Hi my name's Pez, I've been a forum member for a while, though have been really busy with work so not been able to post much unfortunately.

 

I bought my 'Z' off Matt (Exeter) back in '07; for those that knew it back then it was a tidy example of a '91 TT manual, relatively stock apart from a HKS Super Dragger exhaust, Apexi induction kit, KYB shocks and a 99 spec rear spoiler.

 

(I actually stumbled on an old thread of his; would have been about the time he sold it to me, he then went off and bought himself a big old American fuel gussler van)

It was decent enough but eventually I tired of the lardy arseness of a stock 'Z' and decided that it was nowhere near enough for me.

After a PAX compensation payout, I looked to import something a bit different.

After toying with the idea of importing a Skyline GTR R33 & R34, and deciding that I couldn't justify (in my wifes eyes at least) spending £34k on a car,

I kept looking, eventually I stumbled on a nice looking example of a fully re-built immaculate 1995 600bhp Wide body Mazda RX7, which after speaking to the UK based importer directly, I decided that it was the car for me.

I paid up and imported the car from Japan (and God do I wish now that I hadn't).

1995, fully rebuilt and immaculate it certainly wasn't!

After paying out in excess of £20,000+ and getting shafted by a 'now exposed con man on the DRIFTWORKS forum' I resided to the fact that I would never see my money again or the RX7 that I had paid for, so rather than mope on the issue I focused my efforts else where.

Where to go from here?

Well it just so happend that I'd kept my 'Z' with the intention of selling it on once the RX7 arrived; obviously that never happened so after a bit of pondering I ploughed all of my efforts (and money) into making my 'Z' the car that I wanted it to be all those years before.

 

 

 

This is how my 'Z' used to look on completion of Phase 2:

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/220.jpg

 

 

 

**Note: I won't touch on Phase 1 'cos it was pretty nasty! not fibreglass shite but just wrong**

 

 

 

however, despite spending a substantial sum of money, I figured that the lardy arseness was still a major issue.

I made the decision that in order for the car to be realistically 'driftable' on the track the car needed to lose a considerable amount of excess weight and so began the 'diet!'

 

 

The car was stripped to a bare shell, where I proceeded to relieve it of anything and everything that served no purpose.

 

(I'll take this opportunity to highlight that fact, 'drift!', from the outset the focus of 'Phase 3' was to prepare the car for the track, if you're a 300zx pureist, you may want to steer clear of this thread)

 

Most people say that the Z32 isn't a particularly good car for competative drifting......I say that's bo**ocks! Cooling issues aside, the Z32 is a tidy cr to get side ways.

 

The drift scene is severely lacking in 'Z's to fly our flag. This will change I'm sure.

 

There are a few 'Z' drift builds on going, so I thought I'd share mine and get some feed back.

 

 

Every single aspect of the car was stripped:

 

-all carpets, trim, sound deadening was removed

-the dash, heater etc were ripped out and replaced with a custom carbon fibre/military grade aluminium mesh half dash

-All glass was removed (bar front windscreen) and is to be replaced with Lexan

-cabon fibre blanks are being made to replace the rear quarter windows

-the bonnet, boot, targa panels, front panel, overfenders, skirts, fog lights, front fenders are in the process of being switched for carbon fibre parts

-full 6 point roll cage, with side bars has just arrived from the US

-70" carbon fibre GT wing is ready to replace the old 'small' 60" wing

-carbon fibre rear diffuser has been fitted

-custom straight through decat exhaust on Labree down pipes have been fitted and a custom side exit twin exhaust is currently being manufactured

-all doors have been stripped of any excess weight

-all steering/supension has been replaced with upgraded after market parts from TEIN/STILLEN/WHITELINE/DRIFTWORKS

-18" Volk Racing CV PRO (3 piece) split rims, have been replaced with much lighter and wider 18" Volk Racing CV PRO (1 piece)

-Fuel system is currently being replaced with a 22 gallon US imported FUAL SAFE fuel cell with built in cut off & fire extinguisher system

-complete fuel system rebuild, twin 044 Bosch pumps utilising AEM EMS/fuel components, upgrading the NISMO 740's for larger injectors

-AEM electronic ignition fuel sytem

-RACE TECHNOLOGY DASH 2/DL1 (data logger) system/VIDEO 4 (on board EMS compatable video)

-full brake upgrade 12 pot (380mm) & 6 pot (356mm)

 

-Takata 6 point harnesses

-cooling is provided by AEM water/methanol injection, upgraded PACE side mounted intercoolers, Koyo rad, HEL oil cooler, carbon vented nose panel, carbon vented bonnet, carbon venturi ducts

 

-the current carbon fibre seats unfortunately aren't FIA approved so will shortly have to be replaced

 

 

 

 

 

Full engine spec will be posted tomorrow: Carrillo rods, Arias pistons, NISMO 740cc injectors (upgraing shortly to larger 1000cc injectors), twin GT675RS roller bearing turbos etc.

