So this is my project rewind.

 

The OLD mission

 

To restore a 94 UK manual TT back to bone stock. However the car will be run as an OEM+ to include larger wheels and a double din radio with OEM part ready to be refitted for the right occasion.

 

The NEW mission

 

To build my dream OEM+ 300zx

 

History

 

The car was registered in May 94 and given as a company car to a banker.

 

In May 96 the banker bought the car outright and covered a total of 94073 miles. Throughout these years the car was serviced at a local Nissan dealer.

 

In December 2001 a registered forum user bought the car. At this point the owner, Mark, had intended to keep the car and started to customise it. These modifications include the flip paint job, 5 way adjustable shocks, Mania 18inch wheels, custom exhaust, larger brakes, poly bushes to the dif and rear subframe, helix clutch, cone air filter, deleted headlight washer, ICE and a top hard pipe kit. Mark covered a further 15883 bringing the total to 109956.

Marks For Sale post

 

The car

 

Overall the condition of the car seemed good. The body work had a few issues including rust in the engine bay near both suspension mounts, paint bubbling on the spoiler and a cracked off side mirror surround. However the biggest issue with the car was the colour! The finish was very VERY good and to stand next to the car made it much more agreeable than any photo achieved, in fact I actually quite like it. The problem though is matching the colour: after talking to a few paint shops their verdicts were touch up work is impossible (thankfully there is 1/2ltr of the original paint which I'm hoping will cover the new spoiler and mirror). Eventually it will need a full re-spray.

The interior is in good shape for its age, a few scuff marks in the leather and it's looking very dry, a hole in the centre radio surround where I imagine an alarm light went and the alcantara is looking very flat.

 

 

So I hope you enjoy the following updates as I try to bring my car back to the 90s.

 

Cheers,

Chris.

Edited September 29, 20187 yr by Chris300

I finished of the light refurb today and bolted on the newly powder coated tin work and plated screws. They’re not perfect, I would like to have split them and rechromed the internals but that will have to wait.

Hope you like the before and after pics...

They look good Chris.

They look brand new so well done! Great job! I’ve gotten inspired by this thread where you’ve refurbed the nuts and bolts in the engine bay - want to start this soon. Will make a huge difference.

47 minutes ago, naz27 said:

They look brand new so well done! Great job! I’ve gotten inspired by this thread where you’ve refurbed the nuts and bolts in the engine bay - want to start this soon. Will make a huge difference.

Great news, that’s what the forums all about. What I would suggest is that you pick a small area and work your way around the engine. I had a plan and didn’t stick to it and almost became very lost. And don’t forget to start a journal. ??

Yes, thank you for posting all this, it's inspirational. What a superb job you're doing. I also like the gas hob in your workshop, very good ?

 

23 hours ago, Chris300 said:

Great news, that’s what the forums all about. What I would suggest is that you pick a small area and work your way around the engine. I had a plan and didn’t stick to it and almost became very lost. And don’t forget to start a journal. ??

Thanks for the wise advice! Yes I can imagine you could get so carried away with intricate jobs like these. Looking forward to starting mine soon; I only really need to replace screws and washers as most other bits in my engine bay were kept super clean by previous owners thankfully. Doing other bits and bobs in the mean time though and yeah I started my little thread about a month ago. I called it "300zx TT - My Journey". Only had the car a couple months so not a huge amount done but progress is progress I guess. 

Nice work Chris....

Great job [emoji106]

Just bolting the chameleon back together for it MOT on Tuesday. ? 

Here are a few pictures of the before and after for you amusement...

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, back to today...

Car passed. A few issues raised...

Near and offside anti roll bar links corroded but not serious. 

Read disc worn, pitted or scored but not serious. 

Im a little gutted with this one as the discs aren’t bad at all, they’ve just got a little surface rust due to be left in the air for 9 moths while I worked on the front and I didn’t clean them off on the way to the test as it’s just a two mile drive to the test centre. Never mind, will change these too.

 

It was also also noted that there was a little oil coming from the diff plug. Again will get this sorted.

 

All in all I’m very happy to have the car back on the road after 9 months tidying her up.

Good news Chris its nice to get that pass. ?

Nice one Chris!!

So it’s been a few months since I updated this mainly because I’ve not been using her.

Shortly after the MOT the ABS light came on. After checking the ABS module it indicated that the O/S/F ABS sensor is playing up.

However the more pressing issue has been an intermittent dropping of cylinders 2 & 4. At first I thought this might be the PTU or coil pack connectors as the connectors had been replaced at some point. After undertaking a visual, voltage, earth and continuity check of the PTU and wiring to the connectors it seemed unlikely to be the PTU or wiring. I then moved onto the injectors. A quick resistance check found that injector 2 has an open circuit and 4 gave a very high reading.

