five&dime

Me too! Painter came by and said no problem on making this reality. He was thoroughly impressed with the overall condition of the car.

Shiro, baby!

Received the fairlady and 432 emblems. Also got new mirror to door seals which are critical for keeping water out the interior. A local guy had the 87-89 front bumper, hood and a fender that I can use for referencing the extra holes I need to drill for the side skirts. Throttle bodies have been shipped off to Australia for enlargement to 49mm, new butterflies, seals, bearings, hot tank and new plating on steel parts and some of the linkage. I pulled one of the quarter windows. I talked with the guy doing paint/body and the plan is to ditch the trim by welding in more metal around the glass and using a stronger bonding agent to glue the glass back in. Which would look just like this first side profile rendering. The other rendering is coming along as well. The color isn't quite accurate but it's pretty much impossible to replicate digitally. Even looking at photos of safari gold cars online is misleading depending on lighting conditions. I probably will not attempt this spoiler idea anymore since I found a Shiro special front spoiler which is the one shown in the first rendering. The goal is pretty much to build this very car. No rear bumper and everything. I don't know why but I am obsessed with that side profile render!

I picked up 3 NOS S30 Fairlady Z emblems and found two places that can replicate the S30 Z432 "432" emblems as well. The original Z432 was named as such due to the 4 valves per cylinder, triple carbs and 2 cams. I intend to create my version of a restomod 80's Z432. The safari gold with watanabe's would really set the package off too I think. The machinist looked over the head and has already created what he needs to open up the valves. He is also making a bridge to keep two valves open at once for the flow bench. He will weld new material into the combustion chamber and reshape it. He wants to unshroud the valves. A Tomei 87mm bore HG is on the way to him now and is the last thing he needs to get started. I have used him on a number of projects and this is the first time he has seemed excited about an engine build. Kind of cool considering he mostly does top fuel dragster type stuff. "This is going to be a fun one" he said when we last talked Found a place to send the RB26 45mm throttle bodies off to have enlarged to 49mm with new butterflies, bearings etc. They re coat the inside of the bores with the factory paint for proper sealing. Then I will take those along with the plenum and Tomei intake gasket kit so the machinist can port match those as well. This is going to be one heck of an engine and I imagine the sound might give Ferrari a run for the money.

The artist sent another update. He thought I meant regular gold. But it looks pretty good like this too. He is going to change it to safari gold and I asked for an off white as well.

Started getting the engine ready to come out. Also got the 87-89 side skirts and brackets. I will need to strip the horrible paint job off of them but looks like overall in great condition otherwise. Looks like it should be minimal work to make them fit too.

My dad got me a set of RB26 ITB's with the plenum for Christmas!! I will have them blasted and cleaned up and replace the hardware. The machinist now has the head and all associated parts. He thinks he can definitely get some better flow going and it sounds like working in behind the valves is where he intends to spend the most time. He asked for intake and exhaust gaskets to perfectly match them. Can't wait to find out how much power we can get out of this N/A RB! I found an NOS rear inner driver fender liner and had to snatch it up since both my rear fenders have a little rust behind the wheels that will need to be cut out and replaced with new metal during the respray and I know any painter will prefer to have an NOS inner when doing that job. Shame he didn't have the passenger as I probably need that side more. I also found all the front windshield trim in gunmetal from an 89 car. That will make restoring them much easier than starting with the chrome/polished trim. Just need to find the side, quarter window and rear window trim next.. The S13/S14/Z32 subframe mounts shipped and I found a buyer for the engine/trans so it seems I should be able to start stripping the car very soon. Will get it down to a glass out rolling shell for the subframe work and a partial roll cage. I plan to strip, shave and paint the engine bay myself. Might even spray the interior and jams myself to save money.

Check out the BRE inspired front lip. I doubt this would be too hard to have made.

Definitely going with 16". I am leaning towards the 2nd option although option 1 allows me to run a more squared side wall.

Agreed, Jason. And yes, I was surprised no one ever registered this car. Here are the 3 size options I have. The first is the narrowest and last is widest. I don’t think I can go with the wide version and go very low so it’s likely the 16x8 0 /8.5 -6 or 16x8.5 -6/9 -13. The last one is a 16x9.5 -19 in the rear but you can clearly see how far the wheel sticks out. I am leaning towards option 2 http://www.rs-watanabe.co.jp/16inc-242/ http://www.rs-watanabe.co.jp/16inc-247/ http://www.rs-watanabe.co.jp/sekinei-hz31/

Indeed. Although if I recall correctly, I did beg you to paint that car the original safari gold

The guy who did the above rendering was kind enough to change the color to something like 920 safari gold and added watanabe's. This is my goal.

