"Patrick Morgan" (pmorganracing)
11/14/2014 at 21:36 • Filed to: 300zx nissan modified TT twin turbo Z32 ZX z-car
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"Patrick Morgan" (pmorganracing)
11/14/2014 at 21:36 • Filed to: 300zx nissan modified TT twin turbo Z32 ZX z-car | 3
| 9 |
For the past decade, my mind has been fabricated around this thought that cars should do what they are asked without putting up a fuss, and that they are entirely straight forward in their operation. To any car guy, this clearly indicates I haven’t had a project car in quite some time. There is something to be said about a car that’s “almost there” though.
This Super White 300ZX, for example, takes what I thought to be simple, and complicates it beyond all means. Ordinary things, like starting the car. Four attempts... The first three of which emitted noises that only mechanics love to hear. Despite this, the owner, Ashraf, loves his car. That may say something about Ashraf and his taste in cars, but more so I think it says something about our love of project cars.
Considering project cars in particular, one must appreciate and give credit to the eternal, perhaps unnatural optimism and restraint that a car guy possesses. In any enthusiast’s toolbox, there’s a wide array of destructive apparatus to put a car out of its misery, and yet the busted knuckles will prevail until that proverbial errant electrical glitch is solved (or found).
Ashraf’s 300ZX (much like this article) is a work in progress. It actually started off life as an N/A model, but was converted to TT (as it should be). It’s seen plenty of upgrades and work done, but it is nice to know that it is still being worked on. It’s effort to actually drive it but that's just the nature of how it was built. It’s got a tricky clutch, it has manual steering, its not particularly quiet, but where it counts is in the speed department.
Quite a lot of time has passed from the last time I drove a car like this. A car who’s power delivery was... volatile. All of the mods have clearly done their job, and have done so very well indeed. Maybe it was my first impression of the car’s finicky nature that I didn’t fully trust that much forward acceleration, but I never really had enough time to fully feel comfortable with the Z. That depth of knowledge of a car’s intimate behavior is why Ashraf sees something in this car that I haven’t had the time to see yet. He knows what it can do, he knows what’s strong and what needs a bit of TLC.
Next spring, I’ll hopefully be able to spend more time with this machine but all of the stories of its build reminded me of one thing important. Project cars are like New Years Eve: Endless preparation and hype, one sleepless night of fun.. followed promptly by a massive headache and the uttering of “I’m never doing that again” but you always do it again anyway.
(photos courtesy of Jezza Z, and big thanks to Ashraf and AJ for making this come together)
Dsscats
> Patrick Morgan
11/14/2014 at 21:47 |
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The wheels are not my particular style.
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Dsscats
> Patrick Morgan
11/14/2014 at 21:47 |
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These corner lights have a 2 month back up for ordering because Nissan doesn't offer the 99+ J-Spec lights through dealers so they generally have to be ordered through Z1
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Dsscats
> Patrick Morgan
11/14/2014 at 21:48 |
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I like this car/bumper a lot, but FMICs block off a good share of airflow, hence the stock side mounts. It only works well if you have a very good radiator.
1337HPMustang
> Patrick Morgan
11/14/2014 at 22:03 |
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cool lambo
Spaceball-Two
> Patrick Morgan
11/14/2014 at 22:10 |
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Beautiful car. I had a 280z for a while and I love these cars. Why the manual steering?
Ashraf
> Spaceball-Two
11/15/2014 at 01:17 |
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Previous owner put power steering fluid in the reservoir, since it's an older car it takes trans fluid instead. It ruined the pump and lines, so I have the pump out. I like it with no power steering feels way more stable.
Aero
> Patrick Morgan
11/15/2014 at 01:19 |
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Lloyd-Anthony D Peters
> Patrick Morgan
11/15/2014 at 18:28 |
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" Project cars are like New Years Eve: Endless preparation and hype, one sleepless night of fun.. followed promptly by a massive headache and the uttering of "I'm never doing that again" but you always do it again anyway."
I agree with you here. But thats why we put so much effort and pain into modding our cars. its all apart of the fun.
Carlos Caro
> Patrick Morgan
11/17/2014 at 00:31 |
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I love the Z cars