Could have been worse. Could have taken it to Blue Eye for a paint job.
no. This is not the end. I just need to get it back to the house, assess where I am at and go at it from a new angle. I have a line on a body shop that someone I trust trusts so that's the next step. He is also uncompromising so if that shop works on his cars then they will probably pass muster with me. I just need them to go through the body and find any of that insidious hidden rust that eats a car away right under your ass. Stabilize is the the name of the game right now. Okinawa eats cars that sit. I can't let it sit. I have an R30 in the driveway that went out like that.
As far as the engine, the 2.8 kit that's in the cracked block is still brand new. I will use that block to store the kit for now. I talked to Nissan and they are still giving me an ETA on the blocks of next month. I know a great builder who can prep one and get the 2.8 kit loaded into it and I kept one of the new heads untouched as a blank canvas for his porting philosophy which I agree with.
Part of me, though, really wants to push back hard and see what I can build. I've watched smarter guys build and I know a ton, but have never actually built an engine. It's scary to do something that involved for the first time and on something as expensive as an RB26, a rapidly dwindling commodity. If I take my time, though, set a realistic goal for the build and don't try to do too much too fast, I think I can do something nice. 400hp engine I built myself -vs- 800hp engine someone else built? I have to say, my pride is very strong and I am fresh off swallowing it with no result.
The car comes home saturday and I'll get the rest of the parts out next week. I'm going to wash it real good, sit in it for a while and brainstorm. In a way, as weird as it might sound to some, but probably resonates with a lot of the car guys, it's good that this went down like this. I don't have a choice but to do it myself.