I thought I would share part of the build-up of my vehicle, a 1998 Nissan 200sx S14a.The part I would like to share is the body conversion from standard green S14a to a Vertex Ridge kitted White S14a.It started back in late 2007 after getting engaged to my girlfriend of 6 years earlier in that year we were discussing the wedding plans. I was told to look for a wedding vehicle that would fit with the theme of our wedding day. Michele wanted a classic style car like an M5 Jaguar or Mercedes but I thought to myself why not my car? The 200 and the associated people that I have met over the years through ownership of it have been a large part of our life. We have met a lot of wonderful and some not so wonderful people through being involved with car clubs and motorsport activities and it is something I get great enjoyment out of.
We have been fortunate with meeting and forming some long lasting friendships, which have brought us to share in so many special events, from birthday milestones to celebrating new arrivals to this world – and I'm not talking about Japanese imports. All this we have received through ownership of the 200.
So when it came to my wedding car I thought, rather than go half-arsed with it, I would do what I have always wanted......a Vertex Ridge Kitted S14a – black as the ace of spades.
I did some shopping around and ended up speaking with the official vertex distributor for Australia in QLD. The prices they were offering for the kit were comparatively cheaper and easier than trying to bring one into the country myself and I thought it would also be good to purchase from someone in Australia in case something went wrong.
I also looked around at places to fit the kit once it arrived and decided very quickly that Bodyform was the best place to get the work done. I spoke at lengths with Peter and talked about timelines and quality of workmanship. I asked him to give me a firm timeline for how long it would take as well as a quote; he told me 5 weeks and $1500.
I did some investigation into modifying the rear guards and was not happy with how I had seen it done previously. I spoke to Peter about this and the cost of man-hours to do it was not financially viable. He agreed to take $300 off the price if I did the guards myself which I was happy with as I wanted something specific.
(There was a latter misunderstanding with what Peter said and he was certain that he had told me $200 off, I did not think it was worth the arguing as it could have been an honest misunderstanding on my behalf and I was happy with the quality of work.)
I researched (Googled) of how to modify the guards. After many hours of searching through sites and noting the large number of people that had already done it themselves (most of which were quite dodgy) I found the direction to head in.
Some techniques had cut the outer skin and the inner skin and then welded in a new inner guard. I liked this idea but thought that rather than cutting the inner skin I could use this and flatten it out to weld to the outer skin.
I did some shopping around and ended up speaking with the official vertex distributor for Australia in QLD. The prices they were offering for the kit were comparatively cheaper and easier than trying to bring one into the country myself and I thought it would also be good to purchase from someone in Australia in case something went wrong.
I also looked around at places to fit the kit once it arrived and decided very quickly that Bodyform was the best place to get the work done. I spoke at lengths with Peter and talked about timelines and quality of workmanship. I asked him to give me a firm timeline for how long it would take as well as a quote; he told me 5 weeks and $1500.
I did some investigation into modifying the rear guards and was not happy with how I had seen it done previously. I spoke to Peter about this and the cost of man-hours to do it was not financially viable. He agreed to take $300 off the price if I did the guards myself which I was happy with as I wanted something specific.
(There was a latter misunderstanding with what Peter said and he was certain that he had told me $200 off, I did not think it was worth the arguing as it could have been an honest misunderstanding on my behalf and I was happy with the quality of work.)
I researched (Googled) of how to modify the guards. After many hours of searching through sites and noting the large number of people that had already done it themselves (most of which were quite dodgy) I found the direction to head in.
Some techniques had cut the outer skin and the inner skin and then welded in a new inner guard. I liked this idea but thought that rather than cutting the inner skin I could use this and flatten it out to weld to the outer skin.
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