Not sure I'm doing the right thing here. Actually, I've pretty much convinced myself it's the best thing to do, but I'm hardly being objective because I'm telling myself what I want to hear (schizophrenia is b'stard like that). I'm waffling. Does anyone else find their 300 calling them a pussy and demanding more modification?! Fantastic motor that it is, I knew it had potential for reasonable improvement, which is why I bought one. But it seems to be never ending: I drive it a while, I'm happy, then something doesn't feel right - usually "it could pull harder". Up til recently I was pretty happy - SE's coilovers, some phatt 18's and big f*ckoff AP brakes had me flying around (and stopping!) with a permanent stupid grin. Now, you have to bear in mind I'm not made of money. So when I get a mod, I need to get value. I'm not lucky enough to just *out of the blue* go for (eg.) a top-spec engine and huge turbos. OK, so I was lucky and got a set of SE hybrids for near on nothing (don't ask). Should I get to the point?

 

I'd run out of affordable(?!) engine mods to do: filter, exhaust, turbos (@15 PSI), big intercoolers - they're done. Probably not a good time to mention the secondary injector computer I made for SE, cos nothing came of that - shame. The ECU EPROM was the last thing, and that got done a couple of weeks ago while hunting around trying to work out why it just didn't feel very quick. Then one day last week it started puffing burnt engine oil. Only little puffs now and then. But it got worse, fast. I fully expected to see 300 sightings here, but you wouldn't have seen me for smoke - seriously! SE ran compression tests - 2 cyls with virtually none. Bollox! Noone knows why - it hasn't been pinking, I haven't been pushing it hard. But it's f*cked.

 

So, what to do? I had a big long chat with Pete R in his office. He shows me a few quotes for jobs that the big boys have had done - woah!... serious money! I sit there thinking: well, this is gonna cost, so while they're at it, let's do it properly. Forged pistons please. Ooh, and some bigger injectors so I can wind the hybrids up to what they should be pushing. Ooh, and a decent boost controller so I can keep it all under control. Hmmm. I'm still getting Christmas butterflies talking about it. He taps away on the keyboard and prints out the quote. Six and a half thousand pounds. I take the paper. I get in my (borrowed) car and drive home.

 

I've been staring at that paper ever since. I don't know what to do. I know what I /want/ to do - scrape up the cash from somewhere and get all the work done. But 6 1/2 grand is a lot of cash to me. I could dress my girly in a heck of a lot of sexy underwear for that. I could get p*ssed every day for several weeks for that. I could probably buy a few Nissan Micra's... but I wouldn't. I need to know this is kinda the right thing to do, so I'm putting this question out to a bunch of petrol-heads that I fully expect to say: yeah man! F'kin do it! Surprisingly, my girl said, without hesitation: do it! It's only money! But then, she's slightly crazy.

 

Some level-headed advice might help. Maybe.

You could get a lot of sleeping pills for that as well - possibly enough to keep you away from your PC at 6:30 !

 

The petrolhead part of me says 'do it'. You'll love every minute of it. Especially the first one.

 

I didn't take my Z to that sort of stage (in fact I took it to about where yours is now but via a slightly different route). All in, I owned the Z for 2 years and spent £25K on it including buying, running, upgrading (but not petrol - I'm not sad enough to keep those receipts!).

 

When I sold it I got £9K. There is not a great market for highly modded cars.

 

I got a TVR afterwards and ran that for a year and then sold it due to extortionate running costs (6,000 mile interim service - that'll be £800 sir).

 

The TVR was totally standard but was a dream car for me - the only dream car that I'll ever own I suspect. The Z was fantastic - pound for pound a better quality machine.

 

But what I'm very slowly getting to is that, looking back, I miss them equally. In fact despite the fact that I am one of the biggest fans of the Z ever, I suspect I'd be just as happy if I'd saved my money that I spent on the Z and got a TVR earlier and not lost £16K on the Z. Instead, I could have spent that running my dream car for longer.

 

Ramble over.

 

My advice - forget about the actual amount of money. You've already decided that you're going to spend it. Instead, think about what else you could spend it on. If there's nothing better then I hope you enjoy the Z.

 

And say Hi to Pete for me !

 

Dave

I know what I /want/ to do - scrape up the cash from somewhere and get all the work done

 

I think we all feel that way mate! :D

 

Do you have a breakdown of what you would get done for £6,500(also estimated Bhp) so we could get an idea?

 

Have you looked at other companies - No disrespect to Pete an the SE guys(been using them for the past 4 years) - but it cant hurt to see if there are other options.

 

Would you be supplying the parts yourself(pistons/injectors etc) or are they included in the quote.

 

I know its been bought up before - but have you thought about buying a good secondhand Z engine and having that upgraded?

 

At the end of the day it's your money mate and for £6,500 you would get a motor that could blow other supercars into the weeds!! :D

£6.5k jeeeesh!! :eek: Glad I do all my own work!! LOL!! :rolleyes:

 

I think i'd have a hard time convincing myself (let alone my wife) that six and a half grand was money well spent just on an engine!! guess it comes down to how much spare dosh/credit limit you've got & how much you really want it.

 

good luck!:D

Price up the parts from the US. Get them shipped over and do it yourself. You will save an absolute fortune. There are loads of people here to help and advise, also the people on TT net are very helpfull when ive ordered stuff. There are books available on engine building and the Z manual on CD to help. And the other thing is when you screw the whole thing together yourself you can check and doublecheck so you know its put together right.

Paul

Hey. Thanks for the replies. I'll try to keep this short so you're not all bored sh*tless (unless you already are of course).

 

Dave: Can't sleep. Too much to think about. Between doing a bit of work, I had actually been comparing sections of data in some Z32 EPROMs... which should've been boring enough to send anyone to sleep. But didn't. I think I still have a bookmark to your site. I remember your car. Probably like everyone, I don't really expect any mods to increase the value of the car. It's just for fun. Which is why I need value for money. I don't mind forking out (so much) if I get a lot of fun. Hopefully, a rebuild with forged pistons should also give me some peace of mind. I have a whole relationship thing going with my car. I've had it a while now, and it's just starting to get good. I've no plans to get shot of it any time soon. So yeah, I think you're right about me knowing I'm gonna spend the cash. Maybe I wasn't prepared for having to spend it this soon tho. I'll pass on your regards to Pete.

 

Trey: I've been a loyal (and long-suffering) customer of SE for a while now. The first few bits were done at the dusty old place they had - however long ago that was. They've done me quite a few favours in the past - fitting me in for small jobs whenever they could cos I work locally to them. I trust Pete to get it right with the big jobs. So honestly, no... I haven't considered anyone else. And I'm not sure I would at the moment, being the sort of paranoid android that I am (maybe read: blinkered, short-sighted fool). I have a complete breakdown of the price. It's all inclusive of parts, labour and VAT. In short (or did you want full detail?), it's:

engine out, rebuild labour, rebore (to 3.1L), forged pistons and rings, port and polish the heads, cam belt, oil pump, head gasket, crankshaft main and big-end bearings, associated sundries (injector seals, coolant hoses etc.), AVCr boost controller, 550 injectors, custom EPROM.

Estimated BHP: 500 (odd) at 25 PSI.

I haven't looked at buying a second-hand lump, but may need to if mine's badly damaged. I don't expect it is, and hopefully the rebore will sort out any bore damage. I'll find out when it's pulled apart.

 

Paul C: I need this more than I need both kidneys. Or a missus. I think.

 

paulg: Wow! If someone had made a suggestion like that to me 10 years ago I would've jumped at the chance. Well, if I'd had a job and some money. With all due respect, even with a lot of fantastic help available, I just don't think I have the sort of ambition to take on a job of this magnitude. I'm a chicken. I know for sure I'd cock it up. In the longrun I dunno if I really would save a fortune. Maybe I'm better off earning enough cash doing something I'm really good at, then paying someone I trust to do a decent job. Thanks for the alternative suggestion tho.