Right, thought I'd start this. As some of you may know my cars a bit broken at present and I have a pile of parts ready to fit that gets bigger without it making its way to the car.

 

So lets start with what's up with the engine. Myself and gaz pulled the engine about two winters ago now, as one of the turbo's had failed. Compression was tested at this time with a very even 170psi across the board. Pulling it all apart we found a multitude of issues, egr hanging off causing an exhaust leak old sockets rolling about etc etc. We took that time to replace every damn crusty water and vac pipe and delete just about anything I considered a waste of space.

Water plenum bypass,

EGR,

AIV,

PRV,

Cruise control,

Aircon,

Think that's all. The turbos were rebuild by myself and for the first 50-100 miles things were bob on and I didn't give it too much stick. The first couple of pulls it detonated, new plugs, reduced the issue but it still did it a bit. Changed to a smaller gap and great the det was gone. The car was pulling very well at this point with virtually no lag and was dyno'd at 289hp bone stock, no extra boost no chip. Not bad for an old auto engine. Sadly it had started to smoke on over run, I assumed id cocked up one of the turbos during the rebuild. So I had been putting it off for months, well actually years now to pay out for brand new turbos. Anyways as the tax ran out I thought id do some more inspecting as the symptoms just didn't fit the pattern of failed turbos. The first thing I found was that lovely even compression was no more, cyl had a rather lame 115psi. Cue further inspection to work out exactly what block I had, manual/auto etc I assumed it was auto. That's when I found this...

That head casting reads R-10Y, wtf is that I thought. It's supposed to read 40P this was one of those penny drop moments. The piston crown sealed that moment of realisation and many dots connected.

That's right its an NA, 30p pistons are NA and 30p1 are TT defiantly no 1 on that code. Turns out r-10y is the later spec NA head aswell, so yeas 100% an NA block. Now this engine was fitted by a garage 4 years ago a few months into my ownership and we wont go into that too much but it wasn't a great experience and it transpires it was worse than I first thought. Anyway whilst they refused to reimburse me for that error, a good will gesture was sent out to me in the post of a few quid.

So a replacement engine is going to be sourced and fitted this winter. More of that and what's happening to the current late spec NA block.

 

So now more about that shelf of parts. I purchased last winter a full rear subframe assembly off Jaffa, the one off his time attack car. Loads of goodies already polybushed to death etc. So I stripped it down to bare metal and started painting it all with a few coats of lovely hammerite. This is how it stands at present;

So this winters aims are.

Remove front and rear bumpers, re underseal all of that and rip out and guff.

Delete HICAS system

Reloacte PS reservoir and fusebox

Switch over all suspension to new units from the shelf

Fit 354mm diameter brembos

Change engine out and preform various mods

It sounds like a lot, but hey winter is along time. Don't expect it to be coming through thick and fast. Im lazy haha

There is an empty space on my drive where my Z has parked every day for the last five years...

There is an empty space on my drive where my Z has parked every day for the last five years...

 

Where’s the Z Stephen?? Getting goodies??

There is an empty space on my drive where my Z has parked every day for the last five years...

 

Where’s the Z Stephen?? Getting goodies??

There is an empty space on my drive where my Z has parked every day for the last five years...

 

[emoji848]

There is an empty space on my drive where my Z has parked every day for the last five years...

 

[emoji848]

There is an empty space on my drive where my Z has parked every day for the last five years...

 

Sold it ?

There is an empty space on my drive where my Z has parked every day for the last five years...

 

Sold it ?

Now I’ve drummed up significant attention :lol: nope, your all wrong but Richie is closest. It’s currently 5 miles away from home sat somewhere safe and hidden ready to get the biggest present a car that lives outside can get.

Now I’ve drummed up significant attention :lol: nope, your all wrong but Richie is closest. It’s currently 5 miles away from home sat somewhere safe and hidden ready to get the biggest present a car that lives outside can get.

A garage! About time!

A garage! About time!

A garage! About time!

 

10 points!

Not many updates at the moment. As you can imagine the house is taking a lot of my time and most of my tools are still in storage. I can’t remember wether I’ve mentioned this but I’ve discovered the radiator has a pin hole. It’s a Japspeed item for probably 7-8 years ago. It’s up the top and is a tiny drip only when pressurised so it’s not actually a massive issue. I wouldn’t take the car on a long journey like this but it only leaks if I top it up.

The quandary I’ve got is wether to just pull the rad and have it welded. It’s on the core itself centerally. Or to simply replace. Obviously a blob of weld will cost me virtually nothing but I’m concerned it’s a larger corrosion or defect issue. If it’s a seam on the core, I’m not sure how those tubes are produced it could split.

What do you think guys, repair or replace?

Replace! It’s unlikely you’ve done the damage so there’s a good chance more holes will start appearing.

You’ll need to have it out for inspection so have a look once it’s out. If it was me I’d probably just replace it anyway to remove all doubt of further failures. I have read an article from Greg Dupree which suggests aftermarket larger core roads are simply unnecessary (even in that hot climate), so I’d probably just get a good quality pattern part from Mishimoto @ around £100.

Belts and radiator replaced.

The belts I went for Continental units in 1000mm and 870mm. My old power steering belt was past its best once I removed it. New belts were a snug fit... just for Jeff.

Radiator I ordered a generic aluminium unit from EBay. It turned up emblazoned in Japspeed logos and cost significantly less than the ones on thier website:lol:

Not bad for an hours work and no more coolant loss or squealing!

Edited August 4, 20187 yr by Stephen

I’ve been pootling about recently just making sure I’m happy with everything. The other night I took it out properly though with the wife, not taking the nick because, well, obvious reasons but also because it angers madam. :lol: it’s a fine line between my own personal amusement at her disapproving face and getting told off... anyway. Car performed well for about an hour on and off. I know it’s tunning rich on boost currently, in the low 11s for AFR. With both of us there’s some rubbing in the rear when your going round reverse camber round abouts, that’s a minor issue for winter though.

More grip required up front but the back on dry roads and warm tyres is holding grip though second gear very well.

One step forward. One step back.

Get that junk out of there!

Get that junk out of there!

In 2 RSJs and walks time, I can.

In 2 RSJs and walks time, I can.

 

Nonsense, spread all that out around the house, it doesn’t belong in the Zedroom!

Joely is right! Go slap yourself every morning until this arrives, then every 10 minutes until the Zedroom has nothing but a clean Zed in it.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/311584372616?chn=ps&var=610548797830&ul_ref=https%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F710-134428-41853-0%252F2%253Fmpre%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.co.uk%25252Fi%25252F311584372616%25253Fchn%25253Dps%252526var%25253D610548797830%2526itemid%253D610548797830_311584372616%2526targetid%253D551846416317%2526device%253Dm%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526googleloc%253D1006773%2526poi%253D%2526campaignid%253D1506022786%2526adgroupid%253D59527570513%2526rlsatarget%253Dpla-551846416317%2526abcId%253D1139586%2526merchantid%253D7207214%2526gclid%253DEAIaIQobChMIiNKTqeT23AIVR9iyCh1nvQayEAQYByABEgKyIPD_BwE%2526srcrot%253D710-134428-41853-0%2526rvr_id%253D1635988593646%2526rvr_ts%253D4d61b3691650a9ca1c6193c4ffe7a4a1

Let me share a tale.

Today I got home early, first one home, no child, no wife. Should I take the zed for a spin, top the battery up and get it warm... go on then. Battery is flat, blast, no problem il get the jump pack. I connected the jump pack and the alarm went off, neighbor pops his head round “didn’t see your van, I thought you were being robbed.” “No I reply, just had to climb in through the boot because the battery is flat” I climbed through the boot because the passenger side is tight against the wall and the drivers door does that bloody lock barrel spin pissing thing. Anyway it burst into life and rubbles away. God it’s loud. I sit in the drivers seat, the 30 year old steering wheel feels thin and cheap, the seating position feel crap... I’m too high up, how can I feel high up I’m inches from the floor. I pull off the drive and the exhaust scrapes, ughhh, I just take it round the block I think. I pull out of my road and into town, a discarded coffee cup rolls in front of me and momentarily gets caught under the bumper. I pull onto the dual carriageway, just upto the round about then back. The car feels cold, stiff, uncomfortable and clunky, I change lanes craning my neck at the massiveblind spot.

I progress down the road, next roundabout, then il turn round. There’s no music, just the exhaust, I hear the Rose jointed suspensions clunking as I turn out the junction, and a few PSI of boost builds, then BOV let’s go as I do like an annoying budgie, maybe il get rid of those I think. Sat there making a racket, people must be thinking I’m a knob. Stop start town turns into a deserted A road, il go the long way back I think. A lone piece of gravel dings the exhaust, ugh... I hit full boost for first time, holy shit. The trees are on the turn and it’s just me, no one in my mirrors no one in sight. A crisp leaf crunches under those big sticky tyres, corner follows corner, gear, acceleration, downshift. The BOVs hiss like raging snakes, the exhaust reverberates off the turning trees. Suddenly, the car has transformed, it’s alive, it all works, the noises put a smile on my face and suddenly I don’t care about any of the little niggles, I care about this deserted road, that cold winter air feeding my turbos, the noises and the way a well sorted car drives. Half an hour has passed, whoops, I was only supposed to go round the corner.

I turn home and the fuel gauge glows as pull into my town. I pull on the drive, the exhaust scrapes ugh.

The Zed, still has what it takes then Stephen?

Lol nice read Stephen and yes its addictive.:yes: