Good read. I daresay most of the vehicles around these parts haven't seen this kind of love. Even for an old hat like me there was a few interesting points made. http://thegarage.jalopnik.com/heres-exactly-what-it-cost-to-buy-and-rebuild-a-nissan-1793172844
Yep for me a very realistic take on what the process of getting a Z is likely to be, The only issue is that I dont believe the parts would be quite so easy to source now/here than when this article was written.
I'm quite suprised how many OEM parts are still available for what is almost a 30 year old part. I've noticed over the past few years parts are becoming a bit more scarce as pieces become NLA, however a lot of the main pieces like engine, suspension and body components are still readily available (just have a look on the CZP/Z1 sites). A lot of stuff is still being manufactured rather than being just new old stock as well. I have a heap of oem parts that were made within the last few years according to the manufacturing stamp on the bag. 2k tail lights are a good example of this, a few years ago everyone ran out of new 2k tail lights and there was a couple months wait, but Nissan did a production run to stock back up on them. I guess if they are making money on it then why not?
This article is in US dollars too, not likely a TT can be had for that price in that condition here in Aus nor getting parts at those prices. This would be at least a $20k exercise locally but a very good indication these cars are money pits if you want to do them right. Hopefully that removes the common misconception out there you can buy a clean TT for peanuts and expect it to be fast and reliable.
Yeah nice write up. Confirms why I did the ls swap and why I am now doing the 2jz swap. Had the 6.0 swap done for under half of that build and the 2jz will be the same.
really well documented (with photos) and written, but did he mention suspension / bush condition or replacing or repairing any of these in the writeup? He did say that some suspension mods were made and he did some front camber arm adjustment, but with the level of detailed work I expected to see more mentioned about it.
It's articles like these which both inspire and put the fear of god into me. And I've only got a non turbo! I had no idea that the AC has to be vented and that the cooling system has to be upgraded if you want to replace the heater core as well... Attempting to pull the core out with the dash still in place is looking more intriguing.
and that's why many people just bypass the core. Which is fine until you want to actually see out of the windscreen on a cold rainy day All of this is why I got out when I did. Seeing what others had spent, it was a choice. Go past the point of no return, or get out before I've sunk too much into a car that was never going to be perfect again anyway.
you guys realise the dash can come out rather easily... which negates all the swearing, AC de-gassing and other BS that comes with that job... right?! If you can swing a spanner and a screwdriver, a heater core job would be 5 hours TOPS first time you do it.
Wait, who believes that? I thought the common belief was that it was impossible to have a Z that ran for more than a year without taking the engine out, no matter how much you pay.
It wasnt too much trouble for me. Took it to a air con specialist who did the conversion for me for a few hundred bucks.
