So its finally happening after been off the road for well over a year the zed is on Target for its refurbishment.

 

Last year I started with doing all the underbody suspension stuff to make the ride more stable and after that

I decided I wanted to do a full strip down to the bare shell and start from scratch to create a show quality z32.

 

After much bad luck and many thousands of pounds wasted on rotted zeds i'm cracking on with the original plan.

 

So as a quick update i'll post some older picks followed over the next few weeks by an overall progress report.

 

Starting off with how she was when I first purchased her 3 years ago until the state she is now then showing the

strip down and all the bad luck I've had.

 

So here she is as I bought her :

 

 

 

Yeh, the van is booked and should be down midday.

 

:)

Yeh, the van is booked and should be down midday.

 

:)

 

It'll all be ready and waiting for you :thumbup1:

Feel free to post up some pics.

Yes pics pics pics

Feel free to post up some pics.

 

Yes pics pics pics

 

Oh, I will... don't you worry.... ;)

Mini meet at Si's place on Sat then ;)

Mini meet at Si's place on Sat then ;)

 

Pffft! Like you'll ever make the journey across to mine..... :tongue_smilie:

Another update on my build.

 

Managed to get the timing sorted to about 15 BTC after she warmed up but luckily I had consult running

as the temp shot up to nearly 90 and kept rising so I quickly turned the engine off to examine what was up.

 

Well the new radiator was stone cold and the and the polished water pipes were scolding.

 

Not good - I stripped the whole front end again and removed the water stat to take home and test.

 

1 boiled kettle later you can see that the valve opens as it should :

 

 

So was the issue a airlock in the system or something worse ?

 

Also how can I tell that the water pump is working ?

Have you just refilled the rad?

Still at home so that would be a no.

 

 

Have you just refilled the rad?

I think mine did this when I refitted the new block, I was lazy bleeding the rad and after the first fire the aux fan kept coming on and the fluid level kept dropping. Got a touch worried then remembered about the overheat function. I think a pocket of air formed and that caused the unusually high reading hence the fan. Properly bled this trait stopped.

 

When you tested that stat did you test the water temp? If you just tested it with boiling water, there's a chance it's delayed ie opening too late.

How would I test it properly before putting it back in ?

 

And can you recommend a best practise for filling the system back up with coolant ?

 

Cheers

 

I think mine did this when I refitted the new block, I was lazy bleeding the rad and after the first fire the aux fan kept coming on and the fluid level kept dropping. Got a touch worried then remembered about the overheat function. I think a pocket of air formed and that caused the unusually high reading hence the fan. Properly bled this trait stopped.

 

When you tested that stat did you test the water temp? If you just tested it with boiling water, there's a chance it's delayed ie opening too late.

I meant before the car overheated. Kind of sounds like air trapped inside. I think it's recommended that you raise the front end of the car when filling it and then ripen the car so the air rises out the top of the rad.

I'm now thinking its exactly the issue and its likely air locked.

 

At the garage the zed sits on a slight slope so that wont help.

 

I could jack her up at the front end and put her on axle stands and then refill the coolant.

 

 

I meant before the car overheated. Kind of sounds like air trapped inside. I think it's recommended that you raise the front end of the car when filling it and then ripen the car so the air rises out the top of the rad.

Is it nose down? I'm just thinking, couldn't you just turn the car around lol

Not the easiest to move it at the moment.

Yeah, just jack up the front then mate

Also put the heater in the cabin on full and turn the aircon off with econ. This opens the heater matrix and helps bleed the cooling system

must be done with a stone cold motor...jack the front up and start filling. remove the vent screw on the rad and keep filling a bit at a time,when you think its full then do something else for half an hour as the air needs to find its way past the toggle pin on the thermostate which as you must know must be fitted so it sits at the top..when the air is drawing up you can hear the pin rattling...dont be tempted to start the engine as it must be done cold and can take upto 30-40 mins to fully fill the block. When you think its full then put the vent screw back in the rad and start the motor with the heater on full as this opens the matrix valve and let it idle with the cap off the rad..any remaining air will be drawn to the top well before the motor comes upto full temp and the cap can be re-fitted..I cant stress enough this intitial block re-fill cant be rushed or you WILL have air locks in the jackets and be chasing your tail for days trying to get it to settle down.

Use a thermometer to test the water temperature, should be in the FSM.

See what Brian said for bleeding the system. Any air pockets can cause all sorts of silliness and potential damage. With the rad being lower than the heads and matrix you just can't get it out properly with the car level let alone nose down. There is a way to do it with a compressor and some rag but I've never done it that way.

Few hours in the dark tonight and I've managed to reassemble the water pipes and stick the fan back on.

 

Wont get back to the garage until Wednesday but i'm thinking of putting the front end on axle stands inside

the lockup and filling the rad and leaving it over night to settle, as not in a rush and time is will tell to get all

the air out of the main block.

 

must be done with a stone cold motor...jack the front up and start filling. remove the vent screw on the rad and keep filling a bit at a time,when you think its full then do something else for half an hour as the air needs to find its way past the toggle pin on the thermostate which as you must know must be fitted so it sits at the top..when the air is drawing up you can hear the pin rattling...dont be tempted to start the engine as it must be done cold and can take upto 30-40 mins to fully fill the block. When you think its full then put the vent screw back in the rad and start the motor with the heater on full as this opens the matrix valve and let it idle with the cap off the rad..any remaining air will be drawn to the top well before the motor comes upto full temp and the cap can be re-fitted..I cant stress enough this intitial block re-fill cant be rushed or you WILL have air locks in the jackets and be chasing your tail for days trying to get it to settle down.

 

What he said......

 

......Especially the emboldened bit! You don't necessarily have to bother with jacking the car to an angle, but everything else Brian says is 100% the way to do it. I watched JeffTT do the very same to my zed after replacing the waterpump. It took ages to refill the system properly - and don't forget to top up the overflow tank as well. Jeff did tell me to check it again after I had driven (100 miles) home - after letting it cool down of course - and I still had to top it up a little, but not more than 1/2 pint. The car never got hot during the trip; nor did there appear to be any air locks.

There'll be some nice pictures on here tomorrow morning...! :biggrin:

Can't wait, just about to head to the garage to rebuild my dash so will have an update on that too.

 

There'll be some nice pictures on here tomorrow morning...! :biggrin:

So, as promised, a pair of completed front seats - black leather, red stitching and "300ZX" embroidered in red. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm seriously thinking about strongly recommending that future customers buy brand new seat foam before I agree to a retrim as 20-odd year old foam can really make my job that much harder!

 

For example, both the outside upper bolsters on these seats were in a poor way... the driver's side especially was fairly mangled and had been "repaired" in the past too. In fact, the driver's upper cover had been extensively played with in a bid to minimise the noticeable effects of the repairs.

 

Consequently, those bolsters aren't perfect on this retrim, which makes me sad. But I'll keep on adjusting them before collection on Saturday so, hopefully, they'll look as Nissan and myself intended them to look :)

 

3 days to go and a pair of back seats to do... back to 21 hour working days for me then! :lol: