FTO AUSTRALIA

Was just reading the Nacho's thread on what he is about to embark on with his FTO and it got me thinking of my past project.....

Thought it might be interesting to see what other people have done in the past

Back in the mid 90's I spent about $30K on a 1976 GD Galant. I had owned 5 or 6 of these (was my first car) and I decided that as no one had really done one of these up, I was going to do it. I had already dropped a 2.6L sigma engine with a 5 speed box into the one I was driving (no mods required) but decided I wanted a little more.

Bought a second car, sourced myself a 4G63 (DOHC from 1989 Galant) and a Haltech. This was interesting because my GD was North South RWD and the 4G63 is East West FWD. Managed to get it to fit and run (had to reverse firewall among other things). Made custom skirts for it (modded commodore/barina) and carved a wood dash for it. Had sigma seats & struts. Actually managed to get it in Fast Fours mag. Was too scared to drive it anywhere in the end (worried that someone would steal/damage it). It was either it or me - sold it for 7K.

Will try to find a picture if I can and post it up.

What crazy things have other people done to cars???????

Red Nissan 300ZX 2 seater...had it during from 98-00, is nothing special now, but back then not many people have this, & the styling is still like a "supercar" Here's some of the mods i can remember.......

Racing CAM
Ported & Polish
Twin T3 turbo
External waste gate
Twin Apexi CAI right at the front of the bumper bar
Apexi front mount intercooler
18" Black Racing brand wheel (in black)
Geniune Full veilside kit (well not many people have veilside back then)
5 points roller Cage
Apexi Power FC with hand controller
4 pots Brembo front brake & disc
Full Apline sound system
Nismo Gauges/gear nob/paddels
3" from turbo to back 2 to 1 exhaust with 4" tip

It pull around 280kwatw, which is a fair bit in those days, now any dam skyline can easily do that. It also drink $60 bucks of petrol a day..

Back then cost me around $60k by the time i finish it, & sold it for $45k which is typical for any car, money down the drain, is a lesson we boys will never learn ehehehe

but the satisfaction is priceless

Well the mighty mini has been with me a long time, but in the early nineties I has a series 1 Chrylser Sigma - old fat bodied sh*tbox, with a hot little 2.6L Astron motor. Spend $2000 doing it up & the old man & myself shoe horned a worked 327 Chev motor into it. 9" diff, Turbo 400 box etc etc... The little bastard used to stand up on one wheel!! Ended up torqing out on a launch at the old Eastern Creek dragway & split the seam welds down the roof of the car - opened it up like a can

We bodged it up, but I ended up writing it off (not my fault) and got the market value..... $1750 Memories

Was asked for piccies and here they are.....



The front skirt is a modofied Barina Skirt. The air intakes were moulded using a plastic jug bought from KMart (the shape I wanted)



Dash is hand carved Jarrah with custom lights in the lower panel. I blew a lot of LED's getting this right. Also had aftermarket gauges built into dash.







And heres the engine - Hammer tone is your friend (thats what the engine is painted with), As mentioned in the previous post, this engine normally powers a Front Wheel Drive car and is orientated East West. The Galant is Rear Wheel drive and this is positioned North South. Has a Mazda 323 Water pump. The firewall was reversed so the engine could fit and has a L300 flywheel (the 5 sp sigma box did not mesh with the 4G63 starter motor using a standard flywheel). Hoses were all custom. Ended up with 5mm clearance between the sump and crossmember and 5mm clearance between sump and steering rods. Both gearbox and engine fitted original mounts. Has custom built extractors with a Haltech wired up to it. Saved a lot of money by organising to do a lot of the labour myself (took time off work). Also means that you learn a bit from the exercise.

The car was in Fast Fours and Rotaries pre 2000.

Having done this, I wouldn't do it again, my advice is to buy one that has already been done or is nearly done. It will save you a mottza.

hey nice work dstocks,
i like to see people take on a project and do the work themselves i would have loved to seen pics of the mini bennoz.....MINIS ROCK!

i had a project ce lancer with a droid body kit, stereo in boot, leather seats and door cards, huge 17s (hahah) and little bits n pieces here n there.
then it was stolen and written off in the middle of the build....so i bought the fto for my next project.
im not gunna bother listing the mods on that one coz i cant remember them all but i mad it in HOT4s with 2 bikini wearing ladys
i also won a trophy for body work.

i have sold that and started my next project....starting a family.

next on the list is a fully triked out GSX-R 600 stunt bike, lets see how that turns out.

Ohhh man that car is hot, now thats a real project car, well done dstocks.

WOW that car looks crazy!!!

you done a awesome job to that car man...you must of been so proud when you finished it and even sadder when you sold it:P

That looks absolutely brilliant! I'd give you three thumbs up if I had 'em. Did you end up doing a dyno run back then? It would be interesting to know the curb weight and the power at the wheels.

Bottom line is we do these things to our cars for the bikini ladies! hahaha

nice!! must've been heart braking to sell.

if i ever had a project to do it would be a Datsun 240z with widebody kit. mmmmm...