My Budget Build Thread: you have to learn somehow.

[Jimmy Oakes]

YUPP, another build thread.
I felt it was finally time to start posting my progress so I could go back and laugh at my self one day. Well that and the fact I have no one else to show this stuff too.

Story:
I decided to start this a little late but hey, better late than never. So my z is a 1990 original TT with 112k on the clock when I got her in the middle of the winter December of 2013 when I was 19.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

[Jimmy Oakes]

So since I just saved up every penny I ever made in my life and just dropped it on my dream car (that and it was winter) I basically just parked it in my garage trying to save up money to put her on the road and what not. I honestly cant find a photo of the whole car when i got it because it came on some 2001 middle age bald guy wheels and the car was hideous.

000 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

[Jimmy Oakes]

Spring quickly came and so the first thing I did was just throw a set of coilovers(which took me FOREVER to decide on what i wanted, extremely happy with my choice) and wheels on the car.
*man did it so easily look gorgeous..
Coilovers: Pbm's
Wheels: Xxr 531 n18x9.5 +25(i think) with 215/45 tires i beleive

IMG_0007 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

[Jimmy Oakes]

Now a QUICK fast forward into the life of my z.

FIRST:
I just took a lot of photos of it, all the time. (i ride small bikes.)

IMG_0107 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

Got new wheels
IMG_0694 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

Decided to finally dig into the engine bay a bit and spent a couple weeks getting to know my car a little better and did some tucks and deletes.


IMG_0743 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

FROM:
IMG_0449 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

To this!
IMG_1217 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Extremely happy on how it came out for just my first time

[Jimmy Oakes]

Next thing might bother a few people but oh well, I bought all new arms for the suspension and played with them a bunch to try and mess with whole camber thing. (yes the tuck is bad, still love it). couldnt seem to find a photo of all the parts.
IMG_1136 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

[Jimmy Oakes]

So as fall approached quickly I had to make my way back to school but this year I had to change campuses and could longer live at home. So my girlfriends grandpa was nice enough to let me store my car at his house while i was away because i didnt trust it at my house where people are always in and out of.
IMG_2713 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

[Jimmy Oakes]

When winter break came along and I was back home for a few weeks I couldnt stand it and decided to bring my z home and start digging in and came up with my not so fantastic idea of doing a full bay shave.

IMG_2735 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
being eager quickly stripped it.

IMG_2941 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
then finally
IMG_3746 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

[Jimmy Oakes]

oh ya grab some new wheels real quick!
IMG_4028 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

[Jimmy Oakes]

From there the car sat around, I stopped home a few weekends and slowly pulled a few more things out here and there.
During spring break I send it out to my buddyes shopped to get the bay repainted all nice and everything!
PS. NO those arent my wheels!! a good friend let me borrow them to roll the car around on.
IMG_4306 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

[Jimmy Oakes]

got a new wing because mine was all rotted like every other oem tt wing..

IMG_4318 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

The old one makes a pretty good wall ornament hah.

IMG_4329 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

[Jimmy Oakes]

but what now?! So the car was suppose to be all painted in what not in just a few weeks for when i was going to get home for summer break and of course the car still isnt back in my garage. Of course the guys doing my paint are giving me a 'friend' price to do so so that has led to a veryyy put off project by them. There is so much more to post that I havent but ill slowly be updating the thread from now on. The car is expected to be back at the end of this week(well see) so once that happens posting will probably be daily. But if youre reading this thanks a ton for looking at my thread so far!

[DCaff300ZX]

Welcome to Nico!
I have to say I am completely impressed with your drive and results so far making your car what you want. You have done work that many experienced guys like myself have not done or maybe only done after a long time of ownership, and done it at a pretty high level it seems.
Keep it up and keep us posted!

[itsa300zx]

Agreed, very impressed with the quality of work, keep it up. (even though it looks like your wheels are going to fall off;)

Did you to delete the PS completely or where did you hide the reservoir?

[Jimmy Oakes]

(idk if there is a way to tag you guys, i'm new to this site) But, if you see this thanks both of you so much! it really means a lot coming from other z guys, I'm really stoked you guys enjoy my build!

