Hi Guys,

 

Well, a couple of 5:00am starts, a missed flight and a trip to Lurgan in Northern Ireland later and my new Zed is still not quite home yet. Don't get me wrong, she didn't miss a beat on the journey back. She even coped with 2 and half hours of rush-hour traffic off the ferry and through Liverpool, the temp gauge never even troubling the middle of the dial:clap: The car went straight to MWP in Chester for a FULL healthcheck and to get some of the more pressing issues sorted :thumbup1:

 

She's in for a replacement scuttle trim, top door window seal, driver's door alignment, and an oil cooler for the 'box. Oh yeah, and a working radio would be nice too. I was considering pushing the boat out for a new rad and electric fan but after her performance this morning, I'm not sure it's that urgent now :)

 

Apart from the enthralling update ;) what I could really do with is advice on where to get the parts. A quick bit of research and Zcentre seems to have most of the kit I need but could you guys recommend any other UK based outfits? :helpsmilie:

 

Thanks in advance dudes :D

 

N.

 

P.S. Major respect to Sean, the car's previous owner. Nicest bloke I've ever bought a car from.

well done m8. lurgan is a nice town as well.

well done m8. lurgan is a nice town as well.

Cheers mate. Very nice part of the world. I'm cream-crackered now though!

Please don't tell me you're getting someone else to fit the scuttle trim and window trim? lol

Please don't tell me you're getting someone else to fit the scuttle trim and window trim? lol

Lol To be honest, I just told the lads to stick it on the to-do list. There's also a couple of dents, scuffs and some rust on the inside of the passenger side targa that's deffo beyond me.

Well done Nick you got it mate:thumbup1: and good to here she drives well keep us updated.

Well done Nick you got it mate:thumbup1: and good to here she drives well keep us updated.

Cheers Gary. After a good 100 miles, in traffic and on motorways I am very chuffed (and relieved) with the the way it drives. Mechanically, she's a credit to the previous owner. I think / hope / pray is that most of the work ahead will be tidying and cosmetics.

Any oem parts you need http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?38-MJP-Eastern-auto one of our traders here Mike Feeney is his name

Any oem parts you need http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?38-MJP-Eastern-auto one of our traders here Mike Feeney is his name

Thanks Groover, I'll give the a bell tomorrow :thumbup1:

No worries mate, Mike is a very knowledgeable guy and will sort you out :thumbup1:

Hi Guys,

 

Well the verdict from the Zed's Healthcheck at MWP is in. The good news: "Mechanically, it's mint", says Mark. 'Way better than any 20 odd year old car has any right to be". The bad news: "Your suspension is basically knackered".

 

So orders have been placed and credit cards hammered. All of the tidying bits - Scuttle, weather strip for door-pricey!, etc, etc. Plus an Oil Cooler for the auto. The big ticket item was the BC Racing coilover kit (Street, Type RS) and that's where I could do with the help and advice. :helpsmilie: This being my first coilover kit, I'd like to be able to set it up to be firm-ish (technical term, there) and reasonably road-friendly. Apparently there are 30 separate settings for the dampers. Yikes :confused1:

 

And one last thing....Door Hinges. Specifically, a Passenger side top door hinge, to replace the Driver's side bottom door hinge that's given up the ghost. I'm not having much luck tracking one down, so if anyone could point me in the right direction that'd be cool. :thumbup1:

 

Cheers all and thanks for reading.

Nick

Hi Guys,

 

Well the verdict from the Zed's Healthcheck at MWP is in. The good news: "Mechanically, it's mint", says Mark. 'Way better than any 20 odd year old car has any right to be". The bad news: "Your suspension is basically knackered".

 

So orders have been placed and credit cards hammered. All of the tidying bits - Scuttle, weather strip for door-pricey!, etc, etc. Plus an Oil Cooler for the auto. The big ticket item was the BC Racing coilover kit (Street, Type RS) and that's where I could do with the help and advice. :helpsmilie: This being my first coilover kit, I'd like to be able to set it up to be firm-ish (technical term, there) and reasonably road-friendly. Apparently there are 30 separate settings for the dampers. Yikes :confused1:

 

And one last thing....Door Hinges. Specifically, a Passenger side top door hinge, to replace the Driver's side bottom door hinge that's given up the ghost. I'm not having much luck tracking one down, so if anyone could point me in the right direction that'd be cool. :thumbup1:

 

Cheers all and thanks for reading.

Nick

 

Arrgh...BC Racing are out of stock :headvswal It will be the week after next before they get even get dispatched. My mates and family are going to be wondering whether I just made this car up :bored: Still, it would be great to hear from any of you guys that run a BC setup :thumbup1:

Arrgh...BC Racing are out of stock :headvswal It will be the week after next before they get even get dispatched. My mates and family are going to be wondering whether I just made this car up :bored: Still, it would be great to hear from any of you guys that run a BC setup :thumbup1:

 

If you need a decent set of coilovers, then try Meister-R on here mate...... His are excellent quality and loads of us are running them..:wink:

 

And congratulation on your new purchase too....

 

Richard:thumbup:

If you need a decent set of coilovers, then try Meister-R on here mate...... His are excellent quality and loads of us are running them..:wink:

 

And congratulation on your new purchase too....

 

Richard:thumbup:

 

Cheers Richard. I've ordered them from BC now, as I thought it best to crack-on with it. Having done a fair bit of reading, BCs do seem to have a good reputation. They also seem to be ok for street use too, which is good.

Plenty of breakers in here bud, put up a wanted post and im sure you will get some hinges sorted :thumbup1:

Hi Guys,

 

Well the verdict from the Zed's Healthcheck at MWP is in. The good news: "Mechanically, it's mint", says Mark. 'Way better than any 20 odd year old car has any right to be". The bad news: "Your suspension is basically knackered".

 

So orders have been placed and credit cards hammered. All of the tidying bits - Scuttle, weather strip for door-pricey!, etc, etc. Plus an Oil Cooler for the auto. The big ticket item was the BC Racing coilover kit (Street, Type RS) and that's where I could do with the help and advice. :helpsmilie: This being my first coilover kit, I'd like to be able to set it up to be firm-ish (technical term, there) and reasonably road-friendly. Apparently there are 30 separate settings for the dampers. Yikes :confused1:

 

And one last thing....Door Hinges. Specifically, a Passenger side top door hinge, to replace the Driver's side bottom door hinge that's given up the ghost. I'm not having much luck tracking one down, so if anyone could point me in the right direction that'd be cool. :thumbup1:

 

Cheers all and thanks for reading.

Nick

Door hinges on ebay at £6 per door......

Drivers door :- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSAN-300-ZX-Z32-O-S-DOOR-HINGES-/200966151823?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2eca841e8f

Passenger door:- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSAN-300-ZX-Z32-N-S-DOOR-HINGES-/190908678372?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2c730b40e4

Door hinges on ebay at £6 per door......

Drivers door :- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSAN-300-ZX-Z32-O-S-DOOR-HINGES-/200966151823?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2eca841e8f

Passenger door:- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSAN-300-ZX-Z32-N-S-DOOR-HINGES-/190908678372?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2c730b40e4

 

You're a gent. N/S Hinges purchased.

 

Many thanks

Nick

Any pics of car?

Oh Blimey, the "small oil leak from somewhere at the top of the engine" that we weren't worries about has contaminated the cambelt. :eek: So that's another £40 + a day's labour...and that's providing the water pump has been changed at some point. The Zed is becoming a money pit and beginning to worry me now :(

Oh Blimey, the "small oil leak from somewhere at the top of the engine" that we weren't worries about has contaminated the cambelt. :eek: So that's another £40 + a day's labour...and that's providing the water pump has been changed at some point. The Zed is becoming a money pit and beginning to worry me now :(

 

Welcome to the world of the zeds. lol :tt2::tt2::oops:

Are you mechanically minded, did you do running repairs on any of your previous cars?

If you're always going to have to pay someone else to have it repaired - then yes, it may well become a money pit :(

 

However, if you have some mechanical knowledge, the time and the patience - try doing things yourself, there are plenty of good walkthroughs and advice available for carrying out repairs, deletes and modifications to your Zed. I had never replaced a timing belt on any car (far less a Zed) but with the help of JeffTT's fantastic timing belt replacement walkthrough - I did it and ....it started first time - lol

 

I hope that I'm not preaching to the converted but it does save money to do it yourself - if you can.

Oh Blimey, the "small oil leak from somewhere at the top of the engine" that we weren't worries about has contaminated the cambelt. :eek: So that's another £40 + a day's labour...and that's providing the water pump has been changed at some point. The Zed is becoming a money pit and beginning to worry me now :(

 

Are you mechanically minded, did you do running repairs on any of your previous cars?

If you're always going to have to pay someone else to have it repaired - then yes, it may well become a money pit :(

 

However, if you have some mechanical knowledge, the time and the patience - try doing things yourself, there are plenty of good walkthroughs and advice available for carrying out repairs, deletes and modifications to your Zed. I had never replaced a timing belt on any car (far less a Zed) but with the help of JeffTT's fantastic timing belt replacement walkthrough - I did it and ....it started first time - lol

 

I hope that I'm not preaching to the converted but it does save money to do it yourself - if you can.

 

Cheers Crash,

 

And you're absolutely right, the more you can do yourself is nearly always going to the most financially sensible option. :yes: In my defense, this visit to the garage was supposed to a "health-check" carried out by qualified and experienced guys with the best equipment. However, it's turned into a bit more than that. :thumbdown: But as they say, this isn't "my first rodeo" when it comes to re-commissioning old cars and I will be seeing it through, getting her back on the road and giving her another 80K miles of life.

 

Of the jobs below, I reckon I'd have a go myself at about half of them.

 

Replace Cambelt, water pump and camshaft seal(s)

Fit Gearbox external Oilcooler

Fit Coilover Kit

Replace door hinge

Replace scuttle trim

Replace weather trim (top door edge)

Re-seal tyres x4

Replace radio/CD

Scuffs to bumper and wing mirror

Fit aftermarket steering wheel with c/control

 

How many of those would you have a pop at?

 

Cheers

Nick

Hi Nick,

As I said, I did the cambelt, auxiliary drive belts, water pump etc - there's a very detailed write up on the forum for these.

Also did Coilovers (quite easy to do), CD player, HID conversion, decats etc.

I'm not capable of producing a good job with body filler, so that and a partial respray was left to the experts.

The only jobs that I couldn't or wouldn't do, would be the tyres and any paintwork or dents that needed filled.

 

However, the Zed is only a weekend car, so I can take my time with these things. If it was my daily drive........that would be different!

Hi Guys,

 

Looks like we're approaching the last lap now :sweatdrop: Although, not without first having to deal with the "curse of the plastic headers" on the OEM rad :( So, a new 55mm core, all ally item has been ordered and at least the cost will pretty much be just the part itself. Roll on next week when the coilovers arrive. Who knows, this time next week I might just have a fully working Zed in my drive!:w00t:

 

Cheers

Nick

Keep at it Nick your getting there mate.

Keep at it Nick your getting there mate.

 

Cheers Gary, I'm hanging in there, mate! Today brought the news that the [massively expensive] cambelt tensioner and pulleys that we thought we were going to get away with not changing are all going to be needed. It's fine :-/ We shall persevere and we will overcome!!!:tank:

Edited October 11, 201312 yr by Bart68