Let my first Challenge build begin!
I finally decided that I was tired of talking about coming to the Challenge, and it was time to actually do it. I have a love for 4th gen (95-99) Maximas, so I thought I would start looking for one of those to build, preferably with a 5-spd. I sold my '95 back in July of 2013, and have regretted it ever since. My wife and I bought it a few months after we got married in '06, and it stayed with us until '13. We went on lots of road trips in it (including to spectate at the $2006 Challenge), brought our son home from the hospital in it, and generally made it part of the family. In those 7 years, we put ~110k miles on it. I sold it to fund a 280Z project, which fizzled out rather quickly. Anyway, to make a long story short, as I was perusing the List of Craig's a couple months back for Maximas, what do I see but my old Maxima?! Sure enough, there it was. And for the low, low price of $750. Apparently the college-aged girl I sold it to didn't love it as much as I did, and proceeded to jack it up pretty good. I went and looked at it, offered her $300, and she countered with $500. I picked it up today with a buddy, so I knew it was time to start a build thread!
I think this will be the first Maxima to ever grace a $20xx Challenge with its presence, and I hope it does well. I don't expect to win, nor am I trying to, but a solid showing would be nice. The parts I previously put on the car are still on it (strut bar, TEIN springs, Infiniti 17" wheels), but it's going to need some lovin'. I'm pretty sure it needs a motor (it has 230k on it now, and most likely a blown head gasket or two), and I will probably gut it to get the cigarette smell out. Once it's running and driving it will become my DD, though, so it has to stay somewhat livable.
The short list of items to fix are a new/used engine, an aftermarket Y-pipe (supposedly one of the best bolt on upgrades for these cars), and general clean up. Any junkyard mods I can come up with WILL be used. Let the hunt for a motor begin!
BUDGET
$500 for vehicle purchase
Previous damage from a run-in with a pole. I replaced the door, but didn't fix the dogleg. Not sure yet what I'll do with that...
The one downside is that it's an automatic. My nostalgia for having my car back and taking it to the Challenge is enough for me to overcome this.
This thing is so nasty...the carpet was fairly clean when I sold it!
Not sure what happened to the arm rest...