My 1994 3000gt SL

Builds
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Hey guys! My friend just told me about this site, and as a member of 3si.org , this site looks just as cool! And i’m sure I could use a lot of helpful advice, which my friend said this website was great with helpful advice. So i’m glad to have joined!

Anyway, first things first. I have a '94 3000gt n/a SL. Bought it as a winter project car. After hours of time looking for a right deal on an eclipse GSX or talon TSI, I couldn’t find one, so I went with the 3000gt, nice looking cars and its still DSM :tbu. I wish I had some pics of when I first bought it, but it had the wrong size tires, interior was a wreck, sunroof was taped down. Ya know mostly cosmetics. As far as I know mechanically it’s very sound and runs excellent. It’s never seen a snow flake, aside from when I first brought it home but I bought a car cover for it and when its not under the car cover its in my garage. Never been on the road during winter, so NO rust, anywhere. Underbody, strut towers, all that very clean. It has 162,000 miles on it as it sits. It’s completely stock, except for a cold air intake which doesn’t really make much of a difference if you ask me, but it’s there. I’m painting the whole car in the begining of march, and all of the dings and small dents are going to be removed so it will look sharp, (Hopefully). (Will upload more pics as I do more to it)

Anyway, engine wise I’d love to do some engine work to it. Whether I want to turbo it or not is up for grabs, i’m not sure. (What do you guys think). Anyway I probably wouldn’t touch the engine that has 162,000 miles on it already. I had a plan to leave that in the car and drive it while I buy a second motor I can just do work to when I have the cash and spare time to work on it. I wouldn’t mind N/A horsepower at all. Do you think it would be more worth it to make it fast without a turbo conversion? (Any advice would help), Anyway whatever I did to it, it would be my “SL-eeper”, since it’s an SL. Clever right? Haha.

Also, another thing. My car has ECS (electronically controlled suspension) but since I haven’t driven it yet, I’m not sure how big of a difference it actually makes, between sport and touring mode. Would it be worth it to buy aftermarket springs and lower it? Or is the ECS too awesome to get rid of? (Or is there alternate route I can go where I can buy lowering kit thats compatible with ECS? No idea.) That may have been a dumb question but I’m new to owning a 3000gt lol or any car that has ECS.

Interior wise I direly need 2 front seats, both are ripped. (Not sure if anyone sells parts on this website but I’d most definitely be interested in purchasing 2 black leather seats in decent condition from someone) Back seat is perfect but it’s so small back there I can’t see anyone sitting there that often, lol.

So far here is a list of what i’ve fixed since I’ve gotten the car.

Power antenna (was stripped, motor still ran but didn’t go up or down without help. I’ve heard alot of rumors that these antennas are a pain in the ass but we’ll see how it goes)

Pass door bezel installed

Sunroof assembly fixed, last one was all broken into pieces and looked awful.

4 brand new Good year low pro tires, (correct size, when i first bought the car it had Pilots on it (LOL)).

sanded down the rims, polished them. The clear onthe rims were all corroded when i first got it. really looked like shit

sunroof hinge, no more tape on the roof thank God lol

New aftermarket front bumper, found this for a really good deal on craigslist. The stock front bumper was ugly looking. wasn’t in great condition (paint defects mostly will upload pics)

Took apart my headlights, (all foggy and shit) and since this is a '94 it has real glass which is pretty cool. Anyway cleaned them up nicely and it made a huge difference. Looks clean now.

Can’t think of anything else as of right now anyway.

But yeah here are some pictures, any advice would help. (Even if its criticism, I appreciate you guys reading all this lol any help would be great).

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Welcome to Shift Ant.

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Oh and I bought a hoop style spoiler for it, should be in the mail by tuesday, which reminds me, how hard is it to make a template and stuff to install it? Best way to cover up the holes from the previous spoiler? Thanks for your help in advance!

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Thanks man

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Also some things to note, I do have the center cap for the rim in the first picture, left the center cap at work when tires were mounted.
Secondly, any opinions on that front bumper? It’s not stock but i think it goes nicely with the stock side skirts. Let me know what you think, would be appreciated. Thanks again in advance.

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Welcome!

Always wanted a VR-4, myself…still do…but they are an absolute nightmare to work on I hear.

Can’t “just cover” the old spoiler holes. proper way to do it is sand down paint, build up a weld in the hole, smooth it out, then repaint the hatch. Which also gives you a good reason to respray the who car. The bumper and spoiler won’t match for two reasons 1) They are plastic and plastic stuf is always a sssssssssssslightly different color and 2) the old paint is faded a bit so the bumper and spoiler will look fresh. You seem to care about this car enough to do it right. I suggest that.

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Yeah I know I wouldn’t be able to just cover them. I should’ve reworded that differently. Many people were telling me to use bondo but that sounds like a bad idea if you ask me. Also the front bumper is fiber glass I believe. Will it still be a sligjtly different color? thanks for the reply!

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I like that bumper. Not as snow-plowish as many I’ve seen.

I’d stick to your stock suspension, unless you wanna go balls deep and stance that mofo out

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Don’t do bondo. lol replace the missing metal with metal.

And as far as the urethane bumper is concerned, I can’t honestly answer that but I think each material has a different final appearance.

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Yeah, that’s what I figured. Well we’ll see how it goes. I just pulled the stock spoiler off of it tonight and the studs that were in it were stripped, so when i was trying to loosen the nut on the stud, the whole stud turned :frowning: So i had to cut the studs with a metal hand saw blade to get the spoiler off. It’s a shame because the stock spoiler is in perfect shape. What i’m probably going to do is drill out the stud thats in the spoiler. My hoop spoiler comes in the mail tues, can’t wait to put it on. Once its on i’lll upload some pics

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Thanks! I appreciate your input, I think it looks pretty good too. And I think i’ll take your advice with keeping the stock suspension. It’s already pretty low to the ground and I think the ECS is way to cool to get rid of

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I know where you can get a Vr4 for parts or fix. It currently has an ignition issue and has very low spark from the front most coil. The interior needs a little work, but it is going pretty cheap…

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Really? Cool how much? Send link or pics if you could!

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I’m mostly interested in fixing this up for now. Unless he wants to part out the vr4 then i’d buy some stuff off of him. not sure I need another project car haha

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Here’s some more pics I took yesterday

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Its actually mine… lol. I’m looking to sell it as a whole. Anything under $2500 isn’t worth me selling… at that point I’d rather fix it up and sell it for what its really worth.
http://albany.craigslist.org/cto/2824741859.html

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For the love of god man, put an OEM (or similar but not fart cannish) exhaust on there. From what I’ve seen they only make fart can style aftermarket unless you do something custom.

Or, in the interest of $, get a full ebay catback for cheep. That “3A racing” muffer is doing nothing for you. The OEM mufflers look good on these though.

:popcornWhen you get done putting it on, have some pop corn and treat yourself.

I only say that because I wanted a reason to use that one. :dunno

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Yeah no doubt man. I did not put that exhaust on. The guy before me did. I’d love to put Oem exhaust on. But thats whats on it now so im just dealing with it lol. It’s one of the first things I’m doing after I get it painted.

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Good plan.

My buddy has a 94 or 95 that’s getting redone. Hammered in the passenger side. If we end up with a parts car and it’s got the muffler I’ll definitely hit this thread up. I think we’re going to start it when summer hits so hopefully it works out to around the time you’re done painting.

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My car is scheduled for paint march 10th so it will be done way before summer (that’s the plan anyway) as for the exhaust off your buddy’s car I’d be very intersted in that if he finds one and wants to sell it. Thanks for your help!