Thank you, Siteunseen!!! I posted about my 510 and BMW 5 series wagon with the LSx 427 but never posted my last and greatest build. A one owner 38k miles 2001 BMW 740 M sport that I had a fresh built M5 S62 V8 swapped in with an ESS supercharger, 6 speed, M5 diff with 4 clutch upgrade, suspension, BBK, custom interior, wheels etc. It's an amazing car. Here is the Petrolicious feature on it. https://petrolicious.com/articles/this-engine-swapped-six-speed-sedan-is-the-m7-that-bmw-never-built The crazy thing is that I have owned 30 vehicles and the Z31 is my first 2 seater ever! Yes, I do hope to have this one done for Z con although I don't expect too much from 1/4 mile times since this is a heavy car and 300hp will be a challenge And Raw Brokerage is expecting 10k redline with the cams/berry rings!! The other goal is to possibly have this car done for a SEMA slot next year by one of my parts suppliers.

Got the last of my parts from Raw Brokerage to get the head going. Now I have Tomei cams, lifters and beryllium copper valve seat rings, Supertech plus size valves, dual valve springs, guides, Ti retainers and spring seats for the new RB26dett head. I also got the first sketch from the guy doing my design render. Note the early headlights/recess with the late lower front bumper. I am hoping it's doable.. Lastly, found a guy on IG who did the last render which I really like. Color and all.

Thanks!! I couldn't ask for a better car to start with for the price. More

The car was delivered this morning and all I can say is WOW!!! It’s so much nicer than I expected. I found one spot with some paint overspray but realized it’s just because someone spray painted the side mirror after it was scuffed. So the overspray got on some trim but easy to remove. All other paint appears to be stock and in great shape. The interior is incredible. The dash and gauges are like new. There are no rattles, squeaks or any odd noises. It even rides terrific. The seats are incredibly comfortable. I can smell a fuel leak, an oil leak and it runs a little rough but probably just needs a tune up. Besides, the drivetrain won’t be like that for long. Still, I may go ahead and do that, install the 5 speed since my best friend got me a pedal assembly, master cylinder and has a Z32 driveshaft which may help. Overall, I couldn’t be more pleased with the purchase and could probably flip it now for a decent profit. But that would be boring…. Some cell phone shots after a quick wash before the freeze.

The roof/overall car length is longer on the 2+2 which IMO, just throws the proportions off.

It's yours when I pull it since I will toss the trans anyway.

Finally found my donor vehicle. Well I found it about 6-8 months ago but the price was too high so I didn't even bother calling to make an offer. I have been daily searching these cars on auto tempest for over a year and yesterday, the price dropped and I jumped. The car arrives on Wednesday. It's an 86 300zx non turbo auto. Base line model which I prefer for this project. It has 56k original miles and seems to be in outstanding shape. The oddest part is that it's never actually been registered and has instead bounced from dealer to dealer. All I want is a clean shell with good bones and a very nice black interior so this certainly fits the bill. On the engine side, Tomei cams, lifters and beryllium copper valve seat rings have been ordered so that the headwork can start. I estimate the engine to be complete in February.

Got the block mostly broken down and received the first head components from Raw Brokerage. New Nissan RB26dett head, oversized valves, dual springs, seals and retainers. [

About ready to pull the head (will wait for my dad to come over to join in the fun). Cam lobes look practically new. I realized I had to turn it over for the cam reliefs to access the head bolts so I put the belt back on after this photo. All bolts broke loose and ready. I am really impressed with the simplicity of the design on this motor. I was working on my Volvo V70R recently and I have no idea what they were thinking when they designed that engine! My wife said she wants the car to be white and agrees on the 86 fenders after looking at some photos.

Here is an S14 240sx/silvia with a Rocket Bunny kit in safari gold. This sold me on the color.

Got the motor on the stand in the garage and pulled the pulley and front cover. Will remove the head and intake as one to sell complete. Pretty set on safari gold 920 as the exterior color when the time comes.

Haha, I am exactly the same way. Currently have 4 "enthusiast" vehicles all with mods. The e38 M7, 03 e53 x5 4.6is, 04 Volvo V70R and 95 Nissan d21 hardbody. I like black the best stock in an e38 7. But I like caramel in the e39 m5's or the almost white interior on the newer BMW's.

I keep seeing that one in my searches but it only has the one photo and appears to have tan interior. I dont mind buying out of state though.