CzerniS17 Intro/Build Thread

[CzerniS17]

Hey Everyone!

It's about time I introduce myself officially, my name is Steve and I've been lurking around for a while. I've been learning a lot from you all before I bought my 3/S.

I just bought a '92 3000GT VR4 as a project. It hasn't ran in about 5 years, and has been sitting this whole time as well. The previous owner blew the rear turbo, and decided to pull the engine at this time to build for more power/bigger turbos. About 3 weeks after doing this, he was in a very bad car accident and ended up being in the hospital for a couple months. After his long recovery, he never really got back into working on the 3000GT - and there it sat.

I know the previous owner very well, and knew this car wasn't getting the love it deserved; and after a lot of persuading, I bought it for $500 cash and brought her home.

Here she is loaded on the trailer:


Sitting in the driveway getting washed before being put away:


And in her new home:


Now before anyone asks, yes I did get the motor and transmission from the car

Right now I am in the planning stages of the build, but have a pretty good idea of where I want to take it. I'm in no huge rush to complete this as I have my truck to DD and have a wedding coming up. But, as of now here's a general outline of where I want this to go:

- Full restoration w/ new paint (Thank god for no rust!)
- Pampena 3.1L Stroker
- DR Stage 2 heads
- DR-650's, maybe DR-750's?
- Rebuilt transmission w/ 300m output shaft
- KW Coilovers
- 2G Brakes
- ABS Delete
- AWS Delete
- AEM EMS
- Re-upholstered Interior

I'm still undecided on whether or not I want to do a '99 front end conversion or not. The main influence will be the intercooler(s), and whether or not I can make the power I want to (500-550awhp) on the Dejon SMICs. If I can't, I will most likely swap to the '99 front end for a FMIC, because I prefer the cleaner look and 1Gs just don't look right to me with a FMIC.

Well, that's my story. So... Hi!

[ray pampena]

hey man looks good! where is that car from? sounds like a great build to me

[CzerniS17]

Ray, The car was from somewhere down south, and was brought up here to New York for the previous owner. It was never driven in the winter, so it is in beautiful shape.

Btw - do you have any input on the SMIC/FMIC debate? Would the Dejon SMICs support 550ish?

[ray pampena]

it does look nice.. all of my cars are from the south too. NY cars are rusty most of the time.
front mounts do cool better but many times i use sidemounts for the stock look and keeping the surge from happening

[CzerniS17]

Yea, this is one of the first project cars that I have had that isn't rusty. I'm looking forward to working on this one because of that. lol

I'm leaning more towards the sidemounts so I can keep the stock look. I like the 1G front ends.

[VRoom4]

Have you seen some of the modified 1g front bumpers with the fmic? I think they can be customized pretty cool.

[CzerniS17]

Yea, I've seen some. But only one of them has really caught my eye, and it was a lot of custom work. For the amount I would spend on a custom 1G bumper, I could be well on my way to having a '99 front end.

Plus having the sidemounts will give it that sleeper-edge.

[benson8277]

I didn't know Ray made 3.1L stroker motors. I thought they were all 3.5L or bigger, looks like a good build.

[ray pampena]

yea, the 3.1s are stock stroke large bore

[AdamVR4]

Nice car and welcome! Looks like you already know what you're doing