Hello guys,

 

I have started a small project with my old Z that I bought some time ago that was for cheap and with a blown HG and rusted to death.

 

Well the body was pointless to repair so I have sold the engine and suspension and had the body sitting near my shop for about a year waiting to get scrapped, but rather than that I have deciced that I could build a frame and put the suspension and engine on it and the outer panels from the Z put on it...simmilar to the body on frame cars like in the US but with a rollcage already inside.

 

Not deciced on the bodypanels yet, just counting the weight on every single outer panel and deciding if I should keep the original or make fibreglass copies for weight saving.

 

Currently this is what I have made:

 

 

sorry bout the bad quality, anyway the bottom members and flooring is cut out and was measured so I can buy square steel pipes. Yeah steel, thought about aluminium but 1. too expencive 2. welding 3. would only save about 1/3 weight compared to steel, plus steel is more rigid.

 

the bottom frame should be about 150kg's excluding rollcage, will see if I'll go for whole fibreglass body. Main weightsaving focus will be on doors, rear trunk, interior, engine...possibly suspension.

 

My aim is at optimistic 1200kg's Z32, will probably get lower...no idea.

Engine will be either a FJ20ET or SR20DET, FJ cause it's a really capable engine and I can get it for good money, will see as I go. But no f---ing way that I'm putting a VG back in there :laugh:. First of all I'm getting the perimeter frame welded and will need suspension on it asap. Possibly a N/A z32 suspension but I'm messing with the idea of a custom z32 suspension copy and have it lightened as much as possible but in this case I'd need help from you guys for the dimensions of each arm etc :tongue_smilie:

 

Oh and it's not going to be a track car, just a project for the upcoming winter and have it as a "weekend" car.

 

Thanks for lookin', hit me up with any thoughts what I could do to this fcker :cool3:

 

Cheers

Mark

 

...oh and I'm from europe, lhd, etc...you know the drift

sounds interesting! good luck!

 

stick it on a land rover chassis! :p

Cool.

I'll keep an eye on this one matey.

looks like a fun project mate, good luck.

very interested to see how this turns out, the sr20det is a grate engine nice and light too

Looking forward to following this one!!

have a look at the frame in this car matey see how they have done that, couldnt find a pic but im sure if you google you will find it

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/Rod%2520Chong/retrospective/IMSA%2520Nissans/58938431.76offDNF.jpg&imgrefurl=http://speedhunters.com/archive/2008/11/28/retrospective-gt-gt-millen-and-the-300zx.aspx&h=448&w=672&sz=263&tbnid=l-SCNx3tv3C2TM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=138&prev=/search%3Fq%3D300zx%2Bracing%2Bcar%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=300zx+racing+car&hl=en&usg=__WDxX7cwErMDhbgvHMa-6tepVAoM=&sa=X&ei=ELUoTrbdDJKWhQe-9LjqCQ&ved=0CC0Q9QEwAQ

great project looking forward to seeing this.

Interesting, not sure I'd be putting a less powerful engine in a Z though :S (SR20? Really?) Why not a VG? I'm assuming the VG has upset you somehow? lol

 

Good luck with it, will keep my eye on this project for sure.

i love the idea of this project. assume your going to up the power of the Fj or SR?

 

personally id be fitting the biggest engine i could, RB26, LS9?

 

good luck.:thumbup:

Really don't understand this one.

 

You take a big car, spend loads of effort making it a little bit less fat - have a load of aggro fitting an engine it wasn't designed for and then suggest making it out of fibreglass. That highly durable material that looks sooo good after a few years!

 

You have heard of the 200sx haven't you? If you want to make something light, start with a small car in the first place. Makes a lot more sense.

 

Still, gotta admire your enthusiasm - if no-one did anything different the world would be a boring place. I hope that it turns out how you expect. Good luck.

thanks for the comments guys.

 

why not a vg?...well it's a big and heavy lump and I'm not looking for big power in this car, it's just a silly project to pass the winter time when I'm bored, and I already bought a FJ20ET for 100euros inc trans, ecu and loom and everything seems in tact, might just give it a quick rebuild and it should do the trick later I'll bump the power up a bit.

 

And yeah I have a s14a actually and a micra and almera gti...only real logical reason that I am doing this lil project is that the Z looks fcking awesome and I just can't be arsed to keep it this heavy and with a VG, think it kinda makes sense...well no but I like challenges and if I weren't doing cars for a living I'd thrash the Z immediately and buy something else. Oh and fibreglass body is just a thought but to be honest I guess I won't bother doing it. Just a fun project thats all :thumbup:

Don't pay any attention to what I think - I just wish I had the kahoonas to try and tackle something like this. Anyway, you didn't say you had a Micra!! Doubt you'll have much time to drive the zed with that baby sat on the drive!

 

What's that? A mid engined VG powered Micra? Now that sounds like a project!!

yeah I'd like the idea too of a mid engined micra, will keep it stock for now..good mpg :P

 

anyways one question, has anyone weighted the bare body shell of a z32?

been doing some calculation from an online nissan parts catalog and I came to the number 250kg or ~550lbs, think that aint right

oh and I have a 2+2 TT

 

let me know what you think...

 

cheers

Mark

Love It!-got to be 4 wheel drive! there has to be a first!:ph34r:

Love It!-got to be 4 wheel drive! there has to be a first!:ph34r:

 

think I would need a donor skyline gtr for that :P or the mid4 concept, too bad they didn't make it to production, going to start welding up the bottom frame on wednesday :cool3: