Hi my name's Pez, I've been a forum member for a while, though have been really busy with work so not been able to post much unfortunately.

 

I bought my 'Z' off Matt (Exeter) back in '07; for those that knew it back then it was a tidy example of a '91 TT manual, relatively stock apart from a HKS Super Dragger exhaust, Apexi induction kit, KYB shocks and a 99 spec rear spoiler.

 

(I actually stumbled on an old thread of his; would have been about the time he sold it to me, he then went off and bought himself a big old American fuel gussler van)

It was decent enough but eventually I tired of the lardy arseness of a stock 'Z' and decided that it was nowhere near enough for me.

After a PAX compensation payout, I looked to import something a bit different.

After toying with the idea of importing a Skyline GTR R33 & R34, and deciding that I couldn't justify (in my wifes eyes at least) spending £34k on a car,

I kept looking, eventually I stumbled on a nice looking example of a fully re-built immaculate 1995 600bhp Wide body Mazda RX7, which after speaking to the UK based importer directly, I decided that it was the car for me.

I paid up and imported the car from Japan (and God do I wish now that I hadn't).

1995, fully rebuilt and immaculate it certainly wasn't!

After paying out in excess of £20,000+ and getting shafted by a 'now exposed con man on the DRIFTWORKS forum' I resided to the fact that I would never see my money again or the RX7 that I had paid for, so rather than mope on the issue I focused my efforts else where.

Where to go from here?

Well it just so happend that I'd kept my 'Z' with the intention of selling it on once the RX7 arrived; obviously that never happened so after a bit of pondering I ploughed all of my efforts (and money) into making my 'Z' the car that I wanted it to be all those years before.

 

 

 

This is how my 'Z' used to look on completion of Phase 2:

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/220.jpg

 

 

 

**Note: I won't touch on Phase 1 'cos it was pretty nasty! not fibreglass shite but just wrong**

 

 

 

however, despite spending a substantial sum of money, I figured that the lardy arseness was still a major issue.

I made the decision that in order for the car to be realistically 'driftable' on the track the car needed to lose a considerable amount of excess weight and so began the 'diet!'

 

 

The car was stripped to a bare shell, where I proceeded to relieve it of anything and everything that served no purpose.

 

(I'll take this opportunity to highlight that fact, 'drift!', from the outset the focus of 'Phase 3' was to prepare the car for the track, if you're a 300zx pureist, you may want to steer clear of this thread)

 

Most people say that the Z32 isn't a particularly good car for competative drifting......I say that's bo**ocks! Cooling issues aside, the Z32 is a tidy cr to get side ways.

 

The drift scene is severely lacking in 'Z's to fly our flag. This will change I'm sure.

 

There are a few 'Z' drift builds on going, so I thought I'd share mine and get some feed back.

 

 

Every single aspect of the car was stripped:

 

-all carpets, trim, sound deadening was removed

-the dash, heater etc were ripped out and replaced with a custom carbon fibre/military grade aluminium mesh half dash

-All glass was removed (bar front windscreen) and is to be replaced with Lexan

-cabon fibre blanks are being made to replace the rear quarter windows

-the bonnet, boot, targa panels, front panel, overfenders, skirts, fog lights, front fenders are in the process of being switched for carbon fibre parts

-full 6 point roll cage, with side bars has just arrived from the US

-70" carbon fibre GT wing is ready to replace the old 'small' 60" wing

-carbon fibre rear diffuser has been fitted

-custom straight through decat exhaust on Labree down pipes have been fitted and a custom side exit twin exhaust is currently being manufactured

-all doors have been stripped of any excess weight

-all steering/supension has been replaced with upgraded after market parts from TEIN/STILLEN/WHITELINE/DRIFTWORKS

-18" Volk Racing CV PRO (3 piece) split rims, have been replaced with much lighter and wider 18" Volk Racing CV PRO (1 piece)

-Fuel system is currently being replaced with a 22 gallon US imported FUAL SAFE fuel cell with built in cut off & fire extinguisher system

-complete fuel system rebuild, twin 044 Bosch pumps utilising AEM EMS/fuel components, upgrading the NISMO 740's for larger injectors

