HRH Posted January 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2015 They're actually made about 80 miles from where I went to college. Prescott Valley, AZ. BUT, the bodyman agrees, he doesn't think they're the best look on the car, though they are nice wheels. And I'm sure you have waay too much money into the Rays. I did find some I like though, for decently cheap. Steel, not aluminum, but I'm not racing the wagon, don't need the extra rigidity. And I'll have a 60 series sidewall, so the wheel will be pretty insulated. This is what I'm thinking. Clean and simple, and relatively cheap! Ships in about 3 weeks, aww. Might see if I can get a wheel and tire combo. Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted January 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Got 'em coming! Ordered 5 just in case I botch one, seeing as they have a 3 week lead time. Plus that way I'll have a full size spare. Though I may just save it inside so it doesn't get crapped up and use a crappy wheel for the spare. Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted January 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2015 Check out what came today! And to make it even better, Mohammed stopped by work and brought me a Maxima hood emblem! 'Twas very nice of him! The wagon is coming together. The pieces are primed, just need paint. 1 Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 Oh boy, after a long-awaited period, it looks like my wagon will finally be painted this coming weekend. I went down to Regy's farm today and sadly stared at the swallow shit all over it and proceded to tear down the front doors in preparation for paint. We're blending into them, just painting the front. Also brought down my wheels. As I suspected, +10 offset in a 15x7 is FING perfect! Need to get tires on them now. Molly was excited, as usual. Annoyingly, I found mouse turds in the car. Many mouse turds. Couldn't find any nests. Set a trap with peanut butter in case the little shit is still in there. Hopefully there's only one. Not even sure how it would have gotten in. I did find gnaw marks on my right rear seat retract lever. That pissed me off. I can probably take the dremel and a barrel sander to them and get them smooth again. And the oddest part? None of the other rigs down at the farm have any mouse problem. They do have cats, so perhaps my mouse has been eaten already. Quote Link to comment
q-tip Posted March 11, 2015 Report Share Posted March 11, 2015 That mouse must have a taste for as a in cuisine Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2015 Lol. He better have a dead taste in his mouth. If I catch him, it's going to be mouse baseball. Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 FINALLY!!! Getting close! Hope to be driving the Maxima back home this weekend. 5 Quote Link to comment
captaingamez Posted March 19, 2015 Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 Makes me realize how badly I want a paint job. Shes looking sexy. How much did the whole thing cost you? Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted March 19, 2015 Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 Looks good :cool: Quote Link to comment
ArchetypeDatsun Posted March 19, 2015 Report Share Posted March 19, 2015 Nice man looks great! Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2015 Well, we've only done the front and blended it into the doors. We are debating going back and doing the rear half of the car at a later time. Regy's thinking if we cut and buff the back end, with a little sun it won't be so drastic a change from the front to the rear. The cost was a trade deal which has gone back and forth, but basically I built him a raped ape screamer L20b with some of his parts and some of mine. Nice little 10:1 motor with my old race cam and a peanut head. The original deal was the rear quarter and back panel of the 510, but of course I sold that, so that work never got done. The wagon had a bad fender and hood. Got a used fender in much better condition. The hood wasn't straightened out completely but it's a lot better than it was before. The original glue where the supports on the hood are glued to the top had made dimples at every connecting point. We got all the other dents and dimples out, but there are still some left. Still, I don't care. It'll look darn nice and unless you're a bodyman, you probably won't notice. So yeah, it's taken a little longer than I wanted, but if all goes well I'll be able to drive it home this weekend. Then I need to start going through more lines, replace the radiator, replace the struts, take the big bar off the race car and stick it on the wagon, etc. And I still need a name for her! Quote Link to comment
The Taterhead Posted March 20, 2015 Report Share Posted March 20, 2015 Bad mamajama is what you should call her. Although I think what is under her pic in your sig would be a good name. Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 Hmmm, interesting. Quote Link to comment
q-tip Posted March 21, 2015 Report Share Posted March 21, 2015 White Betty......bambalam... 1 Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Yes, but I already have Ugly Betty. Too many Bettys. How about Megalodon? :D Quote Link to comment
q-tip Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Wynona, that's the whitest name that starts with a w that I can think of. Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 Lol. Like Wynona's Big Brown Beaver? FUCK YEAH!! Wynona it is, thanks q-tip! 3 Quote Link to comment
