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

Euro/UK engine oil cooler support brace:

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]103744[/ATTACH]

 

That's the badger. So it's simply for the oil cooler?

That's the badger. So it's simply for the oil cooler?

 

Yes, it bolts to the two tabs on the top of the cooler.

Well I've ended pulling out more than I intended :blink: rads out and so are all 4 intercooler hard pipes. The CC pipework is all gone. Even the front tow hooks and rad support are out.

Everything on the front beam has had a full strip with a wire wheel, treated with rust killer as some surface rust had begun then a coat of zinc galvanising spray. At this stage I'd run out of daylight. When I can two coats of smooth black Hammerite will be going on.

I went and picked up the bits from Screwfix this morning for my oil cooler bracket, sadly the main component was out of stock. Il sort this over the next few days. The brackets are in the ultility room being painted.

No pictures today I'm afraid.

Just thought id share a before picture of the tow hooks, yuk!

And a photo of the freshly painted front end. I thinned the hammerite straight from the pot at a 50/50 rate with thinners and sprayed it on. really happy with the result, much better than a brush and way cheaper than buying sodding spray cans.

I'm giving it all a few days to harden in the cold weather before refitting all the other bits. I've very tempted while I'm there to repaint the intercooler pipes too, there is a spare tin of silver smooth kicking about that could make a very smart option, as well as free. :)

Treat her to a new air filter too Stephen [emoji106]

Tow hooks and washer bottle back in, another coat of paint is required on the intercooler pipes but at 3'c out there today, no dice or painting for that matter. I can then once dry continue with assembly. You will all be pleased to know the air filter is in the bin :lol:

Tow hooks and washer bottle back in, another coat of paint is required on the intercooler pipes but at 3'c out there today, no dice or painting for that matter. I can then once dry continue with assembly. You will all be pleased to know the air filter is in the bin :lol:

I am in awe of your tenacity and determination to work outside on a day as cold as today.

Cheers Pete, it's more stupidly and pig headedness though :lol: I would normally be outside anyway regardless of weather, no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing as they say. Seeing as I was unable to go fishing today (for domestic reasons) I had to get something done, can't just sit on my hands or watch crap on TV.

Reassembled parts of the front today. Waiting on the second coat of paint on the intercooler pipes to dry before refitting. That will then allow me to mostly finish the front end.

I also purchased some gay little countersunk washers to make pretty a few bolts, not functional but they will look tidy. These will hopefully arrive along with my new air filter over the coming days.

Well the little gay washers turned up yesterday and my purple air filter today. In other arrivals, a long awaited thing happened. I've had a total of 4 hours of broken sleep over the last 60 hours, an ambulance ride as our local hospital didn't have the facilities, me the wife who is about 8 stone with a few bricks in her pocket and daughter number one arrived at a whole 8.10lb. Hence the erherm, extra medicinal attention All home safely at 3am this morning. Tired. No parts being fitted this week :lol:

Edited January 25, 20178 yr by Stephen

Congratulations Stephen!

Congratulations Stephen and things will never be the same again mate.

Congratulations Stephen and things will never be the same again mate.

 

I imagine that he will be selling the Zed for something more practical like an Espace!

I imagine that he will be selling the Zed for something more practical like an Espace!

 

:lol: nope the zed stays, I brought a nice new reliable Skoda with all the crap like ISO fixes about a year or so ago for that very reason.

Congrats to you both

Congratulations!! :biggrin:

Well the little gay washers turned up yesterday and my purple air filter today. In other arrivals, a long awaited thing happened. I've had a total of 4 hours of broken sleep over the last 60 hours, an ambulance ride as our local hospital didn't have the facilities, me the wife who is about 8 stone with a few bricks in her pocket and daughter number one arrived at a whole 8.10lb. Hence the erherm, extra medicinal attention All home safely at 3am this morning. Tired. No parts being fitted this week :lol:

 

Enjoy the vomit and poo!

 

Congrats!

Enjoy the vomit and poo!

 

Congrats!

 

No vom yet, the poo is more like bovril at this stage.

Congratulations to you both.

Congratulations Stephen. When's the zed up for sale?

Congratulations Stephen. When's the zed up for sale?

 

When it's worth selling to buy something significantly better :lol:

Congratulations to you both.

My two daughters have been without doubt the most rewarding part of my life ....and continue to be so......

Congratulations to you both.

My two daughters have been without doubt the most rewarding part of my life ....and continue to be so......

 

So true, my daughter turned 17 today and I have never looked back.

Congratulations to you both.

So true, my daughter turned 17 today and I have never looked back.

Congratulations to you both.

 

Probably best not to frighten Stephen too much at this early stage on costs!!!:scared:

He is still in the land of thinking that 300ZXs are expensive!:lol:

I'm just tight in general Pete :lol: