Oh Dear. We may need to talk. Are you still looking in the $20K range for it when finished? And most important, you are keeping it a manual tranny right? I've had a couple of Cougars and I've got a real soft spot for them.
I also have a soft spot for Z31s (First gen 300ZXs) and I just came across one that piqued my interest. Greatly. It's an '84 Turbo with 84K, manual tranny and digital dash. It's only 200 horse (In '84 that was incredible), so it's not what you would call fast, but I've loved the Z31's I've had. It looks to be solid, it's going to boil down to what I want to pay and what the seller will take. Z31's are gorgeous and they're fun. And they're becoming rare. I'd go $10K or so for this:
Did a little more looking at the Z31. The digital dash is not displaying properly and I saw the under side: Nope, nope, nope. I know these cars all to well and the warning bells are going off in my head. Pity, it's a nice looking little car, a turbo, and nicely optioned...but it's a money pit. These cars were expensive as hell when new and there's no cheap parts on them. That is, if you can find the parts. I'd love to have another Z31, but finding a clean, not abused turbo is all but impossible. Maybe I'll just go have my Z28 resprayed instead.
@toytoy88 Nice Z. My stepdad had an '87 Turbo. Took me for a ride in it and we went 124 mph. Been hooked on the speed bug ever since. And for the Cougar, we took the 3 speed out and are putting in a proper top loader 4 speed. We'll have to check the market when it's done but probably in the $26-28k range. Kind of a soft market for those cars. Always in the Mustang's shadow.
One of my racing coaches won the Canadian racing title with an old Z for a few years running. He still has it and brings it out for shits and giggles on track days. What an amazingly setup car. He's got a great page on his website about it: http://www.keesnierop.com/datsun-280z-race He let me drive it a couple of times at our old home track. It was incredible. I mean, just look at the engine: LOOK AT IT.
My '87 Turbo was one of my favorite cars. It was boosted to 10lbs (Any more and you have to start upgrading the injectors and rails), a 3" exhaust and down pipe and cut 2+2 springs (Much better spring rate). I'm guessing it was right at 300 horse. It also had the limiter removed. I had it up to 154 mph and it was still climbing. The car had more balls then me. It was also Porsche Guards Red which was a really cool touch.
It's time for me to put a tool box on my 2019 Tacoma, and I thought about a roof rack while I'm at it. Where do you guys recommend acquiring such things? Any online stores that specialize in Taco truck stuff, or just truck accessories in general? The local offroad shop here is run by dipshits, but I can shop around in DC/Baltimore for an alternative. What I'm looking for is a black, skinny tool box to hold an oh-shit kit, a basic roof rack, and I'd consider a trailer hitch and a bed cover while I'm at it. Also, how hard is this shit to put on?
I did my own front and rear trailer hitch installations... the kits these days are really, really well done. (And yeah, I had hitches on both ends of my truck... if you've ever used the front hitch to park/push/manoeuvre a long trailer, you'll know why they are so awesome). Showed up next day via Amazon, 1/4 the price of installed locally, and it took me about 2-3 hours total to install both of them. The front hitch required some minor frame drilling, but everything else was just remove X bolts, attach hitch and replace with longer Y bolts. The trailer light/brake connections, especially the 7 pin socket, was relatively easy as well as it had a drop in connection that used the rear brake light connection... basically expose the brake light wiring, unhook the connector, attach the new splice connector, re-attach the brake light connection. The box shouldn't be too hard to do, but just make sure that you have the right attachment points in the bed, etc. Roof rack I'd be scared to do for fear of causing leaks in the truck cab, depending on the installation specifics. I'd rather have someone with experience fuck around with the cab liner, etc. Bed covers are usually stupidly simple, assuming you're talking about a taneau, and not the coating inside it. I know mine was just a few C-clamps and you were done... easy to remove on demand. If you're talking about a plastic insert into the bed, I'd never get one... they trap water and rust the fuck out of the bed under it. I had mine fully line-x coated, and think it was worth every penny. Just my $0.02
Are you planning to mount the roof rack on the roof or on the bed rails? I'm hesitant to get a roof rack as its common for people to forget they have a bike/gear on the rack and drive into a garage, tree branch, etc.. This link has some pretty good photos of what I'm talking about: https://www.tundras.com/threads/anyone-run-thule-roof-tracks-on-bed-rails-with-bed-cover.36494/ Shops in the DMV will be hit or miss; make sure you check shops further out in places like Warrenton, Fredericksburg, or Hagerstown. I ended up buying my tonneau cover while I was back in PA simply because it was close to $200 cheaper and that included a $25 installation fee.
I personally got a canopy for my truck with embedded Thule rails in it in case I ever needed a roof rack for a canoe or something.
Whatever you decide to do, look on Craigslist first just to see if someone has decided to go a different direction and has something you want for less.
Got the factory SS Hurst shifter put on today. HUGE difference. 35-40% shorter throws and a centering spring that you can actually feel. Much more positive shifts. I knew the standard 6 speed shifter left a lot to be desired, but comparing it to the Hurst.....it's a cheap piece of shit. Definitely worth the extra bucks to add it to the car.
Okay, after taking entirely too long, I've got an update on my/ Jungle Julia's LS swap. Since my last update, life has just been kicking me in the balls over and over again: first, Li'l Bandit's transmission messed up, then I had a pipe break under the house (I'm the plumber), then the home A/C unit went out (I'm the electrician). Then the dryer stopped working (I'm the appliance repairman)... Plus, I've been studying for all of these ASE tests. You guys get the picture. So I got caught up, and finally got to prep/ prime/ paint the engine bay. This first post is the priming. Li'l Bandit helped me with this. Spoiler Spoiler Here it is, painted. I used Nason epoxy primer, and Krylon farm-implement paint. I had nothing but Hell applying the paint; I think I used too much hardener, because it wouldn't spray more than a couple of inches past the nozzle, and it came out with a matte finish, which is not a problem for me. Spoiler Spoiler I used a siphon-feed HVLP gun from O'Reilly's (not my gun - borrowed). It has a 1.8mm tip, which was recommended for the products I was using. The instructions said to use about 20psi inlet pressure, but that wouldn't spray ANYTHING. I had to turn up the pressure to about 50psi before it started spraying semi-decently, and even at full shop pressure, it wasn't as good as it should have been. Like I said, the primer came out okay (but still not as well as it should have), but the paint was really thick; I mixed it according to the instructions, and even added extra reducer, but it seemed like the gun was having trouble picking up paint out of the pot. Before anyone asks, no, the gun was not clogged, and I took it apart and cleaned it between applications. Yes, I did try adjusting the volume levels. Even at maximum volume, it was still spraying half-assed. As I've said before, I'm not a Body-Man, and it's been about 15 years since the last time I used a paint-gun. But when I did, it wasn't like this.
Awesome. Right? Not so awesome. Spoiler Someone did a hell of a lot of work, and it looks like good work....but...meh. At least for me, it just doesn't work. More pictures at https://www.ebay.com/itm/1996-CHEVR...962917?hash=item216cb8aca5:g:inAAAOSw86ZecU7J
Just because I'm up in Idaho doesn't mean I've let up on my rolling restoration of my Z... I've got a buddy up here that owns a glass shop, so I decided now was the perfect time to get some glass work done. The driver's side window had some hard water staining and scratches on it that annoyed me, so I had him replace it. Within a day I noticed marks on the new glass right where the scratching was on the old glass, so today we ordered new anti rattle felt for the window. No sense in letting the new glass get scratched up too. Also the rear window molding (Which was a problem from day one with these cars) needed replaced. I have the new molding in my storage unit in Vegas, but I wasn't able to get into my storage due to the COVID virus shutting things down before I left. So I ordered another molding. The rear window needs to come out to replace it and I need to do a bit of clean up on the glass because of hard water stains, so that will be handled next week. I do need to get the driver's side glass re-tinted now, but that can wait until I get back to Vegas. Basically all the car needs now to be perfect (At least for me) is the Flowmaster muffler and Magnaflow tips put on. And paint. I'm still debating putting an SS hood on it. It's taken about a year and a half, but it's almost where I want to be.
You may have already said but which model are you going with? I've ridden in a few cars with Flow's that droned SO bad.