Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 9, 2017 (edited) So a little while ago I made a new purchase. Not one I was ever expecting to make but I couldn't turn it down for the price! The idea for this car is to transform it into a street legal track car. It's a NZ New E30 coupe with a RB25det Neo engine, 30e Rebuilt gearbox, HD Clutch, Wasted Spark, R32 diff etc. Too much to list. Condition when I bought it was fairly average. Nice strong engine and driveline which is the mean thing, however paint and interior were pretty bad! While I bought this about half a year ago, I'll slowly add in the progress to get up to date. Edited June 15, 2017 by Kaz Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 9, 2017 (edited) Step one - Making the to-do list! Tidy up interior Body work + paint Rollcage Stiffer engine mounts new radiator/fan/intercooler setup to create more space Plumb in wastegate New Rotors/racing pads New Tyre/Semi Slick combination (looking for options in 17's if anyone can recommend something). Full service Edited January 9, 2017 by Kaz Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 9, 2017 Step two - Interior tidy-up. While it's going to be fully stripped with a rollcage/bucket seats etc, I still wanted the original interior to look ok for the couple months before I did strip it down. I used Dupli-Color Vinyl and Fabric Coating (around $20 a can from supercheap) and couldn't be happier with the results! 6 months on, they still look the same as they did then, with no pealing/fading etc. I intend to keep the doorcards in the car for a tidier look. Rear seats are for sale if there's any interest. Rear parcel tray has since been moved on to my tech 1. I didn't bother with the front seats as they're ripped and will just bin them. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 10, 2017 (edited) Next it was time for the strip down. Needs to loose a bit of weight so gone with the steel front guards and bumpers (PFL bumpers weigh a tonne!) to replace with a fibreglass kit from Mike Shaw Fibreglass. He does kits for some of the E30 racing series so was the right man to talk to. While I'm sure some people wont like it, the goal here isn't to create an M3 replica (hence not doing the rear windscreen/boot conversion-price wasn't worth it to me), but to loose a bit of weight and build a car how I've always wanted. I've always like the boxier type guards, plus gives me an extra cm or two to squeeze in some semi slicks. Special thanks to Kerri (Mosen Euro Parts) for lending me his front bumper mould. Looks so much better than Mikes front bumper mould. Very happy with how it came out! Edited January 10, 2017 by Kaz 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 15, 2017 (edited) Next step was to check what needed to be trimmed down and to figure out if any other modifications needed to be made to get the kit fitted. Front guards bolted right up with very little trimming. Rear guards we cut down to get ready to mould onto the body. Front and rears were a bit trickier. We made up custom brackets as I wanted the front bumper to be quick release. Thankfully my Uncle is a car painter and works with fiberglass plus can do a lot of fabricating parts so this was all done in his garage. I decided against doing the rear boot part (for now anyway) as I couldn't justify the expense (M3 glass alone was going to be around $2000!). Plus this is just a car that's going to be thrown around the track, not a show spec M3 replica or anything like that! Edited January 15, 2017 by Kaz 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 15, 2017 Now I'd like to give a little sponsor plug to Car Colors for jumping on board and providing all our paint and prep materials. The colour I went with is PPG Hyundai Urban Grey, which also happens to be the worlds hardest colour to photograph correctly as it looks different in every pic I've taken! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 15, 2017 Now for the fun part, sanding! The original paint work was terrible, we could water blast half the paint straight off! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 15, 2017 The rear bumper required quite a bit of modifications to get it to work. I got this one second hand (still a Mike Shaw bumper) before I picked up the rest of the kit so possibly it was cut up slightly from whoever owned it last. We had to create mounts to make sure it doesn't sag in the middle and so it's removable from the original bumper holes through the boot. We also had to extend the inside lip so it sits flush with the body, and also extend around the exhaust tip. Fuel cap was also pushed out so it can open and close flush to the body. It may all look like a mess now but, but we're glad we put in the extra hours and attention into these little details as it shows in the final product which you will see in a later post! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zero 1162 Report post Posted January 16, 2017 Coming along nicely. How many hours were spent on bodywork? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 16, 2017 58 minutes ago, zero said: Coming along nicely. How many hours were spent on bodywork? I'd hate to think how many hours were spent! Having never done anything like this, it definitely makes you appreciate the amount of work and effort goes into prepping and painting a car. Initial strip down/test fit was done on the 8th October 2016. It left the garage painted on 27th November 2016. Mostly just done in weekends. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 16, 2017 (edited) New wing arrived from Latvia! Evo wing with Gurney flap. Having now fitted and painted the wing, I'm not 100% sold on it. I'll be replacing it with a proper GT style racing wing after this seasons NZ Superlap Series has finished. Edited January 16, 2017 by Kaz Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zero 1162 Report post Posted January 16, 2017 Stop teasing and show us the pictures of the car after paint 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 16, 2017 14 minutes ago, zero said: Stop teasing and show us the pictures of the car after paint Haha but have so many pictures of the build I haven't posted up yet! Forgot to make a thread when it was being worked on so catching up as quick as possible! Here's a pic of the colour though. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qube 3570 Report post Posted January 16, 2017 nice colour. maybe quite similar to the BMW Mineral Grey? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 16, 2017 20 minutes ago, qube said: nice colour. maybe quite similar to the BMW Mineral Grey? Yeah it does look fairly similar. Possibly a shade or two lighter though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 16, 2017 Next step now was the final strip down and prep before paint. All windows/lights/door rubbers etc had to go! While I was stripping it down, I took the time to replace a couple of the windows, and any of the rubber seals that looked questionable. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 16, 2017 (edited) Undercoats all done! After a few mods to the front and rear bumper, we did another quick test fit. Another problem we had was the original owner had completely destroyed the front valance due to cutting right through the middle. I wanted a much more subtle look so replaced the valance and just cut around the intercooler and piping, that way the guards and bumper could still clip on but it still had the bar along the front under the grill. As you can see here, we cut out the intercooler hole at the bottom and re-fibreglassed a lip around it to make it look better and pushing the air directly into it. Next step was to install a bar along the front to to stop any sagging along the middle. Edited January 16, 2017 by Kaz 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 16, 2017 And finally, the paint! As mentioned, the colour is very hard to take a pic of as it always looks different in photos. Here you can also see the front bumper's been completely trimmed out with custom brake ducts coming through the fog light holes. All trim on the vehicle (chrome strips/side mirrors/door handles etc) were painted black, as well as the stripes through the front and rear bumper to give a nice bit of contrast between the two colours. We also painted the intercooler and front piping to make it much more subtle, although these will eventually be replaced soon anyway. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 19, 2017 Almost up to date! So all pieced together and came across a few problems. Firstly one of the headlights fell out and smashed. No big deal as I have some new ones sorted anyway when I can be bothered wiring them in. Secondly, smoke started coming out of the dash cluster (any idea why)? And lastly, starter motor shat itself so off to get that rebuilt. Unfortunately the first drive in it's new disguise is on the back of a tow truck! Next step though is off to Dynamic Automotive to work on the engine and wiring side of things. Things to do there are: Rebuild starter motor Rebuild steering rack + all replace racks/tie ends/bushes etc Tidy up uneeded wires and crap that I don't need (found old alarm and gps tracker etc that I have no info on so all gotta go). Find out what caused smoke in the dash cluster As well as full service Plenty more to do but that's a start at least. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hybrid 1043 Report post Posted January 19, 2017 maximum win. Make sure you trace out any electrical wiring issues .. last thing you want is a fire and your hard work going up in smoke. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zero 1162 Report post Posted January 19, 2017 Electricity is smoke. When the smoke stays in the wires everything works. When the smoke gets out of the wires things stop working. Therefore, electricity is smoke. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 19, 2017 11 hours ago, zero said: Electricity is smoke. When the smoke stays in the wires everything works. When the smoke gets out of the wires things stop working. Therefore, electricity is smoke. 18 hours ago, hybrid said: maximum win. Make sure you trace out any electrical wiring issues .. last thing you want is a fire and your hard work going up in smoke. So my mechanic tidied up all the wiring, removed all the crap I didn't need (there was a lot!) and traced the smoke back to inside the cluster. Installed a new cluster and it's fine now, although will be keeping a very close eye on it. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 19, 2017 Steering rack has seen better days! Rusted inside so not even worth building. I managed to get my hands on a Z3 rack to swap it out, unfortunately the RB Engine sits lower than the original M20's so the Z3 rack would have sit too low. My back up plan was to picked up a second hand steering rack with better internals to get that one rebuilt. Air Flow Hydraulics did that up for me, great person to deal with and would recommend to anyone looking at getting theirs rebuilt. While I was at it, I replaced the rack ends, inner and outer tie rods, boots etc. Once that's all in and a few other bits and pieces are tidied up, it's time for a full service for a bit of piece of mind. Next stop: off to my fabricators to work on the cage and get a few other bits and pieces done! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zero 1162 Report post Posted January 20, 2017 What did it cost to get the rack rebuilt? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kaz 64 Report post Posted January 20, 2017 1 hour ago, zero said: What did it cost to get the rack rebuilt? It was around the $500 mark. Not including any of the rack ends/tie rods/boots. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
