five&dime

Ha! I actually reached out to them 6 months ago to make me that throttle linkage setup but it was a one off ? This one sounds pretty good too. But neither had as extensive headwork so very curious to see what kind of power mine will make and how it will sound with a 10k redline!

Ignore the runs and the small imperfections. It will be final smoothed by Wednesday. Then paint soon after! Check out the before and afters.

Should be primed this week.

Thank you! It's going to be hard waiting to fire it up but with it being so rare to have an N/A RB fully built, I am going to wait until the tuner has it on the dyno and let him start it for the first time. I have only heard video clips of the few N/A engines and they sound incredible. Such a big difference between an engine with and without the turbo which acts as a muffler. With the enlarged throttle bodies running straight velocity stacks, stiff valve springs, big valves/cams, long stroke, big bore, lighter flywheel, equal length long tube headers up to 10k redline into aluminum or titanium full exhaust system, the sound should be something like a sport bike or Indy car. Body guy said engine bay welding is finished! Sanding begins now and I should be able to get the final bare metal shots before primer. Should be painted the first week of April which probably means last week of May..

Almost forgot to add that since I sold my BMW, I bought a new daily driver beast but the really exciting addition is the 1984 Nissan Skyline Dr30 with the fj20et!! The dr30 has become my favorite classic skyline and I love the history of them. This one is R34 GTR Nurburgring Millenium jade with a glass out full respray, coilovers, bump steer spacers, Cusco bars, Nismo LSD diff, big turbo, FMIC, oil cooler, SSR FT1 wheels, r32 rear brakes, Recaro seat, Nardi wheel, super clean interior an old school Denon head unit etc etc. I had been searching Japan for a really nice stock one but this car was about as close to what I would want to build as I could imagine. I had a friend of a friend in Tokyo go inspect it in person and he said it's simply incredible and extremely well built. The guys who brokered the deal for me saw it and said the same. It should be getting on a ship here in the next week or so and then 4-5 weeks until it arrives at the port. The only issue with the car that I could see was a broken lens on the driver rear tail light, some slight fitment issue with passenger front headlight, one ding on passenger rear quarter and the hood must be fiberglass or carbon as you can see the waviness. I was incredibly lucky to find a set of brand new NOS tail lights which are honestly the most amazingly beautiful parts I have ever received for any car period. I thought they were just really clean used ones but they are brand spanking new and almost too stunning to even install. Amazing that Nissan was designing such a cool tail light design back in the early 80's! My only plans for the car are having the bottom half wrapped in gunmetal grey along with the RS Turbo DOHC graphics added like the typical red/black "iron mask" people are so familiar with. And although I do like those SSR wheels, I don't like them in black so will either have powdercoated or sell and get watanabe's. I also plan to remove the racing seat and maybe part of the roll cage.

My machinist called me yesterday to say last chance to get pics before it starts going together. While I was there he ran the crank on the balancer and said it's within NASCAR tolerance. He checked all the pistons and removed some weight to get them balanced and he had to slightly hone out the rods for the wrist pins. CP said they wanted .0015 gap from piston to deck height at TDC and with the slight decking to get the block clean, it's slightly less than that at .00135 so after he does the final flow bench test on the head to check how much improvement was made, he can put it all back together and check valve to piston clearance and worst case, I get a slightly thicker head gasket but he doesn't think it's enough of a difference to matter so we will see. Body guy said I could come for photos on Monday and it sounds like the engine bay welding might be done!

Few updates on the Z31. Slow and steady. Also for anyone interested, my BMW E38 is up on bringatrailer and ends in 2 days. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2001-bmw-740i-27/

Very cool that you were able to find something new! He used a mini inverted tig welder for this but yes, he said it's very useful for the thin sheet metal. Can't wait to see the sculpture all done! He said he was going to start painting within a few weeks so it will be exciting to see color on both!

I didn't get any of the expert welder in process. The body guy told me they used hardened steel in some places and silicone bronze in others IIRC. They also burned out the old seam sealer. Apparently it is quite the job and they were having to hold a big metal spoon or something on the back side while welding up the mutli layer seams on the frame rails. Lot of work now but I really think it will all pay off in the end. This is the one and only car I will ever take this far. I almost backed out of the seam welding to be honest but I think this build deserves it.

Dropped the last of the engine parts off with the machinist. And some updates on the engine bay seam welding.

Last pieces of the puzzle for the engine arrived. CP Carillo custom made high compression 11.6:1 pistons with WPC treated sides for better oil retention/friction reduction and ceramic coated domes for better thermal capacity. Should further help prevent detonation with pump gas. The lifter shims were the other pieces needed to finish the head. Here is the final rundown on the engine RB25de block bored to 87mm RB26dett NOS head with machined combustion chamber and port/polish 87mm CP 11.6:1 Pistons/wrist pins and rings Nitto H beam rods Nitto 77.7mm billet stroker 2.8L crank Tomei 272 10.25 cams Tomei adjustable cam gears Tomei lifters Tomei berrylium copper valve seats Supertech oversized valves Supertech dual 243lb springs Ti retainers R34 GTR N1 oil pump with Spool billet gears R34 GTR N1 water pump Negun Z31/RB oil pan Haltec 2500 ECU Ross hall sensor crank fire trigger wheel setup Also including a few updated shots of the Skyline as I refresh it. Waiting on my friends at Japan Parts Service to find me a 4th R32 wheel so I can sell these Rays/Volks. So far I raised the suspension up, removed the tint, put the stock shift knob back on, found a used stock steering wheel that's on the way along with a used non pitted front grill and non broken front bumper/headlight trim piece. Just trying to get it looking really clean and address any little issues, fixing rattles etc. The plan is to hold onto it for a bit while the 80's-90's car continue to climb and cash out for profit since these R31's are so rare. As the new chassis's become available here in the states, the older ones continue to climb in price.

Got myself a rear rare JDM bird. 1987 HR31 Nissan Skyline GTS-X. Bought it from a guy I know who has owned it for the last 2 years. With the 80's cars on the rise, I felt like this would be a good investment opportunity that I can enjoy for a bit while I refresh it. Overall it is in good shape and the guy has some spare body parts like bumper, grill and grill under trim section etc. Interior is in amazing shape. Big turbo RB20, exhaust, Fortune Auto coilovers, Volk wheels, 5 lug conversion, S13 front control arms, rare solid R31 rear bushings with HICAS delete, R32/Z32 brakes. I know the guys at Japanese Classics and out of all the cars they have brought over, 1500 were R32's and they have only been able to get 2 R31's!

My body guy said it will be welded and is the same way that new Porsche's are put together. I told him I would love to get over there while he works with my good camera to catch some actual welding photos.

I think I can manage on the pictures ? And now I am very interested about this as well and will have to ask some more questions. I hope to shoot over there while he is working too so I can capture some process photos this week. If this snow ever melts!!

All I know is that my body guy decided to bring in someone else to do this portion. He said the guy is a nuclear welder and the most experienced he knows. He wanted to factor in flex etc to make sure the paint would not crack. He assured me 100% that it would last and that I would be happy with the end result. Given the work so far, I trust his judgment. And as I said before, it's always a plus when the guy doing the work gets really excited about something like this. Thought I would also share an update on my other project car. The feature in Performance BMW magazine is finally out. US copies should be in stores soon. If anyone never read the Petrolicious article, here it is too. https://petrolicious.com/articles/this-engine-swapped-six-speed-sedan-is-the-m7-that-bmw-never-built For any who don't know, it's a 2001 BMW 740 M sport that I got from the original owner. 38k miles. I had a friend build an M5 S62 V8 before another friend swapped in the rebuilt engine, ESS supercharger, M5 6 speed, M5 diff with 4 clutch upgrade, 750 rear subframe with upgraded brakes, Brembo front BBK with 2 piece rotors, Bilstein HD shocks, H&R springs, UUC sway bars, modern BMW navigation/idrive, wrapped up with a custom dyed interior from tan to caramel/black.

Thank you, Mark! It's getting close'ish! Next up is welding all the engine bay sheet metal seams for the inner fenders, shock towers, firewall and lower frame rails with silicone bronze and then smoothing. This is something my body guy has gotten really excited about and you can tell when talking to him. He has always wanted to do a full show engine bay. It will look just like that Z32 bay with everything nice and clean. Once that is all done the primer will go on before the exterior of the car is painted and then Xpel clear wrapped for protection. I plan to test fit everything in the engine bay and start the rest of the car's reassembly. I will then have my friend tow the car back over there to have the bay base/cleared after we get the engine, wiring and plumbing all mocked up and then pulled back out so there is no real risk of damage to the final product.

I bet that paint could be buffed out pretty nicely if original. And dents can be fixed. Really hard to say on that single image but I don't see any rust. Interior condition matters a lot as does whether it's auto or stick too. But again, I could see $3500 being the high side as it sits if it's in good shape. A weekend worth of elbow grease with some good products could really freshen the look up. Mechanical condition matters too of course. In the end, I agree that I would offer no more than $1k in cash based on that photo alone and you could always start at $500 or so.

I agree that since you are in HS, the owner might consider giving you a deal. I would ask if it's for sale and then maybe offer $1000 tops. It's worth more but you might get lucky. If you really want the car and they want more within reason, I would offer whatever cash you can afford to spend and then maybe offer to do some yard work etc to pay off the difference. You could even write up a contract and have them hold the title until paid in full. High side at $3500 is about right as previously mentioned from that photo alone. Rust is the killer of any Z though so always keep that in mind. Values of these cars are currently on the rise.

Thank you! It's really exciting seeing it progress at this stage. This is the first time I have ever gone this far with a car and I am excited to see the end result. I tried to clean up my old 510 bay as best as I can but this time I want to go more like this Z32 which is the most amazing looking engine bay I have seen in a long time. The body guy has my bay down to bare metal and is just finishing up a few more things before it gets primed, filled and then primed again.

80% of the metal work is done in the bay now. All access, AC, wire loom tab, wire harness, battery and mounting holes are welded up. The main harness will be all new with a multi pin bulkhead connector. Even the wiper motor will get a mini bulkhead so that the bay will be modular and easily stripped down. The body guy is going to cut access holes on the other side of the upper rail so that I can snake everything through and get to the hood release cable. It should look incredibly clean when he primes in a week or so. He said it will likely be ready for paint by mid to late January. The restored tail lights are finished too and came out even better than I could have expected. Sanded smooth, polished and Xpel clear wrap. Machinist is assembling the head to check for lifter shim clearance and once those are ordered, the head will be complete. All the small components for the short block are on order and the final items for long block assembly will be ordered next week. CP is working with the mold now to design and CNC the custom 12:1 compression pistons which will be WPC treated on the skirts and ceramic coated on the dome. The engine should be complete by the end of January.

Engine bay shaving well under way. 98% of all holes, all protruding sheet metal will be welded up and all of the brackets removed. Every electrical component for the engine will be relocated and displayed as a feature in the cargo bay.

CP Carrillo pistons have been ordered with expedited delivery. Custom 12:1 oversized 87mm pistons with WPC treatment which is interesting stuff. Micro particle high pressure shot peening. I am going to double check with CP this week on whether they want to do WPC on the full piston or a combo of WPC on the sidewalls/ceramic on top etc. The micro blasting greatly helps with oil retention and friction reduction but my main goal for the top/dome is to keep temperatures down to reduce the chance of detonation with 12:1 on pump gas. They are moving the wrist pin location slightly and these include the pins/rings. 2-3 weeks lead time on the pistons and the machinist is currently assembling the head. He removed some material for the larger cams to clearance and now just needs to finish assembling the valvetrain so we can determine what shims for the Tomei solid upgraded lifters. The engine should be together within the next 2 months! I found a company in Australia that built an amazing 400hp S30 with a built N/A RB30 running 14:1. They created a really nice throttle linkage setup and a guy who follows me on Instagram knows them personally and is trying to get me a deal on that so we don't have to try and reinvent the wheel. I can't use the stock setup because it mounts onto the intake plenum which will not be used. Not to mention the fact that the OE setup is bulky and not very pretty. The car has now been epoxy and fill primed. Next he will start shaving the engine bay then he will prime that, the jams, the cargo floor, modify the front and rear bumpers and then start shooting color!!

The car isn't primed yet. He was trying to wrap up another car that's just about done. I will have primed pics tomorrow. Fenders are rolled and pushed out 3mm for extra tire clearance all while keeping the flat edge! Piston mold is done and ready to send off to CP. He finished doing the port and polish on the intake manifold to match the head and over bored RB26 ITB's. Lastly, I got the N1 R34 GTR oil pump, Spool gears and the Haltech 2500 ECU. I also ordered Tomei adjustable cam gears.