 

I'll get the full spec up and welcome any advise.

 

99% of the car's component have had to be imported from the US or Japan (or brought back by me from my many trips to the US) UK customs have been very good to be fair and have turned a blind eye on all occassions! bless 'em.

 

 

 

 

 

Carbon fibre/Mil.spec aluminium half dash, NISMO GT shift knob, C's JAPAN short shifter kit, the Personal 'OZ RACING' limited edition steering wheel (1 of only 500)was a Christmas present fro my wife.

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/007-1.jpg

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/018.jpg

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/016.jpg

 

 

 

Loads of DRIFTWORKS goodies, TEIN TYPE FLEX coilovers (with EDFC), STILLEN anti roll bars, CZP & WHITELINE droplinks

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/017.jpg

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/012.jpg

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/013.jpg

 

 

 

Full weld in roll cage imported from the US (primered just to stop the surface rust in the mean time)

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/003.jpg

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/004.jpg

 

 

 

Twin JWT pop chargers and Z1 Doolz kit, HEL 19 row oil cooler, twin Bailey BOV's (some tatty looking SAMCO hose in there at the mo that'll need replacing shortly)

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/009.jpg

 

 

 

Some of the AEM parts that made it through the 'volcanic ash cloud' (hopefully more to follow over the next few days), TEIN and BLITZ parts = loads of wires = Japanese insruction manual = loads of smacking head off garage door in frustration!!!! can't wait.....

 

 

 

Z32 balancing on 2 x space saver wheels....not really.... obviously just extra safety measure if 4 tonne axle stands don't surfice.

 

Carbon fibre overfender just tacked on to cut and prepare mould for custom carbon kit.

 

Quite lucky with the Volks offset, as they are a perfect fit for stock arches, the brakes (not fitted in the pic) push them out a bit but I need to play with the geometry and possibly add spacers on the rear.

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/006.jpg

 

 

 

Carbon fibe rear diffuser (I should have all of the front and rear lower arms replaced with the DRIFTWORKS parts within the week)

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/037.jpg

 

 

 

I'm preparing a full build portfolio (sifting through about 800 pics) to add to the thread, I'll post some decent pics of the build over the next few days.

 

 

 

Loving the forum fellas by the way........

excellent project and sorry to here you got ripped off.

lets hope the zlady can forfill your needs. what power you aiming for with your engine mods?

Looking great there mate, as above, sorry you had been ripped off, i know how that feels.

Keep us updated with the pics

Sorry to hear that you got ripped off.

 

I do love and envy you for doing this. Good luck with the Zed build - wish mine was drift spec. Will be keeping a keen eye on this one!

nice, you have your work cut out but should be fun based on the amount of effort you've put in already.

 

Good luck and look forward to the final result.

Thats pretty shite about the RX7! :thumbdown:

 

Liking the Z, cant wait to see further progress on it! :thumbup:

Looks good. I see supra VS overfenders on the rear. Noot mine though :slap: :lol::lol:

Hi Pez, best of luck with your project, can you tell me if you're selling your 740 injectors and are they a straight fit to the '93 Twin Turbo??

Thanks...

 

Richie

nice project . looking forward to see it finished ..!!

I stumbled on a nice looking example of a fully re-built immaculate 1995 600bhp Wide body Mazda RX7, which after speaking to the UK based importer directly, I decided that it was the car for me.

I paid up and imported the car from Japan (and God do I wish now that I hadn't).

1995, fully rebuilt and immaculate it certainly wasn't!

After paying out in excess of £20,000+ and getting shafted by a 'now exposed con man on the DRIFTWORKS forum'..

