Well the majority of you know I sold my supercharged '01 back in November. I tried selling it complete, but the buyer I found via eBay backed out and stiffed me by placing a stop payment on his deposit. I ended up returning it to stock and selling the Z to an .org member. It's getting a whole new kind of life and hopefully some will hear about it soon.
The week I had planned on selling the Z I kept hearing about a '97 that was traded in at a dealer a buddy used to be employed at, about 45 mins away. It was on the back lot scheduled for auction, some modding done, but was really half-ass how it sat. It was even a Sunalier/Cavfire special. The Friday of selling the '01 I felt like backing out, I didn't though, I went through with it. That night I went to look at the '97 going through a j-body withdrawal. That next Saturday she came home with me.
I'm really thankful the new house has a garage, cause I was undertaking a nice project car. Something to fully rebuild and give a new life to. I've only had the car since November and I've touched everything on it. From redoing the engine bay, replacing the entire interior, and redoing the entire body.
The pictures only say so much.
Please look at my registry's mod list for a full view if curious as to what's done to the Z.
The night I went to look at the bastard-
Home on Saturday-
The teardown begins, NOTE: the entire interior was replaced as it was all blue from the factory-
Nasty-
'04 dash in a '97? Yep. In with the new-
Brand new carpet-
Tenzo seats/'01 console-
'04 dash installed minus a-pillar gauges, everything is 5-way LED lit-
A/C delete-
I lowballed them good on the car as the rear main seal was leaking, we replaced that, the surrounding housing's gasket, both axle seals, and topped it off with Synchromesh, Brandon (Cavfan1) shown here-
After I smoothed/modded the HO, and prepped the AEM CAI here they are back from powdercoating-
Yes I chose red as my accent color, here's the engine bay being reassembled-
Dropped via B-G/Gravana-
Time for my last stage, bodywork, everything had been gone over, all the shave work etc. I don't like knocking anyone, but the car wasn't done right the first time. Thanks to a local bodyshop specialing in classics/restorations I have gotten the car completed this year. The actual body I cleaned up myself, well all the hidden areas, sandblasted the pinch welds, replaced both metal bumpers, and went to town with epoxy primer/undercoating-
Bottom of doors after being repaired and seam sealed-
Trunk/door gone over-
Mockup of the TRD spoiler before being molded into one piece, which I have 10 hours into alone-
'03+ LS Sport rear with the Chevrolet indentation shaven-
Boredom-
...and........the finishing touch-
Not the original opal blue, I'll tell you that much-
The rims were a right time/right price type of deal. I wished I could throw some nice dark lipped 18's on it this year, but truth be told I have all my money wrapped up into the body of it. I'm going to play this season out and see how it goes. If I enjoy the car after this season, I have a spare 2.4l block and head I plan on building and boosting via snail. Just not enough budget to go that far this year, not to mention time.
I know I'm going to get @!#$ for the spoiler, I don't mind. It took away from a clean look, but IMO added much more to an aggressive stance. I had honestly borrowed it as a joke, and to sell to another friend with a Celica. We jokingly sat in on the trunklid then gazed as it flowed right down into the quarter panels at every angle. I spent 10 hours molding it into one piece to clean it up a bit, and despite the negative feedback it will receive, it's staying.
After being subjected to dust/wetsanding/etc. the engine bay/interior need some cleaning so I'll have to share those in the near future...for now, enjoy-
Much <3 for the .org and the people I've met in the j-body scene. Made it too hard to leave it this season.
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