Funkysi

Just think about it for a moment; why would you waste time and money on a rattle can paint job when it's going to be off the road anyway? It won't look great and you'd then have to take all that crap off of it again. The stuff you find in rattle cans IS generally cellulose anyway. Just wait until you can get it done properly. I'm sure if it's prepped to a high standard you can find a bodyshop to do a semi decent job for not an extortionate amount of money. As a side note, running these cars on a shoestring will almost always end up in tears.

Haha! Well, I can't wait to have it back so I can put it back together and drive (in the dry in summer months only...as per normal)! :)

...also, one of the ugliest cars (front the front anyway) Mercedes has ever built from the era of the Chrysler partnership. If we're talking 90s Mercedes however, these were always my favourite. The old CE coupe.

You don't want to be painting with waterbased in an uncontrolled environment nor if you're inexperienced. Honestly, unless you have access to proper equipment I'd sway you away from doing it especially under a gazebo in your garden. We've already have a number of failed attempts at this on here. I'd only recommend 2k and the number of coats really depends on what you're spraying on top of. Cellulose is dog shit and reacts easily and also degrades quickly. Waterbased, the base coat never full hardens so it becomes difficult if you need to correct anything unlike a 2k base which flashes off relatively quickly allowing you to work with it. Clear coat is always a 2k when using waterbased For 2k, you need the correct BA and also a controlled environment. As for wrap, change the w to a c and that's my response on that. These cars have large panels and if you're painting a whole car, you really need to do it inside a building in a dirt-free environment whether that be in a paint booth or a a building where you can securely drape plastic sheeting and secure from the outside elements. I have painted quite a bit in the past, self taught and what I did turned out well, but I only did small panels and wheels in my garage. Unless I was hiring out a paint booth I wouldn't waste my own time let alone the money on materials. In my opinion, you could prep as much as you can and give it to a bodyshop just to paint.

With the car due to be trailered back down to Somerset on Friday, I'm just left with a few detail bits to do. Posted this before but dropped off my headlight brackets off to the powder coaters a few weeks ago. They were great rust-free condition but the shitty single stage wet coating Nissan painted a number of things on the car with when new doesn't weather well and is hard to maintain the finish. Since you can't get these parts either I decided to get them refinished. As you can see they were fairly clean.. Finished and fitted to my brand new headlights. All the little screws that hold all the brackets were binned in favour of some identical stainless steel versions.

Well you can order it through Courtesy Nissan and I can get Melissa Miller to bring it to ZCon with her. Less hassle than voting will be on June 8th....

Dude, you just messaged me about this and I'm going to be in the US in a few weeks! :lol:

Not too sure what the quietest system is for the NA. Mongoose systems on a TT are fairly loud, although not at the top end of the scale. The NA is notoriously droany and raspy when fitted with most aftermarket systems. Just make sure you didn't get rid of the cats. Z32 cats are relatively free flowing anyway and you won't notice any difference on an NA, just the amount of droan and rasp they make.

It's only the syncros that were changed for a harder material, I believe the casings, bearings and gearsets to be identical.

There are only a few handful of genuine steel bodied Strosek Z32s. Almost all are fibreglass and many of those are Paul Bailey copies.

Don't go for 'cheap'. I went with NISMO bushes throughout as Andrew has posted. Didn't want the harder PU bushes and wanted to retain an element of comfort.

Sorry to hear mate and no offence with this, but you should have listened to the advise in terms of painting your car with cellulose or rather NOT to paint it in cellulose. It's awful stuff - only really suitable for painting radio controlled cars with. I hope you don't give up on it. Maybe get the car prepped again by yourself and give it to a decent bodyshop to paint and finish of the top coat with quality 2k paint.

Finally pulled my finger out and ordered the remainder of my weatherstrips. That's both large ones that go from the bottom of the a-pillar and round the A-pillar apperture and the t-top seals. (I already have the door seals). Decided not to order this from the US on the basis that I'm saving monies! Cheapest in the US I could find was $777.08 in total which is £603. Cheaper I hear you say? Well, no, not until you factor in everything else.. £603 total + 20% VAT @ £723.60 + Shipping Est £50 total £773.60 VS £633 from a mail order UK source - saves me £110, not a huge amount on the grand scheme of things, but reason enough not to purchase stateside. NOW, I could have ordered all those and collected when I'm over next which is in about 3 weeks, but couldn't guarantee they'd be there by the time I arrive and indeed depart. Then there's the deal with potentially getting caught by customs (unlikely, but not worth it) + risk of getting damaged etc.

Appreciate the effort but you do know these are only £30 new.....

Thanks for posting the pics up Joel. Very happy with it, it's not far off of being complete. Main body has been wet sanded and polished to a very high standard, panel alignment to be done next. The boot and a number of other parts were painted earlier today, just the bumpers to do and it'll be ready for the long haul back to Somerset. It's already the best it's ever looked and it's still in a load of pieces!

....I guess no one's noticed the dual elbows either. ;)

I know what he's doing! :D

You were feckin' miles off Kev! :lol:

Eibach springs are not 35mm, they're 20mm.

Actually, RM was my favourite Bond. The right amount of dry humour and cheesiness. Favourite Bond film was The Spy Who Loved Me. Connery is a very close second, but RM was just awesome, especially when dealing with Jaws! RIP 007!

They can still set track, camber and caster angle to stock even when lowered, the wheels will be sitting as they would at stock height which is what you want.....unless you're wanting to dial in loads of camber. I always have them do the alignment with factory figures.

Bloke's a dick. No sympathy. It was dry and he has four wheel drive AND he was showing off.

The connector is actually in the boot, or should be. If you take off the centre interior boot trim, look down to the bottom you'll see a grommet. It goes through that.

.....I'll add to that, if you're purchasing via US sources; USDM cars have a relay inhibitor also on manual cars, the clutch needs to be depressed in order for the starter to engage, UK and JDM manual vehicles do not.

Dropped these off at the powder coaters yesterday (headlight weatherstrip brackets). Mine are generally in great shape with zero rust, but have that thin Nissan single stage wet paint on them which is very thin, some small chips on them and light scratches. I should have had these done when I fitted my brand new headlights but didn't. Keen to see how they'll look with fresh and more durable coating on them.