CroS13

Oh forgot to ask, It looks like you got your car from Issac the wood chipper? So did I, seems he has moved all his cars, because they were out on his property when i went there 3 or 4 years ago. He did say he was meaning to move all the cars and parts, itemise and categorise everything. Looks like he might have eventually got around to doing it LOL. I've been meaning to go over and say hello. Rudi

Great start mate, I've just started watching all your other video's and got up to the one where you airbrushed your cabinet. Loving the video's so far! subscribed! Rudi.

If you settle for a 280zx, it might be achievable with your budget. Pay 10k for a immaculate 280zx, and 25k should cover your conversion. OR Spend 35k and get the best 240-260z you can. enjoy it for what it is, and save again for your engine and conversion. At least you can drive the car instead of mums alto while you save. OR Settle for a 2+2, i dare say 20-25k could get you a pretty decent 2+2, and then you would be a little ways there in regards to your engine swap. These are pretty much your only options buddy. Or spend 5k on tools and learn on the car yourself, its only nuts and bolts after all. Rudi.

I also went to a few Up Garage's hoping to find hidden treasure, in reality i found mostly crap that was of no use to me (i was looking for anything for my S15 Silvia, i am well aware you will never find vintage parts here) So many awesome wheels: Work equip 03's, hell yeah! nothing really else noteworthy to post about UpGarage, although i did see a lot of these on the street, looks very mini like. Oh, and this road reminded me so much of Parramatta road in the Auburn area, swear i was back home: Finally, in the last few days i went to check out a Flex Auto, i cant remember if this was Setagaya or Kawaguchi: First thing i notice, a nice challenger, duel headlight so if its anything like a Cuda she is a 71, which means rare and expensive: I actually chose this Flex auto (there are 3 in Tokyo) because i wanted to see this 2+2 i saw online, and look at the long champs on it and see the offset, i could get the front, but couldn't get the back, either way they are a bit too small, i would want to to a tag more aggressive with mine: Like half the cars here, and all the S30 zeds here, this thing was rough, It had a full strip of stone chip down the bottom edge, which i can only guess is covering ALOT of rust. Rust in the slam panel, the roof, the fuel door had been bogged and wasn't nice, the antenna area had bog in it, the paint was rough as guts, they just sprayed everything black, bumpers and all. and no, that isnt 199 000 yen ($2500) it is 1.9 million yen, or 25 grand for those playing at home Don't like the price of zeds, look away now, a 4 door skyline for 45k....... and to think we were binning these and paddock bashing them because they were garbage.... this thing was cool, a datsun sedan ute thing? This was pretty clean, anyone? all yours for only $36 000. Some of the loot i brought back home: My sticker collection: And that was pretty much my trip to Japan! Now to get back in the garage and back to work!!!! Dam... its 3am.... It took me over 3 hours to fix all the photo's, upload to photo bucket and make this post, maybe time for bed..... Rudi

So i waited until our last week to make this trek. It was about a 1 hour train ride, then a 20 minute walk from our hotel. And to top it all off it was raining. I didn't know if they were open, i could only hope. It truly was a miserable day, until i walked around the corner and saw this: yeah..... i think the wife captured the moment perfectly: how much awesomeness can you have in one photo? The longest zed in the world, a G nosed 2+2, a Hakosuka, a Ken Mary and the black thing was a Galant. This thing was pretty cool, very RA28 Celica like, but no, a Galant. This thing was in quite a bad shape, im pretty sure it was just being used as a parts car: and next to it were more cars that look like they have been sitting for years: Then back over to the main cars. To think, these girls didn't make the cut to go into the workshop, left outside! Hakosuka, Not sure if it was a genuine GTR, i doubt it, because i highly doubt they would leave a $300 000 car outside. Ken Mary next to it, and then this tucked in the corner: she was in rough condition, wasn't a full restoration. Rust in the usual spots from what i could see, but it was tight and wet there so for once, i didn't feel like laying down next to it. looks to be bad rust in the boot, nearly splitting the skin: Inside was were the quality cars were: This thing was wide, and Shoji was going to add even wider wheels, he showed me the rims he was going to put on the back, they were nearly square! 15x10 -78 offset. we both started laughing when he showed me the plate on the wheels Now this thing was MINT! Not sure of the year, but it had vents in the rear hatch so must be a early girl. US import, it looked like it had rolled off the showroom floor: It had a standard L24 with twin SU's and the factory airbox, all looked brand new under there, i forgot to snap a pic, in hindsight, i forgot to look at a lot more minor details and take more photo's, i guess i was just a wee bit overwhelmed! a work in progress, perhaps the next demo car? These wheels are Mr Shoji's own product, Glow Star wheels. They are on par with new Work or Watanabe's price wise. I think he quoted me around $3000 shipped for the offset I'd need for my "narrow body" 3.2L, 50mm solex carbs and when i said horsepower, he said 400. Is that HP or PS, wheel or engine? I don't know. Mr Shoji Inoue was a awesome host. Let me start the cars, showed me around. We had a very difficult chat over google translator, but i was able to hang for about 3 hours and he was more than happy to talk to me. I took my tablet with me like a looser and showed him all my build photo's. He was exited and impressed to see everything i was doing, and was really happy to see a foreigner who loves their Japanese cars, and happy to see i was taking the time to restore a Japanese car. It suxed that it was raining, because he said if it was dry he would take me for a spin in one of the demo cars. Tucked in the back of the workshop were more cars, this was getting alot of work done to it: This was immaculate, a full body off restoration, well actually all the cars inside the garage were like this, every nut and bolt replaced, every door gap perfect: Ken Mary getting work: And another back from the painter: I must say i was very impressed with the quality of cars here, i ended up getting a few T-shirts, and about 20 stickers all up! When we were ready to leave, Mr Shoji asked how we were getting home. When i told him we were walking back to the train station, he took us in his car, and we did a pit stop at a famous temple near his shop, which was on the way! Again, awesome experience, and blown away by the hospitality of everyone in Japan.

