SSSEXXX

Hey buddy!! I hope you're feeling better on the new meds. The car has come a long way and I can't imagine how torn you are. Especially on days when you have pain. If you can, see it through until she is running. You owe yourself that much and the satisfaction of seeing it may change your mind. Also, a running car is worth more right? You still plan on breaking her down afterward and sending her off to paint and body? What colors were you thinking?

@dennis - Hey buddy! Its been a long time my friend. I see you're still the plethora of help and information for me. One day when we meet, I am definitely going to owe you a nice dinner. Which R180 are you going to run or are running on your car? The 04-06 Subarus have 3.90 ratios, but I am not sure if they are 25 or 27 splined. Either way there is an adapter out there for it. I'm giong to spend another week research and then start purchasing what I don't have. Breakdown of the rear subframe starts this weekend if I can get to it. So busy these days!!

@Hyspeedz - Thanks! I am hoping I can get her there. It has been a long road and there is still so much farther to go. The parts sitting in my garage got pretty overwhelming pretty quickly. So I decided that I would break her down in to sections and work piece by piece through each section so that the reality of how much I have to do doesn't leave me in tears. First off was the rear subframe. Here is what I am thinking for the rear subframe at the moment. Any and all commentary, opinions, or thoughts welcome and don't be shy... Datsport DIY Adjustable Rear Crossmember kit -Also enlarge exhaust opening for 3" exhaust. -Can't find a source for the Penultimate version everyone keeps talking about. Am I missing something? Recondition my rear control arms. -Need to research what modification may be necessary. New wheel studs New bearing kit New bushings Troy Emerish rear coilovers R200 Diff Mustache Bar -Still researching Wolf Creek Racing Half Shaft & Axel Kit -Still looking for cheaper alternatives as this car won't be tracked

So, basically when taking apart the rear subframe there are six bolts on the top of the two rear shock tower mounts. Two more bolts on the cross-member and then two last ones in the mustache bar that hold the rear differential in place. A couple of brake lines and you are done. It is really that simple. Well, in theory anyway. Up to this point I had been extremely fortunate. Not one rusted or stripped bolt had slowed done my progress. I was so happy too. I needed every lucky break I got because it was 2pm and the car was to be picked up by 4pm. I left the mustache bar bolts in and cleared through everything else. Fatigue, hungry, hours of consecutive work were not helping either i'm sure. The mustache bar bolts stripped and I thought all was lost. In a rage of anger and frustration I decided to get a Diet Coke and lay down on the street in front of my garage in the sun. As I got hotter and hotter I remembered seeing someone heat a rusted bolt up and then it unbolted like magic. I don't exactly qualify as a mechanical expert, but I figured I had two choices. Accept defeat and disappoint the King of Datsuns or man up, take a risk and make it happen. I chose the second option. Shockingly, it actually worked. I have no idea how or why, I just know it did... Finally, after hours of work and about six lifetimes worth of experience, she was ready to be sent off for a proper rotisserie restoration... She was loaded up and prepped with the help of some of the nicest people I have met in a very long time. I do not want to disclose who the car went to until I get his official permission to let anyone know. Also, if you have an idea, please do not call him and tell him that you know me or I sent you unless you actually talk to me privately first. Then, it was off to clean the garage. Ever wonder what a Datsun looks like in a garage without a body? Well, here you go... Now it is time for a couple of days of research before I begin to tackle the rear and front subframes. Anyone and everyone with advice, please help any way you can. I love hearing how I can or could do things better. I'm still learning every day!!

Feeling good about my new found skill and dominance of the front subframe, I decided it was time I kicked that steering column's ass. I was tired of this rusty stick dictate my life. I also still had lingering doubts about my ability to handle the rear subframe... Steering Column 0 Chris 1 Roaming around the carcass of what use to be a car, I took a step back again to see what I had done these last few hours... Then came my nemisis. The Joker to my Batman. The darkside of my force...