-AEM electronic ignition fuel sytem

-RACE TECHNOLOGY DASH 2/DL1 (data logger) system/VIDEO 4 (on board EMS compatable video)

-full brake upgrade 12 pot (380mm) & 6 pot (356mm)

 

-Takata 6 point harnesses

-cooling is provided by AEM water/methanol injection, upgraded PACE side mounted intercoolers, Koyo rad, HEL oil cooler, carbon vented nose panel, carbon vented bonnet, carbon venturi ducts

 

-the current carbon fibre seats unfortunately aren't FIA approved so will shortly have to be replaced

 

 

 

 

 

Full engine spec will be posted tomorrow: Carrillo rods, Arias pistons, NISMO 740cc injectors (upgraing shortly to larger 1000cc injectors), twin GT675RS roller bearing turbos etc.

 

I'll get the full spec up and welcome any advise.

 

99% of the car's component have had to be imported from the US or Japan (or brought back by me from my many trips to the US) UK customs have been very good to be fair and have turned a blind eye on all occassions! bless 'em.

 

 

 

 

 

Carbon fibre/Mil.spec aluminium half dash, NISMO GT shift knob, C's JAPAN short shifter kit, the Personal 'OZ RACING' limited edition steering wheel (1 of only 500)was a Christmas present fro my wife.

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/007-1.jpg

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/018.jpg

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/016.jpg

 

 

 

Loads of DRIFTWORKS goodies, TEIN TYPE FLEX coilovers (with EDFC), STILLEN anti roll bars, CZP & WHITELINE droplinks

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/017.jpg

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/012.jpg

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/013.jpg

 

 

 

Full weld in roll cage imported from the US (primered just to stop the surface rust in the mean time)

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/003.jpg

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/004.jpg

 

 

 

Twin JWT pop chargers and Z1 Doolz kit, HEL 19 row oil cooler, twin Bailey BOV's (some tatty looking SAMCO hose in there at the mo that'll need replacing shortly)

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/009.jpg

 

 

 

Some of the AEM parts that made it through the 'volcanic ash cloud' (hopefully more to follow over the next few days), TEIN and BLITZ parts = loads of wires = Japanese insruction manual = loads of smacking head off garage door in frustration!!!! can't wait.....

 

 

 

Z32 balancing on 2 x space saver wheels....not really.... obviously just extra safety measure if 4 tonne axle stands don't surfice.

 

Carbon fibre overfender just tacked on to cut and prepare mould for custom carbon kit.

 

Quite lucky with the Volks offset, as they are a perfect fit for stock arches, the brakes (not fitted in the pic) push them out a bit but I need to play with the geometry and possibly add spacers on the rear.

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/006.jpg

 

 

 

Carbon fibe rear diffuser (I should have all of the front and rear lower arms replaced with the DRIFTWORKS parts within the week)

 

 

 

http://i1034.photobucket.com/albums/a430/azineakinadan79/037.jpg

 

 

 

I'm preparing a full build portfolio (sifting through about 800 pics) to add to the thread, I'll post some decent pics of the build over the next few days.

 

 

 

Loving the forum fellas by the way........

yes i got suggestion disconnect and delete it all mate !!

 

 

 

Has anybody documented (with pics) a comprehensive list of exactly what excess piping etc can be removed from the Z32 engine bay?

Has anybody documented (with pics) a comprehensive list of exactly what excess piping etc can be removed from the Z32 engine bay?

 

Robo`s site has just exactly that

 

http://s95014253.onlinehome.us/63104/13202.html

 

Or look at MADMAX`s site he has done alot of removing bits and relocating bits

 

Marty

cheers bud

Robo`s site has just exactly that

 

http://s95014253.onlinehome.us/63104/13202.html

 

Or look at MADMAX`s site he has done alot of removing bits and relocating bits

 

Marty

 

 

 

 

Useful link, thanks mate

 

though, with the Z in the pics being a left hooker, it does add an eliment of complication

 

 

I had the laptop sat on top of the plenum using it as a reference.

After plenty of back and forth for confirmation, I think I've tied down where most of the pipes lead.

 

 

Every pipe, solenoid and cable that is not required is coming out over the next few weeks

 

 

I have to determine now whether all of the parts that are no longer required (EGR etc), can be removed with the engine still in situe?