After we were done at Mega Web and the Toyota History Museum, we got back on the subway, took one stop over and checked out Super Autobacs in Tokyo Bay. What i have discovered about japan is that everything is so convenient, They tend to bundle multiple shops/services that are related or simmilar together opposed to being all separate like in Australia. For Example, Super Autobacs is like supercheap auto.... but not crap. There is no low quality bargain basement brands like SCA there, its all top of the line stuff. Its supercheap on steroids! They also have service centres downstairs, to get all your components fitted etc: and even have some old cool classics getting work done too! saw this tucked away in the corner of the workshop: No bob Jane T mart wheels here.... only quality gear.... It really isn't fair....and neither are the prices! See now this one wasn't fair..... I have to drive 4 suburbs away to Revolution race gear to get some decent seats.... here, its all in one place! starting at around $1200, and that black and red leather Recaro bad boy in the background was about $4000! Need an exhaust for your Subaroo? Even if you dont have a scooby they have you covered! Coilovers anyone? They literally had all and any performance parts you needed in the one place, a true one stop shop. Unfortunately i mainly only bought stickers, and a few magazines on Silvia's, and a few nostalgic car mags too. Don't think the coilovers or exhausts could come on carry on! So we went outside..... and um.... excuse me sir, is there something heavy in your boot? Then as we were leaving, a gaggle of hoons rocked up. It seems Autobacs Tokyo Bay is the local meet for everything under the sun.... and well..... i could truly say "only in japan for this one" Modified Scooters! These things were LOUD! they are nearly the same height as a pocket bike the way they are modified. Slammed, stretched and loud. Pretty different, only in Japan can they make a scooter "cool" And speaking of American cars.... quite a bit of old metal driving around, hard to get photos because they are always on the road moving, however i did manage to snap a few: STAY TUNED.... UP NEXT THE HOLY GRAIL!

So I'm back from my honeymoon, i got to see quite a few workshops, some nice cars, and more zeds than you can poke a stick at! and believe it or not, I'm still married! Don't worry, for all the suffering i put my wife through, she dished it back 10 fold, i think we visited every hello kitty and miffy shop in Tokyo! So to start, YES, it wasn't all car related, we saw a lot of these: we also went broke eating copious amounts of wagu beef: And i have to give a shout out here, yes seeing all the car related things were awesome, and once in a life time, and we will get to that, but i must tell you what our best experience was in Japan... We went to the samurai Museum in Shinjuku, Tokyo. It was nice, they have original samurai armour there some that dates back 800 years. we did a tour, we watched a demonstration and it was all around a good day. I then went to buy a some souvenirs at the gift shop. In Japan everyone loves to hear where your from, what you do and what are your plans are in Japan. So i got talking to the Owner of the museum and one of his workers. I say I'm a mechanic, we are going to Nagoya for a tour of the Toyota forklift factory organised by upper management back home. Turns out the other worker was also a mechanic who worked for RE Amemiya. I show him pics of my zed, he pulls out his phone and shows me pics of his Mazda Cosmo he is restoring. Then the Museum owner shows me his old Cressida, he loves vintage cars, amazed that someone from Australia loves Japanese cars and loves how i am restoring mine. We all end up talking for about 1 hour in the gift shop. Then the owner invites Jackie and I out to dinner. He takes us to his favourite restaurant, orders for us, we ate like kings, and when it came time to pay he said, you are my guests, its my shout. We were blown away, we couldn't believe the kindness and hospitality of him. Nicest guy ever. Turns out his life long dream was to open this museum, he is a one man show, not some government run museum, he had been buying the pieces for the last 30 years slowly, then took the plunge 10 months ago and opened the museum. So if anyone is in Tokyo, go visit my friend Mr Koyano and say Hi! OK! So now the formalities are out of the way lets get to the good stuff! Here is one for you Gav..... saw it on one of the first days: On our first week in Tokyo we went down to the Toyota History Museum near Tokyo Bay. Toyota Mega web is there too, worth going to see, but nothing really note worthy to post picture wise: And no George, i unfortunately couldn't buy this old girl! She was definitely a lot worse for wear.... Much like most zeds, fresh paint on top, on closer inspection.... MUCH MUCH MORE TO COME IN PART 2 RIGHT NOW OR LIKE.... SOON......... ( Posting in parts cause knowing my luck, my computer would crash 30 seconds before i make the post if i spend 3 hours getting 80 photos ready at once in one post...)

how did you go with finding these places dat240z? Im actually off on my honeymoon today, 1 week in the Philippines then 1 month in Japan. I WILL hit up star road, and hopefully some of the vintage classic car dealers in Tokyo. Also plan on going to a few up garages and go see super auto bachs. I THINK biko works might have moved? Ive been going on all these websites, and it seems Biko have another address listed on there, also when you go to google map for the address, it looks like the signs are all gone. and that was from october 2015. I'd like to hit up Red Megafone, I looked on google maps, it looked to be a bit of a walk from the train station though. Anyway.... Im also going to do a tour of the Toyota factory when im in Nagoya (Only there for 3 days though) and i'll be in Kyoto/Osaka for 8 days too. Keep an eye out in this thread...... Rudi.

Well quit talking in riddles and spill the beans. You won't be affecting his chances of sale on here at least, we aren't stupid, its a million different colours, the top coat on it is garbage so its already obviously a bog and flog, it just depends how bad it actually is. No harm in letting us know what you know. Rudi.

I'm going stand up and say I absolutely hate that car. To me building a car like that shows your lack of skill, patience, dedication, pride and workmanship. You don't have the skill to build it right so you make a "Rat Rod" Its built for facebook likes. I also have the feeling he has had less input on that car than he leads us to believe. Matt is asking him if it has power brakes and his face kinda hazes over and mumbles 'sometimes', Look i like the engine swap, but at the end of the day the car is still a POS that is still rotting away every day. See I like Charlie's zed. It has had all aspects of the car done, has been restored, shows the quality and skills of the craftsman, and has a bad ass engine and power combo to boot. That's just me, I like nice things. And i appreciate a car when i see the time, effort, man hours and skill that goes into restoring it back to new condition. Building it right. Meh

VIDEO UPDATE 2: fuel box! So i finished off the box section, so part 2 is up, with less waffling on from me and more action! Gah i dunno man, i definitely didn't rush it. I went slow, one or 2 spots at a time, and moved to the complete opposite end and worked around it that way. I also used pannel locking clips to make sure it was all straight and secure when i butt welded it, so i dunno, it literally just sunk in around the weld, its pretty on par along the rest of the body line, maybe someone who is a professional can chime in and tell us what went wrong? Rudi.

thanks for the support guys Don't worry Locky, I took your first reply as a compliment... made me laugh actually! I will try. Not even sure how i will attempt to tackle that area, most likely from the underside so i don't disturb the roof. I've been told by some workmates: 1. The end/outro was abit dark, try not to film at night which ill keep in mind from now on 2. Im abit monotonous when i speak.... hmmm don't know how i can fix that one Next videos should be better with action shots, Now i wont lie.... Ive f**ked up the fuel box area while repairing it, mainly due to my impatience.... i went to fix it, and f**ked up again.... i have all the footage, in process of trying to rectify or salvage it... ill put it all on the table in the video to show where i believe i went wrong and how to avoid it, so stay tuned Thanks Pete! thought why the hell not, try something different! Rudi.

Have fun with that section mate, that's the last area i did on mine, took me a while to get the curves all right and sorted. Looking forward to seeing how you tackle it, ive seen some people butcher that area Rudi.