 

Firstly dude, who is this as I wasn't aware of it, and my dad is looking to import -

Secondly - I suppose there's a lack of choice regarding sending money when dealing with imports but crikey being ripped off by that kinda sum is ridiculous!!! I'd travel over there, find them and remove body parts until I got the money back

Hi Pez, best of luck with your project, can you tell me if you're selling your 740 injectors and are they a straight fit to the '93 Twin Turbo??

Thanks...

 

Richie

 

I'll send an e-mail to Z1 and ask the question, but I'm pretty sure that the 740's will go straight in (maybe somebody on the forum already knows the answer, anybody??)

They will be up for sale shortly as soon as I have the new replacements.

 

as for the RX7, it's a very long drawn out affair.

 

I started a thread a few weeks back on the DRIFTWORKS forum explaining exactly what had happened and posted several pages of supporting evidence.

 

The thing is the guy in question had no comeback as everything stated was fact, he tried to fob it all off....obviously that didn't wash and people saw straight through his bluff.

 

In a nutshell the car was advertised as an immaculate & newly rebuilt "1995 600bhp WIDEBODY MAZDA RX7". I then realised that it was being advertised for sale by 2 different companies/people at the same time.

Rick/GHOSTDANCER (use the search facility on the DRIFTWORKS forum and that will explain about this guy and how he's ripped off loads of people and buggered off to the States with their money) anyway, he was advertising the car on PISTONHEADS under the DRIVING SPORTS name, whilst at the same time, the same car was being advertised by Julian Barnes of SEVERNSIDE IMPORTS (UK based importer Lydney, Gloucester) on ebay.

After a few e-mails back and forth to SEVERNSIDE IMPORTS and SKAY LTD (exporter in Japan who the car was apparently built for by Rick/GHOSTDANCER, Kawabatta (owner of DRIVING SPORTS) and Stephen Hemsley (owner of SKAY LTD).

The email responses stated that the official importer was Julian Barnes at SEVERNSIDE IMPORTS.

I arranged to go down to SEVERNSIDE IMPORTS (more for my own piece of mind than anything) to ensure that it was an offical business.

I went down with a bankers draft for the full cost of the car (£12,500) and it was agreed that I would pay £1000 shipping/taxes when it arrived in the UK.

I handed over the money to Julian Barnes and was told that the car would arrive in 6 weeks.

Julian then e-mailed offering me a set of carbon fibre door cards to be fitted in Japan, for about £500 all in (I agreed and paid this in cash). I asked if they could also fit a set of leather bucket seats, eventually agreeing on a set of leather BRIDE seats which I paid Julian £1200 for.

 

After a lot of bullshit excuses from Julian/Japan I was told that the car was eventually shipped (this was about 4 months after I'd paid up front!) I then had no idea where my car was until eventually I received a call to say that the car had arrived in the UK (this was 7 months later!!!).

 

I asked if it was immaculate as described and was definately running 600bhp.

I recieved a waffled reply about different petrol and how rotaries were very temporomental, and that the car was registered on a 'K' plate (I thought I'd mis heard him, as that would make the car 3 years older!) but he stated that the car was immaculate.

I was getting really worried by this point.

 

I went to pick the car up and pay the final shipping costs (which incidentally had now gone up by 40%, Julian wanted £1400 shipping, stating that it would be up to £3000 on top of that if he'd declared the full value of the car.

 

By this stage I just wanted my car.

I arrived at SEVERNSIDE IMPORTS.....it was a 1992 on a 'K' plate!!!!!

My wife and I looked around the car and realised that the paint was in dog order, the photos that I posted on the DW forum were checked by a paint shop specialist and he started to point out loads of problems with it, basically saying that the paint job was shocking.

 

The front bumper was damaged and not fitted properly, the 'BREMBO' brakes on the rear were just rusty stock brakes, the rear screen was cracked, the doors wouldn't close properly, the original red body colour was beaming through the 'new' paint job (definately not re-built from the ground up) and the engine bay was different.

Not forgetting the fact that the car was 3 years older!!!

 

I refused to take the car and demanded my money back as this was just a blatant piss take.

 

He refused and told me that I would have to speak to his solicitor.

 

I got my solicitor on the case straight away and she agreed that it was clear cut, he didn't have a leg to stand on.

Letters were sent to his solicitor, of which the reply was feeble to say the least and basically playing for time.

Julian claimedf that there was nothing wrong with the car.

 

-We sent several photographs to his solicitor clearly proving otherwise

 

They said that they needed time to ask ebay for a copy of the original listing

 

-we said no you don't, here have a copy of ours!

 

Without a leg to stand on Julian Barnes eventually agreed to refund the £12,500 paid for the car but not the £1700 for the seats and door cards

 

-we said no, we want a full refund

 

He said that he needed 28 days to get the money together as he would have to re-sell the car

 

*Funny old thing the new advert advertised the car as a 1992 model running just 450bhp and had just been repainted since arriving in the UK, as the paint job done in Japan wasn't good enough!!! (I posted copies of this advert on the DRIFTWORKS forum as well as the original PISTONHEADS and EBAY adverts, so that people could see for themselves.

 

Eventually Julian sold the car, and when I asked him when I could expect my money back he stated that he had only got £5000 for the car and from that he had had to pay shipping costs and for the new paint job!!! and then told me that it was tough, I should have taken the car when I had the chance.

He then made a remark that SEVERNSIDE IMPORTS wouldn't be around for much longer. This was early '09

 

My solicitor then recieved a letter from Julian Barnes partner (common law wife for 5 years/lived at the same address/had children etc) stating that it was 'her' debt.

She filed for insolvency and effectively had £106,000 of debt written off.

I was told that I would get about £1000-£1500 paid back over a 5 year period.

 

SEVERNSIDE IMPORTS ceased trading mid '09 having forfeited the insolvency agreement and had gone bankrupt....however throughout this, they could still afford to build and import a pro spec drift car to compete in the JDM ALLSTARS drift season.

 

This is the best bit!!!! SEVERNSIDE IMPORTS closed down their premises and ceased trading, however Julian Barnes then reopened SEVERNSIDE JAPANESE IMPORTS just a mile down the road in Lydney!

 

It gets better!!!! obviously nobody knew that SEVERNSIDE IMPORTS had gone bust, least of all their two professional drift drivers that were driving for them in 2010!

 

Luke Fink, Australian drift champion and James Deane driving for SEVERNSIDE IMPORTS.

Luke competed this year up in Manchester and James Deane was to drive for them, for the rest of the season.

Julian had already stated that they were importing a 'second' SEVERNSIDE drift car (now!) in order for both drivers to compete in 2010.

 

Not to mention the 70 grand money transfers by Julian Barnes to the states a few weeks ago!!!!

 

When you consider that Julian Barnes was stated on the insolvency document as an employee of his 'mrs' and just 'washed the cars', makes you wonder hey!

 

Trust me there is a lot more that I have, but I'll keep that in my back pocket for now.

 

Made me laugh though, 'cos after 17 pages of this thread on the DRIFTWORKS forum all he could come back with was 'I don't have to explain myself and all of this has been passed to my solicitior!"

Funny that 'cos not even mine was working on a bank holiday, let alone at that time of night!!

In order to save DRIFTWORKS from having this scandall tar the DW name, I e-mailed Phil Morrisson and agreed that this whole affair wasn't anything that directly involved the DRIFTWORKS community and therefore the thread was 'pulled'.

It had however got it all out there for people to see.

 

Just to put that 'legal' side of it into context, I'd checked everything through with my solicitor to clearly avoid any 'slander' allegations and paid for a barrister to go over the case and they all stated that it was very clear cut......slander was not an issue at all with regards to what was completely factual.

It's been what 2-3 weeks now and, hmmn....still haven't heard from his 'solicitor' (the one incidentally that I'm guessing he binned when he got his 'mrs' to take the fall!)

 

2 and a half years of evidence: legal documents, emails, photos, video the lot.

3 files worth just waiting.

The thing is, if he'd just given me my money back, nobody would be any the wiser.

 

He's been very quiet recently though! wonder why????

 

My RX' rant over....really sorry, back to the 'Z'

 

more pics to follow

Hi bud,

 

I was speaking to you on Driftworks not so long ago about your wheels.

 

Did you recieve my email reply?

 

Shocked by your story shows you what low lifes are out there.

 

Really liking your zed tho some top stuff being used all the best

 

Dan

Edited May 12, 201015 yr by GIBSTER-TT

Sorry mate, must have missed the pm on wheels, what can I do for ya' chief?