 

 

more research required

Useful link, thanks mate

 

though, with the Z in the pics being a left hooker, it does add an eliment of complication

 

 

I had the laptop sat on top of the plenum using it as a reference.

After plenty of back and forth for confirmation, I think I've tied down where most of the pipes lead.

 

 

Every pipe, solenoid and cable that is not required is coming out over the next few weeks

 

 

I have to determine now whether all of the parts that are no longer required (EGR etc), can be removed with the engine still in situe?

 

 

more research required

 

yes ecu doesnt mind at all if you delete all unnecesary hardware .. it only senses erors from main soleniods..

Rgr

 

this could take some time but it all needs doing

 

any pipework that stays (big or small) is gonna be replaced with SAMCO anyway, as it's all knocking on for 20 years old

 

 

 

I'll take pics

 

Yeah well up for it, altho that list of jobs to get stuck into seems to get longer with each job i do.....? "funny" that.

 

But yeah the liner will be out to play soon so would be good to have a tear up with a few who are similarly minded :wacko::wacko::wacko::wacko:

Yeah well up for it, altho that list of jobs to get stuck into seems to get longer with each job i do.....? "funny" that.

 

But yeah the liner will be out to play soon so would be good to have a tear up with a few who are similarly minded :wacko::wacko::wacko::wacko:

 

i have a few mods to do also, never ending it seems.

 

So lets get stuck in before winter :)

Just an update on the 'Z's progress.

 

Well, let's see.....

 

 

first off I decided that I wasn't entirely happy with the look of the replacement carbon wing that I imported from the US back in January.

 

There was nothing wrong with it, but it I missed the old JDM drift look (despite previous attempts to convince myself otherwise)

 

 

So, having decided that the 4th wing on this particular 'Z' wasn't right I was on the look out for a suitable replacement.

 

 

It wasn't long before I spotted that Phil Morrison (owner of DRIFTWORKS) was selling the HUGE carbon wing off the DW S15.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now this was a serious piece of kit!

 

It was a genuine ORIGIN carbon fibre wing and was top quality, so I figured that it was an oppertunity that I couldn't pass up

 

 

I soon realised that to import one of these would cost in excess of a grand!!!

 

 

 

 

I contacted Phil and eventually agreed on a price.

 

 

The following day (Thursday) I took a slow drive up to DRIFTWORKS new premises to take ownership of my new wing.

 

 

The DW S15 boot lid was also thrown in for good measure; which will be sold on shortly to a 'drift pureist' to re-coup some of the cost.

 

 

 

A mate of mine, 'Ted' (another DRIFTWORKS regular) popped over to my place this afternoon and helped me to remove the old wing and test fit the new ORIGIN wing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**I put an idea to Ted, that I'd had reference the fuel cell's fuel filler neck. It was agreed that when the Lexan rear window go's in shortly, the fuel cell's fuel filler neck/cap will be located in the lower left (passenger side) corner of the screen; which is actually easier than fabricating a new filler neck to be able to use the stock fuel door**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After test fitting the new wing we set about cutting the carbon overfenders to fit around the STILLEN side skirt and rear arch.

(These obviously aren't finished yet, but they are looking a hell of a lot better than they were)

 

 

 

 

 

 

This had to be done as the overfenders initially extended 80mm beyond the stock arch.

Which obviously would have required a rediculously deep dish and negative offset.

They now sit approx 40mm wider.

 

 

As it turned out, the set of 18" RAYS that I picked up from Jeff at ZEDWORLD; shortly after leaving DRIFTWORKS, fitted just nicely.

 

These rims were without doubt the biggest bargain buy of this entire build.

 

An awesome deal from Jeff with a few pints heading his way.

 

 

A full set of 18" RAYS (9.5J & 8.5J) fitted with 275 and 235 Pirellis, that fill the arches and fit nicely over the 380mm & 356mm discs

 

 

These will eventually go for a refurb and get painted (most likely in white) ready for track

 

 

*I'll be trying out a new colour scheme shortly to see if I can pull it off, but we'll see how that go's* :yes:

 

 

I'm not a chrome kind of person but I must admit that they did catch the sun quite nicely in the rain, which looked stunning (very much like Gram Lights)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I discussed a number of options with Jeff whilst I was up at his place and the 'Z' will be going up there on a trailor in the near future so that he can cast his expert eye over it and advise on what needs to be done.