[Jimmy Oakes]

So update so far:
Well even though the car has been out of my garage for quite some time now Iv really been slacking on cleaning up other things especially my motor. But with recent word that my car should be done any day now kinda made me gain some motivation with a few things. Having my motor out there are soo many things id obviously love to do but of course budget is insanely tight so I had to pick just a few things for a quick refresh.
So what I did the past couple days being bored at night was:
Replace my valve cover gaskets and while i had them off i added a quick layer of black paint to cover up the aluminum covers. I would have really loved to polish them but as some of you might know keeping up on polished aluminum can be quite annoying specially such a tight part like these.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

Also with that I saw a bunch of oil inside my bell housing so i decided it was a good time to replace my rear main seal. I was annoyed i couldnt find a kit on concept z, shoulda checked z1... but anyways had to order the retainer, seal, retainer gasket and oil pan seal separately (oh well you learn hah)
*the oil pan gasket made this such an annoying thing to replace,that and the fact i couldnt get the old retainer off(didnt realize there was set pins..) ended up literally chiseling razor blades behind the retainer, worked awesome..

https://flic.kr/p/uALzz2 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

also ended up repainting my power steering pump, since last summer when I did my quick half a** tuck I removed my HICASs (of course) so i ordered a na power steering pump off ebay used from some random guy(like i said crazy tight budget) and when i got it i thought it was black then i cleaned off the grease it ended up being blue.. who paints a powering steering pump blue? guess there's always that one guy huh. So i stripped her down real quick and gave her a few coats of paint.

https://flic.kr/p/vg34u7 by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
https://flic.kr/p/vg31dN by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

Also gave everything the pat down to make sure there were no 'soon to be' issues, stoked to see my turbos are still in such amazing shape. Besides that I threw on my new BDE motormounts, replaced the oil pressure sending unit with an 'aftermarket' one, polished up my water pipes a little and besides rtving some water pipes and laying down some new smaller hoses I just gave a little elbow grease to her and cleaned it up a bit.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

[Jimmy Oakes]

Agreed, very impressed with the quality of work, keep it up. (even though it looks like your wheels are going to fall off;)

Did you to delete the PS completely or where did you hide the reservoir?

I actually just hid my PS res under my nose panel, i believe you could see it in one of my posts. It kinda sucks because its like borderline too low compared to the pump so sometimes it has had trouble self bleeding. If you mount it directly in the middle at its highest point under the panel its perfect but for that you have to run a dual intake which we all know means a decent amount of extra spending.

[DCaff300ZX]

(idk if there is a way to tag you guys, i'm new to this site) But, if you see this thanks both of you so much! it really means a lot coming from other z guys, I'm really stoked you guys enjoy my build!

If you mean send private messages, there's a "contact" link at the bottom of the member info area if enabled to do so.
I'm most impressed at just how far you've gone with such limited (apparently, but not by results!) Z32 knowledge from what you said, and with such quality work and results. I myself did not attempt ANYTHING major on my Z32's until late in my NA's life when I was forced to fix a flooded fuel condition with telephone help which finally got my hands dirty, and some useable experience for future endeavors...you did this all and more right off the bat!
I was impressed with the PS res idea although not sure that it would work well in the middle as that's where I mounted my selin translator for the dual intake...so that would have to find a new home, but I am going to look into that idea as I like it a lot.
Keep it up!!

[Jimmy Oakes]

Well it finally happened! I got my car back! 4 months later and not a 100% complete I finally got it.. paint looks nice, not amazingly happy with it. For the most part it came out awesome but there are just a few half a** things that really took away. They broke off two bolts off in the threads for mounting the fender so now I have to drill and tap and they didn’t paint the inner part of my fenders to match the bay so now I have this gorgeous bay with faded grease stained inner fender lips. That and they over sprayed underbody on everything, bunch ton on my rockers and a butt load toward the top of the rain tray and my hinges. SUCKS but whatever. Happy to have my car back… ok enough complaining.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

So I have a little less than a month until I have to ship my a** back to school. SO unfortunately there are a few things I really wanted to do but no longer can due to time and budget.. so operation drive my car once before I go to school begins now.
Got the car back the night before yesterday, already banged a few things out but annoying enough I cant do much until a few parts come in that I didn’t realize I need.
So first:
I had to remove my driver seat but of course it was slammed all of the way back and its electric so I was nervous on how to get it out. After sticking my head underneath I saw the connector to the motor and deciding to try and give it direct power. Funny enough I didn’t have anything that I could use to hook it up to so I ended up finding some D batteries in a drawer somewhere and just put them in series inside a cut up wiffle ball bat haha. Well guess what it worked, stoked.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

