garageHEART - Nissan Fairlady Z (z32)

[r0b1n]

About Me

Hi All,
I am new to this forum, not sure why I have not registered on here even though I browsed here frequently. Well rather late than never I guess.

I build scale cars under the name garageHEART, I love restoring second hand kits and bringing them back to life, gH is based on a small Japanese workshop and we love older vehicles but we do build newer ones as well.

Lets get into the build...

The Story

Fairlady's have become fairly common "practice" for the garageHEART team. We have worked on older Z's and a z32 before. How on earth do we say no to a restoration of such a beautiful car? Well this one was not for sale, I went to look at another kit and there was this red thing , body line's that unmistakably belong to a Fairlady Z, in true gH hunting style I popped the question and as the story goes...the rest is history.

Exactly why I love this chassis, due to it's rich history and with that in mind we thought long and hard on what to do with this gem. We have built the Fujimi Just Tuning z32 before, that had a modest mid 90's era street style

This one is going to be the first car being built in garageHEART's new building, we now have more space (sadly projects have piled up so the space is nothing to brag about) and more experience.


Direction

The last z32 we built was pretty modest, as much as gH does not do current trends, we simply can not ignore what is happening around the world. The whole diffuser and wild "time attack" look is certainly brutal (in a good way) and it is practical.

With that in mind we going to create a weekend warrior where the owner can drive his car to and from the track and still get him/her great lap times and with a flick of some sort of electronic damping force controller he/she can get home in comfort (somewhat).

As for engine, we not sure to throw in the highly tuneable RB/2jz or keep the VG30DETT and add some go fast bits to it. When this Fairlady is stripped down we will hopefully know what engine will be going in.

The Build


(above) As you can see, it has surely been neglected.


(above) Suspension is lob-sided and bonnet/hood does no close properly. hmmm did we buy a lemon?


(above) z32 looking all sad, won't be long (well depends how long a piece of string is)


(above) To our surprise the aircon still worked haha.


(above) This will be home for a while...


(above) Real work started at this point, well have to start somewhere and we started by removing the wheels.


(above) The iconic 300zx/Fairlady Z wheels were removed. Tyres/tires had plenty thread on but they were starting to crack due to standing. Does not matter as we wont be needing them anymore.

(above) This spider lived on the old gH premises, I found her in her final resting place. She will be missed.

(above) Sub-frame removed as well as exhaust system...

(above) After all the auxiliary items were removed the engine was free to come out. We removed it from the bottom, seemed the easiest.

Next is strip interior and rear suspension as well as drive-train...

Thank you for reading and hope to see you soon.
garageHEART

[r0b1n]

We back with some updates, after the engine was removed and interior stripped we could think clearly as we now had a blank canvas. As mentioned before we turning this into a time attack inspired car that can be driven on street.

Our guys are use to the odd splitter here and there , mainly fitting readily available aero packages. For this we have to scratch build most of the aero parts. It has been a huge pleasure to see this Z32 go from stock looking to something track ready by a few little add-on's.

Lets jump into what you have come for, Pictures...


(above) All stripped...

(above) Unlike the Fujimi kit where the spoilers are separate pieces, Tamiya made it slightly harder to remove the wing. So out came the grinder and we went mad. It was filled and smoothed out afterwards.

(above) As you all can remember we had some fitment issues with the hood/bonnet (check first post). After checking the body for straightness we figured it was the hood/bonnet that was not sitting properly.

(above) Well while it was off we decided to cut it up, to let all the warm air out of the engine bay. The grinder was working over time.

(above) And there is now a huge gaping hole, there was simply no turning back now.

(above) Then we sorted out the fitment issue and i tried capturing how well it fits now.

(above) I tried keeping the wheels a secret, but we thought about it... lets show the wheels in this bad condition and once it has been refurbished we can look back and see the difference. So this is the chosen wheel, a set of SSR mk2-R wrapped in Advan ao52's. Also seen here is the canyard and lower diffuser without attachment, and if you look at the rear you can see the holes closed up where the old spoiler was.

(above) Now this is where gH might get negative points, we have not gone for the over the top blade wing and we kept it with a one piece high spoiler, it is a z32 spoiler. Check in again in the week to see what gH has to done to this wing , then you can fully judge us.

(above) And that is how it currently stands... canyard attachment added.

Below are random snaps...




The front diffuser's shape needs to be corrected slightly as it does not flow with the front of the car. Next we move onto the rear diffuser and wing modification. Once all this is done the sides will get the same treatment and then we move onto the engine bay and interior to get it ready for spray.

Thanks all for checking out the build.
garageHEART

[stratos75]

The garage looks amazing!

[Boosted S13]

What is this, these diecast models. Is this some screwed up roleplay? I was just looking for a cool project to look at.

[r0b1n]

Originally Posted by stratos75

The garage looks amazing!

Thank You for the kind words.

[r0b1n]

Originally Posted by Boosted S13

What is this, these diecast models. Is this some screwed up roleplay? I was just looking for a cool project to look at.

Its 1/24 plastic kit , the wing removal and the cutting of the hood clearly shows its plastic . i am trying to tie in real car build threads with scale cars. Seeing that its a build thread why not document each step in a way that is being done with what we replicating?

As for screwed up? i dont understand, care elaborating so i can avoid that in future.

Thank You in anticipation and Thank you for the constructive criticism

[Niro750]

Love it... great updates

[circuitR]

Very cool, it's like a 1:24 reality series. Look forward to more updates

[r0b1n]

Originally Posted by Niro750

Love it... great updates

Thank You for the kind words, truly appreciate it

[r0b1n]

Originally Posted by circuitR

Very cool, it's like a 1:24 reality series. Look forward to more updates

Im glad you like it and that is exactly what im trying to do, is make it entertaining and basically to have it done in a real life setting. The stories of how i find the second hand kits are all true, some not as interesting as others but it's always interesting to read how a kit was acquired.

More updates will certainly come through in the weeks to follow.

Thank you

[r0b1n]

Hi All,

We back with one picture, but plenty work went into that one picture. Well about an hour and a half worth of work.


(above) Adjustable wing built and start of rear diffuser. Still need to trim and add side extensions to it but I am sure you understand what we getting at.

This weekend, I will finish up the Aero and then start on the engine bay.

Thank you to all those who replied and checked out this thread.
garageHEART

[r0b1n]

Hey Everyone,

gH has been up to mischief with this Fairlady. We Finishing up the aero, probably another hour of work then it will be ready for paint etc.


(above) Took a walk up to capture this picture... side aero made and fitted.

(above) Taking shape slowly.

(above) Pulling it out proved to be a mission due to ride height...

(above) small adjustment of the side aero to be done...

(above) Onto the engine bay... We still not sure if we should fit an RB engine or modify the current one.

Thank You all for checking out this build.
All comments and criticism highly welcomed
garageHEART

[onirunner86]

Awesome work Robin.

-Luis

[circuitR]

Awesome work. I really like your garage! I reckon keep the VQ power plant and upgrade the turbos

[r0b1n]

Originally Posted by onirunner86

Awesome work Robin.

-Luis

Thank You Luis, glad to see you here too