My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread

Re: Update 10/09/08 (Spiffy240)

SirSilvia — 2009-09-02T17:35:44-08:00

Quote, originally posted by Spiffy240 raquo;

I commend you on some fine work here. Wish i had the time and money to do the same.

For the headliner and for next time working with fabric, a heat gun does wonders. Just 10-15 sec with a heat gun will make the fabric stretch and fit those contour lines and then all you have to do is wait for the glue to set. Also, i got a heat gun from harbor freight for 10 bucks, well worth the 10 dollars.

Another thing I've done is heat it up and laid bags of sand or gravel (w/e you have) and let it site on the creases or in the corners to help form it to the floor pan.

AZ89two4Tsx — 2009-09-01T17:38:32-08:00

I can

Re: (AZ89two4Tsx)

masterdisaster — 2009-09-01T17:37:12-08:00

Quote, originally posted by AZ89two4Tsx raquo;

Hope you didn't use the Duplicolor fabric paint for that stuff. It rubs right off.

i've done it to my car .. and no complaints yet!!

besides .. if it does rub off.. who cares.. no ones can fit in those rear seats n-e way

Re: (DMan II-40)

DMan II-40 — 2009-09-01T16:13:02-08:00

I still haven't got an answer

Quote, originally posted by DMan II-40 raquo;

I just got some aircraft stripper to try and remove my tine like you did, and I have a couple of questions.

1. What type of tool did u use to scrape off the tine (razor blade, metal or plastic scraper)?

2. What type of material did you use to protect the surfaces you didn't want aircraft stripper on?

Modified by DMan II-40 at 8:53 AM 7/9/2009

AZ89two4Tsx — 2009-09-01T16:01:35-08:00

Hope you didn't use the Duplicolor fabric paint for that stuff. It rubs right off.

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (gregfarz78)

djstatistics — 2009-09-01T15:59:13-08:00

Sorry dude, but another inspired 240sx driver. I kinda did the same thing? but I'm just starting to work on mine, and, i made my trunk cover things purple haha. You're freaking awesome dude.

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (CINCYS13)

420sxWETDREAMS — 2009-07-17T21:09:46-08:00

Quote, originally posted by CINCYS13 raquo;

man your my idol i recently got my car and i loved what you did so much i copied it
]
]

Modified by CINCYS13 at 8:11 PM 6/13/2009

how did you get your rear seats like that what did you use....looks good!

Re: (DMan II-40)

ichibans13.5 — 2009-07-08T18:04:45-08:00

insane attention to detail on this project!

Re: (Hamzorsr20)

DMan II-40 — 2009-07-08T17:16:55-08:00

I just got some aircraft stripper to try and remove my tine like you did, and I have a couple of questions.

1. What type of tool did u use to scrape off the tine (razor blade, metal or plastic scraper)?

2. What type of material did you use to protect the surfaces you didn't want aircraft stripper on?

Modified by DMan II-40 at 8:53 AM 7/9/2009

Re: (takk808)

Hamzorsr20 — 2009-07-08T17:05:21-08:00

make me cum

Re: (takk808)

takk808 — 2009-07-08T15:54:01-08:00

oooooh no theres another copy cat... =) sorry it was just to clean to not steal the idea....but my flat black is on pretty cheesy.

takk808 — 2009-07-07T10:44:36-08:00

so i did this restoration on my trunk but the flat black isnt sticking to well it scratches off pretty easy. also i want to seal it so no water just soaks in and rust under the paint but i wanna keep that clean flat black look. any suggestions?

Re: (White Comet)

mattblancarte — 2009-06-22T12:52:30-08:00

Dunno how I missed this thread. Awesome build! Can't wait to see the final outcome.

Re: (visser003)

White Comet — 2009-06-22T12:33:29-08:00

yeah that's all well and good, but when you're in an accident and that strap breaks, that battery has just become a 50 lb projectile rocketing at your head. do yourself a favor and bolt it down

Re: (White Comet)

visser003 — 2009-06-22T10:57:54-08:00

The collective will of everyone in the car.

The strap is super tight, I have had it like that for like 6 months and its been fine. I live in San Francisco, which has some crappy roads and it doesn't budge.

Re: (visser003)

White Comet — 2009-06-22T09:32:21-08:00

^ what's holding your battery down besides that strap?

Re: (jpnissans13)

visser003 — 2009-06-22T00:03:12-08:00

Looking real good.

I recently did some similar things on my interior but on the cheap (just using my nasty oem stuff)
http://smg.photobucket.com/alb...%2009/

I didnt want to post IMG's because that is too much of a thread jack :P

I just used Boommat spray on sound deadner and Duplicolor Bedliner over it on the trunk and rear seat area (to give it a smoother finish)
2 Cans of each

I dyed the carpet and headliner black with Duplicolor Fabric and Vinyl after shampooing the s*** out of them. Using the shampoo brush to brush off the paint and make the carpet soft again. I used 2.5 cans for the carpet and 1.5 cans for the headliner.
Everything has held up great and I drive my car almost every day. You need to be careful with the bedliner and not just drop heavy stuff on it or it will nick. Also you need floor mats or the carpet paint will start to rub off, but I have had it since April with no mats and its held up quite well.

Yes, I need a battery box. But this way works well except it wont pass track inspection. Also planning to get a pair of Low Max replica seats to finish the look.

Re: (MICRoS13)

jpnissans13 — 2009-06-21T20:49:50-08:00

nice and clean looking s13!

Re: (CINCYS13)

MICRoS13 — 2009-06-15T17:52:01-08:00

Thanks finally i can start doing this

Re: (gregfarz78)

CINCYS13 — 2009-06-15T14:05:17-08:00

well as soon as you get back on your feet you better start another build progress log because i want some more inexpensive ideas lol

Re: (Mochapanda)

240sxFTW — 2009-06-14T21:54:38-08:00

You just inspired me to redo my trunk. Thanks ill be using your tips to redo it all.

Re: (wantaRHD180sx)

Mochapanda — 2009-06-14T21:50:24-08:00

Gad Dayum, this is epic :O!

wantaRHD180sx — 2009-06-14T20:58:48-08:00

Well Gregfarz78 just inspired me too. I just recently got back into a 240 after wrecking my Z and im doing a whole interior redo but never even thought about taking it as far as Gregs but his came out so nice that i plan on taking EVERYTHING out also. Just got done taking out the sound deadening today. Tomorrow im off to buy some paint thinner and get all that crap cleaned.

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (MICRoS13)

CINCYS13 — 2009-06-14T14:33:38-08:00

BTW SORRY FOR THE THREAD JACK I WAS JUST TRYING TO SHOW YOU WHAT I HAD DONE....

Since I live in Ohio I have a plastic windshield scrapper for the snow so I used that paint thinner a hammer and a crowbar/chisel. the paint thinner helped soften up the sound deadening a lil I think and worked its way between the deadening and the metal. After I got most of everything up that way i had a 3m scuff pad laying around so I grabbed that and sanded the trunk and the spots that were left. Then I went out and bought 2 cans of duplicolor truck bed liner. I did a base coat pretty much the first day it was solid but very thin and could scratch but it used a whole can. On the second day after work I put on a second and final coat and put it on thicker in areas that were more likely to have sharp objects come in contact like in the tire well is really thick. but the good thing about this is you always can go spray some more on if it does happen to scrape off and as long as your good with spray painting you should easily be able to blend it.

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (CINCYS13)

MICRoS13 — 2009-06-14T13:33:07-08:00

Okay What materials did you use to clean up that trunk and paint and was it antirust material or something?

Re: (gregfarz78)

eidk — 2009-06-14T08:59:08-08:00

I like where this is going.

Slow n steady, but a great job none the less.

Keep up the great work

gregfarz78 — 2009-06-14T07:19:08-08:00

Looks great man! I'm glad I inspired others lol

Sorry for no updates lately project is temporarily on hold for now, I'm in the middle of a move so need to take care of some house projects first but the good news is my new garage is HUGE

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (wantaRHD180sx)

CINCYS13 — 2009-06-14T05:17:04-08:00

honestly I havnt done anything its just really clean. the only spots on the floor was some of the insulation that was connected to the carpet but it pulls off pretty easy but thanks a lot..

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (CINCYS13)

wantaRHD180sx — 2009-06-14T00:01:41-08:00

Wow, yours looks good too man! How did you go about taking off the crap foam that is underneath the carpet? I just stripped mine out the other day when i had time and boy is there alot of that crap stuck on the floor pan. Does dry ice take off all that gunk too?? It looks/seems like it does, i thought ppl only used it to take off the sound deadening material but if it works for that crap too looks like im buying dry ice tomorrow

Modified by wantaRHD180sx at 2:02 AM 6/14/2009

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (gregfarz78)

CINCYS13 — 2009-06-13T20:03:53-08:00

man your my idol i recently got my car and i loved what you did so much i copied it
]
]

Modified by CINCYS13 at 8:11 PM 6/13/2009

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (ag240)

sldewyz — 2009-06-07T08:04:07-08:00

lookin real good man. also a sound deadining noob. 2 ?'s
1) whats the prep on the floor to get it ready like what did you clean it with?
2) im assuming its got a one side stick like tape? correct me if im wrong

other then that it looks amazing. i want to do this this week cuz my interiors all out cuz of my cage bein put in but i gots no moneyz

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread

ag240 — 2009-06-07T07:48:32-08:00

Damn.... subscribed bro!

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (gregfarz78)

GreGS15 — 2009-06-06T21:58:21-08:00

wow you are really doing great work, keep it up.

I can only hope to have my pooh brown interior as clean as yours, once I switch over to all black.

subscribed.

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (gregfarz78)

MICRoS13 — 2009-06-06T21:02:50-08:00

Hey i was very interested in the products you use to like restore the trunk rear underseats cause i'm going to start to restore my trunk and since my rear is gutted i thought i'll do that to. so can you give me a list of materials you used please?

FN-QR

Loki — 2009-06-05T22:10:16-08:00

Gahdamn that's a clean looking coupe. Keep up the good work! I am quite jealous.

Re: Update 10/09/08 (Karateboy88)

gregfarz78 — 2009-06-01T11:06:22-08:00

I choose RAAMAT b/c the price was good and quality was ranked high compared to dynamat. The silver foil is the sound deadener that helps to eliminate the rattles and vibrations in the body, the black mat is the ensolite which is a closed cell foam to help to absorb road noise to give it that luxury car feel.

Re: Update 10/09/08 (gregfarz78)

Karateboy88 — 2009-06-01T08:05:14-08:00

Quote, originally posted by gregfarz78 raquo;

Tonight laid down a layer of raamaudio ensolite its a closed cell foam to help absorb some more road noise

and the carpet roughly fitted still needs some trimming around the edges

I've never worked with ensolite or any sound deadening material so bear with me.

The black padding is the ensolite and what is the silver foil?

Can I ask why you chose RAAM?
Do you know any higher end/lower end but reputable choices?

When it comes to ensolite, better sound deadening = higher quality?

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (gregfarz78)

PhillyDaKid-S13 — 2009-06-01T07:03:30-08:00

right, so ive heard. i posted in another thread on nico that greddy has a plug and play unit called the vmanage for the 350/g35 that controls and adjusts variable timing, although I have yet to hear from anyone that uses it....but this possibly could be a viable option. a guy on here named irax is supposedly working on motor mounts that hes gonna mass produce, hopefully taking care of that firewall issue. need to get a hold of that guy....im just trying to do as much research as I can, cause im DEFINITELY going the vq route.

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (PhillyDaKid-S13)

gregfarz78 — 2009-06-01T04:14:43-08:00

I was reading on zilvia that someone found a way around the NATS and security issue, I need to look into that more b/c if thats the case I'm going to stick with the VQ. The maxima ecu isn't a good option IMO you lose use of vvt

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (gregfarz78)

PhillyDaKid-S13 — 2009-05-31T21:03:07-08:00

MAN....i WISH i could move out to king of prussia. Oh wells....my place in east falls is fine for me. I have a garage, cant ask for more than that, lol. I actually was partaking in another thread on here concerning the vq wiring. as I was saying, so far the biggest concerns with it is the NATS, which is nissans proprietary security system. on top of that theres something else called the BCM which also has to do with the security system. Then theres the whole variable timing issue. what ive read that people have done is used the wiring harness from the pre '02 maximas, which use the VQ30de, and does not have variable timing/wired security. Ive also read that theyve used VQ30 heads on the VQ35 as well to get around the wiring probelm, as its wiring harness is more well known. still dping research tho....

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (PhillyDaKid-S13)

gregfarz78 — 2009-05-31T19:08:17-08:00

Quote, originally posted by PhillyDaKid-S13 raquo;

Damn fine job your doin there, man. got a couple questions for you....

How do those 350z seats fit in the car? were they hard to mount? im thinkin about getting a pair of those, seeing how great they look....

where'd you get the dry ice from?

when you start the actual VQ swap, what do you plan on doing regarding the NATS system, BCM, intake manifold being too close to the firewall, and Variable cam timing, as those are the main problems with the swap?

oh, and of course you gotta tell me what part of philly ur from....lol

The seats look like they belong in the car, they around mounted yet though b/c the project is sorta on hold for now. We're in the process of selling our house and moving into a new house so I need to work on fixing that up first before I continue on the car. I'm still going back and forth on the VQ if I want to keep it or go big and do LSx swap, I might just build the VQ b/c I already have it but the wiring still scares me hopefully someone else will figure it out before its time for me to wire it up. I'm moving right around king of prussia area.

Re: (skazat)

lucky03602 — 2009-05-31T09:54:11-08:00

not only are you doing a great job on your car, your also giving out alot of good ideas.

i was considering re-doing my trunk in my hatch because its beat up, and the only part of my interior thats ugly.

which spray on undercoat did you use, and did you sand down any of the metal before spraying rust bullet/ can undercoat at all?

also thanks for the little hints as to make carpet/seats clean! cant wait to try it out.

skazat — 2009-05-31T08:33:14-08:00

Great job so far. I cant wait to see how its going to end up. so you said you had a change of plans instead of going with the VQ what are you throwing in there? Anything your drawing inspiration from? if so Id love to see it.

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (OM3GA)

PhillyDaKid-S13 — 2009-05-31T01:07:52-08:00

Damn fine job your doin there, man. got a couple questions for you....

How do those 350z seats fit in the car? were they hard to mount? im thinkin about getting a pair of those, seeing how great they look....

where'd you get the dry ice from?

oh, and of course you gotta tell me what part of philly ur from....lol

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (Fidel_Cashflo)

OM3GA — 2009-05-30T23:59:07-08:00

Damn this is a clean a** project omg your like me lol "Youll never see it but ill know its there" hahaha

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (chitown_240sx)

Fidel_Cashflo — 2009-05-30T18:16:58-08:00

I already spoke to him about it, its called Duplicolor Undercoat... Im ordering 3 or 4 cans to do my car with it, but Im going to do some prep work on all the surface rust spots.

Re: My 240sx to 350sx restoration/conversion build thread (gregfarz78)

chitown_240sx — 2009-05-29T18:54:27-08:00

Hi, I wanted to know the name of the primer you used in the trunk. I'm working on my first rebuild and does the paint have to be stripped beofre applied?

Re: (White Comet)

420sxWETDREAMS — 2009-05-14T22:48:30-08:00

Dam......That is some really good (MONK SHOW) anal type cleaning. Almost a compulsive disorder type....but really...really good! You my friend have motivated quite a few heads here to Do-the-Do! Besides beauty on the outside and take pride in your ride and keep the inside fly.

Re: (gregfarz78)

White Comet — 2009-05-14T21:08:58-08:00

my vote is for the green 2 tone but it'll look good with the other color choices too

Re: (gregfarz78)

ca18detgabby — 2009-05-14T20:58:36-08:00

dear god this is unbelieveably clean.

Re: (irax)

gregfarz78 — 2009-05-14T17:37:46-08:00

Quote, originally posted by irax raquo;

please tell me your going to repaint it two tone? please, there doesn't need to be any more destroying of classic two tone cars.

lol I'm still debating all OEM white or charcoal gray or maybe two tone it with both...thats a while off yet I'll have to do some photoshopping

Re: Update 03/13/09 (Fidel_Cashflo)

DJ Raijin — 2009-05-14T16:37:24-08:00

if I had a 240, this is how I would do it. Sil40 style with a VQ35 in it. I/H/E and a nice suspension set up with a good tune. I think it would be a blast to drive.

Big up for this epic undertaking.

Re: Update 03/13/09 (law)

Fidel_Cashflo — 2009-05-14T12:17:19-08:00

This is a badass project build, Im gonna order that carpet kit, and I really just wanna say your amazing... I could never have the time or patience to do something so tedious as to take down and prep every single piece of a vehicle.. Mad props bro..

Re: Update 03/13/09 (gregfarz78)

law — 2009-05-14T07:23:00-08:00

Great work..very inspiring. keep it up

Re: Update 03/13/09 (1990-240sxsr20det)

a_ahmed — 2009-05-14T05:08:16-08:00

woah subscribed nice work

Re: Update 03/13/09 (1990-240sxsr20det)

1990-240sxsr20det — 2009-05-14T04:53:01-08:00

*headliner

sorry

Re: Update 03/13/09 (gregfarz78)

1990-240sxsr20det — 2009-05-14T04:51:47-08:00

Wow man this is looking awesome! I love how clean it is already. The red dash support is hawt and the headlines looks really clear..hell the whole this does. Keep up the awesome work

Re: (Ajax)

irax — 2009-05-14T03:06:03-08:00

please tell me your going to repaint it two tone? please, there doesn't need to be any more destroying of classic two tone cars.

Ajax — 2009-05-05T06:40:55-08:00

I'm thoroughly impressed by that window job. My hatch glass is nicked here and there and is technically not legal so I may need to try this at some point.

Update 05/03/09

gregfarz78 — 2009-05-04T19:38:45-08:00

So this weekend's project was removing the crappy tint off the rear windshield. I did a little research and no one really had a good way to remove tint w/o damaging the rear defroster unless you have access to a steamer to steam it off which I don't. I almost said screw it I'll just take out the rear window and buy a new one but I had some aircraft stripper laying around and its some nasty stuff so figured got nothing to lose lets give it a shot. To my surprise it worked great, sprayed it on let it sit for 15-20 mins and it ate away at the old tint then I scrape it right off, repeat a few times till its all gone. It wasn't easy probably spent 4-6 hours but at least I saved a few hundred on buying a new windshield. BTW after all that work its eventually going to get retinted probably 5-10% but I had to get all the old crap off anyway. Do yourself a favor if you buy DIY tint don't get the cheap stuff b/c its a b**** to get off

Before:

After

Someone here told me it would eat through the glass all I have to say to that is LOL