The Fairest of them all. My Nissan 300zx Z31 build

[BrandonBoww]

My Z . It has been a long journey of to finally find a car that is A-in good condition, and B-checked most of the things I needed/wanted in my "first" car. Yes the saturn is my first car, but this is my first car that I will be doing everything right on, and hopefully bring to the track. I did do most things on the saturn as correctly as I could with my knowledge at the time, but I cheaped out on a few things. Like the Racing seat (it was $40 on craigslist) and a stupid, ricey RAM intake. I want to do everything 100% with this car, I started that trend by getting an actual NRG wheel because the stock one is waaaaay too thin and uncomfortable too me.

One really cool thing about this whole process is that I have gain a few friends along the way. One of those people being Taylor. He has been a very positive influence throughout this process. Another friend that I have found through this is A guy named Joe (he bought Taylor's miata). I never expected us to grow as close as we have in the past month or so. I just started sitting next to him at lunch one day and we started talking about cars. He said he wanted a miata and I agreed. I had my heart set on a miata but things got in the way so I had to move on. And the search broadened. I just knew that I wanted a rwd with enough power to not have to worry about modding the engine do whatever I want to do on track. I mentioned to Joe that Taylor's miata was for sale and he went and bought it. The weird thing is that Joe and I have done everything with our new cars together. Joe bought his car Saturday and came with me to buy mine Monday. We both got our cars on Tuesday. And we both got our cars inspected on Friday! Joe has been a really cool guy to be doing all this with and I cant wait to see what happens with the rest of our journey!

Now, the car in its present state.
It is suuuuper clean for a 84. it has 50th anniversary badges on it but they were probably just stuck on. It has 65k on the odometer but I thing its rolled back. The ac doesn't work. The oil pressure gauge doesn't work, as well as the fuel gauge. I actually don't think the air conditioning system works at all, it only blows hot air. It didn't pass inspection because of minor things I will get into later. It has a lot wrong with it, but I love every part of the car. It is mechanically sound and drive amazing! It is such a clean vehicle for its age. Its more than 30 years old! All of the work it need I can do myself with help from the forums and friends and I can not wait to do it. The car as so much potential and that was the biggest thing I was looking for when I was searching. I only got the car for $1,900 and have already gotten offers for the car that is more than that. I believe that this is an amazing purchase and I will stand by it.

The Goals for this build.
1. Pass inspection, needed blades, battery, and fog lights (I will get into this story later)
2. New wheel, and shifter. I want to enjoy driving a car, it feels like I am driving a truck [emoji20]  AND GET RID OF THIS CAMO
3. Fix the broken thing. This is going to take sometime but I am going to be very persistent with it
4. MOD BABY. I understand that several people would rather the car get restored and what not, but this is my car and I want to track and enjoy it. I am planning on first making a nice auto cross vehicle and then move to drifting if I still feel like it. There is a huge list of things I want to do but lets fix stuff first [emoji2]

Now, What happened with inspection.
I went to a very nice little shop Friday to get my car inspected. The took sometime so I knew something was up. I wasn't sure about the car because I didn't get to give it the look over I wanted too, since I needed to get to work that evening and my saturn was officially un-ensured. The inspector came out to talk to me with a small list of demands and an offer for the car. He bought up buying the car several times throughout our interaction. He told me that I needed to get wipers, new fog lights, and either a new battery or it might just need a charge. A small list it seemed to be at the time, but as I went to auto zone (a place I do not like) to get my car battery checked and charged I found out that I needed a new battery that would cost me about $140. The Auto Zone employee tried to up sale me of course and talked about how I should get a Gold instead of a Silver, When he did talk.... I asked him what were the differences, and he read me a list of things. One thing stuck out too me, he said that The gold has a 3 year warranty instead of a silver that has only a 2 year warranty. I thought well my battery is supposedly new, I should be able to take advatage of it. I asked him about it and he replied to me with a small smile that the only way I would get a warranty is if I had the previous owner come in with his receipt, then a distant thought crossed my mind. I remember papers in the glove box. I went and checked them and found the receipt to my surprise. I brought it back to him and that was about the end of our conversation. He got a battery. brought it too my car and told me I have a 3 month warranty on this one. KEEP SOME RECEIPT!



IMPORTANT- I need help. The only thing I have left to do to pass inspection is the lights. I checked the bulbs and they are good. I checked the fuse and it's good. I just went and bought a multi meter and checked the fuse and it has power running through it. I checked the relay and it it has power going to it. how does the power run? does it go to the fuse and then the relay and then the switch? That my train of thought right now. Also how do I trouble shoot a relay? please help, it would be much appreciated. Also tell me what you think of the build, thanks   
-Brandon