for anyone who is interested here are a few snaps of where im up to on my restoration/customisation. ive mainly focused on the engine bay as that is what im doing at the moment

 

engine bay was taken back to bare metal, this is just about the last of it

 

 

pas pot has been moved to here

 

 

to here, hicas has been removed, inner wing deseamed/smoothed. all holes have been welded up (except a few that i still need)

 

 

same goes for this area too, there will be nothing here except the brake servo/clutch master cylinder

 

 

Alot of work has gone on in this area, the battery tray has been removed which revealed a few holes where the battery had leaked, the upper suspension mounting had also had a bit of a bash at some time and had distorted the reinforced panel. i cut out the whole panel in this area and replaced it with one cut out of my breaker. all spot welds drilled out etc and welded back to look factory-also checked to correct chassis dims. you can see which panel i mean as its red (weld through etch primer)

 

 

same goes for the passanger side, i have replaced the headlamp pod aswell, it had been repaired to a good standard but i was not happy, it would appear my breaker had a bad bump (bent the chassis rail) but they had replaced the headlamp pod with a new nissan item so this was grafted onto my car aswell. all looks perfect now. the fusebox will go under the nose panel on the inside of the chassis leg opposite the pas pot

 

 

 

both chassis rails have been given the smooth treatment too

 

 

fuel filter has been moved down here where all the aiv stuff used to live, the stock fuel lines have been tweaked to pop up under the chassis rail where you can just see the little notch. the fuel lines will then go up through the panel above (where battery used to be). ill use a jic bulkhead fitting here so in the engine bay i will have aeroquip type braided hoses with propper connectors in stealth black onto an adapted fuel pipe.

 

 

tomorrow i will spray the bay in a final coat of etch, then seam seal a few bits. might even get on to giving it a coat of 2k high build. Colour will be pure gloss black. im going for a very stripped out look in the bay, no wires showing and nothing but the engine to see. colour scheme will be stricktly black and silver/chrome/pollished aluminium.

 

hope you enjoy.

A subtle mod to go with all of the stainless fittings, I converted the balance bar to use just studs

 

Thought you didn't like bling !! I did exactly that with mine :thumbup1:.

 

Post 64.

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?175200-My-Chrome-Plating-Powder-Coating-and-Polishing-Thread/page2

Edited May 25, 201510 yr by phutumsch

Great work buddy, well done :)

Loving the monotone design colour scheme in the engine bay. The finish on that plenum looks lovely, I take it you smoothed all the casting imperfections before powder coating? [emoji106]

Thought you didn't like bling !! I did exactly that with mine :thumbup1:.

 

Post 64.

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?175200-My-Chrome-Plating-Powder-Coating-and-Polishing-Thread/page2

 

 

Thought I had seen it before:thumbup1::thumbup1:

 

I enjoyed reading your thread there

 

I'm sure you won't mind me borrowing your idea.

 

I had the same happen on my pas relocation, I'm not 100% sure but i think I was the first to relocated the fluid reservoir under the nose but as I have taken so long, there have been quite a few builds completed with it since before me. I'll post an update on that soon

Loving the monotone design colour scheme in the engine bay. The finish on that plenum looks lovely, I take it you smoothed all the casting imperfections before powder coating? [emoji106]

 

Yes mate, I did smooth it off first. Certainly not a perfect finish though. I then had it glass blasted which helps to refine the surface a bit. This coating is also very forgiving

 

Thanks for the kind words

A little update here for what I did with the power steering

 

Obviously with the engine bay shave look, the standard reservoir had to be moved.

 

Although the car is a series 1tt I have deleted the hicks altogether. First stop was to get hold of an n/a setup which is very easy.

 

I decided to located the reservoir under the nose panel as its easy to get to and above the pump still.

 

I actually reused the bracket from the engine bay.

 

Here is a picture from a long time ago

 

 

Moving it is easy, getting the plumbing right is harder.

 

To get the return back I rerouted the standard hard line with a new rigid line. The piping is goodridge 10mm alloy hardline with a gloss black coating. Here it is next to a cut down stock line

 

 

And here is the AN-6 fitting on the end, fitted with a flair nut

 

 

The pipe follows the standard route using the stock clamps (replayed of course) then heads under the nose panel. I left a bit of float towards the end of the line as I am running rigid line all the way to the reservoir.

 

To attack the pipe I machined down an adaptor to fit over the 10mm inlet, like this

 

 

And then braised it on

 

 

Easy, now there is a simple neat connection.

 

Next task is the pump feed.

 

As you can see the standard pump feed is in the wrong direction, back towards the bulkhead

 

 

I have seen some people use u bend hose, re weld in the other direction or try and turn the adaptor around

 

However, the bolt pattern for this is not symmetrical and the sealing face is very limited. I also don't trust welds not to pinhole and leak.

 

My solution was to turn this up on the lathe. It's two parts. The centre does the sealing and provides the adaptor. The outside is just to clamp it tight to the oring

 

Here it is after brazing

 

 

 

And then painted to look stockish

 

 

 

In addition, due to previous power steering leaks my alternator was rather grubby. I also needed to repair a terminal that had sheared so I stripped cleaned and repainted it

 

 

For reference the feed hose for the non hicas pump is about 15mm as opposed to 22 for the hicas unit. This works out to be AN-10.