Semi-Update 6.5.15 - Video updates from now on Ok guys i want to try something different for the rest of my build. I want to do a youtube video series for the rest of it. Lets say its like Toms Turbo Garage but with 99% lower quality in Video editing and post production haha! Anyway, i made episode 1, its pretty much me waffling on with the back story and you have all seen it so far. I have been chipping away at it, and have taken go-pro footage along the way of me working on it etc so hopefully the next episode will be more interesting. So give me some feedback, good and bad, how i can improve it etc, the wife said it was pretty good, but we cant trust her, she doesn't want to deal with a grumpy Rudi if she says something wrong and un-supportive. Rudi

you don't have to increase the ethanol % at all, it will most likely still be 10%. The main reason they add the 10% ethanol is for emissions, not specifically to increase octane rating. Rudi

awesome work mate, your really moving along at a cracking pace, and that's good, it gives me motivation! Rudi

^^^^ Don't worry there will be plenty of photo's of anything i pull apart. I usually don't use a air gun when cooling panels, i have before, but i just spot, move maybe 15-20cm away do another spot, then wait until i can touch the weld with my bare finger and not burn myself (i get burnt alot haha ) then carry on from there. Rudi

Update 16.4.16 - Fuel filler hole finished, floor done Got abit done over the last 2 months. Firstly, big shout out to Locky, He made me the fuel filler panel, and it wasn't 100%, I messaged him and he told me to send it back down to him with my fuel flap, and he had it fixed and back to me within the week. So firstly i finished of in the engine bay, i had rust under the windscreen washer bottle, so that was fixed up: I had a few holes in the floor that needed to be fixed too: And finally i had to tackle the fuel door area. from the outside it didn't look as bad as it actually was: but it was very rusty from the inside, and by the time i had cut out all the cancer, i was left with a decent sized hole. I got a tip from a mate who is a body man and restorer, he said where possible, cut circles or ovals for your replacement sections. as if you cut a square, the panel will want to distort when you come to the corners. so i took his advice and cut a ovalish shape: was quite a few days trimming the hole to line up with my patch, but i started stitching it in: And the finished product. It has sunk in and pulled in the pannel along the bottom edge the most, and i went really really slow, but its nothing a bit of bog cant fix: Next up on the list is to clean up my filler neck box, and weld that back in place. I might have to cut off the mounting flange on it, and re make that section, so it will be a bit of stuffing around. After that, fix the small amount of rust in the bottom of the rear hatch where the glass sits, and then, probably the hardest task of them all. I have some rust in the inside of the cavity of the roof where the hinges fold into. I know this is a problem area, because Pete mentioned his was the same, and i think you said Locky just treated that area with rust kill? If i attempt to fix it, i will probably try from underneath. So un stitch the inner panel that the interior done light bolts to, then cut out the offending areas from the back, so i dont disturb the roof. But i might hit it with a wire wheel first and see how bad it actually is. Apart from that, thats all the rust fixed, then off to sandblasting! Rudi

Cars going great, i spent the first 6 months fixing all the small stuff then drove it around for 2-3 months. Then i tore it down completely to a bare shell and put it on a rotisserie that i made for it, and ive been fixing all the rust slowly. I couldnt weld to save my life, now im doing jobs for other people LOL. Im nearly done with the rust repairs now, It should be ready to be sandblasted soon, then hopefully off to be painted. Still going to be a few years before its on the road again. After my wife, you will be the second person i want to take for a ride! If you have spare time, my full build thread is on here, Ive been documenting it all: http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/10196-rudolfs-22-update-20116-engine-bay-rust-repairs/page-1 We have a Sydney cruise next Sunday from Windsor to Wiseman's ferry, If you can you should tag along! If your not up for driving you are more than welcome to jump in with me, i could pick you up, it would be on the way to the meet spot actually. Rudi.

Hey Zac good luck with the sale, Its been far too long since we caught up, I need to pull my finger out and come around to say hello soon. Better yet, you should come on one of the cruises with the Sydney crew, surly you have at least one zed in registered driving condition? Rudi.

wow your a braver man than i am mate! looking forward to the build Rudi

engine and engine bay looks killer! will have to come say hello again at WTAC Rudi.

awesome looking car mate! I love the colour and the suspension parts are looking killer Rudi.

Hey man great work on the floor pan rust repair, i pretty much did the exact same repairs not 2 weeks ago! I like your center console panel, are you going to paint it black? oh and what will those switches be used for? Rudi.

Common Pete, you wouldn't leave the Zed parked in a Westfield's carpark with all the other common peasants would you? But yes, i foresee drive through's being a problem, any kind of toll booth or pay station.... Pm YoYo, he is the only one recently who imported a zed that i can recall, it might have been a year or 2 ago, but he got his zed from Japan. I think all up it cost him low to mid 20's landed, and driven out the compliance shop. His car looks pretty good too. But i dare say the quality of unrestored Zeds in Japan would be as bad if not worse than here, but it might be worth a shot. Rudi.