From there I threw in my engine harness and ran my body harness threw leaving them loose so I can mess with the fitment better when the motors in. Also had to put the throttle cable back in, can I just say the throttle cable was miserable to do.. idk if its just because im a big guy but yeah no fun.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

Wrapped up the body harness a little more to clean it up. Electrical tape is a hell of a thing hahah

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

Stoked repining my ecu went smoothly, little nervous for that.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

Also got bored and since im getting new taillights this weekend I figured id wet sand and polish my center panel to make it all pretty again.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

So for now I need to go get some more line before I can bang out my power steering stuff and wait till my brake lines come in and then my motor could be dropped it!:] But for now todays my birthday so im holding off, but expect more to come rapidly!

[DCaff300ZX]

Wow man, welcome to the Z looney bin...you definitely got the disease!
Keep up the great work, and as mentioned above be sure to check those wheels don't fall off...
I had the same experience with a past paint job and with my last one went with a top end guy, and got top end results and none of that other crap...worth the price right there, not to mention the great paint job.
Keep us posted!

[Jimmy Oakes]

Have had the car for about a week now, unfortunately I stillllll haven’t gotten my brake booster back from paint (I hate people) so I can finish up my brake stuff which means the motor is still out. So for now iv just been casually doing a bunch of random little stuff trying to just get everything dialed in mainly focusing on my interior.
So basically the interior was all out besides the dash and the carpet so I had to put everything back in. First thing I had to do was actually hook up the body harness, lucky I got pretty lucky and everything on the driver side went well and the fuse box fit back perfectly, passenger side was cake.
So from there I put my rear coilovers back in real quick so I could mount in my rear strut bar. Take a quick second to look at how pretty these coils are.
Power By Max Coilovers.
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

And the stockers for reference hah(tein springs)
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
So last year I kind of just threw the strut bar in and roughly cut the interior panels to fit in, which came out like crap since I was in a rush and didn’t have a templet. I decided to make them even and clean it up, so using painters take I just kinda of eye balled each side to trims them symmetrical.
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
But I had to get rid of this nasty cut edges so I went down to my local napa and go a small roll of the push on protective door molding every old guy puts on their buicks hah.. but yeah this stuff works amazing. If is curious about what exactly it is just ask.
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Im happy with it
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Another dumb little thing; so my ugly ebay tails have a weird chrome trim to them so I spent the second to vinyl wrap them black and its looks way nicer. It’s the littles things.
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
So bam bam
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Also my birthday was just a few days ago and one of my best friends got me this hatch spoiler that Im so pumped on I put it on instantly (if curious Xenon part# 51240)
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
-ill post a better photo once I get my wing back from paint because my hatch looks hideous right now hah

[Jimmy Oakes]

Since I put the roof spoiler on I felt like it might look better with the wiper arm deleted in the rear so I took it out real quick, still don’t know how I feel about it but if so it takes two seconds to put it back on. But I was stoked to find out there are two plugs under the rear carpet, one in the spare tire well and the other underneath the tool kit form that is the perfect size for where the wiper arm is so I just took one from there. If I end up liking it ill probably just get a color matched one or the nice polished aluminum they sell everywhere.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

I was also eager to throw in my steering wheel so that was next. So the sleeve that covered my steering wheel hub was like an inch to short so it didn’t cover the cheap hub and looked s***. But just watching around the garage I got the idea and noticed that the accordion looking cover was the exact diameter of a coffee can.. so I cut that s*** up and wrapped in black vinyl and its perfect..

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

I also put more of that door trim stuff I used to clean up my strut cover panels in the rear on the steering wheel box cover to fill in the gap and it really did the job.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

Put my old nardi classic on and fell in love.. I hate flashy after market wheels and to me this just looks oem+, damn its pretty.

Funny thing with the horn buttons, so I couldn’t find anywhere that sold cheap nardi horn buttons no reps or anything so a friend and I actually had a batch made directly from china just for the hell of it and they look amazing ,were dirt cheap and made quickly.. hate on me for not all top quality stuff but im just trying to do as much as I could with a horribly small budget.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

Now that my interior was coming together I figured it was finally time to put in my gauge pod and gauges I got over the winter.
The gauge pod is a autometer a piller cover and gauges are depots(yeah sorry) oil and boost pressure since the oem ones weren’t cutting it.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Stoked I had the matching colors when extending
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

I kinda of really really wish I bought the two pod instead of three but whatever too late now.. doesn’t look horrible just need one more gauge.
The gauge pillar just slides right over the stock pillar, it fits really well if you just clean up the inner lips with some sandpaper or something. Only thing sucks is having to drill a hole into your stock pillar underneath to run the wires.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr
Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

Next is my battery relocation, so I went down to my local store and just bought a few quick supplies. They only ended up only having 2 gauge wire (what is what seems to be recommended) but it seems like complete over kill and kinda really wish I got 4 gauge..

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

I was lucky to acquire a good miata battery my friend took off his 240 to use in the 300zx(yes itll work lol) so it fits quite well. This seems to be the spot where I want to mount the battery. A nice tray is still on my to-do list.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

So I went under the car trying to figure out a good path to run the battery cable through but quickly released that wasn’t going to be an option.. I bet people have done it but my car is just too low to make me feel comfortable. So after I had just finished putting my whole freaking interior back together I had to rip it all apart again… ugh.

I was really hoping itd run nice and easy under the center council but no it doesn’t fit, at all. So I was able to just run it through the carpet which naturally has a small pocket between the center council and the seat so the cable sat pretty nicely. From there I just ran it right above the ecu and out into the passenger side fender through the same hole as the body harness.

I HIGHLY recommend 4gauge to who ever wants to relocate their battery, the 2 gauge is a b**** to run and even though I spent a lot of time trying to fit it perfect it seems almost impossible to make your interior pieces 100% perfect with the cable there. Id say they fit 95% perfect but that 5% off kills me. Lol.

Untitled by Jimmy Oakes, on Flickr

I know all the photos are pretty broad(trying to not overload the thread hah) so if anyone is interested in anything just let me know and ill gladly post so more!
But like always there is soo soo soo much more to do so expect more. Thanks for reading!

[en5]

I just created an account to say that I hope you're not running that battery in the trunk. For use inside a cabin it needs to be a vented system (usually the battery has a port on it that you hook up a hose/tube to that runs outside of the cabin) or a "sealed" battery (usually gel batteries/most Optima/etc.). A standard lead acid car battery emits dangerous fumes while in operation and should not be located within the cabin without proper ventilation.

Edit: Good job with the work you've done Looking good, the engine bay deletes made a world of difference.

[Jimmy Oakes]

I just created an account to say that I hope you're not running that battery in the trunk. For use inside a cabin it needs to be a vented system (usually the battery has a port on it that you hook up a hose/tube to that runs outside of the cabin) or a "sealed" battery (usually gel batteries/most Optima/etc.). A standard lead acid car battery emits dangerous fumes while in operation and should not be located within the cabin without proper ventilation.

Edit: Good job with the work you've done Looking good, the engine bay deletes made a world of difference.

Thanks Man! And Yeah making a vented box was my next on the list where the air just leaves where I'm running the ground, reality it's mainly just hydrogen and oxygen that emit which I'm not horribly worried about. would love to buy an optima battery but that's not in budget.

[OTOAFOF]

Noob question, everyone. I'm not savvy with the components of a car at all. I do know though that the 300zx is a car I want to get in the future, but I'm wary of getting one since I know almost nothing about cars. What is a good place to start? Not trying to hijack the thread, but I'm sure OP has some good answers.

TIA.

p.s. how much did you get the car for?

[JV300]

What's up Jimmy. I really like and appreciate the work you've done/put in to the Z. Very, very nice. Thanks for sharing with us. By the way, whenever u get a chance, can u post more pics of the front engine room harness removed if u took any?

[z32loverboy]

good work man! Its alot of blood sweat and tears to get any Z where you want it but they're so worth it. Keep it up for sure!

[MrFeesLaw]

Sweet Build Man!!! I can tell you are very OCD oriented with your cars (as am I). I think I may have you beat on crappy paint jobs though. You have done everything I am trying to do with my car, but just haven't had the time or money to do.

Was wondering if (when you have time), you could elaborate a little more on all your engine bay tucks (Fuse Box, P/S reservior, Vacuum lines, Etc). Don't need a full write-up, but maybe some pictures under the bumper that show where and how you routed everything?

Also wondering if you moved the fuse box to the cabin? Or under the bumper? And did it require you to run longer wires? Or were you able to rout the stock harness without modifying it?

Can't wait to see more of your build!!! I wish my project was coming along half as fast as yours!

Good Luck!