THE ENGINE

When I got the car the engine was shot but the body was still in good shape. I went to a junk yard to look for an engine and found an 82 Turbo that was in a crash. I bought the whole car for the engine. After a month or two the engine is completely done and running good. I basically transfer the engine and all the wiring for almost the entire car. I also managed to convert my analog meters into a digital display one.

THE BODY

When I said the body was still in good shape I mean structurely and over all. After the car was running I begin to work on the rusts. There were some rusts on the floor right behind the seats. The rear panel and the spare tire well had a lot of rusts too. All the rusts were removed and new metal was fabricated and welded back in.

THE KIT

I 've been doing alot of searching for a nice kit but found none that satisfied my taste. I love the Motorsport kit but the sideskirt and rear spoiler got to go. I only like the front spoiler with the bumper detail from motorsport. After checking with JCR I think I like their sideskirt but I know I have to do some modifications to the front spoiler because the sideskirts look perfect. Also I love the F-40 wing from Motorsport Auto and it still not look the way I wanted and I know I have to do some mods here too. For the rear, I planned to do some mods here too but I didn't want the stock bumper look.

I decided to get the front spoiler and F-40 wing from Motorsport and the sideskirts from JCR. For the rear skirts I found a pair of side spat from another kit that left over. So I planned to used that for now and hope that I won't have to do alot of modification to it.

THE FENDER LOUVERS

While waiting for the kit to arrive I did some more searching for a pair of louvers so I can incorporate them into the side of the fenders (something likes the Z3 look). I found a pair of louvers from an old Ford car which I don't remember its name. I took the fenders apart then cut the holes and sucure the louvers in place. Then I add some fiber glass mat and resin on the back of the fenders around the louvers. Then I did the same thing for the outside then used fiber glass filler to smooth everything out.

MODIFYING THE KIT

I put the side skirts on first and molded them into the fenders. Before I even did that I had to add more fiber glass to the back of the sideskirts because I think they are a little weak.

My plan was to modify as I go along. I tried fit the front spoiler on and temporarily bolt it down. Man It looks like crap with that gap between the hood and the bumper so this is where I will start. I laid 2 flat pieces of wood from the tip of the hood down to the top of the spoiler. Then used fiber glass mat and resin to build on top of that. After the first layer harden I removed the 2 pieces of wood then build a few more layers of fiber glass on the inside to strenthen that piece. After that I used fiber glass filler to smooth it out.

The sides of the front spoiler did not match up with the side skirts too well and with the stock tires, the tires are already wider then the front spoiler. What I mean is when looking from the front I can see the tires sticking out. So I flared the sides of the front spoiler out a little and made it match with the sideskirts.

While at it I decided to modified the hole around the signal lights. Let see any one can tell the difference

THE REAR END

I removed the bumper and used sheet metal to cover up that big gap. This is done after putting on the side spats and molded them in. After the sheet metal was rivetted in place, fiber glass mat and resin was used to filled the entire surface. Then fiber glass filler was used to smooth it down.

THE WING

The tips of the F-40 wing was extended by maybe 5 or 6". This is to make the wing hugs the curves of the body better. However, I have to remove the power antena and cover up that hole. For the replacement of the antena I got a power antena that I mounted on the top of my windshield.

THE HOOD

The hood is a stock 79-81 hood. The reason I got this hood was that I can get the matching hood louvers from Motorsport Auto and I think they look good. Even that I think it still looks too plan and I wanted to do something else to it. Then I saw the hood for the 97 550 Fararri Maranello in the R&T magazine. Wow...hehehe..the 280ZX hood looks just like that except for the hole in front. So I started cutting and knocking it down to get the shape that I want. Again fiber glass was used to do all the details.