Not sure if this is ever getting finished but its started

In the early 2000s I had a misunderstood need for adrenaline (possibly due to PTSD I'm told now ) That's the same time I bought a hardtop nx2000 with a (The car is a unicorn, but under the weird Geo storm like body is the same thing as a Nissan ser Sentra.) sr20det swap. It was dangerous, quick and checked the adrenaline box for a while...

After doing lots of reading on message boards and performance mags upgraded just about everything that bolted on. Had some more fun for a few years and then the inevitable for all daily driven rust belt econoboxes... Yup red oxide/nature s weight reduction/ the tin worm had it's way with the poor nx. Here I was left to hunt for a new donor or learn to fix the rust. I chose the second option learn to fix it! This part happened really slowly with two kids hatching and a marriage/divorce ( divorce still pending yay for crazy women with personality disorders!). So now that I know exactly how to fix the rust ie hammer out sheet metal and weld fairly well, and have the tools and time I want to build a midlana skinned with my rusted out nx2000.

The midlana is a fwd engine and trans in the back of a locost-esk diy car. It is a thing due to a methodical builder/designer Kurt Bilinski (who sometimes popsup on this board) that wrote a couple of good books, Kimini and midlana. They are both also cars kind of ariel atom inspired but also homebuilt locost inspired. I like all of them but also my odd ball nx2000.

Here's what some of these things look like (via random Google image cars) Nx2000 mine was that color for the first week then flat blacked it... It was still cool then

Kimini

Midlana

Locost Atom

...Yeah not totally sure how it's going to come together yet

Changing image hosting sites so hopefully these are showing up now... Or maybe not she's not pretty

So there are lots of coats of "rust stop" type paints, truck bed coatings and factory paint where I was in a hurry. I usually didn't pull trim pieces or scuff the paint due to always rushing through because it was a daily driver and only car. Ok so here are some holes proving she was rusted through for the nx purists. It's the same on the other side but hasn't seen some light pokes with the screw driver yet or wire brush

This was just a completely unrelated photo of my son. But I feel like he has the old soul of some Italian telling me I should be doing things differently like "what's a matta which yous"

In reply to jere:

Don't forget to start a build thread on the Midlana forum :)

jere said: I want to build a midlana skinned with my rusted out nx2000.

So basically you are going to build a Midlana and use it to chassis swap your nx2000?

Not much skin to work with.

Ambitious project, looking forward to following along.

Cool! A little nuts, if you don't mind my saying, for the obvious reasons around the bits you want to keep seeming to be half-there... But very cool!

And I agree it looks like your son is channelling some old Italian guy, but I think he's just telling you "Hey, life's crazy sometimes. Just keep getting in a little time in the garage here and there, and you'll be okay."

In reply to kb58:

Speak of the devil...

I surely will, and thanks for the inspiration btw

In reply to NOHOME:

Yeah exactly, keep (or maybe improve on) the original skin and put it on a much improved frame. Just taking the doors off last night told me I'm on the right path those things are heavy

In reply to Ransom:

Thanks, I figured I could go through with it, or just patch up the holes and always wonder what if?

I like your glass is half full message too. Hopefully you are right because this will mean a lot of time in the garage

Thats an ambitious project, but it could be very cool. Im assuming you plan on welding a tube chassis for the car. It will be cool to see how the project evolves.

In reply to MGS10:

Yeah lots of square tube and welding to come if things go right. First my plan is to build the frame in wood and work out the fun stuff like placement of steering, engine trans, seats... Then cut and massage the sheet metal as needed. The how to trail has been pretty well blazed on the frame design thanks to kb58. I m a huge diy person and usually dead broke so hopefully that should keep things interesting for the grm crowd.

Not a lot of photo worthy progress. Stripped the wiring for the just about the whole car and labeled most of it. Pulled the dash and took all the screws/nuts/bolts out of the passenger cabin. And started chopping panels off... Let the smoke out of 4 hft grinders in one day and clogged up a respirator

Next is the quarter panels and floor pan. Once those are out the rest is going to the scrap yard. There's a good amount still left to cut out of the panels to go as well.

Pulled the two rear windows successfully, with a knife, a hacksaw blade and the wire from inside a bike brake cable. Poked a hole with the knife, fished it the wire through, and pulled the wire across sawing the sealant away.

Sorry for the dark smokey ( smoke from all the stuff the cutoff disks burnt) pics lost power for a while, and couldn't see the phone well enough to see how hazey they were

I used to have an nx2000 and like you it was my daily and my only car for a long time...then an 85 year old blind man on the way to his eye doctors appointment turned directly in front of me in a mid sized oldsmobile...I hit him at 50 mph directly in the b pillar nearly killing my ex-wife and totalling both cars...

that was a truly heartbreaking end to the car as I had just gotten decent suspension, intake and exhaust up under it and it was driving better than it ever had....I hope your project creates a car that lives and satisfies you half as much as mine did me...good luck!!!