Ah the dash. Perhaps it was my fear of the subframe, the looming deadline to completion, or just my overall lack of breaking to ingest anything besides Diet Coke but this got frustrating really quickly. When I took a step back, actually read my manual, searched on Ratsun, and took a deep breathe I came to the conclusion that I was and idiot and that the bezels fo the switches screwed off. Talk about making this one a lot easier after.... I used countless expletives trying to get the steering column out. I was afrait to damage the firewall because I could see it flexing as I cussed and pulled and twisted. So I resided to let it stay and hang out for a bit until I could google me some answers. So I decided it was time to man up and get her on jackstands. I had to conquer this fear of being crushed sooner or later right? As I peered down into the empty shell, I almost felt like I had made a dent in disassembly... I began to mentally gain confidence and figured "hey, if I die under a Datsun, there are way worse ways to go right?" So I stood back and took one last glorious look at her booty in the air... Then I quickly shattered my own confidence when I gazed over to the left and had the fear of the Datsun God's shot inside me. "How the hell am I going to put all this back together? What the hell do I know about car building? It looks like my car exploded in to neatly organized piles with labels. I am pretty sure that there is some country out there where they give you this as a torture method. Am I going to be selling all this on eBay because I am the world's most retarded mechanic?" I slapped myself out of it and decided not to look in that direction until it was time to clean up. I decided there wasn't room in this garage for both the front subframe and me. One of us had to go.....

So, after I began to felt like I had some momentum, I mustered up the courage to tackle the rear end in much the same way. Truth be told, I may have been avoiding my fears in handling the front and rear subframe. I had never taken one apart before. I thought it was complicated and extremely heavy. I kept envisioning that I would drop the car on myself and have to resort to begging my Indian neighbor to save my life, but this hypothetical was based on the idea that he spoke english and knew I wasn't recreationally lifting a car like they do on those Ironman ESPN shows. Damn it!! This was going to be ESPN's fault. Damn I was scared. Back on point... Then, before I knew it, all at once Project Miracle Whip was glass-less..... Next up on the challenges to conquer, aka "avoiding jacking the car and a potential near death" was the dash....

So when we last left off on this wonderful adventure kids, the doors had been completely gutted. What I did not tell you all was that it was done with a deadline in mind. The kind of all kings of breathing life in to Datsuns had humbly blessed me by agreeing to take on my project and I had to have her completely gutted and prepped for his arrival on late Sunday. Being a man of such quality work and with about as good as a reputation as you can imagine, I did not want to disappoint him. So I strapped on the gloves and prepared to get dirty, really, really, disgustingly awesome dirty.... So, with my goal weighing heavily on my mind I decided it was best to get some clarity and free my mind. Okay, okay, perhaps it was just about freeing some space and removing a dirty windshield. Whatever... Boom, like magic, all done.... I was now free to move about the cabin.... So I did so and removed an otherwise annoying piece of the dash simply because I could....

Negative. They are so pretty. Exactly how I feel too!! Thank you!! I'm glad to see it moving too!! Thank you!! I sincerely appreciate the advice and the encouragement. It really is priceless to me. I will be the first to admit that I do not know a lot about any of this. I do have patiences and am not afraid to ask questions, research, ask more questions, do more research and then make a decision. I have made so many mistakes, but I am getting better. I couldn't and wouldn't be where I am at today if it were not for the countless members here putting up with all of my nonesonse and questions!! So thank you and and everyone else...

Driver's side front door without the interior door card in it. Driver's side front door internals laid out nice and pretty so I don't forget where everything goes. A buck naked door for your viewing pleasure. Just be careful looking at her at work... Then it was on to the rear door. One more time kids. Basically the same thing, but indulge me and just act surprised anyway.... Laid out for the sake of my world class bad memorty and because I can't read a repair manual to save my life... Now the nudity joke was funny the first time. A second time would be perverted. See, I can be an adult sometimes.... Much more to come everyone!! Feels so good to be back working on her again.

Well it was either get busy dying or get busy living. I chose living.... First up was remove the seats and the carpet. I'm going to strip her down and get her ready for her rebirth. After all the seats were out, it was on to tackle the door window and lock intnerals.....