Woah thats one big wing - I did spy it for sale on DW :thumbup1:

 

Glad those wheels from Jeff went to a good home, damn good price :bow:

You're right mate, they were an awesome price

 

It was good to eventually be able to get up to ZEDWORLD and meet Jeff in person

 

as we all know, he's a very genuine guy and went out of his way to stay behind and talk through my 'Z' issues

 

 

 

as for the wing, it really is top quality and I'm really impressed with it (though my wife is adament that it isn't sharing the bed with us for a second night running!)

 

 

It weighs only a 3rd of the previous wing (and I thought that wing was light!)

 

 

There are some nice 'Z's up at Jeffs place but what struck me was how clean and tidy the place was.

 

Very well organised with all customers kit stored carefully and with obvious respect.

As the battery is being re-located to the rear of the passenger seat I've continued to de-clutter the engine bay, this time with the removal of the battery housing.

I'm considering using this space to relocate the right hand air filter, enabling a shorter air path to the intake for the right hand turbo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I noticed before that the Labree down pipes are looking a bit tatty (I didn't think that they would accumulate surface rust?), so they will both be removed in the near future, cleaned up, both sensors will be replaced with the Bosch UEGO sensors ready for connecting to the AEM AFR's and then each down pipe will be heat wrapped along with the custom side exits.

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 201015 yr by jap.slapper

Hey up matey, thanks for the kind words and the wheels look good in place! looking at your down pipes might worth a look at these below, look very similar and nice and shiney too!! Janspeed is the make and very competitive price too, just might be quicker than cleaning yours up.

 

Jeff

 

 

Cheers Jeff, I'll take a closer look on their website this evening.

 

Just working my way through a load of obsolete pipes and connectors, trying to work out what's what, and what needs to stay.

 

 

There just seems to be a hell of a lot of random vacuum pipes that don't seem to be running anywhere and pipes with bolts plugging up the ends.

 

 

 

the 300zx on line manual is fine up to a point but doesn't go into that much detail (not to mention the diagram is of a LHD) just to add to the confusion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm of the mind that if it doesn't need to be there then it needs to be removed.

 

I'm quite envious of the drift lads 'S' body engine bays, where there appears to be minimal clutter

Here you go mate might help you

Cheers mate, that looks a hell of a lot simpler

 

 

I've been offered a set of 20mm wider vented fenders from a guy in Japan so might take him up on the offer.

 

In the meantime I've removed the stock fenders to get better access to the inner arch.

 

I want to clean up some of the light surface rust and take the opportunity to get rid of some of the excess crap and pipework.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This for example wasn't connected up to anything and was serving no purpose as far as I could see; and to be fair it was bolted to a fairly heavy metal bracket so fits my criteria nicely of 'excess crap'!

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 201015 yr by jap.slapper

Just been checking thats your clutch vacuum assist tank not sure if its needed but should then connect to clutch diaphragm i would say.

The tank that I've removed sat above that I'm sure?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

though could be wrong (anybody???)

Oh right yeah i just saw one pic it was there then another with a bit in your hand. That is part of the aiv`s then IIRC and can be binned :)

thats the clutch booster tank isnt it? Acts as a reservoir for the clutch servo :)

Oh right yeah i just saw one pic it was there then another with a bit in your hand. That is part of the aiv`s then IIRC and can be binned :)

 

 

 

Yeah gotcha', I've updated the previous post to include the extra pic to save confusion.

you dont need clutch boosters cheif, I never ran one on mine, bin the lot :tank:

That sounds good to me bud

 

Will I need to blank off anything inside the engine bay to finish the job?

hmm, tbh bud its so long since i've seen a std set up i an't remember - my car was originally built in 2001 so it hasn't had one since then - but i'd think not, just remove it from the system, should be able to see as you rip it all out...? not much help that I know :whistling:

I'll take it out tomorrow.

 

but if the 'Z' can't hold it's own on track with your GTR in the future, that's obviously the reason why :whistling: