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........

yeah and i ripped out all those uneccessary other bits, turbs, rads, all that "clutter". Great weight saving.

 

So let me know once you've done all that and I'll see you at snett bud :whistling::whistling::whistling:

yeah and i ripped out all those uneccessary other bits, turbs, rads, all that "clutter". Great weight saving.

 

So let me know once you've done all that and I'll see you at snett bud :whistling::whistling::whistling:

 

Il see you there too ;)

I got up early this morning to get cracking and strip the EGR solenoid, AIV solenoid, clutch and brake booster crap out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then marked up the slam panel where I intended to cut it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The loom runs under the slam panel so I dropped this well out of the way before starting cutting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The plan is to re-house the mass of wiring inside a new protective sleeve and then run it across the top of the radiator

 

 

 

I was toying with the idea of removing the radiator prior to cutting, but opted in the end to leave it in place but protected.

This worked out well in the end, as it only requires the straightening of a few fins and it will be as good as new.

 

Shortly after finishing the cutting the heavens opened up and stopped play!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By removing the slam panel and re-locating the loom I've removed 4-5 inches of air flow restriction to the radiator.

 

Both the fmic and radiator will benefit, maximising the direct air flow supplied by the vented front panel.

 

 

The oil cooler/s will now be re-located where the smic's used to be

Edited August 23, 201015 yr by jap.slapper

The fun begins!

 

This lot will now be encased in a protective heat resistant sleeve and tucked out of the way on top of the radiator

 

 

 

 

 

The left hand side intake appears to be connected up ok

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though it would appear that whilst in a rush to get the engine fitted, ***** 'forgot' to connect up the right hand side

 

Note the connection pipe is completely missing

 

 

***as a matter of interest, would the fact that this pipe is missing cause a 'boost leak'?

 

 

 

 

 

 

will you be binning the clutch vac tank (large squareish one) if so could i ask how much you would want for it

PM sent bud

Anyone looking for a set of NISSAN MOTORSPORTS strut braces before I put them on ebay?

 

I want a set of CARBING

thanks for that mate.

 

just realised you are only just down the road, if you need a hand any time let me know

Yeah Ludlow's only about 20 odd miles away

 

if you're ever down this way, stop in for a brew mate

 

as for the 'Z', there's nothing really wrong with it; well nothing that a kilo or two of PE4 wouldn't square away :hammer:

Yet another day of stripping out the clutter from the Z's engine bay

 

 

 

Having seen how clear my mate's PS13 engine bay is I've made it my mission to customise mine and make it equally as simple

 

 

To that end all of the intake/intercooler pipes etc have now been binned ready for a local fabrication specialist to make up some custom pipework.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It came as no surprise to see how much pipework came out of the 'Z'

 

 

 

 

The original idea was to fit the right hand filter in the recess that has been created by removing the battery tray and then try to fit the left hand filter in the slightly smaller recess created by removing the EGR and AIV solenoid etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

however it became clear that to fit the filters in these locations would require an acute bend in the pipework, not to mention the obvious heat issues associated with being located at the rear of the engine bay.

 

It was therefore descided to run a custom pipe from each turbo's intake, through the opening at the rear of the headlights and then fix both filters in place underneath the headlights (slightly forward of where the smics usually sit)

The rear section of the stock plastic/rubberised intake pipe will be completely removed as soon as the custom pipework has been made

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this is where the two oil coolers were going to be located once the fmic was fitted.

 

 

 

It looks promising that this will still be achievable, with the use of some well placed brackets.

This will ensure that both filters and oil coolers will recieve maximum air flow from the side vents on the front bumper.

 

 

 

 

All of the stock intercooler pipework has now been removed so that the custom pipework for the fmic can be fitted, the custom pipework will take the most direct route to the turbo's and throttle chambers

 

 

 

 

Note: the small rear sections of pipe have temporarily been left in place attached to the turbo's, to help protect them from debris and water ingress, whilst work is ongoing in the engine bay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The guy who will be making the intake and intercooler pipework will also be making the side exit exhaust system (it is yet to be determined whether or not the Labree down pipes will remain or whether they will be replaced by a complete custom down pipe setup)

 

 

Whilst the front of the engine bay is clear I'll take the opportunity to get in amongst it and clean up 20 odd years of accumulated grit and grime

 

 

the work continues........

Edited August 24, 201015 yr by jap.slapper

Liking the filter locations :thumbup:

I've just removed the rest of the intake pipes by torchlight.

 

I must have OCD or something, I just can't leave the 'Z' alone

 

At least now I can drop them down to the workshop first thing and the guys can get cracking on the custom pipes using the stock pipes as a rough guide for angles etc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greddy fmic coming very soon, good news Andy :thumbup:

any news on this?

any news on this?

 

Sorry fellas, not been on here much due to big changes in life, mostly due to an out of the blue shafting from the government, with its weird and wonderful views on ways to save money (governments promise of a job for life regardless of injuries - my arse!), anyway this build is well and truly up in the air (well, up on axle stands to be more precise).

 

 

I had to face the reality a few months back that there wasn't a hope in hell of this being ready for the summer as I'd hoped so am now well into the process of stripping it back down to a bare shell. It'll either get acid dipped or blasted, then primered and repainted in a different colour which I've already chosen.

 

I'm going to bin the drift build plans and plan for a more traditional track setup

 

The engine/trans will be coming out in the next week or so and I'll take the time to strip and rebuild the block in slow time.

 

Hopefully the internals are what Ztech said they are...

 

Once the future is clearer and I know what's happening financially, the build will be able to pick up momentum again

 

Oh yeah, and I just got backoff my family hols' today and some scumbag has had my pair of Sparco's away.....thank God for pikeys eh!

Where did you manage to get those arch extensions fella???

Where did you manage to get those arch extensions fella???

 

They're off a Mk IV Supra and originally came from Envy Performance mate

Hmmm cheers fella