All,
I'm new here, but not new to forums in general. My background includes building one-offs ( 27 T roadsters, 32 hiboys and low-boys among other), ground up kits (427SC Shelby Cobra replica) and airplanes (Lancair 235 - I didn't build it originally, but I sure felt like I had by the time I was done ).

I have built many cars, and am now working on a 92 Maxima SE. I got this car for a VERY fair price considering it's condition (read HORRIBLE) and am rebuilding it from the ground up. I have a daughter turning 16 next month and am building the car for myself, since I'll be giving her my current ride ('03 Silverado). All work is done by me (with the exception of final paint).

I'm not sure how active this forum is or how many members would be interested in a build-up like this. If there is interest, I'd be more then happy to post the pics of the progress, but of course, this takes time - So I'm wondering if anyone is interested.

This car will include the following:
1) Full interior swap - From a crashed '93 wih Tan interior
2) Completely restore headliner and other trim pieces
3) Full suspension upgrades - New poly-everything, new springs (dropping it 1.5"), brakes will be gone through, new struts etc
4) Bodywork will be shaved and blacked out (Read: No wing, no nothing)
5) New wheels & tires
6) Pull top end of engine - Port and polish intake and port match
7) Other misc engine (tossing around some ideas but I haven't finalized anything yet - I'm more of a S/C kinda guy )
8) Fix all of the borken stuff - too much to list but a small example is the busted sunroof - Had to be replaced)


Check out http://bbrinkerhoff.home.mindspring.com/Cobra/ for an idea of the last car I built.

 

Welcome to the board! You'd probably be interested in Michael's (awsm66) project(s)/goings on...

http://maxima.cardomain.com/id/awsm66

 

sounds like fun to me.
that a pic of you in the cobra?

 

Welcome to the board! Pics and progress are great. Anyone like yourself that does all kinds of work and takes pics helps everyone.

It seems like you are very competent with building cars and I think you have a good start and a lucky break by finding a car with the VE30DE engine, which is only available on 92-94 SEs. Is your car a 5-speed? You will likely be happiest if it is. If not, maybe look into finding a donor car for a swap!

One thing to note is that there is no kit available for putting any kind of forced induction on a VE engine. It can be done, but you need to be prepared to do a lot of your own fabrication or have someone work with you on that. Oh, and do lots of research.

As for body work, ShavedMax and awsm66 are two active members that come to mind for advice or hints. It sounds like some of the things you are looking for have been done by Juan (shavedmax).

For the broken stuff, look into the for sale/wanted boards in the 3rd gen section. There are usually several guys with parts cars and parts in general floating around.

oh, and have fun!

chris

 

Please tell me you took it around the block at least once like this. That had to be the best "open air" experience



MIKE

 

If I had a Cobra with a built 427 (looks like roller rockers, alluminum heads, intake manifold, dist, and probably cam and goodies inside) I would not even drive a Maxima.

wait...yeah I would... The 92 SE has lots of potential, it just depends on what direction you want to go with it.

 

As a matter of fact, I did take it out for a few shake-down runs prior to the body being on the car. I did this so that I could work out any problems without the hassle.

And yes, that is me in the pics...

Oh, and BTW, the engine was not a 427FE - After a bunch of research, the problem came down to:
1) 427FE blocks can be pretty rare (=$$$)
2) They are heavy
3) Go fast parts are outdated by more recent offerings for newer blocks

I ended up using a built 351 Windsor that dyno'd at 412hp (750CFM 4bbl on a single plane Victor Jr with ported heades, roller rockers, a wild cam, reversed water pump (to run a clean serpintine that routed like a v-belt) )

Interesting facts:
1) The car weighed less then 2100lbs when complete
2) It ran 11.6@125 (1.90 60ft) on street tires - I was hazing the tires through the lights in 4th. I never did run it on slicks but based on trap speed, it would have gone MUCH quicker
3) I came this ---><--- close to getting a ticket from a national park ranger for doing 95 right by him (he was hiding in the trees) - This was in a 25mph zone (Ouch!). He ended up not giving me a ticket because he liked my ride


Maxima
As far as the max goes, I have made even more progress since I posted the original thread. I pick up the car from the body shop (frame suffered damage from a light hit in the rear - I don't have a frame machine (yet )) New 17" ASA AR1 wheels with BFG/KDW-TA's are going on Saturday.

Here are just a couple of before and after shots of the interior to give you guys an idea of what I'm doing....

The day I bought the car, the interior looked like:



Many more pics to come - I have 100's of the project and I am only 25% done.

 

In the middle of the interior project...


Towards the end...

 

my uncle built his own shelby cobra, and the thing's sweet. he put a 305 in it, and it runs 12 flats. ill get some pics of it next time i see it.

 

Just a heads up...

Since you do not have an air bag, you can put in a variety of different steering wheels and still maintain cruise control. Mine was pretty hashed up like that and I found a perfect s13 (91 240sx) one on ebay for under $20. Similar year (pre-airbag) 300zx, Stanza also have the same or similar steering wheels that will work.

this is what it looks like (except I have since added an Anniversary Edition shift ****):



excellent job with the interior, looks brand new.

 

dont tell me thats a tremec t5 behind that beast

if it is im amazed it handles all that power

thats a solid trap on street tires although the maxima in your posetion if equipt with a large turbo and a bottle could come very close to that same trap since a few members have traped within 5mph on the stock motor

 

That is, in fact, a SHD-T5 (Ford's version of a super-heavy-duty T5). A 3550 Tremec would almost seem more logical until you took into consideration:
1) Cost of the Tremec
2) Shift quality - The Tremec 3550 always felt (to me) like a top loader compared to a T5
3) Weight of the car - The Cobra was so light that a monster tranny really wasn't needed - It wasn't pushing much weight.


Of course, these are my reasons based on the information I had at the time.

 

Some more pics...

The back end had been hit in the passenger rear. Although the damage didn't look bad from the outside, anyone really looking would have noticed the 1.5" gap in the deck lid. also, there was a crease in the pass quarter panel from the right rear being pushed in...



I picked it up today from the body shop - They have a REALLY nice frame machine. They pulled everything back 100% true (should have for what it cost!)
(Note: I have also removed the rear spolier - I don't care for them. I welded in the steel to fill the holes in the deck lid.)



Here's a pic of the interior after it was complete (includes the steering wheel I went with). This is a pretty trick setup since I left the contact rings attached - This will let me add a custom cruise/resume/cancel button to the newer wheel...


And I also ran it down today for the new wheels (a day ahead of schedule)


More pics to come...

 

nice


.......

 

looking great