Hello dude,

 

I remember reading through the whole lot on driftworks about you getting ripped off about the RX7, was such a shame and bet you were well pissed off. Best of luck with the project :)

Here are a few pics of the engine rebuild, this was Chris Scaife's (owner of ZTECH) own engine, bought it off him back in '08.

 

[/img]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The twin GARRETT GT675RS (RB) turbo's should be a nice compromise, not too much lag.

 

I'll be fitting the DRIFTWORKS lower arms this week and will post pics of progress, hopefully the Lexan will be good to go in by Saturday

fook me mate sounds like a rough deal!! Glad you got the majority back, keep pushing mate it'll be worth it

Sorry mate, must have missed the pm on wheels, what can I do for ya' chief?

 

I maybe mistaken but you emailed me with some parts for sale aswell as your wheels.

 

I replied but didnt hear fromn you?

 

Nice build by the way:cool2:

where do you buy lexan from ??

fook me mate sounds like a rough deal!! Glad you got the majority back, keep pushing mate it'll be worth it

 

I think I might not have put the point across too clearly with regards to the whole RX7 thing, unfortunately I got nothing back, he/they kept every penny of it. I ended up with no car and no money, I lost £14,200 (in addition to the cost of the car I ended up spending well in excess of £5k on two years worth of solicitors and barristers fees) In a nut shell, I got well screwed.

 

The Lexan is being supplied by a mate of mine who runs a body shop in Bromyard (Bromyard Accident Repair), who is getting it made up for me by a company they use based in Bristol; the company kits out their Autograss cars.

I'll get the company info posted up tomorrow.

 

Ref: parts for sale, sorry mate didn't mean to be rude by not replying.

 

Off the top of my head I've got for sale:

 

(pics available)

 

-set of (4) 18" Volk Racing CV-PRO 3 piece split rims (8J & 9J) with Yokohama 245's and Bridgestone 265's which fit the stock Z32 wheel arches perfectly with 20mm spacers (which would be included in the sale) they have recently been stripped and refurbed in black/chrome lip

 

-Pair of genuine Carbon Fibre/black faux leather bucket seats (fits 5/6 point) harness (includes side rails) never fitted (cost two grand new from the States) based on Porsche Carrera GT seat design

 

-genuine NISMO carbon fibre/chrome shift knob (new)

 

-STILLEN intercooller ducts (new in box)

 

-triple A pillar gauge pod

 

-ECU with 740cc EPROM (might be JWT, I'll check)

 

-Twin MONGOOSE exhaust oval back boxes (as new)

 

-Genuine Carbon Fibre 60" GT wing

 

-FRP vented bonnet panel (to be moulded into bonnet)

 

-Several other FRP Z32 rear wings

 

-single APEXi induction kit

 

-set of white dials already fitted

 

-stock rear boot with moulded lip (red)

 

-Pair of 'extremely large' TOYO side mount intercoolers to fit a Z32 TT

 

-Set of KSPORT adjustable tension rods

 

-Set of BSA NO S14/Z32 adjustable Traction arms (imported from Japan)

 

-couple of gauges

 

-faux leather interior for a Z32 2+2

 

-loads of stock OEM parts

 

-a few other bits but can't think off the top of my head

 

-2 x Z31 (NA) project cars

 

-Z31 Turbo engine (50k on the clock)

 

-Toyota GRANVIA (camper conversion) if you're a surfy type:biggrin:

 

I can get a comprehensive list if that helps at all

oooo some nice parts there bud. how much for the dials?

 

also since you seem to have a load of bits - you dont happen to have either a 99 spec front bumper or aftermarket one?

 

Bit of a long shot i know, but you never know.

 

Sorry to hear you had such a rough deal with the RX7 saga.

you've got some nice stuff for sale there... but you'll get shot down in flames if you try to sell and aren't a subscribed user. But its easily worth the money and you'll soon shift that lot if you wanted :thumbup:

Sorry to hear about the Rx7 ordeal, what an absolute joke, I can't honestly understand how some people can have the gaul to do such things, and then they still get away with it! - I May be interested in the Apexi Ind' kit of which you are selling, but that is dependant upon price, pics and making sure it's the z32 not universal fitment version - Also only registered/subscribed users are permitted to sell on here mate - get yourself registered bud :)

Edited May 13, 201015 yr by 300ZX_DRE

Rgr, my appologies, will get registered this evening then answer Q's with pics

 

cheers fellas

Now a subscribed member....Wahoo!:cool3: