Shoota_77

Ha ha, what a journey! You must be stoked you still have it! A lot of people would have just gone "Ah fu(K it. I'll just sell it" and never see it again. The import wrecker here in Shepp was amazing 15-20 years ago! I still think about it from time to time. When I was doing my mechanics apprenticeship I used to go down there and look at all of the half cuts he had everywhere, it was heaven!!! I didn't even have a Jap car at the time (VL Commy so Jap engine!) but I still loved all of the awesome turbo'd engines and other random Jappo goodness. I would shudder to think what just got chopped up and chucked away from that place.... Shepparton was a pretty random place for a Jap import wrecker, it's never really had a strong Jap Import scene. I think the guy himself loved them but I don't think it paid the bills long term. A good story, keep it up!

Didn't get a chance to do much over the weekend. Fitted my newly powdercoated exhaust shields with nice new bolts. The little things! Finished off my jig. Hopefully get some stuff done during the week this week as we're heading away next weekend for AFL grand final weekend.

Snuck out to the shed tonight and quickly whipped up my k-frame jig to sit on jack stands prior to reinstallation of the engine/trans assembly from underneath the car. It should make it a bit easier to support the whole thing even with that.

Most of them will never be seen by anyone other than myself but I'll know!

@mr_rbman cheers, I think once you’ve got the hang of one type of tigging the other varieties are a lot easier to pickup. Once you’ve got the hang of puddle control and feeding filler it’s just a matter of understanding the idiosyncrasies of the different styles. In saying that I tried to weld up an engine cover I smashed on my motorbike on the weekend and made an absolute meal of it! That was junk alloy plus being oil soaked it just turned to poo. Binned that part..... Wasted $200 for a box of Jappo spec bolts so shiny new bolts for days! Most of the original ones came up ok after a good clean but you can’t beat brand new ones!

Speaking of GTHO's the one that sold at auction this month for $400K with NO MOTOR has landed here in Shepparton with an amazing body builder to bring it back to original spec. He's getting rid of the god-awful wheel arch flares thankfully.

Those kms if true are pretty amazing though. Worth $600K? Probably not but as @Steve85 said, I'd pay that on a 34 Nur that I would enjoy driving compared before I spent it on a clapped out GTHO that only feels fast because it's as dangerous AF!

Yes mate, its just an alloy spacer.

Here we go, not a great photo but hopefully you can get the idea.

It'll be fine. Get a small section milled out of the block and then fit a spacer in that milled section to achieve the desired height for the pulley to mount to. Mine is done this way. Can't remember if I've got photos anywhere....

Gave the intake manifold a sand blast and one last weld and she's ready for powdercoating. I cannot believe how much time I've wasted on this bloody thing.... I could have carved one out of a piece of stone quicker.... Ahh well, its been good for the alloy tigging practice.

Definitely winning zero awards for my alloy welding but as long as it lasts then all good. Once powdercoated it might look better! Next step is to make up a bit of a jig to support the k-frame on jack stands so I don't scratch the shit out of my new powdercoat! It's a bit sketchy just putting the stands under the k-frame as well so this should balance it a bit better.

Wow, please don't hesitate as you hover your finger over the "Delete Account" button if you find everyone here so completely unhelpful. You've so far shown great value to us too so thanks heaps for your input. Are you seriously that bitter that you would drop the lip because no one has something to sell you? Have you not noticed lately how the value of "this shit" and the speed at which it sells has gone crazy? Its hard to buy anything at the moment. If you've been burnt on Facebook go and take out your rage over there, not here.

Yes, not as bad but still f'ing bad! Not to be too much of a Danny downer but the thing that would scare me is that if its in there, its probably plenty of other places too.

Sold.

Hi guys, up for sale is my WBC 2 wideband controller. I installed it on my car but then changed from twin turbo to single so took it off and got the single O2 kit. The car has started with the kit on but it never left the shed so it should be in really good condition. It also comes with the dual display gauge so you can see what your AFRs are sitting on. The only thing you'll need are new weld on fittings for the O2 sensors to screw into the exhaust. You can get them on Ebay for about $10 each. I believe this kit is more designed for Platinum range of ECUs rather than Elite but do your own research to confirm. You can just use it as a standalone to monitor your AFRs. Price is $250 and includes delivery in Australia. Its on Facebook and they hungry on there so let me know ASAP if interested!

Got a bit of practice AC welding joining a couple of bits of alloy 90 together. Starting to get the hang of it a little bit. Not show car worthy but meh. Spent waaaaay too long with the angle and die grinders today grinding off the bolt flanges, taking off the "badge ridge" thingy and reshaping the intake manifold. Totally not worth it but ah well, custom now, limited edition. ? Still got a few low spots to fill in then grind off then its off to powdercoating.

Yeah just fusion welded it. I'll have to keep an eye out for cracks and an ear out for strange whistle-whooshka noises then! I've ditched the bolts as the bolt holes would have been a leak point without the seal in it. No backup from them..... Like I said, my first gig at any AC welding so stumbling around like a drunken blind dude with that side of it! ? Let's be honest, based on past history ill probably never drive it so it doesn't really matter. ?

Another one of those times I wish I hadn't started something.... Because I decided I want to change the colour of my intake plenum and I want to powdercoat it I decided to weld the two sections together and ditch the rubber seal between the two sections. Because I've basically done zero alloy welding I started on the bottom as thats invisible once back on the car. The idea was right but it didn't end up with the result I was hoping for.... The bottom ended up really good and the top shite! I found out why later on.. My gas hose had cracked where it bends over coming out of the machine so the second half I welded with no shielding gas. Added to that being chong a long alloy its pretty porous so bubbled up a bit. I got some filler wire and spent a few hours filling up some of the holes and the porous bits. With a few cycles of welding and grinding hopefully it comes up ok for powdercoating. I got a whole heap of other stuff back from the coaters that came up really nice. I regretted going gloss black initially but in hindsight I actually like it. The exhaust heat shields came up like new after sand blasting and coating. Picked up a few other bits and pieces (Whiteline swaybar, PRP head drain/vent, etc) to add on when it all goes back together. Slowly, slowly.

Good job! It would be a relief seeing stuff going back on!

A BMW will definitely last 20-30 years. Depends what you mean by "last" though. If you mean as in if you spent $25000 replacing stupidly expensive BMW parts along the way then yes, it will definitely last!!! Farked if I'd own a BMW outside of warranty!

Faaaark, that's brutal! Yeah rust repairs are a slippery slope. The more you dig the more you find and the worse it gets! I had a Datsun 1200 ute that I gave up on in the end. It was a bloody rusty nightmare that never ended!

@toranarod you're a brave man for tackling it. You're balls deep now so no turning back!

It all comes down to the life they've lived. If they've been well garaged they will have minimal or zero rust. The less time they've been in Japan the better too. Obviously the further away from the ocean its spent its life will also have a major bearing on rust. A car looking like yours I would say has lived near the ocean a lot of its life seeing the rust is under the bonnet and in between panels as opposed to exposed panels or under the vehicle.

Welcome! Now sell those two and buy a Skyline! Or at the very least twin turbo the Z and then you can stay!!! . Actually just do the 350 thing, there are enough Yanks fighting us for Skyline parts and cars now as it is!