q-tip Posted March 22, 2015 Report Share Posted March 22, 2015 How in the fuck did you know that's what I was thinking of!? Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Here we go! Molly is loaded up in the spare seat footwell of Regy's minivan. Remy being excited. Radley playing on the halfpipe. Unloading the minivan at the farm. Regy buffing the fender while I changed the wheels and did pin-striping removal and put the doors back together. Missing a speaker grille. We semi-flatted the grille, it looks much better without the chrome. To top it all off, I left Regy's and headed home. Temp was running a little hotter than usual, no biggee. About the time I got to the highway though, I noticed a noise and a smell of something burning. Increasing with rpm. Not good. So I pulled off to the side of the road and as I did, the engine died. And myself, usually Mr. Preparedness, had no flashlight in the car, no water, and was pretty much sol at the Sprague/Harrington exit in the middle of nowhere. So I waited for Regy who should have been following me out, and waited. At this point the car would not restart. So I began to weigh sleeping in the car for the night. Fortunately I knew there was a gas station and I flagged down a nice college student. (Hot too, not that that was on my mind at this point.) She was nice enough to drive down to the gas station I knew was beyond the overpass and come back and let me know if it was still open. Fortunately it was and it was a downhill stretch. Right as I began pushing the wagon, Regy drove up in the minivan, so we pushed until gravity took over and coasted down into the gas station for some water. As I added more, Regy saw the source of the problem. I had forgotten to tighten a heater hose connection. Funny, since Regy had driven it down to the farm, around the farm, we'd both brought it in and out dozens of times and nothing. Fortunately, the temp gauge never got super hot. What happened was the hose popped off, drained out all the coolant and the temp sensor for the ecu got pissy, and thus shut the motor down. Quite a wonderful fail safe actually. As soon as we had the hose tightened and water back in her, she started right up. There was a racket that happened, which I think was the water pump running without water. Consequently that's getting change tomorrow along with the radiator. Other than that, I think I dodged a bullet and didn't hurt the head gasket, so I'm extremely relieved. I'm also extremely relieved I didn't have to spend the night cuddling Molly in the wagon. That would have been a bit cold even so. It was so nice today, I didn't bring a jacket with me. Dumb mistake number 3. Anyway, all is good now, Wynona ran without issue all the way home and I'm at the computer after a long day, listening to Pink Floyd and updating this thread. So that's a win, I'd say! And a little luck. 1 Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 Well holy crap Wynona is making me earn it. I did the radiator replacement today, took forever. Almost overheated her again due to an air bubble that didn't go out and I had the cap on while idling. Got that fixed, then over-filled the transmission. Fuck auto tranmissions. If I had more time right now I'd swap the bitch out. Anyway, had to yank a freshly replaced cooler line and drain some out, then try again. Really tricky. You ad a half quart and it shows you've added 1 quart unless you rev it up and then walk it through the gears a few times. Damn evil bastards. As I told Regy tonight though, it was all worth it after she beat me up all day long. I got her squared away and went to the drive through. And the dude working the window asked me, "What kind of car is that?" in an appreciative tone. Fucking sweet! :) Haven't heard that since I had the 510. 1 Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 So far the wagon is working pretty well. Amazingly the radio AND tapedeck are still working and quite well! Super stoked about that. I may not even change it to a cd player! The trip odometer is not working. The regular odometer is. It skips numbers on the trip odo. About 4 tenths of a mile will trip the 1 mile bar, then it trips the next. Tried resetting when it hit those points, but something seems to be sticking. Not sure if that will unstick with time or not. If I really get carried away, I'll figure out how to carefully extract the instrument cluster without breaking any plastic. Yeeeeee. Scares me a little. Anyway, then I could swap the race car odo in, as it still works fine. Quote Link to comment
q-tip Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 That would mean that you have to remove two dashes without breaking any plastic 2 Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 True that, but ugly Betty is gutted for autocross so if I break it during the process, no big deal. Still, I'd like to get both out without cracking anything. The wagon has an uncracked dash. Like, pristine. I'm probably going to get a dash carpet for it so I can keep it that way. Then just take it off for special occasions. 1 Quote Link to comment
q-tip Posted March 25, 2015 Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 Mmmmmm uncracked dash pad...... Quote Link to comment
HRH Posted March 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 Yeah, hence needing a carpet. I'd like to keep it that way and 80's plastic isn't getting any healthier. Just ordered some circle track springs for the rear of the wagon. Went with a little softer spring rates than one of the other guys who had a wagon. He used 5"x10.5" 325 lb springs for the rear. They're 196 lb stock. I ordered some 225 lb in 5"x11". Will have to cut off one closed end to make it fit, hopefully should work for a little lower and a little stiffer. Have the fronts coming from Motorsports Auto. Wish I hadn't cut the ones I had for Ugly Betty trying to cheap out on my autocross suspension. Had to buy the whole set for the ZX like I did the first time, so I'll have some rear sedan lowering springs that I won't be able to use, if anyone needs them for their Maxima sedan or ZX. Quote Link to comment
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