five&dime

Flat medium wrinkle grey. Similar to the S20 engines in the original 432 and GTR. Most people do black or red but I think the grey will be more suited for this one and will contrast the color well. The trim, spoilers, roll cage and wheels will also all be gunmetal to tie in the theme. In my daily searches I stumbled upon this while looking for JDM lights which is the craziest part I have ever seen for the Z31. It's for an 86 and has a 10k redline vs the original 8k. It's like it was meant for this project! I also love the tricolor display for tach and speed as well as the nifty sub 1/4 tank detail gauge like my old 87 Pathfinder had. Totally 80's, totally rad! I was racking my brain on what to do about the tach because I wanted to keep the factory cluster but also wanted to know my correct revs. I was planning on going with a digital display but now I can keep it old school.

This is so cool! I have never seen this done but always hated the stock intercooler notch on the RB26 valve cover. The body guy made an aluminum cover and welded it in place.

Enjuku racing RB Z31 oil pan arrived and the traction rods for the rear suspension are supposed to ship tomorrow. Then it will go to a local shop for the rear cage next week. Going for this design only with much better welds and no diagonal bars down to the trans tunnel. Lastly, I am having the stock intercooler recess on the valve cover welded up to mirror the other side. It's always bothered the hell out of me on RB's.

I can't wait! Too bad I didn't get more seat time as while it was stock. I think I put all of about 12 miles on it before it was torn down Ordered the Nitto stroker 2.8L crank, H beam rods and upgraded rod bolts. Also ordered a stainless RB26 exhaust manifold flange since my headers are from the RB25 which oddly enough, has a slightly different bolt pattern. Now I can drop the block and crank off with the machinist and get in line so that by the time he is ready to start that, the custom piston specs will be ready. He can also port match the header flange while doing all the headwork. The throttle bodies are done. Enlarged to 49mm, new butterflies, seals, bearings and re-plating of all the hardware. They are assembling the linkage and shipping back from Australia next week.

Here are the installed photos.

Looking good. Very excited about this one!

S14 subframe installed. It will be delivered back to me as a roller this eve!

Amen to that! The original DIY thread on this used photo bucket for all the photos and of course they are all gone now. It said to modify the rear mounts that the guy made to be used up front but didn't really elaborate on how. Just suggested "do the best you can". My friend decided he didn't like that plan and so he is cutting the front ears off the Z31 subframe and welding them onto the S14 so the stock locations can be used up front. The rear side to side bar in the chassis out back is the perfect location for the guys mounts. This should be a really good way to achieve this swap and I can't wait to get updated photos. He plans to have it done and back to me tomorrow. Amazing to see how much better the S14 subframe is compared to the Z31.

Apparently this is a lot more difficult than my friend thought. But he says it will get done and there is no one I better trust to do stuff like this. And the guys that have done it say it's 100% worth the time, money and effort when you compare the new setup to the original suspension.

My friend picked the car up to weld in the rear subframe conversion mounts. Unfortunately he said it's a lot more work than we originally expected but he said it won't be a problem.

It will slow down a little when it goes to paint. EFI hardware sent me a pic of the freshly plated RB26 ITB parts.

My car has rust in the very bottom rear quarters on both sides. I got an IG message from Bimmer740 yesterday because he saw a Z31 at the local yard. Turns out it was also an 86 and had rust free rear quarters. How cool was this?! I sent him a nice bonus for the time/effort. My body guy was going to make them but now he has plenty of material to work with.

Parts starting to come in. S14 240sx rear subframe, MAX lower control arms and drop knuckles. The upper arms and toe rods arrive tomorrow. I ordered Ichiban 5 lug hubs/bearings as well. Soon, I will have the car towed to my friend who will weld in the subframe mounts. I found a rear roll cage for the Z31 and will have my friend weld in a second bar to create an X since I think the 1 sided bar will make my OCD go into overdrive. Then it's off to paint!

It's surprisingly easy to remove everything. I've taken a ton of photos and I like to put screws back in their places with stuff like this rather than bagging them. I'm pulling everything because I want to paint a bare engine bay so it's perfect. No masking at all.

Glass guy just finished. Took him 2 hours but he did a great job and didn't damage any of the trim. Now I can pull the dash. I did find a really high quality carpet kit for the car which I hadn't expected. I hated the stock gross thin, sparse carpet that had bleached out to a blueish grey. I was only going to run the bare floor because of this but one of my best friends has convinced me to run carpet. He also told me about his experience with stock interiors.com. He said they literally are just like OE when you upgrade to the better carpeting option with the molded backing. The door panels will be custom done with leather, alcantara and the Bride fabric. Will have them add some custom red stitching to match the seats.

Got all the rubber seals and trim removed and intact! Those rubber door/t top seals are tricky and you could easily tear them. No longer available either!

After we went to see the painter, I got extra motivated! Thanks! Really hoping to have this car done by October for Z con but we shall see. I am going to pull the entire wiring harness out and remove anything not necessary. Planning on relocating the relay and fuse boxes to the storage area right behind the seat. Battery too. Will help clean up the engine bay and keep the weight distribution ideal. I kind of like the color of the interior as is and part of me thinks I should leave it. Will have to mull that over because I plan on leaving much of the interior sheet metal exposed.

Just waiting for the guy to come pull the windshield to pull the dash since I don't want to risk breaking the defrost section.

More progress. Also got some BRIDE fabric for the door panel inserts to match the seats I plan on getting.

Ordered my Watanabe R wheels from Japan. Gunmetal 5x114.3 16x8 0, 8.5 -6. Should be here in about 4 months. I can't wait as I have always wanted a set of real Wat's!

Artist sent me another render with white background and a closer color match to safari gold.

Correct. Even the interior floor will be sprayed because I may not run any carpet.

Not down to metal. My dad's were stripped down because there were prior repairs or resprays. This car is all original so only the rear sections with rust will be taken down to bare metal. The rest will be properly scuffed and all body work done prior.

Engine and trans is finally out. Was much easier to leave the entire wiring harness intact. It will be shipped off to it's new owner tomorrow.