So it would seem to make sense to replace all my injectors with the later style injectors now.

Have you checked for surface corrosion on the connectors (both plug and injector sides). It makes for a very good insulator and will give o/c and or high resistance.

The colour of the corrosion surface can be a metal colour (grey) and difficult to spot sometimes. Clean with very fine needle file and recheck resistance.

2 hours ago, AndrewG said:

Have you checked for surface corrosion on the connectors (both plug and injector sides). It makes for a very good insulator and will give o/c and or high resistance.

The colour of the corrosion surface can be a metal colour (grey) and difficult to spot sometimes. Clean with very fine needle file and recheck resistance.

Cheers Andrew, I’ll give that a go. ?

7 hours ago, AndrewG said:

Have you checked for surface corrosion on the connectors (both plug and injector sides). It makes for a very good insulator and will give o/c and or high resistance.

The colour of the corrosion surface can be a metal colour (grey) and difficult to spot sometimes. Clean with very fine needle file and recheck resistance.

So I gave it as good a clean as I could with the injectors in place but unfortunately I couldn’t get to the contacts on injector 4 well enough to give them a good enough clean, there’s what looks like part of the fuel system above it. Any ideas if this is simple enough to remove?

Results from the clean were from 1230 ohms down to 23 ohms on injector 2 and an open circuit to 12M ohms on injector 4. I believe my target is 10-14 ohms. I’m not convinced that I could have cleaned injector 2 any better, it’s gleaming now.

 

If your readings are good then No. 2 is still out of range at 23Ω and No. 4 is gone.

44 minutes ago, AndrewG said:

If your readings are good then No. 2 is still out of range at 23Ω and No. 4 is gone.

I agree.

So now I need to look into new injectors. The plan for the car is to fit a +”95 harness, PTU, CAS and injectors. I simply can’t afford to do this all at once right now but would like to buy the injectors that fit into this build and use adaptors or splice in the appropriate connectors if possible.

What are the options and recommendations? Happy to go larger than standard.

"Drop in" injectors are standard early style 370cc and 555cc (Nismo) pintle injectors. Later pintleless injectors ie 615cc and 740cc require adapater

kits and new electrical connectors as the style changed.

740cc injectors are the usual replacement option. JWT make the lowest profile C clamps which make it easier to remove/replace injectors once

the upper manifold is in place. If you go larger flow rates than stock 370cc  you will need to change the stock ECU EPROM to another with revised

fuel mapping tables. SpecialityZ are a good source of "off the shelf" EPROMs

https://www.specialtyz.com/300zx/jwt-injector-adapter-kit.html

https://www.specialtyz.com/300zx/fueling-ecu/sz-ecu-chips.html

Well it’s been a while since I last updated this,  mainly because she developed a failed injector and rather than fix the issue I brought a RS6 to keep myself occupied.

Anyway today I started to remove the plenum to get to the injectors. I’m going to be carrying on with my restoration project as I go. I was wondering is it worth replacing the fuel damper and pressure regulator while I’m there or just refit what I have? 

 

2 hours ago, Chris300 said:

 I was wondering is it worth replacing the fuel damper and pressure regulator while I’m there or just refit what I have?

Replace:

http://www.twinturbo.net/nissan/300zx/forums/general/view/2610744/Here-is-how-it-works.html

Edited December 3, 20205 yr by AndrewG

53 minutes ago, AndrewG said:

Replace:

http://www.twinturbo.net/nissan/300zx/forums/general/view/2610744/Here-is-how-it-works.html

Cheers Andrew, both of mine are black so well past their best before date. ?

I’m nearly there I think with removing the Plenum. I struggling  with two pipes that run along either side of the plenum though. 

On the near side is a hard plastic pipe that runs from the lower middle edge to the cam cover.

On the off side the hard plastic pipe runs from the lower middle edge and goes down low.

 

What are these pipes for and how do I get them off?

 

Cheers,

Chris.

Those are your PCV valve hoses. Originally they are pliable rubber but go hard with age and are renewed when replacing the PCVs. This guide gives a couple

of hose removal tips.

http://www.ttzd.com/tech/pcvtech.html

These photos will give you a better idea of what you are dealing with.

https://www.pexcom.com.au/z32cms/e107_images/1994_engine_pics.pdf

 

Edited December 4, 20205 yr by AndrewG

You’re a wonderful man Andrew! ? Another job to do while I’ve got the lid off.

Edited December 4, 20205 yr by Chris300