Thank you all so much for the love and support. The community has been so understanding and accepting of my ranting and yes, you all are correct. I have filed a lawsuit and I very much plan on being made whole again. I don't know exactly what the future holds for this build, but I do like to finish what I started. I don't like receiving things for free, especially from good people and so many of you have offered to help. I appreciate that so much. I have made arrangements with someone to paint the car and it should begin sometime in mid-March. I don't want to disclose who and any details until I get permission from that party. Believe me, you will not be disappointed if all goes well. I believe in karma, and this time, I may have been the recipient of some great karma from the car Gods.

Thanks for the reply erichwaslike!! I didn't think there was going to be a direct bolt in, but I was hoping that there may be a size, make and model of a tank that someone has put in to this location. Summit Racing has so many different shapes and sizes, it just was a little surprising that everyone that I have seen with a fuel cell has it in the trunk or sunken in to the spare tire location. What I do know is that the Sender Ohms look like this: Full 10 ohms 3/4 25 ohms 1/2 38 ohms 1/4 57 ohms Empty 80 ohms Also, the stock tank is approximately 12 US Gallons or 45.5 Liters. So I am going to measure the physical dimensions of the tank tonight and see what I come up with. As for the cage, I am still researching. At first, I was thinking that I would get something with a 2 or 4 point mounting location. Bolt in. I am not going to race this car, I just want to upgrade all the right safety pieces. But, if the interior is out and I am going to be going ground up restoration, I probably should look in to a more aggressive cage. The rear seats are pretty much useless with me driving at 6'5" and over 200lbs.

Okay, so now that I have my car back, I have been getting organized and wanted to do a better job of pre-paint preparation. I also wanted to get a list of things together that I would like to see done before she goes back to paint and body. First on that list is to see if I can find a fuel cell that will fit in to the stock fuel tank mounting location. Why the request? I want to drive my car, I want to enjoy her. But, I want it to be safe. I have brake upgrades planned, roll bar (still need suggestions), suspension, etc. The stock mounting location appears to be the safest and I would like to utilize this space with a modern fuel cell for safety. Anyone have any thoughts? A search landed me with surprisingly little information.

I can't believe it either. Other than the board member who referred me, I have no reason to believe that this guy has ever done any quality work. His shop, by the way, is not large enough to fit more than one car in at a time and maybe have a second hanging out the garage bay. His move, well, his address has been the same since many of these first complaints were filed in 2008. For all intensive purposes, this appears to be a small time ponzi scheme that plays off of people's fear of the bodywork industry and thier misinformation. Thank you, I sincerely appreciate that. I hope it does too. The address is listed in the body of my opening post about it. I suggest you never do business with the owner in any capacity. The quality of his character has been well documented. He does not appear to have any regard for other people whatsoever. I agree, she did not deserve this. No one does, but I will deal with it accordingly. I took the weekend to try and decide my next steps. Obviously, I have not heard a word from this guy about my missing parts, my money, or even another excuse. I do have all the proof I need to establish negligence, possibly gross negligence, and possible criminal charges. I will take civil action first and then decide how hard to push on the criminal side. I am as relentless as they come when it comes to this sort of thing and once I am pushed too far (which clearly takes a lot) I will not stop until I get justice. To be honest, if he would have given me my money and parts back I would have probably considered walking away despite the thousand of dollars in damage to my car at one point. Now, I will not stop until I am made whole and I don't care if he files bankruptcy. I don't care if he closes his shop. I will not stop until I have my justice. I really appreciate the inspiration and the confidence. As I mentioned above, I took the time this weekend to plan out what I am going to do with the car. As of now, the build will continue and she will be reborn, better and badder than ever. I have someone I consider to be the best to guide me through the rest of the way with regard to her paint and body. I also took a bit of time to assess the work that was done to the car. It is all so horribly bad. The moldings were removed and the pins were left in the sheet metal, covered with bondo, and are hanging free. If you tap one of them inside of the trunk, for example, the pin pops out and smashes through the bondo and primer. The primer was laid over a significant amount of surface rust. The engine bay needs to be completely redone and the front core support may need to be replaced entirely. Overall damage in terms of body work is mons likely in excess of $3k, just to get the car back to where she was before she went to this horrible shop. My interior, which was completely redone and gorgeous, is now filled with water, musky, and most of which will need to be redone. The interior of the car was also used as parts storage and there are scratches and dirty everywhere. Most likely $1,500 or more, assuming I can find the parts, to get her back to where she was when she left my garage.

