**If you have any questions, or want larger pictures, ask away. I am also open to any critiquing/slander**
Current notes about the car
Engine: 1991 Maxima VG30E
Transmission: 300ZX FS5R90A 5-Speed
Wheels: 14" Western Wheels Turbine/Cyclone
Tires: Falken Ziex ZE329 185/60R14
Fog lights: Moss Motors no. 162-800
Gauges: VDO brand Cockpit Royale series
Radio: Retrosound Model One
Speakers: Rockford Fosgate Prime 3-way 6x9
Roadster is originally an Arizona car, previous owner had it for 20 years and had it mostly restored. I purchased it June of 2011 and had it shipped from Arizona to New Jersey via DAS Auto. This process took about 2 weeks and was farily painless, and the car arrived unharmed, but a little dirty from sitting around waiting for it to be picked up from the origin lot.
Being picked up in Arizona.
As it sat when the flat bed dropped it off in my driveway. It looks quite naked.
Racing harnesses that were adjusted for possibly the worlds smallest man, or a 4 year old girl.
I was well aware of the attention it needed, so I took it out for a spin, quickly realizing the difference between power and manual steering/brakes.
First thing I needed to do was make it more safe to drive and got in contact with someone parting out another 66 and went to work.
Steering wheel was a little wobbly, there was no bracket holding it in place. Also the turn signals didn't work, fixed that with wiring it correctly using a schematic.
Door handle was missing
Other door handles were missing, and the door panels are too thick for complete escutcheons.
Some switches were broken and in the wrong spot, promptly fixed and replaced
At this point I was just enjoying the car and noting what it needed and where I could get it. One day while sitting at a red light I noticed the idle had changed and could see some blue smoke from the pipe at idle... Damnit! Well I saved the engine replacement for the winter as it was hardly top down weather, and got to work on cosmetics and TLC.
I made my list, and after a few days of trying, was able to get through to Dean. Luckily he was about to offer the trunk carpeting, and ironically the one I got was the master/original.
The giant box arrived, and was ready to begin
Trunk carpet, window weather stripping, gas cap door, door escutcheons, window vent handle, and fresh air vent weatherstripping?
Before
After
Before
and after
Beff
and aff
There was originally no key, so a very nice locksmith had a key ready in a week.
Yes, I know it's crooked, I think the gas neck was put in SAE instead of Metric(just kidding)
Crispier than the first time I grilled a burger pattie. No after, as my camera would have to had been thrown out if I touched it.
I had also purchased a used reverse light that needed to be rebuilt. Now all it needs is to be rechromed one of these days. Talk about a nightmare wiring this thing, the connector on the transmission had about 3" of wire, and was melted.
The original mirror fell out when I touched it, and was held in by hot glue and prayer. The backing had flaked off and the mirror glass was unusable. Although there are a lot of mom-and-pop shacks around here, I was having a very rough time finding a glass specialist who could do this. I had then remembered my mother had taken up a glass cutting hobby, and her teacher was able to have a new mirror cut in a week for less than $10, score!
While not perfect, it's better than nothing.
I have yet to own a car without fogs, so I went and fixed that with a recommended purchase from this board. Of note, they have the most retarded sockets for the bulbs. British design strikes again.
New relay and inline fuse with handy wiring coming out of a not-so OEM hole I believe. All firewall holes now have nice grommets surrounding them, and suspect previous owner wiring has been replaced.
*******************************************************************Now on to the meat and potatoes of my car fixing ordeal, the engine swap. A friend recommended me to a supposedly honest junkyard that supplied the engine. Although it was dirtier than hell, I pulled the head and the cylinder walls looked brand new, and it had less than 50k miles. Brought it home, tore it down, replaced most gaskets, washers, and did a timing belt, tensioner and water pump replacement. Also replaced the rear main seal (which was bad on the original engine and made a mess) a new clutch and resurfaced flywheel.
The car, that looked like it was about to have its teeth pulled.
Wow that was fast... not really, maybe 3 days? Not a whole lot of room in the bay when it is coming out.
The dirtball and its STD'd up sister.
The bucket full of emissions crap that needs to be picked up by our neighborhood drive-by scrap stealer. There is now an EGR block off plate on the intake manifold.
The coolant pipe that had to be swapped, from an older VG30 I believe
Pressure plate swapped, new clutch and resurfaced flywheel.
All cleaned up, the upper coolant pipe also had to be swapped, and in this picture you can see the main crank pulley has 3 belt wheels. This is one too many (one for a/c I believe) and had to be swapped from the old engine, it didn't fit into the cutout on the front crossmember. Also the intake turns in a different direction than the one from the FWD Maxima, so it must be from a RWD VG30 powered car, of which I do not know.
Oh look it fits. The dip stick pipe had to be turned forward, you can see part of the body had to be notched on the left for the alternator relocation and custom bracket, the coolant overflow was capped(second one is on radiator) and you can see the custom motor mounts (thankfully with rubber) Man was it dirty, but I cleaned it up and repainted some of the metal.
Close up of that fancy alternator bracket.
Close up of a motor mount that I wish was stainless.
Some room was needed for the oil filter apparently.
A neat brush guard for the oil pan that just might be made of a Bradley tank.
Of note, the transmission mount was modeled after the original and isn't really complicated, unfortunately I need a small child to shove under the car to take a picture of it. I have no info on the driveshaft, but I may take a look at it and measure it when I jack up the rear and replace the tires. I'll bump this thread if I have updates. I do not believe the ignition switch is original, I have no center console, so the heat doesn't work, but the valve to the heater core is closed, the ehxaust manifold is custom and needs work as it is a one piece (now cut into two) I do not believe the starter is off a Maxima model. There is an external fuel pump mounted to the front of the tank. Everything fits as it is, and the hood closes with no modification.
My most recent work was getting it running, a new battery later and this happened.
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I also installed the radio in a universal mount as of today. I enjoy wiring like a pro, and the power antenna.
Carpet is now firmly in place, and not hanging like here.
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