Emergency cesarean, very scary, she lost heaps of blood.... But we made it! Baby Alexis, She was born on 17.9.20! 3.8kg! 4 days old now, this is the first time I've been able to turn on my computer! We got home 2 days ago, mum is recovering well but its slow and i have to do 80% of things for her which is hard. I'll tell ya! I'm learning fast! Bub is doing fine. I had... uhh.... 1 hour sleep on Saturday night, was able too get about 4 last night Hopefully i can see you all again in a few months haha! . Rudi.

Video Update 20 - Rear end Install Ok so you have seen the photo preview now its time for the video!! Getting the rear end rebuilt and installed! Rudi.

make sure i sneak out into the garage when the wife falls asleep on the couch haha! hows your car travelling now? my build will slow down when it comes to the engine side of things as im still not sure which way i wanna go. I've also hit a snag with the rims, because i fit the big front brakes its kinda stuffed me up with rims fouling the caliper. I'm gonna need a slip on spacer and some extended wheel studs for the rims i want....... more to come about that soon! Rudi.

Update end of August 2020 Had a mammoth weekend last week, spent all of Saturday in the garage and half of Sunday too. Had to get'er done, this kid is due any time! Slammed in the Diff, rear shocks, rear suspension, everything. Its pretty much done. The only thing that held me up was when i went to dad's, i pulled out the rear brakes from under the house to find the rear shoes were pretty much cactus and the drums were scored to all buggery. So during the week i got the shoes re-lined and the drums smoothed out in the lathe and we are read to rock. I plan on fitting it all up, but im waiting for a new spring and cup kit for the rear drums which i expect in next week. I polished up the rear diff hat too while i was at it, Didn't go as crazy as i did with the rims, but its acceptable. . . And that's it for now, Editing up the video this weekend. Rudi.

looks like i need to quickly buy a suzuki Vitara then!

looking great! interior turned out top notch! Rudi.

Video update 19: Polishing wheels and fitting brake calipers: In today's episode i fit the calipers, and polish and fit the front wheels, and finally get the front end back on the floor: Rudi.