 

Coming off the pump I used a 90* AN-10 hose fitting (in black of course) and black braided hose. This runs along the chassis rail into the reservoir.

 

In the picture below you can see the pump with fitting (the hose is not yet connected at the other end), the refurbed alternator and the steering return line ( running under the oil cooler)

 

 

 

And a few more details including the cleaned up fan clutch

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy and hopefully this will help someone else in the future

As I have them I thought I'd share a few final detail pics of things that I've not mentioned. No big write ups here

 

A few years ago before the re spray etc

 

 

 

 

 

Now

 

 

 

 

Powder coated water pipe

 

Engine bay

 

 

 

 

So what's next?

 

It runs- with a misfire and belt noise. But it runs!!!

That's a nice white. What's the colour code?

It's actually a ford colour, frozen white.

 

It is very white ( has a bit of blue in it)

 

It runs- with a misfire and belt noise. But it runs!!!

 

Glad to see it coming together Dougal :thumbup1:

It looks amazing. Although the ribs on the bonnet look a little busy, have you considered refitting a new oem Fire blanket/insulator?

Fabulous looking car Dougal, you're a very talented chap!!

It looks amazing. Although the ribs on the bonnet look a little busy, have you considered refitting a new oem Fire blanket/insulator?

 

Thanks mate, unfortunately now that you have mentioned it, it will stand out and bug me. I will have to look into a new one although both my 300s have had them removed.

Doh, sorry dude. Mr Feeney can still get these if it helps!

 

It runs- with a misfire and belt noise. But it runs!!!

 

Well done! Always a good feeling that first fire up. Niggles are always to be expected, mine did the same. Caused me a few hours of testing and head scratching but it was a simple one in the end.

Right,

 

So I'm back in the UK in a months time with a week dedicated to getting the 300 on the road, I haven't driven a zed for about 5 years and I've never actually driven this one, to say I'm excited about it is an understatement.

 

ive spent a lot of time recently doing a lot of research on getting my car up to the high standards I want. One thing is becoming clear, the parts from these cars running out so I'm doing my best to buy all the bits I need to bring it up to tip top condition. Some parts are just too pricey so 99 spec headlights for me (I'm not a huge fan anyway)

 

So far here is the list of what's going on - mostly new oem

 

Outside

Window and quarter window strips

Windscreen trim

Targa trim

Rear roof trim

Targa centre trim

Windscreen upper trim

Clear side repeaters

Genuine 99 spec rear lights (my mint converted lights will be up for sale)

Genuine 99 spec centre panel

99spec red nose

New rear bumper

Various new clips etc for front bumper

 

Engine

Zspec stainless cambelt cover bolts (oem spec with poly bushes)

Zspec throttle plenum bolts

new throttle spring washers

Everything else is already new/ refurbed

 

Interior

 

New centre console

New ashtray

New lighter illumination ring

New clips for bezel trim

New carpeted tray(it's a swb)

New rear carpet (custom made)

New door handle surrounds

 

I'm still after a few more bits to finish off the interior like a new oem gear knob and maybe some new window switches.

Also still after some chrome interior handles if anyone has some

 

I'll post up some box fresh pics as they arrive for all of you as ocd as me about these things

Look forward to all your updates as ever Dougal :thumbup1:

Love this project! :bow:

Thanks for the kind comments as usual guys

 

A couple of things to start off the exciting arrivals

 

99spec red nose- as I have a 99 spec front end and a few other bits I thought I would go for this as well.

 

I may actually get another nose panel and paint it up as my current panel already has the badge holes filled and would give me an option.

Personally I love the red badge on a white car, maybe it just reminds me of an NSX type-r

 

 

 

Also ordered up a set of new door/ rear window strips a while ago so here are the fronts

 

 

I also ordered a new oem gear knob. I currently have a short shifter fitted but never used it, I have decided to keep the interior oem but with an improvement on materials etc in some places ( OEM + I guess :thumbup1:) so new bushes are going in my old shifter and a new std weighted shifter.

 

Also considering an oem steering wheel, I can't really remember if the one I have is in good condition so I'll have take a look. I'll need a new centre without the Cruze control though.

 

More to come soon in the next few days

You could send your OEM steering wheel to Mondo to freshen up if yours needs a spruce [emoji106]

You could send your OEM steering wheel to Mondo to freshen up if yours needs a spruce [emoji106]

 

Good idea, I'll have to take a look at mine when I'm back. I've actually got a leather repair kit somewhere too. Might be worth a try if it's not too bad.

 

So another delivery came today, a bit more exciting than the last but just as 99 spec

 

 

I've wanted a genuine set for ages and I think they are about to go out of production so I got a pair. I have a centre panel on its way from z1 on its way to match.

In a months time my converted std lights will be up for sale

Good idea, I'll have to take a look at mine when I'm back. I've actually got a leather repair kit somewhere too. Might be worth a try if it's not too bad.

 

So another delivery came today, a bit more exciting than the last but just as 99 spec

 

 

I've wanted a genuine set for ages and I think they are about to go out of production so I got a pair. I have a centre panel on its way from z1 on its way to match.

In a months time my converted std lights will be up for sale

 

Got to be the best rear lights for the Z32 :thumbup1:

Fantastic attention to detail.

Should look stunning when complete mate. :thumbup1: