Thought I should move this from the 'Journal' forum and update where the project is at. Wish I was at Coventry with everyone, but these things always take longer than anticipated, lol

 

20/01/2013

Having had the car for a few years now I have finally given in to the urge for more power.

 

The original engine in the car runs superbly only 66k miles with a proven Dyno run @ 357bhp, with boost jets and a uprated chip & air filter. Not bad at all for a 300ZX, but I was bitten by the bug and was set on going for more bhp and reliability, (I know why fiddle with it if it ain't broke). But having been lucky enough to have many nice high powered cars in recent years I wanted to keep the Zed long term and the engine is the first part of the project so it need's to be a good strong/reliable build.

 

After looking at various options of buying a part built engine form the US I decide to also keep my eyes peeled for the poteintial of purchasing an uncompleted project rebuild.

 

Back in March/April 2012 an ebay listing caught my eye regarding a nearly completed forged engine rebuild. The only problem with it was that the rebuild wasn't exactly completed by the most reputable of Zed engine builders known within the Zed world. In fact the seller had been caught up in horrific events where parts when missing, work was never finished and finally the garage was broken into and his engine was stolen. Retrieved from a nearby field 24 hours after going "missing". see here for a bit more http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showth...light=s+mochan

After talking with the seller for sometime we struck a deal and I waited for the day when the pallet with the engine would arrive.

 

It came with forged internals, Wiseco pistons, Eagle rods, ACL Duralite white metal bearings ARP main con rods and head bolts, Tomie 260 degree camshafts with solid lifters & harder springs, SARD 850cc injectors with a Border fuel rails/ new Turbo's, s/steel manifolds, new oil pump, heads polished, exhausts ports and valves shimed & lapped.

 

Didn't look all that great mind when it finally arrived to be honest, and I still had my doubts as to whether I had done the right thing in buying this.

 

 

 

After stripping down the engine as far I was prepared to take it anyway,

 

 

 

 

 

I wasn't going to attempt to go much further, so I thought it would be best to get this done properly!

 

So a call was made to Jim @ PowerZed to arrange a date to get everything to him in order for him to work his magic.

do all head need to be skimmed once removed before refitting ? is that a must

 

Ive always just had my heads "scrapped" Dan for the gasket to grip after checking flatness...this means 1 or 2 thou at the very very most. Theres a big gap between skimmed and scrapped.

that sound good then can use the oem hg

Had good news from Jim today, she's alive!

Had good news from Jim today, she's alive!

 

Good news Howard :thumbup1:

Alive is always good! Look forward to finally seeing the damn this lol.

Good stuff Howard! I'm down at Jim's tomorrow getting work done on my Z. I shall marvel at it! :)

Had good news from Jim today, she's alive!

 

 

alive and washed Howard !

Went over to Powerzed, courtesy of Andrew G who chauffeured me there in style in his immaculate Zed. Many thanks again for everything!

A huge huge, thanks to Jim who went above and beyond in sorting the Zed out, you sir are a Zed guru and I had a huge smile on my face as I drove her back home the 100 miles, she ran like a dream. Next step is to get her to Noel's to realise her full potential!

Wish I'd have been about today chaps, unfortunately I had to go to Kent today!

Your welcome Howard,glad your reunited with your car and able to use it again

Finally managed to get the test pipes off. Drivers side was the problem with bugger all room to get at one of the bolts from the downpipes., as have a 3" exhaust there is even less room. Have marked where the bungs are going to be fitted for the AEM widebands, hope my welder at work will have time to do this for me tomorrow? Then wire up the gauges fit in the custom made fascia and set up the "failsafe" aspect of them. One more step nearer to getting the car mapped by Noel.

 

Ps spin doctor from the turbo housing to the flange of the DP was 10" my instructions say to mount 18" from the turbo, so you can see they are quite a long way down the test pipe. Obviously check your instructions for whatever gauges you have.

 

Edited April 30, 201510 yr by bigh
Added info

Got the AFR bungs welded in today and refitted the test pipes this evening

 

Just need to wire these up now.

 

 

Well it's been a while since I have updated this thread, so here goes.

 

The car has now got. 500 miles plus on hers one I picked her up from Jim earlier this year. She is running pretty well just a few issues but hope fully these will be sorted out on Tuesday as she is booked in on the RR to iron out the rich running, and "high speed" stalling. This is caused due to the larger IC pipe work and large turbos that's causes turbulent air to make the car stall sometimes when changing down through the gears or coming up to junctions and roundabouts. So currently my car to lovers at 1200 RPM to lessen the possibility of this occurring.

 

To say I can't wait is an under statement! As i have been driving the car over the last few months I have to say that I'm very impressed with the power delivery, there is no turbo lag at all and when the turbos come in the Whossh of the 2871 is :biggrin:and the wave of torque is epic.

Today consists of checking all levels and pressure, as I'm taking the car to work Monday, driving up to Birmingham where I will stay overnight, so I can be at the Tuners first thing Tuesday morning.

So fingers crossed guys, I will of course post and pictures and graphs for you all.

 

Oh the tuner is Greg Gush @ http://www.protuner.co.uk. I have had several lengthy conversations with Greg prior to deciding to take the car to him, and he was the only tuner that I spoke with that had any ideas on how to cure this "high speed" stalling issue, in fact his words were "yes this a common problem on cars with theses type of mods". If all goes to plan it should be a great drive back home!

with the car finally at its full potential.

Great news mate. I'm going to have to come skav a ride in it once it's all set. Bet your lads as excited as you :lol:

I'm eager to hear feedback on how the day goes Howard. I too have spoken to Greg about getting my car done, but thought I'd use you as a guinea pig! He is quite expensive, but with all things considered, the methodology, professionalism, and seemingly lack of negative feedback/reviews of protuner, suggests that they're doing a good job.