Thank you again Dan. Your expertise and time was very much appreciated. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can ever be of assitance to you.

I will deal with Mike accordingly. When I picked up the car I did not discuss money with him at all. Instead when he brough it up, I just told him to do "what he thought was the right thing and that we will discuss my thoughts after he did so." He said he would follow up with me last night about the missing parts and any potential refund. Needless to say, I have not heard from him since. Thank you! I appreciate the empathy right about now. I generally believe in karma and letting the world sort things out, but not this time. In my youth, I would have probably assaulted him or have alleviated my anger on him in one form or another. I have learned to take a more Zen like approach to life. I work in a very high stress environment with a high "burn out" rate. I had formulated a master plan long before I picked up the car, anticipated the worst, and now must only follow through with him as I planned. Fortune has brought me another opportunity and it may have been the only thing that helped me remain calm while picking up my car. If all goes well, and I see no reason why it wouldn't, things will shake out.

The good news is that I picked up Project Miracle Whip yesterday before it rained and she is safe in my garage once again. The bad news is that everything that was done to her in the last 9 months has set the project farther back than I ever thought I would be. In all things in life, I try to be a gentleman and my compassion for my fellow man wound up in a situation where it appears that I was taken advantage of. Please note, I have not attacked the company or its owner. I am not giving you the full breath my opinion and everything stated here is factual. The windows, mouldings, and accessories were all supposed to be removed prior to prep and paint. The car was supposed to be kept indoors at all times. The car was kept adjacent to a busy intersection and was not even kept behind a gate. One of the windows was left open and there was a signifcant amount of water in the vehicle. My parts were not organized and many of them, that as you know because of the rareness of this vehicle, will not be replaceable. The primer is already chipping off and it was laid over surface rust that the car built up after being sanded to bare metal and left out in the elements. It appears as if someone backed in to the front core support. The bondo work done inside the engine was tragically bad and will need to be reworked after being completely removed. None of the other work that was said to be done, was done. I am still working to assess the damage. If any of you have any input, please help me. I would most sincerely appreciate it. As a last note. I generally do not like to take these kinds of things to a public forum, but I made an exception this time. First, and foremost, I need the community's help to point out how much damage has in fact been done. Second, after waiting 9 months and now losing sponsorships, money, priceless parts, and all hope for the 2013 / 2014 show circuit and meets I can tell you that I am sad. Extremely heartbroken. Never again should anyone have to go through this. Luckily I have begun to formulate my next steps and fortune may very well be on my side. I have hopes to suprise you all in March, but it will take a lot of work by me first. The saga continues for now. Thank you to everyone for encouraging me.

And finally, here is my poor baby. She was sanded down and left outside in the rain. She rusted and then was sprayed with primer. It looks like a car backed up in to the core support. The bondo inside the engine bay is amongst the most unprofessional I have ever seen. I have so many more dents and to make matters worse, the primer is already scrapping right off. Parts, so many of them, are missing. New Old Stock sourced from Japan that took me a year to track down. Irreplaceable 1968 specific pieces. I haven’t even began to comprehend the totality of the damage. Judge for yourself. You know what my car use to look like. This is my baby now:

I have over 70 pages of conversations between Mike, the owner and I. I am going to include only a sample of the dialogue that we had, the promises that were made, and the quality of the character I was dealing with. I try to be a nice guy. I try to be understanding. Sometimes people prey on people like me. I like to still believe there are good people out there. I am a business man. No one ever deserves to be treated like this:

Okay. So in an effort to ensure that no poor victim ever has to go through what I went through again I am going to factually, without opinion, give you all a breakdown of my experience with Import Image / iDeisgns. What your opinion is based on the facts that I present is entirely up to you and as always, I encourage anyone here to speak freely and candidly as I am open to criticism. June 18, 2012 I contracted with Michael-Quinn A. Pelagio doing business as “Import Image / iDesigns to do the following work on my car: Mike came recommended from a fellow board member and provided me a different shop name when we originally spoke. When I inquired at the time of contract signing about the name on the agreement, he told me that he had just let go of people and reorganized his shop to produce better quality results at faster times and in doing so, he changed his name. We signed the agreement and he took my vehicle. You can find pictures of it in this thread of how she left my house. I was promised that at all times my car would be stored inside. I was told that he could finish this work within 30-days and he made it clear that if he was going to perform that I had to have the money on hand. I assured him that it would not be a problem and that I did not want to sacrifice quality for time. That this was my dream car. Before I show you the end result and give you a synopsis of what appears to have been a myriad of lies and deceit, you should read the following links that correspond to the name on the contract of the business I was actually doing business with: The Better Business Bureau: http://www.la.bbb.org/business-reviews/Automobile-Parts-and-Supplies-Retail/Import-Image-in-Walnut-CA-13188894 Pay particular attention to the complaints filed. There are 6 of them to date. Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/import-image-walnut http://www.yelp.com/biz/idesigns-walnut Notice that the company website was www.id-350.com. Most likely another name that was used in the past. My350z Forum: http://my350z.com/forum/the-lounge-off-topic/389628-horrible-body-shop-experience-details-inside-350z-ruined.html Apparently I was not the first, but I may have been the worst of the victims.

Well, it has been confirmed. The shop has completely ruined my car. To say that I am devistated would be such an understatement. I kept hoping for the best. I am angry, so angry right now. It is in 10 times worse condition than when I sent it there. What has been done has been done wrong. I'm out $3k. It appears my fenders are gone and have been replaced with beat up ones. As an attorney and a sizeable man at 6'5" and well over 200 pounds I am conflicted mentally and emotionally. All I wanted was to learn and grow. To build a car and to have someone rob me of that and take advantage of me was so undeserved. I've never had a problem paying for good work. I try to be a good man, a good person. I am not even sure where to begin at this point. I am afraid of another shop. I wish the 510keeper was still doing work. I am sorry to report that I have lost nearly $30k in this project with little to nothing to show for it. This may be the end for me everyone.

I paid half, $3k up front. Although given how much I've waited, I am not prepared to pay the additional funds.

Hi Everyone!!!! Let me tell you that never again will I outsource any part of this build to anyone else. Waiting for my car to be done at paint and body has been ridiculous. It was supposed to be done by Early July of last year. It is still not even painted. Horrible when you consider that I paid $6,400. I am nearing my breaking point. Even the nicest of people can't take any more excuses. Why no updates? The car has literally been gone this entire time. Sure, I could work on other things, but there isn't a whole lot to do without the car present. I need to recondition the JDM grill, I need to clean up the Canadian steel dash, etc. I have been focusing my time on my new garage. Installed shope grade lighting, epoxying the floors soon, and getting my tools ready. I was hoping to make JCCS, but being a busy guy, I don't know if I am going to make it this year. To make matters worse, I had heavy hitter sponsors on board and have lost them due to their lack of confidence in my shop. My only hope is that he does perfect work and I win them back with the quality of the rolling shell. I still have my SR20DET in two pieces in the garage waiting for assembly. I was considering getting an engine builder to do it, but finding one I trust has proving challenging. Some people bash rocker arm stoppers, some people tell me I have to use OEM freeze plugs. I can't tell what is and is not smoke and mirrors. I promise you all this. This build will not die. I will drive her. She will be done if it is the last thing I do. I don't care how slow, it will happen. Miss you all. Can't wait to get back in to the updates. Chris