evildky's 87 300ZXT

[evildky]

This is a car I bought on ebay for $200. When I got the car it was running...barely. The thrust bearing was bad, it had an auto trans, and was n/a. The fornt suspension was missing the gland nuts on the front struts so not only did the front end spring uncontrolably but the housings had all the threads worn off. The interior was stanky! There was a rust hole in the passanger door, as well as the floor pans behind both seats.so I striped it bare...ishthe car was built for the GRM $2007 Challenge, it returned for $2008I swapped in a turbo motor and crossmsmber, as well as a manual trans from an 86. I painted the car with Duplicolor Paint Shop Laquer color/clear. I bypassed the power steering, and removed everything not needed to stop go or turn, I added interior for the $2008 challange and improved my concourse score, I painted the carpet and seats black using aerosol vynil and carpet die. I am runnign a welede stock diff, tokiko blues and tokiko springs.I'm runnign 420cc injectors, megasquirt n spark with HEI a T3O4B, ebay vertical flow intercooler, after the $2007 challenge the car dyno'd 315 whp and 416 lbft/tq

between challanges I blew the turbo and one piston, I added a T3O4E and the car then dyno'd 280whp with 349 lbft/tq, I returned to the $2008 challenge and ran a 13.1 in the quarter before 3 more pistons gave wayafter etting it back home I rebuilt the original n/a motor, put the turbo on it and put it in the car

[240DrpTop]

Great story! Car looks sweet,nice numbers too. Representation of a lot of hard work. Congrats! And thanks for sharing

[Perrenial Badass]

Yea, that's what I call stripped...

You didn't happen to go to ZCON Daytona did you?

[Leegamer]

What an awesome transformation. You have some of the sweetest cars I've ever seen.

[evildky]

yes I was at zcon, thats where I gotr the car running right, and polished it (poorly) in the parking lot, you saw me there?

[minnesotazcar]

that looks like probabbly the most fun you could have on a budget nice job with the car man.

[Perrenial Badass]

Yea, you brought it in on a trailer shortly before I left. Saw it as I was literally driving out the gates.

[nsrZ32]

Good story and pictures

[sek8031]

That sounds like tons of fun. Where do you find the time to do all this stuff?

[evildky]

i actually drove taht car into my garage as a driving automatic n/a and stripped it bare and built it back up as a turbo 5 speed and dove it out of the garage 1 month later, evenings and weekends, it was an intense build

when taking on a big project, like rebuilding a car or remodeling a house, it usually goes better if you just tear it down bare shell then work your way up, it tens to make everything go faster smoother and easier

[buddy0484]

hey i wanted to ask you how hard was it to change your car from auto to 5 speed? is there a place i can buy a kit to change it over? or should i just try and find a car to swap everything over to? i have a 1987 z31 with about 71k miles all stock mint condition

[AZ-ZBum]

hey i wanted to ask you how hard was it to change your car from auto to 5 speed? is there a place i can buy a kit to change it over? or should i just try and find a car to swap everything over to? i have a 1987 z31 with about 71k miles all stock mint condition

Buy a "KIT" from a junkyard.

[evildky]

mine was a bit mroe difficult than it should have been, I put a T5 into the 87 chassis, so I had to frankenstien the trans mount, otherwise pretty straight forward, the clutch pedla stop on the floor also isn't exactly right as my pedals also came form an 86 donor

when dealing with these cars it's generally easier to start out with what you want, if you can find a manual trans car these cars are cheap enough that the cost difference is minimal

I bought a complete car form a junkyard for $450, the engine was tanked but it donated the trans, pedal box, driveshaft, strut housings and whatever else, I then sold off the stock turbo engine manament parts and some other goodies and actually recovered more than the purchace price of the car

[NSR_s30]

Definitely a sweet car, got a chance to see it in person and meet Dave.

[evildky]

just got back form the Grassroots Motorsports $2009 Challenge, placed 7th overall, my best finnish to date

[mtnhighus]

congrats dave, you are our mentor and hero...lol. i have never heard of the grassroots challenge, any ino on it? and we know you will do even better next year. keep up all the hard work and thanks for all you do for us on here.

[evildky]

http://grassrootsmotorsports.c...enge/

[mtnhighus]

1st place was a 1959 "zamboni" !!! thats too funny.

[evildky]

lol, when they unveiled that car a few years ago it was truely amazzing, it's basically a locost with a sbf, the zamboni body is just for show, it comes off to race

[rico05]

Congrats on the nice finish! My buddy's were the Texas A&M SAE team with the white turbo EG that came in 5th.

[evildky]

that was a very nice car, very clean and well built, if only i had a team actually ther tem was small compared to georgia tech and gutty, georgia tech has like 50 pople and a non running car

[evildky]

found

[car nut]

Just got my new issue of GRM and saw your car on page 54. Looked like a lot of fun, cogratulations man!

[evildky]

thanks, I forgot when I calimed 7th that the locosts were classed sepperately so that one that outran me (the zamboni) brought me up a sport

[car nut]

Its good that they did that, locosts would've eventually dominated the challenge if they didn't. The whole event is basically set up for them lol.

[dJohnn]

Nice story, lots of work in the rebuilding but it paid off, right? Looks real sweet.Mine had been stolen and sat in a garage for almost 3 years. The police were investigating a burglary ring in El Monte (like LA), they found the car. The drive train stripped, gutted, it was lucky to still have the axles. Even though it is an automatic, n/t it can still aspire to being something FASTERRRrr when it grows up.

dJ

[Jbaker1121]

great Z31!! I just bought one. Still have it?

[evildky]

Yup, still got her. I put new sticky tires on her last fall, re-upped the registration and insurance, drove around the block once. Just taking up space. Part of me wants to stip her back down give her a real paintjob, and put all the amenities back in, the other parts just wants to get rid of here and free up some space.