Any excuse for a "mini" meet, lol.

I'm eager to hear feedback on how the day goes Howard. I too have spoken to Greg about getting my car done, but thought I'd use you as a guinea pig! He is quite expensive, but with all things considered, the methodology, professionalism, and seemingly lack of negative feedback/reviews of protuner, suggests that they're doing a good job.

 

Joel, when you take take into consideration all the pre checks that are carried out before the session.

 

Compression test

Smoke test for boost leaks

Ignition timing alignment

Fuel pressure test

Boost control setup

Full mapping on our Dyno dynamics rolling road then road test where necessary

 

As well as the fixed price when it comes to the RR time as Greg has his own rather than having to hire it by the hour, and not knowing if that the hire time is going to be 3 hours or 8 hours!

 

When I came to book my session the waiting time was 2 and 1/2 months!

To me that speaks volumes.

Well the trip was eventful.

 

Left work Monday to stay at a hotel near to Pro Tuner, and promptly spent an hour on the M25 hard shoulder as the twin plate clutch got very hot in stop start traffic, and I ended up not being able to engage any gears. After it had cooled down, the RAC followed me round to J8/9 on the M4 just to be on the safe side. Had a 54 plate AMG Merc, on the M40 try to egg me on to open her up and "play", I resisted the temptation..... just. Arrived at the hotel alter with no further issues.

 

 

Up early and off to the nearby Hopwood services Shell garage to fill up with V Power.

 

I have to say how impressed I was with Greg's attitude to the whole process. His workshop being clean and tidy with everything in its place.

 

First up was a compression test, with condition and gaps of plugs checked.

 

Then on to a smoke test to check for any leaks. This found a hole in the vac line that runs from the lower pipe to the side of the throttle body. The hole had been caused by the larger pipe that rest next to/on top of the line, had rubbed through the hose causing the hole.

 

 

After replacing this line and re connecting the intake pipe work Greg carried on with the test. Unfortunately after the system was pressurised another plume of smoke appeared, this time by the injector next to the oil filler cap.

 

 

After finding this it became obvious that the car wouldn't be getting anywhere near the Dyno today. So although a frustrating trip at least the problem was found prior to the mapping, and no serious damage being incurred. Once I have the 'O' ring replaced I will be going back, hopefully to see Greg work his magic on the rollers.

Frustrating indeed. That clutch issue playing up again is also a pain. This might be worth a read as it may be a simple fix?: http://specialtyz.com/blog/?page_id=178

 

I've replaced that little vac line myself on mine more than once for the same reason, poor design. As you say, it's reassuring that these checks are done beforehand and it's also a lesson learnt as these simple checks can be done by ourselves before we turn up on the day. Did you happen to notice what the smoke generator was and did he just remove the MAF and install it into the inlet with a bung? How long did it take for the smoke to reveal itself? I try to do boost leak checks regularly using compressed air, but the smoke method seems much more efficient, so I'll get some smoke grenades!

 

Has you plenum been modified to allow removal of the injectors without a plenum pull?

Thanks Joel, I read the Specialty page last night, not looking forward to reaching up under the dash though. I will be adjusting it the pedal and replacing the OEM line with a single one straight to the slave, so hopefully get rid of the problem once and for all.

 

Sorry I don't remember what the brand of smoke generator was, however I do remember that Greg said it costs around £800, so not in reach for most of DIY mechanics. Yes the two MAFS (Selin) were removed, 1 fitted with a bung and the other filled with a pump up type "ballon" that had a valve in it to pressurise the system. Probably took 3-4 mins, pressure reached about 6 bar I think, (should be twice that apparently).

 

The injector seemed to be leaking from the lower injector seal, or possibly the seal between the fuel rail and the lower intake manifold, so the Plenum needs to come off :angry: for a full inspection.

Ah ok, I was thinking they were using one of them smoke pellets used for testing chimney flues!

I have a Zed that mends itself,!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little update. Spent the morning at Powerzed trying to sort the leaking fuel rail around injector no1.

 

The leaking seal picked up by Greg @ Pro tuner, still needed sorting, so, after removing the plenum several weeks ago, and checking and replacing the upper gasket, insulator and injector seals, the leak was still there. Possibly the only thing it could be was a distorted fuel rail (God knows how) or somehow a poor seal to the lower plenum.:wacko:

 

So I ordered a new 300 Degree fuel rail from Speciality Z.

 

Before stripping everything yesterday to get to the rail, Jim fired up the smoke tester, and plumbed it in.

 

At first we thought there was smoking wrong with the smoke tester, as no smoke came from the area we were watching with anticipation.

Jim checked the pressure and sure enough smoke was in the pipe work etc. More scratching of heads and still no smoke from the seals in that area. Jim put the MAFS back on we fired her up, and sprayed copious amounts of brake cleaner around injector 1 & 2, the engine didn't change Revs, like last time we did this, due to the brake cleaner getting into the chamber. More checking still couldn't find any leak.

 

Thinking of naming the Zed 'Christine' now lol........

 

So miraculously my Zed fixed itself, and I have a spare fuel rail:whistling:

 

The only explanation I can come with, is that somehow the heat cycles between looking at this has somehow allowed something to alter ever so slightly, and make a 100% seal.

 

Anyway I can now get the car mapped, :clap:

 

If anyone's in the market for a uprated fuel rail drop me a PM

Thats good news Howard :thumbup1:

What fuel rail did you have Howard, I can't remember for the life of me, even though I saw your engine being built in all its stages! lol

What fuel rail did you have Howard, I can't remember for the life of me, even though I saw your engine being built in all its stages! lol

 

Border fuel rail Si.