Poody's Build Thread

[Poody]

Hey everyone, I'm Cody,
I'm basically new here, but I've been lurking the forums for a while now. Ever since I got my license, I've wanted a z32. For one reason or another, that has never happened. When I was 17, I came 2 minutes from buying a 92 with a bad engine and “doing a TT swap” which I had no f*$^*)@ idea how to do, but while filling out a bill of sale, I got a call from my parents and I ran the idea by them. My dad basically said, “Yeah do whatever you want. You wont be living with us though” so I contemplated hiding the project at a friends place until it was complete. I decided against it, and ended up in my current car, a 2003 20th Anniversary Edition VW GTI.

Being the dumb teenager I was, over the next two years, I built somewhat of a monster. I went from having zero experience with even basic maintenance, to creating a 450whp, forged internaled, ethanol guzzling, 2 stepping machine of death. Only after driving it for the first time after the build did I realize why people say high horsepower and FWD don't mix... Nevertheless, I was proud to have come so far, and to be able to say I did all the work myself.

Anyways, I love the car to death, but the Z has always been in the back of my mind, and after constant planning, dreaming, and craigslist browsing, I have decided it is time to make my teenage dream a reality. I found a perfect candidate for my next project, a 1990 2+0 with a little rust in a few spots, and a somewhat neglected interior. The plus side is, it has a clean title, its a 5 speed, and it has just over 100k on the clock. Not a bad find for $1000.

Now the plan is as follows:
Clean the Z as much as I can (basically do my best to polish a turd) while I wait for my VW to sell.
I have roughly $1000 I'm willing to throw at it until my GTI sells, then every cent from that will be poured into the Z. I'm aiming for an OEM+ theme here. I want everything to be done clean, and if it's something I can do without spending a fortune on tools, it will be DIY style. I have a to do list totaling roughly $20,000 at the moment, $10,000 or so to spend when my car sells. I'll be shooting to get supporting mods like brakes, cooling, fuel, a standalone, bodywork, wheels, suspension etc all out of the way first, then over the next year or two, save up to do a full engine build with a couple of snails. I want moderate power in the 500-600 range, with lots of low end. Should be a fun process. I'll update this regularly. Feel free to offer support, suggestions, or tell me I'm an idiot. Stay tuned while I document my journey and thanks for reading!

TLDR;
My name is Cody. This is my build thread. Watch me spend lots of time and money on a car.

[rgregoryb]

I enjoy watching people spend money. I bought a 92 2+2 Ultra Red with charcoal leather a little over a year ago from a guy that had owned it for the last 18 years, always garaged and in pretty good shape. Paid 4800.00. since then I have put a least 6k in it to bring it to my standards. Friend of mine saw it today and said " now that you have made it look brand new, are you going to sell it?" I said I would lose my a**, and I kind of like it a whole lot.

[Poody]

So I picked up the Z today, don't even get me started on the guy I bought it from. Suffice to say he used the keys to slam a LOT of nose beers, and also hit someone with the car when he lived in FL...

Other than the somewhat questionable history, the car is better than I would have expected for my $1000 investment.

The bad:
Pinch welds are both smashed pretty good from PO improperly jacking the car up
Fair amount of interior trim is broken/missing
2” section where the hatch rests on the rain seal has rusted through
Couple spots on both doors have rusted through as well
Light strip of surface rust on bare metal of driver side rear quarter
All rusted through areas are covered in bondo and high build primer. Because thats how you fix rust
Passenger side of the cowl panel is missing
Leather upholstery is basically gone
No key for the t tops
Hatch struts are bad
Hatch carpet is torn up
Driver side window is off the rails (motor sounds like it may be okay)
Intermittent weak idle
A handful of poorly done “mods” from PO that I will have to clean up (alarm, phat ghetto bass sub wiring kit, ebay oil cooler, cut factory wires in the bay as well as behind the missing stereo)

Bay wires are a green wire and white wire on the driver side just in front of the shock tower. I will look into this, but if anyone knows what this goes to then kudos to you

The good:
Runs strong as hell for a 26 year old car
Clean title
Only 100,000 miles
After 8 years of shattered dreams, I finally own a Z32



Getting ready to order ~$700 worth of parts to get the interior started. Hoping to remedy the DS window problem tomorrow as well as the the door and t top locks rekeyed so I dont need 4 keys anymore. Next week hopefully its off to have the rust cut out and patch panels welded in place, then seats are getting recovered with my next paycheck. Pics to come

[rgregoryb]

Good luck and enjoy yourself!

