IMSA Bridgestone Supercar Rebuild

[Nismovs]

Yeah I will be stitching the chassis once my shop gets 220 since the interior will be getting a repaint.

I doubt they would have used an smz considering the only thing they would have kept from the stillen car is the kit

[DCaff300ZX]

I'm a tad surprised it wasn't stitched already, but then with all of that awesome chassis bracing maybe it didn't need it...but kudos for planning to do it. Should make that thing ridiculously stiff for high speed cornering.
So much potential for awesomeness...DAMN I hope you pull it off!

[Nismovs]

It's going to be a very long and expensive journey, but I want to do this car justice

[Nismovs]

So I opened the other box to check out the door... Turns out I have two passenger doors so one is now going to be for sale

[DCaff300ZX]

Both the hollowed out variety? I think I'd keep it if so, like the extra gas cans and such. Having that whole setup is a big part of what is so cool with your car IMO, despite the missing stuff. You'd HATE to have to chase down that kind of stuff, the rest it at least a LITTLE easier.

[Nismovs]

No they are both factory replacement doors. All the frame work is still there so I'd have to cut everything out and I would rather not do that to two doors

[DCaff300ZX]

Gotcha, makes sense as I wouldn't either when you can sell them and they be used.
So any new pics or news?

[Nismovs]

Yeah, finally started going through all the spare parts and pulling the rear bumper and diff pump out. I'll post up pics and my finds tomorrow after work when I have time

[Nismovs]

For the most part, this will be a boring post with a few questions on my end. Last night myself and my wonderful girlfriend went to the shop and I started pulling the tail lights, rear bumper, crash bar etc to prepare to pull the body wiring from the car finally. She helped out big time by going through all the parts and writing down part numbers and descriptions of each part for future reference.

I don't have pictures of this, but my rear crash bar had a 4"x about 14" lead bar on the passenger side which was slid and bolted to the inside of the rebar. I'm guessing this was for corner balancing/getting the car to proper race weight.

Also took some pictures of my rear subframe which is nothing special, just a normal, stock n/a subframe:






And from what I can tell my n/a rear knuckles/hubs. Once again, nothing special, just a normal oem piece:






Now for one of the interesting finds from last night. My three rear hub bearings. The center one is normal and a completely unmodified oem unit. But as you can see the left and right bearings have had the large bracket cut off and ground. I have no idea why this was done but to me it doesn't seem to affect usability of the part.

Please correct or inform me as to why this might have been done, and why they might not be usable if you feel that way.








Unfortunately any updates I may make for a while will be boring since all there is to do until I get more money is to strip the shell further and catalog parts. I appreciate all the support and would love to see some of the lurkers chime in once in a while with any questions they may have

[grayman_TT]

I checked in the FSM, looks like it is part of the e-brake system. Maybe they deleted it? Maybe for a specific brake setup?

Look under the brake section, page 23. Also, rear axle/suspension, page 8.

Interesting build, keep up the updates.

[Nismovs]

Yeah, I checked czp and z1 for part numbers, and the only differences year-wise just mentioned e-brake, but no specifics

[DCaff300ZX]

Possibly something to make the axles more "quick change" for during a race? VERY odd difference there, hopefully someone knows more.

And to the comment about lurkers joining in, please do- there's a lot of learning possible here and if nothing else visual info on how the car was made and strengthened. I like that so many OEM parts are still there...which fits our "OEM or better" mantra well!

[Nismovs]

I am in need of opinions everyone.I am considering slight changes to the car. Main colour is obviously white and the secondary and interior is very similar to aztec red. I was thinking of changing the interior and engine bay to anthricite grey(mk4) and changing the exterior red to a modified crp. Thoughts on this?

[Nismovs]

Figured I'd give a small update before tackling the Tilton pedals this weekend. Quickly snapped a couple photos of the parts list so far. There is still another box of parts and 3 more differentials to catalog.

Should give you guys a good idea of how many rebuild parts I have for the drivetrain on this car.

[DCaff300ZX]

I am in need of opinions everyone.I am considering slight changes to the car. Main colour is obviously white and the secondary and interior is very similar to aztec red. I was thinking of changing the interior and engine bay to anthricite grey(mk4) and changing the exterior red to a modified crp. Thoughts on this?

[AZhitman]

I'd keep it 100% "as-raced" condition. She's eligible for the vintage series before long, and having it "proper" might just inspire someone to help you with the costs of the restoration.

Side note, I'm hitting up my sources for some info and background as well - hoping to find some more intel on the car for you.

[DCaff300ZX]

Great points. I think I'd change my vote on that count to staying as-was so to speak.

[Ace2cool]

I'm torn between as-was and something fresh and re-identified. Either way, it'll be a great final result, I'm sure, judging by your meticulous planning and management. I'm excited for this. There may even be an article hiding somewhere in here once it's all said and done. Especially if we can find anything else out about it and the history.

[Nismovs]

Thanks for the input everyone. I obviously have a long time to decide on what I'm doing color wise with the car.

Tomorrow I'll be working on my summer daily, but if I have time I'll be taking lots of photos of the brake lines and how everything is run in the cabin so I can pull everything out. And at that point the entire car will be completely stripped other than the quarter windows , which means I can prep to undercoat the chassis to keep it rust free underneath.

[AZhitman]

Yeah, I'm definitely thinking this needs to be a big homepage article... Take lots of pics and document it well, but don't post it all up yet - I'm thinking this would be really cool to publish as a multi-part series.

[Nismovs]

That would be very cool! I will hold onto the pics I do have and will take. Unfortunately once all the tear-down is done, it becomes expensive and progress will slow down.

Since I am wanting to put this car back together properly I'll be taking the 'no-expense-spared' approach to building this car, along with the 'over-build-everything' philosophy. As sad as this will make my bank account, it's what this car deserves.

[Nismovs]

Well today I got in contact with a very important person in relation to the car. John Farnsworth, currently working at Duntov Motor Sports, was the crew chief and was one of the main builders/lead hands of putting together all the custom parts and tuning of the 72 and 73 Dal-Tech cars. I'm very excited to have him as a reference to rebuilding and sourcing many of the original parts from this shell.

I'll also throw up some pics this weekend of the new storage shop and a few tear down pics of the engine I'll be getting rebuilt and using as a mock-up.

[Ace2cool]

Nice!!! He doesn't have any pictures, does he? Lol.

[Nismovs]

It wasn't a long chat since I was on lunch and long distance will kill me. Hoping to ask smaller questions like title history and pictures next time we talk. I'm thinking he does since he still has so many parts for it, which will make it easier to get the vinyl decals made and put on in the proper places

[Mark.G]

Awesome car man, will be following your progress might even pick up a thing or two from your car setup and use on my project. Best of luck with the rebuild.

[DCaff300ZX]

Well today I got in contact with a very important person in relation to the car. John Farnsworth, currently working at Duntov Motor Sports, was the crew chief and was one of the main builders/lead hands of putting together all the custom parts and tuning of the 72 and 73 Dal-Tech cars. I'm very excited to have him as a reference to rebuilding and sourcing many of the original parts from this shell.

I'll also throw up some pics this weekend of the new storage shop and a few tear down pics of the engine I'll be getting rebuilt and using as a mock-up.

SUPER key development, having John's input on what he did and maybe even what he could now do better should be a huge bonus.
Can't wait to hear more!

[Nismovs]

Yeah I was a very excited person. Just sucks it will be difficult to talk with him and get the info I need. Right now I wish lived in texas since it would make building this car a whole lot easier

[DCaff300ZX]

No kiddin'...but then again, we do have Ace in that area so maybe that's where he gets to get involved, as an experienced Z32 go-between who understands the chassis and scenario.
I'm excited that you've gotten the level of support you have, it really bodes well for this venture as a Race Car is no easy task at ANY level., much less restoring an older race car. SO much information and minute details necessary and someone like John who understands the WHOLE picture much like a project manager.

[Ace2cool]

Wait, I'm where now? Lol. I'm in TN. A.K.A. East Texas.

[NolimitZ32]

Darn tootin, I'm the one that's in Texas, the real Texas, HOUSTON that is