for anyone who is interested here are a few snaps of where im up to on my restoration/customisation. ive mainly focused on the engine bay as that is what im doing at the moment

 

engine bay was taken back to bare metal, this is just about the last of it

 

 

pas pot has been moved to here

 

 

to here, hicas has been removed, inner wing deseamed/smoothed. all holes have been welded up (except a few that i still need)

 

 

same goes for this area too, there will be nothing here except the brake servo/clutch master cylinder

 

 

Alot of work has gone on in this area, the battery tray has been removed which revealed a few holes where the battery had leaked, the upper suspension mounting had also had a bit of a bash at some time and had distorted the reinforced panel. i cut out the whole panel in this area and replaced it with one cut out of my breaker. all spot welds drilled out etc and welded back to look factory-also checked to correct chassis dims. you can see which panel i mean as its red (weld through etch primer)

 

 

same goes for the passanger side, i have replaced the headlamp pod aswell, it had been repaired to a good standard but i was not happy, it would appear my breaker had a bad bump (bent the chassis rail) but they had replaced the headlamp pod with a new nissan item so this was grafted onto my car aswell. all looks perfect now. the fusebox will go under the nose panel on the inside of the chassis leg opposite the pas pot

 

 

 

both chassis rails have been given the smooth treatment too

 

 

fuel filter has been moved down here where all the aiv stuff used to live, the stock fuel lines have been tweaked to pop up under the chassis rail where you can just see the little notch. the fuel lines will then go up through the panel above (where battery used to be). ill use a jic bulkhead fitting here so in the engine bay i will have aeroquip type braided hoses with propper connectors in stealth black onto an adapted fuel pipe.

 

 

tomorrow i will spray the bay in a final coat of etch, then seam seal a few bits. might even get on to giving it a coat of 2k high build. Colour will be pure gloss black. im going for a very stripped out look in the bay, no wires showing and nothing but the engine to see. colour scheme will be stricktly black and silver/chrome/pollished aluminium.

 

hope you enjoy.

ive had a change of plan on the fuel filter actually. going to rear mount it as in this thread

 

http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/showthread.php?t=324634

certainly a lot safer! admire your passion for this..great thread

ok big update, lots of paint

 

drive shafts

 

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back plate

 

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front arb brackets and hand brake cable mountings

 

 

ive repainted all the adjustable suspension arms, rear hubs, rear uprights, subframe too but ill post pics as I build them up

now for the body

 

the old man sanding down the engine bay, the red paint is a guide coat over the 2k high build, when all the red is gone, its flat

 

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done

 

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roof bars gloss black, a bitch to mask off

 

 

 

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and finally the hatch is also painted but no pic, its despoilered and dewipered. for the record it was a pain dude to previous owners adding holes etc and dents.

no pic at the moment thought. ill find it

 

 

 

doors not quite so bad

 

Wow, this is amazing! Maybe the best thing I have ever seen written about a Z32....

 

Btw, located in Sandhurst, so not so far!

a final pic of the typical finish im getting. Im in no way a pro painter and im sure those with an eye for paint will see the orange peel a mile off, im also painting outside so there is no escaping the bugs and dust. my solution to both will be a full wet sand up to 3000 grit followed by a good machine polish, once the paint has hardened for a bit.

 

looking back over the body tonight I got a few runs and some went on dry. I might give it a quick sand down in the week and a final blow over.

 

oh and for the record, the colour is ford frozen white. its about as white as I could get without metallics etc which I didn't want to spray.

 

hope you guys like

 

oh and found pic of hatch

 

Still looks great though mate, im sure it will colour sand and polish out, cut back on the air pressure a tad to lessen the orange peel effect, you will get some orange peeling on most spray jobs, is the wet sand and polish that gets the glass like finish.

Wow Dougal that is looking great and pity you cant get it in a spray booth for a final coat but awesome work mate:bow:

Truly awesome work! It's soooo nice and refreshing to see a project like this and I wish there were more of them. I'd love to have gone to such lengths with me, I really would, your engine bay looks fantastic.

kind words indeed all, its these comments that keep me going. that plus a large hand from my dad and the support of a fantastic woman

oh and as a special thanks to my dad, here is a pic of his motor we have nearly finished off

 

I am up your neck of the woods quite a lot, would love to pop by some time to see both of those. Love this sort of stuff!

missed your post si

 

feel free to pop by any time

 

im in Evesham now but not too far away, ive always loved your car, infact its been a huge influence on mine. id love to see it in the flesh.

quick update from the last week.

 

had my best mates wedding last weekend so progress is a little slow

 

the body is now painted, so now on with the fun bit. putting all the shiny bits on

 

brake pipes

 

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I love the detail you have pur in this car. So cuffed you didn't give up. 1st zed I've seen as a complete rebuild :pint:

where ever possible ive used stainless cap head bolts, other than that ive replated the originals

 

so on to the suspension

 

test fit of subframe

 

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front suspension, already built

 

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general overview. im loving the contrast of the suspension against the body. the black and white theme will run throughout with some grey thrown in to break it up

 

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It's going to be a stunning zed when your finished. The brake piping is a work of art mate :thumbup1:

I love this thread you see everything in so much detail and for years to come this thread can be used to show members what is going on under and in a swb 300zx. Great work Dougal :thumbup1:

that's about it for today

 

ive got a full weekend at it so hoping for some good progress

 

would like to have it down on the ground before I put more weight in it. don't know what id do if it fell off the frame:wacko:

 

so by sunday it might even have wheels and look a bit more like a zed

 

I will build up the doors over the next week, hoping to have it water tight soon

 

thanks for the kind words dave

 

its actually the first full restoration that I know of too, ive looked all over the net as a bit of a guide. I hope this helps people in the future.

 

I have a deadline for finishing. im moving to Hong Kong for a year or two in 7 weeks. don't think ill get to drive it by then

Thanks Gary

 

I love swb's not many detailed pics on the net so sometimes its a bit tricky putting things back right

 

on that subject, do you know what bolts up to the 4 blot holes on the fuel tank straps? is there a heat shield?

I want to buy it lol

Yeah it's the heat shield 4 x10mm nuts.

Oh wow this is a project and a half!! Amazing work.