[Poody]

Here are a few pics as promised. Tried to get a few overall pics as well as some that showcase the rust and interior condition. Both of the speaker grill panels are missing. May have to buy complete door panels to replace those

[grayman_TT]

The speaker grill panels can be purchased from Z1 or CZP. Looks like you have some work to do. Good luck

[NolimitZ32]

I seriously feel so bad for the cars and the folks up north, makes me sad seeing cars just rotting away.

[Poody]

Scored a TON of parts from craigslist yesterday. All the center console trim, seatbelts, a wheel with airbag that I cant use, some hatch trim, door speaker boxes, fuel injectors/rail, upper intake, MAF with chopped housing, plastic intake pipes, 2+2 hatch struts.. the list goes on. And I only paid $100 for all of it. With that and the $100 set of door cards I ordered, interior should look much better. havent heard back from my rust repair guy yet, but an upholstery shop quoted me $1800 to reupholster the seats in faux leather and microsuede so.... that was kind of hilarious hahaha. Oh well.


I figure I'll be in this car for $2000 in the next week or two and I could fairly easily sell it for $3000 if I felt like it. Gotta love sweet finds like this. Cant wait to restore this car to its former glory and then some!

[DCaff300ZX]

Welcome!
And uh, no way that thing is worth 3 grand with so many problems and hack work, still a $1K project there my friend...and a BIG project at that. My bad motor '90 NA is in FAR better shape even after sitting 3 years, and still not worth $800 IMO.

Anyway, great to see you have plans to rectify that- good luck and we all will be pulling for you!

[Poody]

Oh hell no, definitely not in the state its in! And especially on a Z specific forum where people know about these cars. But z32's in the PNW with ~150k and similar issues (albeit perhaps not as bad in some regards) sell for 3-4k all the time. Its rare to see them on craigslist for less than 2k honestly. I would know, I've legitimately been hunting for the right car for 6 months haha. I dont think I would have a problem getting someone to pay me 3k with the interior replaced, rust fixed properly, and seats recovered.

That said, its completely irrelevant what I could get, considering a project like this is exactly what I wanted. I dont want this to take me a month to complete, I want a BIG longterm project with OBSCENE goals to continually work toward. I'm used to mechanical work, I want a new challenge. Learning to weld, do upholstery, and improve my body work technique lets me learn a new skillset.

I'll just go ahead and post my parts list/intended course of action so you can all see the direction I want to go with this....
This is all stuff I have in the works for the next ~2 years. Essentially the plan is this
-Get the car to a clean, stock state. Take care of basic maintenance and build a solid foundation to work off of.
-Make the car visually appealing. Again, clean and nothing over the top. Mostly and OEM look, but with slightly modernized styling
-Make the car fun to drive. Not going for record breaking HP levels. I want a balanced car that is equally fun to drive hard as it is to take to the movies on the weekend. A dyno queen she is not.

My thoughts behind this order is that building a solid foundation is important because the rest of the build rests on that foundation. If its not solid then I know I will encounter problems down the road. I want supporting mods like brakes and cooling and fuel out of the way first because I would rather be safe than sorry. I dont want a 500hp car that cant stop if it needs to. I dont want a built engine that cant stay cool. I dont want to push the limits of a stock fuel setup with moderate compression and increased timing due to e85 and throw a rod through my block. I want a stiff but comfortable suspension along with wheels and tires to actually put whatever power I make to the ground instead of just creating smoke. I would also rather have the visual stuff out of the way first, because with my VW, I got to the point where I kept putting off paint and brakes because I needed something or another to make more power, or to make tuning easier etc. Dont want to go down that road again.

Anyways, heres my list. Feel free to critique. I would rather have somebody point out something Im missing now rather than when Im in the middle of something and have to wait a week to finish a project.




z32- 2000/////////////////////////////////////////////
<130,000
Clean title
5 speed

Misc Paint/Cleanup etc- 205
Undercoating- 25
Niteshades- 15
JDM tail mod- 25
RIT carpet dye- 5/////////////////////////////////////////
Paint roof/wiper arms black- 25
Window tint- 20
Floor mats- 90////////////////////////////////////////////


------------------------------------------------------------Phase 1------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~9200

Interior- 720
Black/white Microsuede- 35
Black Pleather- 35
2'x5' Brushed aluminum Vinyl- 15////////////////////////////////////////
350z wheel- 250
Stereo- 350
Speakers- 100
Subwoofer(s)- 100
Headunit- 150
Gauge pod- 15
Shift Knob- 20//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////





Suspension/steering- 3180
Coilovers- 600-1000
Energy Hyperflex Master Bushing kit- 180
AMS camber kit- 500
Wheels- 2150
Varrstoen es1/es2- 1000
Powdercoat?- 250 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bridgestone Potenza 245/285- 900






Body- 1010
Ionic Dynamics cowl- 200
99 front fascia- 440
Plastidip?- 250
Headlights- 120
Ballasts/bulbs-80
Projectors- 40
Fiberglass- 288 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
6oz 59"x50' cloth- 53
1.5oz 5 yard mat- 33
Silmar 249A resin- 37
Panel bonding adhesive- 80
Clay- 25
Gel coat- 60
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Paint/body work- 200
2 qt epoxy primer- 50
Primer surfacer gallon- 100
Body Filler- 50
Rust Repair-????


Fuel- 1532
10ft braided line- 40
Fittings- 100
FPR- 135
300 Degree rail- 450
Z1 1000cc reman Fuel Injectors- 700
Stainless hard line- n/a
Walbro 450 e85 pump- 107

Tuning- 1661 or 1096
MS3x 4 bar diy kit- 671 or MS3pro- 1200
GM 4 bar map- 36 with PRO only
GM open element IAT- 20
Glowshift analog wideband- 175
Glowshift boost gauge- 45
WHP Flex fuel sensor- 155
Mac valve- 30

Brakes- 1095
4x caliper rebuild Kits- 45
30mm Aluminum front calipers- 300
z1 Upgraded front/rear rotors/lines- 750









-----------------------------------------------------------Phase 2---------------------------------------------------------

~~~~11658+


Engine- 4843
EGR block off- 20
Motor Mounts- 160
Head build- 1150
Engine rebuild kit- 2003
Radiator- 280
Mishimoto radiator- 225
NA->TT lower radiator bracket/bushings- 55
Fans- 40
BDE adjustable cam gears- 640
Cams- 550
Machine work- 400

Transmission- 1680
FS5R30A Rebuild kit- 240
Clutch kit- 1440 @ horsepowerfreaks.com
LSD-????????????????????


Turbo Kit-
z1 Twin GTX2867r kit- 3690


Intercooler- 455
Core/piping kit- 355
Wyntonm 50mm BOVs- 100


Exhaust- 990
Fabrication- 400
Manzo Manifolds- 125
Dual slant cut 3" tips- 130
2x Vibrant 1102 mufflers- 205
4x v band flanges- 100
2x flex portions- 35
2x Vibrant resonators- 100
2x 3-2.5 reducers wyntonm- 25


Paint- 1000

[everpresentnoob]

Learning to weld, do upholstery,

Just dont get in a rush and try to weld your upholstery... I know from experience that welding and upholstery dont mix. years ago I had a Miata. had... Was welding something underneath and forgot to move the carpeting inside. lit it on fire. whole damn interior went up. Luckily I was working outside of the garage so the fire wasnt bad, but yea, I destroyed my car...

[Poody]

Just dont get in a rush and try to weld your upholstery... I know from experience that welding and upholstery dont mix. years ago I had a Miata. had... Was welding something underneath and forgot to move the carpeting inside. lit it on fire. whole damn interior went up. Luckily I was working outside of the garage so the fire wasnt bad, but yea, I destroyed my car...

That sounds like a bad day... I'll write that down though, definitely dont weld my upholstery.